"My First Summer in the Sierra"

I pulled that book out of storage and intend on rereading it at some point. It's a book by my hero, John Muir; I read it in college for an American Wilderness and Literature class. At the time I remember sometimes getting lost in Muir's flowery, overly descriptive and long-winded abstractions of natural features. That was about 10 years ago, and I too have become more long-winded and overly descriptive as I have grown older! ;) I also remember how much I liked John Muir for hating SHEEP. He thinks sheep are the stupidest creatures ever, as he discovered while herding a flock across the mountains or something. Anyway, I need to reread it now that I live here and may be able to appreciate it a little more.

Yes you will notice I added a little Amazon.com thingy. If you buy something off my page I think I get like 2 cents or something. I'm broke, this will help pay the bills. HA HA HA! I crack myself up.

Today, my "first summer in the Sierra" included a trip to the popular swimming hole called Candy Rock, on the North Fork of the Stanislaus River. I knew of this place all summer, but it is very popular. I like to relax and avoid loud crowds when it's just me and Logan so I've gone out of my way to find other places to swim. After reading an intriguing description of Candy Rock to a visitor at the ranger station last week, though, I gave in and had to see for myself.

It was awesome.

A drive on a dirt road into the canyon, thick with brush and baked-hot by the sun. The road ends at a parking area, where eroded steps lead down to the river. There was one truck there but the owner was nowhere to be found. The entire stretch of river is strewn with huge boulders, forming relatively deep, clear pools and connected by slickrock waterslides and cascades. Neat, perfect circles from water and erosion form pockets both above and below water; the rock was so slick that Logan fell into one above the river. It was deep enough I had to pull him out of the mucky-water trap, which left him a little nervous while on the river banks. He stirred up a tiny little frog, with black stripes along its eyes. I'll have to look it up later.

For a while, we had the entire place to ourselves, which I'm sure was a sight to see - me pulling and pushing Logan up and down the slick rock, laughing at him, and then falling in myself. I think it was a wise idea to leave my shorts on over my bikini, because there was a lot of sliding around on my butt. Logan seemed to enjoy the waterslide as much as I did, which swept you from one pool to another. It was so much fun, and so refreshing! Another group of people eventually showed up and were cracking up as they saw Logan and I swimming/being swept by the current, and laughing even harder when Logan started crying because he couldn't get OUT of the water on the slickrock! Those folks traveled downriver so we still had the solitude I wanted. After swimming, I laid out on the smooth rock and read a Backpacker magazine until I was dry. On the hike out, we passed 2 groups of high school boys; on the drive out, I passed 5 cars full of people! We left at the right time, around 2:00. The key might be to arrive early - before noon - and avoid people on a Thursday??

So now I'm at the local coffee shop in Arnold, it's been a while since I've engaged in my "hobby" of sitting at a coffee shop with the dog, writing in my blog. Nothing beats Kind Coffee in Estes Park of course, but it's a nice day to sit outside. I even made a new friend! A blue and white pit mix puppy took up shop under my seat.

Other swimming holes I have found include one down the road from my house, which lacks the large unique boulders of Candy Rock but is nice and deep and I've never run into anybody there. Then of course there is Lake Alpine and Spicer, both of which are quite busy but Alpine was nice and warm. If I ever pick up my kayak from Tim's place, there are so many lakes to paddle! I need to figure out a way to float Logan with me though, kayak isn't built for a 110 lb dog.

Logan on the waterslide

Bad raccoon karma

My happy little "family" is enjoy a relaxing afternoon on our large deck, shadowed by the looming pine and hemlock. And by family, of course I mean Log Dog and two chickens. Because that's totally normal, right? ;)

Sadly, those two chickens aren't the same two I started with. Alas, I was a bad chicken momma and I take full responsibility for the murder of my Easter Egger, Nugget. Even worse is that I forgot which one was Nugget, and which one was Peeps, and was calling them by the wrong names. Oops.

