Smokey's Nightmare

Smokey Bear may not be turning over in his grave, but I'm sure he's at least trembling.

Who ever thought that Scott McArthur would be wearing a Smokey uniform, with BADGE no less, and going off to protect our National Parks?

Methinks he's got a pretty good deal. He'll spend the summer working at Lodgepole in Sequoia National Park. He will have to put in some time in the kiosk (yuk), but he'll mostly be out and about in the campground answering questions, making nice with the general public, and enforcing the rules. What better thing for a guy who remains a kid at heart?




Just for practice, Scottie took our weekend visitors up to the Park for a day of sightseeing.


It's funny how life sometimes shows one how different one is from much of humanity. . . . Scottie packed a lunch and envisioned time outdoors and really taking in the beauties of the Park.

Roger and Lynn were. . . well, tourists, wanting to eat in the cafe, wanting endless photos in front of endless "sights" without necessarily taking time to really see the sights. Still, I'm sure they had a good time. Dorothy, a bit older than the rest of us, was just plain tired. A weekend visit - 6 hours driving Friday, Park Saturday, 6 hours driving Sunday - is a bit much for someone her age.

And, I skipped the Park tour, stayed home and cooked.

Muffy calls me her tree hugger mom, Jeff calls me The Nut Case. I guess Scottie and I really are half a bubble off from much of humanity. The good news is WE love it that way; and we found each other. Picture one of us paired up with a tourist-type. Now, THAT is hell on earth.


I've temporarily finished putting in my garden though there will be more to plant later - staged plantings of peas, carrots, radishes, etc. And, radishes are coming up already!!

Next on the lists of guests is my good friend Michelle. She flies up the 15th and will drive back to San Diego with me on the 18th.

And this week, I do my next volunteer naturalist thing at Kaweah Oaks Preserve - that Tree Hugger thing again.

Yep, we do have a life of our own design. That's a good thing.