5 Minutes Closer, Day by Day

I realized two things today:

1. As of today, we official have longer days than the lower 48! Each day, we get ~5 minutes more sunlight...bringing us that much closer to that amazing "midnight" sun!
2. I am already behind in my quest to post at least once a month! Slacker!

Aurora Borealis with Full Moon!

It's always ironic that I don't post more often; when I was busy and traveling more often (usually with less convenient internet access), fighting fires in Montana or exploring Colorado, I managed to post quite often. Then, I actually had the habit of carrying a notepad and actually physically writing my travelogue while I was on the trail, or in fire camp, or before bed. Afterwards, I would come home and transcribe my journal from paper, to computer. Why have I lost this motivation and consistency? It's a rhetorical question. I still have the thoughts and story in my brain; I found myself composing an entry while watching the Northern Lights last week. But I waited too long; the story is no longer fresh, the exact words and feelings buried under the rest of my week. I will try harder. But, at least I have photos to post. And as they say, "a picture is worth a thousand words"?? ;)

After some gnarly weather and sketchy commutes, I decided to discontinue volunteering at the SeaLife Center in Seward. Combined with the sometimes treacherous 2 hour-each-way commute, I was unexpectedly shifted to cleaning duck pens instead of mammal research; apparently they don't have enough work to need a volunteer right now, since the sea lion pups (and ducklings) won't be born until the spring and I will be back to work before then. Since I already do avian husbandry in Anchorage, it wasn't worth the risk or cost of gas money. I will miss the animals and folks that work there! I am still volunteering at Bird TLC, though it is quite slow in the winter. We have had a variety of patients rotate through; bald eagles, northern hawk owl, merlin, ravens, northern saw-whet owl, bohemian waxwings, redpoll, pine grosbeak, even a Pacific loon. I adore the owls, their gaze is so intense, and the feathers above their eyes almost show expression, like a human's eyebrows. It's hard not to personify animals, but owls...they look at you like the just KNOW things...!


I am very happy to say that I was officially made a probationary member of the Girdwood Fire Department in January! This means I have certain tasks - training, driving, etc - that I need to complete within 3 or 4 months before I become a full (Class A) member. I have to take a minimum of eight, 48 hour shifts a month and attend weekly trainings. I have still only been on a few medical calls at this point, which is a whole new realm to me. Getting your EMT certification gives you the skills, but until you have dealt with people who are actually in pain, it throws a new level of complexity into things. I haven't even seen anything exceptionally traumatic yet, we will see how I hold up when things get really bad. The Seward highway is known for it's horrible accidents, and it is only a matter of time before I have to deal with the "really bad" stuff.

I am going back to work in mid April. Yay! I think? Ha ha. :)  Now that my winter is essentially over, I am thinking of all these things that I had all winter to accomplish, but didn't. It will be nice to have a healthy income again, and I am really looking forward to the opportunity to work on my Squad Boss taskbook while on wildfires this season.

I am also still doing the Alaska Mountain Rescue Group prospective member thing, with trainings about 3x a month. This month was raising and lowering systems for high and low angle rescue. I've learned the stuff about ropes, pulleys etc before, but since I am usually in a support role, I never get to actually set the ropes up... I just carry the bags the ropes come in, and I'm really good at the carrying heavy stuff part ha ha. So it was good having more hands on experience.

Will refrain from making this into another novel chapter and stop...right.... NOW. ;)