Take Me Out to the Ball Game

Greg and I had a wonderful trip to St. Louis yesterday! I was in desperate need of a break after working ten straight days at the Lincoln Home with only one day off. So Greg took the day off yesterday and we went to the Cardinals vs. Astros baseball game. We had a delicious lunch at the Cheesecake Factory (my new favorite dessert is their blueberry white chocolate cheesecake), and then we went over to Busch Stadium. It was pretty cold--especially for a spring day--but we were nice and bundled up.

We got to the stadium early enough that we were able to have some baseballs autographed by four-time all-star Jack "The Ripper" Clark! He played for the Cardinals from 1985-1988.













Our seats were right above the Cardinals' bullpen, so before the game started we were able to get some action shots of starting pitcher Joel Pineiro and catcher Yadier Molina warming up.

We also got to see my favorite MLB player Albert Pujols playing first base. He is such a good player. One of the Cardinals' five runs was from a stolen base by Albert. We also got to see Ryan Ludwick hit a home run. The Cardinals beat the Astros 5-3! We were pretty frozen by the time we left, but it was worth it to see the awesome game. Greg had to take care of a funeral today, and tomorrow it's back to work for me. Thursday was an incredibly busy day at the Lincoln Home. I seriously don't know how many tours I gave--it was one after another. We had a record-breaking day there with 1,372 visitors going through the house! The neatest thing that happened on Thursday, though, was quite a coincidence. I was supposed to give the 12:00 tour, but one of the other rangers asked if they could trade me for the 12:10 tour since they needed to be somewhere. As visitors were gathering for the 12:10 tour I noticed a couple joining the group wearing black missionary name tags. When I asked everyone where they were from, the missionary couple said they were currently from Chicago but originally from Utah. I told them that I'm from Utah too, but we didn't have much of a chance to chat about things then. At one point on the tour, we had a minute to talk, and I saw that they were from the Chicago South Mission. I noticed that their name tags said President and Sister Roach. Then a light went on in my head, and I remembered that Mom had told me about her friends who were going to preside over the Chicago South Mission. Due to my fear of cockroaches, the name Roach stuck out in my mind. :-) I asked them if they knew Diane Farnsworth Taylor, and Sister Roach said, "Oh yes! She is my good friend from high school." It is definitely a small world. They were just spending the day in Springfield. What are the chances that they would end up on my tour of the Lincoln Home? That was a neat coincidence.

Grandma's Birthday!

Today is Grandma F. T.'s 85th birthday! Happy Birthday, Grandma!!! Grandma is one of my favorite people in the whole world, and I hope she has had a nice day today. She is a wonderful grandma, and some of my favorite memories are from family dinners at the Provo house and many fun trips to St. George. I love you Grandma!

Today was a crazy busy day at the Lincoln Home. We had ten school buses full of wild 4th and 8th graders come to the park (but supposedly during May, the norm is 28 buses a day--seriously!). The 4th graders were actually very cute and attentive, but the 8th graders thought they were way too cool to be there. It was a fun day though, and when you are giving one tour after another the hours seem to fly by. I gave either five or six tours and am feeling much more comfortable with the tour now. On one of the tours in front of me, there was a man walking around with a video camera . . . and a mullet! He had the most perfect mullet I have ever seen (and I've seen some good ones). I also almost got to see a suspicious person get arrested by Adam (one of the law enforcement rangers) and Kaiser, but the person drove off too soon. So we got to just sit and pet Kaiser for a few minutes instead. He is so big, fluffy, and adorable! He has these cute white whiskers that look like bunny whiskers. We learned that yesterday Adam and Kaiser had to investigate a suspicious package that was sent to Senator Dick Durbin's office. (Senator Durbin rents one of the historic houses on the Lincoln's street and uses it as his central Illinois office--even though he's never here.) Someone sent him some syringes full of mushroom spores! I am learning that there is never a dull moment at the Lincoln Home.

I also found out today that I have a new job. In addition to taking people on tours, helping with the living history program, and developing a new cell phone tour of the neighborhood, I am going to be the Public Programs Coordinator. That sounds very official! Whenever the park is going to have a special program (for holidays, etc.), I will be in charge of lining up guest speakers, inviting VIP's, and publicizing the events. I think it sounds like a lot of fun, and though my head is kind of spinning right now, I am excited for all of these wonderful opportunities.

Livin' the Dream

I did it! I was very nervous when I gave my first tour of the Lincoln Home on Sunday, but as I gave more tours throughout the day, I relaxed and the tour started to feel more comfortable to me. Six tours later my feet were tired, but I was happy. Except for when the bolt of lightning hit somewhere in the neighborhood. As you know, I have a deathly fear of lightning, so when my group was in the last room of the house and a crash of thunder shook the windows, I was a little flustered. The visitors were nervous too, so we waited on the back porch of the house until we felt like we could venture out into the yard without getting zapped. Sunday was a very rainy day, but I enjoyed my first official day as a ranger at the Lincoln Home.

