I just can't seem to escape dealing with crazy situations at the ranger station. Peter says I'm a magnet for them.
Two Saturdays ago I had just gotten home from a long day at the "office" when there was knock at my door. I figured it was one of the other seasonal employees popping by to say hi or give us a message, but instead there was a young man who I did not recognize. He introduced himself and told me he had been fishing at Butterfly Lake when he found an older man in the parking area who seemed to be suffering from dementia. The older man, who I hadn't noticed until this point, walked around from behind my Jeep and said, "I don't know where I am or how I got here." His voice kind of trembled as he said this. He was obviously upset, and with good reason. I would be, too. So I asked him if he knew who he was and where he lived. He remembered the former but not the latter. After explaining the situation to Peter (who joined me later at the ranger station due to the fact that he was taking a shower when the men showed up at my house), I took them both down to the ranger station to see what we could figure out. I listened again to what the younger gentleman told me and got his name and contact information, then I started again to try and get some kind of information from the older man. He honestly could not remember a thing about how he had gotten there or why. Luckily he had his cell phone with him. You don't get service up in the forest, but he had contact information in there. So after speaking with the man who I will refer to as "Bob", we called his ex-wife. She informed me that his brother had picked him up and taken him fishing that day. So our next question was, where was the brother? The ex-wife gave us the make/model/color of the vehicle the brother was driving and I then called our local law enforcement officer (LEO). I've had to call him a few times already this summer and his exact reaction on the phone when I introduced myself was, "*sigh* What is it now?" I laughed because I knew he was mostly joking...mostly. I explained the situation and he told me he would be there in about 45 minutes. So Peter and I (the younger man had left at this point) spent the next hour babysitting this man who was obviously not all there mentally. He had some pretty crazy stories though. He could remember his past pretty well, it was just the present that was full of holes. He told us about how he used to work in TV and radio and used to be incredibly successful (until of course his brain turned into Swiss cheese). He was apparently big into the drug scene back in the 60s (which explains a lot). He did everything from acid and pot to peyote. He also used to hang out a lot in the Haight-Ashbury district in San Francisco back in its hippie hay-day. He told us lots of colorful stories about the women he had dated in his life, too.
Occasionally, throughout the evening he would stop mid-sentence and say, "Where am I? How did I get here? Am I in trouble? Am I in the mountains?!" We would have to explain again what the situation was, and that he wasn't in trouble and that we were trying to get him help. At one point he put his head in his hands and started to cry. It was really hard to watch and rather heartbreaking. I hope I never lose my mental faculties like that. There was a rather amusing point in the evening when he asked me and Peter if we were "going together". I told him we were married and he promptly shook Peter's hand and congratulated him on having such a pretty wife. That made my night. Although 20 minutes later he asked the same question and congratulated Peter again.
Finally our police officer arrived and started asking "Bob" all kinds of questions. He started checking a briefcase that "Bob" had brought with him looking for any prescription drugs that he might need to take. Instead he found a couple of ounces of marijuana. Peter and I had actually discovered it earlier, and would have informed the LEO about it if he hadn't found it. "Bob" was distraught over being caught with weed, but I highly doubt they would press any charges against a man who probably couldn't even remember buying the drug. Finally "Bob" was taken away back to his home in Salt Lake. It was 9:30 p.m. at this point and Peter and I were exhausted, but for the next few days we couldn't stop laughing about the whole thing.
In other news, I had an injured Great Horned Owl in the basement of the ranger station for a day. Some campers found it and brought it in. It had somehow broken its wing, so we had to look after it for a while until our wildlife officers could come pick it up. It was really cool to see such a beautiful creature up close. I felt bad for the poor thing, though. I'm sure it was in pain. Unfortunately its wing was so badly broken and it had lost a lot of blood, so when the wildlife officers showed up they had to euthanize it. It was depressing, but part of life. At least it's no longer in pain. My coworker was pretty shook up about it, though. She loves animals probably more than I do, and is actually planning on going into zoology or wildlife biology.
My family and Peter's family came up for the 4th of July and we had a really good time hiking and fishing. I didn't get to go because I had to work, but I got to join up with them later for a barbecue and volleyball. It was nice to spend some time with my family and I hope they all had a good time.
I'm sad that's it's July, though. It means my summer is half over. It's going by so fast! I love my job and where I live. I'll be really sad when we move back to Logan, but at least I have school to look forward to. I'm finally getting back after a 6 year hiatus. Woo hoo! It's going to be a lot of work, but I'm looking forward to it.
Well, that's all for now from my neck of the woods *snigger*, and remember kiddies...don't do drugs...or you'll end up like "Bob".
Monday, July 6, 2009
Saturday, June 20, 2009
Never a Dull Moment
Holy crap this month has been crazy! Brace yourselves for a long one, folks.
A lot has been going on. I turned 26 on the 8th of June. I am now closer to 30 than 20. It’s kind of depressing. I spent my birthday with my family which is always the best way to spend it, in my opinion. Peter and I drove down to Bountiful and went to Hogle Zoo with my parents, my brother Danny, my sister Michelle and her one-year old, Riley. I haven’t been to the zoo in years so I really enjoyed myself. Riley seemed to be enjoying the zoo a lot, too…at least up until she had a bad experience with an elephant. There’s a new exhibition for the elephants at the zoo, and out in front is a big elephant statue. It makes snoring sounds like it’s asleep until someone moves in front of its trunk. Then it starts emanating a noise that sounds like a trumpet, but in a rhythm to resemble sneezing, after which it sprays water out at the person who happens to be standing in front of it. Well, we didn’t know that it did that, and my father put poor Riley’s face right up in front of the trunk so she could touch it and hear the noise, and well…I’m sure you can guess what happened. I’m not sure who felt worse: Riley or her poor grandpa. My dad felt horrible because it made her cry. The whole situation was kind of funny, though.
