--6/26/08
It was hazy and foggy for most of the day. We cut on a steep slope in the black where there had been a burnout earlier in the week. That was a little crazy, I felt like I was rock climbing at times because I was using plant roots to pretty much belay up and down the side of the slope. At one point, my crew boss JT stopped Patrick’s saw and had us listen really carefully – you could hear a seal barking on the beach below the mountains, haha!
We cut and swamped out around a house and there was a lot of poison oak everywhere. I pretty much ended up falling and throwing myself into it for the most part. I’m not allergic to ivy or sumac back home but I’m not sure if such a resistance would transfer. If I’m not allergic, I probably am by now though because I was in so much of it today.
After we swamped out around another part of the house, the saw squad played Throw Things Down The Hill, which was amusing. Bedsheets and I chucked some boles down the hill and I beat him, which was astonishing because I could barely lift mine. While we were waiting for the other two squads to dig line through the cut we made, the saw squad (now apparently known as “Sawsquatch” and answers to the Chewbaca call) had “M&M time” where we all ate the peanut M&Ms from our lunch.
--6/27/08
Some of the crew are already showing signs of oak outbreak, particularly JT and Steakly. We’ve already come up with an idea for a crew shirt because of how the oak will probably be a memorable part of our dispatch: “Stoked for the Oak! I think I got it!”
Today we did a lot of hiking to do more structure assessments and prep. We also cut some low-hanging limbs along a road. There wasn’t much to do today. We actually ventured above the marine layer today. What a difference! The marine layer is this area right above the shoreline where it’s foggy, cool and humid. But it only stretches so high up the mountain ridges. So today we ventured above the marine layer to clear out around a weather station to keep the brush from interfering with the readings and to give it a line just in case the fire got too close. It was super hot above the marine layer. The sun wasn’t blocked by the fog, humidity was really low, below 20% down to the single digits. It was also really dry. We finally understood why we weren’t seeing any action, but yet kept hearing reports about the fire spreading so much – the majority of the activity is taking place above and beyond the marine layer.
This dispatch has been a lot of firsts for me: first time to California, first time seeing the Pacific Ocean. I now get to add another to the list: first rattlesnake encounter ever. We were digging line and clearing out around a house when one of the guys on our crew lifted up a piece of board to move it and the wooden pallet that was underneath. Chilling out under the board was a rattlesnake. It was crazy, we all took a few steps back. Then some guy from one of the crews that was prepping the actual house grabbed a combi and looked like he was going to kill it. We all protested; One, because killing the snake would be unnecessary and two, because what if he missed?! So the guy managed to scoop the snake up and shoo it off into the woods. It all rattled our nerves a little bit (no pun intended).
We would have moved on to another assignment, I think, but we ended up hanging around for a while because the other crew that was up at the house managed to back their rig over the hill and get it stuck on the edge. So part of our crew tried to help them get all four wheels back on the ground, but to no avail.
--6/28/08
Before lunch this morning, we finished clearing out around the weather station. It seemed even hotter today, and it probably was. I think I must have had about three quarts of water plus a Gatorade. And I don’t ordinarily drink Gatorade, so I know I was sweating.
We also cleared out around another house today. It had an amazing view, the back porch hangs out over the mountain on which it's perched and you can see straight down to the ocean. It was beautiful … and completely indefensible, if a fire should reach it – the whole house was constructed of wood that had long been dried out and weathered. It’s a shame. I hope it’ll survive.
In other news, I still don’t seem to have any poison oak. On the saw squad, it’s just me and Bedsheets who remain unaffected.
We also ran into some typical fire dispatch confusion today. JT explained to us that the reason it was taking so long for us to get sent to another assignment is because the structures that they want us to prep could either be considered cleared or still need clearing, it all depends on whom you ask. He also tried to scout an indirect line for us to dig but the marine layer came in and ruined visibility.
--6/29/08
Our plans changed … again. We’re in another division with another supervisor. Last night, single-digit RHs (relative humidity) were being recorded. The dozer lines that have been plowed didn’t hold, so there’s talk of pulling back and trying something else.
We ended up waiting around until about 10 am and then headed up to a house to dig a line near it. That sucked. The hills were difficult for me to navigate. It became very apparent to me how weak of a hiker I am. It was incredibly frustrating. I was the second Pulaski and, at one point, Jordan practically had to push me up the next step. I did not enjoy digging line, I definitely prefer swamping.
But the house was really cool. It belongs to a woman who is about 100 years old. Her late husband was the mayor of Carmel twice. The housekeepers opened it up to us, they said we could use the pool and everything. Alas, we didn’t get to. But we got to enjoy the fresh figs and white plums that grew on the property, as well as some cool shade on the lawn next to the pool.
