I've decided to write a separate post to serve as a supplement to the concluding entry. While I make no attempt to avoid rambling in what follows, it is just a small sample of the memories that now grace my thoughts daily. I tried to maintain some coherency, but the recollections are in no particular order. Some may sound familiar, some may not. And I feel the need to offer a disclaimer: Even at its conclusion, I still want this blog to serve as a positive and constructive representation of the NCCC experience. As such, while I hope my blog has provided a useful and pleasant glimpse into my experience, it is just a glimpse. I read back over some entries and I realized that I left out a lot. I wish I could tell the whole story. But even if I had allowed myself to write of my experiences in a completely uncensored manor, I imagine that there's still a lot I would have failed to communicate.
All that being said, I hope you enjoy. Especially my teammates, should you somehow stumble across this.
A lot of the things I miss are things about my team and teammates, obviously. The second floor of Walsh Hall, although in need of some modernizing, quickly became a very familiar space; the bunkhouse too. Interestingly, some time in December '08, Nikki was driving around near Boulder (she moved to CO from Ohio) and spotted a grass fire that occurred near the farm house where we stayed during third round. Needless to say, word of the fire spread quickly around the team despite how we'd scattered across the country. Chad reported to us later that our house was still safely standing.
While I doubt I'll ever own a pick-up truck and I can't deny that our Dodge Rams were certainly gas guzzlers, they were a lot of fun to drive. Yes, even for sixteen hours a day driving to or from dispatch, and even though I had to have my seat all the way up against the steering wheel so I could reach the pedals.
There were times that I just wanted to be left alone and privacy was rare. But those feelings were infrequent, and I tended to enjoy always having someone near by. I miss having nine or ten roommates, especially my nine or ten particular roommates. Even now, I revel in having been a part of the wildfire teams.
First round in Texas was just all around fun. I miss how those of us from the North would just fall into the southern accent; and the entire team could recite Forrest Gump by heart and often did. I stereotyped Harrison's southern heritage (red pick-up truck and all), but I was also his token Yankee. I loved the quirks of my teammates, like how Chris was so into cycling and, though he's from Virginia, he totally acts like he's from SoCal. I miss Adrienne's encouraging love of vegetables. Travis just had to watch Jeopardy at 6 and he made it known when he missed it; he's only the second person I've ever met to answer so many questions correctly. I loved and envied how John and Adrienne could run like it was no big deal. I miss how Blake could always be heard singing, even on PT hikes. I miss looking forward to his Message Boar contributions; I'm glad he brought that to our team after Earth 4 and 5 were melded together. For better or worse, Paul could be absolutely crazy at times; but the kid has a good heart.
I miss Swerve. He could be a royal pain in the neck, but he was a good team leader. He always had our backs. Ervin didn't bend the rules. Most of our team's frustrations weren't the result of Ervin, but of the rules -- rules that could make a bunch of relatively independent 20-somethings feel like we were all teenagers living at home. It takes courage and character to stand firm and follow through where others would try to negotiate.
I miss the week that Joanna was my cutting partner and we learned that we should actually never be cutting partners because it was bad news. I really miss always having her and Nikki around.
Even though it took us until the end of the season, the fact that we got the chance to respond to and work on a fire as a team (the infamous "Party" fire) was a really fitting conclusion for our time together. I enjoyed getting to share so much with them. Even seemingly little things, like sitting around watching AxMen or movies together. Or the night when I made chili for a quick dinner so we could all sit around and watch the Presidential debates. I like that I can associate so many things with my AmeriCorps experiences.
I want to take a moment to express my admiration for the females of AmeriCorps and the Forest Service. Despite my own internal apprehensions of being viewed as the weaker sex in a male-dominated field, in reality I was never made to feel like I was less of a person because I'm a girl. In my experience, I was honestly judged on my character and effort. And I have never before been surrounded by so many strong, dedicated, confident women. I have the utmost respect for Kira, Jane, Christy, Joanna, Nikki, Nicole, Shannon, Crystal, Adrienne, Megan, Mary, Emily and all of the other girls who are living their lives without hesitation, without apologies or regrets. So show some respect or get out of the way! These girls know who they are, know what they want and there is no stopping them. They are true role models. All little girls should want to grow up to be like them. I can only hope that I am counted among their ranks.
There are songs on my iPod that were the same songs I would listen to on runs in Texas or during PT runs in Ned. That music comes on and it's like I get to run Kinnickinnick Loop again. There's also a lot of music that makes me think of my teammates. I had never heard so much O.A.R. or Dispatch as when we were in Texas with Wolf 4. My Denver roommate, Maddie, and Jane from the North Zone AmeriCorps wildfire team introduced me to Michael Franti. Harrison and I usually listened to his Citizen Cope cds. On the way to California for dispatch, we discovered that Blake had left his cd case in the car. Joanna and I listened to the Across the Universe soundtrack until Jordan and Harrison couldn't take it anymore. While we were on that dispatch, the only cd in Squad 1-2 that wouldn't skip was one of Emily's Cake albums. Nick, Patrick, Malcolm and I listened to that one album for two weeks straight. Occasionally, we'd try to tailgate the rig ahead of us so that we could tune into Tai's iPod over his radio transmitter. The 3oh!3 song "Don't Trust Me," that we heard so much in Colorado finally made it to Philly this summer and now everyone knows it. And thanks to Harrison, Adrienne and Nikki ... I have four country songs on my iPod. When you consider the country-music void in which I've existed for 24 years in the Philly area, this is a big deal.
I'm not really a morning person; given the choice, I'd rather sleep in and stay up late. But I really loved seeing the sunrises on the dispatch and spike drives. There's something intrinsically uplifting about it. I also loved that I got to see the Pacific Ocean, California, Oregon, and, most of all, Montana.
Now that I'm home, I realize how much I enjoy the humidity of east coast summers. I relish how weighty and thick they feel, the almost-tropical smells and sounds. But I gotta say, summer in Boulder is awful nice too; it's so bright and refreshing.
And another thing -- throughout this blog, I use the word "mountain" a lot. Well, be warned: I'm from Pennsylvania, where the highest peak is a little over 3,200 feet. What I call "the moutains" are apparently often considered "foothills" in many places out west.
I miss the places we could go. While we were on campus in Denver, I would wake up early on Sundays and walk down to Mile High Coffee or the Englewood library while listening to NPR's Weekend Edition. In the city, there was Nikki's favorite place Double Daughters; we also had Falling Rock and The Tavern. In Boulder, I spent a lot of time at Laughing Goat cafe and Amante. I think the Boulder library is the most beautiful public library ever. I know Nikki was so glad to get out of Texas, but it was fun to walk to the bowling alley for karaoke. And then later, we kept the karaoke going on Saturday nights in Boulder at Outback. Walking to First Street and Backcountry in Ned made that little town feel like a true home.
I peel an orange for breakfast or lunch and I'm transported back to lunch breaks during cutting projects. I'm not at my desk at work, I'm sitting on a bed of dirt and pine needles, leaning up against a ponderosa. M&Ms can make me think of the M&M breaks the saw squad had a few times in California. I watch AxMen and every scene looks like where I was in Oregon. I got to cut down a cherry tree in my back yard because it had died. Oh, I miss cutting so much, you have no idea. Lately, people have been using their firepits at night in my neighborhood and the humid, damp air combined with the smoke makes it smell like you're on a fire.
I even love the Nature Valley Granola Bar tv commercial with shots of Elk Mountain in Colorado. I wear my one long sleeve t-shirt with a tiny sense of pride because it has strap stains on it from where my pack would rub during PT hikes. I have an undeniable, chronic addiction to chapstick now.
I miss being dirty. I loved working outside all day and brushing woodchips out of my hair. Oregon dispatch was so satisfying because I was absolutely filthy every day. At the risk of sounding cliche, there was something truly invigorating and comforting about being covered in dirt, sap and ash. There was a part of working with the Forest Service that indulged my childhood joy of playing in the mud.
Rarely have I felt so alive so often.
I loved being in AmeriCorps*NCCC and I love my team, Earth 4/5.
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
I bet you thought I forgot about this. Well, I didn't.
So this post has been a long time coming. When I first arrived home from Colorado and AmeriCorps on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, I felt it was too soon to write a proper reflection on my experiences. Time passed. I thought it would be fitting to post a conclusion to this blog on February 2, 2009 -- the anniversary of arriving in Denver and beginning my term of service. But things had been busy and I missed that date. Ideally, I wanted to be able to sit down and just write an entry without interuptions. After a certain point, so much time had passed that I began musing over posting in November 2009 on the anniversary of graduating from NCCC, after the passing of an entire year of post-AmeriLife. But regardless of when I finally manage to post this entry, here it is.
With all the time that has passed, I'll begin my recount where I left off in the previous post. Actually, I'll start a bit before that, as I never discussed graduation. We all got dressed up in our black pants and white polos and gathered in the campus auditorium. There was a nice long slide show as a part of the graduation ceremony. I'll confess, it made me a little teary. One of the accompanying songs was "Peace, Love, Happiness" by G. Love & Special Sauce. I already loved that song, but now it always makes me smile for new reasons. Kevin sang his song, "Lighthouse" of course; that also made me teary. This time around it sounded like the rest of NCCC had learned the lyrics ... or Earth Unit just sang extra loud. One of the members read a poem she wrote that was actually pretty neat, I wish I had the text. Others might have found it corny, but I liked how she played with the homonyms "corps" and "core." The lines had to do with improving lives and changing the world and each stanza concluded with "It must be something in my corps" (or -- core, i.e. deep inside).
They gave out a bunch of silly superlatives for each unit -- best facial hair, best couple, etc. In Fire Unit, the Best Couple award went to two teammates who thought it would be funny to get married in Vegas during their break, only to realize later that they couldn't get it annulled as easily as they got hitched. Joanna is friends with the guy and the story unfolded through phone calls and text messages while we were heading to California for dispatch. Happy ending, though: they're still together and seem to be very much in love. I won "Best Dressed" (or something to that effect, I can't recall how it was phrased) for Earth Unit because I was apparently always immaculate in my AmeriClothes. My award was an old, musty, gross AmeriShirt from the old uniform room. Awesome. They also gave out some more heartfelt awards, including the "Butterfly" award, which is supposed to recognize the member who really comes into their own during the program. Well, we had a set of identical twin sisters this year, Paige and Blair. They were placed in different units, but were inseparable otherwise. They even dressed alike and were a prime study for "twin language." But, their respective teams also really brought them out of their twin shells. So they received the Butterfly award jointly. It was appropriate, ironic and sweet all at the same time.
