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!
Haven't been online in a while - spending most of my time up at Tim's, because it's just more fun that way. :) But for those of you worrying about what I'm up to/how I've been/if I'm still alive...
I am sick of AOL's photo journals because you have to view each photo one at a time, and my mom can't see them at work. I put some up on my Shutterfly site, and also on my Trekshare Travelogue. Remember - on Trekshare, you can view all the photos at one time by clicking the "Index" link on the top of the photo viewer window that pops up. I'm also putting up pictures of Donna's Bridal Shower, our night at 5th Avenue while I was in Michigan, and the Big Lebowski night at the Rock Inn. That's right - they showed the movie and gave drink specials on "Caucasians" (aka White Russians) if you wore a costume. I won the prize for best costume... but that's probably because I dressed up as Bunny Lebowski and wore a bikini. ;) I wouldn't have done it if another girl hadn't gone back with me to change... we both were like "well I didn't want to be the ONLY girl dressed in a bikini!" so we rallied and made it happen! (No, didn't just wear a bikini - was in a big red robe pretty much the whole time, hee hee!)
I got word last week I might go out with a fire crew from Bandelier National Park... but that didn't happen, so I just heard now that I should be ready to go out with the Northern Colorado handcrew on Monday. FINALLY! It has to happen soon so I can go out for the full 2 weeks - Donna's wedding is coming up soon and I can't miss that! Cisco's last day was last week, so now I have to improvise without a partner until October - I can't cut unless somebody is there to spot me, which is a bummer. I'm trying to recruit bored people to help me for a day here and there. So far, it's working. ;) Have a few unsuspecting folks lined up to drag brush with me, heh heh! Monday, I have the "Road Hogs" - mostly retired volunteers that are skilled in roads work - to help me shut down Bear Lake Road while I drop trees, and then help me load and haul them. I should have 10-18 people, so we'll get a lot of work done... if I'm here! Then Tuesday I have 6 more volunteers to try and take some pine beetle trees out of a campground. Not sure how that is going to go, never worked with these peoplebefore so we'll see how much I have to yell at them to NOT stand under trees when they are falling. I'm being only HALF joking there. (rolling my eyes)
Uhhh yeah besides that, I am unemployed in about a month and I'm not all that worried about it. A few things I'll hear about in the future - maybe be able to work on Fuels crew in the winter after all, and finally hear about that maintenance job in Grand Lake - and well frankly my unemployment check will be pretty fat so NOT working doesn't sound all that bad! Thank the federal government for encouraging us to go on unemployment instead of giving us non-seasonal jobs and year round employment.
I know I never wrote my travelogue for my camping weekend, or how the shower or Michigan went... but I don't care, I've got more important things to do, like goof off with Tim and watch lots of football! Did I mention that I found a way to bring Bells Beer from Michigan to the Rockies? I made my mom stop to get a 6 pack of Oberon on our way to the airport, unsure of how exactly I would get glass bottles through the flight without being broken (since you can't carry-on liquids anymore)... And by the grace of God what did I see?? A lone mini-keg of Bell's, over 1.3 gallons of the best beer East of the Mississippi. It was the answer to all of my problems! I checked it into my luggage and hours later, it arrived at the Denver airport, still cold! I broke it out today as we watched the Eagles (Tim's favorite team) play a great game and then lose it in overtime... Oh, and did I mention Michigan walloped Notre Dame on Saturday? And that's Tim's other favorite team? I only rubbed it in a little bit. :)
And by the way, it snowed in Estes Park this weekend. It didn't stick in town, but it definately snowed and did stick up high. The wind was howling, the temperature was chilly... I love living in the mountains!
I am super tired and can't properly write down about my awesome weekend with Tim hiking Mt. Shavano and Mt. Sneffels, and the great 4x4ing we did, and all that other good stuff... But a picture is worth a thousand words, and we have LOTS of photos.
The GPS thing he did for Backpacker was a success... with a little help of my techie-knowledge of course ;)... and I really can't remember a better weekend in recent history!
Anyway, getting well rested for the insanity and fun waiting for me back in Michigan tomorrow, so hopefully I'll update this in the next week??
I'm just posting almost ALL the pictures so if it's overkill, too bad. :P
Yeah, it was a little sketchy... I loved it, of course. ;) We took this picture for you, Mom!
Haven't been able to update, been busy and generally up to no good. Heh heh. ;)
I am going out to lunch with some family friends from back home, then packing up my camping gear and going down to Salida with Tim to hike some 14,000+ ft. peaks. He is doing a project for Backpacker Magazine involving GPSing 14ers, and I'm lucky enough to tag along. Should be a nice long weekend!
Here's an article about that guy that fell 800 feet on Long's Peak that I did the SAR for on Saturday.
What did I get pierced? My tragus. Sounds naughty, don't it?
Photos of me at work, for the viewing pleasure of my dear family and friends who wonder if I'm full of s*** or if I really am as cool as I pretend to be. (ha ha sarcasm!)
Looking forward to my 3 day weekend. I guess one of the guys on Tim's trail crew got hit on the head with something not good (rock bar?? rock sledge??) and needed to be litter carried out? That's all the details I heard on the radio today. Hope that person is ok!
Now, time to shower and party! ;)
Me climbing a Ponderosa Pine at McGraw Ranch to remove some hazard limbs.
7 trees I felled in a nice neat row in the west side housing area.
