Keeping busy

Just a funny picture of me working on Steve's house. Can't wait to get it done so he can have a big party. This is proof that when I go there, I actually work - STEVE is the one that just goofs off!!

 

It's like Christmas

Woo hoo!

Fire jobs for next summer were just posted today! I briefly looked over them, and the possibilities are endless! Where should I apply to this summer? What state looks tasty and enticing? Which agency do I want to work for? Engines, hotshots, helitack... So many choices!

 

Snow, fire, and IRON

Retail = not so much fun. Amen to all you out there who do this for a living. It takes a certain type of person to persist in that job, and that person is NOT me! Two weeks is plenty enough for me, thank you very much. Yeah, I'm probably quitting. OK, most definitely quitting. I don't mind do a public service (firefighting, even public works or other crap) but dealing with crabby holiday shoppers is no punishment I wish upon anyone. But I did get a sick discount on a Burton snowboard set-up and my parents got a new treadmill, so I'd say it was a worthwhile experiment in my seasonal job hunt. ;) Plus, I'd say there is a pretty gosh darn good chance that I'll be lighting fires in either South Carolina or Tennessee by the end of January.

Speaking of fire, just found out today that they probably aren't filling my job from this summer at Red Rock Lakes this year. I was thinking of moving on anyway, so it's not a big deal, but it would have been nice to at least have that option. There will be jobs open in eastern Montana, but I can't say I liked that area nearly as much - the Missouri breaks are like lots of small squished mini-mountains, but it's super dry and not a lot of trees outside of the floodplain. I'll think about it... But if that's all that's open, I'll probably be leaving the fish and feathers for the forest circus. We'll deal with that when I need to.

So now, I am going to indulge an obscene amount of money for a membership at Lifetime Fitness, the ultimate gym. Gotta start getting in gear for the next fire season!

Besides that, nothing much new aside from the usual antics. Monday night football, working on Steve's house, coffee, and wishing for snow... This is the essence of my Michigan Winter thus far. I did stay up until after 1 am watching "Love, Actually" last night. Anybody who hasn't seen it and has any sort of romantic side, you should watch it. And if you have a girlfriend, buy it for them. They'll probably give you a kiss when you get done watching it together. :)

Retail and whitetail

I think mother nature took pity on me and sent me a sign. Right after I wrote how I haven't seen deer around here, I saw them just down the street from me yesterday evening. Three fat does, running across the soccer field in front of the elementary school... Right next to where the just cut down three or four massive, 80+ foot Austrian pines, probably remenants of a farmer's planting "back in the day". Until last week, these trees stood in a row, but now only one still stands - on the school property, and I remember having to maneuver my little ZTR Bobcat mower around its massive trunk and under its limbs when I worked for the schools. Shame on them!

By the way, I'm realizing that you should NEVER tell your retail employer you can work whenever. They take advantage of your flexibility and decide to schedule you every weekend evening until 11 pm. That's what I get for being generous I guess!

turkey-induced coma

AOL doesn't give you the option to type in our own "Mood", but if I could, it would say: Feeling FAT. ;)

Killing some time before another busy evening filling with friends, good times, and beer. I do that a lot lately. A little too much, as my pants haven't fit quite right this week, and I've turned nearly nocturnal. Heh heh. I plan on getting back in shape as soon as I'm done with this 2 week cough/cold/no voice crap. Anybody else want to get in shape with me? Getting fit with friends is a great motivator!

Anyway, reading the news and heard about "van-sized boulders" falling on the freeway in Colorado and made miss it. Yeah, it sounds weird - not that I want the rock coming through my windshield, but anywhere that even inanimate objects "fight back" is my kind of place! Mountain vs. Freeway!

Random

Another typical overcast, grey, dreary Michigan "winter" day. The kind of day where all the colors somehow bleed into one. Sure, there's green... there's blue... but really, it's just all GREY when it comes down to it.

I looked out the window to the wetlands next to our house and, for no particular reason, thought about how long it has been since we had deer run through our backyard. 12 years ago, it used to happen all the time; even up until a couple years ago, we'd get a few confused whitetails dallying around the swing set. But this city has a way of destroying anything natural and beautiful like none other. Trees! Oh my gosh! They aren't paying tax dollars, so they must GO! We could always use another Home Depot! Woops, there I go ranting again. ;) In only a couple years, I've seen the rest of the small pockets of forest get raized, and there really isn't anywhere left for the deer to go! They might not ever come through my backyard again, and that little detail is kindof sad to me. We did have a fox come through this year, and there are coyotes that creep around - but that scares the crap out of many surburbanites, Protect little Fifi! Protect your children! Always makes front page of the news when they "rediscover" these clever canines. Next time I see one, I'll give him a little wink and think, "I know you're not dangerous but it's funny to see how much you scare people, little coyote!"

No more deer in my backyard here in Michigan... Then I thought of just how cool it was to live in Colorado and, probably even moreso, Montana in the wildlife aspect. Moose! Bugling elk! Bobcats! I've seen all of these literally right outside my door. If I took a stroll from my front porch, chances are I would see eagles, coyotes almost the size of small wolves running in packs (in Rocky Mt), or even wolf prints in Montana! I've even been startled by the eerie calls of Snow Owls in the middle of the night. Seems so simple, but it is really a special priviledge that I've had these past two summers. Sigh. But I'll get back there soon enough!

My insomnia has reared it's sleepless head again. It happens every year at just about this time, but I THINK (stupidly optimistic, perhaps) it won't be as bad as the 3 weeks of hell last year. I'd like to think it's just from this badass cough syrup that's been keeping me from getting even sicker than I've been this week... We'll see. And, if history proves to be correct again, my "seasonal affective disorder" (winter depression) comes after the insomnia. Fortunately, I've had a few years to figure out how to handle it best. EXERCISE! SLEEP! HAPPY THOUGHTS! LOTS OF TRAVEL! MORE EXERCISE! It's not foolproof and I have to consciously work at it, otherwise these GREY days taint me with a GREY mood!

What else is random? Hmm, might get a bit of snow Wednesday night. I'm looking forward to it, as always. Snow = plow trucks = late night fun! No, I don't plow snow, but I know people who do... Without saying anything incriminating, we'll just say there is nothing like seeing the city totally SHUT DOWN, not a car on the road, everything blanketed in untouched snow, so much silence, save the low hum of the plow truck... Something hypnotic about the way a heavy snow comes at the windshield in the dark... Induces great conversation and a surreal atmosphere. Yes, I am in fact romanticising the primitive job of scraping snow from pavement using a large diesel truck with a big metal blade strapped to the underbelly. ;) And I can't wait for that snow to fly!! I'll be looking out my window for those blinking red lights...

Another random thought, I just checked my online art portfolio, and a girl had asked if she could do a painting off of a photograph I had taken. Of course I agreed, and I finally saw her finished product... impressive!

Actually I'll link to another pic I like from somebody at DeviantArt that I relate to my plow rides. It's not kosher to post the pic on here w/out their permission, so you'll just have to click the link to see it. :)

It's about time!

Woo hoo!

Better than Ezra coming to the Majestic Theatre on Saturday! Considering how many concerts I've missed recently, good thing I listened to the radio for once!

Yeah been busy yet have nothing very exciting to update on. Interviews with a few retail stores (yippee) and an interview at a ski resort actually in MICHIGAN (gasp! yes, only 3 hrs away!) and yadda yadda. Now, as always, out to the bar with my favorite men.

instincts

"And there's no need to be coy, that is something you can do upon your own..."

Just when I was letting my guard down too. Friends kick ass. Don't forget that.

Cheers to being single until somebody convinces me it's better otherwise.

*****************************************

Sunday:

Yeah, I edited this severely. Small speed bump in the adventure ride of my life. :) All in all though, Saturday was SO MUCH FUN and us girls were SO HOT! I decided I'm not moving, I'm going to work here (retail, here I come!) and probably do the on-call firefighter thing, and if I play my cards right, I'll get an apartment for 6 months until I move hopefully back to Montana. Things are looking up, and I'm feelin' good!

More aurora photos

Look in the sky again tonite! Might be another light show!

Here are some more pictures I took last night, plus a few from the eclipse a few weeks ago. When I took the pics and put them on my computer, they were black. With some adjustment of the exposure, though, the northern lights were grainy, but visible. If anybody else wants to try their luck, I kept my shutter open for 1"-2". Heather suggests trying to meter against the black sky, but I'm not sure how to do that. :)

Northern Lights!

My mind is still numb from playing hours of Halo with Jeff today, but I'm still happy I got to see my long-lost Seattle friend Brian! He made a cameo appearance at Jeff's party and though we didn't get to spend a lot of time together, it's always good fun. And what better way to end the evening tonite than by seeing the NORTHERN LIGHTS?!

Yes, in the suburbs of Detroit, I saw the Aurora borealis! I looked up in the sky and saw this crazy glowing green stream of lights going across the sky, flashing and dancing and fading and getting brighter... I had never seen them before and I definitely didn't expect to see them this far south and close to the city. Now I want to go up to the Keweenaw. Why not??

I of course had to go and attempt to photograph it. Didn't work so well, but by lightening the exposure of the picture on my computer... ehhh, definitely doesn't do it justice. I did spend more time than you would probably think healthy lying on the driveway, bundled up in fleece, watching the flickering lights in a peaceful awe.

Life is good.

My first Ebay selling experience

I did it.

I'm selling something on ebay. I don't think I'm supposed to directly promote anything on my blog that I am selling, but I can post a picture and give you hints, right?

Goodbye, hot shoes. You have been replaced! (Assuming I can sell them, that is.)

If you want to find them, they are women's size 9 Ellie brand stilettos, model called "Sydney". It will be listed until Nov. 10th. ;)

Silver lining??