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Dispatch, Big Sur, Los Padres National Park, California – Part I
-- 6/24/08 10:48 am
After leaving the work center at 5:15 am (MT) and meeting up with the rest of the offices who would make up our crew, we drove all day and arrived at a hotel in Winnemucca, NV (just outside of Reno) around 10:00 pm (PT).
We left the hotel at 7:00 am this morning and stopped for breakfast before getting on the road. After breakfast, Steakly pulled me aside and asked me how I would feel about being on the saw squad when we finally made it to California. I was a little speechless at first. I replied that Harrison or Jordan might be a better choice because they probably have more saw experience than I do. Steakly brought up a tree that I had cut down with Owens last round and he mentioned how impressed he was with my cut and how I approached it. I told him that Owens had walked me through it, but Steakly said, “Yeah, but you were the one who made the cuts.” I said that I would definitely be willing to try, my only concerns were how my lack of experience would factor into the equation, either by slowing down the crew or being a liability. But I also said that, though I don’t need or expect anyone to hold my hand through the experience, as long as someone would be willing to answer my questions and walk me through some things, I’d definitely do my absolute best. So he told me I could think about it during the drive and to just let him know. As soon as I got back in the truck, I texted Nikki about it. She was stoked for me and told me to go for it. I also told Jo, Harrison and Jordan. We talked about it for a little while, they all said I should go for it. I was still feeling a little unsure. I asked Nick Fetsch (Ned Forest Service guy on dispatch with us) what he thought about it, and he said, “It’s a lot of work. It helps with fire experience. The sawyers will work you really hard. It’s up to you, though.”
At the next rest stop I talked to Patrick about it, since the plan was for me to be his swamper on the squad. He said that if I thought I could keep up, he’d be cool with it. I kept thinking about it and I was still conflicted. I knew that I would be the weakest one and with the least amount of experience; my best may not be enough for the task at hand. I also know that I can get tired easily. I guess I was also hoping for a little more encouragement from Fetsch and Patrick as sawyers and having worked with them in Ned. I guess the most I can do is try. I’m back facing the dilemma I always face: I’m worried that I’ll disappoint everyone. And, once again, I feel like I have to prove something as a girl and be stronger than everyone else. Well, I’ll try my best.
Switching gears for a second – we just passed through Reno and it’s really smokey. As we were driving into Winnemucca last night, I just thought it was getting foggy in the evening. But it’s smoke from the fires in Northern California. It’s crazy, the visibility is so low.
-- 1:59 pm
Notes on travel: California reminds me of the one time my family drove down the shore during a really bad east coast drought and everything was dry and dead, there was no green at all. The grass looks like straw. But it’s startlingly juxtaposed next to very irrigated grape valleys and other fields of crops. It’s still really smoky too. You cannot see the sky, it looks so hazy and overcast. It’s really unusual.
--5:13 pm
I just saw the Pacific Ocean for the first time in my life! We’re near Monterey Bay.
--6:00 pm
So we’ve begun settling into camp and we just had our first briefing. We’re staying at a fire camp at Andrew Molera State Park, near Big Sur. Here’s the info I have: The fire is 8500 acres, up from the 2000 we had originally heard when we got dispatched. Five structures have been lost and Type 1 crews are maxed out across the country, almost all of them were here, are here or will be here soon.
Our crew boss is JT Wensman, with Steakly doing crew boss training. The saw squad’s boss is Paul Ostroy. There are three B sawyers – Fetsch, Patrick and Tai Rogers – each paired up with a swamper – Malcolm Wiley, me and Nick Biedscheid (everyone calls him Bedsheets), respectively. The other two squads are led by squad bosses Darin Toy and Clay Harvey. Jo, Harrison, Jordan, and everyone else are divided up among those two squads.
--9:35 pm
Food trucks. That’s how they feed us. Drum corps! Haha. What else? I’ve got nothing else right now. First night. Sleeping with Joanna.
I’ll be swamping for Patrick. I’ve made up my mind for that: I’m doing it. I’m doing it and I’m not going to complain. Everyone has been telling me that it’s hard. So what? I wanted a challenge, here it is. I’ll do it, I’ll push myself and I’ll try as hard as I possibly can. It’s time to find new limits. I can do this. It’s hard, but that won’t stop me. Yes, I do have something to prove – I can do it. If I puke, I puke. I’m. Doing. It.
--10:something pm
Briefing before bed: there’s been requests for lots of resources, choppers, dozers, dozer bosses, crews, etc. The fire is definitely expected to grow.
--6/25/08
One day down, 13 to go. I survived my first day on the saw squad and I actually wasn’t too bad at times. And I can only get better (I hope). My entries for the next two weeks may take on a different format because there’s not much time to write.
So, first day on saw squad swamping for Patrick. I’ve got some new accessories as a swamper. In addition to my line bag, which weighs 37 lbs, I’ve got to carry three Sigg bottles (two filled with gas, one with oil, for refilling the saw at a moment’s notice), I have Patrick’s radio harness (so I can monitor radio traffic for him), I wear a pair of chaps religiously over my Nomex, and I carry two tools (a Pulaski and a pounder). I weigh 140. Add to that my line gear and my new stuff and I’m maxing around 200 lbs on a 5’3” frame.