After the zoo I met up with my in-laws who took me and Peter out to dinner. We went to The Old Spaghetti Factory in Trolley Square. It’s one of my favorites and I was having a craving for Mezythra. I always have a lot of fun with my husband’s family, especially his brothers. They’re a riot.
My mother turned the big 50 on the 10th, and unfortunately I had to miss it. I had to spend her birthday sitting in seasonal orientation meetings all day. That was not so much fun. Orientation is a lot of bureaucratic drivel with emphasis on safety and appropriate/inappropriate behaviors while working for the Forest Service, and everyone has to attend. Not only was it boring, but it was really cold. It has been raining just about every single day up here, and because of that it has been exceptionally colder than usual. Orientation was held at the fairgrounds but the little building we were in had no heat. Bernard, one of the permanent staff and a really nice guy who looks like Grizzly Adams, must have noticed me shivering because he gave me the liner to his hunting poncho to keep me warm. It actually helped quite a bit, because like I said, it was COLD. I did have several people giggling at me because I was the only person there bundled up in a camouflage poncho, but at least I was a lot more comfortable.
The one nice thing about orientation is that you get to mingle with lots of people who you would normally not interact with. Not from a personal choice, at least on my part, but because it’s a big forest and everyone has different jobs to do. All I have to say is that there are a lot of characters working for the F.S. That’s one reason I love my job. I get to meet some really interesting people.
Thursday night after the last day of orientation we had a little mini-potluck at my house. We had a few of the seasonal guys over who live in the bunk houses and we ate all kinds of tasty food including road kill.
Yeah…I’m not kidding.
One of the guys on the rec (recreation) crew brought some stew that he had made, and it was absolutely delicious. I was happily through half of my bowl when he announced that the meat in the stew was venison from a fawn they had accidentally hit with one of their trucks. I of course had just put a big spoonful of stew in my mouth when he said this and it took some effort to swallow it down without gagging. I finished my bowl of stew so as not to offend him, but I didn’t go back for seconds. He got a big kick out of feeding us road kill, I think. Like I said…we have a lot of characters on the forest…and that stew really was the tastiest stew I have ever had…even if it was a little redneck.
In other news, Peter now has his red card (and his $400 smoke jumper boots finally arrived too, happy birthday, Peter) so he can help fight forest fires if we ever have one on our district. The way the weather is going, though, it seems unlikely. We have a lot of dead pine trees due to the mountain pine beetle epidemic, but everything has been so wet that the threat is low. The only thing I can see happening is if later in the summer it gets really hot and all the lush green plants, which are growing now because of all the rain, dry up. That could be a problem.
Speaking of the ranger station…I’ve had quite a bit of excitement recently. First of all we had two bear sightings that I had to call the district ranger about, and then last Sunday there was an unfortunate incident that I had to call the police about. I won’t go into specifics here, but the phone call I made had to do with accusations of child abuse. Not a fun phone call. I got an hour and a half of overtime because of it, too. I couldn’t close the ranger station at the normal time because I had several officers using it as their base of operation where they took statements and such. Then later that day, after I was finally able to close up and work on some paperwork to turn in my money for the week, I heard a knock at the backdoor which was really odd. The only people who use the backdoor are employees and they all have keys. So I cautiously unlocked and opened the door to see a woman about my age holding a fawn in her arms.
My instant thought was, “Oh dear (no pun intended) here we go…”
And what did she have to say?
“Hi! I found this baby deer by my cabin!”
*sigh* Instant headache.
I had this very same thing happen last summer when a Boy Scout leader brought in a fawn he had found out in the woods. I told this woman the same thing I told him. Deer often leave their fawns lying in grass or vegetation while they forage for food. Go put it back where you found it.
I don’t think the woman realized that she had signed the poor little baby’s death warrant. Hopefully the mother deer will find her baby and will still accept it even though it has human scent all over it. I doubt it though. The woman had good intentions, but unfortunately her ignorance probably killed that deer.
This Saturday was just as crazy. I had several opportunities to use my first aid skills. The first incident was a young man who came into the ranger station and the first thing he said was, “Is there someone here who could drive me to the hospital?” That’s usually not a good way to start a sentence. I asked him what was wrong, and then noticed his hand that was wrapped up in a shirt. He then told me he had cut his hand pretty badly when he fell on his machete. Luckily for him he hurt himself on the same day we were having the annual Over the Top bike race that starts in Kamas and ends in Evanston, and there were a couple of ambulances already up here. He had driven himself to the ranger station but was in no condition to drive himself further because he was feeling pretty shaky and woozy. So I drove him up to the ambulance that was sitting conveniently two miles up the highway. Later that afternoon things got even crazier. The weather turned pretty ugly during the bike race, and I got a radio call telling me they were sending several hypothermic cyclists my way. You’d think that the 20th of June would be a nice sunny day, but no…it was raining and sleeting with temperatures in the 40s. It was cold. So I had several wet, shivering cyclists in my ranger station trying to warm up. I scavenged towels and blankets from my cabin for them to use and gave them all warm beverages to drink until they were picked up and taken into town by shuttles, Forest Service employees, or police officers. What a great way to celebrate the first day of summer, eh? I'm pretty tired of all this rain we've been having. We've had only one day this month that was sunny and warm. Most days its been in the 50s and 60s and raining/hailing/snowing. It's been insane!
Aside from all the craziness and weather I'm still enjoying myself. There's certainly no end to excitment around here, that's for sure!