Feeling Grumpy

So how are you supposed to see the silver lining, when the ENTIRE SKY IS OVERCAST, GREY, AND UNIFORMILY SHITTY?! (Please notice the extended metaphor.)

Heh heh, not to worry. I have found one bit of news that is moderately good. A few townships/cities around us had proposals to aquire new parkland and/or nature areas and/or trails, and a couple passed. Commerce Twp voted to preserve open land; Milford approved a trail connecting to Kensington Metropark; West Bloomfield passed pedestrian and bike safety paths; Eminem's current place of residence, Oakland Twp (and where I worked earlier this summer) rejected bike and pedestrian paths; and Orion Twp rejected a parks millage.

There was a totally unrelated article about "urban spelunking" - exploring abandoned buildings - that was a nice diversion. Heather, I know you'll appreciate it. And from there I found a link to the now long-gone Northville Tunnels, the dark underbelly of Northville's innocent suburban fascade.

I had woken up early - did I REALLY expect things to be finalized today? did i learn NOTHING at the last election?? - to check in on the race, saw the spiel about Ohio, and went back to sleep. I had a dream that the way they were counting provisional ballots and absentee ballots was that people put their ballots on stuffed animals, and then they sent these stuffed animals down a conveyor belt. People would take off the votes and count them, put the stuffed animals back on the belt, and then children would be waiting at the end of the line to bring the toys home.

Shows how much faith I have in this whole "uncounted" votes thing, no?

Nothing beats a good book...

"Just to put everything in context, an eruption of Huckleberry Ridge dimensions would mean the end of civilization as we know it. This is something to think about when you're standing on top of Mount Washburn staring south at 37 miles of mountains that no longer exist... With this in mind, I don't really mind sharing the boardwalk. We're all just potential puffs of steam anyway, and the earth is mighty beyond our imagining." - Tim Cahill, Lost in My Own Backyard

Picture from Amazon.com - not sure if I can link to it or not but its free advertising so they shouldn't complain!

I went to the coffee shop for a healthy dose of caffeine and some good reading. I had picked up a book by one of my favorite travel authors, Tim Cahill, about one of my favorite places, Yellowstone. The book was good enough that I read the whole thing. In less than an hour and a half. Yeah, books are good, but good books are better. I ate it for dinner!

Ok, so it was a short book - a bunch of related short stories (adaptations of articles written for magazines in some cases) about hiking in Yellowstone. I had planned on writing a good review of why this book is great, but well I'm distracted by the election results coming in, and Sex in the City reruns.

Focus. Book report. It's just like writing a book report in middle school. You can do this Lisa. Concentrate...

Awe hell. Too distracted. I'll just put in another quote to illustrate why I like Tim Cahill so much. He's much better at expressing in words exactly how I felt - sarcasm and wry humor included - while trapsing around Yellowstone this summer, with all that hot magma action bubbling beneath my feet and snarly grizzley bears hiding behind every bend in the trail. It's about hikes in Yellowstone, but not like a travel guide - more like anecdotes about specific areas in the park. So if you're into humorous travel books, he's definitely on the top of my list!

"He wanted to see a place where fish could swim across the Continental Divide. Tom, I should explain, was raised on a cattle ranch in South Dakota, 60 miles from the nearest town, and is prone to become excited about concepts like fish swimming over the Rocky Mountains."

Hee hee. I think that would be pretty cool too. How dorky am I??

"We stood for a strangely triumphant moment on the exact instant of the Continental Divide and discussed transcontinental trout."

Right on!

Tee hee... I voted.

On this overcast, wet, dreary (typical) Michigan fall day, I voted.

It brought back memories from... 4 years ago. Go figure. ;)

Four years ago, I remember I was still an ambitious young environmental student at U of M and even then, I knew the election would have a big influence on my future. Steve and I both realized that if Dubya won, it could bring environmental rollbacks and subsequently a hard time for both of us finding jobs in our field (both of which happened and I am still feeling the effects of). We were apprehensive and excited, for this was the first presidential election we had taken part in.

So, as typical college students would do it, we had a party! It might not be the same type of excitement as, say, a college football game, but it was a nail biter. Me and the guys at our house on Division - at least Brian, maybe Kevin, Jeff, and Ryan also - gathered 'round the tv and watched. And waited.

And got bored quickly.

Can't remember exactly what happened, but we were up late. Steve camped out at the house, and all I remember was hearing that Gore won. Yay! We were going to have jobs when we graduate!

Then he suddenly didn't win. Hmm, not so good. Then there was all that back and forth legal balogna, chads and all, and it wasn't so great. JUST GET IT OVER WITH!

So today was pretty anticlimatic. I voted. I'm very anxious as I was before, but alas no college party. Steve asked if I was going out to watch the coverage. Now, I've never heard of "going out" to watch election coverage, but it's pretty funny to think about going to a sports bar and watching the map of the US light up in red and blue colors as the results come in. Do they really do that?? I betcha I could find a reason to scream and cheer and boo like I do for football. ;)

I like excitement but I just hope it's not a looooong, drawn-out annoying legal battle again. If it's good news, great. If it's bad news, make it quick and painless! The sooner we find out, the sooner we can party out of joy, or drink until our sorrows drown!

"Cuz I'm JACK...

..the pump-kin kiiiiiiing!"

Halloween is awesome. But so is any other reason to dress up freaky and wear stilettos and fangs at the same time. ;)

Needless to say, I haven't slept much lately but it's always fun to stay up super late and do goofy things to your friends when they are asleep. Heh heh.

The Michigan vs. Michigan State game was absolutely UNBELIEVEABLE! I haven't gotten into a football game that much in a while. Michigan's comeback from behind kept the game going to triple OT for a nail-biting game. GO BLUE!

Googling yourself

It's always a nice surprise when you google yourself, and you find something unexpected and good. Luckily, I have a very uncommon last name so whatever pops up is usually directly related to myself or other family members.

What did I find?

Names of the USS Alabama Crewmen, with my grandpa's name listed.

Now, it's nothing fancy, and there are a gazillion names on the list, but still - I really don't know much about my grandpa who passed away when I was 10 or 11, but it's nice to have that little piece of newfound history put into place. I didn't know he was on the USS Alabama!

Did you know I also have a true REFERENCE page on the internet for the Malayan Box Turtle? And that's it's been referenced to on another page written in Russian or something. Here's some Lisa-trivia: I have a pet Malayan Box Turtle named Wilbur. I've had him since I was in 5th grade = going on 14 years. And he was old when I got him! I'd guess that he is nearing 20 years old. Cool, huh? I should get a picture of him on here. Steve has been turtle-sitting while I've been moving the past year and a half, and I'm finally regaining custody so I can treat his shell rot and feed him grapes. :)

In other news, I may be moving to Wintergreen, Virginia to work there for the winter. Technically, I am hired, but for which job I'm not sure. First, it was snowmaking. Then it was manager of the tubing park. Then they said that they were going to change the way the tube park is run, so they'd start me at lift operator (BLEH!) and I could "move up" from there. But I'd rather make snow than do lift, so we'll see if we can negotiate something. I don't want to risk being stuck on lift all winter! If it works out, though, COME VISIT ME! There's a little loft with my name on it out there - small, but I like to snuggle like marmots with friends. ;)

New pics

I finished uploading the photos from my last fire at Charles M Russell NWR in Montana and, fortunately, Trekshare has enabled thumbnails on their new format - so you won't have to use the slideshow function to see every picture. Woo hoo!

Nothing particularly "story-worth" has been happening lately - just hanging out with lots of drunks and spending too much money. Met up with Heather and Judi to see a friend Steve who was in town from Chicago, played with Amadeo and Jeff, fixin' up Steve's house... and definitely not getting enough sleep. This is definitely Amadeo's fault, because he's a night crawler also ("You don't understand! I am BAT-AMADEO!") so I finally have somebody to stay up all night with. So you know what I did today? Slept, for as long as I could possibly manage (which ended up being about 2 pm).

Living precariously through Heather's romantic endeavors - she is dating an air force flyboy and got to take a ride in an airplane! She's been gushy and girly lately, so I've had to make fun of her a lot, because that's what we do. ;)

 

Tiny trying to lay the smack down on Wilson. Tiny - 4 lbs. Wilson - 35 lbs. Guess who wins every time? ;)

I can't believe I'm...

...watching Legally Blonde 2 and actually find it funny. (and nauseating.) Yikes.

Here's some photos from my "Homecoming" party at Jeff and Amadeo's this past weekend. The captions are mostly there for the people who don't remember what is going on in the pictures (coughDRUNKScough)! I think the best quote of the night was after Jeff and Amadeo fell asleep on both sides of me - "Your manwich went stale!" Yep, I charm the boys to sleep. ;)

I spent the weekend covered in paint, spackle, and spray-on popcorn ceiling paint at Steve's Old House - problably the closest I'll ever get to pretending to fix up my own home. We even went to to Home Depot on Sunday to look at paint and countertop samples (rolling my eyes at myself). Actually I really love doing that kind of stuff, I probably drove Steve nuts with my "grand visions" for what to do with the kitchen, the hallway, the living room... well, pretty much EVERYTHING.

Things have been good since I got back, but I'm mad about one thing - I didn't read the METRO TIMES sooner - I missed the Cake concert tonite, and Yonder Mountain String Band yesterday! ARRRRGGGHHH!

Now all I need is a good costume for Halloween. Pretty much any reason to wear some shiny black vinyl or pleather. ;)

Tiny Monster

Dog monster!

This is what happens when Linda and I get bored.

The pleasures of owning a vehicle

Feeling Victorious
Hearing Less Than Jake

So my darling little car is fast approaching the big 100k and our 4 year anniversary together. She might be a POS but I do my best to do all the proper maintenance to keep her running.  It was time to replace the PCV valve.

