Wawona gets their library back! Many months ago all the library books from Wawona’s branch of the research library were moved to the Valley while much needed physical building repairs were made. Our top priority this week was to re-establish their library. We started this project last week by hauling the old books down from the attic storage and began the process of reviewing, culling, cataloging, and adding them to our Wawona library.
So proud of our work here and how we were able to get the Wawona library back up and running.Ranger Jill will be responsible for the maintenance of the Wawona Library. It’s in good hands.
This was the last major project for our team of four volunteers. Laura left us this weekend to return home to Kentucky. We will definitely miss her presence and wish her safe travels. At our going away dinner she agreed to do some project work in preparation for the upcoming Yosemite Research Library’s centennial celebration. How fortunate for Yosemite!
We made a visit to Bridalveil falls for a quick hike on our last drive in to work together. It was a nice stop and good to make this one together on Laura’s final day.
All of us together at Bridalveil Falls.
Life was a little slow on the visitor front this week at the Welcome Center. I think visitors are planning their vacations for the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday. I had a moment to take a couple pictures of Volunteer Mark and Ranger Caroline in The Welcome Center.
Volunteer Mark helping our visitors plan their day.Getting the Welcome Center ready to open.
I really love being there on Tuesdays and will miss my time with the Interp Rangers and Volunteers. What a great staff Yosemite has in their welcome center. Volunteers and Park staff work together seamlessly!
There were threats of incoming bad weather this week that never came to fruition. (I’m grateful as I’m a little fearful of ice on these windy roads!) The week was just beautiful with temps in the upper 50’s and low 60’s. It was a strange feeling because it was so warm and so calm. On Saturday we had some overnight rain and fog that made the morning view really beautiful from the cabins. Today out is in the upper 50’s once again. Rain is predicted for most of this week which I’m sure will mean snow at the higher elevations.
The view from the cabin of a rainy Saturday morning.
We have plenty of projects left to complete here and I won’t be part of all of them. Elizabeth will be here for another month and Madeline until April. These projects will be completed. But, for me, I’ll be on my way home in just two weeks. I won’t deny that thoughts of leaving are bittersweet. I’ve had a great time and feel good about the work we have accomplished as a team. I’ve learned much about Yosemite and have a true appreciation for this park site and the importance of the Research Library. I do miss my family though and will enjoy being home once again for the holidays and a lot of puppy love with Gus and Lou.
Please forgive all errors, take care of yourselves, stay safe and blessings to all.
Monday this week was Veterans Day so the library was closed. A belated thank you to our service men and women, past and present.
A special thanks to the Interp staff for allowing me to help out at the Welcome Center this Veterans Day. We were advised at the morning staff meeting that a storm was brewing and rain was expected in the Valley and snow in the higher elevations. Roads to the higher elevations of the park were set to close at 4pm. As it turned out, roads were closed early as the rain and cold wind came in earlier than expected. I was a little worried about getting back to El Portal and my cabin but unnecessarily so. Ranger Caroline drove me to my car and I left early as all exits from the park with one exception were closed. The exit to El Portal remained open (this route is the “all-weather road” and normally stays open) so I was able to get home but we feared with everyone exiting in that direction it would be a slow drive. As it turned out, all was well and the drive home was an easy one. It was overcast and rainy the entire way home and while only in the low 50’s it felt much colder!
A cold and rainy day. See the clouds in the upper left corner.
Tuesday morning I headed back into the park in time to serve at the Welcome Center. There were certainly some slick spots but I managed with caution to get there safe and sound without any issues. And with the sun out the roads cleared nicely by Tuesday afternoon when I needed to drive to Mariposa to update my credentials for my PIV card. This card provides me access to the NPS computer system and requires an in-person update every 3-5 years.
As it turned out what was expected to take over an hour took less than 5 minutes. Boy was I surprised! and now I had all kinds of time before my dear friends Cathy and Joan arrived.
