No, being a mail carrier isn't rocket science (as one of the Wellington clerks quipped to me today), but there are sure a lot of little things you have to remember, and a whole series of tasks you have to do quickly enough to make it back for the final mail pick up at 5:00 pm. The route I'm assigned to is the longest in our office (somewhere in the neighborhood of 700 boxes) and is evaluated at 9 hours--which means that's how long they expect me to take from beginning to end: even on the heaviest of days...like most Mondays when many-feet-tall stacks of ads, catalogues, magazines, and political fliers must be cased and delivered along with the usual bundles of mail and parcels...and no, I can't throw out all that "junk mail" for you, it's against the law...I can even get in trouble for calling it "junk mail." Anyway, it's really the political mail ("more o' that *$#%! political $&%!" as Dee puts it), that's really inundated us lately. It's cool to be living in Ohio during an important campaign season, and to know that my vote really matters this time, but on the day after a boisterous presidential debate the office is flooded with mailers that eat up time and space in the case.
So far I've struggled to keep my pace quick enough to be able to make my route's evaluated time. On the day I carried the whole route for the first time, Dee came in and helped with the majority of my casing so that I'd be able to head out onto the route by 9:30 am. Even though I didn't take a break for lunch, and only squeezed in ONE quick bathroom run (and spent the rest of the day dehydrating myself and praying that my bladder wouldn't explode), I still barely made it back to unload by 4:15. It was grueling.
Once I get to know things a bit better and can reduce the amount of time I have to spend on navigating and sorting, I think the job might actually be enjoyable. Despite various hazards I've encountered during delivery (already been cornered by loose aggressive dogs, and had to avoid ants, spiders, bees, and wasps that seem to love to congregate on mailboxes...I've even found a few bird's nests...with eggs in them no less!), there are still moments when I'm caught unaware by the loveliness of the countryside and my good fortune to be out in it on a regular basis. I've seen red-tailed hawks perched on fence posts, delivered packages at homes situated at the end of old gravelly roads that wind past herds of bleating sheep and goats, and on Saturday I watched an enormous glider float over a stand of brilliantly colored trees to soar in for a landing at a tiny airport tucked in behind the cornfields.
I wish I could have taken pictures of all of this, but as it is I have no time to waste on such self indulgence...and I'd probably get in trouble for doing it on the job anyway.
Here, instead, are a few entirely random shots of the usual autumn loveliness that I took on my own time.
The dome of Oberlin's observatory (just over 2 blocks from our house)...
A reservoir bordering the Oberlin Arboretum...
A jazzed-up portrait of an assemblage of trees and vines I encountered while strolling through the Carlisle Reservation...
...and a more natural view of a Carlisle grove...
Such great texture!
Another attempt at iphoto artsiness: duckweed and reflections on the Carlisle wetlands...
A shot of our front yard taken from the attic window (it's sure going to be difficult to leave this awesome house when its owners return in a few months)...
The color in these sugar maples is unbelievable!
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