Nugget was taken just before she was reaching young hen-hood; 4 months old, and probably would start laying in the next few weeks. But selfish me went to hang out with friends and got home after dark, carelessly leaving the coop open. Prime time for the masked marauders of the forest - raccoons. Although the coop is fenced with chicken wire, it's NOT raccoon proof. Within that 45 minutes to an hour past dark, I'm pretty sure a fat momma took my little hen away to her kiddos - I've heard them screeching and squealing in the tree lot next door. I'll admit, I cried. I raised them from 2 day old chicks and am totally responsible for what happened. I pulled up and saw my Silver Laced Wyandotte Peeps looking spooked in the coop and Nugget was nowhere to be found. I searched for an hour, hoping she was wiley enough to escape under the house. The next morning I heard the raccoons going nuts at daybreak as I searched then, too. There were barely any feathers in the pen and no blood. %^$#@%$#@%$&^%$&^

You'd think I'd have better raccoon karma after rehabbing orphaned babies during my internship at the wildlife rehab center. Then again, even with their eyes barely opened, those little velcro-clawed demons were already hissing and snapping at people and their own litter mates! I sure don't own the raccoon kingdom any more favors, that's for sure.

The next day I improved the fence, but it's still not raccoon proof. While I was rebuilding, the neighborhood nuisance dog ran up and tried to eat Peeps! Logan ran down from the deck and literally pinned the dog, saving my confused chicken. She was pretty distressed, as chickens are social and don't like to be alone. Logan loves his girls though and protected her, I was impressed. But I now had the task of finding a new gal pal for Peeps, who seems like she may be getting ready to lay eggs in the next few weeks. I was happy Peeps considers Logan and I as part of her "flock" and got over her stress quickly. She figured out how to escape the pen so whenever I come home from work and call her, she comes running or flying to greet me at the steps! Just like a dog. She'll even climb the 15-20' of steps up to my deck, just to hang out.

So here I am now, with a 4-5 week old "Nugget 2". I'm not sure if that's what I call her... but it's gotta be food related! ;)  She's a Rhode Island Red and will be large hen, probably about 8 lbs like my Wyandotte. I could have gotten another Easter Egger, but they were only 2-3 weeks old and very small still; didn't want to have to worry about it escaping through the chicken wire. I was worried about getting an "older" chick since it hasn't been handled much, but the new gal is pretty mellow. Sometimes, when introducing a new chicken, the old chickens will peck it to literally establish pecking order. So far, Peeps has been pretty good. Little chicken is getting used to her new home and the two gals are roaming the deck, devouring random specs of who-knows-what. My little dinosaurs!

My friend Kim just wrote me with chicken name ideas. Marsala!! She's a genius.

I went into the cigar shop in Angel's Camp today and the owner was awesome, so I have a great cigar to go with my beer while I hang out. Extra relaxed!!

And so continue the adventures of a Detroit city-girl and her backyard chickens! Maybe at some point I'll write more about other things...you know, like the job... and the area... and Life Beyond the Chickens... But I'm so relaxed, I'm done writing. ;)

Eyes on the prize, eyes on the prize...

Sorry, I think that's a funny expression, "Keep your eyes on the prize!" I say that to people because I think it's funny; to them hopefully it almost sounds like encouragement or something. ;)

In any case, I made it through the Basic Academy without failing my grad school classes! At least, not yet... just over one week of classes left for me to blow it. Just kidding, mostly. I definitely bit off more than I could chew but I know my grades aren't the A+s that I'm so used to. Just kidding again, mostly. For some reason, I'm particularly sarcastic today. Perhaps it's the stress of watching the Red Wings blow their lead in a game that is now going into overtime; comedy is my coping mechanism?? Sure, sounds good to me!

Academy was a lot more fun than I anticipated before I got there. Sure, my ADHD makes me freak out from sitting still for too long, but I mostly kept it together with caffeine or something like that. They let us hamsters out of their cage often enough to keep us from eating eachother, in the form of such field exercises like: Maps and Navigation (I played squad boss and well, I didn't lose anybody so that's a good sign); Fire Shelter deployment; Followership to Leadership crew cohesion "problems; PT (working out); and our grand finale, the Field Day. So what exactly do you teach 90+ budding young firefighting apprentices??

• Nutrition and Wellness
• Communications and Radio Use
• Fire Prevention and Investigation
• L-280 Followership to Leadership
• Weather Observations
• Tactical Decision Making
• Map and Compass
• S-260 Interagency Incident Business Management
• I-200 Basic ICS
• S-131 Advanced Firefighter
• Fire shelters
• Wildland Fire Skills Field Day

I have to say, Business Management aka Paperwork from Hell was by far the hardest to deal with. We didn't get any fun field days except PT that entire week. Our fire shelter instruction was unique compared to past experiences...we review how to use them, then deploy them once and call it good. This involved sprinting and crawling under an obstacle course until we were winded, then randomly telling us to deploy while a high powered fan blew our tarp-like shelters. The instructors were also kind enough to rip them from our hands; don't worry, I held on because I'm stubborn. ;)  We did something comparable to team building "problems" for our leadership class; in small squads, you are given unique tasks and have a time limit to come up with a process and a solution. Such as leading blindfolded team members across an obstacle course or getting people from one side of a web of rope to the other, without touching the sides and each member staying on the other side once they are across - making the task tough for the last person left.

