Makes me wanna BREAK SOMETHING!

ARRRGGGGHHHHHHHHH!

No chipper, happy, hunky go dorey news here boys and girls. Well, I broke up with Tim about a week ago. Ironic that my last entry was about how GREAT our snowshoe trip was. Not that we don't care about each other, but we just need to figure some important stuff out. Nothing like the break-up of a well known local couple in a small town to realize just how small this place can really feel!! So, I'm super bummed out but it was the best thing for us both right now. We'll see what happens... I mean, does the whole "taking time to figure things out" ever actually end up with people back together?? Things DO happen for a reason...

And on top of that, I got a call from my boss early on Monday morning telling me, "Well, I went ahead and hired Brian for the crew leader position..." No. Freaking. Way. The ONLY person in the whole park that could have a shot at beating me for it (he did hazard tree for a couple years). But, he wasn't here last year, when Cisco and I pretty much were our own boss and took care of EVERYTHING, above and beyond our duties as mere seasonal slaves. We convinced him to MAKE the crewleader job. Brian is a good guy and probably the only person I would work under, but it's not to say that I am not SOOOO PISSED OFF. He has no idea what we did last year, and they'd be screwed if Cisco and I didn't come back this summer. And pretty much everybody I know and work with knows I got shafted. My boss said he went back and forth about it all weekend, and the reasons he picked this guy over me were, as he admitted, CRAP. Just probably because he's older and been around longer. The ONLY redeeming and potentially good thing to come about this is that he said they are trying to secure funding for another term position.

If that doesn't happen, there's pretty much no way for me to advance my career here. There's not a lot of turnover, and very few term or permanent jobs. I'm gonna bet I'll be outta here within the next 2 years. I can't stand the idea of being an educated, qualified, ambitious individual working seasonally and being shafted as has happened to many of my friends. At least I'm not one of those people that have been here for 6-8 summer seasons and still see no light at the end of the tunnel. I mean, these are the sacrifices we make to work in the coolest places in the US and do jobs we love... but still, I do want to eventually have like, a CAREER or something. Go figure. :P

Wherewould I go? Montana or Alaska, most likely.

Anyway, pardon my crankiness but I think I'm allowed. My friends Jen, Steph, and Maria have been fantastic at keeping me busy and optimistic. Lunch in Denver and lots of gabbing with Steph; Maria and her phone calls; and Jen, getting margaritas two days in a row, playing erotic photo hunt (boobs!), and taking our mutts for a walk...

But, St. Patty's Day should be a BLAST.  Maybe I'll take a trip to Seattle or something, since I'm not working until April 16th now. Dammit.

The North Fork Adventure!

From North Fork Ca...

What an adventure indeed! Depending on who you are, you're either going to read about my weekend and say "Wow, that sounds GREAT!" or "Are you freaking CRAZY?! That sounds AWEFUL!"

Let me just say, it was one of the best weekends I've had in months!

I woke up on Friday morning with tons of stuff to do - send Logan off to day care, run some errands... and SOLD MY FOCUS! Woo hoo! I'm rich! Well, not really... but my lovely little hatchback is now frolicking somewhere down near Colorado Springs, and I've got a little bit o' cash. ;)  I finally got all Loge's stuff together and dropped him off at Tara's for the weekend, trying not to be an overly worried mommy. Tim and I wanted to get to the trailhead by 3:00 but didn't make on the trail until about 4:30 pm.

All that fresh powder beckoning us... Strapped on my brand new snowshoes and hoisted my pack onto my back, as Tim geared up in his "bunny boots" (rubber boots filled with air, so they are SUPER warm) and put HIS pack - probably at least 60 lbs - on his back... and off we went. We went up and down the road by Cheley Camp and soon were in the national forest. Fresh moose tracks were along the trail along the drainage, so I jokingly started my "moose call" - "HEEEEERRRREEEEEE MOOSEY MOOSEY MOOSEY" And what do you know, Tim looks up to our left, and there's a momma moose and her baby hanging out on the slope. It was a great start to our trip, and we weren't too tired or cold and the powder was fresh but not too deep. Perfect!

