Bachelorette night at home

Yep, that's right. Tim's out of town. I'm watching a CHICK FLICK. Failure to Launch. So far, pretty freaking funny for a chick flick. I've decided I really like Zooey Deschanel - as an actress, and as the bitter beer drinking roomie in this movie. The cynicism is right up my alley. ;)

Found out tonight that one of my friend's wives has the same heart condition I do - mitral valve prolapse. She's younger than me and her symptoms can be much worse than mine... but she explained a lot of things that the docs never told me. So hey, maybe it will get worse, maybe it will stay the same... but I'm not gonna stop doing what I do - firefighting, mountain climbing, getting into trouble - and if it freakin' kills me so be it! At least I'm having fun. ;)

Motorcycle is fixed! I went down to Boulder to pay for my bike (picking it up tomorrow) and they started her up... and boy she sounds freakin' fantastic! I didn't know my bike could sound so good. Bob's Motorcycle Shop did a great job.

Just found that they updated the Bassetts Fire webpage with a lot of really sweet photos - not from anybody I know, but they are definitely worth looking at!

I didn't take this but it's a pretty neat picture of the fire before dawn.

Besides that, just looking forward to visiting Maria in Flagstaff this weekend!

 

Hillbilly Ball and puppy news

Bettie Page

Paul and I at the Hillbilly Ball

The Halloween party at the Rock Inn was fantastic! Here's a few pictures from that, and from visiting Matt at Keystone. Whitewater Ramble played and there were some fantastic costumes - the winner was dressed as Steve Irwin... complete with a sting ray coming out of his chest. Yeah, it's a little twisted but at least we all knew who he was. Needless to say, most people didn't know who Bettie Page was, but those who did said I looked just like her. It was just fun running around with a riding crop and 6" stilettos, ha ha!

My puppy was born on Wednesday, but unfortunately there were no solid blacks. There are some very dark ones and that's fine by me, and it might look like Scout, one of their other dogs:

I'll get to pick one out in about 4 weeks, take it home in 8. Woo hoo!

I was so psyched my friend Matt was in Keystone, and even more pumped for that snow storm we got! Matt had tried to warn me before I drove out there, telling me to be careful in the snow. I just figured there were some flurries or something on Loveland Pass... I showed up at the Inn at Keystone and still had no idea. We sat in the bar next door to the hotel, drank a little bit, shared shots of Jim Beam, and caught up on the last year of our lives. The Avalanche were on tv - LOSING! - and then the Wings came on - WINNING! - and somebody mentioned the huge snowstorm we were supposed to get.

"What snowstorm?"

Matt laughed and said "What, you thought I was just talking about some flurries, that I don't know what a lot of snow is since I'm not from Colorado?! We're getting hammered tonight!"

And we sat in the bar, laughing and drinking and remembering the past and musing over the strange places we seem to cross paths... watching the snow pile up... I tried really hard to convince him to blow off the training he was in town for and hit the slopes at A-Basin instead. All that fresh powder...!! And what goes better with a late night blizzard than hot tubbing?! The front desk guy said that hot tubs are required to close at 10 pm in Colorado (seems strange to me)... I pleaded that well that's just silly, I'm sure there's some way to get some hot tubbing in, and he was cool enough to mention that "Well, the nigh man already made his rounds...I'm the only one here at the front desk... And the locals, well they just jump the walls!"

Cool guy. ;)

We went downstairs and poached the outdoor hot tub, snow piling up outside. I love this time of year!

The next day Matt had to go to training and I was going back up to Estes. Of course, when I tried to leave is when I found out I-70 was closed! Darn, I was forced to snowboard at Arapahoe until it opened. ;)  I went back to Estes that evening; I was going to go back down to Keystone on Friday night, and hoped Matt was coming up to Estes for the Hillbilly Ball, but plans changed and we didn't get to meet up again. It was still great to see him though, and we joked about the next place we're going to hang out... Alaska? Maui? Always an adventure, that's for sure!

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Here's the link to the photos from the party and a few from Keystone/Arapahoe Basin. Shutterfly is being stupid and won't load correctly so I'm back to Trekshare. I have pictures all over the freakin' internet!!

