A Bath

 Yesterday was a clean up day.   We washed three loads of clothes here at the site.  I will tell you about our new washer in another post. I did a bucket-wash of the truck.  I couldn't stand it any longer and it looks much happier.  We also washed ourselves and also the smallest member of our family.  (Not at the same time.)  Nigel wasn't sure he wanted to get wet and sudsy, but he was zoomy when he got dried off so it must have felt pretty good.

A day at the cave

 Yesterday was an interesting one.  Because we were short-staffed Randa and I did three tours.  Normally we work mornings (8:30 to about 1:30) but we volunteered for a third tour at 1;40.  I had a 9am and a 10:40 so was sitting in the lunchroom deciding whether to go home for a while or stay at the Discovery Center when I heard that there was a problem on Randa's tour.  There happened to be two electric scooters being used on her tour and both had quit in the same location.  So I went with two rangers, both young ladies and we took two regular wheel chairs up to the location which was halfway through the tour route.  We got up there relatively quickly.  Found the location of the problem.  The scooters have a maximum capacity of 275 pounds.  Both of their "riders" exceeded that capacity and the scooters quit going up the hill that section of the cave we call the IP.  With great effort I pushed one of the guests up thru most of the rest of the steep portion, finally running out of steam myself.  The gentleman could walk a bit so he got out and we continued a short distance to a flat section of the trail.  The other guest followed us up to that spot.  

   The rangers, meanwhile, hit the reset button on the scooters and got them running again.  They drove them up to my location and our guests climbed back aboard.  From there it is not as steep so the scooters were ok to continue, but our 2 guest were ready to leave the cave, which was fine with the rescue crew.  It worked out because we caught Randa's tour at the end and everyone went out together.  Problem solved.  Happy ending.  Wives were appreciative.   A discussion will ensue as to why it is not safe to exceed the weight limits of our scooters.  Luckily that discussion is for the rangers who have duty at the front desk.

53 Years Ago

 53 years ago today my life changed.  It changed for the better!  I married Randa Ann Volk,  a sweet, kind, wonderful, beautiful girl from Fairmont ( before that, Heron Lake) Minnesota.  It's truly the BEST THING I ever did.  How I was lucky enough to get her to marry me, is a mystery. 

   Happy Anniversary, Randa  !!

Breakdowns

 We had several "breakdowns" lately.  Just normal usage I guess.  First, a string broke on one of our window shades.  I ordered a repair kit from a RV supplier.  The kit came quickly.  I viewed the You Tube instructions.  It didn't look too complicated.  However, the actual process was not as easy.  The end caps were a bugger to get off.  I broke or cracked almost all the them during removal.  

   So now I needed to order end caps.  Not as easy to find as "repair kits".  After a couple of tries, I finally found a company in Vancouver, Washington.  Yesterday I received the end caps and after 2+ hours of labor I now  an operating window shade again.

Number two was our La Crosse weather station.  It stopped showing outside temperature and wind information.  After several emails back and forth I received a replacement unit and my weather information is now back operating well.

The third is a power cord for my laptop,  It has been on order for two weeks and I'm still waiting. 

A better Morning Photo

 On our morning walk on Saturday, we were greeted with this awesome view.  Venus is on the left. The Moon is on the right.  If you look really hard you can see a pinprick at about 11:00 to the moon.  That is Mars.    It was an awesome sight.

Venus

 This is the view that I got when I walked the boys this morning.  Venus is our star in the east as we walk down the hill toward the visitor campground which is our walking route every morning.

Jan 15, 2022

    My goodness!  It's already the middle of January.  Where has the time gone.  I am conducting tours on my own.  We are short volunteers so sometimes I am on my own. When I have a tour without a volunteer or ranger guide, I ask a member of my group to be my assistant.   Today it was Tom on my first tour, and I had a situation.  My group was half-way through the cave when a gentleman came up to me and said that has daughter was having a problem with claustrophobia and needed to get out.  (This situation happens from time to time)  

   All of us guides tell our tours that if ever there is a problem, we can get them out in a short time.  So when I was told of the situation, I told my group that I was going to take them out and asked Tom to be in charge.  Mom, Dad and the daughter followed me forward through the cave and we were lucky to catch the tour group in front of us just as they were leaving the cave and entering the tunnel.  Their trailer person took my folks and they went out with them.

   I hurried back to my group standing at the area called the IP.  As I got near the area, I could hear pleasant chatter of conversation.  I announced, " I'm back", thanked everyone and especially, Tom, and we continued on with our tour.  I made up the lost time and completed the tour right on schedule.  Everyone seemed to have a good time and that's what is important.  It was also a good learning experience for me.