My weekend

Well this weekend I helped volunteer at a biathalon. What is that you say. well it is where you cross-country ski and shoot a rifle. The Youth/Junior World Championships Team Trials were held here in Northern MN this weekend. They were supposed to be in Anchorage AK but due to a lack of snow they were moved here, so because of the last minute move they needed some extra volunteers. So I went and helped, it was pretty interesting since I had never seen on in person before, I had only seen them on TV.

My job was to keep score on certain lanes on the range. I had to write down when someone missed the target. When you miss the target you have to complete a penalty lap, so it is important to keep track of the shooting

Anyway the winners and some other qualifiers now get to go on to the worlds which will be held in Germany later this month.

Here are some photos

Funny story

So three of the guys that I work with are on a trip. They are driving a 70's volkswagon van from Fresno to (hopefully) panama or however far it makes it. Here is the last email I got from one of them.

"I think that we should probably write a travel book about things NOT to do in Central America. We are fast becoming the prime example of ignorant american tourists.
Last night the van was burgled.
Now normally we grab all of the valuables out of the bus if we get a room for the night, but for some reason, when we got to Antigua, it seemed like such a harmless town that we neglected some of the little things that we normally do. Such as not leaving our passports and credit cards in the bus.
Last night we got into town and me and berto threw our party suits on and went out. We locked up the van, but apparently Berto and Paul left some of their stuff in the van. Paul was being slow so we left without him, but when we ran into him an hour later, he was driving some random girls truck. He said he was taking her to San Carlos... I think she was too cracked out to know where she was, but Paul being the gentleman that he is, he drove her to the next town, and took a cab home.
When the bar closed down at 2 (lame), we went to grab some water from the van on the way to bed, but berto couldn´t find his bag. Then we noticed that the drivers door was unlocked and there was a hole in the screen in the window. Somebody had forced the side window open and punched in the screen.
The worst part was that you cant make phonecalls from Guatemala phones without a phonecard, and our phonecards were from Mexico, so they wouldn´t work (even though the phone company is the same in both countries). So they couldn´t call and cancel their cards till the morning.
So far I think they´ve gotten the credit card stuff taken care of (except for the 15 transactions on Pauls card last night), but we´ll see how it goes with getting Paul and Berto replacement passports. Oh, and they stole all the vans registration papers, so I really don´t know how we are going to get the van back out of the country. So Mike, if you want to start some sort of pool on what happens to the van, I´ve got 5 dollars that says the van spends the rest of it´s days rusting in Guatemala.

We´ll keep you updated on pending deportations and jail time."

Last email before this was about them ending up at a male strip club in mexico city.

I wonder where they will take me next...... For those of you who know the guys I work with Chuck is who wrote the email.

Whirlwind!!

That is how you sum up my christmas. Here is what I did

Thurs: Drive down to Minneapolis hung out with Randi and Erika

Fri: Do some quick shopping pick up Laura in afternoon and drive home (in a snowstorm)

Saturday: Hang out with my nephew and Laura. During a snowstorm so shoveling was necessary. Laura and I went snowshoeing. It was her first time on snowshoes... I haver lovely pictures of her but she would kill me if I posted them on here

Sunday: Xmas at my Grandma's. Had to drive an hour north of here with roads that hadn't been plowed yet. My bro and I talked about making a comercial for subaru showing all that my car can do. Get home and realize that the snow has formed huge drifts all around my house....time to break out the snowblower (which almost ate me)

Monday: my nephew and Laura stayed here sun night so I spent the morning with him. Laura and I then went skiing in the afternoon. I discovered that one of my X-skis is broken...well on its way to being broken. The trails hadn't been groomed so we were breaking trail which is way more work than not, but the plus side was that because it wasn't groomed I made it down the big hill!!!!!!!!! After that it was time to head home and shower and get ready for church and dinner at mom's house.
After that I headed home and cleaned my house thinking that some of my relatives might want to see my house on xmas day since most of them haven't seen my house (I cleaned for nothing)

Tuesday: Xmas at my mom's house with my dad's side of the family. There are 3 boys there ages 7, 8, 9 so you can imagine what that is like. They had all been up early and were full of energy. I felt bad for my bro when he had to take my nephew to his GF family's house. I hope my nephew wasn't a brat but I think that he may have been one.

Weds: Drive down to Minneapolis to drop Laura off and the airport. I was sad to see her leave now I only get to talk to her on the phone. After we dropped laura off mom and I went to a couple of stores and got some good deals. Then we headed home and it took a long time since it was once again snowing.

Well that is my whirlwind xmas I hope you all had a great holiday!

Big Hill part #2

Well I went x-skiing again today, but today we went when there was still some light out.....it made my lovely hill a little easier......I made it almost all the way down....I wiped out right near the bottom. Luke also fell there so I dont feel to bad.... But then later there is one part of the trail that is long downhill...not steep just long and gradual, but the kicker is there is a 90 degree turn right at the end. I watched Luke almost fall over and was telling myself dont do what he did and next thing you know I am doing a face plant.

oh well it was still a fun time.