 

Fire and Ice News

A few newsworthy items of interest:

A California wildfire killed 4 firefighters and 1 is still in critical condition - I guess it's the deadliest wildfire since 2001. Very sad to hear, but these things do happen. I did get a couple text messages from people I haven't talked to in a while, making sure I wasn't down there. Thanks guys.

My friend Matt from Virginia (we were in the same program at U of M) is out at Keystone for training, so I went out to visit him (back to the same area that I was this past weekend - a 2 hour drive to Arapahoe area)... he asked if I was ready for the snow... to which I replied, "What snow?"

Shortly after that conversation, we sat in the bar in excitement and anticipation as a blizzard covered everything with about 1 1/2 feet of snow all night. I had absolutely no idea. I guess it's the biggest October snowstorm to hit in years. Rocky Mountain got 2 feet; Tim says Bear Lake got 2-3 feet.

The next day, I was going to come back up to Estes. Needless to say, the freeway was shut down. Know what I did? Went riding (however ungracefully) at A-Basin again. ;)  Life is good, friends, life is good. I'll put a few pictures up when I get a chance.

In the meantime, I'm supposed to go back to Keystone tonite to party with Matt some more, but I'm tired of driving so I might just go back on Saturday morning, snowboard all day, then come back and go to the Halloween Party at the Rock Inn. Trying to convince Matt to go too - and his 6 other coworkers. Tim is leaving for Colorado National Monument on Sunday night (after we watch the Eagles game, of course) and will be gone for 2 weeks, so I might just stay in tonite and watch Northern Exposure with him. ;)  I am going to Flagstaff on the 4th to visit Maria; she is defending her thesis soon though so just going to make it a short visit, then putz around Arizona for a couple days, then maybe see tim at the Monument. I'm so busy! But I am finally getting rid of Verizon and going to Cingular, so I can actually answer my damn phone! Woo  hoo!

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This just in: Puppies were born!! I don't know if there are anyblacks, but there are 7 male and 2 female. I'm a mommy! ;)

Here's a picture off the website of the first male born.

Gotta love my motorcycle...

This was on October 18th, the day we got the first snow that didn't melt off right away. It was so beautiful that morning I just had to drive through the park - like a tourist - and enjoy the fresh clean look of new powder on the ponderosas!

I'm just sitting here, waiting for the bike shop guy to show up in Lyons with a trailer to get my dead little Honda. I think either it's bad fuel, water in the fuel system somewhere or something wrong with the fuel lines. Bummer. I was on my way to gas up and then ride it up to Estes to store in Tim's garage (it was so warm yesterday!) when she started stalling out. I made my best effort to at least get her to the bike shop in town (they only do Harleys but at least it would have been more secure), but she just wouldn't go anymore in this nice new subdivision. Fortunately Tim was on his way to ride with me, so he stopped at my place, grabbed my truck, and saved the day. ;)  Pretty bummed out but that's what I get for procrastinating. Now I have to pay to get it towed to a local bike shop. Not cheap... but gotta do what I gotta do!

So on Friday I got a surprise text message from my friend Ryan Park (aka Kooooooorea aka Parkie), who had moved to Chicago earlier this year. It said "I'm going to Colorado" or something like that. When? "On my way right now." Huh?? I kept asking him questions like where, when, why, how, for how long, etc... What does he reply?

"This is going to be epic."

Heh heh heh... that's Korea for ya! To which I of course replied, "UNLEASH HELL!" (Gladiator quote, from the good ol' days of unemployment and watching that movie way too many times).

He still wouldn't answer my questions. Instead, he writes things like "R U pumped?" and "We are going to A basin." Which really doesn't tell me much.

That was Friday; I didn't hear much else from him. Later that night I went to a "potluck" party and made our family's famous Saucy Water Chesnuts... which were a HUGE blast and always the first to be devoured! There was salmon with terragon, meatballs, a roast, butternut squash, and so much good food... Drew, Sean and Joel's band played, and after a night of trying to talk/yell over the music, I lost my voice. Real sexy too, ha ha! It was a good party with boxed wine, drunk Pictionary, a crunch competition (yes, as in sit-ups... I won with 150! ha ha!), all that good stuff.

