Fire Extinguishers and a Busy Day

My supervisor had asked me if I would gather all the fire extinguishers for the park and have the volunteer at Dayton bring his so they could be re-charged and inspected. Dave, our maintenance specialist, offered to gather most of them since he had to go around the park anyway. I grabbed mine from the residence this morning, and texted him at 7:45 to see if he had gone to Little Washoe yesterday to get that one, because I didn't remember him mentioning it. He had forgotten that one, so I got ready and went out there to get it. The fire extinguisher company was set to arrive at 8 a.m., so I asked Dave if he would keep an eye out for him, and a woman who was going to come in early to buy a pass. I got there shortly after 8 a.m. and dropped off the fire extinguishers, then went in the office to wait.

While I was waiting at the office, a woman came in and asked about a funny noise she had heard a few nights ago. Her daughter thought it was a fox and definitely not a coyote. I thought it could be a Western Screech Owl, but when I played the sound for her, that wasn't it. I said I would have to hear it, and that I was sorry I couldn't help her out. She took some brochures and went on her way. 

I got a phone call from some duck hunters out around Belleview, on the west side of the lake. They reported they had seen a hurt swan, and it later died. They said they contacted NDOW (Nevada Department of Wildlife) and they had said to call a ranger to come pick it up. Normally, we don't handle wildlife (dead or alive), so I got their name and phone number, called the NDOW dispatch number and passed the information along. Swan hunting is not allowed in that area, so we thought the game warden might want to check it out.

The woman I was waiting for never came in, so by noon I was thinking I better go eat lunch and get out into the park to finish rounds. I usually try to do the whole park in a day--normally in the winter it doesn't take more than half a day to check and clean all restrooms, empty garbage, and pick up litter. There is sometimes fee compliance and I check the fee tubes. Yesterday I did the main part of the park and the southernmost areas, and today all I had was the north side, Belleview, and the campground. It rained and then got really cold, so I had to move some garbage cans into the sun so I would be able to empty them later!

Our water level is rising...but we need a lot more snow if we're going to have a lake this summer!

This is our bulletin board at the Scripps parking lot. It's part of Washoe Lake, but the rest of Scripps is a Wildlife Management Area, managed by NDOW. It looks like I need to get the locks back up on the bulletin board so people stop stealing the fliers and maps!

Scripps bathroom. Not long after I started this job, I rescued a Northern Flicker from the vault of this toilet. I couldn't figure out how to get it out, so I called my supervisor. There is a hatch to open on the back side, which I opened, and the poor bird flew right out.

Sunset tonight behind Slide Mountain.

I'm at the office after dark, so I try to go through and add to my "to-do" list. I forgot I found out we were out of gas today so I need to call tomorrow morning to get the tank filled.

Our Winter Solstice night hike is tomorrow at 6 p.m. so I need to get ready for that. I also have a Christmas-themed slide show coming up at Sand Harbor (Lake Tahoe) on Saturday so I should go over it a few times to make sure I remember it. I usually take candy canes and gingerbread cookies and talk about the history of our Christmas traditions, and show Christmas scenes from around Northern Nevada (Reno, Washoe Valley, Tonopah, Virginia City).

I got home after work, heated up leftovers, put dishes away, fed the cat, and went through some pictures. I'm going in later tomorrow because of the hike, so I'm going into town in the morning for the library and post office (that will be "fun")...