We are in our final week of working at Fort Necessity – at least for this year.  We might be back.  It has been a good place to work and we enjoyed being so close to Ohio.  So today I wanted to highlight a few things that aren’t big enough to get a post of their own.  These are random thoughts about being here and pictures of things we saw while here.

We have enjoyed working with lots of different volunteers.  Most of the people who do living history at Fort Necessity are volunteers, so Tom stood out in the meadow with Bryan, Joe, and Nick as well as Rangers Mike, Brian, and Josh.  On rainy days the “soldiers” would often come inside for talks and demonstrations.  This led to Joe and Tom clowning around, pretending they were the statues in our lobby.  Tom also had a day where he gave his talk in the theater because there were a bunch of people while it was raining outside.

Besides the soldiers, we sometimes get people who are oddly dressed in the Visitors Center.  One day a dinosaur showed up.  Another day a teenager was dressed in colonial costume – so she would “fit in.”  Very random.

We have lots of wildlife here at Fort Necessity.  The meadow has been a haven for butterflies this summer and Tom has enjoyed the challenge of taking pictures of some of them.  We have a doe and twin fawns who live in our RV clearing and we see them almost every day.  They don’t run away when they see us, but they watch us carefully.  We also have three wild turkeys who wander through periodically.  You can usually here where they are in the woods by their call.  At night we hear coyotes and owls.  Although we do have a black bear with three cubs living in our woods, we haven’t seen her.

The meadow is home to abundant wildflowers.  We have enjoyed seeing them bloom through their seasons.  Right now we have lots of goldenrod and asters.  Earlier we had chickory, joe pye weed, Queen Anne’s lace, and lots of rudbeckia.  And those are just the ones I know the names of.  Plenty of others that I can’t identify but still enjoy.

We have close calls with people we almost know.  For instance, yesterday a woman visited who was from Mansfield.  She lives about a mile from my parents.  One day when I was working at the Tavern, a family stopped by who attend Grove City UMC where my sister-in-law is the music director.  I talked to another visitor from Victoria, Vancouver Island.  Turns out we walked past his house when we visited Victoria.  It is always fun to find these random connections to people.

We love our Junior Rangers and they come in all ages and sizes.  The cutest ones are, of course, the littlest.  But we also get adults doing Junior Rangers.  Yesterday I had a young man who told me it was his 164th Jr. Ranger badge.

One of the things I really appreciate about Fort Necessity is their lack of single-use plastic bags.  Instead, they sell reusable bags.  I ask people if they need a bag.  Most people say no.  If they say yes, I explain about purchasing a reusable bag.  Because the large bags are only $1, many people are glad to get another souvenir.  Others decide they don’t need a bag.  I’ve only had one person all summer who got irate about us charging for bags.  Amazing how reasonable people can be.

Working at Fort Necessity has been fun and we’ve enjoyed the random things we’ve seen and done.  Each day is a new adventure – if you know how to look for it!