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!