Greetings

Hey, gang,
Took me a while, but here's the blog I promised. I'll do my best to keep it current.

OK, for those of you who didn't get the story about me coming here, here it is. I'm calling it the Perfect Storm of events. Sara had moved to Pinnacles NM to get permanent status. Ben's mom moved him to Colorado, where, I'm happy to report, he is loving life in a little hippie town. And, of course, there was the reorganization at the Southeast Utah Group. And, frankly, much as I love Arches, Moab and Canyon Country, it was time for me to do something else. Soooo, if a person is going to do something new, they might as well do something REALLY new. I saw the job opening for Midway, applied and got hired. It is really an amazing opportunity. I get to re-start the Visitor Services program that was terminated some years ago. How cool is that? Not only is it a challenging good time, but it won't hurt the old job application. And after a week, I can honestly say, "holy moly, there's a lot of work to do here!"

The stressful part was packing up, renting out my house (yikes!) and driving a U-Haul to Phoenix and then to Sara's in California. The local Thrift Store cleaned up on all the stuff I took over there. Special thanks to Sean for helping me pack and to John for setting up my new laptop.

I flew into Honolulu on 3/18 and then put in a full day. The Refuge Manager, Barry, met me and away we went, buying stuff to put on a ship (Kahana) that was bringing supplies to Midway and other island outposts. Over the next couple of days, I also met a bunch of the players in the main office. Still trying to figure out all the relationships between the refuges out here and the new Monument. And, yes, I finally am able to pronounce it (after several days of trying). Spelling it will have to wait.

Got out to Midway on 3/21 and the first group of visitors arrived 24 hours later. Oh, and I was sick as a dog, from some bug I picked up in Honolulu. Needless to say, I didn't know diddly and felt somewhat the fool the whole week. But, I was laughing about it most of the time. It's refreshing to have a whole new history, critters and ecosystem to learn about. We arrived in the dark, the only time planes can land because of the birds. Oh, did I mention we have a few birds out here? Like nearly 2 million of them. The first morning I woke up and looked out my window, all Icould do was laugh. And I haven't stopped. They are EVERWHERE! They dance, they clack bills, they "sniff their armpits." And at night, when the albotross are calming down after dancing all day, the Bonin Petrels come in en masse and clog up the little bit of open ground until they bed down in their underground burrows for the night. Riding my spiffy new bike around at night is kinda scary. It's hard to avoid the chicks all over the road and the petrels are not only pitch black on top, but flashlights kinda freak 'em out. Wearing your headlamp on your head is not a good idea. Better to carry it in your hand and away from you face. But, even though they can be a pain, I'm still walking around every day with a dumb, delighted grin on my face as I watch and ponder their antics.

OK, it's getting late and I'm tired. Headed over to Eastern Island tomorrow. I'll post more later and tell you about.....well, lots of stuff.

Love y'all!!!!