Maybe I'm not exactly losing battles today, but I'm certainly not winning any. School started yesterday and I can't believe it's only Tuesday. I feel like this week has lasted a month now.
I'm not a fan of people, and the amount of people on campus now compared to who was there over the summer is absolutely staggering. I've developed a body language that I've discovered not only steers solicitors (campus is overrun with them) away, but also parts the sea of weaker minded students in my way when I'm on a mission. There's construction going on all over campus so most walkways are too narrow for even a modest amount of people, and I'm telling you, it is CROWDED.
Today I was not in the mood.
Yesterday I dealt with trying to crash Calculus, in which I came away with nothing.
I went to Physics where I was informed by the jerk of an instructor that the extra workshop (group study) portion of physics was required, even though it isn't. I spent the remainder of the class so pissed at him that I didn't even want to listen to his lecture. Because of the parking situation the first few weeks of class, I had to get there long before my first class. All in all, I was on campus from 7am to 7pm. Swam, studied for physics, went to calculus, studied, went to physics lab, ran out of food by noon so I ate 2 pop tarts out of the vending machine as I raced off to physics lecture. I came home, ate, and went to bed.
This morning I was up and at 'em before dawn. Again, due to the parking situation, decided to put off my run until the afternoon (bad idea). I got to school early and did a physics assignment. I checked for an add code for calculus and had none. I went to my first class of the day, successfully got an add code. Went to the second class, got an add code, but nothing else. The second class is Scientific Computer Programming or something to that effect. Since I was crashing the class (long story) I didn't have access to the class online (probably not until tomorrow) so I couldn't get the powerpoint. I also didn't have access to the host that the Unix assignment was on. So I looked over the shoulder of the girl next to me. We were doing a computer programming lab without first having a lecture. What in the hell am I expected to do with that?! Excuse my language, but that is bullshit. It's going to be a long semester.
After a very long computer lab, I marched over to the bookstore to purchase books for today's classes. They don't carry them. Geezo. I dodged all sorts of people trying to hand out fliers and cards and have weird discussions about saving our rainforests or something. I was tired. I just wanted to go home.
As I moved across campus in the other direction, I was getting irritated. Nothing seemed to be working out for me. I clenched my jaw, leaned forward and opened my stride, looking straight ahead. The solicitors avoided me. Students moved out of my way. I went straight to the physics department and bought a lab manual and then poked my head into the front office.
I explained to the nice lady that my professor said I'd be dropped from physics if I didn't add the extra workshop.
"You're a grad student right?"
"Yeah and I'm carrying 13 units" I replied (For grad students, 8 units is full time, not 12).
"Oh yeah, you don't have to do that. I don't have any waivers with me, but I'll have them printed out tomorrow if you want to stop by. You can just sign it so he won't drop you."
Works for me. Possibly my only victory of the day.
I circled back towards my office to collect my stuff to go home. I tried to log on to the computer to go to Amazon to buy my books. It wouldn't turn on. I gave up, gathered my stuff and grabbed an extra cookie on the way out.
When I got home, I ordered my books (good god books are expensive) and then looked in the fridge for food to eat that would get me through a cycle and run workout at the gym. I settled on a protein shake, dragged my feet getting out the door, and headed to the gym.
Impatient with the traffic, I ended up turning the wrong way into a one way bank drive through, turned around in the lot and back out on to the street to turn into the gym lot. For crying out loud.
I hopped on the bike first in hopes of my stomach settling down before the run. No such luck. After a half hour on the bike, I jumped on the treadmill, and with hopes of being done sooner, put it at a higher speed than I should have. I let it go for about a mile like that and then slowed it down a little. It was too late. I had a side cramp so bad I had to stop. Whatever. I hopped down and went to stretch.
Now my stomach is all bloated, I do not want to finish all the other stuff I was supposed to do today. I just want to go to bed and start over tomorrow morning. I need to figure out the average acceleration of a space shuttle launch and figure out where exactly it was at 8.5 minutes after launch. I need to shave my legs and shower/bathe. I need to figure out where the hell my dividers are for my binder. There's a lot of other things I need to do, but I don't think they're happening tonight. It's just too much to ask.
Tuesday, August 26, 2014
Wednesday, August 6, 2014
Butterflies
“Stop it!” I say
to the butterflies in my stomach.
