A fitting quote for the election year

"A vote is like a rifle: its usefulness depends upon the character of the user."

- Theodore Roosevelt

Memories of the past twelve years in pictures

2004

Cape Hatteras National Seashore: My first park ranger job and I got climb this lighthouse everyday multiple times. I spent from March to October in 2004, 2005, and 2007. Enjoyed every minute despite often finding sand everywhere you did not it want it to be. I hated when I found sand in my bed for the life of me I never could figure how it got there.

Cape Hatteras Light Station is the tallest lighthouse in the country at 208 feet tall.  Imagine having to climb that multiple times a day but was worth every step it took get to the top.

This one of the many views from the top of the lighthouse and it's the Cape and Diamond shoals beyond it are the very reason the lighthouse was built in the first place. This area off the coast of North Carolina is known as the Graveyard of the Atlantic. Today you can still find many shipwrecks either hiding on shore after a storm in the waters themselves including the ironclad the Monitor from the civil war was sunk somewhere off the coast in 1862 just nine months after facing off the confederate ironclad the Merrimack or also know as C.S.S. Virginia..

Got enjoy sitting through a hurricane which as frightful as it fascinating. Hurricane Alex was a tropical depression just hanging out there in the ocean about 175 miles south/southeast of Charleston South Carolina on July 31st. Seem to drift slightly south with no real change until late in the day on August 1st when was classified as a tropical storm. When I went to bed on August 2 it was still south of the Outer Banks and a Tropical Storm but by the time I arrived at work on the 3rd it had officially been classified as a hurricane the first of the season. Early on 3 August, Alex had become a hurricane, and began lashing the Southeast coastline with gusty winds, rip currents, and intense rain squalls embedded within the cyclone’s rotating feeder bands.  During the afternoon, several reports of sustained winds near 75 mph and gusts nearing 100 mph around the Cape Hatteras area were received by the Hurricane Center associated with then Category 2. If you can believe we opened the visitor center and museum and even a visitor or two came in. By mid morning headquarters which is located in Manteo which was north and east off the island itself made the decision to close the facilities and send us back home to our 1950s trailers in the housing area where seasonal rangers lived. I sat the storm out with my housemate watching Lord of the Rings on a laptop since the electricity went out for a short while. While Alex never made landfall meaning the eye never hit land it reminded me the true power of weather just like a tornado ripping through tornado alley. Weather is an awesome power and it best to respect and to be prepared so you stay safe.

2004/2005 Colorado

After a great spring, summer and most of fall I came home but not to Kansas but to Colorado where my parents relocated and also where my sister, brother in law  and my  aunt and uncle lived.  I spent a cold winter enjoying the snow and mountains. I worked my very first day after Thanksgiving at Best Buy crazy and I have to say I am glad that I never have gone shopping on that day it's crazy. We welcomed a new addition to our family when my niece Allison Grace was born in February to my sister and brother in law. I enjoyed spending time with my family and getting to know my sweet niece.

2005 Return to North Carolina for another fun season climbing the lighthouse.

Here are pictures of the steps that every Cape Hatteras Park Ranger has climb. There are 257 steps to the top.

Did you know that in 1999 they moved the lighthouse in order to save it from encroaching ocean? They moved it 2,900 feet to the southeast.

2006

Allie celebrated her 1st birthday in balloon style.

It was so fun to watch her playing with the balloons

 I be will continuing this later but here's what I have for now..

Sometimes life feels like Calvin and Hobbes strip

a New Year and a New Home Part 1

As we enter the second month of 2016 I am overwhelmed of how many changes that have happened over this past year.  In January of last year it was decided it was time for a change in location.  After much discussion and research it was time to move back to Kansas after deciding there was no way we afford to move closer to my sister her family and my aunt and uncle who live just south of Denver. So back to Kansas where we lots of family, the cost of living was much cheaper, and we could grow tomatoes.  So the house went on the market in spring after spending the winter fixing and decluttering etc.  In the midst of months preparing and putting the house on the market my health decided to make a drastic change. I seizures and been having them off and on since I was two years old but for the most part since 1995 they been pretty stable but start in 2014 they increased the doctor changed my medication to Vimpat to try to help control the frequency which for while it worked most of the time. Early 2015 they started up again and even happened at work which had never happened before I couldn't go to work for almost two months because the nature of and frequency of the seizures and health welfare of me and the senior residents I assisted but  I was able to return to work in June. During this period my doctor once again changed the medication again this time to trileptal (oxcarbazepine) which side effect extreme low sodium which  landed me in both and urgent care and the ER about three weeks after taking the medication to solve this problem I was given an IV of sodium chloride  to boost my sodium levels. One of the side effects of low sodium was seizures but they were a different type of seizure I could easily tell the difference.  I spent the remaining of my time on that medication which was approximately two more months drinking Gatorade and eating salty foods including beef jerky which is yummy but even the enjoyment of it does have its negatives. In my case its TMJ and boy with the amount of jerky I had to eat during this time caused severe discomfort in my jaw. In early July my doctor began to taper me off the medication which was causing the low sodium levels and started on a new medication. For those of you who never taken seizure or medication effect more chronic conditions you can never go cold turkey you most always decrease slowly on the outgoing medication and increase slowly on the medication which you are starting. In late June the house had an offer which was accepted so we spent the month of July sorting and packing. I cannot even begin to count how many times I was asked why are you moving from Colorado to Kansas it seem to stump them. Gave them the reason stated above but I understood I had lived in Colorado since 2004 and I was even born there and I love mountains but couldn't afford to stay there as much as I wanted and I know that with family living there we will be visiting often.  Goodbye Colorado I see you again...