Colorado Chainsaw Massacre: We didn't start the fire!!

Well, I've been living in CO for over a month now and it's pretty much turned into a fiery inferno. I like to think that it's not my doing, but my unfortunate habit of throwing lit cartons of lit cigarettes may have finally caught up with me... i know i know... It's a dangerous habit :/

Actually, despite all of the crazy forest fires, I am not near any of them. My hunky firefighter neighbors have been called out a bunch, so that doesn't really help put out MY fire, but what can ya do? My roommate Emily is pretty awesome. She's on the US Forest Service Timber crew... they also may be called in to help put out the fires. But i have no training in that area at all, so I will not be called in everrrr, which I'm happy about. It's hot enough out here as it is!!

Hmmm... ok updates updates. The past couple of weeks of work have been tough. Sometimes we are out for 12 or 13 hours a day (granted some of it is driving to and from a plot, but they are still long days!) The first week we traveled about 2 hours west and did a bunch of plots out there. Last week I was in Steamboat, so I got to sleep in my own bed at night. This week we are back out west.. but a different town. Meeker, CO in a pretty balling hotel room I've got to say. The state pays for all of our travel expenses and we get per diem (pretty shweet deal).

Juniper: I get to climb all up in that

Pinyon

A typical day: in the morning, Claudia (tree inventory extraordinaire and my boss) picks me up in the Jeep and we set out to our plot for the day. I input our plot coordinates into the GPS and have to map out the best way to get there. Sometimes the roads take us like 500 ft from our plot center and sometimes we have to hike. The toughest one yet has been 2.5 mi, which doesn't sound like a lot, but when you've got a 30lb pack and are bushwhacking through bushes and blowdown it can be pretty grueling. That day I fell in the river once and sank in mud twice *STHCORE. Then when we get to a plot we have to find a reference point which is given to us in our plot packets. We are remeasuring trees that someone else did 10 years ago, so we have to make sure we are in the exact same spot!! Sometimes finding a little metal stake in the middle of the forest is next to impossible, especially when the guy that did it last time must've had his head in a stump because some of his descriptions and coordinates are like 1000ft off!

Anyways, I digress... So once we find the RP we locate the Plot Center and then we have 4 subplots off of that plot center. We measure tree diameters, analyze vegetation, crown cover percentage, the amount of litter and down material is on the ground and then look at diseases or deformities that the trees have. I like doing the timber plots which are primarily Aspen, Spruce, Fir, and Lodgepole Pine, but the woodland plots (Pinyon Pine and Juniper) can suck a fat chainsaw. They are all branchy at the bottom with plenty of little twigs that stab you and sharp prickly needles. Basically, I turn into a Courtney Love/ Ann Coulter hybrid every time I have to deal with one. My hair is all disheveled, lots of cuts on my arms, and I have at least 1 large stick up my ass. Today I sat on a cactus...

That Jeep gets free car washes. Yay for govt vehicles.

Hmmm... OK fun juicy stuff? My apartment is pretty awesome! King size bed... right on the river/ pond. Horseshoe pit in the back. My social life has been consisting of drinking, tubing down/ swimming in the Yampa river (WHICH IS SO MUCH FUN), and trying to meet people. Luckily I have Emily and Stu (remember him from last summer??) to mooch friends off of. Last weekend Stu and I went to a real live rodeo! We were too cheap to pay though so we had mega nose bleed seats. It was fun though! Saw bullriding, calf roping, bucking broncos, a cross dressing rodeo clown, and my favorite: they tie a ribbon to a ram and make little kids (5 and under) chase it around... whoever can grab the ribbon first wins a beltbuckle. YEEEEHAWWWW!!! I do miss the beach, but i found a semi beachish area where i can swim and tan and read along the river, so that'll have to do.