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.

Jan 3, 2022

 Yikes it's 2022 already !   A short time ago we were leaving Canby on our adventure south.  Actually it was over a month.  We have been busy ever since.  I'm not complaining.  I would rather be busy and occupied than the opposite.  

    Here's where we are right now.  We have been here at Kartchner Caverns KC for nearly a month.  We are well settled in.  The boys are thriving here.  They enjoy our frequent walks in the visitor campground and all the trails that are in and surround the state park.  KC buts up against the Coronado National Forest so there are many directions to explore.  The Whetstone Mountains are our neighbors to the northwest.  

   Nigel is totally onboard with the hikes.  In fact he is normally in the lead.  When we first got him he was quite tentative on leash.  There were many scary objects along the sidewalks on our neighborhood.  After a couple of weeks those objects weren't scary any longer.  Now he is fearless.  He is exploring every sight and sound, walking through grass twice his height.  Stopping to check that Hunter and I are still at the end of the leash.

   Hunter is loving the walks as well.  He likes having Nigel around as company but the little guy can be a pest .  So there are days......

   Randa and I are getting in rhythm, I think.  We have been giving cave tours with mentors to perfect our guiding skills.  New Years Day Randa had one tour and I had one the final was my "check out" and  I "graduated".  I am now officially a guide at Kartchner Caverns.  The means I can fly solo.   Yipes !!

   Randa, for some reason, has not had as many tours as I have had, but she is almost ready to fly solo as well.  I am guessing that it will happen this week.  Giving tours here at KC is a bit more difficult than at Boyce Thompson.  Number 1.  is the timing.  The schedule is tight.  It runs like clockwork.  It is a bit of stress, especially when you are first learning the job.  I hope I've got.

This is the view on my morning walk .

K C Update

 It is now Dec 20, 2021.  We have been here at KC for 15 days.  We made it through 4 days of guide training.  We have been getting familiar with the tools and procedures of the place.  I gave my first tour Saturday.  It wasn't bad for my first, but I know I can get better.  

  Being in front of a group of visitors is both exciting and scary.  Knowing your subject helps a lot.  Not being totally familiar with the cave is a bit nerve - racking.  Time and repetition will help. 

   Our work schedule is morning shift, Wednesday through Saturday.  We asked for at least one week-end day a week so that we can attend special events in the area.  We are ready to go out and enjoy the world again.

This was the moon this morning.  I started the walk with the boys this morning with the moonlight lighting our way and ended it with the light of the dawn on our backs. 

Training Day 1

Today was Training Day 1.  Actually, Randa and I took the training class two years ago so we could have skipped the class but we decided that more training could be good.  I'm glad we did because today was awesome.  We reviewed some items but learned many new facts today.  Plus there were several videos that we enjoyed.  Two of them were of the two discoverers Gary Tenen and Randy Tuft, telling their story of the discovery of the cave.  It was cool to see them describe the event.  

First week at KC (Kartchner Caverns)

 After two days of getting the house "squared away", we were ready to visit the Discovery Center and have a meeting with the Volunteer Coordinator, Kyle.  We spent an hour or so talking with Kyle, received our uniform shirts, established our work schedule,  and basically catching up.  Met some new folks got hugs or elbow bumps from folks that we had worked with two seasons ago.  There have been some changes but much is the same.  It felt comfortable. 

   Wednesday and Thursday we donned our uniform shirts and went in to find tours that we could jump on to reacquaint ourselves with the cave.  We both helped on a Rotunda tour on Wed and Thurs we split up.  Randa was a trailer on a Rotunda tour and did the same on a tour of the Big Room.  It was fun getting back into the darkness and seeing familiar formations again.  We have opted to take the lead guide training next week.  It has been nearly 2 yrs since we were stopped by Covid, so we figured it would be rime well spent.