Big Hill Part #1

Well I went skiing a gain last night and I dont think that I ever really talked about the first time down the big hill, but it is much harder in the dark than it is during the day.

First time we went Luke went firstand he wiped out early going down the hill. There is one point when you get a little air because of a dip in the trail...well when you go down with a headlamp you totally lose the trail. Well I watched Luke fall over so I kind of knoew where to go.... I made it farther down than he did but then you hit this big curve and well that it where I lost it....


Needless to say my goal is to make it down the hill by the time the winter is over.

So last night....Luke makes me go first down the hill....lets say first is harder.... Made it down a ways but kept picking up speed and I knew that I was going to lose it sooner or later and didn't want to be going 100 miles an hour. So I ended up falling. I then get up and try ot keep going but Lukes dog rainy decided that wasnt going to happen and ran into me, which lead to a face plant in the snow. Then as I was getting up I decided to stay where there was a little more snow so it wouldn't be as slick.....well next thing I know my ski is caught on a little tree and before I can get it out, I realize that I am now in the bushes.

There is a reason this cross-country ski trail has a bypass around this hill, but I will not take it...I will make it down this hill even if it kills me

Where'd I go

I spent the last week at training for work. It was nothing to exciting. It was a class on how to become a better instructor...most of it was pretty boring for me since I took class after class on that when I was getting my teaching cert. the only difference here was that it was teaching adults. It is much harder to teach adults than it is kids...or maybe it was hard in this class because if I ever get a job back in MN quite a few people in that room could very well end up being my boss. So anyway I ended up putting in lots of work after class to make sure that my presentation were good

It just seems like I have been super busy since I got home. Since I went to this training last minute I haven't gotten much done that I need to get done... I haven't sent out my xmas cards, I still have shopping to do...Stuff of mine still isn't unpacked but good news is.....I finally have internet here at home now so that is an added bonus.

well here is a photo of my decorated xmas tree. I have added a few more onraments since this photo was taken so it looks a little fuller now

Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

This mornings temp here in the Northland is -26..... that is what the local news channel says. Brrrrrrrrrrr. The good thing about when it is that cold that is that the sun is shinning and everything out my window looks so pretty.....however I will not be going anywhere, I am guessing my car probably wont start.

Looks like a day of watching movies for me.

My tree didn't get decorated because my nephew didn't end up coming over last night, so no pictures of that yet.

I found out that I have to work next week. I am going to a training class here in MN so that wont be so bad. It is only about 45 minutes away but I am staying in a hotel since there is some night work for this class and because the gov will pay for it.

here is a snow picture that I took last year

Thursday's Adventure

What did I do today?

Today I want over to my parents house and then went snowshoeing with my dad to find myself a tree. Every year we go back into the woods behind our house and find a tree. So today we went. I picked what looked like a scrawny little tree when we were out in the woods. I picked it because it was growing next to another one and one of them would eventually die.

I get it home and man it was bigger than I thought when we were outside. oh well . I think I am going to decorate it tommorow when my nephew is over. Lets hope that my dad remembers which one we decided for him to cut down for his house.

Tonight I am off to go skiing with my friend luke. we are going to some trails over by his house and we are going in the dark for a night ski. It is the first time x-skiing this year. I hope I dont die on this one hill on these trails. Laura we are going where you and I laughed so hard that one of us almost peed our pants and dad always goes down on his behind. Maybe Ill take some pictures... if I can find my camera that is

Snow, snow snow

Yes that has what I have been up to lately. Shoveling snow....and learning how to use my snowblower. I have lived in Northern MN my entire life but I have never used a snowblower until this winter. How is that you say, well my parents have a large driveway and they would have someone plow it and once my dad got a 4-wheeler he would plow it....or they made us shovel. So when I bought my house last year they left me the old snowblower.....the thing is huge and is from 1971...

I used it the other night and man if I didn't have muscles that thing would have caused problems. But it was great!!! It made things go twice as fast.

In other things I got my new bed yesterday. It is huge. I got a low profile boxspring and if I hadn't i don't know what I would have done. It seems way bigger by bigger I mean thicker and higher than when I was in the store.
The picture is a picture of the frame that I bought. With my new mattress you can barely see the wood. oh well it is ok and I like the way it looks in my room, and it sure was comfortable last night....since I dont have cable yet I think that i may just have to spend all day in bed.

well I better go shovel the snow from last night

Holy Cows

OMG I just looked at my credit card statement from driving across the country.....and I can not believe how much money I spent on gas.......$400

I can only imagine how much it would have been if I had a car that got bad gas mileage. That is just crazy......its to bad i need my car in the summer otherwise I might start thinking about flying to and from CA

out of control I say.....I guess thats what happens when gas is at least $3.00/gal

Happy Birthday to me!!

Yesterday was my birthday!!! yes I am one step closer to 30!

I dont have to much to report about my birthday it was a pretty mellow day.

But today I went out and bought myself a present. I figure that since I am a homeowner it is time for me to have upgrade to a nicer mattress... I currently only own a twin mattress and a 30yr old queen bed that was handed down to me from my parents...well I think all of my siblings and I have used it at one point in time. Anyway I went and made the big purchase today... I have been looking for a while and picking out a new mattress is hard...there are to many to chose from... but anyway I picked one out and now I cant wait for it to be delivered next week.