By far the "capstone" experience was the field day. Each person took turns being a squad boss and leading our crews - formed on the 1st day of the academy - through simulations of common tasks asked of firefighters. Digging line and finding spot "fires" (no real fire for this academy); construction line downhill, with a simulated fire blowup that forces us to run up the hill (my achilles was shot from our fitness test, so I only made it halfway before I voluntarily "died") and deploy our shelters; getting helicopter loads ready; managing a dozer; using the engine for mobile attack and then a progressive hose lay; and setting up pumps and laying hose around small spot fires. Some of these tasks were unfamiliar to us (helicopters and dozers) but showed that with the right references and some leadership and delegation, we could still succeed. Although my darling Purple crewmembers forgot to buy me a cigar, our crew boss dished one out and probably 8 of us out of 17 donned fat stogies and corn cob pipes. Because we rule. ;)


Despite working out less than I had been before the academy started, I did improve in everything...except pull ups, but that might have been a function of the order in which we tested this time around, and doing more sit ups and push ups. Sit ups: 101; Push ups: 36; Pull ups: 2 (grrr); 1.5 mile run: 11:54. Still not as fast as I'd like but A. I'm built for comfort, not speed and B. I ended up with a killer leg cramp on top of my inflamed achilles. I'd like to thank the Guinness I drank the night before for my increase in strength and speed because it certainly wasn't from working out more!

Of course I met lots of awesome folks from all over the western states and "networked" a lot over brews at the Lion's Gate and at Harvey's. At some point, even got the coordinator and a couple crew bosses to sing karaoke. I broke out my Folsom Prison, dedicated to my last hazy karaoke night with Kim. We were warned about how sketchy the local dive bar could be, but I had really good experiences the 3 times I went. Now, the hookah bar/VIP lounge... definitely won't be going back there anytime soon. Run by Russians, whispers that the bellydancers were prostitutes, the excessive attention I received from some dudes... I'll stick to Fat Tire and Juke Box at Harvey's, or Sierra Nevada, Guiness, hockey games and good pizza at Lions Gate. I'm relieved that the next time I go back in January - for the Advanced Academy - I won't have to worry about finishing homework before I get a beer buzz!

One Sunday, I jetted out to Point Reyes to enjoy the ocean and get a little alone time. Didn't hike much because of my achilles but it's gorgeous and dogs are allowed in certain areas; will have to go back at some point. I was only able to drive down and see Logan, Peeps and Nugget at Tim's place once, since it is a 4 hour drive from the academy; I meant to pick them up this weekend but with my last couple weeks of school left, I was stressing out and Tim offered to keep them one more week. The girls were so big, and still growing! They finally lost their baby "peeping" and now cluck and coo like real chickens. Their tails were longer and fuller, but their combs were still light pink and little. Tim put together the simple coop kit I ordered and just moved them outside this week. With the lack of daytime predators and the scent of Logan and Neota around the house, we decided to let them free-range around the property. I'm sure they won't be happy when they are forced to be caged and cooped up here at my mountain home, but they don't roam very far anyway and I'll let them out when I'm outside with them. It may be illegal to let them run around uncaged here so I don't want to bring unwanted attention to my chickens.

My first real day of work on Engine 22 was Monday and met my crew. We are short on qualifications for 7 day coverage, so we will be running 5 day coverage with 6 people. If our Engineer gets his Engine Boss signed off, we can go to 7 day coverage and hire a seasonal, but I'm not sure how likely that is. As it stands,if the engine goes out, 1 person will be left behind. Looks like I will have Tuesday and Wednesday off after Memorial day; even stranger is that I won't start work until like 9 or 9:30 am! As it stands now, starting at 8 am is weird enough - without Logan here to walk and play catch with, I have all this time in the morning and don't know what to do with it! I'm used to working four, ten hour days from 7-5:30. My first two days of work were spent rolling hose, washing trucks, paperwork, and taking a driving test to get my government driver's license. Because having a CDL-B isn't apparently enough to prove I can drive a standard pick up truck, ha ha. I think it's going to be a good summer and I'm excited to learn a lot. Even more excited for my days off to explore the mountains, lakes, caves and vineyards surrounding me!