Cathy Scott and Joan Head came to visit me and see Yosemite on their California trip to the Redlands National Park as well as John Muir Woods. Their drive from the San Francisco Airport was ‘eventful’ and on Tuesday they made it to the Wawona entrance to Yosemite only to find it ‘chains only’ restricted. So they had to take the long way around to get to Midpines for their stay at the Bug Cabins (I’ll let them share those experiences with you . . . their experiences were ‘interesting’ !). Here we are at dinner at the June Bug Cafe.
Dinner at the June Bug Cafe was good . . . until it wasn’t! Poor Cathy!
What a great visit we had even though their accommodations weren’t stellar they did provide them with material for a great story so be sure to ask them about their time here! They also had a day in the park that was cold and rainy but still beautiful. I’m so touched that they made this trip to see me in Yosemite and I wish the weather had allowed for more activity. All in all though I think they will have a trip to remember with many stories to tell.
On my way downstairs from the Research Library to meet Cathy and Joan as they arrive at the Museum.Giving Joan a little intro to the park.
What a week it ended up being! I’m reminded of my first day walking in to the Research Library and immediately wanting to help put things in order. As a reminder of where we began, take another look at my arrival video from September 9, 2024. It was a little daunting I must say.
This past week we watched the last of the file cabinets removed and the platform built to cover the hearth of the fireplace removed. So many boxes and stacks of papers have been reviewed, identified, filed, repurposed, or recycled. By the end of this week we were able to celebrate Virginia’s 10 year anniversary with the National Park Service as Research Librarian at Yosemite National Park.
Now, watch the current library video, taken on November 14, 2024 where you can see our progress. The videos are self-explanatory but also thought you might like a few pictures of what we did this past week.
We began our week by clearing out the final filing cabinet drawers. More “ephemera” but we are pros at identifying, scanning, and recycling these papers as needed. By Wednesday morning we had these final filing cabinets empty and ready to be taken away.
Roads & Trails crew came in to pick up the final two filing cabinets and dispose of them.These gentlemen also removed the pedestal base that was used to cover the stone hearth and create a flat surface for the filing cabinets to sit on. You can now see the fireplace and its beauty.
The most fun this week was the arrival of ‘our’ Ring Tail (also called a miner’s cat.). You’ll remember we found paw prints on books indicating one was residing in our library. To commemorate our favored friend, fellow Volunteer Madeline found one that could sit on our fireplace! Take a look because it turned out to be just perfect.
Volunteer Madeline with the perfect Ring Tail. Look at that tail!And there he is – – – sitting on the mantle of the newly visible fireplace. Isn’t it beautiful.
On Thursday morning we came in with goodies to share with all as we celebrated Virginia’s 10 years with the National Park Research Library. With our limited ability to prepare baked goods we managed to bring treats for all and Elizabeth shared her pumpkin pie! A great celebration for a well deserved achievement.
A table full of goodies to share!A beautiful fireplace can be seen by all. And a new bed for Maraca is now hearth ready.Happy 10 year anniversary to Virginia and Maraca. Even Maraca has a ranger hat.
Thursday was also GIS day. GIS day provides an international forum for users of geographic information systems technology to demonstrate the applications of GIS technology. We attended a presentation that shared with us how GIS is used in Park Housing, Multi-Sensor Surveying, and Invasive Plant Management during the afternoon. You never know all the different things you will learn in the life of a volunteer-in-park.
Good times came on Friday with Volunteer Laura teaching us about water color painting. Now I will admit my abilities in the world of the arts are severely limited. But this was really fun. One of Laura’s many skills is water color painting and she gave us so many tips on ways to bring out the best. I can honestly say we all had fun together. We started off thinking we would go have Pizza at the Yosemite View Lodge but were surprised by the fact that it was closed and wouldn’t open until 5pm. So we came back to the little market, bought a couple frozen pizzas and I cooked them in my oven (I’m the only one of us with an oven.) Madeline saw that we all had special beverages and we sat and talked over pizza for almost an hour. Beer in fancy wine glasses makes it taste even better!
Fun times together .
Then it was off to Elizabeth’s cabin for class.