I got so mad yesterday. I called to have cable and inernet hooked up and when I called last week to get some price info they said they could hook it up in 2-3 days and well yesterday when I called they said the first day they could hook it up was dec 10 2weeks away!!!@ grrrrrr so now I wont have the internet until then it is just stupid

hmm thats all I got

Brr its cold

Well I am here in MN and it is definitely colder here than in my mountians of CA.

The drive home went well. I had nice weather the whole way....well a little bit of rain but no snow storms.

I am glad to be back at my house....although all I can think about is what I want to do to it. I have so many little and big things to do... my first line of buisness it to get cable and internet hooked up. yes that is why there is a lack of posts from me ..no way to post them.

well here are a few pictures from my stop in Arches National park on the way back home. Enjoy

Richfield Utah

Thats were I made it to yesterday.....Not a very big town, but a place to stay. Good news is today is going to be a short driving day. I found out that my friend Elaine from tech is going to be in moab utah, which is right along my way. So i am going to stop and see her. I havenever been to moab and i dont know why I haven't. There are 2 national parks there so I figure why not stop for the day.

I have realized that my statelite radio saves me. I dont know how I drove across the country before I bought it.....it is great. so much to listen to and it never goes away.

well just wanted to let everyone know where I am.

Only 1 more day!!!

It took a little work on my part but, I convinced my bosses to let me be done on Friday. So yes tommorow is my last day of work.

So on Sat morning I will be headed across the country. To all of you who live along the way I am sad to say this but unfortunately this year I dont have time to make any stops or visit anybody, it is pretty much going to be a get in the car and drive type of road trip. I want to make it home in time for thanksgiving and to renew my drivers liscence before it expires.


needless to say my car is pretty much packed up and ready to go. My next blog will be from who knows where.

in case you haven't figured it out

I am pretty sure that I am crazy!!!

Not that it is a bad thing. The reason I say this is because I ran a half marathon yesterday without training for it at all. Ok I guess I shouldn't say not training at all I guess you could consider work as training...although I couldn't tell you the last time we did a long run...or a hard run for that matter...and the last couple of fires we were on we didn't do a lot of hiking.

The race yesterday went pretty well. I finished in 1hr 58minutes....which was 4 minutes faster than what I did last year. I am definitely sore today. I thought I was going to die around mile 9 of the race... I was doing good till then but at the point I felt like my one calf muscle was going to explode so I slowed down a little at the point. 2 other guys that work on my crew ran it as well as a couple of other people from the park. I thought we were going to have torun in the rain but it stoppped raining right before the race and didn't start again til like an hour after we finished.

All in all the race went well, although it makes me wonder how well I could do if a actually trained for these things.....

Oh yeah the best part was that when you finished you got an ice cream sunday...who doesn't love ice cream!!!!!

Its all over( well almost)

Yes that is right my fire season is over. We laid the crew off yesterday!!!!! That means that I only have a week or two left. I have lots I could say about this season but I don't think that I want to do that here......cuz you never know who could be reading this.

Anyway I have been gone for a while and yes I was down on the fires in Southern Cali. I was not on the ones in San Diego... We were assigned to the Santiago fire near Orange, CA. I am sure that you saw it on the news. it was a pretty big news maker mostly because it was an arson fire. Dont worry Ill blog about it later and post some pictures.... I just don't feel like doing it right now. It was nice to go on one last fire it helped out our total overtime for the season. Can you guess how many hours of overtime we ended up with this season. If you think you have any idea post a comment and later I will let you all know how many we did get. Laura (sis) and maura you guys can not guess that wouldn't be fair.

Anyway I have a four day weekend I am gonna pack and get some things done for when I am done, although I still dont know when that will be. I am hoping to be done the 16th but might not be done until the 21st so that would mean I would be driving home over thanksgiving and that would pretty much suck. So we will see how lucky I get.

lets see what else might I do this weekend. Oh maura, ben and I may go see into the wild tonight and then afterwards I may go hang out with one of the guys who was on the crew with me in 2004....he is in town on his way back to Colorado after his season was done, and then on Sunday I might run a half marathon. I am not sure about running it since we haven't run to much lately. I know that I could finish it no problem but I don't know how fast I would be. I still have the cross-country and track runner in me and I would be disappointed in myself if I ran it slower than the last time I ran one. Oh well we will see. Yes I know I am crazy running 13.1 miles without training.

oh yeah I got poison oak the worst that I have ever gotten it on this last fire it was crazy maybe Ill put up a picture but you wont recognize me. This week I spent forever on our crew slides how. I am happy with how it turned out......but it would have been better if I didn't have to do most of it in 2 days...I seriously worked on it for 20hrs straight one day.....maybe if I get good ill put a little clip of it on youtube but I dont know if I am that talented.

Thats all I got for now...but I will post about the fire soon.

two in one day

For those of you who want to know more about my job or at least what wikpedia say about my job. Most of it is true but some of their definition just cracks me up

To see more go Here

A Hotshot Crew, or Hotshots as they are more colloquially known, is an elite group of highly trained wildland firefighters . They respond to the largest, highest-priority fires. Hotshots are organized not in "teams" but in "crews."

