I'm quite positive that this doesn't really deserve a post, but that's not going to stop me.
So the other night I was making some english muffin pizzas for dinner. I usually toast the english muffins first, then make them into pizzas and put them in the oven. Well, since I didn't have toaster I decided to try and "toast" them in the oven first. Burned a few up, but ended up working out alright. Needless to say, I added "buy toaster" to my shopping list on my little white board in the kitchen. Fast forward to this evening. I'm at the grocery store picking up some stuff and remembered that I wanted a toaster, so I pick one up. I was kind of excited, new little kitchen appliance and all. So I get home and start unpacking the box and pull the cord out to plug it in when I notice that something else is plugged into the only socket. I'll be damned, I've got a freakin toaster sitting on my counter. Literally, right there. Not 6 inches from where I make my lunch every morning. In fact, it's not just a random toaster, but it's the toaster that I've had for years. That's all. No more to the story. I just kind of stood there for a few minutes in complete disbelief, and then made banana bread. That made it all better, especially the loaf with chocolate chips in it. Mmmmm....chocolate chips.
I obviously missed my ride on the clue bus, but if anyone would like to use my ticket I'm happy to give it to you.
Sunday, October 21, 2007
Saturday, September 15, 2007
You spent how much?
About a year or so after moving to New York I decided I was far too lazy to continue wearing contact lenses and decided to purchase a pair of glasses. I grabbed my roommate Tim and made the trip down to Lens Crafters. Upon entering, I immediately became smitten with the young lady helping me pick out the glasses (I should have turned around and walked out right then). I looked at a lot of different glasses, but at the time I still detested wearing any sort of glasses on my face, so I wasn't happy with anything. In chimes the salesperson with "Oh, you look fantastic in these, blah...blah...blah..." Being that I hated everything, I was easily swayed by a beautiful woman telling me what looked good (while Tim stood a little ways off just laughing at me). Of course I pondered for quite a while, knowing full well that I was going to go with whatever she said, but not wanting to believe that I would do that, knowing full well that I would...blah blah blah again. So eventually it comes around to price. To this day all that I recall hearing was $200. We talked about the frames and about the lenses and all I heard was $200. Now keep in mind that up to this point I wore contacts and only owned a pair of $35 "last resort" glasses from the Wal-Mart discount rack, so $200 for a pair of glasses was a pretty big pill to swallow.
Tim is still laughing at me. I sit down and get measured, have my prescription entered and get everything ordered. Finally the time comes to pay. The young lady says "Ok, with tax that comes to just under $450." WHAT!!! Ok, so I had only heard $200. That was the only number I ever heard. Where the heck did $450 come from? So obviously I only ever heard the number $200. Come to find out that was correct, only it was $200 for the frames and $200 for the lenses. Oy vey! So what did I do? I'd like to say I said OH HAIL NO! Let's find something cheaper. But no, because the beautiful young lady had told me I looked great in those glasses and I was completely smitten. Again, Tim continues to laugh.
So, out I walk having just paid almost $450 for a pair of glasses that after picking up a couple weeks later was afraid to wear for fear of breaking or scratching them. I got some pretty good wear out of those glasses. That was around 2000 that I purchased them and didn't replace them until my prescription changed in 2005. Of course when my prescription changed I had left NYC, had no job and had just spent every penny I had in savings on skydiving, so needless to say, I went back to the ole' discount rack. Since 2005 I've had a couple pair of discount rack glasses and never thought much about it. I've always held on to that pair of $450 glasses as a backup, and for the last few years that I've been working in fire keep them in my pack so I always have a pair of clear glasses in case I go out on a fire wearing prescription sunglasses and then the fire goes until after dark (that was a lesson learned the hard way, several times). Well, the other day I forgot my regular glasses and had to pull out that spare pair to put on for the first time in a few years, and I'll be damned. They are the most comfortable pair of glasses I have ever owned! I really couldn't appreciate them for the 5 years I wore them full time, but now that I've gone back to cheapie glasses I realize just how amazing they are. So, 7 years later, I realize that those glasses were worth every penny of the almost $450 I spent on them.
