43 YEARS---HOLY SMOKE WHERE DID THE TIME GO?

43 years ago I married an amazing woman. Together we made it through seven kids and a lot of rough times---as well as a lot of good ones. She survived me riding race horses and riding bucking bulls and a lot of other rather stupid things. But she hung in there even when times were tough. I look at these photos and can't believe how young we were. I am really happy that she hung in there with me.

Lately I have been telling people this was taken when I was in the seventh grade. Not true but it sure seems like the time has flown. In hindsight we probably did OK.

CAN'T THINK OF ANYONE I WOULD RATHER HAVE DONE THIS WITH!!!!

LEAF RIDE NUMBER 2

Went for our second leaf ride yesterday. I think it is the first time we have been on this mountain together this year. I went up and watched them burn where the first picture is taken and helped put that fire out after it escaped but that's not the same as just riding and looking at the wonders of nature.

I know the hunting seasons are upon us but I was surprised to see the deer all with their winter coats and not a single reddish hair on their sleek bodies. It reminds me that winter isn't all that far away. We could have significant snow in a couple of weeks. That would suck big time.

I love the opportunity to just go to our National Forests and just enjoy the surroundings. This is the only nation in the world that had the foresight to set some lands aside for all the citizens (and others if they so choose) to enjoy without fees or fear of being run off by the land owner.

THANK YOU TEDDY ROOSEVELT!!!!! BITE ME ROB BISHOP AND GARY HERBERT!!!

FALL'S A COMIN'

Took a little ride Sunday afternoon with Inklings to a lake near where we live. I was thinking the leaves would all be turned and it would be a great time to see all the leaves. Last year we were a little late getting out---this year a little early but we'll for sure take another ride this fall. As you can see by the pictures a few of the trees have turned but the majority are still green. I love seeing the fall colors.





LOOKIN' FORWARD TO THE NEXT GO 'ROUND!!!!!

THE END OF FIRE SEASON 2012

Just got home from the 6203 acre Gilead Fire in Buffalo, WY. It was an awesome run. The operations group did a great burnout that brought the fire down to a fire line constructed by a dozer along the grass at the bottom of the slope. It was a textbook burnout operation and we finished up two days later and headed for home.

Fall was definitely in the air---high 30's and low 40's every night. My comforter wasn't enough to sleep warm.



THIS WAS A GREAT ASSIGNMENT FOR ME. HAD A GREAT TIME AND DID GOOD.

BUSY TIMES

The last two weeks have been really busy for us. I went to the 270,683 acre Rush fire just outside of Susanville, CA for 7 days. When I returned Inklings had found a car in a northern city that met all the things I wanted in a car we would buy so she came up to the airport and picked me up. We spent Monday night with our daughter and her husband so we didn't have so far to travel the next day to buy the car.

We had been gone from our daughter's house about thirty minutes when we got a call telling us that the lady we were buying the car from wasn't going to be able to do the sale until the next day. We decided that would be OK and that we would spend Tuesday night with one of our daughters and a granddaughter. So we continued our trip north.

When we got there we visited with two of our daughters and found that they were taking a memory trip with their girls in a rented Mustang convertible to the beach at a nearby lake. They asked us to go with them so we did. They didn't have enough seat belts in the Mustang for all the girls to ride in it at once so they took two cars. That made it so that we all traded around and rode in both the cars and visited with all the little girls and each of our daughters. It was a fun but tiring trip for me and for the little girls. We got home and went to bed quite quickly as I was very tired.

Wednesday morning we got up and took our daughters child to her baby sitter and then went to the agreed on location and bought the car. (The lady wouldn't sell it to us until after I looked at it even though it was a car that met all of our needs and, in fact, was one of the cars I was looking at buying.) As soon as we bought the car we went to the courthouse and purchased a temporary license and paid the required taxes. As soon as that was done I headed for home in the new car and Inklings was going to follow later after she did some shopping in the old one. I was to stop at the daughters house that we stayed with the first night so she could see our new car. I stopped and visited for a while but got nervous because Inklings and I had not discussed if she was going to stop there or not so I headed for home. Inklings got there about half an hour later and had a good visit before she continued the drive home. We both got home about dinner time and had a great trip.

Thursday Inklings did my fire laundry and I repacked my fire bags and got everything ready to go again. After that we picked the vegetables from the garden, weeded it and found some neighbors that were interested in taking some of the produce off our hands. It was good to get the garden taken care of since it had nearly got away from us in the two weeks it didn't get the care it should have.