Because it's too
early for butterflies. Between your phone call last night, my second
cup of coffee and the light rain outside, my stomach might as well
take flight into the cool morning air that drifts into the open
windows of my tiny apartment.
I missed your text
this morning, just before 4 am and know you're out of cell reception
but at some point today will get my response that came two hours
later. The rain begs me to curl under a blanket with you, with hot
cups of coffee: one black, one with cream and sugar. Jen said to me,
“That's the funny thing about live bodies, they're warm”. And for
a brief second I'm able to hold onto your warmth in my mind along
with your particular scent. But then it's gone and I'm left with a
crow outside my window and a churning in the pit of my belly. Traffic
creates a steady whisper of the world moving on and I sip my coffee
alone.
We talk of growing
old together and my mind drifts to hot dusty wind in the east county,
waking up in your arms every morning, a dog, avocado trees and a tiny
vineyard. And that spot at the intersection of your neck, chest and
shoulder, where I lean my forehead, smell your skin and absorb your
warmth.
Sometimes your voice
is so soft I can hardly hear you and I debate between asking you to
repeat it or just closing my eyes and listening to the sound as your
breath dances off my hair and the scruff of your beard scratches
lightly at my face. I wait for the hint of a question at the end, or
the trailing off of a statement or thought and worry about the magic
lost in asking you to say it again. And there's something about the
way your heart beats softly against your chest that slows my breath
and calms the storms I keep inside.
The memory of your
beautiful smile and eyes that danced under the brim of your hard hat
somehow seems lit up, even in the darkness of the swing shift where
you stole my heart as we scouted line to be burned. Isn't that funny?
We met lighting a fire so intense it'll burn forever.
Sunday, August 3, 2014
Rose Garden
There's a community up the road from me called Rose Garden, apparently named for the historic rose garden that takes up a full city block. I can't exactly afford to live in Rose Garden, but I drive through there on the way to Target whenever I need toilet paper or vitamins to help my toenails grow back. Every time I pass by the municipal rose garden, I tell myself I'll have to stop and explore it one day.
Due to a thick stratus layer this morning, I enjoyed the much cooler temperature blowing through my window from under one of my Mexican blankets. After a few hard stacked workouts, physical activity is pretty much out of the question today, so I decided to go check out the rose garden.
I walked slowly through the garden, collecting dew off the grass onto my toes, taking pictures and sniffing the roses. They all need a little trimming, but I'm wondering if maybe summer is not the time to do it?
There's also some redwoods struggling to survive there, as I've seen throughout the city. At some point, someone thought it a great idea to bring some redwoods in from the coast and plant them around the city. That's ok, I tried that too. They never made it past the seed stage but that might have something to do with the epic fall they took from the window sill one particularly windy day. Anyway, San Jose is a little too hot and dry for redwoods, even though they flourish just a few miles away in the Santa Cruz mountains.
As I wandered through the roses, I had a vivid memory of one of my birthday's when I was a teenager. I came running through the house in a hurry and almost smacked head on into my dad. In his hands were a mixed bouquet of roses that he had clipped from his rose garden for me. Beautiful roses that he had labored for and tended to with love. It melted my heart then, it crushes my heart now. The fragrance and beauty of roses will forever be bittersweet to me. I remember the hours he spent on them, the weekends he hauled us out into the front yard and showed us how to properly clip the roses, pull weeds from around them and make sure they're getting enough water. I remember the beautiful roses sitting in a mason jar on the dining table, year round.
Grief has revealed itself to be a permanent fixture. I still cry when I think of him. It still makes me feel like collapsing, like I did in the driveway that November morning, crushed by the deepest despair I may ever know. I'm still learning to live in a new "normal" and every day is a test of whether or not I'll make it.
As I sat on the bench in the rose garden, I turned my head and stared at the roses from under the bill of my ball cap and I suddenly felt Christa sitting next to me, with her blue ball cap on, sighing and holding my hand, both understanding. I thought back to the day we walked through the cemetery, sharing grief but each lost in our own version. She was so brave to listen to the details of when I found him, even though it would later cause her nightmares, and me guilt.
But as I always do, I took a deep shaky breath and stood. I walked through the roses to the trellis that led to the jeep, and moved forward. Forward but never on.
