I'm home! I flew in on Saturday from Denver. It turns out that all of the homework I did on the bus schedules was for naught, but in a good way. On Friday, after work, the remainder of Earth 4 offered to let me and M Squared stay overnight at their house in Boulder and then get dropped off at the airport the next morning when they dropped off Jared, a member of their team. So it worked out well. I had to get up at 4:30 am (so I could have flown out much earlier, but oh well), and I had to wait an hour before I could check in and check my bag. But it's okay, it was free after all.
Right after my parents picked me up from the airport, we went to dinner at (where else?) Tortillas. Jenna, Jamie and Anna were working, and Roberto was in the kitchen so I got to say hi to the gang. I also got to sleep in my own bed on Saturday night. On Sunday, I woke up early and drove to Jersey to visit Surf. It was fun, I got to see a bunch of people and catch up a little. I also got hours for helping out while I was there, so that was nice. I was going to go anyway, it's cool that it could count toward something. I also got sunburned.
On Monday, I did a little grocery shopping and made some pasta salad to go with dinner. I went for a run and got my hair cut on Tuesday. What's the plan for today? Hm. I think we're going out to dinner. I did a bike ride, laundry and baked cookies today. Other than that, I've just been enjoying being home.
After the brief tease of a possible fire dispatch on Tuesday, we went to Open Spaces on Wednesday. Our project for the day was swamping at a state park trail. We swamped all day. We had to load stumps into a trailer and then move the rest close to the trail so that they could be loaded. We also fed the chipper all day. It was intense work, the hills were steep and the slash was heavy. Thankfully, there were nineteen of us so we could all help each other. Paul managed to find a lone antler among some of the slash, so that was cool.
On Thursday, it was cold and there was the potential for rain, so we took some drives with the Forest Service to different work centers in the area in order to become more familiar with the operations of the region. We also took a trip to a ranger station way up on Mount Squaw at about 11,400 feet. In order to get there, we drove up a trail with a bunch of switchbacks. Never before did we appreciate the use of ground guides. On the way back to our work center, we drove through a hail storm. Along the way, I got texts from my mom asking me if we had come across any tornados. When we got back, I saw on the news that tornados had touched down in Colorado. They weren't near us though.
During work on Friday I dropped my first tree. I cut the stump off and packed it in my suitcase to bring it home. It wasn't a bad cut, actually. Earth 4 and 5 were split up into small groups to weed out some beetle-kill trees at a campsite. Nick, one of the Forest Service guys, was in charge of me, Crystal, M Squared and Chris. Crystal actually got to take down two trees while M Squared and I both did one each. We then limbed and bucked them. More swamping, of course. It flurried on and off for a bit. After work, I loaded up into one of Earth 4's trucks and headed into Boulder.
And now I'm here. I am so glad to be home. I didn't realize how much I missed it. And it's mostly the little, familiar things that I really appreciate. I missed my dog and cats tons, I'm just glad to have them around. Spike has resumed sitting on my lap whenever I'm at my desk or on the couch. Gidget still doesn't like to be picked up. I've had to resist the urge to vacuum. I miss the way my house smells. I like being able to go to the fridge and just grab something. I love how everything is green and in bloom. It's great to have the windows open and breeze blowing in. The weather has been great, it's so gorgeous out. I really miss weather like this, I thrive in this kind of warmth. But mostly I just love seeing all the green with everything that has come back to life.
We're supposed to spend the day down the shore tomorrow. I'm definitely looking foward to that. I kind of had my seasons out of order this year with going to Texas in March. I went from snow to temperatures in the sixties and seventies and a beach half an hour away. Then I had to go back to Colorado, where it could and did still snow every now and then. I don't even need the beach, I'd just like for it to be a little warmer. Though I suppose I should be thankful that it has stayed cool because our uniforms are going to get pretty hot once things finally start warming up.
So yeah, I'm glad to be home. This break is way too short. But there will be another one. Time already flew up to this point. It's kind of weird to only have a little bit more than five months left.
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