A lot has been going on. I turned 26 on the 8th of June. I am now closer to 30 than 20. It’s kind of depressing. I spent my birthday with my family which is always the best way to spend it, in my opinion. Peter and I drove down to Bountiful and went to Hogle Zoo with my parents, my brother Danny, my sister Michelle and her one-year old, Riley. I haven’t been to the zoo in years so I really enjoyed myself. Riley seemed to be enjoying the zoo a lot, too…at least up until she had a bad experience with an elephant. There’s a new exhibition for the elephants at the zoo, and out in front is a big elephant statue. It makes snoring sounds like it’s asleep until someone moves in front of its trunk. Then it starts emanating a noise that sounds like a trumpet, but in a rhythm to resemble sneezing, after which it sprays water out at the person who happens to be standing in front of it. Well, we didn’t know that it did that, and my father put poor Riley’s face right up in front of the trunk so she could touch it and hear the noise, and well…I’m sure you can guess what happened. I’m not sure who felt worse: Riley or her poor grandpa. My dad felt horrible because it made her cry. The whole situation was kind of funny, though.
After the zoo I met up with my in-laws who took me and Peter out to dinner. We went to The Old Spaghetti Factory in Trolley Square. It’s one of my favorites and I was having a craving for Mezythra. I always have a lot of fun with my husband’s family, especially his brothers. They’re a riot.
My mother turned the big 50 on the 10th, and unfortunately I had to miss it. I had to spend her birthday sitting in seasonal orientation meetings all day. That was not so much fun. Orientation is a lot of bureaucratic drivel with emphasis on safety and appropriate/inappropriate behaviors while working for the Forest Service, and everyone has to attend. Not only was it boring, but it was really cold. It has been raining just about every single day up here, and because of that it has been exceptionally colder than usual. Orientation was held at the fairgrounds but the little building we were in had no heat. Bernard, one of the permanent staff and a really nice guy who looks like Grizzly Adams, must have noticed me shivering because he gave me the liner to his hunting poncho to keep me warm. It actually helped quite a bit, because like I said, it was COLD. I did have several people giggling at me because I was the only person there bundled up in a camouflage poncho, but at least I was a lot more comfortable.
The one nice thing about orientation is that you get to mingle with lots of people who you would normally not interact with. Not from a personal choice, at least on my part, but because it’s a big forest and everyone has different jobs to do. All I have to say is that there are a lot of characters working for the F.S. That’s one reason I love my job. I get to meet some really interesting people.
Thursday night after the last day of orientation we had a little mini-potluck at my house. We had a few of the seasonal guys over who live in the bunk houses and we ate all kinds of tasty food including road kill.
Yeah…I’m not kidding.
One of the guys on the rec (recreation) crew brought some stew that he had made, and it was absolutely delicious. I was happily through half of my bowl when he announced that the meat in the stew was venison from a fawn they had accidentally hit with one of their trucks. I of course had just put a big spoonful of stew in my mouth when he said this and it took some effort to swallow it down without gagging. I finished my bowl of stew so as not to offend him, but I didn’t go back for seconds. He got a big kick out of feeding us road kill, I think. Like I said…we have a lot of characters on the forest…and that stew really was the tastiest stew I have ever had…even if it was a little redneck.
In other news, Peter now has his red card (and his $400 smoke jumper boots finally arrived too, happy birthday, Peter) so he can help fight forest fires if we ever have one on our district. The way the weather is going, though, it seems unlikely. We have a lot of dead pine trees due to the mountain pine beetle epidemic, but everything has been so wet that the threat is low. The only thing I can see happening is if later in the summer it gets really hot and all the lush green plants, which are growing now because of all the rain, dry up. That could be a problem.
Speaking of the ranger station…I’ve had quite a bit of excitement recently. First of all we had two bear sightings that I had to call the district ranger about, and then last Sunday there was an unfortunate incident that I had to call the police about. I won’t go into specifics here, but the phone call I made had to do with accusations of child abuse. Not a fun phone call. I got an hour and a half of overtime because of it, too. I couldn’t close the ranger station at the normal time because I had several officers using it as their base of operation where they took statements and such. Then later that day, after I was finally able to close up and work on some paperwork to turn in my money for the week, I heard a knock at the backdoor which was really odd. The only people who use the backdoor are employees and they all have keys. So I cautiously unlocked and opened the door to see a woman about my age holding a fawn in her arms.
My instant thought was, “Oh dear (no pun intended) here we go…”
And what did she have to say?
“Hi! I found this baby deer by my cabin!”
*sigh* Instant headache.
I had this very same thing happen last summer when a Boy Scout leader brought in a fawn he had found out in the woods. I told this woman the same thing I told him. Deer often leave their fawns lying in grass or vegetation while they forage for food. Go put it back where you found it.
I don’t think the woman realized that she had signed the poor little baby’s death warrant. Hopefully the mother deer will find her baby and will still accept it even though it has human scent all over it. I doubt it though. The woman had good intentions, but unfortunately her ignorance probably killed that deer.
This Saturday was just as crazy. I had several opportunities to use my first aid skills. The first incident was a young man who came into the ranger station and the first thing he said was, “Is there someone here who could drive me to the hospital?” That’s usually not a good way to start a sentence. I asked him what was wrong, and then noticed his hand that was wrapped up in a shirt. He then told me he had cut his hand pretty badly when he fell on his machete. Luckily for him he hurt himself on the same day we were having the annual Over the Top bike race that starts in Kamas and ends in Evanston, and there were a couple of ambulances already up here. He had driven himself to the ranger station but was in no condition to drive himself further because he was feeling pretty shaky and woozy. So I drove him up to the ambulance that was sitting conveniently two miles up the highway. Later that afternoon things got even crazier. The weather turned pretty ugly during the bike race, and I got a radio call telling me they were sending several hypothermic cyclists my way. You’d think that the 20th of June would be a nice sunny day, but no…it was raining and sleeting with temperatures in the 40s. It was cold. So I had several wet, shivering cyclists in my ranger station trying to warm up. I scavenged towels and blankets from my cabin for them to use and gave them all warm beverages to drink until they were picked up and taken into town by shuttles, Forest Service employees, or police officers. What a great way to celebrate the first day of summer, eh? I'm pretty tired of all this rain we've been having. We've had only one day this month that was sunny and warm. Most days its been in the 50s and 60s and raining/hailing/snowing. It's been insane!
