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.