The Class XIV AmeriQuilt was on display in the lobby of the auditorium. Our recreation of the "Message Boar" went over really well with our team and former teammates. Following the ceremony, there was a big dinner in the cafeteria. Some of the Forest Service showed up for the wildfire teams, including Owens, Megan and Mary from Ned. They had dinner with us in the cafeteria and then met us for one last night at Four Gs.
After move out, Nikki and I had a little vacation in Nederland prior to returning home. We stayed with some Forest Service people who hadn't yet moved on from the end of their seasonal posts at the work center. It was quite cold for the most part and rather blustery. I went snowboarding for the first time! We went to El Dora, the local ski resort in Ned. It was quite fun! According to the people I went with, I picked it up fairly quickly. Of course, once I got the feel for things, my skill level plateaued instantly. I didn't want to try any jumps or switch between board edges for fear of breaking my neck.
I flew home the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. I didn't realize it until I had to get on the flight that I was really reluctant to go home. The weeks in Denver leading up to graduation didn't feel any different from previous transition weeks. It wasn't until I boarded that it hit me: it's over. After we landed in Philly, I actually started crying on my walk to the baggage claim. The elation that my parents demonstrated once they saw me made it all even harder to process. Thanksgiving was nice and quiet at home, just the immediate family.
On Thanksgiving Sunday, I went to visit Jersey Surf, the drum and bugle corps I marched with from 2004-2006. Their first audition camp for the new season is always held Thanksgiving weekend and some alumni (such as myself) use that weekend to see friends and check how the corps is doing. I ran into some people I had marched with and we were able to catch up a little. A week later, they called me to inform me that a flag spot had opened up in their winterguard, Black Watch; they wanted to know if I was interested. The Black Watch is an Independent World Class winterguard that I have idolized since I got into the activity in high school. Of course I said yes and began going to rehearsals. Our competitive season went up to the first weekend in May, and it was an incredibly rewarding experience. The level of cohesion in the guard was higher than any I had ever experienced before. I'm so thankful to have had the opportunity to be a part of the Black Watch family and I can't wait for the next season to begin.
In the meantime, I was hunting for a job. Along with several other NCCC wildfire people, I began the process of applying for a seasonal wildland firefighter position. As that option developed, I also applied to about 120 jobs here at home. It was a rather discouraging challenge, especially when I was not considered for positions I really wanted. While I definitely did AmeriCorps for the personal experiences, I wasn't the only one who hoped it would also be a great addition to my resume. Alas, this was not the case. It seemed that people didn't think the experience translated very well. I hope this is just a symptom of the economic downturn. I'm not looking for someone to stroke my ego; I just think our time in NCCC shouldn't be so underrated. My corpsmates and I worked hard and cared about what we were doing. We still care.
I finally landed a temp position. I'm still looking for something that speaks a little closer to my passions: education, the environment, writing, nonprofit organizations. My job search demonstrated my old fashioned attitudes of employment -- I like the idea of starting new, learning and working toward something. These days, it seems companies expect you to know everything prior to working for them. What ever happened to entry-level positions? And how much experience can a college graduate really have? There are only so many internships, and only so much time a student can spare between class, course work and a paying job. I realize it can be more cost effective to cut back on training for employees, but I also think that too many people have become absolutely rabid about making the bottom line Priority #1.
My apologies -- I don't want this post to digress into a negative conclusion to what has been one of the most positive experiences of my life.
I do have a job, and I am trying to stay positive. While searching for a position, I was also exploring the possibility of grad school. My experiences in NCCC, in conjunction with Obama's election and his expansion of AmeriCorps, seemed to reignite my enthusiasm with teaching. I found a program at Arcadia University that would allow me to get my masters and certification in secondary social studies education. There were just a few classes I needed to qualify for the program. I've already taken two, and I'm enrolled in two more for the fall. I'd like to teach a world cultures-based curriculum, and I often catch myself scheming about studying and volunteering abroad to enhance my coursework.
But I can't lie. Despite these ambitions, I'm afraid to discover that I'd make a lousy teacher; the two classes I've taken so far were unexpectedly intimidating at times. It would be an understatement to say that I am reluctant about choosing this path. And this does seem to be the path I've chosen -- I turned down a fire job in March. Owens called and offered me a position and I declined. My initial reason was because I didn't instantly say, "Yes!" I felt like if I truly wanted it I wouldn't have hesistated to accept the offer. Upon closer examination, my situation didn't seem to lend itself to taking a fire job. With loans, car and health insurance, I may have barely afforded living in Colorado, especially with a fire season that had been pretty quiet up until last week. Uprooting my life and living out of a suitcase for another six months, after having done exactly that for the previous ten, would further delay starting grad school. And who knows what the economic situation will be in November? I'd already experienced enough difficulty finding a job.
I'm the type of person who occasionally indulges in asking "What if?" So I'm struggling with not regretting this decision. I don't think one choice was somehow superior to the other. Fire season was quiet up until last week and that made not being on a crew a little easier to deal with. But, as of this writing (mid-August), I know of at least eight people on fire dispatches, the majority of whom are fighting fires in ... Alaska! Good grief, what luck.
So that's where I am right now. Though I'm savoring the weighty, humid summers that you'll only find on the east coast, I still miss Colorado immensely. I've made a half-promise to myself that I'll live there for a portion of my life.
My waffling over a fire job and grad school is further proof that I feel restless. Even if I'd taken a fire job, I think I'd still have this feeling that I'm meant for something bigger. When I began AmeriCorps, I was looking forward to finally following through on this Save-The-World attitude I've had since I was three, when the Exxon-Valdez had that massive oil spill and I cried to my mother about how the dolphins were going to die if someone didn't do something (I'm not kidding, you can ask her). It seems my time in NCCC has only made me hungrier. At the risk of sounding arrogant or ostentatious, I have this nagging little feeling that I'm meant for something more than where I am right now, that I've got to find something bigger and better. Maybe this is true, maybe it isn't. As always, I guess we'll find out.
With all the time that has passed, I'll begin my recount where I left off in the previous post. Actually, I'll start a bit before that, as I never discussed graduation. We all got dressed up in our black pants and white polos and gathered in the campus auditorium. There was a nice long slide show as a part of the graduation ceremony. I'll confess, it made me a little teary. One of the accompanying songs was "Peace, Love, Happiness" by G. Love & Special Sauce. I already loved that song, but now it always makes me smile for new reasons. Kevin sang his song, "Lighthouse" of course; that also made me teary. This time around it sounded like the rest of NCCC had learned the lyrics ... or Earth Unit just sang extra loud. One of the members read a poem she wrote that was actually pretty neat, I wish I had the text. Others might have found it corny, but I liked how she played with the homonyms "corps" and "core." The lines had to do with improving lives and changing the world and each stanza concluded with "It must be something in my corps" (or -- core, i.e. deep inside).
They gave out a bunch of silly superlatives for each unit -- best facial hair, best couple, etc. In Fire Unit, the Best Couple award went to two teammates who thought it would be funny to get married in Vegas during their break, only to realize later that they couldn't get it annulled as easily as they got hitched. Joanna is friends with the guy and the story unfolded through phone calls and text messages while we were heading to California for dispatch. Happy ending, though: they're still together and seem to be very much in love. I won "Best Dressed" (or something to that effect, I can't recall how it was phrased) for Earth Unit because I was apparently always immaculate in my AmeriClothes. My award was an old, musty, gross AmeriShirt from the old uniform room. Awesome. They also gave out some more heartfelt awards, including the "Butterfly" award, which is supposed to recognize the member who really comes into their own during the program. Well, we had a set of identical twin sisters this year, Paige and Blair. They were placed in different units, but were inseparable otherwise. They even dressed alike and were a prime study for "twin language." But, their respective teams also really brought them out of their twin shells. So they received the Butterfly award jointly. It was appropriate, ironic and sweet all at the same time.
The Class XIV AmeriQuilt was on display in the lobby of the auditorium. Our recreation of the "Message Boar" went over really well with our team and former teammates. Following the ceremony, there was a big dinner in the cafeteria. Some of the Forest Service showed up for the wildfire teams, including Owens, Megan and Mary from Ned. They had dinner with us in the cafeteria and then met us for one last night at Four Gs.
After move out, Nikki and I had a little vacation in Nederland prior to returning home. We stayed with some Forest Service people who hadn't yet moved on from the end of their seasonal posts at the work center. It was quite cold for the most part and rather blustery. I went snowboarding for the first time! We went to El Dora, the local ski resort in Ned. It was quite fun! According to the people I went with, I picked it up fairly quickly. Of course, once I got the feel for things, my skill level plateaued instantly. I didn't want to try any jumps or switch between board edges for fear of breaking my neck.
I flew home the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. I didn't realize it until I had to get on the flight that I was really reluctant to go home. The weeks in Denver leading up to graduation didn't feel any different from previous transition weeks. It wasn't until I boarded that it hit me: it's over. After we landed in Philly, I actually started crying on my walk to the baggage claim. The elation that my parents demonstrated once they saw me made it all even harder to process. Thanksgiving was nice and quiet at home, just the immediate family.
On Thanksgiving Sunday, I went to visit Jersey Surf, the drum and bugle corps I marched with from 2004-2006. Their first audition camp for the new season is always held Thanksgiving weekend and some alumni (such as myself) use that weekend to see friends and check how the corps is doing. I ran into some people I had marched with and we were able to catch up a little. A week later, they called me to inform me that a flag spot had opened up in their winterguard, Black Watch; they wanted to know if I was interested. The Black Watch is an Independent World Class winterguard that I have idolized since I got into the activity in high school. Of course I said yes and began going to rehearsals. Our competitive season went up to the first weekend in May, and it was an incredibly rewarding experience. The level of cohesion in the guard was higher than any I had ever experienced before. I'm so thankful to have had the opportunity to be a part of the Black Watch family and I can't wait for the next season to begin.
