.

.
Borrego Springs, CA

Sunday, October 7, 2012

The flag was at half mast today

As I drove the 30+ miles out to the Pea Island VC this morning, I noticed that the flags at the Coast Guard Station and the Nat’l Seashore Campground were at half mast.  My first thought was, oh oh, I hadn’t listened to the news this morning before I left.  I was hoping there wasn’t another nut shooting people to pieces somewhere in the country.

When I got to the VC, I raised the flag to full mast and then brought it down to half mast.  I believe that is the correct flag etiquette to use.  After getting everything else ready and opening up, I decided I’d better find a way to find out what was going on.  I knew visitors would be asking about it, and I wanted to have the correct answer.  I called the National Park Service at one of their National Seashore Visitors Centers.  It turns out that today was the National day of showing respect and remembering all fire fighters that had been lost in the line of duty.  I never knew there was a specific day set aside for this remembering, or that the flag should be flown at half mast. 

It was a pretty ordinary busy day at the VC until I noticed someone driving their car along the levy out to the nature trail overlook.  The car kept going past the closed sign along the levy section to the place that hurricane Irene had broken through it.  Foot traffic is all that is allowed on the trail.  So, I called the refuge Law Enforcement (LE) officer to let him know.  Last week all volunteers had been given a directive to call LE immediately for any rule violation on the refuges.  Apparently a volunteer had confronted a rule breaker, and the refuge wants to be sure we don’t do that.

_MG_0784

As I waited for LE to arrive, I watched the perpetrator through one of the scopes by the picture windows.  I kind of felt like Jessica Fletcher of “Murder She Wrote.”  Ninja  Ha ha!  It turned out it was just a contractor that will be doing some work on the pump house near the break in the levy, but for a little while it added some excitement and intrigue to my day.  I watched this guy put on some white boots and walk out into the water on the far side of the pond which is that top line of foliage in the distance as you look out the window.  After walking around a boat that was stuck in the sand, he emerged barefoot and walked back to his car.

_MG_0786

That levy on the far side is a half a mile away, and using this Zeiss scope I could see his every move in very clear detail.  These scopes are top of the line, and were donated to the refuge by the Carl Zeiss company.  I’ve never been to a refuge that has three scopes like this of such high quality.  I decided this evening to Google this model, and found out each one is worth $3000!  And that doesn’t include the price of each of the three Zeiss tripods that they are mounted on.  I thought I owned a pretty nice scope, but the quality and clearness of the images using this scope almost makes me drool.  Every day, visitors are just taken aback by what they can see through these instruments.

Well, I didn’t solve any murder mysteries today, but at least the two little mysteries I did have added a little pizazz to the day.

Thanks for stopping by… talk to you later,  Judy

17 comments:


  1. I never knew that about today being a day set aside to honor them either.
    ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
    Karen and Steve
    (Our Blog) RVing: Small House... BIG Backyard
    http://kareninthewoods-kareninthewoods.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oh man! Those are much too rich for my blood! :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Colombo Belt! No perp is going to get by you... ;c)

    ReplyDelete
  4. You did good today Judy. Sad not many of us know about this special day.

    ReplyDelete
  5. You would think if someone had reason to drive past a "road closed" sign, he would have the courtesy to stop and tell you what he was doing. I did a google last week on Zeiss and nearly fell out of my chair when I saw the price of the least expensive ones. They must be good!

    ReplyDelete
  6. I heard nothing about this day on the news. Wonder why they wouldn't ask all Americans to fly our flags in honor of those brave men and women?

    ReplyDelete
  7. Well, Jessica, you didn't solve a murder today, and I hope things don't get too much more exciting than that. ;) I'm like your visitors, I always want to know why the flag is at half-staff.

    ReplyDelete
  8. At our age we take our excitement where we can find it!

    ReplyDelete
  9. The refuge is safe with you on the job, Judy.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Very nice of the company to donate scopes like that, especially three of them. Seems to me that, that is a great place to have them, so visitors can see the wildlife all that much better. Who know after looking through them maybe the odd person will go home and order one.

    Kevin and Ruth
    www.travelwithkevinandruth.com

    ReplyDelete
  11. Have you tried any photography using that scope? It sure looks like a great piece of equipment!

    ReplyDelete
  12. We learned about the Firefighter Remembrance Day at church yesterday morning. Nothing like going to church to stay in touch with God and His world!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Yes, it is a shame there isn't more news coverage of this day, for sure...

    ReplyDelete
  14. I hadn't heard about Firefighter Remembrance Day either. Nice to honor those who have lost their lives in the line of duty for us.

    Kind of exciting to think you are catching a bad guy, even if he had a purpose there. Good eagle eye, Judy! I wonder what happened to his white boots - did they get sucked down into mud? :)

    ReplyDelete
  15. Having volunteered at a state park front gate, that involved flag raising, it would be nice if they had a calendar for those certain days when the flag is suppose to be half mast and WHY! lol
    Those are incredibly great scopes donated to the refuge, a perfect place for them!
    Thank goodness for no murders, but I can understand wanting something to spice up things! :)

    ReplyDelete
  16. That's what we need, Judy! Some Pizzaz :)

    ReplyDelete