Who's laughing now, Tim?
Miss Bender...still working on that list. This whole glasses debacle was actually one of the items on my list, but I got a laugh out of it and decided to expand a bit. Coming soon, I promise!
Tim is still laughing at me. I sit down and get measured, have my prescription entered and get everything ordered. Finally the time comes to pay. The young lady says "Ok, with tax that comes to just under $450." WHAT!!! Ok, so I had only heard $200. That was the only number I ever heard. Where the heck did $450 come from? So obviously I only ever heard the number $200. Come to find out that was correct, only it was $200 for the frames and $200 for the lenses. Oy vey! So what did I do? I'd like to say I said OH HAIL NO! Let's find something cheaper. But no, because the beautiful young lady had told me I looked great in those glasses and I was completely smitten. Again, Tim continues to laugh.
So, out I walk having just paid almost $450 for a pair of glasses that after picking up a couple weeks later was afraid to wear for fear of breaking or scratching them. I got some pretty good wear out of those glasses. That was around 2000 that I purchased them and didn't replace them until my prescription changed in 2005. Of course when my prescription changed I had left NYC, had no job and had just spent every penny I had in savings on skydiving, so needless to say, I went back to the ole' discount rack. Since 2005 I've had a couple pair of discount rack glasses and never thought much about it. I've always held on to that pair of $450 glasses as a backup, and for the last few years that I've been working in fire keep them in my pack so I always have a pair of clear glasses in case I go out on a fire wearing prescription sunglasses and then the fire goes until after dark (that was a lesson learned the hard way, several times). Well, the other day I forgot my regular glasses and had to pull out that spare pair to put on for the first time in a few years, and I'll be damned. They are the most comfortable pair of glasses I have ever owned! I really couldn't appreciate them for the 5 years I wore them full time, but now that I've gone back to cheapie glasses I realize just how amazing they are. So, 7 years later, I realize that those glasses were worth every penny of the almost $450 I spent on them.
Who's laughing now, Tim?
Miss Bender...still working on that list. This whole glasses debacle was actually one of the items on my list, but I got a laugh out of it and decided to expand a bit. Coming soon, I promise!
Friday, August 17, 2007
Come on, Mother Nature, BRING IT ON!!!
I'm starting to wonder if I've got some sort of hurricane magnet stuck to my ass. While I lived in Florida most of the storms went in that direction. Now that I'm on the coast in Texas they seem to be starting off the year looking in this direction. I was working out of town and didn't really see what happened with this little one that just came through the other day, but people are freaking out a little bit about this next one. I'm actually kind of looking forward to seeing what happens with the hurricane out there now. It's pretty nice for a chage to be high and dry in a rental apartment instead of worrying about having to evacuate my camper as I did in Florida. Woo hoo! Hurricane party at my place! There aren't many times when I would say I'm happy to be in the apartment instead of living on a park in my camper, but along with indoor plumbing and a full sized shower, not worrying about my home being blown over tops the list.
Unfortunately it looks like I'll be out of town this week so I probably won't even get the chance to sit back and not worry about it in person, I'll have to do it from afar. Sigh...maybe next time!
Unfortunately it looks like I'll be out of town this week so I probably won't even get the chance to sit back and not worry about it in person, I'll have to do it from afar. Sigh...maybe next time!
Saturday, August 4, 2007
Not much going on at home recently, but I did get the chance recently to do some traveling for work and fun. I spent about a week up in Northern Virginia/Washington DC area attending an orientation at the world office for The Nature Conservancy, and thankfully they were ok with letting me fly home from NYC so I hopped a train up there to stay with my friends Tim and Angel for a few days! They're all married and stuff now. Still kinda strange if you ask me. Last time I was in NYC was for their wedding a year ago this month. My colleague Becky attended the orientation as well and joined me for the expanded trip up to NYC. It was her first visit to New York City, so it was two days of trying to cram in every attraction we could while still trying to maintain some semblence of sanity. We saw a lot, but not so sure if we maintained the sanity. It's tough when Angel is around, she could drive anyone loony! hehehehe...