A Hotshot crew is a shared national resource that can respond to any fire emergency. As such, they are organized and funded by different government agencies including the USDA Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, and the National Park Service, various Native American tribes, and the states of Alaska and Utah; the National Interagency Fire Center in Idaho co-ordinates on the national level. Hotshot Crews began in Southern California in the late 1940s on the Cleveland and Angeles National Forest. The name was in reference to being in the hottest part of fires.

IHC's are often catagorized as arrogant, too often the impression is from a misunderstanding or an isolated incident. As a rule IHC's are some of our nations leading wildfire professionals and the work they perform is often the turning point on a fire.

Their specialty is wildfire suppression, but they are sometimes assigned other jobs, including search and rescue - like the Sacramento Hotshots - and disaster response assistance. Hotshots not busy fighting fire will also work to meet resource goals on their home units through thinning, prescribed fire implementation, habitat improvement or trail construction projects

Slacker

So yes I have been a blogging slacker lately. So here is a little Q& A for you all

1. So amy what have you been up to?
well not a whole lot, just trying to make it till the end of the season, without going insane

2. Well, when is the end of the season, and are you still fighting fires?
right now our tentative lay off date for the seasonals is Nov 8th. My lay off date will probably be 2 weeks after that, hopefully less. We are still available for fires but there aren't really any burning right now, so we have been sitting in station

3. What do you do while sitting in station?
we try to keep ourselves busy...sometimes we have lots of project work to do, but that isn't the case right now....most of the crew including myself are hoping for a big snowstorm our some crazy weather to hit us so we can get laid off sooner

4. Do you think you will go to another fire this year?
I am hoping that we will get an assignment back east...there are rumors that some crews got sent back east since there is still fairly high fire danger there.

5. what else have you been doing besides working?
well not a whole lot. I have found that I don't really enjoy drinking with the guys all that much anymore...its probably because it is the same thing every time...stand around a bonfire and tell the same stories over and over.... I think I have heard them all hundreds of times.

OK that's all I have for now. I am trying to decide if I want to go to fresno today. I am thinking of buying an external hard drive for my lap-top but haven't decided yet.....Also I think some of us may go to the Fresno state football game tomorrow so I dont know if I want to drive down today as well.

hmm such big decisions I have to make

End of the year video

Every year at the end of fire season the crew puts together a slideshow of the best photos of the season and a video with the best footage that has been taken. For the past few years I have been in charge of the slideshow, which I am doing again this year. One of the guys "Chuck" is in charge of the video and he went above and beyond and made a trailer for the video.....he posted it on you tube so I am going to try and put the link to it here on my blog we will see if it works.

it is just the beginnings of it. I have seen more and I think it is gonna be pretty good Enjoy!!!

ok so the link he had to youtube wouldn't work so try this instead.

Snow Day

Well as you can tell from the pictures we got snow up here in the park!! The second photo is one of us having a massive shoveling party so we could back our trucks up into there parking spots.
Yep Dee you and Vicki left at the right time. We got about three inches today.

We were working on some perscribed burn prep....pretty much just cutting down a bunch of dead trees...that is what we have been doing most of this week. We were hoping to burn it on Sunday but well now that might not happen. ok I should say will not happen.



what else have a I been up to not a whole lot...this week was a busy week even though we were in station the whole time...we had lots of stuff going on. I have been a lazy poster these days...it is hard becuase we have been getting off work later than normal and also because it gets dark so early now.

well that all I got for now enjoy the photos some are from our last couple of fires that I hadn't posted yet. Yes we had a small keg of rootbeer in the back of one of our buggies.....it was really foamy and kind of weird tasting but we still had fun trying to pour it while the truck was moving. the things we do to stay entertained.

The last photos is of a perscribed burn we did here in the park earlier this week.

Time for picture!!

I figured I couldn't just post about nothing so here is a photo of our 2007n Crew.... This was taken towards the start of the season....I don't know if it will become the offical crew photo or not we will have to see!!

Not much new

Well it seems like I dont have to much to report these days. Things have died down, but we are waiting to see what the rest of the season will hold. Right now the park is keeping us busy, they have some perscribed burns planned and they want us to help them with that. So hopefully they all happen because then that will keep us busy. I like getting the paychecks with lots of overtime on them...it is hard to go back to normal paychecks.

Well that is all I got, time to go back to having a lazy day off

Where oh where does the time go

I can't believe that it is almost the end of september.......time has flown by the last few months, but that is probably because we have been busy.

Here are some fun facts...

1. I have had 10 days off since june 24 (someone who works mon-friday has had 26)

2. We have worked almost 800 hrs of overtime so far.

3. Fire season is not over yet

4. On our last run we worked a 32 hr shift. yep 32 hrs in a row.

5. When I flew to idaho I drove 20 miles in 3 hours (more on this later)

6. It is supposed to snow today


Now for more on my last fire run.