In the meantime, I was hunting for a job. Along with several other NCCC wildfire people, I began the process of applying for a seasonal wildland firefighter position. As that option developed, I also applied to about 120 jobs here at home. It was a rather discouraging challenge, especially when I was not considered for positions I really wanted. While I definitely did AmeriCorps for the personal experiences, I wasn't the only one who hoped it would also be a great addition to my resume. Alas, this was not the case. It seemed that people didn't think the experience translated very well. I hope this is just a symptom of the economic downturn. I'm not looking for someone to stroke my ego; I just think our time in NCCC shouldn't be so underrated. My corpsmates and I worked hard and cared about what we were doing. We still care.
I finally landed a temp position. I'm still looking for something that speaks a little closer to my passions: education, the environment, writing, nonprofit organizations. My job search demonstrated my old fashioned attitudes of employment -- I like the idea of starting new, learning and working toward something. These days, it seems companies expect you to know everything prior to working for them. What ever happened to entry-level positions? And how much experience can a college graduate really have? There are only so many internships, and only so much time a student can spare between class, course work and a paying job. I realize it can be more cost effective to cut back on training for employees, but I also think that too many people have become absolutely rabid about making the bottom line Priority #1.
My apologies -- I don't want this post to digress into a negative conclusion to what has been one of the most positive experiences of my life.
I do have a job, and I am trying to stay positive. While searching for a position, I was also exploring the possibility of grad school. My experiences in NCCC, in conjunction with Obama's election and his expansion of AmeriCorps, seemed to reignite my enthusiasm with teaching. I found a program at Arcadia University that would allow me to get my masters and certification in secondary social studies education. There were just a few classes I needed to qualify for the program. I've already taken two, and I'm enrolled in two more for the fall. I'd like to teach a world cultures-based curriculum, and I often catch myself scheming about studying and volunteering abroad to enhance my coursework.
But I can't lie. Despite these ambitions, I'm afraid to discover that I'd make a lousy teacher; the two classes I've taken so far were unexpectedly intimidating at times. It would be an understatement to say that I am reluctant about choosing this path. And this does seem to be the path I've chosen -- I turned down a fire job in March. Owens called and offered me a position and I declined. My initial reason was because I didn't instantly say, "Yes!" I felt like if I truly wanted it I wouldn't have hesistated to accept the offer. Upon closer examination, my situation didn't seem to lend itself to taking a fire job. With loans, car and health insurance, I may have barely afforded living in Colorado, especially with a fire season that had been pretty quiet up until last week. Uprooting my life and living out of a suitcase for another six months, after having done exactly that for the previous ten, would further delay starting grad school. And who knows what the economic situation will be in November? I'd already experienced enough difficulty finding a job.
I'm the type of person who occasionally indulges in asking "What if?" So I'm struggling with not regretting this decision. I don't think one choice was somehow superior to the other. Fire season was quiet up until last week and that made not being on a crew a little easier to deal with. But, as of this writing (mid-August), I know of at least eight people on fire dispatches, the majority of whom are fighting fires in ... Alaska! Good grief, what luck.
So that's where I am right now. Though I'm savoring the weighty, humid summers that you'll only find on the east coast, I still miss Colorado immensely. I've made a half-promise to myself that I'll live there for a portion of my life.
My waffling over a fire job and grad school is further proof that I feel restless. Even if I'd taken a fire job, I think I'd still have this feeling that I'm meant for something bigger. When I began AmeriCorps, I was looking forward to finally following through on this Save-The-World attitude I've had since I was three, when the Exxon-Valdez had that massive oil spill and I cried to my mother about how the dolphins were going to die if someone didn't do something (I'm not kidding, you can ask her). It seems my time in NCCC has only made me hungrier. At the risk of sounding arrogant or ostentatious, I have this nagging little feeling that I'm meant for something more than where I am right now, that I've got to find something bigger and better. Maybe this is true, maybe it isn't. As always, I guess we'll find out.
Thursday, November 20, 2008
I have come to the conclusion that life is just a bunch of graduations ...
Both literal and metaphorical.
I'm sitting in the lobby of Walsh Hall right now, leaning against Nicole's and my stuff. I've already been up for three hours; the TLs paraded through our halls to wake us at 4 am. The lobby was a mess as of people and luggage. There was a mass exodus around 6:30 am, when the majority of vans left for the airport.
It's just a few stragglers now (and by a few, I mean about fifteen). Most are waiting for the train shuttles to start. Nikki and I are waiting for Enterprise to open its office so we can get a move on as well. We weren't going to get the car until noon, but it is 7 am, the latest we can stay is 11 am, and we really can't take waiting any longer, especially now that everyone else is gone. The weather has been beautiful the past several days, but now there's a freezing cold rain that has settled over the region. Kinda makes it easy to leave ... except I'm not leaving right away.
Nikki and I will have some fun in Ned for a few more days, visiting with a bunch of other wildfire people who will also be hanging around the area for a bit. And then I'll be home again.
So that's that. Done and done. The reflections on all of this still have not been very forthcoming in my mind. I think I need a week to decompress and then I can do so. It seems only fair to conclude this blog with a sense of closure. ...But not now. I'll keep you posted.
I'm sitting in the lobby of Walsh Hall right now, leaning against Nicole's and my stuff. I've already been up for three hours; the TLs paraded through our halls to wake us at 4 am. The lobby was a mess as of people and luggage. There was a mass exodus around 6:30 am, when the majority of vans left for the airport.
It's just a few stragglers now (and by a few, I mean about fifteen). Most are waiting for the train shuttles to start. Nikki and I are waiting for Enterprise to open its office so we can get a move on as well. We weren't going to get the car until noon, but it is 7 am, the latest we can stay is 11 am, and we really can't take waiting any longer, especially now that everyone else is gone. The weather has been beautiful the past several days, but now there's a freezing cold rain that has settled over the region. Kinda makes it easy to leave ... except I'm not leaving right away.
Nikki and I will have some fun in Ned for a few more days, visiting with a bunch of other wildfire people who will also be hanging around the area for a bit. And then I'll be home again.
So that's that. Done and done. The reflections on all of this still have not been very forthcoming in my mind. I think I need a week to decompress and then I can do so. It seems only fair to conclude this blog with a sense of closure. ...But not now. I'll keep you posted.
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
By this time tomorrow, I'll be an NCCC graduate
So graduation is tomorrow. After graduation, I'll be home in a week.
I could chose this time to wax poetic about the time I've spent in this program and how the last ten months have changed me. But who couldn't do that after experiencing something like this? Besides, my mind right now is too filled with little last minute To-Do lists regarding packing. Almost all of my possessions are in boxes or suitcases, with only a few toiletries and my graduation uniform fully exposed in the open air. Also elbowing their way into my cluttered mind are To-Do lists that will take effect once I drop my suitcases on the floor of my bedroom back home.
I'm also trying to clear my mind of the recurring job-search anxiety. I just posted my resume on Monster. I'm sure I'll do another job search soon. But for now, that's where I am.
I could chose this time to wax poetic about the time I've spent in this program and how the last ten months have changed me. But who couldn't do that after experiencing something like this? Besides, my mind right now is too filled with little last minute To-Do lists regarding packing. Almost all of my possessions are in boxes or suitcases, with only a few toiletries and my graduation uniform fully exposed in the open air. Also elbowing their way into my cluttered mind are To-Do lists that will take effect once I drop my suitcases on the floor of my bedroom back home.
I'm also trying to clear my mind of the recurring job-search anxiety. I just posted my resume on Monster. I'm sure I'll do another job search soon. But for now, that's where I am.
Saturday, November 15, 2008
I want to go!!!
I'm aware that lives are in danger and that fighting fires isn't a game or a sport and that people are losing everything as a result of these fires ...
I want to go to Santa Barbara!!!
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=aRu20NS81r7s&refer=us
*sigh*
I want to go to Santa Barbara!!!
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=aRu20NS81r7s&refer=us
*sigh*
Friday, November 14, 2008
Back in Denver ... oh my ...
Good grief, I'm not even doing that much and I still let a week go by between posts ...
Okay, anyway ...
On Monday of last week, we didn't work and instead spent a good chunk of the day cleaning the bunkhouse and packing up. We also hung the swing, finally! It took us long enough. On Tuesday, we returned to Denver and settled in. On Wednesday, the majority of us turned in our line gear so it could be issued to the new wildfire teams; Joanna, Scott, John and Chris kept their stuff because they were going to the field day for the new teams. A bunch of us crossed paths with some of the Class VX wildfire people over those few days. They're really cool kids, very nice and eager to learn. I was talking to one and answering the questions he had about the fires I had been on.
Unfortunately, the new class might be in for a bit of a rude awakening. I heard that on their field day, they only had two water bottles and their fire shelters in their packs, and they dug a straight line that was on flat ground. Our field day pretty much felt like the real thing. We dug up, across and down a slope and then re-dug part of the line because they wanted the prescribed burn area to be larger. Our fire shelter deployment drill was a bit more intense too, from the sounds of it. But they'll get the hang of it when they start their season.
So there's a 2500 acre fire in Santa Barbara. I'm chomping at the bit, but there's nothing I can really do -- I have no gear.
I went for a run last Thursday and ended up with a sore throat from the cold air. That turned into a headache, mild nausea, chills, hot sweats, and body aches. So I spent the whole weekend feeling like I had the flu, and without much of an appetite. On Monday, things got a bit better except that I noticed my gums felt a little sensitive and it hurt to eat a little. I ate yogurt for breakfast, and had soup for lunch and dinner. Sheesh. On Tuesday, they were noticeably swollen. On Wednesday, I managed to eat something that required chewing. They seem to be feeling better each day, still a little sensitive. I am just falling apart, honestly.