Wake up on Saturday and I get a couple more texts from Parkie... like, "1 hr from Denver" and then "We're at A basin". At that point I was confused, not sure where they flew into or where they were staying or why they were here... I mean, there's only 2 resorts that are open - Loveland and Arapahoe Basin - and A basin only has 3 runs open; Loveland has 1. Did they come out just to ski??

That would so be like Parkie, freakin' madman! I LOVE IT!

There was also a party in Nederland that day, an end of the season celebration including a few people from the fire I was on. I hadn't heard from Parkie in a while and was just getting ready to head out there around 6 pm, when Parkie sends me a few texts. Since I was sick, I really didn't plan on doing any boarding myself... but I wanted to see Ryan, so I said what the heck and headed out to Arapahoe, about a 2 hour drive.

Of course, I packed my snowboard and gear... just in case. ;)

As soon as I hit Loveland Pass (where quite a few resorts are located), it was snowing like crazy. All that fresh powder... as I cough and sniffle and my throat is all sore... All this temptation to hit the slopes in Colorado for my first time...

Met Parkie downstairs at the Old Chicago and was both dreading and looking forward to it... Usually, when he says "This is going to be epic" means that we'll be doinglots of shots, poaching hot tubs, and staying up way too late and pretty much wreaking havoc on society as a whole. I didn't know if I had the energy/health to do it! I sat at the bar eating dinner and waiting for him... Here comes Parkie... And he's feeling sick!! Altitude and sleep deprivation had gotten to him; sounded like we'd be sleeping before 10 pm! I was in better shape than he was at that point, but this just wasn't right.

"You're in freaking COLORADO, you're with ME and you went SKIING... YOU NEED TO MAN UP AND GET A DRINK!"  There's no way I was letting him off easy tonite.

With some hesitance he warmed up to the idea; soon he said "We need to do a shot of Jager. It's just not right without it." So the bartender poured us some cold shots from the Yagerator and down they went. About 10 minutes later, Ryan miraculously began to feel better and from that we get the quote of the night:

"I love how I was sick, and now I am cured. Thank you Jesus!" - as he stood there  with a nasty bottle of Kingfisher beer in his hand. "The Jager cured me!"

And really, we hardly drank at all; but we were definately ready to cause trouble. When I asked him what airport he flew into, he just started cracking up. "WE DROVE HERE!"

What?!

Ends up they were at training on Friday and Parkie, being himself, kept saying to his friends "We should go to Colorado." And they'd chuckle and pass it off. And then he thought about it more, and got serious. "Really, we should go to Colorado TODAY." Well, by the time lunch came around, his friend comes up to him and says "LET'S GO!"

So these four guys hop in Parkie's car, grab their crap, and headed West! I love a good pioneering spirit!

18 hours later, they arrive at Arapahoe Basin and hit the slopes. All of his friends were now passed out in their room, exhausted from driving non-stop and then boarding all day, plus the altitude. We didn't care. We burst into the room laughing and being stupid, ranting about going to the hot tub. Kenwas the only one to crawl out of bed/off the floor and go downstairs. It closed at 11 but we went in anyway; which was fine until the jets started pouring out cold water and the hot tub turned into a warm tub... into a COLD tub. After about an hour of Ryan whining about freezing, we got out and just went to sleep. Pretty low-key compared to most of our other trips, but these guys just don't know how it works with Korea and I yet! We'll teach them. ;)

To be continued; gotta meet the tow truck guy.