Idaho:
Well getting there went smoothly........then I get on the freeway and am like crap why is there all this traffic....seee light up ahead decide it is just an accident no prob i will be moving soon....start moving and drive about 1/2 mile and get stuck in stop and go traffic....normally this wouldn't be a big deal but I am not driving a small truck and also it is not automatic.....plus with the seat pulled all the way up it is still hard from me to push the clutch all the way in and keep it there. Ok back to what happened. Turns out the freeway was closed a few mile up but I had no clue if my exit was between where I was and where the freeway was closed....finally I realize the cops are gonna make me get off so I exit, stop at a gas station and ask about the back roads... I think sweet I'll be moving soon. Nope everyone and thier mother was on the backroads...eventually I get moving but realize that it is to late to make it to where I wanted to stay (there are limited options on place to stay since there are no towns on thie hwy I was going to take) so I ended up staying about 25 miles outside of boise....no prob just had to get up and start drving earlier than I had planned

Moonlight fire:
This fire was on the plumas N.F. It was going pretty good when we go to it and it didn't want ot go out...we kept putting line in and it kept spotting over the line so we had to keep chasing spots...It ended up that we had to pull a 32 hour shift to watch the line to make sure it didn't spot anymore, there weren't that many resources there so that is why we had to stay and watch it. Dont worry after a few days of hard work we got the fire under control, well mother nature helped.

Butler 2 fire:
after about 8 days at the moonlight we go pulled off of it to head down south to a fire in the Mountains East of L.A It had potential to get big, but the winds helped us out and let us put line around it. Well it also helped that they were scared and called tons of hotshot crews to it. There were so many crews that is seemed like people were fighting to get a piece of dirt to work. Anyway there was a big storm coming in and we got rained on so they sent us home.


Now I am on day two of three days off. I am waiting for it to snow and enjoying being a bum.

Im back

Well we are back from the last fire run. .....and it has turned cold here in the park. It is supposed to snow today we will see what happens. Anyway just wanted to say hi. I will write more soon. I am off to town for the day.

My newest adventure

When I told you all about my trip to Idaho I suppose that I forgot to mention something.

Now I know you are all thinking that it is something fun and exciting............


well nope not really i just have to tell you about it because my newest adventure wouldn't make sense if I didn't

Anyway. On our way home we stopped in Boise to get our big crew rigs serviced. Right before we got to the place to fix them one of them started making a strange noise. When ever they would try to shift. Anyway we had them check it out and they didn't think that it would make it home. They weren't 100% sure what was wrong with it, but had a good idea it had something to do with the transmission. Anyway this was saturday of course no one would be working sun or monday so we had to leave the truck there for it it get fixed. We wented 2 minivans and that is how the 9 people who normally ride in the truck got back to our station.

So this leaves us down 1 truck and we really need those trucks to survive. So as soon as it is fixed we have to fly someone up there to get it and drive it back to wherever the crew may be at that time. Turns out that someone is me. I am leaving tommorow morning flying up to boise and starting to drive the trucks back. who knows where I will find the crew.

I am not a big fan of driving these trucks they are big and old and clunky and I am always afraid that they are going to die. But it will be good for me. I get a plane ride a hotel stay and lots of driving time.

Southern Cali is starting to burn again so I am sure that we will end up there. The crew goes back available at 8:00am so we will see where the dispatch is for.


Wish me luck on my driving adventure!!!!

Wildland Firefighters Foundation

So on our way home form idaho, we stopped in boise where the National Interagency Fire Center is located. It was saturday so most of it was shut down, But we got the chance to go in and see the Fallen Firefighters Memorial. I have always wanted to see and it was very moving to be able to go there. I wish it would have been spring so I could have seen all the wildflowers in bloom.





It was especially nice because the day before we got to meet the woman who runs the Wildland Firefighters foundation. Let me tell you she is a wonderful person...who cares so much about firefighters and the families that lose loved one on fires. She is amazing, I got the chance to see all the she does in 2004 when we lost Dan.....it just amazes me how much she does and how much she cares about everyone. It was awesome to see the WFF booth at a fire camp and to be able to meet some the people who do so much.




I was so excited to see a lot of the guys sign up for their 52 Club (which I have been a member of since 2004). Anyway this is my little plug...if you have a little extra cash just sitting there, the foundation could really use a little help. I normally don't go out and ask people to give their money away but this is something that I really care about.

Anyway if you wan't to learn more go here Wildland Firefighters Foundation

The proggession of a fire on the hill

Here are some photos of what I fire looks like as it progresses over an area. We were putting this fire on the ground what we call a burnout. Its purpose is to stop the main fire when it gets to the area that has already been burnt.

Multi Multi Multi Million Dollar Homes

Yep that pretty much sums up my last couple of weeks.

We were assigned for most of the two weeks to the Castle Rock fire near Ketchum Idaho.....or should I say Sun Valley Idaho (sun valley is the ski resort). Ketchum is a town where there seems to be a lot of really expensive houses and lets say that they drove the tactics that were used on this fire. It was a good run. There was lots of media attention. One morning we were in line for breakfast and there was a a CNN news reporter there reporting live....we could see our selves on his little TV it was kind of funny......as we were wating for eggs and potatoes and whatever else they had for us that morning lots of people were watching us.