This week has been pretty low key regarding our schedule. We cleaned a truck last week and the other two were cleaned by some Class XV kids who needed some "extra instruction," so we didn't have to take care of the vehicle this week. We had a community meeting on Monday, and the rest of the day to work on our debrief. Jamie actually called me on Monday, she's in charge of organizing our travel (among other things) to and from the campus for the program. Apparently the travel agency they use couldn't book a train for the government rate so I'll be flying home instead. We had off on Tuesday for Veterans Day. On Wednesday we had another meeting to discuss our education award. We presented our debrief yesterday morning and turned our portfolio in, which was the biggest thing we had to do. Last evening, Blake and I worked on our team's quilt square for the "Memory Mural." The team decided they'd like to make it a version of our "Message Boar," a message board that Blake started with Earth 4 to post interesting facts, and other funny jokes that the team shared. The rest of us adopted it when our teams were combined. So we put the squares for E 4 and 5 next to each other and made a replica of the "Message Boar," but with new facts and categories. I'll try to get a picture of it, along with a picture of the original board from the bunkhouse.
So here it is. My last weekend in AmeriCorps. It was snowing earlier in the morning, it seems to have settled at the moment. A lot of people are really ready to be done and head home or move on to what's next for them. I think it's just being back in Denver. I know if we were up in Ned, even if we were chipping, we still wouldn't necessarily want to be done yet. But here we are.
Okay, anyway ...
On Monday of last week, we didn't work and instead spent a good chunk of the day cleaning the bunkhouse and packing up. We also hung the swing, finally! It took us long enough. On Tuesday, we returned to Denver and settled in. On Wednesday, the majority of us turned in our line gear so it could be issued to the new wildfire teams; Joanna, Scott, John and Chris kept their stuff because they were going to the field day for the new teams. A bunch of us crossed paths with some of the Class VX wildfire people over those few days. They're really cool kids, very nice and eager to learn. I was talking to one and answering the questions he had about the fires I had been on.
Unfortunately, the new class might be in for a bit of a rude awakening. I heard that on their field day, they only had two water bottles and their fire shelters in their packs, and they dug a straight line that was on flat ground. Our field day pretty much felt like the real thing. We dug up, across and down a slope and then re-dug part of the line because they wanted the prescribed burn area to be larger. Our fire shelter deployment drill was a bit more intense too, from the sounds of it. But they'll get the hang of it when they start their season.
So there's a 2500 acre fire in Santa Barbara. I'm chomping at the bit, but there's nothing I can really do -- I have no gear.
I went for a run last Thursday and ended up with a sore throat from the cold air. That turned into a headache, mild nausea, chills, hot sweats, and body aches. So I spent the whole weekend feeling like I had the flu, and without much of an appetite. On Monday, things got a bit better except that I noticed my gums felt a little sensitive and it hurt to eat a little. I ate yogurt for breakfast, and had soup for lunch and dinner. Sheesh. On Tuesday, they were noticeably swollen. On Wednesday, I managed to eat something that required chewing. They seem to be feeling better each day, still a little sensitive. I am just falling apart, honestly.
This week has been pretty low key regarding our schedule. We cleaned a truck last week and the other two were cleaned by some Class XV kids who needed some "extra instruction," so we didn't have to take care of the vehicle this week. We had a community meeting on Monday, and the rest of the day to work on our debrief. Jamie actually called me on Monday, she's in charge of organizing our travel (among other things) to and from the campus for the program. Apparently the travel agency they use couldn't book a train for the government rate so I'll be flying home instead. We had off on Tuesday for Veterans Day. On Wednesday we had another meeting to discuss our education award. We presented our debrief yesterday morning and turned our portfolio in, which was the biggest thing we had to do. Last evening, Blake and I worked on our team's quilt square for the "Memory Mural." The team decided they'd like to make it a version of our "Message Boar," a message board that Blake started with Earth 4 to post interesting facts, and other funny jokes that the team shared. The rest of us adopted it when our teams were combined. So we put the squares for E 4 and 5 next to each other and made a replica of the "Message Boar," but with new facts and categories. I'll try to get a picture of it, along with a picture of the original board from the bunkhouse.
So here it is. My last weekend in AmeriCorps. It was snowing earlier in the morning, it seems to have settled at the moment. A lot of people are really ready to be done and head home or move on to what's next for them. I think it's just being back in Denver. I know if we were up in Ned, even if we were chipping, we still wouldn't necessarily want to be done yet. But here we are.
Sunday, November 02, 2008
I feel like I'm aging out all over again
Well, this past week was rather uneventful. The Phillies won the World Series. Yay! Go Phils! Finally! And ... of course, I'm two thousand miles from home. But, oh well, they won. Good for them.
We had Monday off because of the fire over the weekend. Hawk left for Chicago on Tuesday. We also had our evaluations with Chad, Owens and Emily. Everyone had a good eval, it all went rather smoothly. Chad and Owens tried to mess with a few of us a little. On Wednesday Chad led a little tutorial on how to apply for a job with the Forest Service (or a similar agency with regards to wildland firefighting, such as the Bureau of Land Management). It's a bit more complicated than just sending in a resume. Fire resumes are supposed to be long, detailing all of the experiences you've had on crews and with a department. You also have to have a profile on a website that the Forest Service uses to look at potential employees.
Beyond that, we just went back to Kelly Dahl to chip the rest of the slash from the trees we had dropped last week. It's all come full circle, it seems. On Friday, we turned in a few things from our gear that the work center had issued us (face shrouds from our helmets, fusees, first aid kits), as well as our tools, boxes of MREs and cubies (five-gallon water jugs in boxes). It was quite sad and a bit surreal. I felt like I was aging out from drum corps all over again -- I'd had my last show, we were breaking down the equipment and putting everything away. They let us out early, so we said our farewells to Chad, Owens and Egan and went down to the house.
I went for a run, stained and sealed the bench and then got into my Halloween costume to parade around in Ned for the festivities. It was lots of fun, there were a lot of character costumes this year. Nikki was Sarah Palin, Blake was Freddie Mercury, Scott was Iron Man, Ervin was Chris Meloni's character from Wet, Hot, American Summer.
So that's all then. Tomorrow, we'll clean the house top to bottom and get packed up. We head back to campus in Denver on Tuesday. We were originally supposed to work for another week, but we have to head back early to turn our gear in so it can be signed out immediately to the new wildfire teams, now that the cycles have overlapped for our campus. So that will leave me with not a whole lot to do on Thursday and Friday, probably. I'll probably drum up something to keep me occupied. I'm getting my hair cut on Saturday morning and it's kinda crazy exactly how much I'm looking forward to it.
But that's that. I think I'll save my reflections on the end for another post, this one has gone on quite enough.
We had Monday off because of the fire over the weekend. Hawk left for Chicago on Tuesday. We also had our evaluations with Chad, Owens and Emily. Everyone had a good eval, it all went rather smoothly. Chad and Owens tried to mess with a few of us a little. On Wednesday Chad led a little tutorial on how to apply for a job with the Forest Service (or a similar agency with regards to wildland firefighting, such as the Bureau of Land Management). It's a bit more complicated than just sending in a resume. Fire resumes are supposed to be long, detailing all of the experiences you've had on crews and with a department. You also have to have a profile on a website that the Forest Service uses to look at potential employees.
Beyond that, we just went back to Kelly Dahl to chip the rest of the slash from the trees we had dropped last week. It's all come full circle, it seems. On Friday, we turned in a few things from our gear that the work center had issued us (face shrouds from our helmets, fusees, first aid kits), as well as our tools, boxes of MREs and cubies (five-gallon water jugs in boxes). It was quite sad and a bit surreal. I felt like I was aging out from drum corps all over again -- I'd had my last show, we were breaking down the equipment and putting everything away. They let us out early, so we said our farewells to Chad, Owens and Egan and went down to the house.
I went for a run, stained and sealed the bench and then got into my Halloween costume to parade around in Ned for the festivities. It was lots of fun, there were a lot of character costumes this year. Nikki was Sarah Palin, Blake was Freddie Mercury, Scott was Iron Man, Ervin was Chris Meloni's character from Wet, Hot, American Summer.
So that's all then. Tomorrow, we'll clean the house top to bottom and get packed up. We head back to campus in Denver on Tuesday. We were originally supposed to work for another week, but we have to head back early to turn our gear in so it can be signed out immediately to the new wildfire teams, now that the cycles have overlapped for our campus. So that will leave me with not a whole lot to do on Thursday and Friday, probably. I'll probably drum up something to keep me occupied. I'm getting my hair cut on Saturday morning and it's kinda crazy exactly how much I'm looking forward to it.
But that's that. I think I'll save my reflections on the end for another post, this one has gone on quite enough.
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Catching up a little ...
My apologies for not posting sooner. I've been pretty busy after work for the past week or so. I'll explain ...
First of all, the marathon was a great success. John, Chris, Harrison, Keenan (wildfire team leader) and Chad all ran the full marathon, with John finishing at an impressive 3:36. This is his sixth marathon. Joanna, Jared (E4), Hawk (a FS guy) all ghost-ran the half marathon. I capped for Nikki, so that she could get some ISP hours by volunteering (capping is when you try to inform and recruit new members for AmeriCorps by setting up tables and booths at public events, schools, etc). Capping was actually pretty successful, we met a lot of people and got the word out. Blake and I left early to go grocery shopping, as it was a Sunday.
Last week wasn't anything special in particular. We went back to one of the camp grounds, Kelly Dahl, where we had cut at the beginning of the season. We had a few more trees (160 or so, allegedly) to cut and chip. The bole wood (the trunk itself) was going to be collected for industrial purposes. So, in addition to limbing the tree and chipping the slash, we had to drag all of the boles to the road and try to line them up.
It also snowed last week. It made cutting particularly chilly. I had two pairs of long underwear on the one day.
The real reason I wasn't able to get online much last week was because we were working on our gift to the Forest Service. It is a yearly tradition that the wildfire team gives a gift to their Forest Service work center. There is a basketball net, as well as some adirondack chairs and a birdhouse from previous classes. For the longest time, we could not come up with an idea. Then someone suggested a soap box derby car. It seemed amusing and fun, but it never materialized.