Each tour lasts about 25 minutes, and though each ranger develops their own tour, we have a themed outline to follow. The theme of the tour is "The American Dream." We talk about how Abraham Lincoln went from living in a one-room log cabin (which was about the size of the kitchen in the Lincoln Home) to being President of the United States. We also emphasize that he believed all people--regardless of race or gender--should have a chance to be successful in life if they were willing to work hard enough. Originally when I was contemplating this theme, I was thinking that maybe our world is so messed up these days that the American Dream is kind of getting reversed--as in the case of the Connecticut firemen who were denied promotions that they had earned because their city was worried about getting sued by minority groups for not promoting a more racially diverse group of men. But then as I thought about things for a while, I realized that even though there are some unfortunate exceptions, the idea of the "American Dream" is still alive and well--especially when we consider all of the opportunities available to people today in comparison to the rampant discrimination of pre-Civil War America. It is indeed true that Abraham Lincoln not only lived the American Dream himself, but also made it possible for others--including all of us today--to live it too. As I walked past the Lincoln Home on this crisp spring morning, I realized that I am truly livin' the dream--I have my dream job!

Unfortunately the Small Town Mayor Dream did not come true for our back yard/across-the-street neighbor who ran for mayor of Athens. The results just came in this evening, and the winner got 225 votes; the runner-up got 212 votes; and our neighbor got 6 votes.

More Adventures

Well, it has been quite the week! I am enjoying my one day off before I head back to work tomorrow and start my regular Sunday-Thursday schedule. I tried to get the Monday-Friday schedule, but unfortunately they told me that I have to work Sunday-Thursday for now. I figure that if I work very hard and earn their trust as an employee, maybe they'll let me switch so I can have Sundays off sometime down the road. But since I will be working on Sundays for a little while, at least the federal government gives you Sunday Premium pay. I just truly feel fortunate to have gotten this very good job--my dream job--during a difficult economic time when unemployment rates are high.

My head is spinning with all of the information they gave us this week, and I am trying to process everything so that I can hopefully give a coherent tour of the Lincoln Home tomorrow! We'll see how it goes. Tomorrow will be my first day in uniform interacting with the visitors, and I am quite nervous but also excited.

The worst part of the whole deal is that I currently feel as sore as I did right after my surgery! I was healing quite nicely, but then my big incision started bleeding and looking rather infected early in the week. By Wednesday evening the incision had kind of opened back up, and I was squeezing greenish/yellowish puss out of it. Greg and I were puzzled by something black we could see inside the wound and wondered if we were looking at the internal stitch. I called Dr. Icaza's office on Thursday morning, and they wanted me to come in to have it checked out. So I had to leave training a little early (which wasn't a problem after I told my supervisor that my stomach had popped open) to head to the medical center. Orlando had me lie down on the examination table, and then he too started squeezing the incision. More puss was coming out, and he said, "Hmmmmm, well I think I'll need to just open this up a bit more." WHAT???? So he pulled it open (ouch) and then started scooping things out with a giant cotton swab. He kept holding up the cotton swab so I could see the infection he was pulling out (which turned out to be the black stuff Greg and I had seen the night before). Ewwww, yuck! After a few looks at the icky cotton swab I was feeling a little woozy. He said, "It's no problem. There are no pockets of puss, so you should be fine." Then he put some iodine on the incision and taped me up with more steri-strips and a giant band aid. I wasn't feeling so hot, but after I got a little sugar into my system I felt better.

The next morning, however, was a different story. When I woke up yesterday I had the same intense abdominal muscle pain that I experienced right after my surgery. So yesterday was a pretty long day of training since it hurt every time I moved, but thanks to a delicious employee potluck lunch they served us at the Lincoln Home, I survived. I took some Vicodin last night and got really happy and loopy before becoming really nauseous right before bed. I think I'll just stick with Ibuprofen. But I feel better today and am looking forward to relaxing and watching General Conference.

Ranger Pup

Today I got to meet the cutest park ranger ever! His name is Kaiser and he is a beautiful 85-pound German Shepherd. He and his handler Adam make up the Lincoln Home K-9 law enforcement unit. Kaiser is amazingly well-trained. He is very sweet and loves to have his ears scratched. But when it comes to bad guys, he's not so nice. The Lincoln Home has a K-9 unit because we are an urban park right smack in the middle of a large downtown area with a pretty high crime rate. Since we are the closest national park to the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial in St. Louis (aka The Arch), Kaiser and Adam often travel to St. Louie to help the rangers deal with issues down there. The best thing about Kaiser is that when people see him and Adam walking around the Lincoln neighborhood, they know that we don't put up with any funny business. Kaiser is also a big hit with all of the kids that come to the Lincoln Home, and he is used in some therapeutic activities for people with special needs. And after our safety training today, I am very glad to know that Kaiser is there to protect all of us. It sounds like the two biggest threats to rangers and visitors at the Lincoln Home are tornadoes and crazy people. They have a big problem with homeless people and crazy people walking through the park and bothering visitors and/or rangers. But it's okay because the three law enforcement rangers (including, of course, Kaiser) are always on high alert.

Tomorrow we get our golden ranger badges, and I will give my first (and subsequently second, third, fourth, fifth, etc.) tour of the Lincoln Home on Sunday! It will feel good to gear up in my ranger gear again. Poor Greg has been busy this week too! People keep dying around here. It's good for business, but it keeps him running all of the time. We are both pooped but happy.