The sun began to set. The last hints of ANYBODY being on the trail quickly faded away, and soon we were traveling through deep powdery drifts of snow. We'd bet that nobody had been up there in MONTHS, as there was no snowpack of footprints and the powder was unlike anything I've ever seen. The snow had drifted and was so deep that we kept losing the trail on and off. Even when we were ON trail, we could hardly tell that there was a prexisiting route, giving us this liberating feeling of bushwacking into the backcountry, wild and untouched.

This was great for a while, but I don't have snowpants anymore and my new snowshoes kick up snow on my butt more than any other pair ever had, so soon my butt was frozen and the temperature dropped severely. We were both pretty warm for most of the hike in, but once the sun set, the wind picked up, and we both got dehydrated from our water bottles freezing... My butt was so cold it hurt! Yes, I did wonder if you could get frostbite on your heiney, it was THAT cold! But besides that, my hands, feet, face and core were all nice and toasty as we went from Forest Service Land, to Comanche Peaks Wilderness, and finally into Rocky Mountain.

The big problem was once we got fatigued and the temperature and the sun went down, we reached a few points where we had no idea where the trail was, and the snow was deeper than ever. We backtracked and plodded around in bewilderment for a short period of time, trying to find some hint - maybe a cut tree, or a rock wall - of the trail instead of truly meandering off into the middle of nowhere. Somehow we always managed to pick up the trail and kept trudging on, uphill, hoping that we were getting close to warmth!

Tim started running on empty and his heavy pack was taking its toll; I was in front breaking trail and, if you've never done this in deep powder, it tires you out fast. I'd get bogged down, catch my breath, curse loudly and pure stubbornness powered me through some deep snow drifts. Finally we reached a high point in the woods and Tim was certain the cabin was somewhere, and that we somehow lost the trail again. Miraculously again, we roamed around until we found the true trail and reached a sign. The cabin is here!

...But where?! With only the moonlight and our headlamps, we knew it was somewhere close but we just could NOT see it!! Tim dropped his pack and headed along the river, and I was so thankful when he called out that he found it. I had visions of us reaching the cabin, then him dropping the key because his hands were so cold, and being stuck outside! But nothing of the sort happened, and soon we were indoors from the wind... and it was a whopping 8 degrees!! So five hours later, at 9:30 pm, we reached our 5 mile destination... Yep, we averaged ONE mile per HOUR!

Once inside, Tim immediately got to work on lighting the wood stove. That piece of metal was my best friend as it came to life and began warming our cold little 20'x16' cabin and brought some feeling back into my butt! Tim was fantastic about getting us warm and fed, and we feasted on cashews and hot lentil soup at around 11:30 pm. The windows were boarded up so it was completely dark indoors, while the bright moon cast purple shadows in the pines outside. We didn't have the energy or desire to get the propane system up and running, so we just lit some candles and wore our headlamps as we set up our sleeping bags and pads in the loft. Soon it was 40 degrees downstairs, and even warmer in the loft, and we drifted off into a dehydrated, exhausted sleep. I for one can say that I had the most bizarre dreams, each part a creative and strange account of why my back ached, why my butt was so cold, why my hand hurt (in the dark, didn't see that there was a drop off and hit my hand on the stove pipe!)... I slept pretty well but was happy to be done with those dreams and back into reality in the morning!

We were worried because we were supposed to call into ROMO dispatch to let them know we made it; however, the battery for the radio was dead, and we were slightly worried that they would send rangers out to find us, as per backcountry protocol if somebody doesn't check in. Nobody ever mentioned that it was a SOLAR battery, mounted under a few feet of snow on the roof... But we did reach them in the morning before any rescue crew came out to greet us. ;)

