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!!

The Funny Farm - Meet the Chicks

Since we moved to our quaint little mobile home surrounded by well-manicured acres of raised-bed agricultural fields and have only carrots for neighbors, it seems fitting that we have cultivated our own little Funny Farm in the mere 6 weeks that I have been here.

I kept telling Tim I wanted chickens. But I didn't know much about chickens. His coworker, who keeps about 40, raved about how simple it was. In fact, many of his coworkers have chickens. It's no big deal; it's like having dogs or cats - totally normal. Remember, I am from Detroit. Chickens have NEVER been a normal part of my life. Though, at least I did own numerous birds - cockatiels, canaries, budgies, and zebra finches - so it can't be that different, right??

Tim wasn't as enthusiastic as I was. He never said no, though he would be the one to care for my girls while I am at the Academy and away on fires. So once he brought home a Murray McMurray catalog and I started looking at all these crazy looking chickens, I felt inspired. I asked the lady at the feed shop about them. I realized that these babies were going to live indoors for probably 2-3 months before they were even moved outside; once outside, if I come up with a clever coop design, I wouldn't even have to "tuck them in" and close the coop at night. Feed and water bowls hold food for a few days. If they were totally fenced in, I wouldn't have to worry about predators.

So when I saw the "Baby chicks have arrived" sign at the feed shop, I stopped. Not totally impulsively - I went ahead and bought a heat lamp and chicken feed, "just in case". I went into the feed shop alone and came out... a farmer?? Or, at least, as a momma hen. :)  All for less than $38 - $8 for feed, $2.25 per chick, and the rest was for a cheap thermometer and the infrared heating lamp. You can even apparently just use a regular light bulb (Tim's boss just keeps a candle lit in a mason jar) but I figure they wouldn't want bright light 24-7.

In the feed shop was a low round metal bin with a large heat lamp and uncountable numbers of fluffy chicken nuggets. Most were not all yellow - some were reddish, some were all black, some had black and grey stripes, some had yellow and black stripes, and some had reddish and black stripes. I thought the ones with racing stripes looked pretty cool, so I grabbed two feisty chicks that were eating heartily and peeping loudly. Alas, as they had all just arrived from Arizona, some chicks were fading fast and on their way to the big barnyard in the sky. Mine seemed tough and spunky. The shop employee had no idea what type they were. That's ok, I like surprises... as long as they are female and make me breakfast!

The 30 minute drive home actually seemed to stress them - they need to be at around 95 degrees heat their first week. Each subsequent week, you reduce the heat by 5 degrees (more or less; just watch the chicks, they will be obviously hot or cold and it's pretty intuitive). So they were a little chilled despite cranking the heat so high that Logan and I were both panting.

I set them up in a cardboard box with pine shavings and one peanut butter jar lid of water, one pickle lid full of food. They peeped loudly. Apparently loud peeping means chicks aren't happy. Eventually we worked out the height of the heat lamp and bought a better waterer that keeps the water cleaner. At a good temperature they make chickee noises but not loud peeping. Plus, they got used to being away from their 100+ fellow chicks.

Day 2

Day 3

The first night, I was nervous. Nugget (the reddish/black racing stripe one) seemed listless and fading. She was laying down but putting her head on the ground. Um, birds aren't supposed to do that right? I didn't think she'd make it, but I resisted the urge to stress her more by messing with her. I saw her eat and drink, all I could do is hope that she could recover. I was so happy to see her scratching about the next morning! And ever since, these babies just keep growing and growing!

When I got them, they didn't have "real" wing feathers, just fluffy down. Then, real feathers started popping out. Soon, they had beautiful patterned primary and secondary feathers - like what you collected when you were a kid, "real" feathers - that helped me figure out what breed they might be. Peeps - Wyandotte. Nugget - Ameraucana, aka the Easter Egger.  They quickly started acting like real chickens - scratching, pecking, preening. They are messy eaters and instead of pecking, they peck at the food and then toss it right out of the lid. They eat constantly. I went from one handful of food the first day or two, to two handfuls of feed... now it's like 3-4 or more.