We got a slow start this morning. We had some different assignments. For a little while, we cut, swamped and dug a line near a bridge and some huge redwoods around tiny place called Big Sur Inn. We also put in some checked line and burned around a mountain house. The smoke was awful, I got caught in it a few times. We got treated to an air show, which was cool. We could see several choppers filling their buckets along the coast and dumping them, as well as a few retardant planes flying overhead.
After leaving the work center at 5:15 am (MT) and meeting up with the rest of the offices who would make up our crew, we drove all day and arrived at a hotel in Winnemucca, NV (just outside of Reno) around 10:00 pm (PT).
We left the hotel at 7:00 am this morning and stopped for breakfast before getting on the road. After breakfast, Steakly pulled me aside and asked me how I would feel about being on the saw squad when we finally made it to California. I was a little speechless at first. I replied that Harrison or Jordan might be a better choice because they probably have more saw experience than I do. Steakly brought up a tree that I had cut down with Owens last round and he mentioned how impressed he was with my cut and how I approached it. I told him that Owens had walked me through it, but Steakly said, “Yeah, but you were the one who made the cuts.” I said that I would definitely be willing to try, my only concerns were how my lack of experience would factor into the equation, either by slowing down the crew or being a liability. But I also said that, though I don’t need or expect anyone to hold my hand through the experience, as long as someone would be willing to answer my questions and walk me through some things, I’d definitely do my absolute best. So he told me I could think about it during the drive and to just let him know. As soon as I got back in the truck, I texted Nikki about it. She was stoked for me and told me to go for it. I also told Jo, Harrison and Jordan. We talked about it for a little while, they all said I should go for it. I was still feeling a little unsure. I asked Nick Fetsch (Ned Forest Service guy on dispatch with us) what he thought about it, and he said, “It’s a lot of work. It helps with fire experience. The sawyers will work you really hard. It’s up to you, though.”
At the next rest stop I talked to Patrick about it, since the plan was for me to be his swamper on the squad. He said that if I thought I could keep up, he’d be cool with it. I kept thinking about it and I was still conflicted. I knew that I would be the weakest one and with the least amount of experience; my best may not be enough for the task at hand. I also know that I can get tired easily. I guess I was also hoping for a little more encouragement from Fetsch and Patrick as sawyers and having worked with them in Ned. I guess the most I can do is try. I’m back facing the dilemma I always face: I’m worried that I’ll disappoint everyone. And, once again, I feel like I have to prove something as a girl and be stronger than everyone else. Well, I’ll try my best.
Switching gears for a second – we just passed through Reno and it’s really smokey. As we were driving into Winnemucca last night, I just thought it was getting foggy in the evening. But it’s smoke from the fires in Northern California. It’s crazy, the visibility is so low.
-- 1:59 pm
Notes on travel: California reminds me of the one time my family drove down the shore during a really bad east coast drought and everything was dry and dead, there was no green at all. The grass looks like straw. But it’s startlingly juxtaposed next to very irrigated grape valleys and other fields of crops. It’s still really smoky too. You cannot see the sky, it looks so hazy and overcast. It’s really unusual.
--5:13 pm
I just saw the Pacific Ocean for the first time in my life! We’re near Monterey Bay.
--6:00 pm
So we’ve begun settling into camp and we just had our first briefing. We’re staying at a fire camp at Andrew Molera State Park, near Big Sur. Here’s the info I have: The fire is 8500 acres, up from the 2000 we had originally heard when we got dispatched. Five structures have been lost and Type 1 crews are maxed out across the country, almost all of them were here, are here or will be here soon.
Our crew boss is JT Wensman, with Steakly doing crew boss training. The saw squad’s boss is Paul Ostroy. There are three B sawyers – Fetsch, Patrick and Tai Rogers – each paired up with a swamper – Malcolm Wiley, me and Nick Biedscheid (everyone calls him Bedsheets), respectively. The other two squads are led by squad bosses Darin Toy and Clay Harvey. Jo, Harrison, Jordan, and everyone else are divided up among those two squads.
--9:35 pm
Food trucks. That’s how they feed us. Drum corps! Haha. What else? I’ve got nothing else right now. First night. Sleeping with Joanna.
I’ll be swamping for Patrick. I’ve made up my mind for that: I’m doing it. I’m doing it and I’m not going to complain. Everyone has been telling me that it’s hard. So what? I wanted a challenge, here it is. I’ll do it, I’ll push myself and I’ll try as hard as I possibly can. It’s time to find new limits. I can do this. It’s hard, but that won’t stop me. Yes, I do have something to prove – I can do it. If I puke, I puke. I’m. Doing. It.
