Buck's Babble

Just added a bunch of pictures at Yahoo around the house. Kids art, floewrs, garden and more. Enjoy!!

So what goes on in the head of chef Tom? What kind of foods do I make? Well, I usually do the cooking so nothing real new there. But I thought I might share some of our family meals; just because.....I don't know. Shit! For the hell of it!! Let's start with this week. By the way, these are all dinners. The rest of the meals you're on your own. Sunday- Bowls of chicken noodle soup (cus I was feeling bad), pasta salad, and mixed fruit Monday-- Fish fillets, mixed veggies (corn, carrots, lima, green), mixed fruit Tonight-- BBQ chicken and curly noodles with white cheese sauce (Ragu), and probably some veggies (we buy a lot of small frozen bags of veggies until the garden starts producing.) Meals are pretty basic, usually a meat, veggies, and some pasta/stuffing/potato item. These certain tater-tots we get from Winco are absolutely awesome and they are a very common side. Most meats are cooked on the grill outside which is most nights. One night a week is Papa Murph...

Please remember all those of those brave souls who have given their lives so that we can sit on our ass and think freedom. Our children, heading off to who knows where, to do who knows what. They have no idea what they are getting themselves into nor the ultimate price they may pay. War is stupid and when we fight for false reasons its even worse. But our soldiers don't care. They follow the orders given and suffer the consequences. That's their job and their life. For those who support our troops, or support the war, take your sticker off your car and you go to Iraq and fight! You have no idea what your supporting or what these young kids have to go through. Let's bring em home so we don't have to remember any more on this tragic day. Bring em home so they can enjoy the freedoms they are fighting for. So don't just remember the brave souls who gave the ultimate sacrifice but honor their battles by getting your head out from under the covers and find out ...

So Ang has been chasing lightning strikes the last few days. That involves usually trying to find that wisp of smoke from a tree or something. Today it was a huge Ponderosa and it was so round they had to call in a professional faller with a 36" bar. She said she's never seen anything so big in her entire life come crashing down. Then they chop it up, spray it, etc. Of course nothings close and they really had to hump it in to get to the tree, which was on the side of some mountain, naturally. She has been working 10-15 hours days since Thursday. They'll head back to the tree tomorrow to pick up line and finish any mop up. She sounded really tired and dirty. All she wanted was to cram something in her mouth, take a shower, and crash for the night. So proud of her! Stay safe Ang! I love you.

Lava Bed trip photos are now at Yahoo photos. I createed the certificate and ordered one for everyone who was in my group.

Wake me up......when September ends! don't wanna be an American idiot!

Still learning this blogger stuff. Its really cool. Sometimes I click on the upper right 'next' and just browse through other people's blogs. Anyway, fixed the comments problem so anyone can comment if they want. I like this blogger so I will be learning and implementing the other things eventually.

Lava beds trip was awesome. It never ceases to amaze me how in awe these kids are after getting into these caves for the first time in their life. These caves are truly awesome. It was hot and I think I got a little heat cus I had a splitting headache when I got home and slept most of the way home. Probably just too much driving. Lava Beds is about another 45 minutes out Ang's way. I've been doing so much driving out that way over the last week and a half that I'm burned out. Gonna do nothing this weekend except for one contract I wanted to get done. Ang's crew has been working mop up on their control burn from the other day. They were also on lightning alert since we had some pretty gnarly storms go through today. I got home today where it was like 90 all day and muggy. Then the storm clouds roll over and let loose with marble-sized hail for like 30 minutes followed by a torrential downpour for another 45 minutes. It was crazy. Garden probably loved it. C...

I worked half the day and the kids stayed home to visit with mom. She ran some errands, cleaned a little (I wouldn't let her do much) and visit with people. I couldn't drive her and then head back there again the next day for Lava Beds so I let her take the car. I've got the truck until her next days off. Schools out for now so no trips to the wild city of Weed. Ang was real battered and bruised but in very high spirits. Its like one of those days where you totally destroy your body with hard work, and your exhausted but feel so great and alive! Think that's kinda what she's experiencing right now. School funds are running out for me (I can only take courses approved by VA for a specific program) so I've pretty much exhausted my course selection at COS. So I'm petitioning for my AA for end of this Fall semester. Funds will be cut in half during summer and fall so I'm stressing on what I'm gonna do. Pick up on business or start looking for...

Wow, its late and I'm beat! Ang was supposed to get off at 600 but she was at a big control burn they were doing (45-55 acres) and ended up getting off at about 930. She smelled awesome..like a burning bush. Grubby, hungry, and beautiful! Hour later got back to Yreka, stopped for chow at Denny's and now for a relaxing day off. Ang will relax with the kids and I'm going to be working most of my contracts tomorrow (4 yards, 1 business). Friday is the Lava Beds trip for me with Emily's class. This will be my second. I'm excited. Barely keep my eyes open. Bye.

Posted all of our Juanita Lake pictures on the Yahoo site. Check em out! They're great. 2 finals done, 2 to go tomorrow in Weed. Cramming all day today and tonight. Get to pick up Ang tomorrow for a couple of days of back at home rest! Can't wait. Everyone is excited.

