Day Three. Today was our first day of working! I was kind of surprised because it was brought up by the group that they'd rather not do our tour day today and that they'd rather do it on Friday. I don't have a problem with that or anything but, honestly, it's pretty frustrating to me that nobody brought that up months ago when we were planning the trip, especially since I asked multiple times if Sunday was O.K. with everybody for our tour day before sending our schedule to the directors of the ranch. Then, they seemed to indicate that they'd rather leave the same day as our tour day because they don't want to drive as long (which is understandable) and they want to get back to Kansas a day early (which I don't...). I'm just frustrated because we've been talking about this trip since October or November and everybody had agreed on the schedule. It really isn't a big deal, I know people change their minds all of the time, but I just felt really bad calling Linda the morning of our ex-tour day and rescheduling on her (especially since today is Roger's day off).
It was all O.K., though, we found Linda and she took an hour or so to get herself organized and came over to the bunkhouse. Probably my favorite part of the day was listening to her talk about the Ranch's research, history, and such. She brought up Rachel Carson -- one of my idols -- and her book "Silent Spring" -- one of my favorite books -- and really seemed to connect to all of us. She's such a fascinating woman, and it felt very rewarding to work with her today. She seemed ecstatic to get out of the office and work with us. We cleaned up the area of an old burnt-down barn because they want to turn it into a campground. Then, we painted the veranda and the outer wall of the "Swinging H House", which is another bunkh
ouse across the driveway from ours. The wall we painted surrounded a cactus garden, which was gorgeous. The entire area is beautifully landscaped and filled with cacti. Each cactus was unique and beautiful!
I couldn't get over the view of the grasslands and mountains; I wish I had this view surrounding me all the time. I took some pictures! We finished painting at sunset and went back to the bunkhouse and made Mexican food for dinner. At the table, we all discussed our favorite parts of the day. I was happy to hear everyone's own experience. One of the things discussed that really hit home with me was how we've noticed that we really feel appreciated here. Roger and Linda have worked so hard to make us feel welcome and like our contribution matters. Seeing the difference in the barn site and painted wall grounded that sense of accomplishment, because a lot of volunteer work doesn't generate such a visible difference. Without us, Linda and Roger are pretty much alone on the Ranch, and they would have had to do all of that work by themselves. I think I feel more appreciated with this cause than others because we are making a visual impact and our coordinators are so kind and appreciative. Some other causes -- while still worthy -- go through so many volunteers that you don't always feel that you've made a huge difference, and that was another point upon which we touched at the dinner table.
Tomorrow, I'm looking forward to working with Roger to tear down some old fence!
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