Good news is that there weren't any homes lost to the fire.

Hmm what else can i say...besides that I wish I had enough money to afford on of the many beautiful homes that I saw.

ON the way home we stayed in Nevada...at one point on the run we were talking about drinking games and I introduced some of the guys to the idea of century club......I couldn't believe that most of them had never heard of it before. Anyway a group of them wanted to attempt it and thought that I should do it with them since it was my idea... I said what the hell.... I didn't think that I would make it to the end but I did...guess all those years at tech paid off

pictures to follow at a later time

Away We Go!!!!

Yep thats right we are off again......but it is not to the zaca fire!!!!!! Yes I am pretty amazed by this fact since the fire is still burning but nope we got a different order


it was really weird that we got this order because technically we weren't even back available for fires yet but hey I am not complaining.

Where are we off to you may ask????????

IDAHO!!!

yep we are finally leaving this state!!! As of right now we are not assigned to one fire in particular we are just going there so they have extra crews on hand...most likely as we get closer they will assign us to whatever fire need resources the most.

The best part is that it is a two day drive and that means a hotel stay...so by the time most of you read this I will be on my way to Idaho.



Talk to you all in about 2 weeks

adios!!!

ZACA...the little fire that wouldn't go out

Oh where do I start....I guess with a picture would be a good thing


I got a little bored this day and decided to take a panoramic photo of the helibase where we were waiting to get on a helicopter. The fire is currently blowing up and it turns out we didn't go in to the fire this day since what we were supposed to do didn't make sense anymore...this was also the day that they started putting evacuation orders into effect for an area that has homes near the helibase

Well we thought we had the Zaca fire almost contained but Zaca had other plans and those plans included blowing over containment lines and making more work for the rest of us.

I just got home from spending another 14 days on this fire...this run was a little different than some of the others to this fire....we got the chance to spend some days stagging and waiting to see what the fire did. This fire keeps "blowing up" as we call it which means that it makes big runs certain days and pretty much does its own thing. There are lots of stategies and plans for this fire but everyday something seems to happen and those plans change. I dont think this fire will be out until it gets rained on which could be a while...right now it is just burning brush that needs to burn but it does have the potential to head towards Santa Barbabra. ....At any rate I can see use going back there again.

I am ok with going back since we have been getting lots of overtime from this fire and also because sometimes it stuff like this happens


Also I am just finishing up having three paid days off...why haven't I posted sooner you ask...well that is because I have been at the beach enjoying myself and getting a tan.
My roommate Jessica and I drove to the coast and had a couple of nice relaxing days....our goal was to become golden brown...not sure if we succeeded but I didn't get burnt so that is good..






all right here are more pictures



In the first photo the saw teams are working their way thru the thick brush










Next is the smoke column from when we were hanging out that the helibase waiting to find out if we were flying into a helispot










Fire running up to a dozer line.. .the line is meant to stop the fire, this one pretty much did only a few slop overs that had to be taken care of hte next day.....we were about a mile or more away watching this.....we were up a lot higher so we had a good view






















Here is the column of smoke building behind us it was really interesting to watch all the different columns build up and try to pull other ones in....it was like everything around us was burning although we could only see a small part of it...dont worry we were sitting in a black burned area so we weren't at risk of getting burnt up.







Later that night we slept up on a helispot and had a good view of all the fire around us. Yes I took lots of pictures this time, there was lots of fire activity all around us and some






























Finnaly here is what you have all been waiting for a picture of me. yes I am dirty..we had been spiking out for 3 days which means sleeping out on the fire line...anyway when we got back to the helibase I had a nice dirt line going on. Dont worry I washed it off right after the picture was taken!

I almost forgot!!!!!

I can't believe that I almost forgot to post about this.......I have gotten my 50 fires!!!!!! I will soon be the second girl to make the 50 fire board...the first since 97.

Normally when we go back to a fire it doesn't count as a new fire but for some strange reason the Zaca fire did. After we left it went under different management and the started calling in the Zaca 2 fire. I didn't think we would count it as a new fire but I guess we did!!!!! That is the only good thing that came out of the zaca fire!!!! ok maybe there area few more but not many

My oh my

Well for some reason we haven't gotten reassinged and we are back in station for the time being!!
There are lots of fires so who knows why we are sitting I have given up trying to figure out the way things work

now on the the my oh my part of this post......well like I said we got to stay in a hotel last night but what I failed to mention is that there was a brewery a short walk away....The brewery had yummy food and tasty beer. It was nice to go there and relax. It was to bad that it closed at 9:30..... I was going to head home when it closed but everyone decided to go to another bar that was nearby so I figured why not. Well after we had been at that bar for awhile a bunch of guys from another hotshot crew came in and after a while they started talking to me and my roommate. It was quite fun to get some attention from guys that I dont work with......all in all it was a fun night and I didn't end up getting much sleep. Both jessica and I hope that it happens again

well off to waiting again. we will see

Zaca Redo

Well we went back to the zaca fire.....the one thing that I didin't want to happen...