Finally, the weekend before last we said, "Okay. Are we going through with this? If not, we need to find something." It wasn't a firm goal, but we really wanted to have the gift done prior to the seasonals getting laid off (they all turned in their gear this past Friday). The soap box derby car, we finally admitted, wasn't going to work - it was fun, but it didn't really relate to our work, nor did it serve any real purpose. Suddenly, someone suggested a porch swing. That weekend, Blake and I went online to find plans on how to construct a swing, as well as a frame for it (we didn't think hanging the swing from the bunkhouse awning would be a good idea since it's not our place). We got all the plans and a list of materials. On Monday, Ervin went down to Boulder to take care of a few things while we were all at work. While he was in Boulder, he got everything we needed at Home Depot.
We started working on it Tuesday night. That evening, we snuck into the work center and cut all of the pieces for the porch swing itself. On Wednesday, we couldn't do anything because the work center was being used after work. Thursday, we constructed the porch swing and cut some of the pieces for the frame. On Friday, I actually went down to Boulder to see a show, but the people who stayed in for the night assembled the frame.
We were going to hang the swing on Saturday, but then ... around 3:00, we heard that there was a fire started by a car along the side of the road near Lyons (outside of Boulder). The seasonals had just turned in their gear the day before, so we were pretty much the only resources left on our forest, aside from Chad, Egan and Owens. Chad told us to be ready, just in case it panned out. Well, it did. Paul, Chris and I moved our stuff to one of the squad trucks, while everyone else made phone calls to get everyone who was in Boulder back up to the bunkhouse. We managed to get everyone rounded up and head out in less than two hours. Once we got to the fire, we dug some line around it with the other firefighters who were there. After that, we laid out some hose and mopped up until after dark. We wrapped up and headed back to Boulder. On the way back, Chad got us dinner at a really cool New Orleans-style restaurant in Lyons called Oscar Blues.
They requested us for the next day, so we all got up early and headed out. There wasn't any food in the house, because Sunday is normally my shopping day. Luckily, we managed to get someone to go for us (I made a list while I was eating breakfast on the off-chance that we could swing such a favor). But in the mean time, there wasn't really anything to bring for lunch, so we all ate MREs (Meal Ready to Eat, or Meal Rarely Enjoyed, if you prefer). It's a little funny because this fire was a few firsts for me: it was my first local fire (a little crazy, considering it's the end of a quiet fire season and I managed to get to do two national dispatches). It was also the first time I had ever eaten an MRE. Somehow, I got through two dispatches without eating them. So everyone told me I had to eat one, which was fine because I couldn't pack a lunch anyway. So I did. It wasn't bad at all; I had spaghetti with meat sauce, as well as some crackers and cheese spread.
We spent the second day gridding for a spot fire that had popped up across the road -- we found it, it was dead out. After lunch, we then mopped up until they let us go. Chad gave us off on Monday. We presented the swing to everyone after we got back from the fire. We're going to hang it tonight, hopefully.
Rumor has it that this is our last week of work. We're supposed to head back to Denver next Tuesday so we can turn in our fire gear for the next class of wildfire teams. We actually may get to meet some of them on Friday because Chad asked for help with their field day after their wildfire classes. It's so strange that it's almost over. We've been doing this for so long that it had the feeling as though we would just continue. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with myself. I'll certainly miss the chainsaw. Cutting such a fun thing to do. Gosh. It's really almost over.
Tomorrow night, I hope to watch the rescheduled Phillies/Rays game and ... well, I won't jinx them. I just hope that the outcome is good, my city deserves it.
First of all, the marathon was a great success. John, Chris, Harrison, Keenan (wildfire team leader) and Chad all ran the full marathon, with John finishing at an impressive 3:36. This is his sixth marathon. Joanna, Jared (E4), Hawk (a FS guy) all ghost-ran the half marathon. I capped for Nikki, so that she could get some ISP hours by volunteering (capping is when you try to inform and recruit new members for AmeriCorps by setting up tables and booths at public events, schools, etc). Capping was actually pretty successful, we met a lot of people and got the word out. Blake and I left early to go grocery shopping, as it was a Sunday.
Last week wasn't anything special in particular. We went back to one of the camp grounds, Kelly Dahl, where we had cut at the beginning of the season. We had a few more trees (160 or so, allegedly) to cut and chip. The bole wood (the trunk itself) was going to be collected for industrial purposes. So, in addition to limbing the tree and chipping the slash, we had to drag all of the boles to the road and try to line them up.
It also snowed last week. It made cutting particularly chilly. I had two pairs of long underwear on the one day.
The real reason I wasn't able to get online much last week was because we were working on our gift to the Forest Service. It is a yearly tradition that the wildfire team gives a gift to their Forest Service work center. There is a basketball net, as well as some adirondack chairs and a birdhouse from previous classes. For the longest time, we could not come up with an idea. Then someone suggested a soap box derby car. It seemed amusing and fun, but it never materialized.
Finally, the weekend before last we said, "Okay. Are we going through with this? If not, we need to find something." It wasn't a firm goal, but we really wanted to have the gift done prior to the seasonals getting laid off (they all turned in their gear this past Friday). The soap box derby car, we finally admitted, wasn't going to work - it was fun, but it didn't really relate to our work, nor did it serve any real purpose. Suddenly, someone suggested a porch swing. That weekend, Blake and I went online to find plans on how to construct a swing, as well as a frame for it (we didn't think hanging the swing from the bunkhouse awning would be a good idea since it's not our place). We got all the plans and a list of materials. On Monday, Ervin went down to Boulder to take care of a few things while we were all at work. While he was in Boulder, he got everything we needed at Home Depot.
We started working on it Tuesday night. That evening, we snuck into the work center and cut all of the pieces for the porch swing itself. On Wednesday, we couldn't do anything because the work center was being used after work. Thursday, we constructed the porch swing and cut some of the pieces for the frame. On Friday, I actually went down to Boulder to see a show, but the people who stayed in for the night assembled the frame.
We were going to hang the swing on Saturday, but then ... around 3:00, we heard that there was a fire started by a car along the side of the road near Lyons (outside of Boulder). The seasonals had just turned in their gear the day before, so we were pretty much the only resources left on our forest, aside from Chad, Egan and Owens. Chad told us to be ready, just in case it panned out. Well, it did. Paul, Chris and I moved our stuff to one of the squad trucks, while everyone else made phone calls to get everyone who was in Boulder back up to the bunkhouse. We managed to get everyone rounded up and head out in less than two hours. Once we got to the fire, we dug some line around it with the other firefighters who were there. After that, we laid out some hose and mopped up until after dark. We wrapped up and headed back to Boulder. On the way back, Chad got us dinner at a really cool New Orleans-style restaurant in Lyons called Oscar Blues.
They requested us for the next day, so we all got up early and headed out. There wasn't any food in the house, because Sunday is normally my shopping day. Luckily, we managed to get someone to go for us (I made a list while I was eating breakfast on the off-chance that we could swing such a favor). But in the mean time, there wasn't really anything to bring for lunch, so we all ate MREs (Meal Ready to Eat, or Meal Rarely Enjoyed, if you prefer). It's a little funny because this fire was a few firsts for me: it was my first local fire (a little crazy, considering it's the end of a quiet fire season and I managed to get to do two national dispatches). It was also the first time I had ever eaten an MRE. Somehow, I got through two dispatches without eating them. So everyone told me I had to eat one, which was fine because I couldn't pack a lunch anyway. So I did. It wasn't bad at all; I had spaghetti with meat sauce, as well as some crackers and cheese spread.
We spent the second day gridding for a spot fire that had popped up across the road -- we found it, it was dead out. After lunch, we then mopped up until they let us go. Chad gave us off on Monday. We presented the swing to everyone after we got back from the fire. We're going to hang it tonight, hopefully.
Rumor has it that this is our last week of work. We're supposed to head back to Denver next Tuesday so we can turn in our fire gear for the next class of wildfire teams. We actually may get to meet some of them on Friday because Chad asked for help with their field day after their wildfire classes. It's so strange that it's almost over. We've been doing this for so long that it had the feeling as though we would just continue. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with myself. I'll certainly miss the chainsaw. Cutting such a fun thing to do. Gosh. It's really almost over.
Tomorrow night, I hope to watch the rescheduled Phillies/Rays game and ... well, I won't jinx them. I just hope that the outcome is good, my city deserves it.
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Your garden hose has it easy ...
Things have been back to business as usual. After our trip to Storm King on Thursday, we cut a little on Friday and did some saw rehab. Nothing too exciting over the weekend. I was actually looking forward to grocery shopping. So little had been spent during the time I was gone because almost the rest of the entire team was on a prescribed burn for about a week. I wasn't concerned with the budget as I went to Sam's and Wal-Mart. But, try as we did ... we were still under budget. Oh well, there's plenty of good food and that's really all that matters.
We had Monday off because of Columbus Day, which was a nice treat. On Tuesday and Wednesday, we had a pumps class. We learned about everything concerning pumping water on fires, things like portable pumps and engines, how to hook them up, different hoses and fittings, how to effectively apply water and foam to fires, and so forth. There was also a little math class involved, as we learned how to calculate necessary pumping pressure based on how long the hose lay was, the fittings involved, etc.
Last night, I made some chili and the team had dinner in front of the tv as a whole so we could watch the Presidential debate. After that, I flipped on the rest of the Phillies/Dodgers game and I got to see my team win the pennant. The Phillies are going to the World Series for the first time since I was eight. Granted, that's nothing compared to the Red Sox, but don't get me started on which city has experienced more misery as sports fans.
Anyway, today was our field day for the pumps class. We went around three different stations in small groups. We learned how a Forest Service engine works with regards to delivering water to a fire. We also hooked up pumps in a variety of ways.
We have a lot of people from the wildfire teams converging on Denver this Sunday for the Denver marathon. Our whole team is going to either run, volunteer or cap. It should be a fun, but long day. Of course, the first thing I wondered was how late I'll get around to grocery shopping. I'll have to deprogram myself after I get out of NCCC, haha!
