Kids

I love kids. But they have to be 4th grade and under. Just kidding--but seriously, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th graders (and younger kids too) are SO cute!!! We're inching back into bus season here at the Lincoln Home, and after several horrible tours with 8th graders, it's a breath of fresh air to have some cute 2nd graders on a tour. Younger kids are so excited to be learning new things, and they all think that Abraham Lincoln is completely awesome. After the 4th grade, however, they become too cool to learn about such unimportant things. 5th graders can go either way--some are interested and some aren't, but by 6th grade they could all care less. Back in the day when I planned to become a teacher, I wanted to teach high school. But I have since realized that it's probably good I didn't pursue that path. The majority of middle/high school kids that come to the Lincoln Home are not very nice--in fact, most of them are terrible. And they are all a lot bigger than me. But little kids can turn a long day into a great day. Today I had some of the CUTEST 3rd and 4th graders ever from Indiana. As we were going into the house, one little guy said, "I have been dreaming of coming here for like a thousand years!" If only all of our visitors felt that way :-)

The Big #201

Happy #201 Birthday to Abraham Lincoln! And as I always say (at least since last year), there's no better place to spend his birthday than at his house. Last year I was one of the Lincoln groupies who went to his house just because it was his birthday, but today I actually got paid to be there! I was honored to be one of six authors they had signing books at the Visitor Center this morning as part of the birthday celebration. Lincoln has no connection to Zion National Park, but all of the other authors there had published books with Arcadia's Images of America series, so my book kind of fit in. In this photo of the other authors and me, the Visitor Center looks so peaceful. About two minutes after this picture was taken, hundreds of rambunctious school children burst through the doors and the madness began.

It wouldn't be Abraham Lincoln's birthday without Abraham Lincoln! He looks pretty good for being 201 years old, right? Mr. Lincoln stopped by to read stories to what seemed (and sounded) like millions of little kids. It was really fun though, and the kids LOVED it. When Mr. Lincoln opened it up for questions at the end, one little guy raised his hand and said, "I thought John Wilkes Booth got to you!" Mr. Lincoln replied, "Oh no, I've seen Mr. Booth perform, and his good looks get to the ladies, but not to me." The kids didn't understand this response, but all of the adults thought it was funny. So all-in-all it was a really good day. The only problem was that I felt terrible--I've had a bad cough, and my throat is on fire, so trying to yell over a crowd of 5th graders didn't work out so well. My voice is shot this evening, but at least I made it through the day. I am pooped though. In this photo with Lincoln you can see my awesome Lincoln earrings that Lindy gave me. I can't wear them every day because dangly earrings with bright colors don't follow "NPS protocol," but they were a BIG hit for Lincoln's birthday. Thank you Lindy!

Keep an eye on your spare change, and you'll probably start seeing some of the brand-new 2010 Lincoln pennies that debuted yesterday right here in Springfield. In honor of Lincoln's birthday, the U. S. Mint decided to release the new penny in his hometown. Lincoln's image on the front of the penny has been digitally remastered, so he looks extra sharp; and the Lincoln Memorial on the back of the penny has been replaced by the Union shield. The shield was a symbol often used at the time of the Civil War, so it is supposed to represent Lincoln's role in keeping the country united. The penny will be used for at least the next 50 years, so it's kind of cool to be a part of its beginning. Happy Birthday, President Lincoln!

Don't Blow the Whistle!

Oi vey. Things are really messed up at the Lincoln Home these days. My supervisor (the lady who made Lincoln Home sound like a national forest) decided that the park did not have enough money to pay us holiday pay for working on MLK Jr. Day--after we had already worked that day. Wait, isn't that illegal? So, I was told to either take a day off (which I would get paid for) or else receive no holiday compensation. Wait, isn't that illegal too? So I took a day off but contacted our regional personnel issues lady to inform her of the situation since we currently do not have a real superintendent or anyone to regulate what Laura is doing. Laura then called me at home on my forced day off to tell me that, surprise! The park now magically had enough money to pay us for working the holiday. But then things got really sticky with the paid forced day off, etc., etc. Anyway, it turns out that Laura got in BIG trouble from region. And now I am in trouble too!!! Laura, our acting superintendent, and our acting supervisory ranger (who, I guess, all got some harsh words from region and all blamed each other for the mishap) are very upset with me for "going over their heads." Wait, how did they find out it was me who blew the whistle? There is something called the Whistleblower Protection Act. But it turns out that the lady I e-mailed at region sent an e-mail to our acting superintendent telling him that "a lady" at the Lincoln Home had contacted her about the holiday pay issue. Since I was the only female involved, they deduced that it was me. Thanks a lot, region lady. When I was confronted about why I went over the heads of my superiors, I was thinking in my mind: "Because I knew that none of you would do anything about it; and this is just one of many questionable things that has been going on here!" But I kept my mouth shut. I fear, however, that my chance of getting a permanent job at the Lincoln Home may now be in jeopardy--which, again, would be illegal if they didn't hire me as a permanent employee because of a whistleblower incident, but obviously no one is too concerned with what is/isn't legal. Which is funny since Abraham Lincoln was a lawyer!

