Friday, July 12, 2013

Guess where I am!!

I'm back at the post office! Yes, just when I thought I was done with the nightly trek down the road, my internet connection at the van has gone haywire. Maybe someone can 'splain this to me: the computer shows it's connected but at the same time says there's no internet access. One of those things that doesn't make sense, like fat free ice cream. It's against everything that's good and holy.

But on to something more interesting. There's a group of kids here, toiling like mad under the noonday sun, building a 1.1 mile trail from the visitor center to one of the turnouts on the road to the Painted Desert Inn. The group is part of an organization called the YCC, the Youth Conservation Corps, and let me say how happy I am I don't have to work as hard as they do.

When I say they're building a trail, I mean they're hacking out brush, digging a foundation, and laying a trail base that won't wash away in the monsoons or blow away in the dry season. 

I walked the partially completed trail at the end of my morning walk today and took a few pictures. 


This looks back toward the Visitor Center, out of the frame to the right, and shows the initial work done to dig the foundation.



There was an employee meeting yesterday and the Superintendent singled out this team for recognition. The youngest just turned 15. Another member had heart surgery one Friday and was back at work on Monday. A friend who sat with me at the meeting worked with the crew for a week and had nothing but good things to say about each of them. 


Rabbits must like the new easy trail through the prairie. There were tracks everywhere in the soft soil.



They're picked up in town in the morning and spend the entire day in the field.


Fortunately they don't have to do all the work by hand.



Now this is what I call a real Port-a-Loo.

When you hear someone bad-mouthing today's kids, remember the ones who are working here. I don't know how much they're paid, if anything, but it would take a lot of money to make me work as hard as they do, under the conditions they're working in day after day.


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Thought of the day:

Children are likely to live up to what you believe of them. (Lady Bird Johnson)