The shutters were still closed so we didn't even realize how bright it was outside until we climbed out of the loft and went out the front door for a cold and invigorating "bathroom break" - nothing like baring your bottom on a beautiful winter day! (And we never did find the privy - we were looking for an outhouse building... ends up, it was simply a hole in the ground with some logs behind it! We had passed it so many times, but it was so buried in snow we didn't realize it!) As Tim phrased it, Saturday was a bluebird day without a cloud in the sky! Smoke poured from our chimney as Tim removed the shutters and shed some glorious sunlight into our little home! Soon, bacon was sizzling on the propane stove and Tim cooked up toast and scrambled eggs with mushrooms. It was a great start to the day and the wood stove got our little home up to 68 degrees. Well fed, we relaxed in front of the windows for a while and took our time gearing up for our day hike. We filtered water right from the stream and got rehydrated, and fortunately Tim let me borrow some pants so I wouldn't literally freeze my ass off again! Around 12:30, we finally headed out on the virgin powder trail towards Lost Lake. We decided that, in light of our progress the night before, there was no way we would reach the lake, a 10 mile round trip. We aimed for the Falls instead, which I believe is about 2.5 miles. I think we realized pretty quickly, as we took turns exhausting ourselves breaking trail, that this might not be realistic either.

No matter, for the day was bright, "warm" (we were sweating in 30 degree weather!), and just beautiful. We stopped for a chicken/mushroom/asperagus and cashew lunch at Happily Lost campsite and determined that we really weren't going to make it to the falls, it was so slow going and the snow remained deep. We continued on for a short amount of time to see if we could get a better view of Stormy Peaks, but the trail remained buried in the forest so we turned around about 3 pm. Going back to the cabin went FAST, since we had made a trail and it was downhill. We were back at the cabin by 4:30 and spent the rest of the day in our long underwear, reading magazines and just being lazy, watching the icicles grow longer as the heat from our stove melted the few feet of snow on the roof.

Saturday night was burrito night! Tim packed in a tomato and an avocado, tortillas, veggie meat, cheese and hot sauce and cooked under the light of the propane lamp mounted on the rafter. He even surprised me and brought a bottle of wine, so we ate like kings and called it an early night, I believe around 9 pm? The moon shined in brightly but we slept well in the dark loft.

Sunday morning came and it was time to clean up and prepare for our hike out. We had another big breakfast of eggs and bacon, I filtered water and restocked the wood pile by the cabin as he tended to the fire and took care of other chores. We took our time and both didn't want to leave. It was another gorgeous, warm day and everything was set just before noon. Our last two tasks were to sign the Cabin Register and close up the windows. Nobody had been there since October! It was a nice feeling to think we were the only ones to have set foot and enjoyed the North Fork Cabin all winter. All geared up and ready to go, Tim put in the last 2 bolts to the shutters, we closed the door and locked the bolt and snowshoed away from our weekend retreat. Such a good trip!

The hike out was WARM - maybe 40 degrees - and Tim was down to just a t-shirt. The snow was no longer powdery but was wet and heavy, and we made it out very quickly on our trodden path - 3 hours, compared to the 5 it took to get there. Made it to the trailhead, took showers, and was back at the Rock Inn just after 4 for a cold beer or two or three. Picked up Logan from Tara's, watched Seinfeld at my place, and went to bed... And of course, neither one of us slept as well as we did at the cabin, on thin pads in our sleeping bags. Go figure.

So that is the North Fork Adventure. I hope we do something like that again in the future! Unfortunately, I didn't get many photos - it was so cold, my camera didn't want to work, or my fingers didn't want to bother with it.

And here is yet another "could've been a nice photo, but..." picture of Tim and I. Tate, the guy on the right, had a friend come into town and he posted this photo on his myspace page. I'm waiting for the day that we take a photo that I won't get teased about! But, it is pretty darned funny!

At least I can crop it and almost make it look decent... ;)

Ever see a mandolin player headbang??

Last night was that Yonder Mountain String Band show that I was so excited about. I knew that it was for this "thing" called "E-Town", but I didn't really know what E-town was. Tim tried to explain, but I still didn't really know what he was talking about.