We had Monday off because of Columbus Day, which was a nice treat. On Tuesday and Wednesday, we had a pumps class. We learned about everything concerning pumping water on fires, things like portable pumps and engines, how to hook them up, different hoses and fittings, how to effectively apply water and foam to fires, and so forth. There was also a little math class involved, as we learned how to calculate necessary pumping pressure based on how long the hose lay was, the fittings involved, etc.
Last night, I made some chili and the team had dinner in front of the tv as a whole so we could watch the Presidential debate. After that, I flipped on the rest of the Phillies/Dodgers game and I got to see my team win the pennant. The Phillies are going to the World Series for the first time since I was eight. Granted, that's nothing compared to the Red Sox, but don't get me started on which city has experienced more misery as sports fans.
Anyway, today was our field day for the pumps class. We went around three different stations in small groups. We learned how a Forest Service engine works with regards to delivering water to a fire. We also hooked up pumps in a variety of ways.
We have a lot of people from the wildfire teams converging on Denver this Sunday for the Denver marathon. Our whole team is going to either run, volunteer or cap. It should be a fun, but long day. Of course, the first thing I wondered was how late I'll get around to grocery shopping. I'll have to deprogram myself after I get out of NCCC, haha!
Monday, October 13, 2008
Photos update
Memo: I posted links to albums from my Oregon dispatch and from the Storm King Mountain hike. Enjoy!
Thursday, October 09, 2008
The Storm King Mountain hike
Today the Forest Service took us to Storm King Mountain in Grand Junction, CO. There’s a memorial trail that leads to the site where 14 firefighters died in fighting a fire in 1994, the greatest number of fatalities on a single incident. It was a two-mile hike up to the crosses that marked where each firefighter died. We stopped at a few look-out points along the way and read the corresponding signs regarding wildland fire fighting and the mountain. There were two helitack firefighters who perished, along with nine Prineville hot shots and three smokejumpers.
We hiked with our packs on, partly to better understand what the firefighters were up against that day. Once we reached the memorial, there were old snags covered with t-shirts from other hot shot crews who had visited the site. There was also an AmeriCorps baseball cap. Each cross had lots of trinkets and firefighter items. People left everything from flowers to a cutting wedge and a scrench.
The most incredible thing was to realize how the firefighters had made it as far as they did, running up a line they had cut earlier in the day with their packs on. It was not easy country to hike and we were going at a casual pace. Even more astonishing was how the two helitack guys made it even farther, about a quarter-mile away from where everyone else perished.
After everyone took the time to appreciate the site, we hiked back down to the rigs, where we loaded up and went to a park nearby that had a memorial to the hot shots from Prineville. A similar memorial is also established in Prineville, OR, where the hot shot crew was from.
I wish I could say more about visiting the memorial, but it’s something that needs to be experienced. While hiking around the crosses, I could only try to imagine what was going through their minds. One of the hot shots, Bonnie Foltby, was 21, the age of two of our teammates. And until this visit, I had never realized the gravity of the work we’re doing. It was clear, from all of the things left by others, that the memorial on Storm King is truly sacred ground for wildland firefighters.
We had seen a documentary on the Storm King fire that explored how the firefighters perished, but it was interesting to actually be in the place and tie it all together. We all kept running through the speculated scenarios with each other, how they ran up the line, how they tried to escape, how the fire burned, how they fell, some so closed to each other and others farther apart. One hot shot, Scott Blecha, was so close to the top of the ridge that it’s heartbreaking to see. One of the smokejumpers was from the Missoula base that my crew visited on the way back from Oregon. It was strange to make that connection, since I had only been there a few days before.
As we hiked down, I turned around to look back up at the site. In the documentary, it zooms out to show all of the crosses on the hillside. But, with fourteen years gone by, a lot has re-grown and you can’t see the crosses anymore. What you can see, though, is a charred snag at the top of the ridge, overlooking the memorial. From a distance, the snag itself looks like a cross.
If you want to read more about the event, this website does a pretty good job on explaining everything, along with some pictures of the area. You can also read Fire on the Mountain by John Maclean.
Wednesday, October 08, 2008
Oregon Dispatch, Part IV
9/29/08 7:43 AM
We’re mopping up in the same spot today. Surprise.
Fire info: 1000 acres, 30% contained.
JT thinks that they just want to try and hold the lines until Friday or Saturday, when it’s supposed to rain. Containment has increased and size hasn’t changed, so things seem to be going well. The SIT report said the expected 100% containment could be achieved by Oct. 3, which is Friday, and our last day of work. Things might be somewhat chill here if it all goes as planned.
-9:38 PM
Mopped up again. There was a big sketchy, scary tree that was burning from the inside and it was on a tripod of bark at the base. I worked the hose for a bit while mopping.
Alpha, the AmeriCorps rig, got a flat after work.
I’m gonna miss JT, and my squad. The crew, once again, is awesome. There’s a lot of humor and fun, no matter what we’re doing.
I’m sleeping under the stars again. I may do it for the rest of the role, it’s easy enough.
It’s quite nice.
9/30/08 8:27 AM
Fire info: 1000 acres, 40% contained
We worked the most active part of the fire yesterday, which was essentially the mop up of a burn out around the edges of a meadow with sketchy trees in the black.
We’re getting plenty of action, which is better than staging for IA.
I’ve had some conflicting feelings lately. At one moment today, I may have realized that this job is not the career for me, long term. But with all the great people I meet, I feel like I’d be missing out on sharing some awesome experiences with them and I’d feel like I’d be disappointing people for bailing after one season. I dunno.
-6:50 PM
We went back to the same spot, mopped up a little, had another relaxing lunch where we took our time. After lunch, I worked the hose one some flare ups. We went to a gas station after work to fuel up, air up our tires a bit and just waste a little time.
10/1/08 7:32 AM
Fire: 808 acres, 60% contained
That’s the first time I’ve ever seen a fire shrink. It’s clearly under control.
We’ve got the same assignment today, we’re hoping to drag it out through Thursday. It’s supposed to rain Friday night, JT said he hopes we’ll get demobed Friday so we don’t have to sleep through it. I don’t really care, just as long as I could get two days R&R after the role.
The leaves are changing colors, it’s nice to see a bit of that, especially being from the east.
-6:39 PM
We had another relaxing lunch. Another sketchy tree fell nearby beforehand. While we were mopping up, we heard it crack a few times and we could see it swaying a bunch. Shane drew our attention to it because it he called out that it was going to fall. It didn't, though. Instead, it tipped with the wind for a good while. JT (crew boss) and the saw boss were going to investigate it and maybe take it down if it was possible. I kept an eye on it while Kira and I were working on some spots. Shane was also watching it from his vantage point. Then, I could hear a strong breeze about to come through the area so we all stopped and waited. Sure enough, the tree tilted to at least 45 degrees, went a little more and then we heard it snap and it came down. It was a relief to finally have down.
We had a hose butterflying competition after lunch. Butterflying hose is when you grab one end and then weave the hose around your arms in a figure-eight pattern. Each squad put someone up to represent and they all played Bear-Hunter-Woman to decide the competing order (kind of like Rock-Paper-Scissors, Woman beats Hunter, Hunter beats Bear, Bear beats Woman).
After some nagging from Diana, I spun a broken pounder handle for the crew to show them a little what colorguard was like. The pounder handle spun like a sabre, it worked surprisingly well.
We gathered by the trucks after all the hose was gathered. The squad boss in training from my squad had everyone do push ups with packs on as a way to mockingly build crew morale (he was in the Navy). Jared from AmeriCorps went against someone from North Zone to see who could chug two quarts of their water faster. Jared won.
-8:37 PM
So we’re on the demob list for tomorrow. I’m a little conflicted about that. I’m fine with going home, but … I want to stay all fourteen. It’s only two more days, I’m having lots of fun with this crew. Going back means going back to the responsibilities of my team. I’m not keen on that, not yet. It’s like leaving a drum corps tour and going back to real life. Also, this is minor but, I want my two days off and I’m not sure that it’ll happen if we don’t work the full fourteen.
I’m looking forward to hotel fun, though. Kira, Jane and I have mused over having a little spa time the first night of travel. Shower, shave the legs, scrub the dirt out of ever pore.
I dunno. Maybe JT can work his magic at briefing. Then again, the fire is shrinking and we’re losing our purpose. I guess we’ll see.
10/2/08 9:28 AM
We’re about to leave camp, we got demobed this morning. I’ve showered and Kira and I made our dispatch t-shirts. We’re keeping the same configuration for the drive home, so George will be riding with us. JT said we’d be taking a "more northern route," so we’re wondering if that means that we’re going somewhere in particular.
10/3/08 8:54 AM
Montana! I was obsessed with Montana for a while, thanks to a little state report I did in fourth grade. I don’t remember any of it, but I know that for a long time, I just wanted to move to Montana because I love the mountains.
We headed north through Oregon and stopped at some falls, the second highest waterfall in the nation (I forget the name). You could see Washington state from across the highway and that’s actually where we ended up going. We stayed in Spokane last night, of all places.
-6:01 PM
We stopped at the smokejumper base in Missoula. It was so cool! It really makes me want to be one, even though the physical requirements are pretty beyond my reach without extensive, obsessive training. I guess I’d like to be a smokejumper in the same way that everyone wants to be a famous rock star or something. Missoula itself is a sweet little hub of a town, too.
10/4/08 9:59 AM
We drove so much yesterday. We went all the way until 11:00 PM so we could make it to Sheridan, WY. As we drove through Casper, WY, Jared and I were looking out the window when we drove by the Troopers’ bingo hall (the Troopers are a drum corps, Jared and I both marched corps). We looked at each other and we were like "Uh … was that THE Troop??" It definitely was, they’re from Casper and their sign had the crossed sabres with the number 11. That was a nice little surprise.
Oregon Dispatch, Part III
9/27/08 7:42 AM
After the spots yesterday, JT suspects that the fire won’t be downsized and transitioned to a Type 3 tomorrow, it may take a bit longer. We’ll see.
-9:13 PM
We went up to the same point as yesterday. We didn’t have to haul the rest of the hose, thank goodness. Our performance yesterday may have earned us some brownie points with Butch, our task force leader for our division. Instead, we dug some line around the spots from last night and mopped up a little in the black. Slow day, good day.