Ooooh! Ahhhhh! What's that? What's that?

Well it's this little $3 part that you just pop out of a hose on your engine and pop the new one back in. It has something to do with emissions, and it is USUALLY located on the crankcase on top of your engine. Takes maybe 1 minutes to do.

Unless you drive a Focus, and you don't know much about cars. ;)

Linda and I had to search and search, popping hoses off here and there, but to no avail. She went over to her car and it was just RIGHT THERE. But my car is counterintuitive in many ways when it comes to working on it. I even googled it to see if I could figure out where it was, and came across a message board where other people were surprised to see where it was. You can see it from above, but it's easiest to get it from underneath the engine.

So this stupid valve ended up being quite a debacle, two girls gawking at the engine from every angle to only finally spend about 30 seconds actually DOING anything to it.

In the meantime, Linda started tinkering around with hoses on her car and popped this cap off of her engine that attaches to a hose... and couldn't get it back on. For over half an hour. And ended up being late for class.

Yeah, we're obviously related to each other.

**********************************

Got some more pics back! They'll be up on Trekshare.com soon, and probably as an album attached to a journal entry some time.

Haven't even been in Michigan for a week but already been having a great time. Dancing with Heather, Amadeo, Jeff, Tom, and a few other people, and then staying out until 6 am... it's good to be home. :)  Even did some climbing, Amadeo helped show me the ropes of "tossing my line" with my new flyfishing rod, and finally got to see Steve's new house! He's got his work cut out for him, and if any of ya'll haven't seen it yet, then GO VISIT HIM! Just because he's officially going to MSU now doesn't mean he's a Spartan... he's just a Wolverine in green clothing. ;)

Photos

 

Finally uploaded some photos from Browns Park, Bison Range, Swan River, Bitterroot NF, Fish Springs, Alamosa, and Yellowstone to my trekshare website. Still have a few more rolls to develop, and I will probably upload them to AOL as well - trekshare changed their format, so you can't see all the thumbnails at once - you have to watch a slide show one by one, and that sucks. In the meantime, click on the photos to see more!

HOME!

I'm home!

I haven't slept in... 38 hours. But I've been so excited to be back, I haven't found the time to go to bed yet! And now it's time for an aromatherapy bubble bath. :)

Why voting is so important...

Hee hee hee. Warning: Click at your own risk.

Roll out

Destination: Seattle.

Forecast: Volcanic eruption, with a slight chance of LAVA.

WTF?!?!

Living on the edge, like always.

On an interesting side note, one of the prescribed burns we did in Colorado was big enough that NOAA picked it up on their satellites. How many of you out there can actually say you've directly done something that could be picked up from outer space? ;)

Packing

It took me only a couple hours to stuff everything into boxes and bags, and now I'm sitting here wondering: What did I do wrong? Why was this so easy?

It's just because I've done it so many bloody times, I've gotten really good at it. :)

Of course, I had to sit and watch part of that obnoxious presidential debate. I think that if they had just recorded the first 10 minutes and looped it over and over, we would have seen the exact same thing. But Kerry did win it hands-down, and that's what counts.

So tomorrow I leave for Brian's; will be home late next week!

Here's my playlist to clean the bunkhouse to, randomized by iTunes, for no particular reason except that I'm procrastinating mopping the floor:

I Do - Better Than Ezra
You - Radiohead
In Bloom - Nirvana
Lounge Act - Nirvana
Vibes and Stuff - A Tribe Called Quest
Closer - Better Than Ezra
Would? - Alice in Chains
U Got a Problem? - Ludacris
Right Of Way - The Von Bondies
Man of Constant Sorrow - Dan Tyminski / Soggy Bottom Boys
Show Me How to Live - Audioslave
If I Ever Leave This World Alive - Flogging Molly
Jimmy - Tool
Lukin - Pearl Jam
Mairead - The Von Bondies
Stop Whispering - Radiohead
All Those Yesterdays - Pearl Jam
Sorry About That - Alkaline Trio                
Scenario - A Tribe Called Quest
Aluminum - The White Stripes
Car Song - Elastica
Tina Toledo's Street Walkin' Blues - Ryan Adams
The Son Never Shines (On Closed Doors) - Flogging Molly
4° - Tool
Somehow, Someday - Ryan Adams
Undenied - Portishead
1st and 10 - Ludacris            
Little Room - The White Stripes
Smile - Elastica
Redefine - Incubus
Rest of My Life - Unwritten Law
Mourning Air - Portishead

Gone again!

Just when I thought I could start packing my life back into the good ol’ hatchback…

Got dispatched this morning. Now I’m at the bunkhouse for Charles M. Russell NWR in Northeast Montana. Surprise!

Doing a p-burn tomorrow, and will be back at Red Rocks either Wednesday or Thursday. That leaves me not a whole lotta time to pack, tie up loose ends, clean the bunkhouse, and LEAVE for Brian’s. We all know I’ll probably just end up haphazardly tossing all my crap into the back of my car without actually “packing“ it up, and then tossing it on the floor of my parents house when I get home for a few days. Directly in the hallway in front of the front door. Just to make sure everybody knows I’m home. ;)

Jellystone

"Well, everybody wants to go forever; I just want to burn up hard and bright..."

The Saturday that I returned from Browns Park, I knew Matt was supposed to fly in that evening, but I was still happy and surprised to hear a familiar voice when he called. After driving all day, I was probably babbling even more incoherently than usual, but I didn’t have to be asked twice if I wanted to come out to Yellowstone that night - we live so far from each other, who knows when I’ll see him next?! Anyway, what’s another 2 hours driving on top of 10 anyway? So I merely transferred my stuff from my fire bag to my backpack - it seems I’m always ready for a spontaneous overnighter in this profession - and went to Yellowstone!

It was nearly midnight when I got there, but we caught up on life and had a few laughs before calling it a night. The plan: Hike on Sunday.

On our way to breakfast Sunday, we overheard a hotel manager talking to one of the maids: “Be sure to do a great job on room #xxxx, Ted Turner is staying there.”

What?! Dude, that’s Matt’s room! He knew he was being moved out to a different hotel, but Ted Turner was moving in?! HA! We can say we jumped on the bed in the room Ted Turner slept in. ;)

We later picked up a small guide book to day hikes in the park - and without much hesitation, Matt shows me the trail he wants to do. Avalanche Peak. Hmm, sounds pretty cool… 2 miles… no problem… 2,100 ft. elevation gain. Wait, let’s do the math… that’s one hell of a hike! So I look at the difficulty rating. And can you imagine that it says “Very Strenuous”? And can you imagine that it is the most difficult hike in the entire guide book?

I knew Matt and I would be good hiking partners. We’re both masochistic.

The road was closed about a mile before the trailhead, but as soon as we got off pavement and onto the actual trail, it was up, up up! The weather called for snow, which we laughed about, but now that we were actually outside, it was cold, gray, and especially ominous looking in the Absaroka Range to the south. No worries, though, as we were having a great time; Matt called out “HEY BEARS!” to scare the grizzlies off and I huffed and puffed behind him, enjoying every grueling step.

Once above tree line, it was colder, windier - but with a great view of Yellowstone Lake and the snowy, triangular peaks of the Absaroka mountains… and the impending snow storm drifting in our direction. We paused just long enough to snap some photos, eat gummy bears, and get cold! Fortunately, the descent of Avalanche Peak was much quicker and easier than the way up, as the clouds rolled in quickly. Our timing was nearly impeccable, because we stayed dry for the entire length of the trail. But that all changed once we reached the road, our car waiting one mile away at the barricade.

It began sprinkling, which gave way to rain. Rain jackets on. Rain gave way to… hail, driven directly in our faces by the wind. Which, by the way, HURTS! We ran to the car and threw ourselves and our bags into his rented red Toyota in a soggy heap. I don’t know about Matt, but just seemed amusingly appropriate to get stuck in a hail storm after an exhausting hike in an awesome national park, with a friend you don’t get to see very often. Silly situations like that are what the best memories are made of. :) Oh, and we also saw a grizzly sow and her cub earlier that day, which was a neat first for both of us.

And when we drove back to Old Faithful, the harsh hail turned into soft, fluffy snowflakes that probably wouldn’t have hurt so much if they blew in your face. How considerate. (Matt insists that the park is controlled by animatronics - and I don’t doubt it anymore, now that the weather has been 70 degrees and sunny since he left!)

It snowed a little more and was blustery and cold the rest of the day, which was fine for recuperating indoors. He was moved to a cabin at the Old Faithful Lodge, where all the “Fishheads” were staying for the Wild Trout convention. But we chose to chill at the Old Faithful INN - the sweet old historic place that was built log-cabin style, with a tall cathedral ceiling and dim light bulbs that simulate candle light, and plenty of tables, chairs, benches, and a huge stone fireplace to encourage lounging in the lodge area. I absolutely fell in love with it! We spent a good while telling stories at the bar and then finally running up the log stairs and hiding in the shadows ofthe upper balconies. I really wanted to climb the stairs to the crow’s nest, which had been close due to some earthquake that had skewed the supports; we entertained the thought of being like ninjas and sneaking up their, but… well I actually don’t why we didn’t just do it, but next time there will be no excuses! We will do it! :)

We did that until the week hours of the evening and then had a sleepover, with the intent that his cell phone would be my alarm clock and wake me early enough to drive 2 hours back to work on Monday morning. I woke up feeling refreshed and alive… but certainly not like I woke up early enough for it to be 5 am. Ends up his cell phone lost service and never went off - it was now 6:30, and I had to be at work at 7:30! I rushed out of there but I knew there was no way I would make it - and I wrote an earlier journal about what happened that morning. Yellowstone looks gorgeous at sunrise, especially when it’s SNOWING! As I wrote before, it was a near blizzard the closer I got to RRL (red rock lakes).