Well, it was unlike any other show I've ever seen. In fact, it wasn't like a concert at all. E-town is a one hour music variety show, where they have a few artists come on, play some songs, do an interview, then play a little more. It was a lot like some artist features on NPR; you hear them playing in front of a live audience and hear the interviews on the radio. Seeing this happen as a member of the live audience was a trip - for example, they introduced Yonder Mountain, they played 3 songs, and then they RE-introduced them (without the band really coming back on) because they didn't like how it turned out the first time. We'd have to repeat the "tail end of that applause" so they could come in and thank the sponsors, and sometimes the audience was too loud, or the announcer chick would flub it. In mid-song, David Wilcox flubbed a verse and they repeated it. All this, so they could cut and paste a 2 1/2 hour show into a 1 hour show. This, and they had to edit out the morons that kept yelling out to try to be on the radio. :P  It was so great because Yonder played a few songs, got interviewed, then David Wilcox came on and did a few, got interviewed, did some more songs, interviewed some guy from a Katrina musician's nonprofit, then Yonder came back out and played more. In the end, David Wilcox, Nick Forster (musician and host of E-town), and Yonder all played that Motown song, "I Second That Emotion" by Smokey Robinson - which of course was freaking fantastic. 10 people on stage, including 2 mandolins, a banjo, a string bass, a few guitars...

David Wilcox is one of those singer songwriters that tells a story and gets, well, pretty emotional. He doesn't shy away from religion, love, politics, or anything - "feel good" music. I'd guess they'd play him on one of those "positive thinking" radio stations. :)  He was a little too touchy feely for me for a lot of songs, but irregardless of that, he was SUCH a talented singer and guitar player that I have to give him props. Tim really likes him; but he's weird. Especially since he likes Marilyn Manson and Tool just as much as I do. Go figure. ;)

Anyway, they do air E-Town around in Michigan. I think the latest one is of Susan Tesdeschi - a blues/folk awesome singer with a killer voice. I don't know when this Yonder show will be aired. Anyway, here's some stations to check out in Michigan; other places, check out the website to find them, you'd figure it out.  Ann Arbor's station, 107.1 fm, plays it on Sunday morning from 7-8 am. It is also on 107.1 in the Detroit Metro area, on Sunday morning at 10 am. Around Detroit it is also on 91.5 on Thursday at 10 am (supposedly, though it's not on their website), and in Lansing on 89.7 at 1 pm on Wednesday and Saturday.

Yonder is probably one of my all time favorite bands, and now I've finally seen them live! The lead guy, Jeff Austin, sings and headbangs while playing mandolin. How cool is that?! People couldn't help but finally bust out of their seats and start dancing at the end of the show (which was discouraged because of the nature of the program).

Tim's friend and his girl bailed on our camping trip, so it's just him and I hiking up to the North Fork tomorrow. He's stuck with me in the wilderness, bwa ha ha. We are hiking out tomorrow afternoon, and there is a full moon on the 2nd... with this fresh new snow we got yesterday, it should be absolutely gorgeous, with our cabin all to ourselves... a fireplace and a propane stove to curl up next to... Have I mentioned, life is good? :)

My last day with the fire crew was yesterday, and I couldn't even work! I went in, but I got a migrane the night before, so when we were going over the weather and morning briefing, I couldn't even see straight and the light was hurting my eyes. They were hiking a steep part in a snowstorm, and I just couldn't do it, my head was pounding and my vision was blurry. So alas, I went home, took a pill, shut all the shades and went into a coma until 1 pm yesterday. It was fun work, in a masochistic sort of way. Now, I just have to wait to see if I get that crewleader job, which closed yesterday. Hope to hear in two weeks where I made it on the cert (the list that ranks you).

Hmm what else is new. Time to run down to Boulder and get some snowshoes for this weekend! Oh, and somebody is coming to look at my Focus tomorrow. Hope they want it! Because I'm ready to get rid of it. ;)

Grey's Anatomy is so freaking good!

My freaking entry got deleted! Stupid AOL!

First, I was raving about the latest episodes of Grey's Anatomy. SO GOOD! Lots of good plot twists and unexpected drama. Watch the last 3 episodes if you haven't seen them at ABC.com!!!