Camp is moving tomorrow, we’re packing up after breakfast. For the rest of the role, we’ll either be driving to breakfast and dinner or MREs for breakfast and drive to dinner. Hopefully it’ll be real food all the way.
We got done work early, so I got to shower. Yay! I now know that I can go at least a week.
9/28/09 7:27 AM
So we broke down camp this morning and circled up to find out that we’re actually getting demobed today, but we’re going to another fire that’s about 3 hours away.
Fire info:
Rattle Fire – 18,078 acres, 60% contained
Kitson Fire – 1000 acres, 25% contained
-8:55 PM
We got to the new fire camp, checked in and waited around for a bit. We found out that we were working that day, so we headed over to our division and mopped up for a bit. Tomorrow may be staging for IA (initial attack) stuff, who knows.
This fire seems better organized but there are more creepy-looking contractors, it seems.
We’re sleeping under the starts tonight because camp would take took long to break down, should we get called to some IA stuff. Never done it before, hopefully I won’t get a ton of bug bites out of the experience.
I have a cell signal! Woo!
-9:14 PM
Almost forgot … while mopping up today, Kira and I came up with a t-shirt idea for this role. On the front, it’ll say "Northern Colorado Mop Shots" (instead of Hot Shots) and on the back it’ll say, "I’ll grid your hot spot." Heh.
Also, there’s oak here. Ack! I haven’t seen any yet, but I feel itchy thinking about it. JT says the patches that have appeared on my hips are pack rash, but I dunno. Then again, it could be psychosomatic.
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?
Oregon Dispatch, Part I
I’m back! My plan is to do what I did last time, to make a whole bunch of posts that recount my time on dispatch. Sit back and enjoy!
9/18/08 8:35 AM
So here we are again. After work yesterday, we got home early. So Nikki, Jo and I were having a snack when the phone rang. Jo answered and it was Chad. He said that they were on a conference call and Travis and I should make sure we’re ready to go as early as that night (though he doubted it, he said the next morning was far more likely).
I woke up at 4:30 am, showered and got ready. While I was eating breakfast, Travis told me that he was gonna try and get out of the role for family reasons. Won’t go into it, not my place. So Mary, a FS person, and I ended up driving an AmeriCorps truck (Alpha) to the Boulder office to meet up with Squad 1-2 and drive to the work center in Fort Collins. Jane, from the North Zone AmeriCorps team, is going in his place. Jared (originally from Earth 4) and Kira are also along for the role. We’ll be riding in Alpha on the way to Oregon. JT is crew boss again, yay! There’s also another guy on the crew from North Zone who went on my California dispatch as well. We have Egan, George and Diana from South Zone, our work center.
I’m going to try my damndest to improve on last time. I complained a lot. I don’t want that, I left last role feeling like I disappointed people by whining about my oak. Not this time. I’m going to try and stay as positive as possible.
And now … for the fire info:
Rattle Fire, Umpqua National Forest, Oregon
Tuesday, Sept 16: 11,200 acres, 25% contained
Spot fires up to 2 miles
Boulder Creek Wilderness, mostly
COLD at night, 20s (70s during the day)
-11:01 AM
We just stopped in Rollins, WY and we stopped at the same rest stop as we did on the way home last time!
-12:09 PM
We’re stopping in Rock Springs, WY for lunch. I’ve been reading A People’s History of the United States lately and I just came across a passage … "In Rock Springs, WY, in the summer of 1885, whites attacked five hundred Chinese miners, massacring twenty-eight of them in cold blood." (p.266) Now, all we’re doing is stopping for lunch in Rock Springs, so we’re not touring the town or anything. But my guess is that there’s probably no acknowledgement of this incident anywhere in the town. I guess it just made me wonder how many other events of that nature have been passed over in our nation’s history. I mean, the point of Zinn’s book is to bring such things out into the open. But, still … there’s probably a lot of history that residents don’t know about their own communities, myself included.
-9:41 PM
So Kira’s parents found the SIT report online – they were kind of amazed that they found it, haha – and the fire as of today is 14,000 acres, 30% contained (mostly dozer line), 1000+ people working it.
9/19/08 6:41 PM
Fire camp!! So, for the last 30 minutes of the drive, we listened to any song on any iPod that had the word "fire" in it. Lame, I know, but still fun. I’m not on the saw squad, I’m on one of the regular, hand crew type squads. Diana is my squad boss. Kira’s on my team. No info on the fire yet. I don’t have a cell signal at camp, what’s that all about? For once, Verizon works but AT&T doesn’t. Usually I’m the one with the signal and no one else. Oh well.
We had dinner, the tent is set up. We’ve got an assignment tomorrow, 5:30 am wake up.
9/20/08 7:18 AM
Gear is all set. I woke up feeling like I have camp crud. What the heck? It’s a scratchy throat and a runny nose. I must have caught something before we left Ned. It better clear up!
Fire info: 14,227 acres, 28% contained
So we may just be mopping up and digging contingency lines (augh!) or we’ll be doing direct attack with a bunch of other crews. Apparently there are 8 hand crews like us so the work could be nice and spread out. I’m still dreading the hike, though, from the looks of the terrain around us.
-10:07 PM
We ended up mopping up along a line, after spending half the day in the rigs, driving around trying to find our task force leader. We’re working in an old growth forest area, we’re surrounded by colossal trees. I got to work the hose a bit toward the end of the mop up, had to dart up the hill (it’s steep) after a few little flames. The hike wasn’t so bad, but then it’s Day 1 and we didn’t work for half the day, so …
I’ve yet to shower, we’ll see how long that lasts.
9/21/08 7:12 AM
Fire: 16,225 acres, 28% contained
I am super congested this morning, but then George gave me some Sudafed that he got from the med tent (apparently we’re both sick). It worked wonders! I feel pretty good, still congested a little but not worn down. It also probably has something to do with the fact that I got seven hours of sleep last night. Amazing! I’m not showering for the rest of the dispatch! I actually don’t feel too dirty. But then, it’s just the beginning of Day 2.
-6:33 PM
We mopped up all day, had to remop a few areas (a little bitter about that but there’s a lot of stuff on the ground). The echoing thud of massive trees falling surrounded us for the day, a few snags sounded a little close. Some of the very distant ones sounded like waves crashing when they fell.
There was lots of disorganized gridding. We wold start out in a nice line and then just kind of scatter because some hot spots that we found would take longer than others to snuff out. We also had to stand around a bit to wait for the sawyers to take care of some of the snags and smaller trees.
It sprinkled on and off throughout the day. We left early because it started to rain steady and get cold and the task force leader didn’t want anyone getting too wet and chilled.
I am filthy. I feel okay, but I really hope I start to get better. Today was a pain, constantly having to blow my nose. George stayed back today to see if it could help his condition improve faster. I’m definitely not the only one sick, then.
-9:12 PM
We got off so early from work that I’m in bed! I was going to shower but I decided against it. A hot shower might help how I feel but 1) it might not help that much, 2) it takes time and 3) sleep might help more.
9/22/08 7:28 AM
I got eight hours of sleep! I feel pretty good. Still a little congested, but good. I was gonna go to med this morning but it wasn’t open, or I went to the wrong tent. I’ll try again tonight because I also want to swing by information and get free stamped postcards! Sweet!
We have the same assignment as yesterday (mop up) but higher up in the same area.
Fire info: 16,907 acres, 48% contained
I’m coughing a little more today.
-9:12 PM
We mopped up, cold trailed and gridded a little today but it pretty much turned into Seek and Destroy. The weather warmed up a little today, the sun actually came out. Around 3:00 pm, we started digging line along the black where the burn out stopped. We heard that there was a bet placed between JT and the task force leader as to whether we could finish the line today. We ended up digging a line that stretched pretty far, but we still fell short. We never did hear what the terms were.
The hike as we dug the line sucked a little, my feet are feeling it. We dug for about four hours.
I got my free, stamped postcards with Kira, I’ll probably write them now.
I can feel my Sudafed wearing off, ack! More people are getting sick.
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
The grapevine ...
Today was another day on the trails in Left Hand. We installed more posts today. Tomorrow is running cable through the posts. Chad had us hike to the installation locations with our packs on, so in addition to doing a very quick and intense work out this morning, we also did a little PT hike. I'd like to think that I redeemed myself for Monday and Tuesday today because I stayed on the heels of the person in front of me the whole time. But, then again, Chad didn't really hike us too hard. Soooo ... I dunno. Improvement, but I'm not going to relax about it.
When we got back, Nikki, Jo and I were sitting around the kitchen table sharing a snack when the phone rang. It was Chad and he said that they were having a conference call at the moment. It's nothing to get too excited about but Travis and I need to make sure we're ready to leave for a dispatch as early as tonight, though he said it's more likely to happen tomorrow. We may be doing that hurricane relief call, but he didn't really specify, he just said to be ready.
So that's it. Just wanted to give fair warning in case my blog doesn't show any updates for three weeks.
When we got back, Nikki, Jo and I were sitting around the kitchen table sharing a snack when the phone rang. It was Chad and he said that they were having a conference call at the moment. It's nothing to get too excited about but Travis and I need to make sure we're ready to leave for a dispatch as early as tonight, though he said it's more likely to happen tomorrow. We may be doing that hurricane relief call, but he didn't really specify, he just said to be ready.
So that's it. Just wanted to give fair warning in case my blog doesn't show any updates for three weeks.
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
I am sucking air big time
Well, it was probably for the best that I missed the hike on Sunday morning. Yesterday we skipped PT and left early for Evergreen, as per usual. But when we arrived, Owens (a FS guy) led us on a PT hike before beginning cutting for the day. Oof! I was totally sucking air. I haven't done a PT hike in a while but I haven't fallen behind since the very first hike we ever did. It sucked. Well ... it was more like I sucked. But anyway, yeah. It was rough.
And then we had all sorts of issues while cutting. Well, not really. It was more just that Nikki and I were exhausted after the hike so we were moving pretty slowly. She took two trees and I swamped them and then she had me take a tree because she's not too comfortable with the bigger ones. I dropped that one and then I moved on to another which not only sat back on me, but the holding wood snapped and it twisted and got hung up opposite from the direction I was trying to drop it. It ended up pinching the bar, so we had to unscrew the power head from the saw and wrench the bar out, which led to the tree falling. Oy. It was just one of those days that I wanted to forget as soon as possible.