The Star Wars circle has been complete. I first saw Star Wars for my 8th birthday (I think) and have followed ever since. I am now complete. I knew love would be the reason for Anakin's turn as soon as he fell for Amidala in I. So, why is the light side associated with no love while it takes the dark side to embrace the passion? Why did the Jedi have to torture a man's natural needs by restricting his own emotions? Embrace elements of both sides and use the powers from each. Whatever. One final down, 3 to go. XBox 360 coming out Holiday season. Gonna be absolutely incredible machine with computing power more than my present computer. Will replace the DVD player, be a photo viewer, music box, gaming, online marketplace, and a lot more. The games are going to look and do look incredible. E305 really showed some great stuff. PS3 is looking excellent too but I'm an XBox player now after enjoying the great online play and community. Women produce anywhere form 75-90 percent of t...

Wow. Left Friday after the kids got home. I spent the day getting packed for camping and making a batch of cookies for Ang. Got up there about 5 and Ang was still working so we drove to Juanita Lake and reserved a spot. Its about 8 miles from her station. She ended up getting off at 6. Talk about exhausted! She looked totaled but in great spirits. She and the hotshots spent the day planting around 1800 trees on mountains steeper than Ang has ever been on. She's really working her ass off and again thanks everyone who helped with her boots cus the good boots are really paying off in this terrain. Today (Sunday) they spent the morning hiking 'The Rock" which sounded like some torture regimen the way she was describing it! Anyway, back to the trip. We gobbled Ang and headed for our campsite, where Sam and I had already set up the tent. At about 6,000 feet it was still pretty cold and we had a great fire going with wood I brought. I made pork and beans with cocktail sausages t...

Today was my work day. Hit all my yards and damn, they're looking good. The constant rain and early season has helped my business a lot. Ang has been busy training every day. They are all getting their refresher courses on things like chainsaw, wildland fire, the engine, medical, etc. She seems to like it so far but both of us hate the distance. We're going to visit tomorrow and stay the night at Juanita Lake which is a beautiful lake about 6-7 miles from her station. We'll be coming back late Saturday and then I have to deal with trying to get Sam and I to the Star Wars movie. Can't wait! Ang finally has a roommate. She works in wildlife and does something with the owls. Most of my classes are complete in terms of homework and now all I have to do are my finals next week. Can't wait to get done. Been keeping in tune with Iraq more with the Bolle clan over there. Really disappointed in what the whole Iraq thing turned out to be. Could have helped a lot of countries ...

This is going to be one long summer. I'm already mentally exhausted and ready to go nuts. Finals next week in all 4 classes doesn't help one bit! Got a big test tomorrow so this is my only info today. Lonely and missing my angel.

Today was Ang's first day and boy did she sound like she had a full one. The day started with lots of introductions and get to know the crew. Then she took the pack test I mentioned in another post. About 40 people were in the test and she came in 4th. Let it be known these were ALL men, she was the only female, and most were in their twenties! She did awesome! The rest of the day was spent filling out endless paperwork and getting her gear and uniforms issued. She still has the cottage to herself and probably won't have any roommates until the archaeologists and wildlife people show up later in the season. It gets windy there and today was no exception. It rained and was very windy, both there and here in Yreka. I survived my day but its still not over. I've got some laundry going and working on homework in between loads. Kids, as usual, are pretty maintenance-free. My only worry with them is trying to make sure they eat dinner and get to bed on time. They're always so...

First morning getting up with the kids. I woke at 630 and really enjoyed hitting the snooze button a couple of times. Kids got up great and really helped out by doing their new morning chores. Animals got fed and living room got vacuumed. Awesome kids. I'm getting ready for my class this morning, Statistics. This has been a hardcore math class and not my favorite. I'm holding a mid-B somehow but should go down after finals. Working on a project in this class right now. I have 4 classes this semester and this math class is my only classroom course; the rest are online. Right after I was accepted to Chico State University I decided not to go. My GIBill money ends in June of next year and I would need 2 more full years to get my BA. So I'm focusing on getting 1, maybe 2, AAs through COS here. Been a great college to attend and recommend it to anyone wanting to take some courses. Ang starts work at 800 so she's probably all excited for her first day. I'll let you know h...

Ang is off to her new job. We drove out there, about 50 minutes, and spent about 4 hours at her new station. Its pretty cool. There are around 7-8 cottages which each are like 3 bedroom houses for 4-6 people. They each have kitchens, 1 bath, living room, washers, etc. Most the basics. Not bad....little dirty but we changed that some at least. The station is in Mt Hebron, which is a town with population--a few cows. During the summer the station staffing is around 40-50, so thats a pretty active base camp. Looks like they have a few engines, hand crews, or hotshots, tenders. I think she'll be in good hands. Her engine is a one year old International, 500 gallons, and huge! I should have new pictures of her station on the Yahoo photo page, so check them out. We already miss her around here. Especially the animals, they've been very spoiled. Ang will be working 6 days on, one off for the first 6 weeks so we're gonna go out and visit her on her day off and go camping instead of...