Listen to the 'Experts'

"Always listen to the experts. They'll tell you what can't be done and why. Then go ahead and do it". --- Don Ward.

And so it goes...: In 1969 my Mom was told by my first grade teacher, Ms. Davis, "Your daughter will not make it out I'd first grade.". I had failed the first of two marking periods in Math and Spelling. At the end of the year I had straight A's. I was told in May of 1974 I did not have the ability to run fast and that I should not wear sneakers. In October of 1976 I received Honorable Mention All County, Varsity Letter as a Freshman on our Cross-Country Team. This after just beginning to run long distance July 1st 1976. I was told that men in the Marines would never accept me. Nearly three years after being a Marine, my Captain at 2:30 am called to me, after I put in a sixteen hour shift. He asked me to step outside. I thought, Uh Oh. Captain Smith said, "At Ease, Corporal. I wanted to tell you something. I never believed women belonged in the Marine Corps. But you were one of the few Marines that didn't complain about the bad food and hours put in. Then I heard you had ran at 4:30am in the morning behind the firing range. Thank you. You changed my mind. You belong."---Jody-Lynn Reicher

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2023 Holiday Letter from the Reicher's

Well, I didn't think I'd be doing a Holiday Letter this year, but here goes... The Spirit of Norm is in the air. As the wind whips with minus a true snowstorm. In hopes the Farmers Almanac was correct, I pray to the snow gods. Rain ensued the month of December thus far. We have nearly tripled the amount of rainfall usual for December in New Jersey. And I've witnessed its treachery. Storms such as these hit us hardest in July. Then remained fairly intense through til about early October. Our daughters are doing well, Thank God. Their Dad would be proud of them. Our oldest Sarah, now a Junior at UCLA pursuing her degree in Chemical Engineering. She's digging the whole California scene. Which I thought it was for her. She's had some good traveling on her off times from school. For her March 2023 week off, she drove her and a few friends out to Lake Tahoe and went downhill skiing for a first in nearly 5 years. She had to rent the ski equipment. Funny enough when

Sledging the Hammer

"You could have a steam trainIf you'd just lay down your tracks..."---Peter Gabriel's 'Sledgehammer' lyrics. This is not the tune that lay in my mind this morning as I reminisced about yesterday's volunteers to help on trail crew. However, as I looked up the proper definition of sledging that song popped up. I say sledging, which is my own take on swinging a hammer that we call a "Double Jack". The Single Jack is six pounds. I know that because our regular crew of five including me and one staff supervisor are handling Harriman State Park Trails, and have to carry about four of those, two shaping hammers, along with a hoist, belay bag with heavy equipment, first aid kit, double Jack, three 18lb rock bars, a lopper, three buckets, three eye to eyes, two burlap straps, two green wrapping straps, two pick Mattox, a roe hoe or two, a bar for either the two ton or one ton hoist, the feathers with pegs for splitting rocks that we drill... s

It Follows Me...

One may wonder what would inspire someone to work hard labor voluntarily. For me it’s the love of many things. It’s the passion that won’t be broken. Because there are so many aspects to such service for me, that it may seem beyond comprehension. I’d compare it to my youthful desire to enter the military as a young child. Then for a multitude of reasons only to follow through thirteen years later at age eighteen entering the Marines. There were things that followed me throughout my life. Sometimes they were questions of how I ever gave up my over decade’s life dream to become a New Jersey State Trooper. My childhood desire to never wed—to never have any serious relationships with another human being. I desired only service in military and law enforcement nearly my whole childhood. Too the extent that even one of my Marine Corps superiors expressed to me last July, “I never thought you’d ever get married. It just wasn’t who you were. You were always a loner.” I replied, “Yeah. I know.

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