Due to a thick stratus layer this morning, I enjoyed the much cooler temperature blowing through my window from under one of my Mexican blankets. After a few hard stacked workouts, physical activity is pretty much out of the question today, so I decided to go check out the rose garden.
I walked slowly through the garden, collecting dew off the grass onto my toes, taking pictures and sniffing the roses. They all need a little trimming, but I'm wondering if maybe summer is not the time to do it?
There's also some redwoods struggling to survive there, as I've seen throughout the city. At some point, someone thought it a great idea to bring some redwoods in from the coast and plant them around the city. That's ok, I tried that too. They never made it past the seed stage but that might have something to do with the epic fall they took from the window sill one particularly windy day. Anyway, San Jose is a little too hot and dry for redwoods, even though they flourish just a few miles away in the Santa Cruz mountains.
As I wandered through the roses, I had a vivid memory of one of my birthday's when I was a teenager. I came running through the house in a hurry and almost smacked head on into my dad. In his hands were a mixed bouquet of roses that he had clipped from his rose garden for me. Beautiful roses that he had labored for and tended to with love. It melted my heart then, it crushes my heart now. The fragrance and beauty of roses will forever be bittersweet to me. I remember the hours he spent on them, the weekends he hauled us out into the front yard and showed us how to properly clip the roses, pull weeds from around them and make sure they're getting enough water. I remember the beautiful roses sitting in a mason jar on the dining table, year round.
Grief has revealed itself to be a permanent fixture. I still cry when I think of him. It still makes me feel like collapsing, like I did in the driveway that November morning, crushed by the deepest despair I may ever know. I'm still learning to live in a new "normal" and every day is a test of whether or not I'll make it.
As I sat on the bench in the rose garden, I turned my head and stared at the roses from under the bill of my ball cap and I suddenly felt Christa sitting next to me, with her blue ball cap on, sighing and holding my hand, both understanding. I thought back to the day we walked through the cemetery, sharing grief but each lost in our own version. She was so brave to listen to the details of when I found him, even though it would later cause her nightmares, and me guilt.
But as I always do, I took a deep shaky breath and stood. I walked through the roses to the trellis that led to the jeep, and moved forward. Forward but never on.
Saturday, August 2, 2014
Toenails
Once again I have removed the polish off my toenails to check the status of my Boston Marathon wounds. One of them is really getting ready to go. Half of it is no longer attached but the thought of ripping it completely off is frightening to say the least. It will have to get much looser before I start tugging at it.
With a half marathon coming up in two weeks (America's Finest City!) I was concerned about what to do if I lost it. Could I still comfortably run? I googled it.
First of all, you can electively have your toenails removed. Like forever. No more toenails. Who would do this? Apparently people who frequently get ingrown toenails, fungus, infections, etc. I guess there's a big push in the ultra marathon world for people just removing their toenails since they all fall off anyway. I have ran 4 marathons and have yet to lose a toenail....but now I'm working on it.
Secondly, there's an ultra runner out there that has decided to make a necklace out of his and a couple donated toenails. See here. Besides the fact that that is disgusting, it is slightly cool. I mean, I do own my own rib, so I can't really judge.
Third, turns out people run without toenails all the time. And people paint the skin under them all the time (not just Robin). And apparently it can take up to 6 months (or never) for them to grow back.
When I swim I feel the pressure of the water pulling my toenail back.
Every once in awhile I scrape it against something and have to pause and catch my breath and check to see if it's still attached.
However, when I run, it does ok. I also wear different shoes than I did for the marathon. Those were a bad choice. But beautiful. I like the colors better than my current bright pink. But they are friendlier on my feet, IT band....and apparently toenails.
With a half marathon coming up in two weeks (America's Finest City!) I was concerned about what to do if I lost it. Could I still comfortably run? I googled it.
First of all, you can electively have your toenails removed. Like forever. No more toenails. Who would do this? Apparently people who frequently get ingrown toenails, fungus, infections, etc. I guess there's a big push in the ultra marathon world for people just removing their toenails since they all fall off anyway. I have ran 4 marathons and have yet to lose a toenail....but now I'm working on it.
Secondly, there's an ultra runner out there that has decided to make a necklace out of his and a couple donated toenails. See here. Besides the fact that that is disgusting, it is slightly cool. I mean, I do own my own rib, so I can't really judge.
