Retired Again!

I officially retired from CalFire in 2009. For 6 of the last 7 years I worked in the 911 dispatch center. Also located in that center...really a room 30ft x 30ft...is the US Forest Service. The Forest Service has a program called the A.D. program where they temporarily hired qualified individuals to fill in during fires, or when they're shorthanded, etc, so when I retired off one side of the room, I just walked over and sat down on the other side of the room on an on call basis. I have come back to work for them each year since then, and this year was no exception. My assignments, over the years, have varied from a few days to one stretch when I worked 3-4 days a week for 18 months. This year they wanted someone for night shift from July 1st on, so they called me, and I took the assignment, with this being my last night. Since July 1st I have worked 74 out of 82 possible nights, all 12 hour shifts.

Long ago it became a joke that at the end of my summer/assignment that I was retiring again, and they'd give me a cake on my last day. As time went along the cakes turned into joke moments, and one year they just handed me a cake mix in a box, and a canister of frosting, and told me to make my own cake. Another year the "cake" was a small cardboard box with frosting and decorations. It's been a few years since anybody did anything, but this year they resurrected the tradition. This was unexpected, and I appreciated the gesture. We all had a piece of cake, and then they said they'd be waiting for my retirement next year.

 Been awhile

Everything has been a whirlwind since I started working nights July 1st, and I just haven't spent any real time here. Right now I should be working a short day shift assignment on the coast, but that got canceled the day before I left, so I'm back working nights for a bit longer. At this point of the season I'm on a "day to day basis", but it'll go for at least a week I think. After that I'll be don't for the year. In October, my wife and I have 4 music gigs booked, in November I have an 8 day ocean fishing trip, and in December I'll be in Montana chasing geese and prairie dogs for three weeks. Nothing in Jan, and in February we head for Disneyland for 4 days.  Busy, but fun.

On Sept 5th we picked up our French exchange student daughter from the airport, and she's fitting in very nicely. Tuesday morning we took her to the high school and got her signed up for classes. She auditioned with the music teacher, and the teacher placed Lilie in the chamber music class, which is the top level music in the school. It'll be fun going to her concerts. I tested Lilie's humor when we picked her up by wearing a multi-colored hat with a propeller, glasses with eyeballs on springs, Bill Bob buck teeth, and a weird sign that I held upside down. She laughed, so she's now officially part of the family. 

Gonna be a fun year. 

 

Finally a couple nights off

After working my second 21 straight set of night shifts, I finally had 2 nights off on Friday and Saturday. I spent the day Friday mostly trying to catch up a bit on sleep, and all I really accomplished was making a dump run. Saturday morning I was more refreshed, so first thing, I mowed the front and rear pastures, then I broke out the mini rototiller and did a bunch of work with that. When I was done, the areas around the house looked a lot better, and I eliminated a lot of unsightly weeds and dried grass. In the afternoon we had our regular monthly music gathering at the house. It's where we have musicians come and jam with us, and it's also open for folks who just want to come and listen. We focus on playing bluegrass and old time tunes, and we normally have a pretty good turn out. Saturday was no exception, and we had about a dozen musicians (pickers), and an equal amount of folks who just came to listen (grinners). We played songs for about 2 1/2 hours, then we hung out and talked with those who came, before meeting a couple friends for dinner. 

At the jams we always have a core group of pickers who show up to play, but we also have a rotation of new folks, and that's always fun. The rotation also goes for the grinners. This month we had a couple of new neighbors come. On one of my turns to pick the song, I chose to sing "32 Acres". After we were all done playing, those neighbors came up and said they had just bought a farm down the road from us that encompassed...yep, 32 acres. We also found out the husband, Bob, is the brother of a battalion chief I worked with, and have known for nearly 40 years. They invited us to come down to see their place when we had a chance, so we'll do that eventually. They're still in the process of relocating from Utah, and I'm still working through September, so it could be awhile, but we'll get there. 

Our bluegrass jams have been receiving a lot of positive community feedback. We have a beautiful setting out there in the front yard, in the shade under the cedar trees, and both the pickers AND the grinners like it. All we want to do is provide a place where people can come and play music, or just listen, that is free of politics, worry, and strife, even if it's for just a few hours. It seems to be working. After church this morning, we stopped at WinCo so I could get meal supplies for the next couple of weeks. As we walked down an aisle, a lady called out to us as she came up. It turns out she and her husband were two of the first time grinners, and she wanted to tell us how much they enjoyed the afternoon, and that they would definitely be back. A town of over 39,000 people, and we just happened to meet one of the happy brand new listeners at the store. I don't really think that was a coincidence, but I do greatly appreciate knowing that for at least a few people, my wife and I are making a positive difference. Maybe if we all concentrated a little more on facilitating small positive environments, we'd have a lot less long term issues to overcome. 

Our next jam is September 5th, feel free to stop by and join us. 

 Is it over yet?

Officially, I retired from CalFire in 2009, and theoretically, I should have been enjoying my summers since then by doing fun things, such as fishing. While I have done some of that, it seems there's always projects to pay for, or "extra" family things to pay for, so each summer, for at least a portion of it, I've gone back and worked in the dispatch center for the Forest Service. With all our moving last year, the workload I took on was light, and I worked somewhere in the neighborhood of 350 hours. With remodeling and moving expenditures/vehicle repair/maintenance stuff over the last 12 months, I decided that this year I'd work as much as possible. I worked a small amount this early spring, then went in 3 days a week in May, and I am currently in the middle of a three cycle assignment covering a LOT of hours. I've had the last 2 nights off, but before that I worked 21 straight nights of 12 hour shifts. I go back in tonight to start my second 21 night run, then I'll have 2 nights off, and then I'll finish off with another 15-16 night cycle. All in all this year I believe I'll push 1,000 hours. In July/August I'll hit 700 hours alone. The money is good, and I'm very thankful for the opportunity to replenish the bank account, but when September rolls around I will definitely be ready for it to end. 

The RV Pad

A couple weeks ago we decided to have our fifth wheel towed out from Montana. We were going to leave it out there in storage, and go use it a bit each summer, but plans have changed, and we figured it was best to have it out here. I'm working out of town, and we needed to make a pad to set the RV on, so it fell to my wife to make it happen. I wasn't worried about her ability to do the job, but she'd never run a tractor in her life, so there would be a slight learning curve. On the first day I showed her how to start, and operate the tractor...from inserting the key, to turning it back off at the end of the work. I showed her how to scoop material into the bucket, how to dump it, and how to back drag it to make things smooth. At first I walked with the tractor and instructed her on the correct bucket angles, and downward pressure, and then I let her go. She took things slow, and got better and better, and after day two she had the 20ft x 48ft pad constructed. I think for her first time she did a fantastic job.