Celebration and Grief

My favorite grandson, formerly known as Mr. Beans, is home from his training at Fort Sill, OK.  (He's now formally known as SPC Beans.)

His training concluded on Wednesday morning and he immediately jumped in the car headed towards home.  Of course we had to go celebrate his accomplishments!

We chose to go to a local distillery.  I'm not much of a whiskey type gal, but I do think these bottles are beautifully lined up.

Then we went up to the third floor and they have a platform overlooking the barrel aging room (that's what I call it anyway).  Hundreds of barrels of whiskey.  Apparently this distillery sells a lot of whiskey to Canada, but that's going to change obviously.  President Musk and FLOTUS Trump have no idea how bad they're hurting this country, the worst of it may not be visible for months.

The distillery is in a commercial area.  Their third floor balcony has an amazing view of Pikes Peak.  (I should have ventured outside to get a better shot).

I tried a Kentucky Mule made with 80% bourbon.  It was actually quite delicious.  Notice anything else?  They have glass straws!  In Colorado we believe in sustainability--no plastic bags and we're okay with paper or glass straws!

Lots of cheersing to celebrate SPC Beans and each other.

They have a big game room also.  I'm a big loser at everything including thumb war.

Of course Pappy was the big winner--he's good at everything.  Beans was a close second.

My second drink was a Raspberry Mojito.  The distillery also distills run, vodka and liqueurs.  It was delicious!

This is my daughter congratulating her dad after he beat her at air hockey many times.  Lack of respect don't you think?  Beans was the overall air hockey winner for the night.

Same result with this game.

This picture reminds me of years past.  Adorable!

Good time was had by all.

Then I went home to terrible news.

While we were out celebrating many of my friends were receiving the above email notifying them that the were being terminated.  As you can see by my friend's reaction,  (NT) she and a thousand others aren't too happy.  The worse part is that they had the gall to say their performance wasn't up to standards.

I say BULLSHIT!  NT has worked for the past eight seasons as a seasonal at YELL and she was finally offered a permanent position last fall.  NT is one of the hardest working people at the gate, she's always on the go and working above and beyond what is expected.  Her performance ratings have always been Exceeds Expectations.  I always told her that if I owned a business she would be one of the first people I'd hire due to her work ethic.  In fact, I wrote all that up in a letter of recommendation for her that maybe contributed to her being offered the permanent position.

There are faces, stories, and families behind all these senseless firings.  The National Park Service Employees Facebook page is filled with these faces and stories today as many grieve the positions they worked years to achieve only to be let go via email late at night on a holiday weekend.  Many are now homeless because they live in government housing, they are without healthcare and they are without income.  Each and every story breaks my heart.  These rangers were not eligible for the buyout program because of their probationary status.  I wish the media would document some of their stories.

If you visit a park this summer expect that it may be closed due to no fee collectors, restrooms will be locked, visitor centers will be unstaffed, garbage will not be collected, no EMS or law enforcement, etc.  Rangers fill all these positions.  Be extra kind to any park ranger as they've been through hell the last couple weeks.

My heart also goes out to the 3,400 Forest Service employees who have been terminated.  Who the hell is going to fight the fires this year?

Shame on you if you voted for the piece of shit!