A grey morning, but didn't freeze overnight. Finally got the tv going, turned out that this TV requires the red, yellow, white plugs and cable to work. Had to phone shaw to work it out. Those guys are good. Got my INR done and finally got in almost 2 hours of work on Forks In The Trail.
Saw a pair of wood ducks out in the creek, they along with a few mallards were checking all along the bank area. M's mom looked good yesterday. She seems content.

PART 2

THE DISPATCHERS

L

ike the Lookout Men, Dispatchers were all men; women did not enter the male domain of Ranger Districts until the 1960’s.  Until that time the Districts for the most part were in rural areas and like some other professions it was unheard of to have female employees.

 Dispatchers in the Ranger hierarchy were the “low man on the pole”.  They had a range of ages, the young ones often went on to become Assistant Rangers, the older ones were usually men who had had a different career and due to circumstances, often physical health, gravitated to the position.

 Their office skills were quite varied, but if there was a common denominator, they, almost without exception, had a fetish for neatness.

K

arl  

  Karl was the McBride dispatcher when I went there first as a Cruiser then later as Assistant Ranger.  He was a skinny little fellow, probably in his 60’s.  He was the epitome of “hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil”.  Physically he wasn’t very strong and had been ill for years (I remember him eating yeast cakes) so his duties were confined to the office only.  He almost always was the first one in the office in the morning.  Like all other dispatchers it was one of his duties to maintain radio schedules with the Lookouts and to send and receive messages from the regional headquarters and other districts.

  Except when he was away on his two-week annual leave, Karl washed and waxed the floors in our three-room office every Saturday morning. He didn’t receive nor did he expect any special consideration for this use of his time.  Unlike most other dispatchers he was like a wraith in our office, hardly heard and hardly seen.