I'm back, my motorcycle is on it's way to Bob's Bike Shop in Boulder, courtesy of an old German named Rolf. Towing to Boulder: $75. Tune up and carb adjustment: $300. Getting complimented by an old German that works on vintage bikes that I got a great deal on a great bike: Priceless. ;)

Anyway... Woke up in the morning and still felt sick. I really shouldn't go snowboarding when I've got a sore throat and a cold, right? But I drove with them to Arapahoe, just to check it out. Right. As soon as I saw that fresh powder and those beautiful slopes, I just had to go. I was supposed to go to Bruce and Kerri's with Tim, like every Sunday, to watch the Eagles and eat Philly Cheese Steak sandwiches (my veggie version is a Philly Cheese Egg sandwhich), and make some of those Saucy Water Chestnuts again, but I just couldn't stop myself. Stood in a huge line for maybe 20 minutes, 18 degrees outside, rode the SLOW lift up to the top... And did pretty darn well on the way down. Unless you've only gone riding in the crappy Midwest your whole life, I don't know if you can understand how heavenly it was to be on POWDER. Admittedly, I still think a few runs at Boyne Highland are pretty fun, but this one little ride down the mountain at Arapahoe was worth rejoicing about - besides the fact that I was riding before even Halloween, yet alone before Thanksgiving (most resorts in MI don't open til end of Nov or Dec)...

But since I was sick, the cold air hurt my throat and lungs, so after that one joyous ride... I called it quits. Don't need to get pneumonia. ;)  Parkie vowed to come back every otherweekend - maybe a little sarcastic, but sounds like he wants to be back for the opening of Keystone around the 17th. I can't wait!

So I went snowboarding that morning, and by that afternoon I was playing horseshoes in Tim's backyard. Not much snow on the ground. Drinking the last of my Bell's Oberon. And then yesterday, I went for a motorcycle ride. In what other state can you do all those things in less than 24 hours?! Pure sweetness.

What else is new with me?? Not much. Finally getting rid of Verizon so I can actually answer my phone in Estes Park! Going to Cingular, the only thing that works there.

Oh and we think Mommy Shepherd is going into the first stages of labor, so my little Logan/Sula will be born today hopefully! Yippee!!

And I'm going to Flagstaff to visit Maria the first weekend in November, and perhaps meeting up with Tim near Arches or Canyonlands National Parks in Utah to camp. I really like not working. ;)

Snow!

Woo hoo, SNOW!!!

I stayed up in Estes last nite and was totally thrilled to hear we were going to get about a foot of snow! Finally my chance to see how the 4x4 on my truck actually works. Decided that I could use a beefy new set of tires next year, but I definately think my Yota was the best purchase I've made in the past couple years. I passed at least 6 or 7 accidents (mostly cars sliding off the road) in the 16 miles from Estes to Lyons this morning - most of them were SUVs and mini vans. Go figure.

Anyway, finally got photos from Bassetts Fire, courtesy of Dave. Hopefully Lloyd will send me his but we'll see.

Getting psyched up for Halloween! My favorite holiday. So many costumes to choose from... I'm thinking of recycling the Bettie Page costume, since I didn't really wear it anywhere last year. Otherwise, thinking of Jean Grey from X-Men, Tombraider, or some other hardcore psycho chickee. ;)

What do you think??

Lisa Page and Bettie Page

I'm bummed because I just found out Tim will be at Colorado National Monument doing trail work on Halloween, and gone for about 3 weeks, but the Rock Inn is having a Halloween party the weekend before so at least we can do that together.

Last minute addition: Seth sent me the group photo of the Northern Colorado Handcrew. Enjoy! ;)

I'm in the back with the tree coming out of my head. ;)

Unemployed!

So I get back from that fire and SURPRISE! I'm done working for the season at the park. I went in on this past Tuesday and was told my last day was Thursday. Jeez, way to give me some notice. I thought I was working another week longer. :(

BUT it's no big deal, they handed me my unemployment papers and said "See ya in April!"

WOOOOOO HOOOOOOO!!

For now, I'm catching up on sleep and trying to finally get over this freaking cold I've had on and off since the fire. Thursday night my friend Jess was in town so we tore it up at the Wheel; on Friday, my friend Sean was in town giving Arbormaster classes so we met up for a brew at Oscar Blues; Saturday, the trails guys had a big "Thanksgiving in October" party to celebrate the end of the season. I drank beer out of a bowl, tried to box/wrestle a couple trails guys, at some point there were fireworks being lit on the deck, and I woke up with blueberry pie in my hair. It was insanely fun. Today, I watched the Eagles LOSE again (Tim swears I'm bad luck at this point) and somehow the Lions won... I think it's because I put on my Joey Harrington jersey, ha ha!

