Buck's Babble

June is here!  While the fire season may not have kicked off here in Humboldt county, everywhere else is pretty active.  Our forest is almost depleted and down to drawdown numbers.  All of this means its been majorly busy sending these crews, engines, and overhead resources to all parts of the country.  We have people in Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Alaska, Georgia, and Colorado.  Picking up some more overtime days (like today) which is nice.  Makes for shorter weekends but the extra money comes in handy 8) Running is still going strong, my form changing has been developing nicely and every run seems to get better and stronger.  Almost all the initial aches and pains I was expecting from reading SO much have disappeared and am feeling most excellent.  I have a local Six rivers Running Club run this Saturday called the Dow's Prairie Run 2m/6.1m.  I am going to run the 6.1 miler.  Its free, kickback, and should be fun, incorporating it...

The time is flying by.  May is here!  The fire season is set to kick off in this neck of the woods, and I can't wait for some business!  Winter has been boring, but the end of winter many thing changed the Humboldt lifestyle.  Running, hiking, a new car.  The car is probably by far the biggest of the bunch, as now I can explore around me the fullest, find new places and events to run, and discover hikes that take me deep into new territory.  My first race was May 1st.  The Avenue of the Giants.  I was signed up for the 10k.  My son, Sam came over with his buddy, Dalton and family, to run the half-marathon as part of their senior project.  This turned out awesome.  I got to pick up Sam in Eureka and spend the day with him.  We watched a parade in Eureka, went to the Baymont for sushi, mmmmmmm, checked out College of the Redwoods, drove down to the race to pick up our race packets, then returned for Sam's first look at Dad's new ...

Well this is long overdue post.  Helps my busy-mind to write this stuff, bear with me.  Winter in Humboldt has been very wet.  I love the rain but you need a break once in awhile, sheesh!  Made a batch of beer, an Oktoberfest, which was so awesome to be brewing again, gonna keep it going strong.  Ber turned out good, little over-carbonated, little weak on the alcohol (~4%) but 2 cases of good beer for around $25, can't beat it. For the whole month of January I went to Ione, CA for the ECC dispatch academy.  Ione is a Calif State CalFire place, with a smidgen of Feds thrown in for good measure. Hmm how to describe a month at Ione....not possible.  It sucked but passed with flying colors.  Went to the sisters every weekend and being with family made the trip worth it.  Very nice.  Awesome at the Bolle's, great family!  Congratulations to John for his promotion, Christy will be close behind whether she wants it or not! Now this month I...

A lot going on even though things are slowing down, work at least, and things are shifting to winter mode. I needed to throw out an update because it is overdue. So our fire season is over and seasonal employees have been laid off. The forest has shifted into its winter mode and this means a few changes for us in dispatch. One change is our schedule. We can now come in at 0700 and work our 10 hours. Getting off at 1730 (5:30 pm) is nicer than 1830 when most has closed in town. A lot of our daily routine has been eliminated and now we are working on projects geared towards next year's season. Prescribed burning is in high gear as we burn fuels and clean up the forest to keep it healthy and lessen the possibility of severe fires in specified areas. The weather has been the defining element to the end of our fire season and the rain has arrived to Humboldt County. I've already had a few early morning dark and wet bike rides to work. My schedule also changed in the days I work. Ins...

So here's the weather that I read every day on my on-days, over the radio This is for today June3, 2010 ".DISCUSSION... A WARM FRONT WILL PRODUCE LIGHT RAIN ACROSS THE DISTRICT THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING. GUSTY SOUTH WINDS WILL DEVELOP OVER NORTHERN PORTIONS TONIGHT AHEAD OF AN APPROACHING COLD FRONT. THE COLD FRONT WILL BRING WETTING RAINS TONIGHT AND FRIDAY MORNING. DRIER CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED SATURDAY. CAZ201-040130- NORTH COAST STRIP...FROM OREGON BORDER TO ROCKPORT CONSISTING OF COASTAL SECTIONS OF DEL NORTE...HUMBOLDT...AND A SMALL PORTION OF MENDOCINO COUNTY. INCLUDES PORTIONS OF CA NPS AND REDWOOD PARKS.- 231 AM PDT THU JUN 3 2010 .TODAY... SKY/WEATHER.........ISOLATED SHOWERS IN THE MORNING. PATCHY FOG AND DRIZZLE IN THE MORNING. RAIN IN THE AFTERNOON. MAX TEMPERATURE.....58-66 AT THE COAST...63-71 INLAND. 24 HR TREND......LITTLE CHANGE. MIN HUMIDITY........84-94 PERCENT AT THE COAST...63-73 PERCENT ...