Aside from all the craziness and weather I'm still enjoying myself. There's certainly no end to excitment around here, that's for sure!
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Hurray! It's June!
I don't have any pictures this week because my camera is being stupid and keeps telling me my battery is low when I put brand new, fresh batteries in it. I guess I need to invest in a new camera this summer. I really wish it was working because we've had these crazy thunderstorms every day for the past week or so and the effect of misty clouds in the mountains, and wet green leaves made me want to take pictures of all the beauty I am surrounded with this summer. I am so lucky to be where I am.
I've been working at the ranger station for about two weeks now. It's been awfully slow. It's still a little chilly up here and the highway is closed because of snow. I can't tell you how many people I've had come into the ranger station and ask me whether or not the highway was truly closed. I bit my tongue and withheld my snarky comment, "No...the dozens of signs you passed coming up to the ranger station saying "Highway closed!" were there just to mess with you. We lied. Go right ahead and drive yourself into a snow bank!" I'm not a mean person, or at least I don't like to think I am, so I would politely tell them that it was indeed closed further ahead because we are at a higher elevation (the Bear River Ranger Station sits at 8,444 feet above see level, and the Mirror Lake Scenic Byway reaches somewhere around 10,000) and there is still snow on the highway further up. They'd then get annoyed like I purposefully put the snow there just to spite them and mutter, "I drove all the way from Salt Lake for nothin'!" Well, that's your fault for not planning ahead. Not mine. I have no control over the weather, nor do I have control over UDOT and when they plan to plow the highway.
My supervisor told me a story about a man who had called her and told her about a beaver that was building a dam in the Stillwater Fork up by Christmas Meadows. He then asked her if we just let the beavers build their dams wherever they want to.
No. the beavers must first sign a petition to receive a permit and then submit their blueprints for their plan.
Of course the beavers can build their dams wherever they want! As long as they're not flooding any buildings or campgrounds they can do whatever they want! They're beavers!
People sometimes don't think before they open their mouths.
This last week I've been busy training the new girl who will be staffing the ranger station along with me. She's 19 years old and I unfortunately don't have much in common with her. She's easily bored and fills up the empty time with lots of chatter about whatever comes into her head. I find myself saying things like, "Uh huh...yeah...alright...huh" a lot. She's a nice enough girl, though, but I miss Sharon who I worked with last summer.
Peter has been busy with all kinds of odd jobs. I call him their Random Task Man because they send him off to do random things all the time. Last week he was looking for Northern Goshawk nests. These birds look like this:
They're mean birds and they will let you know if you get anywhere near their nest because they'll either attack you or shriek at you. They're an indicator species though and so it's important to know if they're in your forest. Peter found three in one week and showed me one that was actually occupied. The female had eggs she was incubating so she was trying to go unnoticed but she had her red eyes focused on us the entire time we were there.
So Peter hasn't actually done anything "timber" related yet this year. This week he's in Huntsville, UT going to fire school this week. He left me to fend for myself in the woods. It's kind of lonely up here without him.
We've had a lot of couples move up this week. One young married couple is occupying the cabin next to ours and we've made friends with them. We've had barbecues a few times and last Sunday we got together with them and another retired couple, who are volunteering for the Forest Service, and played games. It was a lot of fun. One nice thing about this couple is that they're from Logan, too. So hopefully we'll keep in touch even after the summer is over.
That's pretty much all that's going on right now. We're still alive and doing well, and so far this summer looks like it's going to be a blast!
I've been working at the ranger station for about two weeks now. It's been awfully slow. It's still a little chilly up here and the highway is closed because of snow. I can't tell you how many people I've had come into the ranger station and ask me whether or not the highway was truly closed. I bit my tongue and withheld my snarky comment, "No...the dozens of signs you passed coming up to the ranger station saying "Highway closed!" were there just to mess with you. We lied. Go right ahead and drive yourself into a snow bank!" I'm not a mean person, or at least I don't like to think I am, so I would politely tell them that it was indeed closed further ahead because we are at a higher elevation (the Bear River Ranger Station sits at 8,444 feet above see level, and the Mirror Lake Scenic Byway reaches somewhere around 10,000) and there is still snow on the highway further up. They'd then get annoyed like I purposefully put the snow there just to spite them and mutter, "I drove all the way from Salt Lake for nothin'!" Well, that's your fault for not planning ahead. Not mine. I have no control over the weather, nor do I have control over UDOT and when they plan to plow the highway.
My supervisor told me a story about a man who had called her and told her about a beaver that was building a dam in the Stillwater Fork up by Christmas Meadows. He then asked her if we just let the beavers build their dams wherever they want to.
No. the beavers must first sign a petition to receive a permit and then submit their blueprints for their plan.
Of course the beavers can build their dams wherever they want! As long as they're not flooding any buildings or campgrounds they can do whatever they want! They're beavers!
People sometimes don't think before they open their mouths.
This last week I've been busy training the new girl who will be staffing the ranger station along with me. She's 19 years old and I unfortunately don't have much in common with her. She's easily bored and fills up the empty time with lots of chatter about whatever comes into her head. I find myself saying things like, "Uh huh...yeah...alright...huh" a lot. She's a nice enough girl, though, but I miss Sharon who I worked with last summer.