I am psyched for our camping trip this weekend. We are going on the North Fork Trail, staying at the ranger cabin, and then snowshoeing up to Lost Lake. This is the only part of the park I have never hiked. Here's a description of the trail, and here is a map. Our trail is the orange line:

My last day of work with the fire crew is Wednesday. Bittersweet, since I like working and I like money, but I don't like that I keep getting sick from inhaling all that smoke and hiking up and down mountains in cold windy weather. I'll be unemployed again until at least Mid March, maybe April if I don't get the crew leader job. WISH ME LUCK! Cisco, the guy I did it with, is ticked that they are requiring a CDL. I know of one guy that may be tough competition IF he put in for it; but I know he applied for trail crew so maybe he's just not into haz tree anymore?? Here's my potential job description:

"At least 70% of your time will be spent completing a variety of projects in the areas of forest health and insect management.  You will be responsible for implementation of field programs for hazard trees, forest insect and disease, and for coordination of logistics for project completion.  The position requires consolidated and detailed reports of daily field activities when insecticides are applied, when implementing pest control strategies, and coordinating hazard tree control actions including the marking of trees for monitoring purposes.  You will assist the Natural Resource Specialist and Fire Management Officer with planning and coordination of park-wide forest health field projects; develop and implement project work plans; coordinate with other divisions and agencies to obtain necessary assistance; obtain necessary supplies; design, coordinate, and conduct trainings.  The other 30% of your time will be spent in motor vehicle equipment operation, fire management activities, buck and rail maintenance, and snow play boardwalk maintenance."

PICK ME! PICK ME!

Oh, and there is a photography contest going on up here, for photos of Estes Park or Rocky Mountain National Park. I can have up to 5 entries. Please look at these photos and let me know which ones you like the most. The worst part? I'm competing against my Timmy - and he's really freaking good. Trust me. If you remember any photos that I didn't put on here but you really really liked from Rocky Mountain, let me know!

 

From Photo Contest

My puppy and I have the same painkillers

Last week, I brought Logan home from day care and fed him dinner. For the first time in his life, he didn't chow it down and just layed down. I KNEW something was wrong - my chowhound wouldn't eat! Strange. He did the same thing the next morning - he would eventually eat it all, but my little Pac Man just wasn't feeling well. After he nearly exploded in my truck because he was SICK and HAD to go potty (bless his little puppy heart, he didn't go in my truck and held it until I could pull over, though he was soooo ill) I realized that this wasn't going to get better by itself. Last Thursday, I brought him to see Dr. Fish. Logan's got a stomach bug. No big deal, some antibiotics and he's good to go... right??

His belly started to feel better right away. On top of this, he's teething and that's bugging him. Then I realized he was sitting funny. I paid more attention... he had a little limp too (hard to tell, since he has that silly german shepherd swagger combined with puppy clumsiness). I checked out his paw and his leg and couldn't find anything wrong. It got worse and worse over the weekend; he would whine and get up and readjust when he was trying to sleep - he just moaned and ached. I got worried, of course. I didn't know if he sprained something, or played too rough at day care... but he didn't even want to sit up anymore, his leg bothered him so much.

I brought him to the vet first thing this morning. Guess what's wrong with him?

GROWING PAINS.

Did I mention he's 40 lbs at 4 months old?

This is relatively common with large breed dogs, and it's called panosteitis. He's a little on the young side to get it, but he's just a big boy and he's definitely growing! The good news is it's temporary; the bad news, is that the only thing you can really do is give him pain relievers. The doctor said that once, a bassett hound came in SCREAMING in pain from it; the only thing they could do was give him morphine! Fortunately, Logan isn't in THAT much pain, and hopefully it doesn't get to that point. So now he's on two pills... one of which is Tramadol... Which is what I take for MY back pain when I hurt it at work! Go figure, my dog and I share narcotics. :P

What else is new with me?? Well, today is a holiday (president's day; I would never have known if I didn't work for the feds!) and I am going to see my friend Maria, who just moved back to Fort Collins from Flagstaff. I only have maybe 9 days left of work (running out of funding), but if I get that hazard tree lead position I might be starting mid March. Tim reserved the North Fork cabin for March 2-3, so a bunch of us will be snowshoeing up there and hanging out in the woods. We got tickets to see Yonder Mountain String Band in Fort Collins on the 28th. I am trading my old trombone for a violin with some lady over Craigslist - I think I'm getting the better end of the deal, since it's in great condition; she just really wants an affordable brass instrument and has an extra violin lying around!

And the last lame little tidbit - I made Logan a profile on Dogster. It's like myspace, but for dogs. I know. Lame. Lame. Lame. I just couldn't help it. He's making lots of doggie friends though! ;)