Day 7??

Then, their nubby tails started sprouting something almost resembling feathers. Ugly spires with little feathery strands here and there. They are beginning to look better. Every day, more down is lost and more feathers sprout up. Their feet are huge! (Picture is of 1st appearance of feathers on the chicken butts)

Best of all, Logan LOVES them. He watches them. He sniffs them. He wants to check on them with me when I go into the other room. It is the cutest thing ever!

So as of today, they are approximately 11 days old and at least doubled in size. They now can perch on my finger and flap their wings. I don't know how much longer I can get away with a cardboard box. Feed store lady keeps her chicks in a dog cage until they are old enough to go outside. Other people use cardboard boxes the entire time. They poop a lot but if it gets too dirty, cardboard boxes are free. Maybe when they are 5 months old, they will start popping out eggs!

I'm sure more people are excited about the puppy... yes, I love puppy. But, I didn't want to go out of order. This is how funny farm started. Logan, then our two chicks. This whole time, we kept watching petfinder.com and visiting the shelter...

 

Tim and his little girl, in the next entry!

Racking up the miles on the ol' truck...

I have now been in California for just over a month... and this is the first journal entry I am writing? LAME.

It's probably not even worth it, but here's a reader's digest version of the past 2 months.

I MOVED TO CALI.

Now if you care to indulge in more details, read on. Which at this point the only people who would want to trudge through the details are my mom, my sisters, and maybe Bruce and Kerry. ;)  December was a stressful blur of final exams, term papers, packing, moving and truck repairs. Somehow I made it through and had a little work get-together at the Rock one night, which was as close to a going away party as I needed or had time for! I was so happy my friend Kim and her boyfriend were in town to visit from Portland literally during my last few days in Estes. Although I was up to my @ss in alligators (homework, packing, broken truck), Kim always cheers me up and helps me relax and have fun! This included an awesome night at Jerry's cabin for the most unique White Elephant exchange I have ever seen and too many margaritas at Ed's, and of course hanging out at the Rock. I ended up leaving a day later than I had hoped (which was a week later than I originally planned... stupid final exam schedule), with Kind Coffee in my mug and after a big hug from Kim. I walked around in the snow, looking at the Rocky Mountains and enjoying the high altitude air... Really really miss it there, 5 years in Estes! Miss the town, miss my friends, miss Bruce and Kerry and the Rock where so many good times were had... But, time to move on to the next stage in life ya know?!

I left Estes and drove not West, but East... all the way to Detroit to see the family for the holidays. This would be the last time I was within semi-reasonable driving distance from my family, so I wanted to bring Logan, have a car to drive during the day (otherwise I'd be stuck at their house!) and be able to bring some things to my family, as well as take home x-mas presents. I was incredibly busy visiting family and friends, as well as taking plenty of time to decompress from the whirlwind month of December. Stephanie (friend from Estes) was on a road trip of her own, from Texas to the east coast to Niagara Falls, through Detroit and up to Wisconsin, and she and her boyfriend stopped by for a night. Neat to see a Colorado friend in Detroit, that's never happened before! It was good to be apart of our huge 50+ person family X-mas eve party, gotta love it when the families all get together to exchange dollar store gifts, eat lots of Polish food and cheese fondue, drink Kahlua mudslides and tease each other. It just was not the same without my 29 yr old cousin Greg, who died in October. The presentation of an engraved stone bench in Greg's honor to his parents and wife touched us all; but he was there in spirit with us and we will always remember him. On the other side of the family, they had their own sorrow - my dad and stepmom's dog was dying on X-mas day. So Christmas was a little sad but it's always good to be with those you love.