Anyway, Matt was giving his presentation on Tuesday morning, which I wanted to attend. He did a fantastic job and lots of people told me to compliment his outstanding performance. :) Later that day, he wanted to go fishing and I wanted to go hiking… so we compromised and went on a 3 mile hike in to Grebe Lake, where he was bound and determined to catch a grayling. He had a successful flyfishing endeavor the previous day on the Firehole River, but alas his luck ran out. I read a book amongst the PRIMARY forest (yeah, I remember what that means now, Matt!) while he gracefully propelled that fly through the air, like some beautiful and serene “Fish Montana” commercial. It looked cool to me, but apparently the fish weren’t as impressed and he didn’t even see a single one rise.

After our wilderness expedition, we were starved… but the wait for the only decent restaurant that wasn’t closed for the season was nearly an hour long. Jokingly, I asked the hostesses if we could just eat our dinner in the hallway outside, which was furnished with plenty of nice tables and chairs. To our pleased amazement, she said “Well, you can order it to go and if you eat it out there, we won’t stop you!” SWEET!

So all those other suckers waiting for a table in the restaurant had to watch and drool as our gourmet dinners were delivered to us ala white cardboard boxes before they even got seated. We brought it back to Matt’s cabin and ate like king while watching “The Boondock Saints” on his laptop PC. Another great day comes to a close!

The next morning, we said adieu and I figured I wouldn’t see him again until my southeast road trip, if at all. I wake up early and make it to work on time, and it’s another cold, biting day. Wait, where’s my jacket? UGH! In my hurry to leave, I left my jacket in his car, when I thought I actually had it with me. He was going to Bozeman to visit his girlfriend’s brother… so it looked like I was going to see him sooner than anticipated! I felt rotten to be crashing his plans for the evening, but he insists that it was no problem (and I’ll just hope he wasn’t just saying that!) I met up with him and Phil at a great pizza place on Main Street and had a few laughs with them, watched the boys play pool, and then walked around the vacant streets of Bozeman. Man, that town was sure dead for a Wednesday night! Phil was a lot of fun and if I end up around Bozeman, I’ll have to hit Matt up for his number so we can go biking together or something. But once again, we said goodbye, and I warned Matt that I may be in the neighborhood in the near future. Other than that, who knows when we’ll get to see each other again… But I do know that it’s a groovy coincidence that after having classes together but not really hanging out in college, we have gotten to hang out a couple times this year and we always have a blast! And I want that Von Bondies CD that I left in the car AGAIN! Cheers to a memorable vacation with a great friend, and fond memories of laughing over ridiculous things and singing and dancing in the car!

Where's your head at?

“It hasn't been that long
Since we drank to the sunset, until it was gone”

It’s that time of the year again. As the leaves glow golden and the wind blows a little cooler, I’ve felt more introspective, more alive… and more sappy. Yeah, I’m feeling obnoxiously emotional and sensitive - I’m not used to it! J Whether it is the beautiful fall weather, the high I still have from having the best time of the summer with Matt in Yellowstone, the ending of my first season as a wildland firefighter, or simply the result of too many hours behind the wheel and too few hours of sleep, I’m not sure. Whatever the combination, something infectiously magical is in the air and the past week or so has been happy, sad, fantastic, exited, nervous… surreal!

Yeah, I’m excited to go back to Detroit. The Lions are still 2-1 and nothing beats a good sports game and buffalo wings at the bar! Even better is trying to decide whether to blow my money on some U of M football tickets or hockey tickets, and getting back to the music scene and seeing some concerts and hopefully get to see Erich’s band “the book was better” for the first time since they played at our New Year’s Eve party in 2002! Heather, hope you are ready to see some blues again! Jeff and Amadeo, you’re going to show me a proper homecoming, right?? Can we wear costumes? ;)

What am I going to do for the fall and winter? We’ll just play it by ear. Hopefully I’ll get a job for the winter in the southeast, but I’ve even entertained the idea of finding some small cabin in northern MI, buying some x-country skis or snowshoes, and borrowing Steve’s dog for a few months to keep me company. It will be bizarre going from remote MT to uber-urban Detroit, but I’m open to ideas of where to go and what to do! (Though the southeast is on my list... see you boys soon!)

Adding to the fact that I’m torn about moving, hopeful yet nervous about the winter, and have a bright-eyed and ignorantly-optimistic outlook about the cool adventures and opportunities I might stumble upon, I just finished reading “Hawk’s Rest”, a book Gregg let me borrow. It’s about the battle between outfitters and rangers at Yellowstone over hunting, grizzlies, wolves, and ethics. Beyond that, though, it is the memoirs of a backcountry ranger, going through the same emotions about the end of his season as I am. Corny? I suppose, but he really hits it on the nail and gracefully puts to paper all the crap floating around in my head. ;)

It’s also strange that I’ve had so many people breeze in and out of my life; people I would consider friends, despite only a few weeks or even days spent together. Who knows when or if I will see them again? Ya’ll should check out Heather’s journal for her ideas on the subject. It’s amazing how much of an impact certain individuals can have, even when your time together is limited. But I have a feeling I’ll be seeing a few certain people in the future…

In six days, I’ll be in Seattle reunited with Brian, and that’s about as far ahead in advance as I’m going to plan!

"Would you like to do a shot with me?"

"Yah yah yah!"

Jeff just introduced me to a ridiculous old school cassette he owns by a Yooper/Wisco band called the Happy Schnapps Combo. When he used to do fire here, I guess him and this dude Tom would just tear it up in their old heavy engine and blast that cassette down the road.

It's goofy polka. They tore it up in the engine to goofy polka. Steve, you've got to listen to it. :)

time to CRASH

Phew! Finally done updating about the fire crap.

Now I only have to write about how much fun I had with Matt in Yellowstone! And how utterly exhausted I am from driving all over the bloody place!

Ya'll will just have to wait, stuck in suspense I'm sure <sarcasm>. I'm going to pass out in bed now.

(This photo was taken with Gator near Black Butte just north of us. I figure some July flowers might be nice amidst all this winter weather!)

Alamosa Fire

The rest of my detail out of Browns Park was great. After that first day of burning at Fish Springs, we had a larger unit the next day - 1600 acres with 7 people. We broke into two teams - me, Kevin, a guy from BP, and a biotech from Fish Springs on the east; Nathan, Ben, Amy, and Mike Grainger (FMO at CMR) on the west side. Burning this would be a little tricky, because there were many small grass islands surrounded by wet soil - we couldn’t walk to them, so we were going to have to get creative. On our side, we had a few flare guns and an ATV, along with our drip torches. Kevin and I had way too much fun shooting flares onto each little island, throwing fusees and watching the firewhorls. Walking with the drip torch for miles would have taken a long time, so I sat in the back of the pickup and created a wall of fire as we drove along, while the biotech threw fusees into the tall grass. It took all day but it was fun!

We met up with the other team after we were both done. Apparently they had some tricky part along a canal - Amy would walk along with the drip torch, but it would ignite so quickly and so hot that she’d have to run and jump into a canoe and have Nate paddle frantically away to the next island! Sounded like a good time to me!

What better way to end a day of pyrotechnics than with a nice swim in the middle of the desert? Yep, it was fantastically unbelievable - a sweet swimming hole hidden within the refuge, 25 ft. deep and 72 degrees - complete with a diving board! We had pizza (yes, there is pizza delivery to Fish Springs, go figure!) and most of us didn’t have swim suits so we jumped in with t-shirts, shorts, nomex… Kevin even jumped in with his White’s boots on, disproving the myth that you can’t swim with them on.

Flames could still be seen in the distance from the bunkhouse, but it was deep inside the unit and no chance of it escaping. And so ended my first prescribed burn experience in Utah!

So back to Browns Park I went to be reunited with Bart. It was short lived.

Monday, Bart, myself, Colby (an engine boss detailed in to Browns Park from Buffalo River in Arkansas) and Joe were going to head south to Alamosa in southern Colorado to do a more complex burn. But Hurricane Ivan had a different idea and was headed right towards Bart’s house. In a last minute decision, he flew back to Florida and the other 3 of us went to the burn. (The hurricane didn’t end up hitting his house thankfully!)

Met many more great fire people at Alamosa, and we all camped out in tents outside of a house. A few engines from Kansas and Nebraska - Deon, Tim, Trent, Jesse, and a few other guys - all headed up by Ken K. A few other engines helped the day of the burn, including the State of Colorado, San Juan Hotshots, Forest Service and various overhead guys, but they didn’t stick around. I’m not even sure of the total number of people that actually worked on this one - maybe six or seven Type 6 engines (like what Red Rocks has), 1 heavy (Type 4?) engine, a helicopter, a hotshot crew, meteorologists, and other random people for the 1,000 acre fire. Apparently this burn was going to be a bit tougher - the fuel (grasses and greasewood again) was incredibly dry and continuous, with a few areas that had a good potential for spotting. It really wasn’t necessary to have quite that many resources on it, but they wanted to take every precaution.

I worked with Colby from Arkansas, and man did he get into my satellite radio! Back in the day it sounds like he was hardcore and dangerous, telling me stories about seeing Jackyl at some seedy bar in the Carolinas, singing along with Ozzy and Ugly Kid Joe. I brought back his wild side for a few days. ;)

The burn itself went pretty well, it was fun to watch but not a whole lot for us to do. The shots used drip torches to ignite the outsides, while our force of engines just made sure nothing bad happened. This fire was much more intense and traveled quickly, with dust devils and firewhorls over 100’ tall. It was a good show. J They brought the helicopter to drop these things called “ping pong balls” to light the middle. Overall, everything went smoothly and I got a lot of good pictures.