Peter has been busy with all kinds of odd jobs. I call him their Random Task Man because they send him off to do random things all the time. Last week he was looking for Northern Goshawk nests. These birds look like this:
They're mean birds and they will let you know if you get anywhere near their nest because they'll either attack you or shriek at you. They're an indicator species though and so it's important to know if they're in your forest. Peter found three in one week and showed me one that was actually occupied. The female had eggs she was incubating so she was trying to go unnoticed but she had her red eyes focused on us the entire time we were there.So Peter hasn't actually done anything "timber" related yet this year. This week he's in Huntsville, UT going to fire school this week. He left me to fend for myself in the woods. It's kind of lonely up here without him.
We've had a lot of couples move up this week. One young married couple is occupying the cabin next to ours and we've made friends with them. We've had barbecues a few times and last Sunday we got together with them and another retired couple, who are volunteering for the Forest Service, and played games. It was a lot of fun. One nice thing about this couple is that they're from Logan, too. So hopefully we'll keep in touch even after the summer is over.
That's pretty much all that's going on right now. We're still alive and doing well, and so far this summer looks like it's going to be a blast!
Monday, May 18, 2009
Back to Bear River!
This weekend's move to Bear River went really well! My little brothers came up and helped me finish packing and then drove up with me to our cabin and helped me unpack. I was really surprised how nice the cabin is! It's a little small, but still bigger than anything I've ever lived in before. It has two bedrooms, a bathroom, kitchen, living room, and basement. It is also completely furnished. All of the floors are hardwood which I think gives it a really nice touch. The style is a little outdated, I think the cabin was built in the 80s, but it's still nice. The best part of all is that Peter and I don't have to share it with anyone. It's all ours for the entire summer!
I took a few pictures of the place just to give you an idea of what I'm living in.
As you can see it's a rather humble looking place, but I love it! The exterior paint needs a little help though...that will probably be one of our projects this summer. The forest around is still looking a little dead because spring is always about a month behind up here. By the end of June all the trees will be green and there will be wildflowers all over the place.
We also found out that we have an unexpected neighbor that moved in. Here is a picture of its home.
That hole is nearly as wide as my shoulders and is the entrance to a badger's burrow. I haven't seen him yet, but hopefully it won't decide to jump out at me one of these mornings as I head to work.
After my brothers helped me unpack, and I had a chance to reunite with Peter who I hadn't seen for about five days, we drove back down to Evanston to grab a bite to eat. On our way out of the forest, a yellow-bellied marmot jumped out into the road. I screamed thinking we'd hit the poor thing, but it managed to stop itself just before the front passenger-side tire rolled over. It then tried to jump out in front the truck my brothers were driving, only to narrowly escape death once again. Apparently my youngest brother, Jacob, nearly had a heart attack and he screamed when the marmot jumped out in front of them.
After eating some hamburgers we said goodbye to my brothers and then headed back home. The next day we spent cleaning the cabin and waxing the woods floors. Holy crap that is a pain in the butt! Actually, more like a pain in the knees and back! That is some hard labor! The floors look much prettier now, though. :) We then had to chase some guys on ATVs off the property because they thought it would be cool to drive around on government land. They somehow failed to notice the no trespassing sign.
Idiots. They tore up the lawn around the ranger station too. I have to say, I hate ATVs and the people who drive them. ATVs are loud and destructive. There's no getting around it. They tear up trails and anything else they drive on, and people who drive ATVs tend to think they are entitled to drive anywhere they want. They really piss me off. I know there are responsible people out there who actually respect the rules and regulations and are conscious where they drive, but they are few and far between.
In other news, it turns out that Peter is going to fire school the first week of June. I guess it's a good thing we decided to buy him a pair of smoke jumper boots this year. Friday he has to take his pack test. He has to walk/run 3 miles in under 45 minutes while wearing a 40 pound vest. I don't think he'll have a problem completing it, but I bet he'll be really tired afterwards.
It also turns out that the timber crew this year consists of Peter and...Peter. He is the only person on the timber crew this year due to budget issues. Normally they have about 8 people on the crew. I think he's going to have his work cut out for him.
Today I drove back down to Logan to grab a few things I forgot (like the boots to my uniform). It's kind of a long drive, about four hours round trip. I also had to turn in the keys to our apartment since we're putting it on storage for the summer. So I'm snagging the Wi-Fi from a little cafe here in town.
I love being back at Bear River. It's so beautiful and peaceful. At night I can hear the rushing of the river and the frogs that sing on its banks. Occasionally I can hear the Sand Hill cranes that are migrating through. They have a very distinct call. Not like anything I've heard before.
Wednesday I start work and I'm excited to be working for the F.S. again. I'm really excited about this summer and all of its prospects and I'm happy to be in one of the prettiest places in the world. I feel like I'm home.
I took a few pictures of the place just to give you an idea of what I'm living in.
As you can see it's a rather humble looking place, but I love it! The exterior paint needs a little help though...that will probably be one of our projects this summer. The forest around is still looking a little dead because spring is always about a month behind up here. By the end of June all the trees will be green and there will be wildflowers all over the place.We also found out that we have an unexpected neighbor that moved in. Here is a picture of its home.
That hole is nearly as wide as my shoulders and is the entrance to a badger's burrow. I haven't seen him yet, but hopefully it won't decide to jump out at me one of these mornings as I head to work.After my brothers helped me unpack, and I had a chance to reunite with Peter who I hadn't seen for about five days, we drove back down to Evanston to grab a bite to eat. On our way out of the forest, a yellow-bellied marmot jumped out into the road. I screamed thinking we'd hit the poor thing, but it managed to stop itself just before the front passenger-side tire rolled over. It then tried to jump out in front the truck my brothers were driving, only to narrowly escape death once again. Apparently my youngest brother, Jacob, nearly had a heart attack and he screamed when the marmot jumped out in front of them.