--10:something pm
Briefing before bed: there’s been requests for lots of resources, choppers, dozers, dozer bosses, crews, etc. The fire is definitely expected to grow.
--6/25/08
One day down, 13 to go. I survived my first day on the saw squad and I actually wasn’t too bad at times. And I can only get better (I hope). My entries for the next two weeks may take on a different format because there’s not much time to write.
So, first day on saw squad swamping for Patrick. I’ve got some new accessories as a swamper. In addition to my line bag, which weighs 37 lbs, I’ve got to carry three Sigg bottles (two filled with gas, one with oil, for refilling the saw at a moment’s notice), I have Patrick’s radio harness (so I can monitor radio traffic for him), I wear a pair of chaps religiously over my Nomex, and I carry two tools (a Pulaski and a pounder). I weigh 140. Add to that my line gear and my new stuff and I’m maxing around 200 lbs on a 5’3” frame.
We got a slow start this morning. We had some different assignments. For a little while, we cut, swamped and dug a line near a bridge and some huge redwoods around tiny place called Big Sur Inn. We also put in some checked line and burned around a mountain house. The smoke was awful, I got caught in it a few times. We got treated to an air show, which was cool. We could see several choppers filling their buckets along the coast and dumping them, as well as a few retardant planes flying overhead.
Sunday, July 13, 2008
I'm alive!
Okay, get comfy – this is gonna take a while. I have a lot of catching up to do. I have been absent for the past two weeks because I was on dispatch in California, working on the Big Sur fire in Los Padres National Park. While I was on dispatch, I took notes every day on the work we were doing. So my plan is to recount everything over the next few entries by backdating. A lot happened while I was gone so my writing may get a little scattered at times or it’ll mimic a Joseph Conrad novel and run on for lines and lines before you see a period. But I will do my best to recall and explain everything as comprehensively as possible.
First, let’s begin with how the dispatch came about. Second round had concluded and my team made its way back to campus in Denver on June 21, after doing a few hours of ISP in the morning at Ned’s community garden (which potentially completed my 80 required ISP hours, but I have to work that out with Ervin). After settling in to the dorms, everyone went out on the town in Englewood to catch up with other teams and spend time with everyone that we hadn’t seen since last transition week or CTI. The next morning, Nikki and I went down into Denver to just hang out and spend some time in the city. There was a Gay Pride festival that day near City Hall, so we mixed in with that party for a while. That was a lot of fun, things were crazy. It was a really hot, but beautiful day, a great day to be in the city. Then Nikki and split off – I wanted to take care of some things on the internet and she had to go buy some birthday gifts for friends that she would see when she went home on break. So I was wandering downtown, got online at a Starbucks, etc.
At one point, I decided to call Nikki to see how she was doing and if she wanted to head back to campus or do something else. I picked up my phone to call her but it was off (my phone has recently acquired the habit of shutting itself off at random moments, regardless of whether or not I’m using it at the time). When I turned it back on, it practically blew up. I had five text messages, two voicemails, three missed calls between Joanna (from Earth 4), Ervin and Nikki. Ervin’s voicemail and Nikki’s text only said, “Call me!” pretty much. I was really concerned, so I immediately called Ervin. He asked where I was and I told him that I was downtown. He told me that I needed to get back to campus because I was getting dispatched to a fire in the North Zone (the northern part of the Arapaho/Roosevelt National Forest). I also called Nikki and Joanna and they had called me to relay the same message. So I hopped on the next Light Rail back to campus and Ervin, who turned out to be a stop ahead of me on the same line, waited for me in Englewood and drove me back to campus. On the ride back, he filled me with what little he knew – Joanna, Harrison and I would be going. We were to head up back up to the work center in Ned very early the next morning in order to be ready to leave for the fire. On our way up the road that leads to campus, he got a phone call. I heard him say, “Well, that changes everything.” When he hung up, he turned to me and said, “You’re going to California.” Whoa! I screamed as soon as he said that. When I first heard I was getting dispatched, I was super nervous but upon hearing that I was going to California, I was so ecstatic.
So I got back to campus and immediately met Joanna at the cafeteria for dinner. Plans changed again while we were eating dinner. We found out that Jordan (Earth 4) would be dispatched with us. We also found out that we were actually leaving after dinner and spending the night up in Ned to make leaving the next morning a little easier. So Jo and I finished dinner and got our stuff together in our rooms. I was really glad I had been too lazy to unpack earlier that day because I just zipped my suitcases back up and loaded them right back into the truck.
Once we got back to the bunkhouse, we double- and triple-checked our line gear and red bags. I called Laura to let her know we got there. I called Chad to do the same and I called Devin Steakly as well, who was going to be one of the Ned Forest Service guys getting dispatched with us. Patrick from the work center also swung by to just fill us in on when we’d be leaving and some things to expect the next day. He told us we’d be driving to California to work on the Basin Complex fire in Big Sur, Los Padres National Park.