And tomorrow, I am going to sleep in and start trying to find a part time job. I did buy my Colorado ski resort pass - good for unlimited skiing/riding at Breckenridge, Arapaho and Keystone, and 10 passes to Vail and Beave Creek - AND get 6 friend discounts to whereever. I heard Arapaho is already open! So hopefully soon I'll be riding some sweet powder!

That's all for now.

Done flying until at least next year, I hope!

Jeez, I don't even know where to start. I'll give the people what they want, and then I'll write a bunch of babbling crap that everyone can read at work when they're bored, ok?

First off: Photos from Donna and Jason's Wedding!

It was a very quick weekend - flew in on Friday, had about an hour before I had to be at the rehearsal, dinner at Champps, then stayed up until 1 am with the beautiful bride and Heather playing video games and painting our nails... Saturday, got my hair done, went to Donna's parents' house for photos, then off to Ann Arbor - yes, the same time as the Michigan-Michigan State football game traffic! - to marry my darling off to Jason! Drank too much, danced like a crazy woman, tried to catch up with a ton of people I haven't seen in forever... Then went in my bridesmaid dress to my favorite sports bar in Ann Arbor, the Arena, with a bunch of people... Sunday woke up with a nasty wine hangover and hit up Spicer's Orchards with Tara and Linda... And then found myself back in the Detroit Metro Airport waiting to fly back to Colorado! Hardly had time to sit down!

Tim picked me up and we relaxed while watching Northern Exposure Season 2, slept in this morning and went grocery shopping at Whole Foods. There just doesn't seem to be enough time in the day/week/month to do everything! But I think I am done with airplanes until at least next January, thank goodness.

My German Shepherd puppy should be born between October 23-38, and ready to come home for Christmas! This is why I probably won't be back in Michigan for the holidays.

Michigan was absolutely beautiful, and the weather couldn't have been more perfect for Donna's outdoor wedding - 67 degrees, sunny, light breeze... I get back to Colorado and find out we should be getting 3-6" of snow up in Estes Park (1-3" in Denver) today. It's been raining none stop since I got back, but I just looked on the mesa across the street from me and it's looking a little dusted! I love snow and winter, but going from fall in Michigan to winter in Colorado in a matter of hours is a shock to the system!

And then there's the fire I was on for the past few weeks...The fire guys had warned me that Sunday that I may get sent out with the Northern Colorado Handcrew, but things were slowing down and I really doubted it. Despite my skepticism, I packed up enough gear to be out for 2-3 weeks and kept it in my truck. Monday the 18th, I was supposed to have an entire crew of volunteers helping me close Bear Lake Road so I could fell a bunch of hazard tree, and the next day I was supposed to have volunteers to help remove beetle trees in Glacier Basin Campground. Since I had all this work to do, it shouldn't have surprised me that I got a call at 9:30 am, giving me one hour to get my gear together and be ready to roll from the Park to the dispatch center in Fort Collins. I'm so thankful my coworkers picked up the slack for me!

We picked up Lloyd, a firefighter from the Park, and met up with 18 other people in Fort Collins - US Forest Service out of Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests and Sulfur District, Americorps and Forest Service out of Nederland, Larimer County, and City of Boulder wildland firefighters. This was my first time out with a handcrew like this and I had no idea what to expect. We loaded up 5 pickup trucks/SUVs and were quickly on the road to the Pigeon Fire in Weaverville, California (northern California, west of Redding). I drove out with Lloyd, Matt from the city of Boulder, and Hutch from the Forest Service out of the Sulfur District.

We stayed one night in the now-infamous West Wendover, Nevada and made it out to northern California... only to arrive and immediately be reassigned to Bassetts fire near Sierraville, California (another 6 hour drive south, near Truckee). So we hopped back in our trucks and found ourselves in a beautiful area of California with huge 6-7 ft. diameter redcedar and pine trees.

