Melting

After last winter when I was always freezing, I never thought I would get truly warm again. But . . . I was wrong. It's been as bad as Mississippi in August here! For the last few days, it's been nothing but sunshine, humidity, and temperatures in the high 90s. The heat index has been around 105 degrees in the afternoon. 105 degrees + polyester pants + grouchy visitors = grouchy Tiffy :-) Adding to my grouchiness was the fact that our park superintendent has ruled that rangers can no longer park in the Lincoln Home parking lot (thinking that this will make room for more visitors). So we have to find our own parking somewhere downtown. Not only must we walk very far in the heat, we must also walk through the ghetto! In fact, 11th and Cook Street (sort of near the Lincoln Home) was recently named the 13th most dangerous neighborhood in America. Oh great. Luckily I've got my pepper spray and pocket knife--both of which we are not supposed to carry with us (because our superintendent is kind of a uniform nazi, and these items are not officially part of the NPS uniform); but if I have to walk through the ghetto I'm not going to do it without some defenses. I have found a way to effectively hide my defenses in my pocket. I call it my pocket of protection.

Anyway, after walking in the heat the other morning and getting all sweaty and gross before work even started, I was a little grouchy. But then, I was assigned to take someone in a wheelchair on a tour of the house. We take people with wheelchairs on separate tours because of the location of our chair lift--which is behind the house. As soon as I met the couple I would be taking through the house, my grouchiness immediately melted away. They were soooooo nice! It was a husband and his wife who was confined to a wheelchair. They were from Wisconsin and were probably in their mid-50s. The wife was a huge history buff, and she said it had always been her dream to visit the Lincoln Home. I took them through the first floor of the home--which usually just takes about 10 minutes, but they were very interested in everything, so we spent about 40 minutes going around to the different rooms. Then I got out our binder that shows pictures of the upstairs rooms and took them on a virtual tour of the second floor. They enjoyed it very much, and they were so kind and appreciative. I couldn't have enjoyed it more, and they helped me remember that not all visitors are mean and swear at you :-) Then today when I got to work, I had an e-mail from the superintendent saying that he had received an e-mail from them. Their e-mail was the nicest, kindest, most sweet letter I have ever read! Superintendent Sanders said he is proud to have me on the staff (even though he thinks my name is Stephanie--but that's okay--it sounds similar). I love nice people.

This afternoon I got a little sick to my stomach, but after drinking some water and sitting inside for a few minutes I was okay. It was either something I ate for lunch--or maybe the fact that I was wearing dark green polyester in 100 degree heat. You might wonder why the heat/humidity here would bother me after spending two summers in Mississippi--but in Mississippi people seriously go at a slower pace (because they know they'll die of heat stroke if they don't). Even at Natchez NHP, the pace was about 87% slower than it is at the Lincoln Home (we could even sit in the rocking chairs when we weren't busy). So when you combine the madness of the Lincoln Home with 100 degrees and 90% humidity, you get a lot of hot, sweaty, grouchy rangers. :-) But tomorrow is my last day of work for the week, on Friday Greg and I get to go to a Cardinals game in St. Louis, and I am still happy about those nice people from Wisconsin, so no more grouchiness for me!