We started the week of orientation off with a trip to a TNC preserve in the Potomac River Gorge. If only the rest of the week could have been spent out here rather than in a conference room!
I can't believe they've been married for a year now! Time sure does go fast once you finally get the ring, doesn't it Angel?
Angel and I at the roof garden on top of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Not much chance of keeping her attention when there is a camera pointed in her direction. I believe her next words were "oh, what did you say, I wasn't paying attention?"
Did anyone else notice that in the four pictures above Tim and I have changed clothes but Angel seems to be wearing the same thing day after day?
Angel, dear, are you ever going to fuss at me for not updating my blog again? : )
Unfortunately I had to turn down a detail with US Fish and Wildlife heading to some fires still burning in Florida because of the orientation, but I'm on the list to head out west now and will hopefully be getting that call sometime this weekend or early this week. They have the crew and the engine ready, but they are tapped out of engine bosses at the moment, so we're just waiting for someone to lead the motley crew and we'll be on the way. Another guy from my crew just headed up to Oregon this morning, so hopefully I won't be far behind.
We started the week of orientation off with a trip to a TNC preserve in the Potomac River Gorge. If only the rest of the week could have been spent out here rather than in a conference room!
The gang of "new employees" at TNC orientation making a side trip for some sightseeing in DC. It was a really great group that all had a lot of fun hanging out over the course of the week.
I can't believe they've been married for a year now! Time sure does go fast once you finally get the ring, doesn't it Angel?
Angel and I at the roof garden on top of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Not much chance of keeping her attention when there is a camera pointed in her direction. I believe her next words were "oh, what did you say, I wasn't paying attention?"
Did anyone else notice that in the four pictures above Tim and I have changed clothes but Angel seems to be wearing the same thing day after day?
Angel, dear, are you ever going to fuss at me for not updating my blog again? : )
Saturday, June 30, 2007
Other duties as assigned...
It’s amazing what a large part of one’s job one short line in a job description can entail. We’ve all got them though, right? It’s a pretty well known fact that in most cases fire and water don’t co-exist very well. Being that the bulk of my primary job has everything to do with fire, the fact that the vast majority of this great state of Texas is underwater has me finding out day after day what exactly “other duties as assigned” really means. For a couple months that meant spending a lot of time working on vehicles and equipment, getting everything up and running in top shape so that when things dried up we would be rip, roaring and ready to go. Still waiting for things to dry up. As of June we brought on 5 additional folks for the summer fire season, which is supposed to run from late May through the end of August or so. Unfortunately it hasn’t started yet, and doesn’t look like it will be starting anytime soon. Hopefully we’ll start traveling around the state pretty soon, scouting out every dry patch of land we can find to actually get some fire on the ground. Ideally they would release us for a while to get on some fire details elsewhere around the country, but I don’t see that happening. Too busy hurrying up to wait.
So it sounds like I’m kind of bitching about these other duties as assigned. I am to an extent, and would complain more if my primary “other duty” didn’t rock! The task at hand really doesn’t do much for me. We are re-mapping all of the private ranches we work with and I am tasked with collecting all of the GIS/GPS data to create the maps. In order to do that though, I’ve spent the last two and a half months (and will spend the foreseeable future) spending 6 to 8 hours a day riding around in some pretty cool places on an ATV. I started to complain a bit about it the other night to a friend when he just about slapped me and told me that I really needed to get over it if tearing around on an ATV for 40 hours a week was the bad part of my job. Since all I really want to do is work with fire I hadn’t quite gotten around to thinking about it that way. So, I guess other duties as assigned aren’t all that bad after all.