The day after the burn, most people left but a few engines stayed behind to do mop-up. Lucky me, I was one of the 8 fortunate souls to do the “hard part” of the whole burn - a deep layer of organic material burning all the way down, still hot and smoking. When mopping up, the idea is to put out the hot spots - but everything was a hot spot! This stuff would burn for days easily. We did what we could, walking probably a mile or so and checking to within 100’ of the burned area, stopping every few feet to touch potential hot spots with our hands to see if they were warm. As you can imagine, one becomes very dirty very quickly when rutting around in ash and dirt. When we found a hot spot,we’d put some water on it and dig around in it to put it out. If you think it sounds tedious, then you are absolutely correct! It took us literally all day to do our section, and that organic crap that was burning deep started smoking like nuts as the day went on, blowing right over where we were working. It wasn’t fun, but we got it done.

The night after the burn, we all went out for Chinese food. I sit down next to this tall, blonde older man and we start to chitchat, and I’m being goofy like always, and he seems to be getting a kick out of my conversation. I even found ways to poke fun (good-natured) at him and kept him laughing. In the meantime, Colby had ordered the same meal as me, and there was a nice little red pepper that just looked too delectable to refuse. Somehow, he didn’t realize this inconspicuous little pepper was in fact a HOT pepper, and soon thereafter he started to notice this fact as his mouth lit on fire and his eyes watered. Poor guy was MISERABLE and no matter how much water he drank, nothing would overcome the power of the pepper. We all noticed and started laughing, and this guy I was talking to points out the pepper on my plate.

With a smug grin, I grabbed that little pepper, popped it in my mouth, and ate it. Just like that.

They’re laughing and watching to see how I react to it. It was fine… a little hot… burning! Burning!

Ahhh, but the joke is on them. I had something to prove (not really, but it sounds noble). J I can handle hot food better than most. So I just smiled as poor Colby was still trying to wash his mouth out. Yeah, it was hot, and yeah my nose started running, but I just kept on conversing with my new friend. I think I impressed him, whoever he was.

So then we get our fortune cookies. I open mine and read it - and giggled at myself when I added the phrase “in bed” to the end of it. I looked at his, which said something about bringing prosperity and joyfulness to others…”in bed”. I laughed again, but he had no clue why.

“Haven’t you ever added the phrase “in bed” to your fortune?” I asked him.

No, he hadn’t… but sure enough, once he reread it, he started laughing and everybody else shared their reinvented (and improved, in my opinion) fortunes. Heh heh, I taught an older man a naughty new trick. J

From then on, he referred to me as “Pepper Girl”. I made a new friend.

A new friend that just so happens to be the second most important man in Fire, Carter. Like, if there were a president, he’d be the VP. I told the “VP” of fire to turn his fortune into a dirty blessing. HA!

Fortunately, I might have a been a sarcastic, potty-mouthed goofball, but I think he liked it!

That night (Thursday), we were rewarded with a hotel! And the first shower since Sunday night! Guess what happens when you strip down after mop-up? Well, first of all, you probably have nice salt lines on your shirt from sweating so much. The best part, besides looking in the mirror and realizing you look like you’ve been rubbing your face in the dirt, is taking off your pants and looking like you are wearing black nylons. All that ash just works its way right through your clothes. It was hot. ;) But when you’re that dirty and tired, nothing is more rewarding than watching all that black water run clear in the shower (except a cold beer AFTER the shower that is)!!

Friday morning, we left Colby to watch the fire for the weekend while myself and the other guy from BP went back. After a long day of driving, we arrived at the bunkhouse just in time for… a party. I was tired but how can you say no to elk burgers, beer, and good conversation? Nat, who does interpretive stuff, and Steve the LE (with the word “HEY” tattooed on his arm - a simple yet highly intriguing fact) tried to get me to stay another night to go to the ho-down they were having (with a live bluegrass band and dammit, I couldn’t stay!), which was tempting but I had to get back to Red Rocks to see my friend Matt. Speaking of tattoos, they asked if I had one and I said “Yeah, a sun and a moon.” When they asked where and if they could see it (on my lower back), I turned around to pull down my pants a little bit and they just broke out laughing - they thought I meant I had a sun tattooed on my ASS (moon)! So of course the conversation kept steering in the direction of my ass for the rest of the evening. Thanks guys.

So Saturday I cruised back to Red Rock Lakes solo, almost 10 hours of pure musical bliss. Of course, shortly after I arrived to an empty bunkhouse did Matt call me and say he was in Yellowstone and soon I was driving towards my next adventure!

Smokin' HOT

From 9/8/04:

I got to burn stuff today. ;)

We went over the burn plan - two units, 7 people. I was assigned to the engine while two other people used drip torches to light. The first unit didn’t burn great, except for some 15-20’ flames on the tall grass. My main job was to hang out in the engine and watch for spot fires.

Then they handed me a drip torch. Heh heh heh.

The way a drip torch works is that you light the end of the torch, and when you tip it over, the diesel/gas mix sends out a stream of fire. Looks simple enough. I walked around with it, lighting some grass and occasionally some greasewood that burned pretty hot. It’s kindof strange surrounding yourself voluntarily with fire! At first, it was no big deal. But with the temps already in the upper 80s, the heat from the fire, the weight of my pack and the blazing desert sun, it is definitely tougher than it looks!

Once we finished that up, we were going to burn another unit to make 300 acres total for the day - but after we spun the weather, we realized we were out of prescription - too hot, relative humidity too low - and we had to sit and wait it out to see if we could do it later. In the meantime, we had a few duck blinds to protect. They handed me a drip torch and I set fire to the grass surrounding it. It still was weird spreading fire around yourself but fun nonetheless. I put some fire to the ground… and it burned fast and hot! I was a little surprised at just how quickly it burned, and it became incredibly hot. My eyes burned and my ear felt like it was burning, the hot and smoky air hit my face. But we got a good black line around each blind and I got to play with fire, so everybody was happy.

Once again, we spun the weather to see if we were ok on humidity… not quite, so we waited until we finally reached our magic number and we were good to go!

This is when it got a little tricky. The grass was taller and more continuous and promised to burn better than our scrubby area. One break was an incomplete plow line; we had to use the engine to keep the fire from getting outside the unit. Not much incident there; a few shots with the hose and we were all set. As they continued, they ran into more flammable phragmites, which went up quickly and threw a lot of embers - flames 20-25’ at times, too! It looked wicked cool, and as they lit perimeter of the unit, the fire sucked in towards the middle, sending the smoke in and up as a big bellowing column. White, gray, black smoke, short flames and sudden flare-ups… it made for a good show. :)

Nathan and I were in the engine, watching the smoke get sucked away from the road… and then suddenly it was headed right in our direction. No problem at first, but the fire intensity increased and so did the smoke. Nate touched the windshield to see how warm the truck was getting… warm but not hot. No problem there yet, but we couldn’t see the road or even the sun for that matter. Daylight faded and only an ambient glow from the flames and the now-hidden sun illuminated the sky. We couldn’t move because we couldn’t even see 2 feet in front of the engine. We weren’t in danger from the flames, but the smoke was just engulfing us. For a while, the AC still pumped out fresh air, but our eyes started watering and our lungs burned as smoke whisps began appearing in the cab. We did our best to stay out of the worst smoke but for a while, we were red-eyed and coughing!

Our truck was parked behind the progress of the drip torches, perched upon a narrow 2-track road that sat above the wetlands on either side. It was either forward or backard, and forward wasn’t much of an option while the flames licked over the road. We couldn’t see, but suddenly we got a call on the radio - a fire started across the line in some tall grass, and we needed to catch it NOW or we might not stop it at all!

Nate drove into the nearly impenetrable smoke barricade and told me to be ready to jump out and grab the hose. It was hot and smoky and I could hardly keep my eyes open, but we jumped out and hit the quickly spreading flames with water. Tall flames burned on both sides and we moved fast to stop a little problem from becoming a big problem - exhilarating and crazy!

This happened once more, but we did catch it, in part thanks to Ben’s crazy-man attack on the spot fire. It was a good time.

As I took my hair down from a long day’s work, I realize - somehow, somewhere - I had singed my hair, which had been up in a bun! No doubt about it, I was playing in fire!

Tomorrow, we’ll do it all again!

Just what the doctor ordered

From 9/5/04:

Bart and I hit the road early Sunday morning, expecting an all-day drive to northern Colorado. As we drove south, the landscape got drier and hotter but we were chillin’ with our constant stream of satlitte-delivered music. That evening, when we turned down a lonesome road out of Rock Springs, Wyoming, we knew we had just left the last hint of civilization for a long while. Mesas and canyons, nearly barren save some sagebrush and dead grass - the only sight for miles and miles. The view was great, if you like dry, dead, and desolate. We drove down the road to nowhere…

Hours went by and the sun set. We crossed from the paved Wyoming border to the gravel continuation of our never-ending road into Colorado. This day, we drove through 5 states - Montana, Idaho, Utah, Wyoming, and Colorado. Keep driving, keep driving… Soon it was pitch black, without a single light anywhere in sight. In fact, the only lights we saw were so out of place, we thought it was more likely a UFO than a human structure. “If I were an alien, I’d hang out here…”

After a few hours we finally reached a T in the road. The girl that had worked there last year had given us directions that contradicted the instructions on a road sign. Following instinct, we followed the sign and drove through the night some more. We saw a few massive bull elk, but none of the landmarks that we were told to look for; confused, we turned around and decided to try the directions we had been given.

Lesson learned: Follow your first instinct. Especially when following somebody else’s directions.

We went in the other direction. Still didn’t make sense with the directions we were given and finally arrived in the town of Maybell. Hmm, something isn’t right. I called the bunkhouse from the only payphone we had seen for hours and asked where we went wrong.

