With my hit-or-miss internet connection, being sick (allergies!!!), working, Logan, and everything else... I've slacked off a bit. Really nothing too crazy going on, just spend my weeks cutting and drilling and building... spend my weekend running, riding the motorcycle, playing with the dog, watching the RED WINGS!!!! and just somehow the time flies.
So here's some new pics of our "comfort station" (aka bathroom) and Logan.
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| From Spring 2007 -... |
I know I know, it's been a long time. I'm busy now that I'm working! And internet access isn't always an easy thing for me. So where to start...
New Mexico. Of course, it had been 80 degrees and sunny for the trail dogs before I got there... so it's no surprise that it got cold and snowed two of the days I was down there. I was so excited, I packed shorts and tank tops and a skirt! Guess I jinxed myself thinking that it would stay nice and warm. Even better - right after I left, it got warm and sunny again. Nice, real nice. Logan and I had a great time anyway, and he was in doggy heaven running around off leash on forest service land. One day, Tim, Jeff, Logan and I went adventuring in the canyons off trail on Dept. of Energy lands (did I mention Los Alamos is where they invented the atom bomb??); one night, Tim and I went back to Spence hot springs. We hoped we'd have it to ourselves, but there were 5 Albuqueque rednecks, being loud and stupid and putting their cigarette butts out in the water. Who freaking does that?!?!?! It was pretty annoying but we did tune them out a little bit while we watched shooting stars and soaked in the hot springs.
Another day, we got access to the locked 4x4 road that goes through Bandelier and connects to other forest service roads. This time around, I got to drive my truck instead of Tim and his truck, and of course it had been beautiful and clear until we started out... then it started snowing and got foggy, so we couldn't see very far. The road wasn't that intense but it was still a lot of fun. We kept going south and didn't know if the key we had would open the gate at that end, since it wasn't in the Monument... if it didn't work, it would be over an hour drive back. Tim put the key in the lock, jiggled it, and his face lit up. Neither of us thought it would work, but it did! And we had no idea where we were at the other end, since it wasn't on the map. After some "scenic detouring", we figured out where we were and saw this little National Monument on the map nearby. Why not stop?? We didn't really know what to expect, but Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument was a pleasant surprise. We hiked the slot canyon and got great views of the unique rock formations of the area. Tim took tons of great photos and of course my camera died on me. We'll see if I ever get copies to post on here!
All in all, it was a fantastic week and I was bummed to leave!
So then, I started working 2 weeks ago. I'm a contruction kitten instead of a chainsaw kitten now! Since I've started, we've put up the metal studs on the outside walls and are almost done with the inside, and put up the big log trusses. Hopefully next week we will start with the roof. I'm learning tons but the guys all seem to like me on the crew and think I'm doing a great job. Haven't cut any fingers off at least! The weather had been pretty heinous lately while we've been working and I've gone home looking like a wet rat more than once. This weekend has been gorgeous though! Went for a little roadtrip with Logan down to Nederland and Central City so I could take the "Oh My God" road through the old mining areas. We'll just say that there was at least one old car wreckage still at the bottom of one of the slopes. :P
Tim got back last night. I don't usually gripe about relationships in this journal, but we'll just say it wasn't good. He had better things to do than talk to me, apparently. Oh well oh hell I suppose. So my song of the day is "Valentine" by the Old 97's:
"Heartbreak, old friend, goodbye it's me again.
Of late, I've had some thought of movin' in.
Of all the many ways a man will lose his home,
Well, there ain't none better than the girl who's movin' on.
True love, I knew some thought of, some thought of leavin' you.
Bad thoughts I had, when valentines were due.
Of all the many ways a man will break his heart,
Well there ain't none meaner than he pulls his own apart
CHORUS:
Valentine, the destroyer, Valentine, you belong
In the stars, where you are, always rollin' on.
Cried, I've cried till I couldn't carry on.
It's a lonely, lonely feelin' when your Valentine is wrong.
It's a lonely, lonely feelin' when your Valentine is wrong.
Of all the many things that you were countin' on,
Well, there ain't none better than the girl who's movin' on.
No, there ain't none better than the girl who's movin' on."
Time for a motorcycle ride!\
Oh, here's photos of our project; click on the photo to see a couple others.
