The calm before the storm

 I had to work six days this week. Several weeks ago, they told us that a company had rented out the park for a corporate event, so they asked for volunteers to work in the evening. I said I could help out.

It turned out that it was scheduled for my day off. At first, I resented that I had to work every day. But then I realized, is that really worse than having one day where I would be at work the entire day?

I decided to use the day off (before working in the evening) to go get my ID card (UCard) from the University of Utah. I drove to the public parking lot at This Is the Place, then rode my bike to campus, just like I did two years ago when I took the GRE. I do get confused with where to go. But I eventually made it to the main area of campus so I could get my card, and I also found the classrooms where I will be attending. I also took the time to go into the campus store. It was kind of surreal to be surrounded by all the red merchandise while the speakers were playing songs that were popular in 2013, when I was at BYU. There was one shirt I liked, but it was eighty dollars, so I didn't like it that much. 

I returned to work that evening, and it was fun to be there at sunset. It was a lovely August evening, though I did get a few mosquito bites. The park has a different feel at twilight.

 The next day, I was working at gold panning, and some teenage boys arrived on the train. Two of them were hanging off the back of the train, which is very much against the rules. As they came down, I recognized one of the boys that had been hanging off, so I told him he was no longer allowed to ride the train. (That's park policy. Though I wasn't driving that day, I still wanted to enforce the rules.) When the train came back later, the boys were all getting on again. The one boy I had already reproved was supposedly going to walk behind the train, but I said to the boys, "There were two of you hanging off the back of the train. I don't know who it was, but either that person needs to get off, or you all need to get off." None of them confessed, so they all got off. And I have to say, it felt good to be mean! Not that I was actually mean, per se, just enforcing the rules. 

In Springhill Geologic Park, I found two red leaves on the ground this week! And so it begins.

I also emailed the head of NSL's parks to tell him about the trail vandalism that is occurring there.

I placed those three branches there to discourage people from using the fake trail. It infuriates me that people make their own!

I also used some of our own homegrown produce. Our neighbors' apricot tree hangs into our backyard, so I made apricot chocolate chip oatmeal cookies. I added too many chocolate chips, so they overpowered the apricot.

Then I made zucchini pancakes, adding spices and almonds. I really like them, but they taste almost identical to the carrot pancakes I make in the spring.

Sadly, our own apricot tree appears to be completely dead. But we'll have to wait until the spring to know for sure. We were all eager for 2020 to be over, but 2021 isn't much better.

In case you couldn't tell, it wasn't an overly eventful week for me. But changes will be coming fast!