Go back exactly the way we had come from, to nearly the exact spot where we had decided to turn around originally. He told me how far it was. “Did you say fifteen miles?”

“No, FIFTY THREE.”

Oh, shit.

A 2-3 hour detour when all was said and done and we finally rolled up to the bunkhouse at Brown’s Park.

I think their version of “remote” almost beats Red Rock Lakes version of “remote”. At least they can buy beer at a small shop down the road.

There were 3 guys plus Bart at the bunkhouse, so I had my first experience living in a trailer camper. It was better than I thought and I had it all to myself. Luxury! The next day, we toured the refuge - it’s right next to Dinosaur National Monument and has some pretty cool canyons. It’s too dry for my tastes, but it was worth visiting. That’s when I got the good news that I was going to help with a prescribed burn at Fish Springs NWR in Utah. Bart had to stay and I would be going with a guy from Browns Park. Sweet!

And 24 hours after I had left Montana for Colorado, I was sitting in another truck on my way to the most remote refuge in the lower 48. Another 9 hours sitting on my ass. J And once again, we turned down a dirt road that led to the middle of nowhere, passing a danger sign warning of extreme desert environment. It seemed weird that there would be a wildlife refuge in the middle of the desert… And it really was more remote than anywhere I have ever been. Sand, scrub, grass, heat mirages sizzling over the salt flats… A few hours of this and then at last - water! A true oasis in the middle of this sunbaked land.

The headquarters/living complex was a welcome sight - attractive homes with green grass and trees. We toured the refuge and saw the burn units - lots of marshy areas, tall Phragmites and scrub. A few guys from Charles M Russel were also helping out - Mike, Nathan and Ben - and somebody mentioned another guy was coming from Bison Range. Hey! That’s the guy that we went to the gay bar with! Reunited already. All of us, including some contractors, crammed into the ghetto bunkhouse. One bathroom for 10 people… not comfy or homey but at least there was cable TV, and I got to tease Kevin about his choice of bars some more. ;)

"Are you sure I'm a polar bear?"

This morning, as I frantically piled my stuff into my car in Yellowstone National  Park, I knew I was going to be late for work no matter what.

Good thing I came to terms with this fact before the blizzard hit.

Snow. Lots of it.

I don't have the time to explain what I was doing, leaving Yellowstone at 6:30am on a Monday morning, except that I was late and it was snowing. It wasn't really quite a blizzard, but it wasn't just snowing and melting - it STUCK!

Snow piled up on the road as I drove the 2 hr trip back to Red Rock Lakes, making the last 28 miles of dirt road pretty slick and sloppy. It's now 1 pm and not only are the roads white, but so is everything else.

Winter comes before the first day of fall in this part of town I guess.

Can't wait to drive back out to Yellowstone and do it all over again this afternoon! :)

Fire is cool

Left to right: Mike (CMR NWR MT), Amy and Kevin (National Bison Range NWR. MT), Ben (CMR NWR MT), Lisa (Red Rock Lakes NWR, MT), Joseph (Browns Park NWR, CO), Nathan (CMR NWR MT)

I'm back from Fish Springs NWR, Utah. Click on the photo of our crew to read about our burn and see another picture of me and how gosh-darn good I look in Nomex. I'm still at Browns Park, and Monday we are going way down to southern Colorado to do that burn at Alamosa. I'll do a better update when I can, but we'll just say we had probably a little too much fun. ;)

Go Blue!

I had totally forgotten that college football started until I read Heather's away message - "At the game. Go blue!" Why'd she have to remind me of what I'm missing out here?? ;)

Gregg and I woke up early to take him to the airport, and guess what? He actually had to scrape ICE off the windshield. Frost. Ha. It's not even Labor Day yet. Guess what else? At least half the aspen trees just spontaneously decided to start changing color TODAY.

Don't tell anybody, but I think it's fall.

Gregg and I had a sentimental and emotional goodbye. Yeah right!! Ha! I think we picked on each other right up to the end. He'll hopefully visit my journal and read all the wonderful things I have written about him... Ok, so I haven't actually written anything nice about him yet (nor have I actually acted nice to him) but he does deserve an ego stroke. ;) I had a great time working with him and he was always good for conversation and for fighting - I hope the jackasss keeps in touch and maybe we'll cross paths in the future?? And next time, my 12:30 mission is ON! I'll send you some hotpants with that book, ok Gregg? (inside joke, don't ask) Ha!

As for Colorado - first I was going, then I wasn't going, then I was going by myself because Bart was stuck in Florida, and now I'm waiting to pick him up after his plane was delayed at least 2 hrs and we're leaving as planned tomorrow. Won't be surprised if it gets delayed longer. Now, it looks like we won't get to Utah but we might travel to another place in Colorado.

Who knows where we'll end up. It's all part of the fun and adventure, eh!

See ya' later, Lakeview

My weekend plans came crumbling down this afternoon. No rodeo or cowboys for me - No sir, I'm heading out of the state!

Back to Colorado!

Sunday, Bart and I will be going to Browns Park National Wildlife Refuge in northwest Colorado for fire severity (means there is a high fire danger and they want more resources around in case anything happens). From there, there is a chance that we may be going to Fish Springs NWR in Utah to help with some prescribed fires. It's either going to be the Browns Park engine, or our engine. I'll be crossing my fingers that it's us!

But wait, there's more! There is a chance we will be gone for 2 weeks between Colorado and Utah, but then I still may be sent back up to Swan Lake to help with that burn too!

... yeah, like that will all come true. But it's a nice thought. :)

Here's some more silly pictures as I try to drown out the sound of W. brainwashing the general public. Bleh!!

Ain't no party like a Dillon party!

Unfortunately, there isn't much new or exciting to report on out here.

The rain stopped and the temperature finally went back up to 80-90 degrees. It's amazing how quickly things do dry out, though, so the sage and grass are getting good and crunchy again. The antelope and moose have been hanging out more and more, while a few people have seen a few elk. Gregg and I actually saw 4 river otters a few days ago,which was pretty cool - never seen one before! And a few people have seen a black/grey WOLF running around. Hope I get to see one!

Gregg is leaving Saturday, while the new fire guy Bart is coming in later that day. Bart will be with me for 2 weeks, but because of how wet the season is, they are sending him home and expecting the fire season here to be pretty much done mid-September. I'll probably spend my last 2 weeks here doing bio tech type work, and Jeff the biologist is probably going to have me help build duck traps and do a little canoeing to set them up.

Over the weekend, Gregg and I hit the BIG CITY of Idaho Falls - made fun of people at the mall, did some shopping, and saw "The Village". Movie was ok but a little disappointing, but I did come home with - a satellite radio! Yes, I indulged and we hooked it up to the engine. Now we be rollin' in style!

I am finally getting some pictures of Red Rock Lakes uploaded and will have other random photos posted, courtesy of Heather.

This weekend, I'm gonna hit the Labor Day Festivities in Dillon with Howard and probably the rest of the population of Lakeview (all 10 of us). Howard says it gets CRAZY, and I'll probably see my first-ever true rodeo. We're gonna tear it up! ;)

Rain, rain, go away!

Last week, I went with my new partners, Mike and Gregg, to the Bison Range to do some prep work for a prescribed fire that they are planning on burning in September.

Actually, we didn’t work at the Bison Range at all. We just stayed there for a night, then continued north to Swan Lake/Swan River National Wildlife Refuge. This might not seem significant, but let me sum up the Bison Range like this: Bison and dead grass. Period.

Boy, that would have been boring.

For you Michigan people, I can describe the Swan Lake area as sortof like Northern Michigan, but with bigger mountains. Pines and lakes and rivers - it was beautiful! And just a little bit south of Glacier National Park. Definitely going to stop there on my way home!

What kind of work did we do? Well, the first day I went on a boat ride with a guy that works there to survey for eagle nests. Rough life, huh? J We took the boat up the river and found the 20-yr old nest that had just been taken over by a Canada goose, but couldn’t find the new nest that the eagles had made. We needed to find these nests so that we could fireproof them. Yeah that’s right, I said FIREPROOF them. We cut down everything in a 20 foot radius around this nest so that the fire doesn’t burn it down.

Mike hopped in the tractor and mowed grass. It’s supposed to form a firebreak, but by the time they actually burn, it will probably have grown back. Go figure. But that’s the idea, at least. While he did that, Gregg and I scouted out ahead on an ATV and moved logs that were in the tractor’s way. Boats, ATVs, eagles, and chainsaws. It was a good time! J

While I was out on the boat the first day, there were two smokes that we could see from the lake. Ends up that Justin, a Flathead NF firefighter that I had met in Darby, works out of Swan Lake, and he stopped to talk to the guys and see if we wanted to help them out. Unfortunately, since myself and the other guy weren’t there, we didn’t end up getting to help them. After that, it rained. So much for smoke chasing!

One evening, we went into Big Fork for dinner - it was a welcome treat after staying at the ghetto-8 motel in Condon (it might look nice on the outside, but no AC on an 85 degree day… yuck!) and eating at the same restaurant for every meal. We go into this bar and it just seemed a little… different. As we were eating our meals and watching what was goingon around us, we realized… it’s a gay bar. Ha! No wonder nobody seemed to even notice me but did seem to fancy Gregg a little bit!

So that’s that. We did our part and now hopefully I will get to go back and help burn in September. We also stopped at the Smokejumper base in Missoula so I could finally meet my FMO (fire management officer) who was the one who hired me but I hadn’t actually met yet.

We got back to Red Rock Lakes on Friday night, but had to get up around 4 am to make a 3 hr trip to take Mike to the Bozeman airport so he could go back to Mississippi. Once we got that done with, Gregg and I decided to check out downtown, then drove to West Yellowstone for lunch. With nothing better to do, we adventured into Yellowstone National Park and do a quick drive-through.

