Apache Saddle

Apache Saddle
So I made it safely to beautiful Apache Saddle. My new station is actually quite nice, albeit out in the middle of nowhere. Minutes after I arrived my first day, I saw a mama deer and her baby grazing in the grass on our compound. I saw the famous California condor (an endangered species) just yesterday. We have pretty strict rules out here because of the bears. Trash needs to be in it’s receptacle or bin, and closed tight. Bears and raccoons scavenge through it anyway. On my way up the mountain my first day here, I saw bear crossing signs. Basically the same as immigrant crossing signs, with the mother leading the child across the street. Very cute.
Most of the people on my crew are quite enjoyable, and I’ve even begun to think of a few of them as my brothers. However, there’s at least one individual on my crew that’s all around unbearable. I’m not the only one who feels this way. But enough about that. Just thinking about it may cause me to go postal. We don’t want that.
The town(s) around here are cute. Yes, cute. And all the stores close before I can get to them. I have yet to have a day off, so I’ve been unable to do any sort of extended grocery shopping. I hauled butt into town yesterday, only to make it through 3 aisles before they started to turn the lights off (at 5 minutes to 7pm). So I quickly snatched items off the shelves, only to get home and realize I had incomplete pieces to at least 4 different meals. Thank god for pasta. The closest town to us is Pine Mountain Club (PMC). Kind of a clubhouse sort of town with a few places to eat, drink and buy food and the local paper. It can be expensive though. I hauled butt down the hill (again) today to go to McClish’s coffee house to get internet connection. They were closed. An hour early. Imagine my irritation. So I bought Bailey’s and chorizo at the market next door and headed back to the barracks. So this will actually be posted a bit later than it was written. But I have clever ideas that may get this across. Much like a message in a bottle, or messenger pigeons as I believe it was Drew who said it.
I have also decided to cave in to a wireless card for my computer (the kind that uses cell reception to get internet connection). It’s quite the exciting notion, except that I have to wait until Monday when I can head down to Santa Clarita on my day off. Everybody does most of their shopping in Santa Clarita or Bakersfield because the selection and prices are pretty sad out here.
We just came back from our “off forest” assignment. Sad as it was, it counted and we’re now back on the bottom of the list. We started out by Castaic Lake (around Santa Clarita) on a fire that was completely out. We spent a day there, then spent the night by the lake. There was a Cleveland strike team there, as well as a management team that had a few of my Cleveland people on it. So I actually got to see a bunch of my old co-workers. Small world. Then we got sent up to a fire at an Indian Reservation by Sequoia. It was mostly out as well, but it turned out there was plenty of work for us to do. Unfortunately though, the only place for us to sleep was on the concrete engine bay floor at the local fire station. I don’t use sleeping pads, so I just threw my sleeping bag down, curled up my sweatshirt for a pillow, and crashed. Two nights spent on a concrete floor was brutal. I can’t believe how well I slept last night in my own bed back at the barracks. It’s only 8:40pm right now, and I’m extremely exhausted.
Well, one day I shall access the internet, and this will be posted. At that time I’ll be able to check my email and reply back to everyone on facebook. Ok, actually I cheated. I was able to check my email while coming home yesterday, with my cell phone. Imagine that. Mostly junk. But it took a long time, and responding would probably be more of a pain than it’s worth. But in a few days I should have it figured out.
That’s about all for now. Carrie signing out--- from the saddle.