I went to bed around 11:00 pm and woke up around 4:00 am to get everyone else up and have enough time to eat, load up and get up to the work center. We left the Ned work center around 5:15 and met up with the other crews at the Fort Collins work center. Our crew was considered an Interagency Handcrew because we were made up of people from different offices in the area. There was our work center, the South Zone for Arapaho/Roosevelt. We also had people from the North Zone, people from Parks and Services, and people from Boulder County Sheriff’s Department.
The amusing thing about all of this was that on Saturday night while we were all out in Englewood, I remember turning to someone at one point and saying, “Man, I just wish a fire would pop so I could get dispatched and just blow off transition week.” Lo and behold … =)
Okay, I hate to leave you in a state of suspense, but this will have to be continued later. I’ll post entries from the actual dispatch as soon as I can. I also hope to have more pictures up soon.
First, let’s begin with how the dispatch came about. Second round had concluded and my team made its way back to campus in Denver on June 21, after doing a few hours of ISP in the morning at Ned’s community garden (which potentially completed my 80 required ISP hours, but I have to work that out with Ervin). After settling in to the dorms, everyone went out on the town in Englewood to catch up with other teams and spend time with everyone that we hadn’t seen since last transition week or CTI. The next morning, Nikki and I went down into Denver to just hang out and spend some time in the city. There was a Gay Pride festival that day near City Hall, so we mixed in with that party for a while. That was a lot of fun, things were crazy. It was a really hot, but beautiful day, a great day to be in the city. Then Nikki and split off – I wanted to take care of some things on the internet and she had to go buy some birthday gifts for friends that she would see when she went home on break. So I was wandering downtown, got online at a Starbucks, etc.
At one point, I decided to call Nikki to see how she was doing and if she wanted to head back to campus or do something else. I picked up my phone to call her but it was off (my phone has recently acquired the habit of shutting itself off at random moments, regardless of whether or not I’m using it at the time). When I turned it back on, it practically blew up. I had five text messages, two voicemails, three missed calls between Joanna (from Earth 4), Ervin and Nikki. Ervin’s voicemail and Nikki’s text only said, “Call me!” pretty much. I was really concerned, so I immediately called Ervin. He asked where I was and I told him that I was downtown. He told me that I needed to get back to campus because I was getting dispatched to a fire in the North Zone (the northern part of the Arapaho/Roosevelt National Forest). I also called Nikki and Joanna and they had called me to relay the same message. So I hopped on the next Light Rail back to campus and Ervin, who turned out to be a stop ahead of me on the same line, waited for me in Englewood and drove me back to campus. On the ride back, he filled me with what little he knew – Joanna, Harrison and I would be going. We were to head up back up to the work center in Ned very early the next morning in order to be ready to leave for the fire. On our way up the road that leads to campus, he got a phone call. I heard him say, “Well, that changes everything.” When he hung up, he turned to me and said, “You’re going to California.” Whoa! I screamed as soon as he said that. When I first heard I was getting dispatched, I was super nervous but upon hearing that I was going to California, I was so ecstatic.
So I got back to campus and immediately met Joanna at the cafeteria for dinner. Plans changed again while we were eating dinner. We found out that Jordan (Earth 4) would be dispatched with us. We also found out that we were actually leaving after dinner and spending the night up in Ned to make leaving the next morning a little easier. So Jo and I finished dinner and got our stuff together in our rooms. I was really glad I had been too lazy to unpack earlier that day because I just zipped my suitcases back up and loaded them right back into the truck.
Once we got back to the bunkhouse, we double- and triple-checked our line gear and red bags. I called Laura to let her know we got there. I called Chad to do the same and I called Devin Steakly as well, who was going to be one of the Ned Forest Service guys getting dispatched with us. Patrick from the work center also swung by to just fill us in on when we’d be leaving and some things to expect the next day. He told us we’d be driving to California to work on the Basin Complex fire in Big Sur, Los Padres National Park.
I went to bed around 11:00 pm and woke up around 4:00 am to get everyone else up and have enough time to eat, load up and get up to the work center. We left the Ned work center around 5:15 and met up with the other crews at the Fort Collins work center. Our crew was considered an Interagency Handcrew because we were made up of people from different offices in the area. There was our work center, the South Zone for Arapaho/Roosevelt. We also had people from the North Zone, people from Parks and Services, and people from Boulder County Sheriff’s Department.
The amusing thing about all of this was that on Saturday night while we were all out in Englewood, I remember turning to someone at one point and saying, “Man, I just wish a fire would pop so I could get dispatched and just blow off transition week.” Lo and behold … =)
Okay, I hate to leave you in a state of suspense, but this will have to be continued later. I’ll post entries from the actual dispatch as soon as I can. I also hope to have more pictures up soon.
