The Washington, D.C. area is having a mini global warming episode lately.  January 6^th it got to 71 degrees or so. I blame it on my knowing the ranger who went to Alaska to lead snowshoe hikes, then had no snow.

On my wish list for Christmas this year, I had listed snowshoes and poles.  My loving family pitched in and got me some.  Therefore, the prospects for snow here in the near future are bleak.

That is probably just as well; I have recovering broken ribs. 

Walking down the streets of Greenville, SC with my nine-year-old granddaughter turned into trying to keep up with my nine-year-old granddaughter. 

I started walking faster to keep up,

She walked faster.

I assumed the moderate pack test gait with crouching walk to gain speed.

She started to run.

I tried to switch from the low crouch walk to a run and both feet stuck stock still on the brick sidewalk.

I propelled forward sort of like superman in a horizontal pose, some distance above the pavement.

Gravity kicked in.

I did a perfect tuck and roll, according to my family members who were behind us.

Initial diagnosis of the wreck revealed: one shredded pair of trousers, two bruised knees, and two bruised palms.

Later, the pain in the ribs started to kick in.

That was December 8^th and after about four weeks of healing, I no longer suffer when I sneeze. 

Another two weeks is what the doctor said would be needed for total healing of the ribs.

Therefore, I am looking forward to strapping my snowshoes around my boots and marching off on snow by January 19^th.

Thanksgiving is only a few days away already. I have been home from the mountain for three weeks already, and have not summarized my season up on the mountain for this year.  Well here is a quick attempt.

I had three different bobcat sightings, all very brief, but that is the most I have ever experienced in any year.  Very few folks visiting Shenandoah National Park ever see a bobcat and I saw three.  God doles out blessings to us in wonderful ways, if we can just recognize them.

I saw twenty American black bears. 

If I want to cheat my bear list a little, I saw the same sow with four cubs twice in the same day separated by three hours, making it twenty-five sightings.  Two days later, I saw three of the cubs in temporary cages as the wildlife team captured the family of "nuisance" bears to relocate them away from populated areas in the park.  That would make twenty-eight sightings of bears.

I had a family of red-shouldered hawks raise their three young just a few hundred feet from my cabin porch.  Later in the year, I saw three juvenile red-shouldered hawks near the meadow.  I hope they are doing well.

I watched a fawn grow up in my cabin yard.  It walked on unsteady legs in late May.  In June, it ran away from me when I came home evenings, even though momma-doe pretty much ignored me.  By August, it watched me warily but did not run, when I arrived or left.  As its winter coat came in at the end of the season, it lost its spots.

All kinds of wildlife surprised me with brief glimpses through out the season.  I did not remember to take notes, but there were ground hogs, raccoons, skunks, chipmunks, squirrels opossums, insects, snakes, and, “What was that?” that caught my attention.   Sometimes I only heard them.  Barred owls, screech owls, coyotes, hawks, and others said hello from somewhere back in the woods from me.

I hiked trails new to me; saw places to revisit; a fantastic example of columnar jointing on Compton’s Peak; an empty can of “Esso” brand oil; broken pieces of discarded china plates, cups, and saucers near Skyland. 

I approached the park at several remote boundary points instead of via the four main entrances to the park.  

I participated on two carryout rescues, drove down a fire road alone to rescue an injured hiker; and, sadly, provided transport for some volunteer folks who had just helped with a recovery.

I received training on safe handling of poisonous snakes with proper equipment.   The training was hands-on with a four-foot timber rattlesnake.

Of course, there were the people, my wonderful co-workers, relatives who visited with me, and the visitors that I served.

I've moved from the park back home again.  My last day of work was Saturday, Oct 28.  That evening after work, I planned to join a few friends for dinner at a restaurant just outside the park.  As I walked out to my car from my cabin, there was an eleven-point buck standing near the car.  He did not run off as I spoke to him and drove away.  I have had white-tailed deer in my yard all season, as well as a skunk or two. 

At dinner, we all agreed that we have one of those jobs that you wake up in the morning and say, "Oh, Goody! I get to go to work today."  In addition, you mean it.

I know I did not write as much as I wanted this year, but perhaps this winter I can make up for it.  I started trying my hand at larger sketching efforts and perhaps I will post some of those on this website later on.