I try to keep things interesting for myself while out there, but I got a bit careless the other day, going about 25mph, a bit faster than I probably should have down a road with some occasional patches of high grass that didn’t let me see what was up ahead. I found an awesome three-foot deep ditch where a culvert had washed out. I saw it just in time to think, “let go of the handlebars and get your foot out from under the shifter,” which was nice because without anything to get snagged on I did a very graceful (if I do say so myself) header over the handlebars and landed about 15 feet in front of said ditch. While airborne I had time to think “whoa, thank goodness I didn’t hit my goodies on the handlebars”…”wow, I bet this looks really cool, I sure wish it was on video”…and finally “holy crap, I sure hope I didn’t bust the ATV, I’m about 6 miles from my truck, don’t have cell service and drove through knee high water for the last 45 minutes to get here”…THUNK…I was really rather impressed with my tuck and roll that left me with nothing more than a slightly sore wrist, some grass stains and a goal of figuring out how I can do that again in a controlled atmosphere where I won’t get hurt, but can get it on video so I can see if it looks as cool as it felt.
Here’s a pic I snapped on my phone of the beast right where it bucked me off. Thankfully it wasn’t damaged and I was able to ride it right out of there.
That’s all for now. Gotta’ get back to working on the plans for said little adventure.
So it sounds like I’m kind of bitching about these other duties as assigned. I am to an extent, and would complain more if my primary “other duty” didn’t rock! The task at hand really doesn’t do much for me. We are re-mapping all of the private ranches we work with and I am tasked with collecting all of the GIS/GPS data to create the maps. In order to do that though, I’ve spent the last two and a half months (and will spend the foreseeable future) spending 6 to 8 hours a day riding around in some pretty cool places on an ATV. I started to complain a bit about it the other night to a friend when he just about slapped me and told me that I really needed to get over it if tearing around on an ATV for 40 hours a week was the bad part of my job. Since all I really want to do is work with fire I hadn’t quite gotten around to thinking about it that way. So, I guess other duties as assigned aren’t all that bad after all.
I try to keep things interesting for myself while out there, but I got a bit careless the other day, going about 25mph, a bit faster than I probably should have down a road with some occasional patches of high grass that didn’t let me see what was up ahead. I found an awesome three-foot deep ditch where a culvert had washed out. I saw it just in time to think, “let go of the handlebars and get your foot out from under the shifter,” which was nice because without anything to get snagged on I did a very graceful (if I do say so myself) header over the handlebars and landed about 15 feet in front of said ditch. While airborne I had time to think “whoa, thank goodness I didn’t hit my goodies on the handlebars”…”wow, I bet this looks really cool, I sure wish it was on video”…and finally “holy crap, I sure hope I didn’t bust the ATV, I’m about 6 miles from my truck, don’t have cell service and drove through knee high water for the last 45 minutes to get here”…THUNK…I was really rather impressed with my tuck and roll that left me with nothing more than a slightly sore wrist, some grass stains and a goal of figuring out how I can do that again in a controlled atmosphere where I won’t get hurt, but can get it on video so I can see if it looks as cool as it felt.
Here’s a pic I snapped on my phone of the beast right where it bucked me off. Thankfully it wasn’t damaged and I was able to ride it right out of there.
That’s all for now. Gotta’ get back to working on the plans for said little adventure.
Saturday, May 26, 2007
Here you go, Tim.
I was just called out for not updating my blog. I think I'm doing pretty well though. For anyone else that thinks I'm slacking in keeping this thing up to date, please refer to my very first post. For those too lazy to do that, I'll quote the important part here: "I guarantee I'm going to be bad at updating this thing..."
There you go. Anyway, not much going on here. I've had opportunities to go to Florida, Georgia and just yesterday got a call to go to Arkansas, but unfortunately this whole having a full time job thing means that I can't go and play at my every whim. With our fire season here in Texas just around the corner I have too much prep work going on at home to be able to go on an out of town detail. When going out on a detail it essentially just means taking 16 days of unpaid vacation from the daily job and going out as a temporary hire with the federal govt.