Saturday, June 14, 2008
Oof, another long day ...
A bunch of us participated in an ISP that Adrienne scheduled for today. We worked with a wildlife restoration group, reclaiming an big old gravel mine and turning it into a sustainable wetland. There were a lot of muddy, flooded areas so we broke up into groups with a bunch of volunteers that showed up and we planted marsh grasses and other wetland plants in those areas.
It was a great time, but it was really tiring. It’s starting to hit me more now. We left the bunkhouse around 7 and we headed back around 4:30. The most challenging part was wearing big galoshes and constantly getting stuck in the mud. It was really difficult to move, which made the whole process move very slowly.
It was another really good day. I got dirty, fell in the mud at one point. But it was all good fun.
Oh! Hehe. So, on the drive home from ISP, we were approaching the road that takes us up the mountain to Ned and you won’t believe what we saw – a mob of naked or scantily clad people on bicycles! John was driving and he almost stopped in the middle of the intersection we were driving through. I mentioned it to a Forest Service person later when we ran into some of them in town and they were like, "Oh! It was Naked Bike Ride Day! I totally forgot!" I guess it’s a normal thing. One of the reasons I really like Boulder – it seems anything goes here. (Well, anything of the liberal persuasion, but I’m not arguing with that, call me biased.)
Yesterday, another three of our team went down to the airport to mix retardant like I did on Thursday. Apparently things were crazier than when I was there, though – they were mixing just to keep up with all the planes that would fly in to fill up.
The rest of us spent the day at the work center. We did a six-mile run for PT. The Forest Service people call the route Gates of Hell, but I’m not sure why – I really enjoyed it. It was the most pleasant run and I felt really good during the whole thing. After PT was over, we had a class on different ways to do things like burn fuel or do prescribed fires. We had a mini field demonstration after the class portion in which we went to the bunkhouse parking lot to play with drip torches and fusees. They also set off a fire grenade. We’ll be finishing it up next week.
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Coolest. Day. EVER!!!
But first, let me start with Wednesday. Monday and Tuesday consisted of swamping and chipping, as per usual. On Wednesday, we finally did something different with Open Space. The two teams split up and Earth 5 went off to do trail work. We helped reroute a trail by cutting the edges and starting to even out the trail surface. It was pretty challenging, but it was definitely nice to do something other than swamp. Swamping for Open Space is a little different than swamping for the Forest Service, the main difference being that I don’t mind doing it with the Forest Service. Heh.
After work, we had dinner and then a bunch of us headed down into Ned to one of the local pubs because there are some Forest Service people celebrating their birthdays this week. So we went to wish them Happy Birthdays and to hang out. It was a good time. While we were there, Ervin showed up and told me that I would have to get up early the next morning because I wasn’t reporting to work. Instead, M Squared, Harrison and I would be going to a local airport in Bloomfield (a town just outside of Boulder) where we would be helping out with tanker airplanes. Well, say no more!
So the next morning, we left around 8 am and headed down to Bloomfield. We managed to find the main airport, but it took another half an hour to find the office we were looking for. Once we finally got there, we immediately got to work. We spent most of the day tearing open 50 lb buckets of powdered retardant – made up of diammonium sulfate and ammonium phosphates (yes, I had occasion to look) – and dumping them into a giant mixer that added water to the whole thing. Once the mixing tank was full, we pumped the mixture into 11,000-gallon holding tanks (there were two that we could hook up to at the time). I texted Nikki at one point during the day to see how the rest of the team was doing. Apparently we missed a PT hike. That’s the third week in a row that I haven’t gone on one; the first time was because I was on break, the second time we skipped it because of the weather. I am so screwed for next week.
Now, if Mike Rowe wants a Dirty Job, I definitely have one for him. First of all, that retardant tastes and smells terrible. Even with a mask on, it gets up into your nose and eyes because it creates dust clouds every time you dump a bucket into the mixer. It was also a bit windy that day. I was pink by the end of the day. My arms were so red that they looked like I had second degree sunburn. My face felt like I had three layers of dollar-store make up on and my hair was a strange tinge of pink. My Nomex are filthy.
That being said, it was all totally worth it when, at one point, we heard this loud rumbling and turned around just in time to see a fighter jet buzz the airport (sorry Dad, I don’t know what kind it was and it was so obviously fast that I didn’t get a chance to get a picture). We also got to help load tanker planes with retardant every time they flew in. We loaded one plane five times! We filled another plane once when it finally arrived from Albuquerque. As we were leaving, both planes came back to fill up again. So that’s eight fills in one day. They were going to fires in Pueblo, CO; some of the crew we were working with said that apparently the fires just blew up overnight. Dispatch might be a possibility, but we’ll see.