Today was also a little rough. For the rest of the week, we're doing project work on a trail in Left Hand Canyon. We're rerouting some road and so posts need to be installed through which cable will be strung for guard rails. We had to load about five pallets of concrete and then hike all the way up to the top of the road, where we then inserted the posts into the holes and set them with the concrete. Once again, I was sucking air on the hike up the hill. The work before and after the hike was fine, though.
I'm not sure what it is, but I hope I'll move beyond this really discouraging plateau of weakness that suddenly seems to have set in or I'll reacclaimate myself to the altitude (but I really don't think that's it).
And then we had all sorts of issues while cutting. Well, not really. It was more just that Nikki and I were exhausted after the hike so we were moving pretty slowly. She took two trees and I swamped them and then she had me take a tree because she's not too comfortable with the bigger ones. I dropped that one and then I moved on to another which not only sat back on me, but the holding wood snapped and it twisted and got hung up opposite from the direction I was trying to drop it. It ended up pinching the bar, so we had to unscrew the power head from the saw and wrench the bar out, which led to the tree falling. Oy. It was just one of those days that I wanted to forget as soon as possible.
Today was also a little rough. For the rest of the week, we're doing project work on a trail in Left Hand Canyon. We're rerouting some road and so posts need to be installed through which cable will be strung for guard rails. We had to load about five pallets of concrete and then hike all the way up to the top of the road, where we then inserted the posts into the holes and set them with the concrete. Once again, I was sucking air on the hike up the hill. The work before and after the hike was fine, though.
I'm not sure what it is, but I hope I'll move beyond this really discouraging plateau of weakness that suddenly seems to have set in or I'll reacclaimate myself to the altitude (but I really don't think that's it).
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Update: No hike for me
So ……….. yeah. I didn’t get a hike or a call. I woke Ervin up around 10:30 because I needed someone to go grocery shopping with me (there was a Red Sox game on so Travis was not about to go). While he took his time, the rest of the team came back from the hike. They didn’t make it to the summit because of the snow and ice, but they still had a good time. So Paul ended up going with me to Sam’s Club and Wal-Mart, but he slept in the truck. Birthday Boy has had a long weekend with not a whole lot of sleep.
On a positive note, I did a damn good job this week, we got a ton of good food. But still … I’m irritated that I didn’t get to go on the hike. I knew that would happen. At this point, I hope that, if there is a dispatch, I don’t get called until after this weekend because I want to hike a fourteener before I leave Colorado. Bah.
Just another week
Well, I’m sitting here not doing much when I could be hiking Long’s Peak with a bunch of my teammates. But I’ll get into that in a second.
On Tuesday, we went back to Unit 35 to do some more thinning around alpine clones. This is the same unit where, the week prior, we got the truck stuck and did some old mine spelunking. So we managed to start and finish our areas of the unit, leaving only one or two clones left and they were the hardest to get to. It was a bit of a rough hike in and out of the unit, but there wasn’t much to cut so it balanced out. Still, swamping kind of sucked, trying to make piles was a little challenging and dragging the stuff was also a bit difficult because of the hills.
We skipped PT on Wednesday and Thursday because our new cutting unit is an hour-long drive to Evergreen. It’s a clear cutting assignment, so we have big patches where we just cut down all the trees that are marked (and 99% of them are marked). I’ve been cutting partners with Ervin all week, with Fetsch (a FS guy) and Travis in patch and we’ve barely made a dent in it, it’s one of the bigger patches. But then, we’ve also had some technical difficulties that have slowed us down on both days. The first day, Ervin had a tough time with a few trees getting hung up and one that sat back on him to the point where we had to remove the power head of the chainsaw from the bar and try to pull the bar out of the tree. The next day, while I was using our saw, Virginia, it began to sputter and then stopped. I tried to start it again but it wouldn’t stay on, so we began to take it apart to see what happened. It was smoking when we took off the cover. We began to take it apart and then we realized, with Fetsch’s help, that the bearing had completely melted. Oops. We’re still not sure how it happened, but we suspect that the chain was tightened too much. Virginia’s chain had been spinning while idle for the whole week, so we would tighten the chain a lot and that would slow the spinning a bit. But I guess we didn’t realize how tight we had gone with the chain. Luckily, we had a spare saw in one of our trucks, so I grabbed her and we continued with the patch.
Friday was a saw rehab day. Virginia is okay, thank goodness. We replaced the bearing and a few other parts that had suffered as a result. Her chain still spins, but that’s beyond our expertise at this point. Chad let us out early, so we began celebrating Paul’s 21st birthday. We had cake when we got back to the bunkhouse. Later on, we went down into Ned and celebrated.
On Saturday, I went down to Boulder and got my phone situation taken care of (for the most part). My phone had acquired this wonderful habit of shutting off for no reason while I would be in the middle of a text or phone call. It was never the battery, it would just turn off suddenly. So I got a replacement phone and I went to the AT&T store in Boulder to get all of my stuff transferred. They managed to transfer all of my pictures but they couldn’t get my ringtones to switch to the new phone. So I’ll have to call customer service again and figure that out. Whatever. I also got a really cute dress at Ross. It was a normal Saturday.
I was going to go to bed early last night in order to prepare for this hike we had been planning on all week. A bunch of us were going to try to hike Long’s Peak, which is one of the 14,000+ ft hikes. When I got back, though, I heard from Nikki and Joanna that they had been with Mary (a FS girl) when she got a call from Tim (a FS guy) who told her to be ready as early as Sunday to leave. There’s the possibility of a dispatch heading to the Gulf to help out with hurricane relief, especially with all of the downed trees and debris. Nikki said that they might want an A faller for every B faller that goes. They were also cleaning one of the trucks yesterday in preparation for the trip (allegedly). So I made the decision to not go on the hike the next day. I asked Ervin about the whole thing and he said that, while he hadn’t gotten a call from Chad or anyone saying anything definite about a dispatch, it would suck if I went on the hike and then we got the call because that would be a huge turnover of time before I could make it back to the work center.
So I didn’t go. And now here I am, sitting around, waiting for someone to join me for grocery shopping. Everyone else left for the hike around 3 am. Bah. I swear, if I don’t get some indication of a dispatch today, I’ll be miffed.
Monday, September 08, 2008
Note to self: add "A Faller" to resume
Nikki, Blake and Chris are finally back. Joy! =) Unfortunately, just as our team reassembled, John and Adrienne left tonight to go up to Estes Park because they're heading out to California with Alpine tomorrow. Alas. But this is what Ervin said would happen at a certain point -- it would be rare to have the entire team together in the same place for more than a few days. Now that the NoCo (Northern Colorado) crew is back, and John and Adrienne are going out with Alpine, there's talk of organizing the next NoCo crew. I would be on that crew. Woo! Two dispatches. That's luck in such a slow season. But we'll see, there was chatter about it, but also talk of how it won't go out for a while.
Speaking of Nikki being back ... on Friday, Joanna and I went down to Denver. She had a friend in town for business and we also wanted to go out in the city with Nikki since we didn't get a chance to during transition week because of Nikki's dispatch. So that was good fun. We made our way back up to Ned on Saturday and it was a big reunion in Ned that night because everyone was back from dispatch. On Sunday, it was grocery shopping as usual. Chris came with me, which was nice and different, and also helpful because Chris is a vegetarian so I have that to consider now when I shop.
Today, we all finally tested for our A Faller certifications. We had to be at the work center by 6:30 am to load some saws because we had a two and a half hour drive to Grand County where we worked with the Sulfer Ranger District because they had a C Faller certifier. Everyone had a chance to cut down at least one practice tree. John and Adrienne went first, taking their practice trees and then testing, one after the other. This enabled them to leave early so they could get back to the bunkhouse and organize before they had to head up to Alpine. After lunch, Paul took his two practice trees and then I did the same. There are a TON of beetle-kill trees in that neck of the woods, but it was really difficult to find one that didn't have a lot of hazards to mitigate. Still, I managed. And then I tested for my A Cert. It went really well, I was glad. My cuts were cleaner than the two practice cuts, so that's good.
So we're all A Certified now, which basically puts us on the level of apprentice. It means that we can cut without a B Faller watching our every blink, but we've kind of been doing that already in our cutting units. This just makes it official.
I don't know what we're doing tomorrow. Probably cutting. There's been talk of prescribed burns sometime in the near future. Exciting! Yay fire! Haha.
Speaking of Nikki being back ... on Friday, Joanna and I went down to Denver. She had a friend in town for business and we also wanted to go out in the city with Nikki since we didn't get a chance to during transition week because of Nikki's dispatch. So that was good fun. We made our way back up to Ned on Saturday and it was a big reunion in Ned that night because everyone was back from dispatch. On Sunday, it was grocery shopping as usual. Chris came with me, which was nice and different, and also helpful because Chris is a vegetarian so I have that to consider now when I shop.
Today, we all finally tested for our A Faller certifications. We had to be at the work center by 6:30 am to load some saws because we had a two and a half hour drive to Grand County where we worked with the Sulfer Ranger District because they had a C Faller certifier. Everyone had a chance to cut down at least one practice tree. John and Adrienne went first, taking their practice trees and then testing, one after the other. This enabled them to leave early so they could get back to the bunkhouse and organize before they had to head up to Alpine. After lunch, Paul took his two practice trees and then I did the same. There are a TON of beetle-kill trees in that neck of the woods, but it was really difficult to find one that didn't have a lot of hazards to mitigate. Still, I managed. And then I tested for my A Cert. It went really well, I was glad. My cuts were cleaner than the two practice cuts, so that's good.
So we're all A Certified now, which basically puts us on the level of apprentice. It means that we can cut without a B Faller watching our every blink, but we've kind of been doing that already in our cutting units. This just makes it official.
I don't know what we're doing tomorrow. Probably cutting. There's been talk of prescribed burns sometime in the near future. Exciting! Yay fire! Haha.
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