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| From Spring 2007 -... |
Tomorrow, I wake up early... and go to work! YAY! I think. ;)
New Mexico was freaking awesome. I don't feel like writing a big long story right now, but I'll post the photos. Highlights include hot springs, long hikes, Walker Texas Ranger, Logan hiking off leash, the ghost of Mrs. Frey, and snow. Yes, snow. It was hot and sunny right before I got there... and right after I got there. Hee hee. So now, I am Tim-less for another few weeks. Sniffle sniffle. Logan and I start obedience tomorrow. Jenna was in town. Blah blah blah.
Here's the photos. Enjoy.
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| From Bandelier NM,... |
I get home from getting my truck fixed yesterday and notice there are a bunch of cop cars and SUVs just a couple houses down from the Rock Inn and my street. I pull up to my cottage, where another government SUV is parked outside next door. My arrival was greeted by two unhappy and heavily armed men that were standing on either side of my neighbor's cabin, looking down into the creek area and sortof "junkyard" area that is behind my place on the other side of the drainage. These men were sporting bullet proof vests and semi-automatic rifles. Hmmm.
Ends up they had the whole area - from highway 66 just down from the Rock, down the next sidestreet where the junkyard area is, and my place was on the perimeter on the other side - surrounded by sheriffs and marshalls. I asked the guy closest to my place, apparently a "Sheriff Negotiator" according to his vest, what was going on. Well there's been a fugitive on the loose that busted out of some prison in Washington and, lucky me, they think he's been hiding out in the cars/campers/junk that is just down behind my place about 200 feet. Nice. Another sheriff suggested we stay indoors until they knew for sure what was going on.
Of course, I had left my place unlocked because well that's just what we do up here sometimes. Not like I have anything worth stealing... But I never counted on a potential "armed and dangerous" fugitive being lose. I opened my bedroom and bathroom doors cautiously, and timidly peeked up in my loft... just to be sure, ya know. ;)
They were out there for a while but they think they missed him and he fled the area again. Darn. A cute officer came to my place and gave me a card, telling me to report anything suspicious, and offering up a compliment to my handsome dog. "At least you have a dog to protect you if anything happens." To which I replied, "Are you freaking kidding me?? He's nothing but a big chicken!"
In the meantime, across town there were multiple drug busts. Yes, this all happened yesterday. They were busted for a cocaine ring. Thank god, get that horrible stuff out of here. This weekend there was also a bust for a suspected meth lab (apparently that's big up here in the mountains... which is funny, since it's mostly retired old people and stoners, who aren't into that kind of thing... guess it's the creepy "other" locals that don't hang out in the nice restaurants or the national park??)
Ready to roll, right outside my bedroom window
Going to New Mexico tomorrow is sounding better and better. ;)
I'm hanging out at a coffee shop in Boulder while Truck is getting recall work done. I've just signed myself up for a couple volunteer trails projects with the Colorado 14ers Initiative, finished my taxes, and just generally tying up loose ends before my busy season at the park begins. I'm so excited to start working on the 16th! I've run into my new boss and coworkers and it seems that it's big news that I left hazard tree and moved on to special projects! Everybody thinks I made the right decision. In fact, I just found out this morning that Cisco, who worked haz tree with me last year, just told our boss that he is not coming back either! That's what happens when hard work, dedication and innitiative are ignored - you lose good employees! I'm sure our old boss is ticked off, since he really didn't know what/where/how/who was going on at any given time and he really wanted both of us back because we know what's going on (and the new crewleader has NO idea). We kept casual records of what we did (which we weren't really asked to do but figured it would be a good idea) but they're gonna have a hard time getting up to speed with everything we did last year.
Oh well! I'm gonna have a good season, and that's all that counts. ;) I guess the first part of my job is going to be demolition! Hell yeah! Getting paid for destruction!
I am leaving either Wednesday or Thursday for New Mexico to hang out with Tim for the weekend at Bandelier National Monument. Looking forward to those hot springs again! That's the last time I'll see Tim until the end of April. I'll be back here by the 12th to pick Jenna up from Denver, and she leaves on the 14th. Logan and I start doggie obedience training the 16th (as well as it being my first day of work). My birthday is the 18th! So much stuff going on!
I forgot to mention in my last entry that Chris Thile is playing in Ann Arbor, MI at the Ark on June 8th, if any of you folks are interested. Looks like it's $25 and trust me, it's worth it!