Meanwhile, the year went by way too fast.  I was up there for seven months and it seems like just yesterday that I arrived.  We figured out that it probably went by so fast because of all the challenges of keeping the Visitor Center open while as the construction was going on around us.  Imagine, if you will, trying to show movies on a small television in the same lobby; where we have to answer questions for other folks; while jack hammers are drilling through the building somewhere.  Turn up the TV sound so those folks can hear the movie, and talk louder so the visitor two feet away can hear your voice.

"When will the new Exhibit Hall open?"

"Will it have that same picture of my great, great, grand-daddy on his porch smoking a pipe?"

The good news is that when the new exhibit hall opens, it will have a couple of my photos in it.  When you come up to the Visitor Center next year to see the exhibits, look for the panel at the window looking out on the meadow.  There are three photographs illustrating characteristics and use of the meadow.  Yup, those are mine.

Last week, I was driving along Skyline Drive just after sundown looking for wildlife. There was still enough light to see tree leaves and such, but headlights needed to be on for safe driving.  I had the front car windows open because the air felt good. 

Suddenly, there was something visible out side my right front passenger window.  There, flying alongside my car at a matching 30 miles per hour, was a great horned owl, creeping closer and closer to the open window as we progressed down the road.

I have an image in my head now, of that enormous owl turning its head toward me and looking at me as it flew along side.  I felt fearful that the owl would try to enter the car.  I imagined the owl, slipping it's left wing inside the car, where there would be no wind providing lift to match the lift on the right wing, causing it to spiral out of control.

Actually, I made up that last part about the wing lift later.  However, I was worried it would come into my car, where I did not have an approved owl perch installed.  Therefore, I slammed on my brakes.  The owl kept going, then swooped up into the trees and disappeared into the dark tree cover.

So does that mean I am not a Muggle?  Did I have mail?

                                      -- Ranger Bob

Here is some TMI for you about the construction work I have been doing for the last eight days.  The overall plan of replacing the kitchen flooring has progressed well.  The laminate flooring was finished Thursday.  On Friday, mid-day, I finished the shoe molding around the edge of the room.  While installing the anti-tip plate for the range, I let the power screwdriver slip off a long screw and plunged its revolving Philips head bit into the side of my left thumb.  OH OUCH!   DRAT!  (and other expletives). 

Things got a bit bloody for a while.  I got a little bit woozy for a minute or two as I used direct pressure and elevation to stop the bleeding.  My wife put a Band-Aid over it for me, and I went back to working. 

We were expecting a couple friendly construction workers to stop by any minute to move the refrigerator and range back into the kitchen for us.  They arrived and I helped with things like removing the doors and hinges of the double door refrigerator so it would fit through the doorway.  As they were finishing the move and left, I noticed blood spots on everything I had touched with my left thumb.  So after they departed, my wife helped me stop the bleeding again and re bandaged it.  Then I went back to working again. 

I still had to install the doors back on the fridge, and change the way the range anti-tip plate was attached to the floor.  We had installed easy slide foot rests on both the range and the fridge so they would not damage the new flooring.  That made the anti-tip plate not fit.  So I manufactured a spacer to put under the anti-tip plate and sculpted the foot rest to fit into it.  After those steps were done, I helped my Ann put the door shelves back in the fridge.  Yep!  bloody left thumb prints on the shelves that I was handling.  Again, Ann and I worked on stopping the bleeding.  This time she put three Band-Aids over it. 

That evening, it was showing blood coming through the three layers of Band-Aid, so I checked with the 1-800 Nurse Line and they suggested that I not wait until Monday to get it treated by a professional.  So I went into the hospital emergency room.  They soaked it, cleaned it, B-a-n-d-a-g-e-d it, and put me on antibiotics.  They offered me narcotics for the pain, but I turned them down. 

Any way, Ann made me not work at all Saturday, and today, I did only things that do not require me to use my left thumb.  I successfully repaired a number of problems on the maple top cabinet. including replacing one bottom corner wood that was split and damaged, repaired rickety drawers, added slidy feet to the bottom, all with Ann's help to keep my left thumb idle.  Lots of sawing, nailing, glueing, clamping, etc.