Well the Wings blew it big time so I could use another Moose Drool beer. $#@^%$^&#&$#@!$ Next time I write, I'll hopefully have my master's degree as well as my dog and chickens back from Tim!

When I think "Apprentice", I think of Mickey Mouse and walking brooms

One week down, three more to go!

Thursday before the academy, I decided to take some time from writing my term paper and take Logan to Yosemite. It was about a 2 1/2 hour drive to get in the Park; the weather was cold with sporadic rain or snow but I needed to relax. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that you can bring dogs on the extensive paved paths throughout the valley, and I picked a short 3 mile round trip walk to Mirror Lake. Walking with a big-ass German Shepherd prompts a lot of comments and looks - 99% good with a couple sour-pusses despite how well-heeled, calm and pretty much oblivious Logan is to other people. In the past, foreigners have even taken their photos with my dog! On the hike down, a park truck passed me. They stopped, and a scruffy-bearded guy popped his head out the window. I had to do a double take when he said "Hey, how's it going?" I had to ask, "Do I know you??" Well it was a coworker from Rocky, Dave from trails. Didn't recognize him with his beard and in a random location, such as a pedestrian trail in California. As always, small world in the federal government!

I dropped the "kids" (dog and chickens) off at Tim's last weekend and arrived at McClellan last Sunday. McClellan was once an Air Force base but has been converted to...well, not really sure what all is on site. It's generally surrounded by a metal fence and the buildings inside the fence are significantly nicer than anything outside the fence. We were warned early that the area outside the base is pretty sketchy. Lots of car break-ins; pickpockets and people with knives; don't go anywhere alone! Apparently this is typical for the area surrounding military bases??  Obviously the Forest Service has staked claim to a number of buildings; the SCA operates out of it as well. There's the Lions Gate hotel, which has the only public wi-fi on the base. Which means to do homework, I find myself at the over-priced bar/restaurant, drinking Sierra Nevada and trying to concentrate while everyone else is socializing. Just 4 more weeks and I'll be done, assuming I pass my classes!!

There are about 93 apprentices in my Academy, 53; Academies 51 and 52 were overlapping their 4 week programs with ours by a week or two, each with between 90-100 people; as well as the Engine Operator academy, FireHire meeting, some safety meeting and who knows what else, with plenty of big fish from D.C. running around. Some folks got in trouble for cussing in front of a high-level civic rights human resources person...yeah, pretty much the worst person you could get caught by!

Quick run down of what it's like; we were broken up into crews; my crew is Purple. Hard to sound cool when you are "purple", so we go by the "purps" because that sounds so much better (sarcasm). Our crew has 16 folks, a crew boss and an assistant. 98% of the people here are with the Forest Service; of those, 98% of them are from California.  There are a handful of BLM. Some people are from Nevada, a couple from Wyoming (including a guy that works for the engine boss that originally worked/trained with me in Montana), a couple from Montana, maybe Oregon and Washington?? I am quickly learning that California does things differently than pretty much any other state, and any other agency. Those of us from outside Cali - even people that had been in the Forest Service before - have to ask questions at times.

We wear our uniforms and do need to keep them looking pressed, but thankfully don't need to wear that silly tie until next year at the advanced academy. We have different classes each day, which involves way more sitting and paying attention than I am capable of, but between coffee, Red Bull in the vending machine, and my ADD medicine, I think I can make it through! That's probably the hardest part of the entire ordeal! Unlike what previous academy attendees told me, we don't PT (work out) every day. We don't work out at 5 am. In fact, we work out maybe 2-3 times a week for 1 1/2 hours. Some people are going to the gym to make up for it; other people say, "They should pay me to PT like they are supposed to every day". During our paid PTs, we do things like bump runs (everybody runs; person on the end sprints to front, when he gets there the next person on the end sprints to the front, etc) and about 100+ push ups (or at least, I try to do that many... yikes) and so many lunges and squats that my butt was screaming at me! Good stuff.

I didn't wow the academy with my incredible fitness, but I did better than I had hoped and better than a lot of men and women. Ran 1.5 miles in 12:09; 35 push ups, 3 pull ups and 53 sit ups. Was pretty disappointed with the sit ups but it was the last test after all those other things. It will be neat to see how much I can improve in 4 weeks!

