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- Teddy Roosavelt
Ahhh, well it's been busy, it's been hectic, it's been...some kinda spring. Got back from the North Rim of the Grand Canyon after about 2 weeks there, never expected the field instructor gig to be quite so mentally exhausting. Now working about 40 miles south of Flagstaff at a wide spot in the road known on the maps as Happy Jack, at the Forest Service station there on a wild land fire engine, E-74. It is nice living down there with out all the clutter of my Flagstaff house (which is still there, but 40 miles away I don't have to look at it). So now it is my one day off and I am trying desperatly to revive my garden, pay bills, tie up loose ends, and make contact with friends and family who are activly spreading to the four winds even as I type this. The good news is that I should have time for some serious letter writing this summer, so give me your addresses folks. Until then, keep safe, quit driving so damn fast, and for heaven sakes turn the tv off and read a book. Jared
Where to begin? Returned from my NOLS trip a few days ago; it was a blast and I learned alot. 22 days backpacking in the Gila Wilderness, NM and 12 days at climbing camp in the Dragoon Mountains of AZ. More happened than I could effectivly convey here,for now we'll just call it a succesful experiance. Perhaps I will write more about it when I am typing on a computer with a spacebarthat works...
Today I graduated (or atleast walked through the ceremony), my family came up to watch, and I said goodbye to some friends now headed for far flung corners of the world. Last night was the big grad bbq, as my roomate was also graduating. Now I depart for the north rim of the grand canyon in two daysfor a 16 day trip. Then I fight fire for the summer.
Speaking of fire and jobs, when it rains it poors, eh? In March I declined a joboffer at acamp in Prescott doing environmental ed stuff, as well as a few fire jobs around Flagstaff due to conflicting start days. I would have liked to work for NOLS this summer,but got the same letter everyone of us got saying not to expect work this summerfor new instructors, so I accepted a fire job on an engine south of Flag. Well sure enough they offered me a contract after the instructor course and I had to decline it, then when I got home I got a call from the ambulance company in town offering a slot as an EMT, which again I had to decline. Ah well, could be worse right?
Anyway, more writing an hopefully pictures to post after this next trip or soon thereafter. Happy Trails, Jared
And heeeee's outta here! Well, tommorow anyway. Yep, I'm gone for my 34 day NOLS trip, to return on May 4th, only to graduate and flee town again on the 10th for another 16 day trip, this time to the north rim of the Grand Canyon. Yep, life is good.
So what's been happening you ask? Well over spring break some buddies from work and I drove to Colorado for some mountaineering, summiting Mt. Sneffels (14,150 ft elevation) and another unnamed 13,000 footer. All in all a great trip; I had almost forgotten how much fun personal trips are, as it seems all my trips these days are institutional in nature. In other news, last saturday I ran my first half marathon, 13.1 miles. I had a great time and finished the course much faster than I had figured: 2 hours three minutes and two seconds. And I felt better than I expected the whole way. At any rate, I have definatly caught the bug and am looing forward to my next race, maybe another half marathon or possably even a full one. On the home front, I have been working on my garden, tearing up the grass in the backyard and preparing for planting. So far most of my stuff is in pots so I can bring it inside at night, but all told right now I have planted potatoes, tomatoes, rubarb, asparagus, rutabega, radish, beet, tomatillo, broccali, and onions. The onions were begining to sprout, then I left town for a few days (three day trip to Lake Havasu City for work) and the onions had all disapeared. I suspect my roomates of neglect... At any rate, I now have 3 broccali sprouts that I am very excited about. I had been getting discouraged; when I saw an add in the paper soliciting booths at the county fair in September, I considered entering my prize winning pots of dirt.
Oh, and an adendum to the Adventures in Dentistry: I got the gum graft, in which they cut tissure from the roof of your mouth and stick it on your gums, so that was just a whole lotta fun. Then I got a temporary crown. Next comes the real thing. The end is in sight, but it keeps trying to slip farther away...
Well, that's about all I can think of worth mentioning. My roomate and I are having a graduation party on Friday the 7th of May around 6pm, so if you are reading this then chances are you are someone I like and are therefore invited if you haven't been already. If you need directions email me, but if you email before the 4th of May, I won't answer, as there is no computer where I'm going. 'Till next time, Jared
Well, it has been one week. My first week of bachleorhood in over three years. If you haven't heard or infered it by now, Mel and I broke up. We had been having some problems for several months now, described by one person as trying to row the same boat in opposite directions. She was accepted into the master degree program at St. John's University in Sante Fe, and I was accepted into the National Outdoor Leadership School Instructor Program, so it's not hard to see the root of the difficulty. We remain friends, and house mates for awhile longer, until I leave at the end of March for NOLS and she leaves in the summer for Sante Fe. So, that has been the biggest news, followed closely by my acceptance into NOLS. And for those following Jared's Adventures in Dentistry, I sure enough got the root canal, but now need some sort of weird gum graft procedure, in which they take tissue from the roof of my mouth, plant it on my gums, and let it grow in there. All this before I can get a crown and call the journey complete. So I go in for that in a few hours here. More on this and related stories as they develop.
Just got back from a short trip to San Francisco to visit some old friends, Phil and Josh and their roomate Megan. Got to see the city, spend the Chinese New Year in Chinatown, see Fisherman's Wharf, lots of strange people, the Golden Gate Bridge, and the Francis Coppla Winery in Nappa Valley. Currently waiting to see if I have been accepted onto the NOLS instructor course and otherwise writhing in agony having had 5 cavities filled. It has been over a week since the last of 'em were done and I'm still twitchy with pain. Went to the dentist's yesterday to see if they knew what was wrong. The doctor and nurses were in agreement, they didn't have the first clue. So I sit here, doped up on Advil awaiting the prospect of a root canal. More on this as it develops.