In any case, I made it through the Basic Academy without failing my grad school classes! At least, not yet... just over one week of classes left for me to blow it. Just kidding, mostly. I definitely bit off more than I could chew but I know my grades aren't the A+s that I'm so used to. Just kidding again, mostly. For some reason, I'm particularly sarcastic today. Perhaps it's the stress of watching the Red Wings blow their lead in a game that is now going into overtime; comedy is my coping mechanism?? Sure, sounds good to me!
Academy was a lot more fun than I anticipated before I got there. Sure, my ADHD makes me freak out from sitting still for too long, but I mostly kept it together with caffeine or something like that. They let us hamsters out of their cage often enough to keep us from eating eachother, in the form of such field exercises like: Maps and Navigation (I played squad boss and well, I didn't lose anybody so that's a good sign); Fire Shelter deployment; Followership to Leadership crew cohesion "problems; PT (working out); and our grand finale, the Field Day. So what exactly do you teach 90+ budding young firefighting apprentices??
- Nutrition and Wellness
- Communications and Radio Use
- Fire Prevention and Investigation
- L-280 Followership to Leadership
- Weather Observations
- Tactical Decision Making
- Map and Compass
- S-260 Interagency Incident Business Management
- I-200 Basic ICS
- S-131 Advanced Firefighter
- Fire shelters
- Wildland Fire Skills Field Day
By far the "capstone" experience was the field day. Each person took turns being a squad boss and leading our crews - formed on the 1st day of the academy - through simulations of common tasks asked of firefighters. Digging line and finding spot "fires" (no real fire for this academy); construction line downhill, with a simulated fire blowup that forces us to run up the hill (my achilles was shot from our fitness test, so I only made it halfway before I voluntarily "died") and deploy our shelters; getting helicopter loads ready; managing a dozer; using the engine for mobile attack and then a progressive hose lay; and setting up pumps and laying hose around small spot fires. Some of these tasks were unfamiliar to us (helicopters and dozers) but showed that with the right references and some leadership and delegation, we could still succeed. Although my darling Purple crewmembers forgot to buy me a cigar, our crew boss dished one out and probably 8 of us out of 17 donned fat stogies and corn cob pipes. Because we rule. ;)
Despite working out less than I had been before the academy started, I did improve in everything...except pull ups, but that might have been a function of the order in which we tested this time around, and doing more sit ups and push ups. Sit ups: 101; Push ups: 36; Pull ups: 2 (grrr); 1.5 mile run: 11:54. Still not as fast as I'd like but A. I'm built for comfort, not speed and B. I ended up with a killer leg cramp on top of my inflamed achilles. I'd like to thank the Guinness I drank the night before for my increase in strength and speed because it certainly wasn't from working out more!Of course I met lots of awesome folks from all over the western states and "networked" a lot over brews at the Lion's Gate and at Harvey's. At some point, even got the coordinator and a couple crew bosses to sing karaoke. I broke out my Folsom Prison, dedicated to my last hazy karaoke night with Kim. We were warned about how sketchy the local dive bar could be, but I had really good experiences the 3 times I went. Now, the hookah bar/VIP lounge... definitely won't be going back there anytime soon. Run by Russians, whispers that the bellydancers were prostitutes, the excessive attention I received from some dudes... I'll stick to Fat Tire and Juke Box at Harvey's, or Sierra Nevada, Guiness, hockey games and good pizza at Lions Gate. I'm relieved that the next time I go back in January - for the Advanced Academy - I won't have to worry about finishing homework before I get a beer buzz!
One Sunday, I jetted out to Point Reyes to enjoy the ocean and get a little alone time. Didn't hike much because of my achilles but it's gorgeous and dogs are allowed in certain areas; will have to go back at some point. I was only able to drive down and see Logan, Peeps and Nugget at Tim's place once, since it is a 4 hour drive from the academy; I meant to pick them up this weekend but with my last couple weeks of school left, I was stressing out and Tim offered to keep them one more week. The girls were so big, and still growing! They finally lost their baby "peeping" and now cluck and coo like real chickens. Their tails were longer and fuller, but their combs were still light pink and little. Tim put together the simple coop kit I ordered and just moved them outside this week. With the lack of daytime predators and the scent of Logan and Neota around the house, we decided to let them free-range around the property. I'm sure they won't be happy when they are forced to be caged and cooped up here at my mountain home, but they don't roam very far anyway and I'll let them out when I'm outside with them. It may be illegal to let them run around uncaged here so I don't want to bring unwanted attention to my chickens.My first real day of work on Engine 22 was Monday and met my crew. We are short on qualifications for 7 day coverage, so we will be running 5 day coverage with 6 people. If our Engineer gets his Engine Boss signed off, we can go to 7 day coverage and hire a seasonal, but I'm not sure how likely that is. As it stands,if the engine goes out, 1 person will be left behind. Looks like I will have Tuesday and Wednesday off after Memorial day; even stranger is that I won't start work until like 9 or 9:30 am! As it stands now, starting at 8 am is weird enough - without Logan here to walk and play catch with, I have all this time in the morning and don't know what to do with it! I'm used to working four, ten hour days from 7-5:30. My first two days of work were spent rolling hose, washing trucks, paperwork, and taking a driving test to get my government driver's license. Because having a CDL-B isn't apparently enough to prove I can drive a standard pick up truck, ha ha. I think it's going to be a good summer and I'm excited to learn a lot. Even more excited for my days off to explore the mountains, lakes, caves and vineyards surrounding me!
Well the Wings blew it big time so I could use another Moose Drool beer. $#@^%$^&#&$#@!$ Next time I write, I'll hopefully have my master's degree as well as my dog and chickens back from Tim!
