"Are you sure I'm a polar bear?"

This morning, as I frantically piled my stuff into my car in Yellowstone National  Park, I knew I was going to be late for work no matter what.

Good thing I came to terms with this fact before the blizzard hit.

Snow. Lots of it.

I don't have the time to explain what I was doing, leaving Yellowstone at 6:30am on a Monday morning, except that I was late and it was snowing. It wasn't really quite a blizzard, but it wasn't just snowing and melting - it STUCK!

Snow piled up on the road as I drove the 2 hr trip back to Red Rock Lakes, making the last 28 miles of dirt road pretty slick and sloppy. It's now 1 pm and not only are the roads white, but so is everything else.

Winter comes before the first day of fall in this part of town I guess.

Can't wait to drive back out to Yellowstone and do it all over again this afternoon! :)

Fire is cool

Left to right: Mike (CMR NWR MT), Amy and Kevin (National Bison Range NWR. MT), Ben (CMR NWR MT), Lisa (Red Rock Lakes NWR, MT), Joseph (Browns Park NWR, CO), Nathan (CMR NWR MT)

I'm back from Fish Springs NWR, Utah. Click on the photo of our crew to read about our burn and see another picture of me and how gosh-darn good I look in Nomex. I'm still at Browns Park, and Monday we are going way down to southern Colorado to do that burn at Alamosa. I'll do a better update when I can, but we'll just say we had probably a little too much fun. ;)

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! ;)