But it turned out better than I had expected...we only worked three shifts on the fire line and we didn't have to hike as much as last time because we ended up "spiking out" as we call it. which means that we just sleep on the fire line and eat MRE's (which are the military rations) but lets just say we did a lot of handline construction and in lots of brush..any way we pretty much got the fire under control or at least we hope. Oh yeah I almost forgot we got to ride on a blackhawk helicopter today so that was something new


how you may ask am I on the computer telling you this...well we got demobed from this fire and are now available for reassingment and since we got demobbed late in the afternoon they put us up in a hotel room . Yep I am staying at a hotel...it is a super nice one too so that is pretty exciting......well that is all for know hopefully we go someplace out of state next!!!!

Part three Zaca Fire

Well this is where we spent the most of the time that I was gone..... the fire is still burning and there is a chance that we may go back....I do not want to go back!!!! So please think good thoughts about us heading to Idaho or Washington or even Nevada


anyway here is the best way to sum this fire up:


STEEP, STEEP STEEP= great looking leg muscles


HOT, HOT, HOT= one very sweaty sexy amy


LOTS & LOTS & LOTS & LOTS OF BRUSH= lots of work (very hard shifts with not much sleep and food)


EVEN MORE POSION OAK = one very itchy amy with not so nice looking skin



LOTS & LOTS & LOTS OF FIRE LINE TO CONSTRUCT= one very tired hotshot crew, especially since the commanders of this fire couldnt make up their minds about what strategy and tactics they wanted to use so they kept making us do all sorts of stuff

LARGE OF AMOUNTS OF POINTLESS WORK (or at least some of it seemed like pointless work= one hotshot crew that wants to go to a fire anywhere other than Southern CA.......if we go back I think that attitudes will hit a major low and that makes things not fun


Here is the link to most of the photos that I took


We go back available tomorrow so who knows when I will post again

P.S for all of you keeping track I need one more til I reach 50.......but if we go back to zaca it doesn't count it has to be one we haven't been to yet

part 2

The Rancho fire.....that would be the second fire that we went to in my time away from blogging..... Not much to say about that fire...we drove down to near santa barbara and got some sleep and then went out to the fire the next morning.....lets just say I dont think I saw any flames on this fire.....yep it was pretty much out. they used us for one shift we held the line and took care of any spots of heat that were near the line. IT was super hot out that day and it turned out it was cooler to stand out in the sun rather than be in the shade....there was a wind coming up the ridge so the wind made the day bearable. we were up on a hill where you could see a little RV park where there was a swimming pool so all day long we made up stories about what was going on at the Rv park. We drove home the next morining and got ready to wait for the next one...it wasn't to long that we had to wait....less than 24 hrs actually


stay tuned for part three and the pictures that go with it

The Fires Part 1

As promised I said that I would tell you all a little bit about the fires that I just got back from....well anyway the first fire that we went to was called that Angora Fire....it was located near lake tahoe. I am sure that most of you saw or read about it on the news. It was probably got the most media attention of all the fires that I have been on....since a bunch of house ended up burning...but if you have ever been to tahoe you will realize that the houses are in the forest and have tons of trees around them and even though it sucks that the houses burnt down sometimes you have to realize that when you build your house in the forest stuff life fires can happen

Anyway we got to the fire on the second day of the fire, after all the houses had burnt so it was pretty crazy. Anyway we helped prep some dozer line which is what we are doing in the photos below.



The second day was when things got kind of crazy. The fire did what we call "blowing up". Pretty much means that it got over the line and was running out of control for a little while. It was kind of crazy because everyone pretty much left the line and got out of the area in case the fire did anything else. when we noticed that things were changing somyself and 2 others hiked down to the trucks to move them in case the fire started moving our way. anyway it was interesting to me to be able to watch everything that was going on. The pictures from the previous post are when the fire was blowing up.

The craziest thing about this fire was that there was so much media around. this fire was right next to a town and it attracted people like crazy.....there were photogaphers hiding in the woods, walking on the fire line not wearing the proper clothing and all sorts of stuff. it was funny but annoying at the same time.



well stay tuned for more on the other fires

where have I been

Is what I am sure you are all asking...well to put it simply I have been working for the past 23 days....yes that is correct I just worked 23 days in a row...without any time off.

But the good news is that I have the next two days off...and I am getting paid for having them off.

We just came back today from the Zaca fire which is down by Santa Barbara. Before that we were on the Rancho fire which was also near Santa Barbara. and before that I was up on the Angora fire near lake tahoe. I have lots of pictures and stories to tell but I will tell them tommorow tonight I am going to go drink me a little and just chill. Stay tuned for more pictures and stories

but here are 2 photos from the angora fire

Toothbrush Party

So every year we have two planned parties on the crew. One after our first fire and one before the last day of the season. Anyway we tend to have a good time at these parties and this time I remebered to take some pictures here are a few for you viewing pleasure

Me and Clint (he works on the park engine) We have been friends for a long time. He lives up in the park housing so i go up and visit him when I need a break from life at the station

Paul and Jesse having a good time (it was jesse B-day)

Jesse becoming the gym teacher and making all the rookies do push ups. Yes he has his shirt tucked in and also has a whistle!!!!

