TFC DAY #4

Lesson #4:  Texas tv channels are super weird.
i was trying to find like a music channel or something on tv, since there is nothing to do in the horrible town of midland, and i had No idea how to use the tv.  there were 6 channel 11's and they were all playing different things!

this was also our first day in the sun.  since we got there on the weekend, and then the holiday, the people at the place we were staging weren't working, so we got to park under their awnings.  but they came back, so we had to park out in the sun.  it was warm. 

when we went to lunch i was noticing the street names.  very strange, indeed:  cuthbert, midkiff, scharbauer, and my favorite, and also the main street: wadley.


we finally got called to a fire near a town called marfa.  are you serious? marfa? 

anyways.  i didn't know if we'd be back again, so i took some photos of our jail as we were leaving.

this is where we parked in the sun

from here you can see the entire jail, and how isolated we were...

we drove the billion hours to marfa and found the fire, which we helped mop up for exactly 2 hours.   no more, no less.  i saw my first hill on the drive and then i saw a few more at the fire, where i had to walk through spiky joshua trees (i'm pretty sure that's what they're called) with the hose.

some nice, very typical texas scenery

more nice texas scenery

first hill.  pretty much to scale.  that's me in my fire gear.  pretend you know what i'm talking about.

please note that the black things by my eyes are eyelashes not wrinkles.  thanks.

the pretty picture i thought was lost was found!  the evil joshua trees.

we had to drive another billion hours to a town we passed on the way to the fire to get a hotel for some odd reason.  it was midnight by the time we got there and we were supposed to be ready by 7 the next morning.  the most horrible experience of my life happened in fort stockton, the worst town in the world, by far.  but that's another story for another day. 

TFC DAY #3

in fire, in order to move up the make-more-money ladder, you have to get signed off on task books, which means you have been trained accordingly for each position, say a squad boss, for example, where you would be in charge of about 5 people on a fire. 
anyways, i opened my own texas staging task book.  i only got signed off one one thing.  "fetching the perfect bag of ice for our cooler".  i got specifically not signed off on being the backer for the engine, since every time i did it, whoever was driving ended up parked crooked.  i personally think it was because they weren't following my backing signals.

Lesson #3:  Pumps
i was already in the middle of completing a pumps class on our own district, but timmy decided to give me another class anyways, since we had nothing else to do.  then he quizzed me on how to start the pump on the engine, and all these other really random things. 

Lesson #3.5:  Rolling Hose - failed
i know how to roll hose.  i'm actually really good at it.  mine is always the straightest in a roll, or the smallest butterfly. 
rolling hose onto a reel is a Completely different animal.  i could. not. do it.  it was horrible.  every time i tried to roll it, it would end up getting jammed in and then someone with big muscles would have to pull it out and get it unstuck.

also, i was one minute late, which timmy said equaled 50 pushups.  i never did them.  hah. showed him.

TFC DAY #2

we spent the second day checking in to our "fire" in merkel (aka parking lot/prison/grounds/call them whatever you want), and driving to midland.  which is some serious driving.  also, the town names in texas are very strange.

since we were driving so much, and since i was in the back seat, i decided to just get comfy and take a nap.  timmy was like, "well i guess claire found her new room"...

when we finally made it to midland, we went straight to the parking lot and parked, and that was the start of our staging.  in 95 degree (at least!) heat.  we just laid around all day, and then after dinner we were forced to have a bean bag throwing tournament.  i got kicked off the team because i wanted to name us (preferrably the fluffy kitties, but i was willing to compromise with the fuzzy bears or something more masculine).  i almost got grounded to the truck because i said i would be their cheerleader instead.

when it got dark (we were "working" until midnight), we got out and some of us were playing frisbee.  i was just standing watching, because i can neither catch nor (notice how smart i sounded there?) throw a frisbee.  and suddenly something so giant landed on my head that i could barely hold it up.  timmy said to me "claire what's on your head?"  i started screaming and trying to get it off.  about 10 minutes later my head started getting heavy again.  i felt my forehead and the hugest bug bite i have ever felt was on my face!  i'm pretty sure it was a vampire bite.  with a hint of west nile. 

also, i'm pretty sure my eyes were sweating the entire time.  they also had these infecty looking red rings around the color parts...
after we got off "work", we went to our hotel where i had the most beautiful hotel room i have ever seen.  there was a king size bed just for me, plus it was clean!

my home for 15(?) days

TFC (like kfc, only better) DAY #1

i am finally writing my stories about texas.  i have kind of been putting it off because i'm Insanely ready to be done with fire right now.  lucky, since i only have 2 days left. 

__________________________________________

on day #1 we had to hurry and get to the shop so we could wait for two hours to leave to the airport, where we could wait another 45 minutes.

hence, lesson #1:  HURRY UP AND WAIT.  a crucial element of fire fighting.

and lesson #2:  ALWAYS SAVE RECEIPTS.  the forest service gives you back the money you spend on hotels and baggage checks.  but only if you have your receipts.
     (i ended up losing one of my baggage receipts,
     and was really sad because i would of been out
     $60, but then i found it in the trash!  it looked
     like a boarding pass instead of a receipt...)


anyways.  the three flights were lovely.  my stomach especially enjoyed the first of the three.  in my throat!  smallest plane i've ever been on.  10 rows (i think) and one seat on each side of the aisle.  it was ridiculous.  and they said it was a smooth flight!!!

we met the other guys that were on the engine in abilene, where we flew into, at the hotel.  my room wasn't clean.  olive garden leftovers on the table and everything.  great...  i can already tell it's going to be a great roll (roll: the equivilant of your 14 days plus or minus a couple for travel that you are on a specific fire)

view from the baby plane

georgia o'keefe, the second

my orchid just bloomed - for the first time since i got it, a year and a half ago!  very exciting. 
they were so perfect the other day, so i started some georgia o'keefe training.

 even the ones that are dying are pretty.

haiku of the day:

i hate being sick
how do i make some money
if i'm stuck at home??