That’s when it started raining.

It rained all afternoon, then into the evening. In the middle of the night, lightning flashed and sheets of rain hammered on the windows and roof.

So much for a fire season!

Well, I’m exaggerating a little bit, but it’s definitely been a slow fire season (for better or worse).

The next morning, the clouds encircled our Centennial valley and loomed over the mountains, hiding the peaks. Grey and nasty, but never intruded into the valley until later that evening. I think it rained Sunday also. That evening while running, I could finally see the top of Jefferson mountain.

All white! The first snow in the peaks that I have seen this summer. Actually, the snow just finally started melting off today - it’s been cooler lately, highs around 60 degrees, so it’s no surprise the snow lasted this long up at 10,000 ft.

I can’t remember if it rained Monday, but it was just raining here a few minutes ago.

I did talk to my FMO and he said that because of all this rain we’re getting, he is going to try and send Gregg and I “out of the region”. I am not sure what that means exactly, except that it would be cool if we could get out of here for at least a little bit and maybe get on one more fire. Sweetness all around!

In the meantime, we went grocery shopping and made that annoying 1 ½ hr drive to Dillon. At least we got to get jiggy with the CD player in another employee’s truck. When we got back, I had a package waiting for me from the UPS man - my new DVDs, Deliverance and The Boondock Saints! Woo hoo, something to keep me busy this week! ;)

Word, yo.

I'm back from "up north".

Drove all day. Beer and movie time. Weinhard's and Mothman. I've had enough Bison Range to last until at least September's burn.

I gave Gator the address to my journal and he said the way I worded all this fire stuff was "trivial". Ass. ;) Though, looking back at what I wrote before I came out here is definitely funny in retrospection. I had no idea what to expect and I was so nervous... even those first few days here, like that first lightning storm, I was so excited (and naive! But it's fun to be that way sometimes!) but definitely out of my element.

Hey, I've adapted. In my own "special" way, but I'm figuring it out and having a great time along the way! And yes, even out here in the middle of BFE I still find a reason to wear mascara and eye shadow. ;)

Anyway, back to my wild Friday night at the bunkhouse. Look out, boys - the only single female in this entire town (population 18) is gonna tear it up on the couch with that beer and my PS2 (that was sarcasm, boys and girls). Grrr, baby.

The map shows where we stayed, up near Glacier National Park. It's beautiful up there!

I'm here at the Bison Range, in a pimp-ass bunkhouse on the internet! I'm such a spoiled techno-brat. ;)
For the next week, we're going to be doing prep work for a prescribed burn here. The good news is that Kevin, one of the fire guys here, said that when I am done at Red Rock Lakes, he could use my help in October. I'm already pimping myself out, heh heh!
After tonite, we'll be staying in a motel but it definitely is pretty out here. Looks like we might get some storms so maybe something will happen...
That's all for now, time to tour the refuge!

And we'll all float on ahead...

I guess I’m officially a wildland firefighter, eh? Seven days dispatched in the Bitterroot National Forest and two fires, lots of overtime and hazard pay and living in Nomex pants for a week. I didn’t know what to expect, but I think I’m hooked on this fire thing!

After we were called and told we would be leaving on Wednesday, Gator and I finished getting the engine ready and tried to get a few hours of sleep for our 3 am departure. Gator, Jeff and I had our coffee mugs filled and drove the 4 1⁄2 hours to Hamilton, which is Northwest of Red Rock, and checked in with dispatch.

Dispatch sent us back the way we came, south a few miles to Darby.

This is how being “initial attack” (the first resources to respond to a fire) works. You bounce around and never know where you will be! I love it!

At Darby, there wasn’t much going on so they sent us out with a ranger to Como Lake for… a boat ride. J He needed to fix some buoys, so Jeff was nice enough to stay on shore while Gator and I went out. As you can expect from a man from the bayou , he was awesome at handling the boat. I just sat and enjoyed the scenery. Rough day, huh?

Later, we were just on our way to dinner when Ray from Dispatch tells us that we were going to a fire at West Fork, a little bit south of us. Time for action!

We got to that ranger station and talked to their dispatcher, Stu, who told us there were at least 3 small lightning fires in our area and gave us one. I think this is the point that we realized that we probably should have eaten dinner before we left. Woops. MREs for dinner later, oh boy!

We drove the engine to the point that we were told was directly downslope of the fire. What fun, a steep slope of loose rock! We put our fire line packs (45 lbs), helmets, and yellow shirts on, grabbed our tools and started uphill. It was tiring but exciting! A little bit of smoke drifted around the peaks. We still hadn’t reached the source and had more elevation to climb, it was hard work, keep hiking up…

Jeff calls out from above. “Found a road!”

Good news, but we were annoyed that the person who scouted the fire hadn’t told us about this road, which could potentially make life a heck of a lot easier. Still hadn’t reached the fire though, so we went up another 30 yards and reached our fire.

80 foot ponderosa pine struck by lightening, flames at its base, surrounded by a few burning logs and shrubs. Maybe 30-40 sq. feet?

It wasn’t huge, it wasn’t spectacular, but it still was a fire and you still need to be careful. A good beginner’s fire. Jeff was in training for crew boss and incident commander, so it was good for both him and I to start small. The biggest challenge was how steep the terrain was, and it was hard just standing in one place. At this point, we decided it would probably be a good idea to have a backpack pump with water; Jeff volunteered to go back to the engine and get it, as well as scout out the road.

While he was gone, Gator and I dug line around the fire. That means that we had hand tools and cut away all the unburned trees and bushes around the fire, then dug a trench to stop it from spreading. We got a call from Jeff on the radio - that old logging road was just up the road from where we climbed the slope, and was a much better hike to the fire. We couldn’t drive the engine up because of some trenches in the road, but just that easier hike made a big difference!

At one point, dispatch asked Jeff what the name of the fire was. He paused a second, then responded “Novi”. And so the Novi Fire was born, in memory of the place I can’t seem to escape. J

At this point, it was late afternoon and we ended up working on the fire until 10:30 or 11, working to the light of our headlamps and the flames. We scraped away the burning area of the tree as best we could, expecting it to settle down overnight and maybe be out overnight. Somehow we made it off the side of that mountain and set up camp around our engine. There was a 20-person crew also hanging out near us who had been dispatched to a fire even smaller than ours on more level ground. Go figure. J

And so it came that I ate my first MRE (Meals Read to Eat). Nothing screams gourmet like that pukish-beige colored bag that contains even more little bags, filled with all sorts of delicious goodies. Mine? Pork. I opened it up and a square hunk of fleshy Spam-like “meat” greeting me with the aroma of Alpo dog food. Eeeechhh. But I was starved and figured that putting it on a giant cracker with the “cheese product” might make it more bearable. Mental note: knead the cheese product more thoroughly next time. Lumpy cheese sauce doesn’t add much to the experience. It actually wasn’t awful, but I could only stand so much of that salty pork-stuff. I also had a pound cake and something like rice. I think the highlight of that meal were the chicklets for dessert.

Jeff set up a tent while Gator and I decided to try and share the cab of the engine. I slept great… and apparently took up most of the cab while Gator froze his ass off. Woops. L I remember at one point waking up and telling him about a dream I had - my mom bought a little dog that started having seizures and I gave it CPR to save it. Ends up the dog had diabetes, but I saved his life so it thanked me. He thinks I’m a little “throwed off” now. J

In the morning, first thing first: coffee. I brought some along with my mini French-press, so we made a little fire and heated water in a tin can. 12 ounces at a time, we started our morning. Wednesday ended up being a 19 hour day! Back up the hill, this time up the road. Gator stayed at the engine in case we needed the chainsaw. We figured it would be pretty calm that early in the morning.

Jeff and I arrived to our tree and - surprise! - there were flames coming from the now-hollow base of the pine tree as well as the logs on the ground. We used the pumps and scraped away to try and put it out but that tree was definitely a problem. It made us a little nervous to see how little was holding the tree up now and it looked like it might fall soon. We needed the chainsaw and more water, so Jeff and I went back down to the engine for a refill and to get Gator.

We arrived back at the site with Gator maybe 20 minutes later, and the tree had fallen! Good thing we left when we did. Gator said we wouldn’t have been able to cut it down anyway and would have had to babysit it until it fell, so it was a good thing. We spent the day cutting the tree up, scraping it out, water, water, and more water, and finally we called it out. In the process, Jeff forged himself a nickname - “the Animal”.

That night, we went back to Darby and stayed in a motel. Showers! What a treat!

The next day (Friday), we were dispatched to the Sula district - a little bit south again - and were sent to mop-up with a few people from the Forest Service on the Saddle Mountain fire. This fire had been a bit bigger with some trees torching, but they had done a good job drowning it with a few helicopter bucket drops, a hand crew, an engine, and who knows what else. So, though this counts as a “fire”, it was sopping wet and there wasn’t much to mop up. Needless to say, we sat on that wet mess all day. In the meantime, the Capri fire had blown up so they were setting up a fire camp for that. We never were dispatched to that fire, since we were initial attack. We consider that a good thing - initial attack is the way to go!

…And once again, we were sent back to Darby. By this point, there had been a core group of crews that had also been staged there, so we knew people and went out to the bar and to dinner a few times. I met some great guys with the Flathead engine - Justin, Guy, and Jared - and they sparked my interest in working near them next year, at Swan Lake. We hung out at the station and Gator and I shared the engine cab again. But after a night of Guinness and spicy pizza… we’ll just say Gator nearly suffocated me. ;)

Saturday and Sunday, we stayed at Darby while the weather was calm and the action subsided. Lucky us, we got to do “project work” - fuels reduction, which means that Gator cut down trees and I stacked them up. It was fine to keep us busy, but seems sucky to me that the local crew who’s project it was didn’t have to work on it. But I guess that’s the way fire works, and it all evens out in the end. They even had us trimming their bushes at one point! We did have a good time at the Sawmill bar with everyone on Sunday night!