Third, turns out people run without toenails all the time. And people paint the skin under them all the time (not just Robin). And apparently it can take up to 6 months (or never) for them to grow back.
When I swim I feel the pressure of the water pulling my toenail back.
Every once in awhile I scrape it against something and have to pause and catch my breath and check to see if it's still attached.
However, when I run, it does ok. I also wear different shoes than I did for the marathon. Those were a bad choice. But beautiful. I like the colors better than my current bright pink. But they are friendlier on my feet, IT band....and apparently toenails.
Tuesday, July 29, 2014
Trees
While walking through Big Trees State Park with Jason yesterday, a poem I wrote in 2006 or 2007 kept popping into my head, but I could only remember the first sentence. So I decided to dig it out and post it.
Trees
For those of us who seek out
bigger windows, wide open fields
and mountains so large
you can reach out and touch them:
do we become trees?
Perhaps our last breath
shifts the wind into the leaves
and our mark is left in the incessant sway
destined to forever move the earth.
For those of us who lean towards silence
in an effort to calm our individual storms,
and turn our faces upwards,
to face the great wide open-
and breathe:
maybe we become trees.
Trees
For those of us who seek out
bigger windows, wide open fields
and mountains so large
you can reach out and touch them:
do we become trees?
Perhaps our last breath
shifts the wind into the leaves
and our mark is left in the incessant sway
destined to forever move the earth.
For those of us who lean towards silence
in an effort to calm our individual storms,
and turn our faces upwards,
to face the great wide open-
and breathe:
maybe we become trees.
Checking In
It was brought to my attention that I hadn't written since crashing a fire up north and there was a possibility that I had indeed been arrested. Have no fear, we made it out with minimal damage to our reputations, and quite a bit more interest in the research we're doing.
I figured I better get back on here and give some updates so you all know I'm alive and well.
So I passed Calculus...with a B minus. Not fantastic, but considering the stress I was under, I'll take it. Next semester will be Calculus II, (Calculus based) Physics I, Computer Programming for Meteorology and the first of two installments of basic Meteorology. It's going to be a rough semester.
I am also dating a fantastic man that I met back in 2012 (his facebook will tell you it was 2013, because that's what men do) on a fire when we were both on hotshot crews. We've seen each other on fires since then but lived pretty far apart, making any sort of relationship a tough one. Now we're 2.5- 3 hrs apart depending on how many times my blessed Garmin gets me lost. Yeah, same Garmin that told me to go have lunch at "Treat Your Feet" which I probably should've done considering my right big toenail is now looser than ever and is probably going to jump ship at the most inconvenient time.
Jason and I spent a (somewhat stormy) day roaming around Yosemite National park, and then I headed back up there with my lab to do some mountain meteorology studies for a few days. We camped out and ate in town.
This last weekend Jason and I went to Sonora to hang out with Corey who was roaming the west side of the Sierras. After having lunch and walking around town, we headed out to the nearest reservoir to cool off. On the way out there I got a text from the guys at the lab saying there was a big fire going off near me. I scanned the sky around me while Jason drove and then saw the plume. It was hilarious. Uh oh, oops, suddenly out of cell reception.
We watched the plume build while we changed into swim suits and hopped into the reservoir. All three of us being "fire people", we remarked about how different it was to see that and not care, and not have to cancel our plans. We floated in the murky water and turned our faces toward the sun. This is what normal people do during the summer.
Corey had to return to Mammoth to feed the mules and horses and Jason and I explored Big Trees State Park. It was nice to get up to cooler air.
I've decided that summer is about bouncing from one swimming hole to the next. When I was leaving Yosemite with the lab, we found an awesome swimming hole to cool off before heading back to the city. It reminded me of when I was in high school and summers really were summers.
Maybe that's what they are now?
I figured I better get back on here and give some updates so you all know I'm alive and well.
So I passed Calculus...with a B minus. Not fantastic, but considering the stress I was under, I'll take it. Next semester will be Calculus II, (Calculus based) Physics I, Computer Programming for Meteorology and the first of two installments of basic Meteorology. It's going to be a rough semester.
Corey had to return to Mammoth to feed the mules and horses and Jason and I explored Big Trees State Park. It was nice to get up to cooler air.