Clint and I again later in the evening

Oscar and I
Oscar is one of the seasonals on the engine. I think we took this picture like 20 times. Clint kept making them blurry and oscar kept getting mad at him and making him take the picture over and over again.

No such luck

Well I am posting so that means that I am not on a fire. Yep that is right we didn't end up going ot Arizona. We left thursday morning drove an hour down the road and got a phone call saying that we were cancelled. The burn ended up being a no go....it was to dry and the helicopter that was needed ended up not being available. So yep I am sitting here waiting again. But the good news is that we had our annual toothbrush party on thurs night. I will post some pictures of the fun later.

Sitting waiting...but maybe not for long

So yes we are still here sitting and waiting for a fire dispatch....but the good news is that we may have on soon. It isn't to often that we find out a head of time that we might get a dispatch but we found out today that Saurgo NP in Arizona wants us to come to their park to help them do a prescribed fire.....yes I know it isn't a wildfire but right now we will take whatever we get. We are not 100% sure that we are going yet....we have to wait to see if a helicopter can commit to the burn and if they do we will leave Thursday morning for AZ.

Prescribed burns can be lots of fun and lots of work...sometimes they are more work than actual wildfire...like this one is a 10mile hike into it. Oh well. if we go we will be out of state and could even get sent to a fire on our drive to AZ

In other news I have a countdown here at work. We have a plaque in our training room that has the names of everyone on the crew that has gotten 50, 100, 150, 200 & 250 fires while on arrowhead. Well there aren't a ton of names on there(for it to count as a fire a bunch of stuff has to happen) and only one other girl so needless to say I really want to get my name on there.
Per scribed fires dont count so even though I would love to go do this burn I really want a wildfires because I am only 4 away from 50. So send good thoughts my way so I can get my 50.

oh yeah if you want to see some pictures of me at work go to my friend maura's blog (in the links)

Sitting waiting...but maybe not for long

Earthquake

So last night I wake up at like 12:30 and realize that it seemed like my cabin was kind of vibrating. And then I realize that my bunny ears for my TV are moving and taping the wall. I think wow one of the Sequoia's must have fallen down ( I have heard that they have quite and impact when they hit the ground) The one that I did experience falling down wasn't that big and it shook everything. So I think nothing of it and go back to sleep.

I wake up this morning and think was I dreaming last night. Then at breakfast one of the guys brought it up and I was like sweet I wasn't crazy. So maura our cook got and the internet and sure enough there were a bunch of earthquakes last night. For the most part they were all in the mountains and after a little reasearch it appears that the strongest one was like 4.6 So nothing to exciting

So now I have officially felt an earthquake. I hope this doesn't mean I have to consider my self a californian

yep Im blogging so no new fires for me

Goldedge Fire

I have just gotten back from our first fire of the season. We weren't there to long but we did our job and got the fire under control. The fire was located in the Sequoia N.F which is the forest next to our park. But it was on the south end of the forest so it wasa actually like 4 hrs away. It was a good first fire assingment. We put handline in the first day and then it go to a point where it was to steep to go any farther so we just had to wait and see what the fire decided to do. and well it made a run but we held our line no problem and it ran itself up into some really steep country and then pretty much ran out of fuel since it was all rocks.

The down side was that we held our line on a creek and well lets just say I saw some of the biggest posion oak plants that I have ever seen. I have gotten the oak but not nearly as bad as a lot of the guys on the crew. I lucked out and wasn't in there cutting line the first day. Sometimes we don't have a good place to park the trucks so we leave drivers with them. and I was one of the drivers this time. My job was to watch the fire and if it started coming towards where our trucks were to drive the trucks out so they didn't burn up. It was a boring job but it saved me from getting the oak as badly as I normally do.

Sorry no picture hopefully later I forgot to bring my camera up with me

now its back to the station and time to wait for the next one....hopefully it is soon. I need money

Available

Good news, we are now available for fire nationally!!!!!!!



That means we now just have to wait til we get a fire call. So if I disappear and you don't hear from me for awhile that means we have been dispatched to a fire. But if you want to check up on me to see where I am go to the arrowhead website

I have had enough time at station so I am hopping that we get our first call soon.

My roommate

So most of you who read this know that I was the only girl on the crew last year so that meant that I had a cabin to myself. Well not this year....they hired another girl. I am pretty excited because it is nice to have another girl around. She is younger 22 I believe but the funny thing is that she just got done going to school at Calvin College in Grand Rapids...

I am not sure what I think of her yet but she seems pretty cool. The only bad thing is that she snores sometimes...but as long as she doesn't go crazy or get super annoying like my last roommate I think that I can handle that.

Some pictures

For those of you who wanted to know what posion oak looks like here ya go. It looks different everytime I get it but here is what the spot on my leg currently looks like.







Last week on of the guys decided that he needed a new hairstyle so we gave him a mullet......yep a mullet and he still has it.











Then finally here is a photo of one of the guys wearing some old saftey glasses that we found. Nothing to exciting but just a few pictures.