Laura was a great teacher to all of us. I think it is fair to say we all had fun
The week ended with a scheduled power outage in El Portal on Saturday from 9a – 6p. I drove to Mariposa to do laundry and kill some time. Returned about 3p thinking that it wouldn’t be too cold in the middle of the afternoon. I was wrong. Spent a few hours wearing my down coat and covered in a blanket and was a happy camper when the electricity came back on about 5:30! Why is it that 50 degrees can feel colder than 30 degrees some days. Brrrrr. . .
This coming week we will say so long to Laura as she begins her journey back to Kentucky. We’ll wish her safe travels and sincerely hope our paths will cross again.
Upcoming events include (1) Laura’s final day on Thursday, Nov. 21 and (2) Mara’s final day is Dec. 5.
Daughter Jennifer will be meeting me in Tuscon to join me for the drive back to Texas. I can’t wait to share this time with her. It’s been a long time since we have had a few captive days together and I will enjoy the opportunities it will afford us for casual and relaxed conversations.
Please forgive all errors, take care of yourselves, stay safe and blessings to all.
Why do I stay 3 months? I visit a specific national park as a volunteer to hopefully make a difference and leave an impact of some sort. I also visit the park, one I have never been to previously, to learn more about that park. How did it come to be, what is its history, why does it remain important? All questions I try to answer through my time there. One month is too short to even get to this level. Two months doesn’t provide enough time to become familiar with the visitors and why they visit. Three months, while likely not enough in the big picture, gives me time to gain enough history to say I am at least familiar with the important aspects of this park. As most of you know I came to work with the Research Library, an area I knew nothing about. I was also granted an opportunity to work with Interpretation and spend 1-2 days each week at the Welcome Center to answer visitor questions. Because of them I will achieve my 3-month goal and answer the questions I try to answer everywhere I go. Add to that my time working in the Research Library with a librarian that I think knows absolutely everything about Yosemite means I have an even deeper knowledge of the park history than I anticipated having at the end of my time here. These three months will be worth every day of it! Staying longer – – – no. I miss home, my family, and puppies too much to stay longer! But my 3 months here will go down as some of my best memories.
The best place for your first stop at Yosemite.
This week began with another furniture move. We completed emptying the card catalog cabinet last week and came in Monday ready to move the cabinet out of the museum library. You’ll recall in prior pictures the card catalog cabinet is not small!
The card catalog cabinet is located behind the red cart. It’s BIG!
Thanks to the help of Eric Nelson and Erik Westerlund, as well as volunteer Elizabeth Schwartz, it was successfully moved out of the library. It was not an easy task. THANKS TO ALL!
Here they are squaring things up to make the corner after the first set of stairs.
And then it was done. Here is Elizabeth striking a pose with the cabinet and all 7 boxes of drawers successfully moved to outside the museum.
All Done! and successfully as well!
So, with this move completed our next step was to look to our next priority. MORE FILING CABINETS! The last two file cabinets have 4 drawers full of documents that must be sorted (which means following through a flowchart to determine if they should be catalogued, scanned, duplicated, or discarded) to reset priorities.
NOTE: The word of the week is “ephemera” and I didn’t know what that meant until now. Ephemera in a library is a term for small, printed items that are intended to be discarded after a short time (which can be pamphlets, flyers, letters, etc.). It took us a full 3 days to get through these drawers and properly file, scan and/or discard them.
In this photo you will see 4 filing cabinets. This was at the beginning of the season and we eliminated two of them with the first file cabinet move. That left us the remaining two to empty and now we are ready to move these plus the platform they are sitting on that runs the full length of the fireplace.
I am so excited for you to see how good things look now that we have accomplished so much. There is still more to go but we will definitely get these cabinets out this week.
Amazing! Look how attractive the fireplace is now. THANK YOU MADELINE! And we will have the platform and file cabinets (which you can’t see) out this week! Can’t wait to see this completed.
The Ranger’s Club provides housing for rangers who come to work with Yosemite.The main room of the Ranger’s Club when it was dedicated on September 26, 1920.These light covers are original. LOVE the logo stamped out in the shades!The sign above the front door.
What a great side tour. All a part of learning more about the park! By the way, there is a sequoia tree in front of the Rangers Club that was planted the year it was built . . . 1920. It still stands today!
