The Potentially Crazy Dog Lady

Yesterday our neighbor, the Mayor, got a new dog. The new dog looks JUST LIKE Big Spike!!! So you can bet that the next time a tornado rolls through and we are running out to the car with our animal children, the crazy cat lady will become the crazy dog lady and will run over and accuse us of stealing their dog. Grrrrrrrrrr.

Speaking of animals, there are two ADORABLE baby bunnies that were born in the Lincoln neighborhood a couple of weeks ago. They have made their new home behind the Beedle House, which is our ranger headquarters, and it is fun to see them hopping around. I've been sneaking them some carrots from my lunch.

Yesterday evening was my first time closing the park! Luckily everything went well. Ranger David (one of our Law Enforcement rangers) went around to the different buildings with me, which was a great help (and made me feel much safer). There is a lot to remember when closing down each building, and probably the scariest part of it is having complete responsibility for a true national treasure.

I am enjoying my day off--especially sleeping in and not having to see 8th graders. Next week is going to be a wild one at work. The park is hosting an Organization of American Historians interpretation training workshop that will involve people from historic sites all over the country (mostly from Illinois though). I have been working like crazy to get everyone registered (while still taking loads of school kids through the Lincoln Home), and I still have to get 125 packets ready for the conference attendees. We have some pretty big-name historians that will be speaking at the conference, so it should be pretty cool. The conference takes place on Tuesday, and then on Wednesday and Thursday I am responsible for conducting the "Ranger Exchange" tours. The Lincoln Home has a partnership with the Abraham Lincoln Boyhood Home National Memorial in Indiana and the Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historic Park in Kentucky where each park sends rangers to the other parks to tour the area and learn about park operations. So we have five rangers coming from the other parks this next week. They will attend the conference, and then for the next two days I will be responsible for showing them around the area. It should be pretty exciting!