This was my first fire camp experience. Set amidst a farmer's pastures (don't worry, the cows were penned up elsewhere), there were trailers and tents and tons of fire engines and trucks from all over. At one point, even the Midnight Sun Hotshot crew out of Alaska was down there with us. We set our tents up along the woods as far from the hustle and bustle of the main camp area, and this was my home for the next 2 weeks - a small Eureka tent, portable shower trailer, port-o-potties, and essentially meals-on-wheels. Itwas around freezing most nights, and most of us didn't have the warmest sleeping bags and ended up needing two bags to stay warm. We'd wake up at 5:30 am, roll out of our bags into the cold, dark morning, dress up in our boots, Nomex, and hooded sweatshirts (a firefighter trademark, it seems), and line up, single file, to walk across the field by 6 am. Hoodies over our heads, hands in our pockets, and our breath visible in the air, we'd line up outside the food trailers and get served huge portions of eggs, bacon, nasty malto-meal, and whatever else we could stomach, grab some chocolate milk and coffee, and eat in a big cold tent. Ironically, we got heaters in the tents once the weather warmed up. We'd eat pretty fast, since our butts froze to the cold metal chairs, then our two squads would gather our assigned gear - water, lunches, supplies - and we would gather around our 5 rigs and get the morning briefing... somewhere in there, we'd brush our teeth with a water bottle outsides the trucks.

Soon we'd be driving out of Sierraville to Bassetts, I think it would take about an hour depending on which Drop Point we were assigned to. The first few days, we mostly were just holding the fireline - we dug some by hand, but mostly it was dozer line scarring the hill in an effort to contain the fire. It had gone from 500 acres to over 1,000 over night, and the first day they tried to do a burnout operation (backfiring the fire into itself, to use up the fuel between our control line and the fire front) and we just stood there and watched for spot fires in the unburned areas. Another day, the humidity went way low and wind speed was 30-50 mph, pushing the fire towards the direction we were trying to protect. Needless to say, the fire jumped a couple lines, started spot fires all over the place, and they pretty much had to start over and put another dozer line in, 1 1/2 miles long down the hill. I did get to see some pretty sweet fire behavior - trees torching out, 200-250 ft. flame lengths, and that whitethorn bush sure goes up fast!

So for a few days, it was alternating between standing along the dozer line, usually freezing our asses off (that windy day was especially rough) and watching for spots fires, and wading waist high in sharp whitetorn bushes in the unburned area, gridding for spots. It got to the point that we'd have to make warming fires along the dozer line to keep warm, especially on the days we worked 15-16 hr days, working until 8 pm or so. One day we were stuck staging for a while, waiting for instructions... so we whipped out a portable DVD player and watch a couple movies. ;)

Finally things went in our favor, the winds died down and changed direction, and it looked like they'd get ahold of it. It was pretty sweet watching the helicopters and tankers overhead, doing bucket drops and slurry. Hopefully some of the guys from the fire will share their photos, since I didn't bring my camera.

Once the fire was manageable and almost contained, we started having to grid out in the black (burned) area, looking for hot spots. I pretty much spent the rest of the time walking up and down the hills, sometimes very steep and rocky, covered in ash and breathing in so much dust... Quite a few of us got sick, Lloyd actually left the fire very early on because he was ill, and I'm still recovering from all the coughing and sore throat that afflicted me. Part of our job was also to inspect around the homes and cabins that had been evacuated. It was pretty intense to see trees torching out right across the road from these buildings, and there were so many engines and hoses on this fire it was like a freaking circus! I guess that's how they do things out in California. ;)

It wasn't all excitement and physically hard work; I think the toughest part was the mental aspect of repeatedly gridding over the same area over and over and over again, or the down time where not much was going on... keeping myself entertained without driving everybody else nuts, ha ha! I got to know everybody pretty well, considering how much time we spend working, eating, hanging out, driving, and getting sick together. Many people started to get frustrated or grumpy for one reason or another - for me, mostly because I'm just cranky when I'm sick, and because I'm not good at standing or sitting still! - but for the most part it went pretty well!