Friday I took our old car to our mechanics who had asked about six months earlier if we were going to trade for a new car soon. We told them we were going to try to get a new car this fall if I made enough money from the fires. They told us they would be interested in buying our old car for a loaner at their business if we could agree on a price. When I got there I told them what we had decided was a fair price for the car---they agreed and wrote me a check on the spot. We went home and took the title back to them and closed the deal.

Saturday I slept in and wasted most of the morning. We went to the yard sales but didn't buy much. One sale had a heavy tanned lamb fleece coat with the wool on the inside for sale. I have a tough time passing up any good deal on a coat so ended up buying it for $20.00. That is actually a really good deal for it but I have felt guilty all afternoon for buying it. I need another coat like I need another hole in my head.



I FEEL A LITTLE GREEDY FOR BUYING THE CAR BUT AM REALLY HAPPY TO HAVE A REALLY RELIABLE CAR FOR THE FUTURE.

SUMMER'S FLYIN' BY

Since my last post I have been to the 4358 acre Rhyolite fire in the west desert about 250 miles outside of Salt Lake City. It was a fun fire with lots of trainees running it. It is always fun for me to watch these young people grow through their actions on a going fire. This one was no exception, the first night there was an error made and there was no food of the fire fighters except for the MRE's they had in their rigs. This is a terrible thing to have happen to people that are working so hard to protect the wildlands of our nation. We got that fixed the second day and the food was great the rest of the time. The trainee running the fire learned pretty quickly that it was good to have someone, other than him, making arrangements and chasing loose ends to make sure that the fire fighters had everything they needed.

I got home and cleaned up my gear just in time to start visiting Inklings family at their yearly get together. They all come out to a small town where her parents live and spend a week just visiting and fishing and puttering around. We drove over every day and had a great visit with all of them. Was really fun to see some that I hadn't seen for seventeen years.

Lightning Strikes and her family, including her new Great Dane and cat, came to visit and we went over so her husband and kids could meet Inklings family. It was a good trip and I really enjoyed having them here. I took her husband and two kids shooting and we had a lot of fun. I like to see little kids learn respect for and how to use a firearm. I really get a kick out of seeing their little smiles when they hit the target.

This week I finished putting up the doors that we hired a guy to do 2.5 years ago. He got the doors and put many of them in but had left two unfinished. I got them taken care of and am really sore. That is the reason I hired someone else in the first place is because I am not really good at that type of thing and for sure my legs aren't in good enough shape to get up and down as much as you have to when doing this type of work. I am glad this job is done and the doors are a huge improvement in our house.

I have also had dentist appointments for a checkup and to fill a cavity, two doctor appointments, and two physical therapist appointments during this time. I don't know if they can fix this old guy up or not---time will tell. Oh yeah and I just got scheduled for a colonoscopy on August 8. Can't hardly wait for the seventh. :-(

LIFE IS GOOD

HOME AGAIN, HOME AGAIN, ZIPPITY ZIP

OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT.

I got home Friday night from the 4632 acre Range fire near Ely, NV. Fires there generally run through the first burning period (daylight hours mostly) and then settle down and burn out while the crews go around them and make sure there are no hot spots that can take off the next day and continue to burn. Sometimes, however, they continue to run day after day.

They generally order in a small type 3 team to handle them, primarily to make sure that there is a plan and oversight and that all of the people have a place to sleep and something to eat. They did that this time too but the team decided they needed additional help after the second day so I got the call.

It was a fast fire. The crews caught it the first day I was there and mopped it up the next day. It also rained on the fire the first night I was there. It rained hard from about 11:30 p.m. until after 4:30 a.m. the next morning, AND I do mean hard. The rain on my tent kept waking me up about every hour and it was hard to go back to sleep wondering how long the tent was going to keep me dry. The rain also made the mop-up process a lot faster.

I spent most of the next day getting supplies ready and loaded onto a truck to send back to the fire cache in Boise, ID. Shortly after that truck started for Boise I headed for home. I got home about 5:30 p.m. that evening.

I LOVED THE CALL, LOVED THE JOB, MET A LOT OF NEW PEOPLE THAT I HAVE NEVER WORKED WITH BEFORE, SAW A LOT OF TERRIBLY DRY COUNTRY AND ENDED WITH THE HOPE THAT I WOULD GET ANOTHER CALL TO SERVE WITH THIS GROUP OF PEOPLE. TIME WILL TELL.

FINAL RESULT---ANOTHER 3.5 DAYS OF MY LIFE SPENT FIGHTING WILDLAND FIRES!!!