Tuesday was my day at the Welcome Center. The crowds are still here but certainly not to the same levels as in the summer. The waterfalls are mostly dry now and the roads to the higher locations are beginning to close more often as the weather turns colder. Snow has come several times up on Glacier Point and Tuolumne Meadows. No one wants to be driving those roads when it is cold and icy.
Wednesday and Thursday were spent working hard to file away or discard all that paper. VIP (Volunteer-In-Park) Laura dug her heels in deep to work on this and taught me so much about how to determine what these things were and where they should go (file, scan or trash). We also had more training on how to look up on various resources to determine if these items were already online. With her help I got into the groove and between us we made our way through these files. VIP Elizabeth continued her work on our technical side and VIP Madeline made her way through cataloguing more of our books awaiting input into circulation. We really are a great working team of VIPs!
Fridays are our day off. This past Friday Laura made her way to Glacier Park and did the Taft Point hike. Here’s a video of the view from 8,000 ft . . . Taft Point. Another great hiking point is Hetch Hetchy. Thanks to Madeline, here’s a video of their time there: Hetch Hetchy Laura & Madeline – Nov 3, 2024. Happy Hiking via my friends and their videos!
Saturday was a half day at the Welcome Center and then Madeline, Laura and I attended the cell phone camera class at the Ansel Adams Gallery. Our instructor, Derek, was terrific and taught us so much about our phones and their cameras. Definitely suggest taking this class if you are ever here at Yosemite! Look at the video Madeline put together about this and a few pictures I took. Click for video: Ansel Adams Smartphone Photography – Nov 9, 2024
Madeline and MaraLaura and MaraLoved this picture as Derek taught us about reflection shots!
It’s been an eventful week. And coming up this week are some guests arriving as watercolor paining (taught by our very own artist, VIP Laura!)
On a very personal note, today is the 2nd anniversary of my brother’s passing. He was a terrific big brother and the biggest jokester you ever met. I will never forget that laugh of his that came from deep in his core. I could not have asked for a better brother and I’m grateful for the 73 years we had together and for the times we shared. Rest in peace Mick. You are missed!
Upcoming events include (1) Friends Cathy Scott and Joan Head coming to visit this week – November 12-13; (2) Government Credential Updating in Mariposa the afternoon of 11/12, and (3) Watercolor class on Friday, 11/15 with VIP Laura.
Please forgive all errors, take care of yourselves, stay safe and blessings to all.
I learned more about our new volunteers this week. As I mentioned, they arrived late last week and this week was our first full week working together. Elizabeth Schwartz is a volunteer from Austin, Texas! She spent her working career in the tech world and since retirement has been volunteering with the Forestry Service and community organizations as well as the National Park. She enjoys finding ways to give back and to share her appreciation of the natural world. As an avid hiker and backpacker, two things I know nothing about, Elizabeth affords me an opportunity to learn more about these activities and begin to gain an understanding of the enjoyment they bring to individuals.
Laura Poulette is here from Berea, Kentucky. Laura has been a full time artist since 2015. She creates original art and illustrations, teaches watercolor workshops for adults, and has just begun volunteering with the National Park Service. Her talents are many and I know she will be a wonderful addition to the Volunteer In Parks program. She too likes hiking and had a wonderful time traveling here with her son as they camped and hiked various trails along the way. Nothing better than some quality time with your adult children. Great times to get to know them as adults.
Both of these ladies add tremendous skills to our library team. The four of us make a great team together. I feel blessed to be in their company.
Elizabeth is on your left and Laura on your right. A great picture of them as they explore Yosemite National Park!
Side Note: We also heard via instagram (see link at end of this paragraph) that Alex Honnold, the first-ever free solo climber on El Capitan (in Yosemite National Park) in June 2017, was back in Yosemite this week. For those of you who might not be familiar with him you can watch the documentary Free Solo on YouTube or Hulu.. Free solo climbing is a form of rock climbing where the climbers climb solo without ropes or other protective equipment, using only their climbing shoes and climbing chalk. Unbelievable! Amazing! Scary! Worth watching. National Geographic follows him and he has a couple other documentaries available to watch on YouTube. Look for Free Solo and follow it up with The HURT and Arctic Ascent. According to his Instagram page this week he was here in Yosemite! We wondered if he had another climb coming up???? But it doesn’t appear so. We had hoped to catch a glimpse of him but it was not to be. Take a look at this link: Alex Honnold, Free Climber.