After eating some hamburgers we said goodbye to my brothers and then headed back home. The next day we spent cleaning the cabin and waxing the woods floors. Holy crap that is a pain in the butt! Actually, more like a pain in the knees and back! That is some hard labor! The floors look much prettier now, though. :) We then had to chase some guys on ATVs off the property because they thought it would be cool to drive around on government land. They somehow failed to notice the no trespassing sign.
Idiots. They tore up the lawn around the ranger station too. I have to say, I hate ATVs and the people who drive them. ATVs are loud and destructive. There's no getting around it. They tear up trails and anything else they drive on, and people who drive ATVs tend to think they are entitled to drive anywhere they want. They really piss me off. I know there are responsible people out there who actually respect the rules and regulations and are conscious where they drive, but they are few and far between.
In other news, it turns out that Peter is going to fire school the first week of June. I guess it's a good thing we decided to buy him a pair of smoke jumper boots this year. Friday he has to take his pack test. He has to walk/run 3 miles in under 45 minutes while wearing a 40 pound vest. I don't think he'll have a problem completing it, but I bet he'll be really tired afterwards.
It also turns out that the timber crew this year consists of Peter and...Peter. He is the only person on the timber crew this year due to budget issues. Normally they have about 8 people on the crew. I think he's going to have his work cut out for him.
Today I drove back down to Logan to grab a few things I forgot (like the boots to my uniform). It's kind of a long drive, about four hours round trip. I also had to turn in the keys to our apartment since we're putting it on storage for the summer. So I'm snagging the Wi-Fi from a little cafe here in town.
I love being back at Bear River. It's so beautiful and peaceful. At night I can hear the rushing of the river and the frogs that sing on its banks. Occasionally I can hear the Sand Hill cranes that are migrating through. They have a very distinct call. Not like anything I've heard before.
Wednesday I start work and I'm excited to be working for the F.S. again. I'm really excited about this summer and all of its prospects and I'm happy to be in one of the prettiest places in the world. I feel like I'm home.
Friday, May 15, 2009
Moving Day!
Tomorrow is the big moving day! I'm leaving Logan behind for another summer in the Evanston district of the Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest. Peter has been up there since Monday morning, and we had a bit of misfortune when he was getting ready to leave. In keeping with moving tradition, we got locked out of our apartment at 4:30 a.m. Last summer we had all kinds of issues with being locked out. When we first got to our apartment in Evanston last year, we found there was a key mix-up and we had the wrong apartment key. The apartment manager had given Peter the key to another apartment he had been looking at instead of the key to the one we were actually renting. We couldn't get a hold of them, so we ended up staying in the other apartment that night. Peter had to work the next morning so I got to spend that day getting the key situation fixed and moving into the correct apartment. Then later in the summer, the only key we had to the apartment fell off my keychain somehow and we had to get a new key made, and then when we moved out...I left the new key sitting on the bed and realized it just as I had shut the door behind us. Again our landlords were unreachable, and Peter ended up climbing from the stairs onto the airconditioning unit, and through the window we had fortunately left open. Our apartment was on the third floor so it was rather treacherous! He also had an audience to the whole debacle. Some kids in the trailer park behind our apartment building saw him breaking in and were actually cheering him on. It was really funny...later.
So, Peter ended up scaling the cinder-block trellis in the back of our apartment and up onto our balcony and unlocked the door. I felt badly about the whole thing because in a roundabout way it was my fault. Peter had given me his key to the apartment so that I can turn it in to USU housing when I leave and put our apartment on storage for the summer. I assumed he had his keys with him when I was helping him carry stuff out to the car, and indeed he did, but I had put his key on my keyring...which was sitting on a table in our apartment. We both realized this as we were shoving boxes into the back of the Jeep. This too became funny...later.
Any ways, my brothers are coming up tomorrow with a truck to help me haul all my stuff up to the woods. Thankfully I don't have to move much because the cabin Peter and I will be living in is completely furnished. We can't actually live in the cabin just yet, though. The permanent staff there has been working really hard to get the bunkhouses ready for the seasonal employees and they won't be able to get the water turned on to the cabin until Monday. I start work on Wednesday so I had to move up this weekend. Water or no. So for a few nights I will be staying in one of the bunkhouses with Peter and a couple of the other seasonals. Not exactly an ideal situation, but oh well. I'll be happy to see Peter again though. I've really missed him. I admit, it has been nice to have some alone time where I could paint my toenails and watch chickflicks without him complaining, but it's also been a little lonely around here. I miss hearing his laugh and snuggling with him at night.
So, after tomorrow I will become relatively unreachable! I will check my e-mail, Facebook, and this blog whenever I'm in town getting food. Other than that the best way to get a hold of me will be by calling the ranger station. I will miss Logan and my friends here, especially the ladies at C.C. It was actually hard to say goodbye to them, but I'll be back at the end of August for another school year! Next weekend I will try and post pictures of my cabin and the local area. So wish me luck! Hopefully I won't lock myself out of the apartment this weekend.
So, Peter ended up scaling the cinder-block trellis in the back of our apartment and up onto our balcony and unlocked the door. I felt badly about the whole thing because in a roundabout way it was my fault. Peter had given me his key to the apartment so that I can turn it in to USU housing when I leave and put our apartment on storage for the summer. I assumed he had his keys with him when I was helping him carry stuff out to the car, and indeed he did, but I had put his key on my keyring...which was sitting on a table in our apartment. We both realized this as we were shoving boxes into the back of the Jeep. This too became funny...later.
