What a fun week! On Monday 3 of us were scheduled for a first aid class. We thought it was in the class room on our compound, so we sat around the office until the last minute. Turns out, we were supposed to be in Sonora, 45 minutes away. Since we were so late, the only seats open were right in front. At least were first for all the practice blocks. I got to meet several other forest service workers, so it wasn’t too bad. Even though I’ve done first aid and buddy care classes for the Air Force for 28 years, I actually learned some new stuff this time. Instead of sucking chest wounds and impaled objects, this class covered what to do if someone has an epileptic seizure or diabetic coma. On Tuesday we finally got to take the ATV class. It was so much fun! We went to a clearing way out in the middle of nowhere and did different drills like riding figure 8 patterns around cones, (harder then it sounds, those things are hard to do sharp turns on), driving over logs, up and down hills...

Yes, I know I’m a week behind, I’ve been busy!   Last week work was really boring.   All we did was paint signs, over and over again.   They are 2 tone signs - brown background, yellow letters - yellow background, brown letters.   These signs have been out in the weather and they need sprucing up.   We sand them down and sometimes re-router the letters, then paint.   The letters are the problem, it’s almost impossible not to get the background paint in the letter paint and vice versa.   So, we paint the background, then the letter, then touch up the background, then touch up the letters, then touch up the touch ups, then fix those smudges with more paint. The paint dries really fast, and is super thick, so you have to keep washing out the tiny brushes and refill our tiny containers with fresh paint.   To break up the monotony, I cleaned the entire shop one afternoon.   My boss Charlie mentioned that he was tired of people working on projec...

I can’t believe these crazy kids from the CCC.   They are camping above me and I rarely see them.   I was home early the other day and I watched them all hike right through my clearing on the way to the river.   Apparently, they work all day then clean up down there, in the freezing water!   I watched them straggle back with towels thrown over their shoulder and wet hair.   They are a tough group!   It’s pretty cold at night, I woke up yesterday with no water because the hose was frozen, it’s that cold at night and they are sleeping in tents.   Last night was a ‘super’ full moon, the one day a year when the moon is closest to the earth.   My whole clearing was lit up, it was so bright!   When I took Brutus out before bed, I could see my shadow. It was beautiful.   (The clearing, not my shadow) I’ve been hiking a lot in the area around where I live, but there is one trail I heard about that I just can’t find.   It’s supposed ...

My first volunteer week was tough!   I showed up to work   and immediately went to a staff meeting.   Now, I thought I was all done with that particular form of torture.    Had I known it would be a 2 hour staff meeting, I would have insisted on bringing my own ice pick!   (In my former work circles, when faced with a meeting/class/anything long and boring, we say I wish I had a ice pick to stab in my eye to put me out of my misery)   But this wasn’t too bad - and they brought muffins.    Of course I had no idea what they were talking about, but some of the stuff sounded interesting.   My ears really perked up when they talked about blowing up a rock that had become a hazard.   Can’t wait for that!   OK, not the big bang one would like to see, more like a little poof, but blowing something up is blowing something up and I want to see it!   During my 3 days of work, Kim and I drove around, putting 60-100 miles on the f...