We kicked off our week on Monday with Cataloguing Training Part 2 which, after completing, allows us to add new books to the library collections. After training we made our way to the NPS employee and volunteer uniform caches in an effort to straighten and organize the areas. These are important as we, as Volunteers, borrow our uniforms from the cache and must return them when our service ends. Employee caches work the same way. Unfortunately, as things are returned they become a bit messy. Here’s a look at the “before” and “after” pictures.
Before it looked like this:
And then we came along . . .
The dynamic foursome – – Mara, Madeline, Elizabeth and Laura!
And that which was once chaos is now organized and quite tidy!
Finally, while off site at this location we were in the Building & Maintenance warehouse and had the pleasure of seeing the wall of fire-fighter t-shirts. Tradition is for the firemen who come to assist from other areas to leave one of their company t-shirts for the wall. Take a look!
The wall goes beyond what my photo captured and is full of t-shirts! Pretty impressive.
Tuesday I spent at the Welcome Center. Not much new here today as all roads were open and the weather was good. I must say I really enjoy the challenge of this service. You never know the questions that will be asked and they range from common ones I can answer to some challenging ones I must get help with. This Tuesday I met the cutest young man. Shaun is a 12 year old boy who loves adventure. Here’s a picture of him in his wheelchair which he decorated as a helicopter. He was an absolute joy to talk with.
Shaun Wahl, a very entertaining 12 year old. He tells me he has CP but that doesn’t appear to have stopped him from loving life!
I’m looking forward to Veterans Day as I’ll be working that holiday here at the Welcome Center. Thanksgiving too if all works out and they need me.
Wednesday and Thursday at the Library were busy busy busy. We emptied the old card catalog files, recycled the paper, and prepared the cabinet for moving out. That artsy Laura is going to do something special with some of the catalog cards for the Centennial celebration. Can’t wait to see what she comes up with! One more piece of outdated furniture will find its way out of the library giving us even more space to work in.
We are posing on the empty cabinet. It will be moved out next week. Beautiful cabinet that I’d love to take home!
So, this week we marked off several projects on the To-Do list . . . (1) Card Catalog file emptied and paper recycled; (2) Circulation and Accession files updated and enhanced (thank you Elizabeth!); (3) multiple books added to Circulation and updated with call numbers (Thanks Madeline); (4) books mended and repairs (thanks Laura) and (4) accession and deaccessions operating procedures re-defined and processes updated. This team really is amazing.
Next week we will be moving the card file out of the library, updating and prioritizing our remaining projects, and all while continuing the work to update, add, and repair books in the collections. Never a dull moment! Do note that our mandate of leaving the library table clear each night continues . . . we are nothing if not committed to a tidy work area. Love it.
Halloween celebration at the Community Center was a fun evening. Sal’s taco truck did not make it (Sal in hospital for some much needed rest) but Madera BBQ was there and we had plenty to eat. They had a card for Sal and everyone signed it. He’s a pretty important staple to this small community. Everyone (except us) came dressed for the holiday and a fun night was had by all.
Batwoman (Virginia from the Library) wasn’t able to attend but she did dress accordingly for the day!El Portal’s 3 Little PigsMeet Pumpkin – the friendliest dog around. He loves coming to these events! His mom, Nadia, and he live in the Motor Inn (the cabins) and Nadia works in the Museum archives.
Upcoming events include (1) Ansel Adams iPhone Camera Photography Class on 11/9 (2) Friends Cathy Scott and Joan Head coming to visit on November 12-13! (3) Government Credential Updating in Mariposa the afternoon of 11/12.
I did finish listening to the audible version of the book, Take less, Do More and highly recommend it. A good, thought provoking way to look at ourselves and the way we see things in new ways. I strongly recommend it for a great listen.
Please forgive all errors, take care of yourselves, stay safe and blessings to all.