Any ways, my brothers are coming up tomorrow with a truck to help me haul all my stuff up to the woods. Thankfully I don't have to move much because the cabin Peter and I will be living in is completely furnished. We can't actually live in the cabin just yet, though. The permanent staff there has been working really hard to get the bunkhouses ready for the seasonal employees and they won't be able to get the water turned on to the cabin until Monday. I start work on Wednesday so I had to move up this weekend. Water or no. So for a few nights I will be staying in one of the bunkhouses with Peter and a couple of the other seasonals. Not exactly an ideal situation, but oh well. I'll be happy to see Peter again though. I've really missed him. I admit, it has been nice to have some alone time where I could paint my toenails and watch chickflicks without him complaining, but it's also been a little lonely around here. I miss hearing his laugh and snuggling with him at night.
So, after tomorrow I will become relatively unreachable! I will check my e-mail, Facebook, and this blog whenever I'm in town getting food. Other than that the best way to get a hold of me will be by calling the ranger station. I will miss Logan and my friends here, especially the ladies at C.C. It was actually hard to say goodbye to them, but I'll be back at the end of August for another school year! Next weekend I will try and post pictures of my cabin and the local area. So wish me luck! Hopefully I won't lock myself out of the apartment this weekend.
Saturday, May 2, 2009
Randomness...
Another semester is over bringing Peter just that much closer to graduating. Just one more year until he has his bachelors! Yay! Peter had two finals and a final paper for his classes this semester. He would have had an additional final project, too, but for some reason the professor tossed it out. He was pretty happy when he heard that. It was a pretty rough week any ways due to the fact that he's had a cold (which he has now passed on to me, marriage can just be so awesome sometimes...), but he managed to do well despite being sick. His grades came back today for all of his classes and he managed to get straight A's this semester! So, yeah...he obviously picked the wrong major because he's definitely failing. Yup.
I just hope that he can survive his senior year. He's scheduled to take 20 credits in the fall. The maximum allowed without special permission is 18. He has to do it, though, if he wants to graduate on time. It's going to be rough, but I know he can handle it.
In other news...don't buy Wal-Mart bread. This has nothing to do with the fact that Wal-Mart is a soulless corporation that should not be supported (I loathe them even more because I'm poor and their crap is cheap, so I end up buying stuff from them any ways!), but because their bread does not appear to decompose naturally.
I was at Wal-Mart several weeks ago with Peter getting something...I can't even remember what it was now, but we were there late and we happened to need bread, too, so we picked up their in-store brand while we were there. Normally I opt for Crumb Brothers, Great Harvest, or Old Grist Mill bread due to the fact that they don't use additives or preservatives, but it was late, we were in need, and the bakeries were all closed. The next day I made a sandwich and the bread was so horrible I haven't touched it since! It tasted...weird. Not like bread should taste. It tasted like...chemicals. So, the Wal-Mart loaf of bread has been sitting on top of my refrigerator for the last three weeks, uneaten and forgotten.
Today I decided to clean off the top of the fridge. I found the loaf of bread tucked behind some mostly consumed box of cereal, and to my astonishment--there wasn't a speck of mold growing anywhere on it! Now, when I buy Old Grist Mill bread it starts to grow mold nearly halfway through the week if I haven't eaten it by then! The Wal-Mart bread has been sitting on top of my fridge for nearly a month and it has yet to show any signs of spoiling! That's just not right! What kind of super chemicals did they put in that thing? Formaldehyde? The thought of putting all of those preservatives into my body just really makes me nervous. It's not...natural.
So, for that reason alone, I will never buy anything from the Wal-Mart bakery ever again. Next time, if it's late and the bakeries are all closed, I'm just going to make my own bread. That way, I'll at least know what's really in it.
P.S. I fixed the picture on my last post. For some reason it had disappeared.
I just hope that he can survive his senior year. He's scheduled to take 20 credits in the fall. The maximum allowed without special permission is 18. He has to do it, though, if he wants to graduate on time. It's going to be rough, but I know he can handle it.
In other news...don't buy Wal-Mart bread. This has nothing to do with the fact that Wal-Mart is a soulless corporation that should not be supported (I loathe them even more because I'm poor and their crap is cheap, so I end up buying stuff from them any ways!), but because their bread does not appear to decompose naturally.
I was at Wal-Mart several weeks ago with Peter getting something...I can't even remember what it was now, but we were there late and we happened to need bread, too, so we picked up their in-store brand while we were there. Normally I opt for Crumb Brothers, Great Harvest, or Old Grist Mill bread due to the fact that they don't use additives or preservatives, but it was late, we were in need, and the bakeries were all closed. The next day I made a sandwich and the bread was so horrible I haven't touched it since! It tasted...weird. Not like bread should taste. It tasted like...chemicals. So, the Wal-Mart loaf of bread has been sitting on top of my refrigerator for the last three weeks, uneaten and forgotten.
Today I decided to clean off the top of the fridge. I found the loaf of bread tucked behind some mostly consumed box of cereal, and to my astonishment--there wasn't a speck of mold growing anywhere on it! Now, when I buy Old Grist Mill bread it starts to grow mold nearly halfway through the week if I haven't eaten it by then! The Wal-Mart bread has been sitting on top of my fridge for nearly a month and it has yet to show any signs of spoiling! That's just not right! What kind of super chemicals did they put in that thing? Formaldehyde? The thought of putting all of those preservatives into my body just really makes me nervous. It's not...natural.
So, for that reason alone, I will never buy anything from the Wal-Mart bakery ever again. Next time, if it's late and the bakeries are all closed, I'm just going to make my own bread. That way, I'll at least know what's really in it.
P.S. I fixed the picture on my last post. For some reason it had disappeared.
Sunday, April 26, 2009
How I'm Spending My Summer Vacation...
