Repeat Hike, Repeat Snake

Yesterday we went hiking with Ross's sister Lee at Usery Park. Lee did the Merkle Trail while we did the Merkle/Vista Trail. While driving out of the park Ross spotted a snake along side of the road. It turned out to be a bullsnake that posed for a couple of pictures before scooting off into the brush.

	Karen climbing up a steep section of the Vista Trail.
	Bullsnake on the side of the road.
	Closeup of the bullsnake heading off into the brush showing its beautiful markings.

Brown Bag Lunch Programs

While we're sure they've been going on for some time now we just recently discovered the "brown bag lunch programs" at Usery Park. They're one hour long talks on a variety of subjects presented by Ranger B. Our first question at the first one we attended was "why are you called Ranger B?" We had imagined that, maybe, he had succeeded "Ranger A" and would be followed by "Ranger C" but in reality both his first and last names begin with the letter "B," hence the name. He's an excellent presenter and makes the talks very interesting. So far we've attended 3 talks; "All About Desert Edibles," "All About Rattlesnakes" and "All About Saguaros." Many more are scheduled and we'll try to attend as many as possible.

Ranger B during a recent "All About Saguaros" talk.

Our Work Is Done

Spring Training 2009 for us is now over. Things were a little slower this year than last year due to the economy so we weren't scheduled to work the last 2 games of the season. But our employer, Aramark, wanted to make sure we would be around to attend the employee party after the last game so they got us tickets to that last game! And not just any old tickets but pretty prime seats! We were thrilled and had a great time watching the game. Unfortunately the Texas Rangers beat the LA Angels 5-4 but it was a good game. The party afterwards was a lot of fun. The only bad part was saying goodbye to all the new friends we made working this season. Most of the kitchen staff we worked with won't be back next year but hopefully we'll see them sometime, somewhere down the road.

We had a really good time working this season. We already signed up to work at next year's spring training.

	Karen cooking hotdogs. Yummy!
	Concession Stand #3 kitchen staff. From left to right, Vicki (stand lead), Sharon (runner), Howard (runner), Karen (cook), Ross (cook) and Gary (head cook). Best team ever!
	View from our seats during the last game of spring training 2009. Great seats!

New Socks

Ross's hiking socks had worn out. Not just frayed, you could see through them at the pressure points! So it was off to REI for a new pair. (Yes, we could have used plain old cotton socks but experience has taught us that anything other than real hiking socks are a recipe for blisters.) The most affordable were the REI brand at $10.50. But we went during the 20% off any item sale. And we used our REI "dividend" to get the cost down to $3.50. That made our day!

The new socks. No forgetting they're from REI! The white rolled up parts are the liner socks. If you're really interested in the details of hiking socks then e-mail us and we'll educate you. :-)