Friday, May 31, 2013

An Angel Gets His Wings


The sweet little blonde headed boy who caught my eye and now my heart, whose photo appeared in our last blog, passed away just a few days after his school group came to visit the refuge.  His father backed his vehicle over the child on Memorial Day weekend.  This has saddened so many of us, and I can only imagine what that father is going through.  His memorial service was today.  My job was filling in at the office and locking up for the night.

Before going to the office, Wallace and I put together one of two storage cabinets that will be used to store gear for the YCC kids.   In the past, everything was stored in cardboard and left all over the place. We have six teenagers coming for the summer and they will be arriving in a couple of weeks.



I could not wait to get all their gear organized and put in that cabinet.  I didn't even give Wallace time to insert the other shelf.

After we get the second cabinet put together, I will show the finishing touches.

Hopefully their gear will stay in better shape from now on.



We have been doing a lot of the "enhancement" part of the mission of refuges...mowing, trimming the trails, planting five flower pots, weedeating, etc.


I miss doing yard work and this gives me the opportunity to get my hands in the dirt!!!  I broke out the John Deere to mow around headquarters area while Wallace did the weed eating.  We are busy doing things to get ready for a visit from the regional office boss next week...but not only for her...we do this every year we come.

Another interesting, new thing we did, was changing out the core of all the locks on the refuge, including all the gates.

These are the cores.  We had two boxes of them so that gives you an idea of how many were done.  We have only just begun.

While we do that, we use a G
PS and keep the co-ordinates using a NICE GPS that works!!!



After doing all the locks at headquarters, we started on the gates.


All these co-ordinates will be entered into the computer later.  We are one of a few who were given THE KEY for our use while here.

Mike, the maintenance man, suffered a mild stroke last week while we were helping him set a new gate post.  He looked at me and said, "Gee, I have a splitting, sudden headache and I never have headaches...would you go get Amanda, (law enforcement officer)?"  She drove him to meet the ambulance as Mike did not want to wait for them.  He is still recuperating at the hospital in Bangor.  Our thoughts and prayers are with you Mike!!!  In his absence, Wallace was asked if he would get the information from each government vehicle including mileage, oil change due, fuel use and any receipt that was inside each one.  Glad to do so.

The new headquarters building is underway and looking good.



The concrete was being poured...finally, no rain!!!

Saturday, we drive to Bangor to pick up an SCA student at the airport...take her to buy groceries, and get her settled in.

We had our staff meeting Wednesday, and everyone expressed again how glad they were to have us back...makes us feel goooood.

It's good to be back.  This is a catch up on our week.

Until next time...




5 comments:

  1. Reprogramming code numbers on gate locks is how we've spent New Years Day at a refuge that changes their code each year.... and GPSing each location. That's a fun job as it takes you EVERYWHERE! I'm so sorry about that little boy... and feel so bad for his Dad. You might send them the photo... it's so beautiful and one they would want.

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  2. I agree. That is a wonderful photo of that little boy. How sad an occurrence.

    It's sure a good thing you are there to help fill the void while the staff member recovers.

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  3. That is terrible news abut that little boy. So sad...

    It sounds like you two are getting a lot done. I'm sure that the refuge is glad to have you back!

    Mark

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  4. So sad about the little boy Carolyn. I think sending the parents his photo is a great idea also. I am sure it would give them comfort. What a terribl tradgedy for a family to have to endure.

    Lookes like Maine is agreeing with you!

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  5. This is a test...I have not been able to comment on blogs?????

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