Got the Volunteer Job

Mae & Grandma (Red Marshmallows)
ready for Church in Ocala

Sunday we went to church at the Spanish Branch in Ocala.  Why not?  Our weekend fire-bugs are all fluent  en Español .  We got so hungry working our brains to understand everything that was going on in the meeting that we stopped to eat.  Good thing, as we were served up the BEST Mexican food I'd ever had.  Give me more!  The horchata had real Cinnamon and ground almonds added to the rice beverage, and the tacos were seasoned perfectly.  Viva Mexico!  

The day kept getting better, because when we returned Dan Johnson, the host we are replacing, had the good news that all we had to do was fill out the paper application for the file, and we could start.  The job is only until the end of the month, but how fun!  We get to stay!  (Good thing, since I said I'd never leave.) 

It was so sad after the kids packed up their tents and left.  The only cure was to go on a canoe ride the next day.  Bob was up for the adventure and pedaled the mile to the Ranger Station to check out the paddles and life preservers for the half-mile trek to the river.  We were amazed at the natural beauty we encountered.  Bright yellow and purply-pink flowers painted the river banks, as did bumpy-backed gators.  The last one we spotted was the biggest alligator I'd ever seen in Florida.  He didn't look real.  Bob wacked the water with his paddle to splash water on him, and oh, yah...his growl was real enough to get us out of there.   

We found a band of playful rhesus monkeys.  They didn't mind us floating alongside to greet them.  Not even the moms with babies seemed nervous.  Three of them hung in the branches over us and were swinging in a way I thought they'd fall in the boat!  I'd recently been reminded about the woman who had her face torn off by a monkey, and the thought actually made me nervous, so Bob moved near a group who were posing by sitting together on a log grooming each other. 

The Cormorants put on a full-length show.  Three of them fought over a fish that was quickly swallowed by the rightful owner, making a huge bulge in his neck.  It was certainly evident why they are called snake birds, but I mistook one that was swimming under the water as a gator. 

We paddled up to Silver Springs and it was unnerving to see all of way to the bottom through the ultra-clear water.  The boil keeps it free from sea grass, so the bigger fish enjoy drifting about unencumbered.  Gar and bass of a "Wow" size abounded.  We didn't need a glass-bottomed boat to see everything.  Mah-velous!

JOB HUNT - Looking for the PERFECT JOB



Star Trek Enterprise Worm Hole w/Captain Kirk & Spock

  We took the Worm Hole escape route and immediately began our search for a new job. 

I had no problem landing a job with only one duty:  State the firm command, "Engage!"



Our next task was to find the perfect camp site for the night.  We did!... at Jetty Park for $32.  "Perfect" meant it was dry and the camper was free from flying black marsh fiends.  We slept like hibernating bears in the quiet, flood-free peace. 

Bob found the fishing more than adequate on the Jetty Pier.  He had the best time ever helping an old Korean man haul in 4-foot ribbon fish with teeth that could bite you to the bone!  I turned my attention to the cruise ships and their mobs of whooping, laughing, celebrating passengers.  They were offering $10 day cruises on the casino ships.  Should we join in?

Nah.  Being hard-core about finding a job, we went to Kennedy Space Center.  The Shuttle program has ended, so there's no jobs there....but we learned plans are still active for sending some of us on to Mars.  I signed up.



Camp Hosting on Mars....what have I gotten myself into!???

 

The newest rover.  This one has space suits attached to the back so you can slip in and out of them through a lock so you don't bring clinging space dust into your rover.  Clever.  Perhaps we should do that with our kids so their dirty clothes and muddy shoes never come inside. 

 Bob went for a more technical job...repairing the Hubble Space Telescope...yet another time...from the platform of the International Space Station.  Yes, even though the last Soyuz Rocket failed....(uh, blew up) we are still planning to send up more of our astronauts on these crowded Russian space ships.  We have too!  We have a 3-man crew stranded on the ISS and wanting to come home for Christmas... or sometime in their lives.

Well...we didn't enjoy living apart....so we agreed on a campground hosting position on the MOON.  If you've ever dealt with  Lunar Regolith  ...then you know you've got serious cleaning problems.  We already had enough cleaning problems back on earth.  Our camp site at Jetty Park (#91) had not been cleaned.  The grill was full of ashes and old charcoal and the ground was strewn with litter.  In fact, the entire park needed a lot of picking up and trimming.  I wrote to management and said we'd be happy to workamp for them and get the park in shape.     I got this reply from Ann Johnson within hours:  

Oct 28 - We did try campground hosts several years ago and it did not work out well at all. We will be doing some renovations this year and there are changes I think you will not only like but will enjoy.                                                                                                                               

Ann

WHAT??!!  We'd never heard anything negative about camp hosts before.  What happened?

We took the above litter-strewn path to the campground office.  We talked with the person who checked us into Jetty Park Campground and she knew nothing about problems with onery camp hosts, but she did say they had a job in maintenance for a free site.  Bob was not interested, as we'd heard so many bad/sad stories about "light maintenance".  It's a fact that any and everything can need fixing at any time, so the 20 hours for a site is really 24/7....you are full time.  Most camp hosts have mentally left behind full-time work and aren't suited to it anymore.  So let's keep looking for that perfect job!