29 and Doing Fine

Today is Greg's #29 Birthday--just one more year until the big 3-0! You may notice that something is missing from the picture with the birthday cake: candles. Unfortunately Greg has a nasty cold and had to spend his birthday at home feeling sick :-( So he didn't want to share his germs with me by blowing out candles. We decided that we'll wait until he is feeling better before we have his birthday dinner. The barking birthday card that Mom and Dad sent is a big hit with Greg and especially the dogs! They go crazy when we open the card and dogs start barking "Happy Birthday." It is sooooo funny.

Another member of our family has been a bit under the weather as well. Poor Tiger Lily had to get declawed on Monday. She was going crazy with her claws on our new carpet, and she also destroyed a chair of Greg's (luckily it was old and falling apart anyway), but we realized that before getting a new couch, Lily's claws would need to go. It was a very traumatic experience for Lily and for me though. Greg had to work on Monday, so I took Lily up to the vet in Petersburg by myself. She was NOT happy. Then I worried about her all day and all night. I took Tuesday off of work so that I could pick her up and be with her during the day, but I wasn't quite prepared for the situation I encountered at the vet that morning. I told the vet that I was there to pick up Tiger Lily, and she said, "Ooooh, yes, she is not happy with us." When we walked back to the kitty cage, Lily's ears were flat against her head and she was growling and hissing. The poor kitty was so scared. The vet left the room, and I talked to Lily for a few minutes. After a little while she realized that I was there to take her home, so instead of growling she started doing her said little "meow" cry. It was so sad! I wrapped her up in a blanket, and she gave the vet a nice good-bye hiss on the way out. She was very drowsy, and I set up a nice kitty condo for her in the guest bathroom. She just chilled in the bathtub/kitty bed with her new snuggle bear all day, and I was so relieved and happy when she started eating and purring. I think that she was just really scared and upset about having to stay overnight at the vet. Her little paws are very tender, but she's been walking around a bit today. She still sleeps a lot, but we think she's perking up. Poor Sweetie! She is so cute and cuddly. Right now she is sleeping on her back right next to me. Luckily she's been getting a lot of tuna fish and kitty treats--kind of like getting loads of ice cream when you get your tonsils out.

The Great Ghost Hunt

160 years ago today was a very sad day at the Lincoln Home. Little Eddie, the Lincoln's second son, died at 6:00 in the morning on February 1, 1850. He was just one month short of his fourth birthday. It is generally accepted today that Eddie was sick with tuberculosis. He had been sick for 52 long days before his death. Friends and family came to the home to comfort the grieving Abraham and Mary Lincoln. Robert was six years old and didn't fully comprehend what had happened to his little brother. There are accounts of Mary crying and pacing the house all afternoon. In such a nervous state, she started pulling one hair from her head at a time. Eddie's body would have been washed, dressed, and placed in a small coffin. Embalming wasn't really common yet, so they would have put herbs and flowers around the room to help with the smell. His funeral and burial took place the very next day. Unfortunately this was only the first of many losses the Lincolns would endure. So, on the 160th anniversary of such a sad event, a few of the rangers wanted to do a little paranormal investigating to see if we could make contact with any sorrowing spirits. I haven't finished going through all of the video and audio evidence we gathered, but we didn't really have any unusual experiences while we were in there. I did take the picture shown above, which has a weird thing there on the left side--it looks especially cool in the inverted picture. We thought we might have captured something in this picture, but then I was able to duplicate the picture several times, so it must just be some sort of reflection from the camera flash. It's still pretty cool looking though. I will be sure to let you all know if the audio and video data produces anything interesting. This is the second paranormal investigation Ranger David and I have done at the Lincoln Home. The last time was in November, and we had a couple of really crazy experiences. I didn't have my camera with me that day, but we did have a digital voice recorder. At one point I asked if whomever was there with us could knock on something. David and I were standing in the upstairs back hallway of the home, and we heard six very distinct knocks right behind David. It was insane! We even captured the whole sequence on the recorder. A little later that day we asked if whomever was with us could open or close a door. We clearly heard the broom closet door downstairs close (it hadn't been open when we had gone upstairs). The voice recorder picked that up too. Unfortunately we didn't have a video camera that day--so we were sure to have one focused on the broom closet door today. We didn't hear any door opening or closing today, but I still need to finish going through all of the video evidence we captured. So anyway, it is all quite intriguing. There is a lot of controversy surrounding paranormal activity, but I personally believe that in places where a lot of happiness or sadness was experienced, spirits can still have some sort of connection with that place.