I've decided that summer is about bouncing from one swimming hole to the next. When I was leaving Yosemite with the lab, we found an awesome swimming hole to cool off before heading back to the city. It reminded me of when I was in high school and summers really were summers.
Maybe that's what they are now?
Sunday, July 13, 2014
Fire Chasers
"Froggy Night" chirped away on my cell phone and I had a feeling I was already awake, but I have no proof and no real reason to think so. I fumbled for the phone and managed to dismiss the alarm, rather than snooze. Complex matters at 4:30 in the morning. I crawled out of bed and shuffled into the kitchen in the dark to pour a cup of coffee. I wondered if summer will always be fire season. My eight mile run and my hopes of driving out to Quady Winery were both squashed as I poked contacts into my eyes, threw a steak and an apple into my back pack and burned my mouth on a slurp of coffee out of my Hydro-Flask.
I was heading up to the Bully Fire west of Redding with the lab, although we were not exactly invited. As we drove north, I searched the web for information, waiting to see if any of my friends posted on Facebook that they were also going to the fire, so that I could ask them where camp was. Since it belonged to Cal-Fire, and all my friends are Forest Service, no one really stood a chance of going. Politics that drive everyone nuts but nothing ever changes.
As we neared Redding, we pulled into a Walmart parking lot to launch a weather balloon to get a vertical profile of the atmosphere. Since it was my first balloon launch, the guys let me release it. After letting it go, we verified that it was sending data to the laptop in the front seat and headed to the grocery store for the day's meal. Neil, the PhD in our group, outlined his plan. Richard would help set up the Lidar and Radiometer and I would "run interference" with the fire folks to make sure we were allowed in and didn't later get discovered and kicked out. That made me nervous.
As we approached the road block, I rolled down the window as the guys on road started to wave us through (we look pretty official in our fire chaser truck). "Do you know where drop point 2 is?" I asked. They looked back with blank stares. "I'm sorry, what?" "Drop point 2." "Uh, we don't know anything about that... but the fire is that way..." and pointed me in the direction of the large plume. "Ok thanks!" I laughed as we drove past the road block and into the fire.
We passed by the heli-base trying not to be noticed. Neil spoke up from the back seat. "Carrie, this isn't actually something we could be arrested for is it?" I considered for a moment. It was possible, but probably unlikely. We weren't going to be in anyone's way and I had enough fire experience to most likely keep us all safe. I thought about the consequence of an arrest record with the new route my life was taking. It's not like I was going into public safety or anything, so.... is it ok to be arrested for trespassing on a fire? I decided it wouldn't be too bad, my boss would probably bail us out, and I'd have a story to tell Candace's kids.
I had Richard pull over when I saw a gathering of green pants so that I could get our hand-held radio cloned with the fire's frequencies. But....they were all cops. Huh. And we were trespassing on a fire. Interesting.
I hopped out of the truck as I donned my yellow fire shirt and approached the officers. "Do you guys have a cloning cable?" I asked.
One wise guy responded "A what? A cloning table?"
"No...cable. Cloning cable...for the radio." I waved my radio at him.
"Oh, uh, no. But I know how to stick my knife in to short circuit the programming mode".
Great, good for you. So do I. "Well do you have the fire frequencies? Is that an IAP?"
He looked down at the rolled up packet of papers in his hand. "Yeah."
"Can I get the frequencies from you?"
He stood over my shoulder as I scribbled frequencies in my notepad and continued to make comments about a cloning table. Fantastic. I had a new friend. I wondered why he didn't wonder why I didn't have the frequencies or an IAP. We thanked the officers and Richard drove off as I manually programmed the frequencies into our radio.
We drove through the fire and out the other side to a nice pull-out with a view of the fire. As the guys set up the equipment, I scanned the radio and took in the incident. It wasn't long before a truck pulled up and out hopped a yellow shirt and green pants. Here we go.
He had a camera slung over each shoulder. Hmm...media perhaps? He came up and asked who were were with. I explained who we were but left out the part that no one really knew we were there except a group of cops who were now lounging in reclining lawn chairs. Turned out he was with a news outfit out of Redding. He took some photos and our names and left to find better news.
Minutes later a land-owner pulled up and joined me in taking in the scene of the fire. I commented that they hadn't evacuated him. He looked over at me with a squint and said "I wouldn't go if they tried". I wondered about the power of mandatory evacuations but thanked my lucky stars that they weren't that strict, because here we were.