I do sleep in a dorm, but they aren't bunk beds. My roommate is a cool gal that also works on the Stanislaus; we both don't really stay in the room except to sleep, so I don't see her that much. The twin beds are ok but I just haven't slept that well; often the sound of police and ambulance sirens from off the base echo through the night. We have to keep our rooms neat and clean for the random inspections and I despise making my bed but I can suck it up for a month. ;) 

I'd say networking after work is as important as going to class, and I've met a lot of cool people. The vast majority of people here not only work in California, but they are originally from Cali. This is in stark contrast to Rocky Mountain, where very few people were actually from Colorado. Of course firefighters like to work hard, so they also play hard... Drinking a lot every night and staying up really late. I've been pretty good so far but when people keep buying pitcher after pitcher, it's easy to get caught up in it!

Such is the day in the life! I still think it's weird that I'm a permanent wildland firefighter with the forest service. It wasn't where I thought I'd be; but, things happen for a reason and I think this is going to be a good adventure! And hopefully will lead me to a paid move to Alaska in a couple years. ;)  But one step at a time.

I do miss my dog and even my psycho chickens; but it was nice to go home to my cabin for the weekend and do homework outside of the bar! I better get going back to the academy, a 2+hr drive and another winter storm is on its way.

1 Week to the Wildfire Academy!

My to-do list even strikes myself as odd. 1 week to tie up lose ends and saddle up for the month of April. April will bring my current, fairly casual daily schedule of homework, exercise and "tending to the homestead" (dog and chickens) into a chaotic overdose of physical and mental stimulation. This includes finishing 3 online grad school classes; plus the classes and physical fitness of the Academy; while trying to find time for things like showering and relaxing in between.

To-Do:

• Fitness: Running, sit-ups, push-ups and pull ups; but not too much.  Fitness test the first couple days at the Academy!
• Scholarly endeavors: Complete a term paper.
• Homework.
• Homework.
• Homework. Yeah, I'm a little behind; even if I wasn't, I'd still be up to my ears in California tiger salamanders, rangeland management, prairie dogs, cattle and plant responses to defoliation.
• Eat local: Use up my latest produce box from Outer Aisle Foods CSA. New adventures in cooking: rutabaga, green garlic, more leeks, artichokes and braised greens! What the heck are braised greens!?
• Move the "funny farm": dog and the chickens to the ex boyfriend's house. That in itself just sounds weird. It is.
  
  
  
• Put together a chicken coop: Since I don't have tools or ambition to construct something myself, I ordered a small, portable coop from GardenEggs.com. It probably won't arrive before the Academy but when it does arrive, I need to drive 3 hours to Tim's to put it together. Contrary to what the chicken lady at the feed shop told me, the chickens ARE ready to go outside after 2 months old.
• Little Suzie Homemaker: The worst chore - not only laundry, but I have to IRON MY UNIFORM! GAG!! I'm anti-ironing as it is. The fact that I have to wear a fake clip-on green tie also... At least I got some very cute shoes.
• Oil fire boots.
• Be prepared! Fire gear, that is. Red bag and line gear, with all the firefighting essentials. Nice, shiny, obnoxiously new gear. Kindof want to roll in the mud, just to tone down the screaming bright yellow!

Plus, April is  my birth month! I was supposed to go to a Punch Brothers (Chris Thile) show in San Fran with Tim but since the break-up, who knows if we'll be speaking or if he already gave the ticket away. I don't usually speak so candidly about my relationships on my blog but oh well, life goes on. I'm just lucky he's still taking the "kids" (Logan, Peeps and Nugget) while I'm stuck in a dorm for the month.

As always, I'm way behind on my journal; I hope to reinvigorate it with stories of excitement, adventure and travel now but, then again, I'm on an apparently slow fire district and probably won't get out much. The best chance is filling in on the fire use module that is also based up here on the Calaveras District.

I never did write about Tim's puppy as promised. But after he didn't even mention to his friends the fact that I moved to Cali, yet alone that I had moved in with him... but talked at length about "his" puppy (that I cared for and he barely saw while he worked overtime for 2 weeks straight) and his career and all that was new and important to him... leaving me out totally - well, a girl can take a hint! So, not much to say except Neota is a very smart, very good dog with a lot of potential as long as her owner provides positive reinforcement, training, and adequate physical and mental stimulation! She isn't always given as much credit as she deserves; guess he's used to Logan being such a good dog, he forgets that Log is an adult and she is only a puppy!!