But the absolute best was that at the end of the day, we were going to leave around 8 pm but we waited for another tanker to land so they would take us up inside the plane! It was so awesome. The plane’s mechanic said it was from 1954-55, and most of the plane was still original, right down to the seatbelts. It was so awesome, we got to sit in the cockpit and everything.
It really was the coolest day ever, especially for me because airplanes are one of my favorite things in the world. I love watching them even more than flying in them. I hope to have pictures up shortly.
After work, we had dinner and then a bunch of us headed down into Ned to one of the local pubs because there are some Forest Service people celebrating their birthdays this week. So we went to wish them Happy Birthdays and to hang out. It was a good time. While we were there, Ervin showed up and told me that I would have to get up early the next morning because I wasn’t reporting to work. Instead, M Squared, Harrison and I would be going to a local airport in Bloomfield (a town just outside of Boulder) where we would be helping out with tanker airplanes. Well, say no more!
So the next morning, we left around 8 am and headed down to Bloomfield. We managed to find the main airport, but it took another half an hour to find the office we were looking for. Once we finally got there, we immediately got to work. We spent most of the day tearing open 50 lb buckets of powdered retardant – made up of diammonium sulfate and ammonium phosphates (yes, I had occasion to look) – and dumping them into a giant mixer that added water to the whole thing. Once the mixing tank was full, we pumped the mixture into 11,000-gallon holding tanks (there were two that we could hook up to at the time). I texted Nikki at one point during the day to see how the rest of the team was doing. Apparently we missed a PT hike. That’s the third week in a row that I haven’t gone on one; the first time was because I was on break, the second time we skipped it because of the weather. I am so screwed for next week.
Now, if Mike Rowe wants a Dirty Job, I definitely have one for him. First of all, that retardant tastes and smells terrible. Even with a mask on, it gets up into your nose and eyes because it creates dust clouds every time you dump a bucket into the mixer. It was also a bit windy that day. I was pink by the end of the day. My arms were so red that they looked like I had second degree sunburn. My face felt like I had three layers of dollar-store make up on and my hair was a strange tinge of pink. My Nomex are filthy.
That being said, it was all totally worth it when, at one point, we heard this loud rumbling and turned around just in time to see a fighter jet buzz the airport (sorry Dad, I don’t know what kind it was and it was so obviously fast that I didn’t get a chance to get a picture). We also got to help load tanker planes with retardant every time they flew in. We loaded one plane five times! We filled another plane once when it finally arrived from Albuquerque. As we were leaving, both planes came back to fill up again. So that’s eight fills in one day. They were going to fires in Pueblo, CO; some of the crew we were working with said that apparently the fires just blew up overnight. Dispatch might be a possibility, but we’ll see.
But the absolute best was that at the end of the day, we were going to leave around 8 pm but we waited for another tanker to land so they would take us up inside the plane! It was so awesome. The plane’s mechanic said it was from 1954-55, and most of the plane was still original, right down to the seatbelts. It was so awesome, we got to sit in the cockpit and everything.
It really was the coolest day ever, especially for me because airplanes are one of my favorite things in the world. I love watching them even more than flying in them. I hope to have pictures up shortly.
Monday, June 09, 2008
I'm still here!!
Ooookay, so it's been a while since my last post. For this I apologize. Things have been busy, though not very interesting. I'll elaborate ...
I got home from break on Saturday. On Sunday, I did my usual grocery shopping. We're now splitting the budget between Sam's Club and a super Wal-Mart that we found. Things have been under budget for the last two weeks, so that's good.
Monday through Thursday of last week pretty much all we did was swamp, even on our day with Open Spaces. I dropped Tree #2 at some point (I forget which day). It was big, I didn't realize how large it was until it was down and we took a look at the stump. It wasn't huge, but it was a little more than a foot in diameter. On Friday, we actually got a change in our routine. Earth 4 went elsewhere, while Earth 5 ended up going to a prescribed burn to mop up. They had burned piles the day before and we were there to turn the ashes over and make sure everything was cold and out. It was different, thankfully. It was also a good experience, even though I'm sure we'll mop up so much that we'll get sick of it. We had an engine with us that had water, so that made things a bit easier. The last spot we mopped was big, with about five of us on it. While we were checking for hot spots, I found one next to a burned stump. I dug around it, got it a little wet, mixed it up and then felt around it again. I continued to do this and the spot continued to get bigger. I ended up pulling out about three or four big rocks buried in the ash. We dug until the spot essentially became a ditch and even then it still didn't seem to want to cool down. And the deeper I went, the hotter it felt. It was a bit baffling. We had to wrap up though, so we just left the ditch open to cool off on its own.
This past weekend was fun. We've been able to hang out with some of the Forest Service people a little. Friday night, we all hung out together down in Nederland. On Saturday, I took Nikki to Urgent Care in Boulder because she'd been coughing all week. About two hours later, we finally found out that she had bronchitis. She got a prescription and got some medicine for it. That night, a few of us went back down to Nederland. She deteriorated from there and spent most of Sunday in bed, the poor thing.