Saw lots of friends here as well, Amadeo's birthday party and sushi with the Gole sisters, one on one with many of my BFFs like Beth and Donna, the Mount Family, Jeff's party... I can't even remember everything I did! But one of the highlights was going to the Red Wings/Colorado Avalanche hockey game on New Years Eve with my sisters and brother! Despite the Wings taking a dive in success this season, they still beat the Avs - nice coincidence that, considering the 2 teams play only a few times a year, I was in Detroit at the same time as the Avs. GO WINGS! I think my brother was a little embarassed by his hootin' and hollerin' sisters, but he takes it in good stride. ;)

Skipping lots of stuff because I have ADHD and bore myself easily. Ha ha!

After the New Year, hit the road right away to drive in the completely opposite direction, back to Estes. I put all my stuff in storage and had to swing back up to get the essentials to take with me to Cali. The rest of it, well.... we will see when I have the time and money to get a uhaul. I want my motorcycle BAD though! These sweet twisty roads and warm temperatures are taunting me! Anyway, I digress. Blew through Estes after a quick bite at the Rock and from then on, it was Cali or Bust!

Uneventful drive west, took about 18 hours from Estes to Greenfield, where I sit now. Tim moved from right outside Pinnacles National Monument to this mobile home - it was cheap compared to everywhere else, allows dogs, and is owned by his boss. Unfortunately, he now has an hour commute...but at least it's a nice drive!

We still don't really have furniture - 2 camp chairs, storage containers used as tables, and a bed. ;)  It would be nice to have a futon or couch, but hey we are making it work. Our mobile home isn't pretty but we are on a plot of land with a nice empty home that belongs to our landlord's aunt. Other than that, as I told my mom, our only neighbors are carrots! Surrounded on all sides by agricultural fields. Which I just found out isn't very good for our well water quality, don't worry we bought a filter (which doesn't do much for the nitrates but I try not to think about it). It is actually quite windy in Greenfield, which is part of the large valley extending north and south, bordered on both the east and west by mountains. Weather has been 60-70 degrees almost every day, with incredible amounts of rain at times. Amazingly, there is snow in the mountains to our West, which probably aren't more than 3-4,000 ft tall. Apparently that is NOT normal and locals have told me I must have brought it with me from Colorado. ;)

I was in culture shock for a couple days until I began nesting in the weird way that I do - I leave home and explore the towns nearby. Tim takes care of the home stuff... I explore the "new frontier". :)  I hit the visitor welcome centers and find the coffee shops. I try to find the best, most eco-friendly, charismatic locally owned cafe... I'm still not impressed with my options compared to Kind Coffee! Unfortunately, up until this week we didn't have internet at home so I had to drive 1 hr roundtrip just to get to a cafe with internet (which is important because I am in online courses to finish my masters degree). After AT&T providing the worst customer service EVER for a month, canceling orders or getting them wrong, putting me on hold for 2 hours and disconnecting me... They tell me they don't offer DSL at our house. My head almost exploded when they told me that, after a month of telling me they DO have it. Our ONLY option was satellite (which has a 2 YEAR contract and is expensive and not that fast) or this wireless broadband which is working out pretty well. Life is so much easier now that I can look up stores and businesses and get directions at home, as well as doing homework whenever I want without interruption!

Salinas is actually a pretty decent city with a nice old downtown and I've found the places I need in my life - the gym (still working on those physical fitness requirements for work...3 pull ups down, 2 more to go minimum!), the pet shop, and internet cafes. I LOVE going to the ocean in Monterey or Carmel, but finding parking for the cafes in Monterey is a nightmare!

Our weekly treat is taking Logan to the dog-friendly beach in Carmel. Hundreds of dogs running free along the coast! He was scared at first, running from the surf as it washed in and out. Now, he finds the biggest driftwood he can carry and retrieves it from the crashing waves until he is exhausted! He is usually one of the biggest dogs on the beach and has been THE largest German Shepherd (and there are SO MANY shepherds out here!).