So here we go. Off on a new adventure; new place, new job, new everything. As you may or may not know, I was working part-time as a dispatcher for my police department. Part-time sucks; good check one week, small pay check the next. With no sign of a full-time position opening up anytime soon, I had begun looking for full-time work. Out of the blue, a position was listed on the Forest Service site for a full-time Fire Dispatcher (the exact thing my wife does) in Fortuna, CA. I decided to apply and felt that I was highly qualified with my past fire-fighting experience. One day while working I got a call to see whether I was still interested in the job. I stated 'yes' and a few hours later a call came in stating I had been accepted for the position. The wife and I had talked extensively prior to this about all of the ramifications: how would our kids do if I took this job, how would we do, etc. Well the job is a big pay raise from my police dispatching job, with full bene...

So its been awhile since I posted anything and there's nothing like a graveyard shift to catch up. My moods might swing one way or the other during this posting depending on what calls I get. OK so far since starting this I've gotten 3 911 calls for stupid-ass shit involving the same dumb-asses. We should have a frequent flyer card for our regulars. Each call they get this card punched. After their card gets filled up they are subjected to an old-school whoopin with batons.>. Breathe OK back to blogging. Since my last blog, actually alot has happened. My son has turned 17, my daughter has turned 15, and we had our 20th anniversary! My son got his decked out Letterman's jacket for his birthday. My daughter got a trip with dad up to Oregon for some shopping and ice-skating. Our anniversary was uneventful and I actually think one or both of us was working. Been snowboarding only a couple of times this year. A downfall of having only one vehicle in the family. However one of...

Last of 2009 is done and gone and a new year of wonderful memories and happy times are here! Happy New Year to everyone. December was a good month for us. The holidays are always nice because everyone is home and out of school so there is lots to do. The weather finally turned cold, we got our first snows, and the wood stove is churning away. Somehow I keep getting sufficient hours at work, I just get the sucky ones. Like graveyards the 2 nights before Xmas. So speaking of this, I got off work at 0700 on Xmas morning, got home, did the presents thing at home with the kids, than we all piled into the car and drove 4 hours to my sister's in Vacaville to spend a day or two with family. It was awesome! Got to see my sister who is now closer and stationed in the states. Got to see my dad who came from Alabama. So overall great times. Also got to see Uncle John who looks fantastic. We got the full tour of Travis AFB from my sister who is the airfield manager (or something impo...

November is here and now almost gone. I'm bored on a graveyard shift and decided to babble a few minutes and update family and friends on anything new, which isn't much. Samuel has finished his Cross Country season and it went great. He really enjoyed the season and it was his first season running the long distances of cross country. He handled it, literally, in stride. The season was marred by the unexpected death of one runner from their time while at an event. Chris Lopez will be in our hearts forever. At the awards event at the end of the season Samuel won the first annual Chris Lopez award. It was touching and brought those tears to my eyes. I hate crying in public but, man, I almost lost it a few times that night. Again, Sam's latest report card was a perfect 4.0 with all As. So proud of you Sam! Emily has been doing great as well. She did not do any sports this season but really helped out by doing a lot of mom and my chores around the house. These always...

So June has come and almost gone and I'm working a graveyard, loathing with nervous energy (and a little angry) so thought I'd throw out a quick update, which I promised to try and put out more often, for my sanity if anything. Even though its not officially summer, the weather has been most unusual for this time of year. Usually we've had temperatures in the 90s by now. So far we've had nothing but rain, constantly. I won't complain though becuase it has really helped the garden and new grass. This years plantings: so we started off by planting grass in the very backyard. The area used to be all dirt, a muddy mess in the rain, and looked awful. I prepped the ground a little (rototill and levelling) but nothing too fancy. With the help of the rain it is now the fullest and greenest of all the grass at the house. In the garden we have growing very strongly: tomatoes (cherry and biguns), zucchini, onions (big and little), pumpkins, bell peppers, and habanero p...

The year is flying by already before it even seemed to begin. Life progresses on its course. The weather doesn't seem too May-like around Siskiyou County: very rainy and cold. It hasn't hurt growth, however. Our lilacs are blooming beautiful and oh-so fragrant flowers which the wife has all over the house in containers. I planted grass from seed in a large area in our backyard and the rain has really helped it literally explode through the ground. Some garden herbs have been planted but the majority of the garden is still in my head until the rain stops. As usual our garden focuses on salsa ingredients which we make by the gallons in the summer. Dispatch work has been steady. Part-time sucks for the simple fact that I rely on others to take time off for me to get work and with only 6 full-time dispatchers, I worry about getting my time. But so far, I haven't had to worry, and take everything I can get, even if that leads to some long stretches and mixed hours. I c...