Oregon Dispatch, Part II

9/23/08 7:28 AM
Everyone is coughing or sneezing, kind of like the last dispatch with the oak but this time it’s a cold.

Rumor is that camp is going to relocate tomorrow. I don’t know how that will work.

Fire info: forgot to look today, but from what I heard, the size hasn’t changed much. I really think we’ll just be mopping up this whole time.

Sent my postcards this morning. One to the team, one to the family.

I got seven hours of sleep last night, but I was sweating my butt off even though it was supposed to be the coldest night so far. When we woke up, it was 18 degrees. It’s gone up to 32.

No blisters so far, knock on wood. I still haven’t showered. I’m not going to until we have another day where we got off a little early. I’m doing cleansing wipes showers for now.

More coughing, less runny nose. This usually means I’m getting better. I just hope this cough dies down. It’s just as annoying as the congestion.

-9:52 PM
I’m gonna get plenty of sleep again tonight!

We finished the rest of the line this morning, then gridded and mopped informally for the rest of the day. The task force leader said it would be cool if we took an "afternoon break," so we did.
More and more crews are demobing, but no more are coming in. I think everyone is aware that we could potentially stay the full 14, but we need to take it easy – we don’t want to run out of work by going too hard core every day.

Fire info: 17,145 acres, 48% contained

I coughed a lot today, blew my nose a little. The Sudafed has worn off and I still feel okay. The coughing is a tad annoying, but oh well. At least I’m getting better.

Shane stayed back in the rigs today because he sprained his ankle yesterday.

I was gonna shower tonight since we had extra time but I got a little confused and thought it was later than it actually was so I just washed my hair and face in a sink and called it done. Maybe tomorrow …

It’s not so cold today/tonight.

We switched task force leaders today and got a great review from the ones that we had.

9/24/08 7:11 AM
Guess fire camp isn’t moving, no one has said anything about it.

Not coughing as much. Yay! Getting better! I’m still taking some Sudafed today, though.

-9:34 PM
Today was rough, I didn’t end well. We hunted for hot spots first with a GPS. It sorta worked, we hiked all over the place to look for heat. After lunch, we pulled hose from the lines, we’ve begun to "rehab" the area. We were on the edge of the wilderness where my squad dropped our portion of the hose.

What bugs me most was how weak I felt trying to haul the hose. It was the fact that JT gave us a little "chill out" pep talk, saying that we don’t want to work ourselves out of a job. And yet everyone has us motoring through to get all of the hose pulled. Uh? So what are we going to do tomorrow? All I know is that if we get sent home early, I don’t want to hear any complaining.
So the end of the day was a little rough for me, physically. My legs had had enough, my hip hurt and my pack has been sitting/hanging unevenly for the past two or three days so that it tugs on my right shoulder but not my left.

On a more positive note, Jane is so obviously totally in her element. I’m really happy for her. She looks like she’s supposed to be here.

I didn’t shower tonight, loading up at the end of work took way longer than I thought. Oh well again. I still don’t feel dirty.

I felt okay today, even after the breakfast Sudafed wore off.

I heard a guy talking on the way to our little camp area, he said they’re downsizing the camp to five crews, plus a few engines and sending everyone else home. Hopefully, we’re one of the five staying.

Not much change in the fire info, didn’t seem worth reporting.

We saw a few flames on the hill near where we park. Spotting? Who knows?