Somebody's Gotta Do It

After being laid off for a month, they called me in to work Friday. Man, my legs hurt; standing up and doing next to nothing all day sucks. I'm only working one day a week, and getting a hundred dollar paycheck every two weeks. It ain't much, but it'll buy smoke. Or food if my winter stores run low.

My job is alright. I like where I work, but there are things there I'd rather be doing than answering the phones and greeting everyone who walks through the door. Not that a State Park Campground is very busy this time of year, even on Fridays. But I really would rather be out from behind the desk and out on the trails. I used my free time yesterday to research cypress tree ecology and eBay kayaks. We sell them cheaper, and there's no shipping for me. Just got to walk that sucka out the Visitor's Center and strap it to the truck.

There were also Americorps folks there yesterday. I'm not exactly sure what Americorps is yet, but they all seemed really nice. There was a dreaddie vegan guy, so they're probably cool. They're staying in a couple of our cabins for a while and are doing trail maintenance grunt work. Painting trail markers hot pink, dragging fallen trees away, moving rocks that have slid downhill or been washed away, and replacing a bridge, I think. Fun stuff, it sounds to me. I think they're volunteers or are getting college credit or something. Anyway, they wear nice pants, even if they are such a dreadful color.

I hear they get a $5 a day stipend. That sucks. I may spend my paycheck on beers and go hang out with them next Friday. Or whenever they get a day off. Some of em are old enough to drink a beer with me.

The picture is one I yoinked from ArkansasStateParks.com. It's my lake, some pro photographer took this at sunset, presumably from a helicopter. There are some quite scenic mountain tops, but I've never seen this angle from any I've been on. But I could be wrong.