In a few weeks I will start work 4 hours away, up in the mountains near Arnold. I have free housing in the bunkhouse, but am checking out a sweet 900 sq ft A-frame cabin with wood stove up in Dorrington next weekend. It would be great to have my own place so people can actually visit me (not allowed in dorms) and I can have Logan. I'm kindof over the whole "living in a small room with bunkbeds and sleeping/working with coworkers 24-7" thing, like my space and my privacy as well as my visitors and pets!

My official date for the academy is April 4th, which means I will be stuck in Sacramento/McClellan for my birthday. Required to live there but if I get this cabin, Tim can bring Logan up and we can stay in the cabin on weekends.

I left tons out but I'm long winded and this is long enough. NEXT ENTRY: CHICKENS! And... Tim's new puppy?! WTF?! PUPPY?! 

Oh yes. And we just might name her another X-Men name. BWA HA HA.

As my mom would say, "Welcome to the funny farm!" (Though I know she's excited to have grand-chicks and grand-puppies on her grand-farm... since there won't be any grand BABIES any time soon!)

In case you didn't know, I'm moving!

I'm moving to California. :)

This really shouldn't be new news to anybody since I accepted the job in September, but I still get a lot of questions. I should have written this post months ago, but school doesn't leave me much desire to type any more than I have to. Quite a shame, I used to really enjoy writing for fun! I only have another couple weeks left so perhaps I can write a good one about my recent trip over Thanksgiving week to visit my future home.

What, When, Where and Why: Lisa's New Adventure!

What: Permanent wildland firefighter with the Forest Service
When: Moving to Cali probably by early January; job starts March 1st.
Where? March-April at the Academy in McClellan, CA; then Stanislaus National Forest, Hathaway Pines
Why? Permanent job, closer to Timmy!

I probably wrote in an entry once or twice or even five times that I didn't want to move out there. Tim has been out there since July, which has been about as much fun as long distance relationships can be (in my book, NOT fun!). The options to make things work were not particularly attractive on my end, as I was hoping the next time I move would be to either Alaska or even back to Montana. I was "stuck" in Colorado for at least a while, to finish my Masters degree at Colorado State. So we either continue long distance (boo) and he agreed to move where ever I want after I graduate in May (although I doubt this would have happened, he has a great job out there) or I find a way to move out there.

I applied for term and permanent wildlife jobs with the federal government; mostly Forest Service, as those are the closest job to Tim besides the park he works at. Unfortunately, Pinnacles is small and does not hire many terms or permanents, so it was unlikely I would land anything there anyway unless I wanted to be stuck as a seasonal yet again. Since the park is fairly isolated from other federal lands, the closest jobs I could find in any case were at least 2 1/2 hours away.

I figured since I was trying to move to Cali, I might as well put in for a couple fire jobs. I mean hey, the state burns like crazy every year, lots of overtime and hazard pay, job security... Why not? So I put in for a permanent fire job. Although fire wasn't the direction I had planned to go - especially considering I am finishing my 2nd degree in wildlife - I do well in fire and really enjoy it.

Out of the jobs I put in for, I was offered... the permanent firefighting job. Surprise!

There wasn't even an interview. The lady in charge called my old bosses and they gave raving reviews; was left a completely unexpected job offer in my voice mail in September.

Here's the deal: Permanent wildland firefighter on the Stanislaus National Forest,which borders Yosemite National Park to the north. It is HUGE - about 900,000 acres (compared to Rocky Mountain, which is about 245,000 acres). It is one of the oldest national parks in the country.

But it's not just a normal permanent job. It's part of the Wildland Firefighter Apprenticeship (also known as "Jack") Program. Which has its own... quirks, compared to a normal permanent job.

