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!