A sheriff SUV pulled up and asked if the fire had turned around and was coming at us. An odd thing being as you could plainly see it was not. I asked if they had the frequency for the new command channel, Command Nine. "Are you kidding me? I can hardly talk to my dispatch". How do these guys survive?
"So what's that thing do anyway?" Asked the guy in the driver seat. Oh no, we've been found out. I let Neil explain the instruments in the back of our truck. The cops offered us drinks from their cooler, but we said we were good, and off they went.
Richard slept in the driver seat while Neil went back and forth adjusting the Lidar. At times I sat in the air conditioned truck, other times I stood out on the side of the road and watched the smoke plume. I was glad I wasn't out there cutting line. Not having the new command frequency, I listened to Air Attack on the air to ground channel and picked up two tactical channels. They had lost a burn a couple ridges over from us. I picked at the dry grass on the side of the road and made fun of Neil when the Lidar was pointing the wrong way due to a glitch in the computer's code.
Finally Neil got tired of collecting data and we headed towards Clear Creek to take a dip, stopping at the local market for beers to take with us. When we walked in, we were greeted by the smarty pants cop shooting comments about a cloning table. Pretty sure he thought he was funny. I went over and chatted while the guys bought beers. The cop introduced himself with a name I couldn't understand. I shook his hand and gave him my name and he introduced me to his partner across the table from him. His partner was younger, sitting stiffly and looking nervously around. I gathered he did not like working with his game-show-host partner, did not appreciate his sad attempts at flirting, was too young to be doing what he was doing, or all of the above.
When the guys were done checking out, I said good-bye and we headed down to the creek. We changed into our suits (mandatory on fire calls) and found a spot to jump in. It was shallow but fast moving. As I dove into the icy current, my sunglasses rolled off my face and down the small rapids just down river of me. Neil made a half hearted attempt to locate them but they were long gone.
We swam around a bit and sat on the hot rocks while the guys finished their beers. Then we made the long drive home. After navigating traffic (what are all these people doing out so late?) and a massive Bollywood convention on campus, I finally made it home at midnight. I downed a protein shake, took out my contacts, brushed my teeth and crawled in to bed.
While we were on the fire and out of cell reception, I received a phone call from the public information officer on the fire, that we were good to go and could come to the fire, we just had to call so and so and go through the channels. I was going to send him an email, somehow explaining that we were already there and now home, and thanks....but now I think he can just see it on Twitter and wonder.
I was heading up to the Bully Fire west of Redding with the lab, although we were not exactly invited. As we drove north, I searched the web for information, waiting to see if any of my friends posted on Facebook that they were also going to the fire, so that I could ask them where camp was. Since it belonged to Cal-Fire, and all my friends are Forest Service, no one really stood a chance of going. Politics that drive everyone nuts but nothing ever changes.
As we neared Redding, we pulled into a Walmart parking lot to launch a weather balloon to get a vertical profile of the atmosphere. Since it was my first balloon launch, the guys let me release it. After letting it go, we verified that it was sending data to the laptop in the front seat and headed to the grocery store for the day's meal. Neil, the PhD in our group, outlined his plan. Richard would help set up the Lidar and Radiometer and I would "run interference" with the fire folks to make sure we were allowed in and didn't later get discovered and kicked out. That made me nervous.
As we approached the road block, I rolled down the window as the guys on road started to wave us through (we look pretty official in our fire chaser truck). "Do you know where drop point 2 is?" I asked. They looked back with blank stares. "I'm sorry, what?" "Drop point 2." "Uh, we don't know anything about that... but the fire is that way..." and pointed me in the direction of the large plume. "Ok thanks!" I laughed as we drove past the road block and into the fire.
We passed by the heli-base trying not to be noticed. Neil spoke up from the back seat. "Carrie, this isn't actually something we could be arrested for is it?" I considered for a moment. It was possible, but probably unlikely. We weren't going to be in anyone's way and I had enough fire experience to most likely keep us all safe. I thought about the consequence of an arrest record with the new route my life was taking. It's not like I was going into public safety or anything, so.... is it ok to be arrested for trespassing on a fire? I decided it wouldn't be too bad, my boss would probably bail us out, and I'd have a story to tell Candace's kids.