The job starts March 1st, and I will generally work March-October, 6 months permanent season. I am excited to have winters off still! While I am in the program, my job consists of formal training as well as rotations doing different wildland firefighting duties. This year, around mid-March, I have my first month of the academy - this year it will be basic academy, next year is advanced. We take a bunch of fire classes, have physical fitness requirements we must pass when we first get there, as well as daily PT. I live in a dorm and the academy is in McClellan, CA at a converted air force base. Mid-April, I will be done with this. My first rotation is on a Type 3 engine out of Hathaway Pines, CA for 2010. In 2011, advanced academy is also a month; my rotation that summer will be on a helicopter crew. It will be either on the on-forest helicopter, or on Yosemite's helicopter. I will be "graduated" March 2012, at which point I will switch to a 12 month year-round permanent somewhere on the forest.

I told them straight up that I'm trying to move to Alaska, and they said they would help me do this once I'm done with the program. The "golden goose" of permanent status with the feds means "STATUS" - eligibility for jobs that you can't apply for without status. It means that next time I move for a permanent job, all of my moving expenses are paid! I won't have to sell everything I own in order to move to Alaska! Yay! Another nice surprise is I was rated at the highest grade offered for this position; it is lower than I am making working for special projects at Rocky, but it is higher than I would be ranked on a "normal" fire crew because I am not a squad boss yet. Yet another thing that worked out in my favor is credit for my previous experience: the program goes from either 2-4 years, with those extra years needed for folks to work on a hand crew, an engine, and a helicopter. I had enough previous experience, I was given almost full credit for 2,000 hours of previous experience, so I don't HAVE to work on a hot shot crew. This made me happy. :)

So it is a pretty nice gig. Not without some downsides though: The biggest part is that in order to take this job, Tim has to take Logan for a while. While I am required to live in the dorms, I obviously can't have a dog for a month. Once I move to Hathaway, I can get my own place and have him with me... but, working fire, I need to be flexible to either stay out late chasing smoke or actually fighting fires on the forest, as well as being dispatched where ever they send us. We will see how this works out, but Tim will probably have Logan for most of those 6 months. Also, I am now "owned" by the government. If I don't finish the program, I theoretically have to pay back the costs they spent on my training. I am also required to work for the feds for at least x number of years after the program. I am NOT required to stay in fire after I am done. So I may still be able to do wildlife, either in the "off" season during the winter, or after the program is finished.

I can focus on whatever I want within fire when I am there: fire ecology or aviation management for example. No, I do not get to FLY helicopters or airplanes. I would love to do helirappel (descending from a flying helicopter from a rope) but they don't do it on our forest. I'd probably sprain my ankle anyway. ;)

I originally was a little nervous about what I am getting myself into... I mean, I'm going to be 29. A lot of people from federal, local or state fire agencies participate; many of the folks are scrapping young men in their early 20s. I had wanted to make fire a career when I was 23 and in Montana... but when the funding for my job went away and I found another job elsewhere, I figured I would stick to once-a-year fire dispatches, with a different career focus. But you know what? I'm good at that stuff. It's a gorgeous area. It's a permanent job. I will miss my Rocky Mountains, but at this point, I am SO excited! Still a little nervous, and Tim will still be about 4 hours away. We will see how it goes.

Oh, and I'll be finishing my masters degree online, so add a few classes onto the complexity of my spring. Yikes! I have enough credits overall to graduate... but I didn't fill certain requirements. I had not planned on moving when I started the program, so it wasn't a big deal. BUT my advisor helped me make it work so I would be able to move.

So that's the scoop. I am finishing classes the next 2 weeks, packing up my stuff from my downtown Estes apartment and putting it in storage; driving to Michigan for Christmas and hang out for a couple weeks; and then heading to California. Tim found a new place to live, which is far from his work and I feel kindof bad... but it's affordable and he can take Logan. So I'll be moving in with him when I get out there, near Greenfield, Ca. I am not sure if I am spending New Years in Michigan or Colorado, but it probably won't be in California. I will definitely be in Cali by January 7th - Tim's birthday!

Hopefully that answers everybody's questions. I have a paper to write now, guess this was a good warm-up. :)