When all was said and done, Bassetts fire was over 2,100 acres. The wonderful people of that town made dinner for the firefighters every night. We only ate there once, but they were so nice and thankful!

So much more happened, but there is only so much I can say... It's just something that you need to experience to truly understand what it's like. I have to admit that going out on that dispatch rekindled how much I love firefighting, and how much I loved working for the Fish and Wildlife Service in Montana. It was a totally different experience this time around, but something about it... I think it takes a certain type of person to appreciate it, and I can't really describe why I love it. ;)

Finally, they started releasing crews from the fire but we were kept on. We packed up our tents and ended up staying in a hotel in Truckee, where we had our first beers and soft beds in 2 weeks. Which means of course that I couldn't sleep at all in my bed (I actually slept very well on the ground in my tent), ha ha. Up all night coughing! We finished mopping up and rehab, and we weren't sure if they were going to keep us on, reassign us to the Day Fire in southern California, or send us home. Alas, they released us on Monday. This was fantastic news for me - originally we were going to be home on Thursday so I could fly out to Michigan for Donna's wedding on Friday; however, because we were reassigned, it bumped our 14 work days/4 travel days back, and I wasn't going to make it home in time for my flight on Friday! This led to a huge debachle of trying to figure out how I could get from a small town in California to Detroit. Anything from flying from Reno to Denver, or flying from Salt Lake City straight to Detroit, taxis and flight changes and anything else I could come up with... For a while there, I didn't think I would make it back for the rehearsal dinner! It all worked out ok in the end though.

On the way home, we stayed in Reno. Ahhh, Reno. What a sight for sore eyes for a bunch of people that just spent 2 weeks in the woods, made a lot of money, and haven't had any alcohol in just as long! There was a lot of potential for overindulgence and bad consequences, but everybody kept their acts together. BUT... What happens in Reno, stays in Reno, so I can't really say much more on what happened. I will say that quite a few people went home a few hundred dollars poorer, I learned a few new lessons in life, and tried to convince our crew boss to marry me so I could have health benefits. ;)  Needless to say, it didn't happen and Tim's still stuck with me for now, ha ha!

The next night we stayed in Evanston, WY and let me put it like this: Only 4 of us went to the bar that night. You just can't top Reno!

And then just this past Wednesday, I found myself back in Colorado. Exchanged numbers and email address, hopefully have enough people interested to play some pond hockey this winter, and have some year-round Colorado resident friends tohang out with, since all of my seasonal friends will be gone soon!

Thursday I had a paid day off for R & R, and then I flew back to Michigan on Friday. Met up with Looch, one of the Boulder fire guys, for lunch before I left - I am going to do some tree felling with him and, if he likes what he sees, I'm going to be doing fire mitigation side work for him over the winter. This is important, since I may be unemployed as soon as this Thursday (but maybe working until the 24th; not sure yet). Then Matt was nice enough to hang out with me at the Jiffy Lube while I got my oil changed, because I hate sitting there and waiting! :)

I know I've left so much out, but it's probably in my best interest to keep this a little bit censored for the sake of A. readability and B. liability, ha ha!

Now, time to catch up with the life I've neglected back here in Colorado for the past 3 weeks, and to spend all my hard earned money on pro-deals on outdoor gear!

Oh - Breckenridge skiing trip is definitely on for you Michigan folks. I am going to try to look into it, but I know Kevin and Beth are coming out so let them know you are interested!

 

This is the fire camp in Sierraville, CA.

Just a little bit o' fire along the road

We were really bored so Kimsey cut down a little tree and put it in our truck; Matt helped me decorate it with empty apple juice cans.

The Bell's Oberon mini-keg that I was so excited about

Yeah, I was a bridesmaid.

Back from fire, now off to Michigan

Hey!

I'm still alive. I got dispatched out with the Northern Colorado Handcrew on September 18th and just got back yesterday! We were on the Bassetts Fire in Sierraville, CA. Have so much to write, but gotta watch X Men 3 with Tim and get some sleep before I fly off to Donna's wedding in MI this weekend!