It's about time I blogged about where Peter and I are going to be this summer. I think I have told most people, but there may be a few out there who don't know what the plan is for us. Unfortunately, Peter didn't get the SCEP in the Shoshone National Forest, so we're going to be working for the Evanston district of the Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest. This will be Peter's third summer working there, and my second. I'm actually very happy with this outcome. The SCEP would have been better for Peter's career in the long run, but I wouldn't have had a job up there, and I probably would have gone nuts. So instead I will be working here, at the Bear River Ranger Station...
It's a pretty cushy gig. I will be working as an information receptionist, and collection officer. Fancy words meaning I answer people's basic questions regarding the area and I take their money in exchange for a recreation pass which is mandatory if you're going to be in the area. Weekdays are generally slow and I get a lot of reading done, which is just fine by me. The area is beautiful and the higher altitude means that the temperature remains cooler during even the peak of summer. Generally no higher than 80 degrees. It's a really chill job and I can't wait to go back!
We will also not be living in Evanston like we did last summer. Instead, we will be living in the government supplied housing available at Bear River. We pulled a few strings and worked out a deal so that we could stay in one of the cabins instead of a trailer. It's going to be really nice! Especially because we won't have to commute 30 miles (one way) every day, so we'll save on gas (which is good for the environment and the wallet). I also won't have to get up at 5:00 a.m. to go to work with Peter who works from 7:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. four days a week, but the ranger station doesn't open until 8:00 a.m. and closes at 4:00 p.m. Last summer I had a one hour block before and after work three days a week where I had nothing to do but bum around the ranger station. Since I will be living just directly back in the woods behind my "office" I can sleep in or go home instead of waiting for Peter.
The downside of this arrangement is that we will have no cell phone service or Internet access. We'll be really cut off from the world, which actually sounds kind of nice, to be honest. I will really miss raiding with my guild on World of Warcraft, but we have plans to meet up with the gang later this summer in Anaheim for the annual convention, BlizzCon. Yeah, I know...we're really nerdy. My friends and family will also be able to reach me at the ranger station. The lack of technological distractions will also provide us with more time to actually enjoy the area we will be living in. I was really bummed that I didn't take the opportunity to do more hiking/fishing/mountain biking last summer, so I'm hoping to make up for it this year. Peter and I are even going to try and hike up King's Peak which is the highest peak in all of Utah! I think it's somewhere around 13K feet above sea level. We may not be able to work out the time we need off to do it, but we're at least going to try.
We will be moving the second weekend in May. Peter has to report to work on May 11th, but I don't start work until May 22nd (tentatively because it's dependent upon the snow melting). I may actually stay in Logan for a week or two while Peter is working because I might as well stay at my job and earn some more money instead of sitting around twiddling my thumbs. It's really not fun to be seperated from my hubby but I managed to do it for a whole summer two years ago, so a week or two will be a breeze.
I'll try and blog about any fun things that happen (hopefully, there will be no incidents of me getting stuck in a Forest Service truck in the middle of nowhere, requiring me to radio for help again). I will have to go into town once a week for groceries any ways, so I will be able to check my e-mail and let people know we're still alive and that we didn't get eaten by any bears.
You are all more than welcome to pop in for a visit, too! :)
It's a pretty cushy gig. I will be working as an information receptionist, and collection officer. Fancy words meaning I answer people's basic questions regarding the area and I take their money in exchange for a recreation pass which is mandatory if you're going to be in the area. Weekdays are generally slow and I get a lot of reading done, which is just fine by me. The area is beautiful and the higher altitude means that the temperature remains cooler during even the peak of summer. Generally no higher than 80 degrees. It's a really chill job and I can't wait to go back!
We will also not be living in Evanston like we did last summer. Instead, we will be living in the government supplied housing available at Bear River. We pulled a few strings and worked out a deal so that we could stay in one of the cabins instead of a trailer. It's going to be really nice! Especially because we won't have to commute 30 miles (one way) every day, so we'll save on gas (which is good for the environment and the wallet). I also won't have to get up at 5:00 a.m. to go to work with Peter who works from 7:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. four days a week, but the ranger station doesn't open until 8:00 a.m. and closes at 4:00 p.m. Last summer I had a one hour block before and after work three days a week where I had nothing to do but bum around the ranger station. Since I will be living just directly back in the woods behind my "office" I can sleep in or go home instead of waiting for Peter.
The downside of this arrangement is that we will have no cell phone service or Internet access. We'll be really cut off from the world, which actually sounds kind of nice, to be honest. I will really miss raiding with my guild on World of Warcraft, but we have plans to meet up with the gang later this summer in Anaheim for the annual convention, BlizzCon. Yeah, I know...we're really nerdy. My friends and family will also be able to reach me at the ranger station. The lack of technological distractions will also provide us with more time to actually enjoy the area we will be living in. I was really bummed that I didn't take the opportunity to do more hiking/fishing/mountain biking last summer, so I'm hoping to make up for it this year. Peter and I are even going to try and hike up King's Peak which is the highest peak in all of Utah! I think it's somewhere around 13K feet above sea level. We may not be able to work out the time we need off to do it, but we're at least going to try.
We will be moving the second weekend in May. Peter has to report to work on May 11th, but I don't start work until May 22nd (tentatively because it's dependent upon the snow melting). I may actually stay in Logan for a week or two while Peter is working because I might as well stay at my job and earn some more money instead of sitting around twiddling my thumbs. It's really not fun to be seperated from my hubby but I managed to do it for a whole summer two years ago, so a week or two will be a breeze.
I'll try and blog about any fun things that happen (hopefully, there will be no incidents of me getting stuck in a Forest Service truck in the middle of nowhere, requiring me to radio for help again). I will have to go into town once a week for groceries any ways, so I will be able to check my e-mail and let people know we're still alive and that we didn't get eaten by any bears.
You are all more than welcome to pop in for a visit, too! :)
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