That’s the way fire works - “Hurry up and wait” is the phrase for it. Sit around and wait for something to happen… and when it does happen, you gotta bust ass!

Monday, Gator got us out of more project work by teaching the portable pumps class. At this point, we knew we were going home soon; weather was calm and even the Capri fire was demobing crews.We stayed at a motel that night and on Tuesday, we headed back to Red Rock Lakes.

It was a great trip and I couldn’t have asked for better company!

Other memories: alternate lyrics to “Seven Nation Army” by the White Stripes, singing that one line from “Float on” by Modest Mouse repeatedly, ordering two super-size pancakes on accident, hearing Gator’s life story over and over and over again, all the ladies (coffee shop, motel, waitresses) who told me they felt bad I was stuck with Jeff and Gator, "All - my - friends - live in Mon-i-da!", a guy with the nickname of Balls, and all everything that “happens in the engine, stays in the engine!”

When we returned to Red Rock, the new fire guys were already here to replace Gator, who left on Friday. We threw him a little party and him and I hung out Thursday and finally found some bull moose to photograph. I hope he can come back in a few weeks to work on the prescribed fire! It’s going to be a lot quieter and a lot more boring without him to mess with, but hopefully we’ll stay in touch!

Monday, my new partners and I are going to Bison NWR, 6 or 7 hrs from here, to do some prescribed fire prep. Not sure what that means, but it’s supposed to be very pretty up there. Fire danger starts to get high around this time of year, so hopefully I’ll get on another fire soon. I completed my Firefighter Type 2 task book and would start my Firefighter Type 1, but there is a course I need to take before I can begin.

Overall, I’m loving it! I think I just may have found myself a career I would enjoy!

The photos are of after the tree fell the next day, plus a few of Gator and Jeff.

Well, my first assignment as a wildland firefighter was awesome. Unfortunately, I received tragic news and haven‘t been much in the mood to write. I lost a friend earlier this week, he was only 19 and the younger brother of my two good friends. It seems surreal, since I am so far removed from everything. It was wayyyy to expensive for me to fly back (cheapest was $750) but my heart goes out to the family.

In other bad news, my cousin had a seizure and was sent to the hospital… only to run into my other cousin, who was also there for seizures! What a crappy coincidence. They did some tests on the first cousin and ends up she was having mini-seizures during the entire test - which means she could have a seizure-disease or even a brain tumor!

Good family news - my lil’ bro made it on the travel hockey team!

Anyway here is a photo of Gator, Jeff and me with Red Rocks Engine, making coffee after a night of sleeping at our first fire that Jeff lovingly dubbed the “Novi” fire for me. It looks a little weird because the road should actually be flat and the engine should be slanted uphill. ;) More will come soon!

Finally got the call!

Dispatched to Bitterroot National Forest about 5-6 hrs away, leaving tomorrow at 3 am!

Fortunately we put the finishing touches on the engine this afternoon! I hope I brought everything I'll need - who knows how long we will be gone!

EXCITED! Time to get 4 hours of sleep!

Handy-chic

Finally, a chance to write an update!

This past week has been busy - I worked overtime every day but Sunday, and by the time I get home I certainly don’t want to wait for my slow dial-up internet connection to do an update!

I’m sure the big question everybody is thinking is “Did you get any fires yet?”

Funny that you ask.

Actually…. No.

But in the meantime, Gator and I have been bringing their engine up to standards and increasing the efficiency and usefulness of it. Our big project over the past week and a half has been fabricating two long metal boxes to mount on each side of the rig. They are each about 6 ft. long and made of steel; this means I had plenty of time to practice cutting metal, welding, grinding, and being a handy-chic! Believe it or not, I picked up on welding quickly and got a lot of compliments about how well I was doing. I’ll post pics of the boxes whenever I get around to it.

Gator mounted them on Saturday while I went on a hike into the burn area of last year’s fire. The first true hiking-trial of my fire boots. They felt ok for the first 3 hours, but that last hour… Won’t wear thick wool socks again, fer sure! There is so much “bug-kill” (dead pines from the bark beetles) in this refuge that the fire last year burned so hot, the land is still nearly barren in some areas. There’s still plenty of dead wood around, so the next lightening bolt could spark off another big one at any time!

So besides mastering the art of welding, I’ve been getting in my paid PT (physical training) and running a few times a week. I’m still trying to get my high-altitude lungs back, but there’s a nice trail that runs down the valley through the willows, usually startling a few sandhill cranes or distant cows. I heard coyotes yapping from their den the other day, and often large raptors - bald eagles, hawks, even golden eagles - fly overhead. Sometimes the killer mosquitoes can be mistaken for birds of prey… ;)

We watch a lot of movies. A LOT of movies. People rejoiced when they found out I had a PS2 and plenty of DVDs. In fact, we are watching “Hellboy” right now. Last night alone we watched 2 movies, on top of going to see Catwoman in Dillon yesterday. By the way, except for providing the inspiration for my Halloween costume this year, the movie was really really BAD.

Besides to see the movie, Gator and I went to Dillon to visit his friend Ward, a firefighter for the Montana DNR. They hadn’t seen each other in years, and since he is a dispatcher, he was up on all the fire news. We had only been there for about 10 minutes, and as he was explaining that there haven’t been any fires and nobody has really been called out, he got a message over his radio.

Fire report. Go check it out!

We all laughed in amazement. Not only was their visit cut short, they were called out to their first fire in ages. The luck!

…And of course, Gator and I did not drive the engine to the city, after debating over it earlier. There was finally the possibility of being dispatched, and we screwed ourselves over!

The only other highlight of that day was swinging on the swings a 36 year old man (Gator). Teaching an old man new tricks! Ha! ;)

On our drive home, our valley was filled with smoke - smoke from the fire that Ward was dispatched on. We never got a call from them, though the wind was strong and probably made the fire spread. So Jeff called them this morning to see what was up.

“The engine here at Red Rock Lakes is available for dispatch.”

“Oh, really?” said the dispatcher.

Doh! We went from being #4 on their list, to absolutely forgotten. From now on, we’re going to call every morning just to remind them that we exist. If it hadn’t been for their poor communication, we probably would have been sent out by now. We’ll see what happens!

Today we officially initiated my “task book”, which is a record of certain tasks that I need to complete in order to become certified as a Firefighter Type 2. That’s the first step; after that, I complete the next round of tasks for Firefighter Type 1, and then up from there. I will be starting a water pump class this week, as well as taking the fire behavior course. I also will be getting training on chainsaws and doing more work on the engine. Today, we took an inventory of rig and are now official above minimum standards! It feels good to get that out of the way so I can get some more hands-on training.

In other news, I shot a gun for the first time ever! Jeff, the biologist here (coincidentally from Port Huron), took Gator and me out to shoot some clay pigeons with his shotgun. I didn’t hit a single one, but they realized that I should have probably started on targets that are NOT flying through the air. They’re going to take me out again soon, hopefully! They both are avid hunters, so they hit nearly every one. Jeff might take me hunting this fallor at least let me shoot his bow - they’ll make a country girl out of me yet!

Gator is leaving next week, while two new fire guys will be coming in for a month to work with me. Fortunately, Gator and I get along very well - we pick on and beat up each other a lot, but it’s fun to have another sarcastic smart-ass to spar with. J He’s got a crazy history - 6 yrs in the military, smoke jumping, heli-rappelling - but he’s got a lot of good stories to tell!

I don’t know what I’m going to do once he leaves, though. The nature of our job is such that I worked with him 56 hrs last week, plus live with him AND hang out with him. I have never spent so much time with a person. We’re not sick of each other yet, but I’m not sure who I’ll hang out with once he’s gone. Most everybody is leaving in the next 2 weeks, so it will get awfully quiet around here. Anybody got any good books to read?

That’s the latest and greatest here! The job is going well, the people are great, and I’m learning so much! Hope everybody out there is doing well and I miss ya’ll!

so far, so good?

Here’s the lowdown: not many people work here. It’s small. It’s in the middle of BFE… unless you’re a cow, then you’re right at home. I live in a bunkhouse with 2 men and 2 other women. In 3 weeks, I’ll have my own room. I’ll be counting the days. ;)

 

Room is small and roommate apparently likes to go to bed early. Not good for a night owl like me. We have satellite cable and I figured out how to use a calling card to dial AOL through my modem.

 

There is one fire engine. My boss and I are the only people who are on the engine crew. Out of 15 available engines throughout the region, we are currently #4 on the list… which means that we will get to travel soon if those other 3 engines get called out! It’s a huge region to which we could get dispatched, so who knows where I’ll end up!

 

Gator has plenty of experience and he’s already been very helpful! Plus, he’s more sarcastic than I am so we get along pretty well.

 

We went into town – over an hour away – and it really is rural and tight-knit. One of the older guys knew practically half the town! Rumors spread quickly, people know everybody else, and there’s always time to stop and shoot the shit. It’s definitely different from what this city girl is used to but I can cope. The lack of privacy and the gossip could get annoying, but it’s all good. (I hope!)

 

I’m not really sure what to do around here besides bike and hike. There aren’t even any real hiking trails, either – it’s all cross country. Hope I am still up on orienteering! There is always TV and beer, or JOURNAL UPDATING, but I know I’m going to miss movies, coffee shops, book stores, walking around town, and dancing!

 

I have to compare it to last year at Colorado, of course… And I gotta say, Colorado wins. It has that good combination of nature and city, plus the mountains are bigger. J