And I'd like to mention that if anybody out there is interested in volunteering for Rocky Mountain for a certain number of hours a week, for at least a couple weeks (think of it as a vacation), you do get free housing for some jobs. I don't know specifics, but it's a way to live in the park and have fun outside! In fact, most national parks have volunteer programs like that. Heck, you can even do it in Hawaii at Haleakala, or the Virgin Islands! So if you or anybody you know wants to volunteer - from trails, to wildlife, to ranger programs, or campground hosts - you should check it out! Even if there aren't "current openings" here, you can always contact the volunteer coordinator, or contact me and I'll put you in touch with people in charge of resource managment, or trails, or whatever, and maybe you can set up something else that isn't posted.
About 2 or 3 days ago, the wind was howling worse than I've seen in months. It literally made my truck rock back and forth in the driveway; I thought my roof was going to fly off! The clouds were low and tight around Long's Peak and I have never seen them move that quickly - it was probably hurricane strength up there at 14,000 ft! The weather goes from warm and sunny, to snowing, to windy, to warm, to snowing again... in a matter of HOURS. We've only had one good thunderstorm so far, and once we had a thunder snowstorm. The trees and bushes here in Boulder are already sporting some little leaves; the pasque flowers are JUST starting to bloom up in Estes, and definitely no leaves for another couple weeks at least!
There's quite a buzz going on still about the Park's proposal to cull the elk herd; the debate is getting quite heated, on top of that. I just read this article stating that our "harsh winter" killed off quite a few elk and there may not be "as much of a need" for culling, at the least in the short term. In fact, this whole "hunting elk" in Rocky is sparking off a national debate and proposals to congress regarding hunting in any and ALL National Parks. Beyond the debate of whether elk should be culled at all, is the huge debate on whether park sharpshooters, restricted hunters, or a totally open, public hunt should be used to accomplish the task. I'm totally against an open hunt to any and all public; I mean seriously, you let the public go in there, do you think they will kill the weak or nasty elk?? They'll go for the ones with big racks that look nice; this is NOT the purpose culling. The state just wants it because they want more revenue.(I have little faith in the general public as a whole on any issue... hence, we had George W. in office for 2 terms!) And, I'm very against any legislative measures that can open up ALL national parks to hunting; the possible implications and consequence of doing that are just too wide-reaching. For example, now that grizzleys are delisted in Yellowstone, does that mean they'll start hunting those again? I just don't trust it, not yet at least. There's still plenty of people/government officials out there that think we shouldn't have brought grizzleys or wolves back in the first place. Any excuse to kill them and some of them would see them all killed again!
The one thing I really got a kick out of from that article about Rocky Mountain is this: "Beetle infestation: Baker said the mountain pine beetle epidemic has had a significant impact on the park's trees, especially on the western side. He said biologists are spraying "high-value" trees in areas where visitors are more plentiful, but he described the larger battle against the rapacious insect "kind of like sticking a thumb in a dike." "You can't stop the beetle, so what we are doing is dealing with the aftermath," he said."
Know why that's funny? Because the "biologists" spraying high value trees means Cisco and myself; mere seasonal bio techs. We determined what WE thought were high value; marked all those trees; and supervised the sprayer company ourselves. Our "biologist" boss had very little to do with it. And know who was dealing with the aftermath? Yes, Cisco and I. Two measley little seasons with so much responsibility... and we got no credit; I didn't even get an interview for the crewleader job; Cisco wasn't even CONSIDERED. It still cracks me up that scientists in offices say "beetles only hit x number of feet up a tree" and "they only hit trees bigger than x inches diamter" and "they only fly for a small period of time in x month"... So often this summer, what we saw in the field was so different than what we were told as "fact". But alas, our knowledge and experience apparently count for nothing. Ok, so I'm still a little bitter... ;)
Another thing I just read about the Fish and Wildlife Service... looks like my old place of employment, Red Rock Lakes NWR in Montana, and other refuges I detailed out on fire - Charles M. Russell, probably Bison Range, Fish Springs, Browns Park, etc etc - are all getting even less funding. Those places were already working with a skeleton crew! Our poor public lands... so much demand, but so little resources/money to staff/protect/manage them!
That's all for now that I can remember. Busy busy busy! Gearing up for another great season in the mountains! VISIT ME!