On Sunday, we were supposed to have an ISP scheduled for the whole day. We got down the mountain to the edge of Boulder when everyone got a cell signal back and we all got voicemails from Joanna, a girl on Earth 4. It turns out that the ISP was cancelled. So we turned around and went back up the mountain. I went for a run and then got the grocery shopping out of the way. When we got back, some of the Forest Service guys were trying to set up an Ultimate game. Everyone on my team who wanted to play ended up changing their minds, so that left only four of us. We decided to just throw the Frisbee around in the driveway instead. After that, we all hunkered down infront of the tv and watched Ax Men on the Discovery Channel. That was a lot of fun, just because we all have experience with chainsaws now. The comments from the Forest Service guys were particularly amusing because they've been doing it for so long.
Today was more of the same -- falling trees, limbing, bucking and swamping (but no chipping for once, yay!). I dropped trees #3 and #4 today, so I'm glad to have a little more experience under my belt. I hope to have more just because the more I have to do it, the more comfortable I'll feel.
Well, the library is closing in about fifteen minutes so I'd better go. I hope it won't be quite so long before my next post!
I got home from break on Saturday. On Sunday, I did my usual grocery shopping. We're now splitting the budget between Sam's Club and a super Wal-Mart that we found. Things have been under budget for the last two weeks, so that's good.
Monday through Thursday of last week pretty much all we did was swamp, even on our day with Open Spaces. I dropped Tree #2 at some point (I forget which day). It was big, I didn't realize how large it was until it was down and we took a look at the stump. It wasn't huge, but it was a little more than a foot in diameter. On Friday, we actually got a change in our routine. Earth 4 went elsewhere, while Earth 5 ended up going to a prescribed burn to mop up. They had burned piles the day before and we were there to turn the ashes over and make sure everything was cold and out. It was different, thankfully. It was also a good experience, even though I'm sure we'll mop up so much that we'll get sick of it. We had an engine with us that had water, so that made things a bit easier. The last spot we mopped was big, with about five of us on it. While we were checking for hot spots, I found one next to a burned stump. I dug around it, got it a little wet, mixed it up and then felt around it again. I continued to do this and the spot continued to get bigger. I ended up pulling out about three or four big rocks buried in the ash. We dug until the spot essentially became a ditch and even then it still didn't seem to want to cool down. And the deeper I went, the hotter it felt. It was a bit baffling. We had to wrap up though, so we just left the ditch open to cool off on its own.
This past weekend was fun. We've been able to hang out with some of the Forest Service people a little. Friday night, we all hung out together down in Nederland. On Saturday, I took Nikki to Urgent Care in Boulder because she'd been coughing all week. About two hours later, we finally found out that she had bronchitis. She got a prescription and got some medicine for it. That night, a few of us went back down to Nederland. She deteriorated from there and spent most of Sunday in bed, the poor thing.
On Sunday, we were supposed to have an ISP scheduled for the whole day. We got down the mountain to the edge of Boulder when everyone got a cell signal back and we all got voicemails from Joanna, a girl on Earth 4. It turns out that the ISP was cancelled. So we turned around and went back up the mountain. I went for a run and then got the grocery shopping out of the way. When we got back, some of the Forest Service guys were trying to set up an Ultimate game. Everyone on my team who wanted to play ended up changing their minds, so that left only four of us. We decided to just throw the Frisbee around in the driveway instead. After that, we all hunkered down infront of the tv and watched Ax Men on the Discovery Channel. That was a lot of fun, just because we all have experience with chainsaws now. The comments from the Forest Service guys were particularly amusing because they've been doing it for so long.
Today was more of the same -- falling trees, limbing, bucking and swamping (but no chipping for once, yay!). I dropped trees #3 and #4 today, so I'm glad to have a little more experience under my belt. I hope to have more just because the more I have to do it, the more comfortable I'll feel.
Well, the library is closing in about fifteen minutes so I'd better go. I hope it won't be quite so long before my next post!
Saturday, May 31, 2008
Quoting "Leaving on a jet plane" would just be cheesy ...
Well, I'm sitting at the airport, waiting to get on the plane. My flight ended up being delayed about two hours. It doesn't really bother me, though. I think my break made me a little homesick. I didn't realize how much I miss being here. I like just being around my parents. Sure, my area may be incredibly suburban and overdeveloped and the traffic is awful most of the time. But I love where I live. I've been here my whole life and I know the area like the back of my hand. It's the best. So ... yeah. The apron strings seem to work in both ways a bit, I've discovered. I miss everything already. I didn't even get to hang out with anyone besides Alan and my parents. My brother was working most of the time. But I just like existing there. Never has being in one's element felt more true.
That's really all I have to say. I think it might be time to get on the plane.
That's really all I have to say. I think it might be time to get on the plane.
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