Buck's Babble

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...

My 1st assignments have happened finally and so off I've been! My 1st assignment sent me over to the Klamath National Forest for some lightning fires. This was going back home for me and I got to see the family and even stay at home. YAY!! When I go I work in whats called expanded dispatch. We have computers and when the incident commander requests resources (like engines, handcrews, overhead) we use the computer to find people either in the forest or anywhere in the country and they travel to the fire to do their specific job. These jobs range from dispatch stuff, engine crews, handcrews, time recorders, safety people, etc. Yreka Dispatch and everything that handles fires are some squared-away group. When I showed up everything was in order and transitioning into work-mode was easy and seamless. The group working was made of retired folks as well as regular employees, and totalled about 5-6 people in expanded. Usually one handles orders for overhead, one for crews, one fo...

Thighs are starting to complain about not getting enough recoup time before I torture them some more. Lotta beer keepin me company over here. Not sure of their attraction to me. Kiln-basted tea container and a coastal breeze. Fresh picked raspberries crawling all over my food. Swaying shadows know their ways, laugh at mine. So insignificant on this huge planet we are. Amazing how much significance people try to make when nature makes it/us insignificant by comparison. Learn to flex amidst her, move among her, welcome and be inspired by her. Stand in awe of her and respect her. Simple concepts that people have mostly forgotten and abandoned. My eyes boggle at beauty; Heart throbs with love; Mind bends with memories. I love the memories of my beautiful family. They keep me going. Changing times leads to changing minds. As one family, our minds are eternally combined, our lives everlasting entwined. A single voice, a single text, sends me instantly to your side. Long nights...

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 ...

Rainin pretty good today. Determined to finally get a good bike-riding rain experience, I took off.Stopped short at work, cpl a stops landed me at the brewery. Started with a Triple-X. basket a fries,l a Stout, and decided that even without my normal pack I carry with the bike, I could get a growler home without breakin it. It was/is pouring by that time so I sloshed my way home, walked up the hill. Porter, the f4ral cat at the brewery, kept me company. The growler made it home. Their triple X, or Triple Exhulation but I ended up with a growler of *()&%**$%%commons, thats all I remember. Tucked it in a inner mesh-pocket of my jacket, it got a little rattled but made it safe n sound. Rain was awesome, not so cold as I'm used to. Growlers are about a 5 pint bottle that you can bring in and get refilled for a discount. Nice cus i wouldnt have to be recylclin 6pack of bottle every week; can just go for the refill! Would a been much easier with the pack.

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...