I had Richard pull over when I saw a gathering of green pants so that I could get our hand-held radio cloned with the fire's frequencies. But....they were all cops. Huh. And we were trespassing on a fire. Interesting.
I hopped out of the truck as I donned my yellow fire shirt and approached the officers. "Do you guys have a cloning cable?" I asked.
One wise guy responded "A what? A cloning table?"
"No...cable. Cloning cable...for the radio." I waved my radio at him.
"Oh, uh, no. But I know how to stick my knife in to short circuit the programming mode".
Great, good for you. So do I. "Well do you have the fire frequencies? Is that an IAP?"
He looked down at the rolled up packet of papers in his hand. "Yeah."
"Can I get the frequencies from you?"
He stood over my shoulder as I scribbled frequencies in my notepad and continued to make comments about a cloning table. Fantastic. I had a new friend. I wondered why he didn't wonder why I didn't have the frequencies or an IAP. We thanked the officers and Richard drove off as I manually programmed the frequencies into our radio.
We drove through the fire and out the other side to a nice pull-out with a view of the fire. As the guys set up the equipment, I scanned the radio and took in the incident. It wasn't long before a truck pulled up and out hopped a yellow shirt and green pants. Here we go.
He had a camera slung over each shoulder. Hmm...media perhaps? He came up and asked who were were with. I explained who we were but left out the part that no one really knew we were there except a group of cops who were now lounging in reclining lawn chairs. Turned out he was with a news outfit out of Redding. He took some photos and our names and left to find better news.
Minutes later a land-owner pulled up and joined me in taking in the scene of the fire. I commented that they hadn't evacuated him. He looked over at me with a squint and said "I wouldn't go if they tried". I wondered about the power of mandatory evacuations but thanked my lucky stars that they weren't that strict, because here we were.
A sheriff SUV pulled up and asked if the fire had turned around and was coming at us. An odd thing being as you could plainly see it was not. I asked if they had the frequency for the new command channel, Command Nine. "Are you kidding me? I can hardly talk to my dispatch". How do these guys survive?
"So what's that thing do anyway?" Asked the guy in the driver seat. Oh no, we've been found out. I let Neil explain the instruments in the back of our truck. The cops offered us drinks from their cooler, but we said we were good, and off they went.
Richard slept in the driver seat while Neil went back and forth adjusting the Lidar. At times I sat in the air conditioned truck, other times I stood out on the side of the road and watched the smoke plume. I was glad I wasn't out there cutting line. Not having the new command frequency, I listened to Air Attack on the air to ground channel and picked up two tactical channels. They had lost a burn a couple ridges over from us. I picked at the dry grass on the side of the road and made fun of Neil when the Lidar was pointing the wrong way due to a glitch in the computer's code.
Finally Neil got tired of collecting data and we headed towards Clear Creek to take a dip, stopping at the local market for beers to take with us. When we walked in, we were greeted by the smarty pants cop shooting comments about a cloning table. Pretty sure he thought he was funny. I went over and chatted while the guys bought beers. The cop introduced himself with a name I couldn't understand. I shook his hand and gave him my name and he introduced me to his partner across the table from him. His partner was younger, sitting stiffly and looking nervously around. I gathered he did not like working with his game-show-host partner, did not appreciate his sad attempts at flirting, was too young to be doing what he was doing, or all of the above.
When the guys were done checking out, I said good-bye and we headed down to the creek. We changed into our suits (mandatory on fire calls) and found a spot to jump in. It was shallow but fast moving. As I dove into the icy current, my sunglasses rolled off my face and down the small rapids just down river of me. Neil made a half hearted attempt to locate them but they were long gone.
We swam around a bit and sat on the hot rocks while the guys finished their beers. Then we made the long drive home. After navigating traffic (what are all these people doing out so late?) and a massive Bollywood convention on campus, I finally made it home at midnight. I downed a protein shake, took out my contacts, brushed my teeth and crawled in to bed.
While we were on the fire and out of cell reception, I received a phone call from the public information officer on the fire, that we were good to go and could come to the fire, we just had to call so and so and go through the channels. I was going to send him an email, somehow explaining that we were already there and now home, and thanks....but now I think he can just see it on Twitter and wonder.
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