I feel for all the folks in Georgia and Florida getting smoked out full time. Those swampy muck fires are certainly no fun. Just hope for a tropical storm soon, because that's pretty much the only thing that is going to make a difference. At this point all the crews on the ground are really doing is trying to keep it from destroying additional private property. Actually extingushing the various fires is going to be up to mother nature.
If you are still inclined to think that fire is kind of cool, check out this video. This video is part of the curriculum for a wildland fire behavior class I took last week. The shear power and intensity involved is just mind blowing.
Now that you've watched it, did you notice that the whole thing happens in just under two minutes? Check out the gasses escaping the trees and how the trees catch fire before any flames even touch them, and all of the embers dropping and starting spot fires ahead of the main fire. I was told that the camera used is incased in a steel box that is filled with sand.
Just awesome if you ask me. Sure would suck if it was tearing through the forest behind your house, but I guess that's a good reason not to build a house in the forest.
The new seasonal members of my crew will be starting in a couple weeks and I'm probably going to be renting out the second bedroom in my apartment to one of them. I really have no interest in having a roommate, especially one that I work with, but it will be nice to have someone else helping with the power bill when the a/c is running nonstop this summer. They'll only be around for a few months, so thankfully just as I really get tired of having a roommate again I should go back to having the place to myself.
That's about all I've got for now. See Tim, I really didn't have anything to write anyway!
There you go. Anyway, not much going on here. I've had opportunities to go to Florida, Georgia and just yesterday got a call to go to Arkansas, but unfortunately this whole having a full time job thing means that I can't go and play at my every whim. With our fire season here in Texas just around the corner I have too much prep work going on at home to be able to go on an out of town detail. When going out on a detail it essentially just means taking 16 days of unpaid vacation from the daily job and going out as a temporary hire with the federal govt.
I feel for all the folks in Georgia and Florida getting smoked out full time. Those swampy muck fires are certainly no fun. Just hope for a tropical storm soon, because that's pretty much the only thing that is going to make a difference. At this point all the crews on the ground are really doing is trying to keep it from destroying additional private property. Actually extingushing the various fires is going to be up to mother nature.
If you are still inclined to think that fire is kind of cool, check out this video. This video is part of the curriculum for a wildland fire behavior class I took last week. The shear power and intensity involved is just mind blowing.
Now that you've watched it, did you notice that the whole thing happens in just under two minutes? Check out the gasses escaping the trees and how the trees catch fire before any flames even touch them, and all of the embers dropping and starting spot fires ahead of the main fire. I was told that the camera used is incased in a steel box that is filled with sand.
Just awesome if you ask me. Sure would suck if it was tearing through the forest behind your house, but I guess that's a good reason not to build a house in the forest.
The new seasonal members of my crew will be starting in a couple weeks and I'm probably going to be renting out the second bedroom in my apartment to one of them. I really have no interest in having a roommate, especially one that I work with, but it will be nice to have someone else helping with the power bill when the a/c is running nonstop this summer. They'll only be around for a few months, so thankfully just as I really get tired of having a roommate again I should go back to having the place to myself.
That's about all I've got for now. See Tim, I really didn't have anything to write anyway!
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
Back in Texas
The wildfire detail in Alabama was great, but the intensity died down quickly after our first few days there so we ended up spending a lot of time babysitting the fires that had been contained and also chasing bits of smoke that were called in from around the area. Typically they weren't on the National Forest and the state forestry commission responded and took care of the fires. Overall it was a good experience though. Got to meet some great people. I'm on the availability list to go out on another detail, which will probably be to Florida if it happens, but so far they aren't calling for anyone from Texas yet. I've got my fingers crossed! I sometimes get a slight twinge of guilt for hoping that wildfires will start, but you know, I get over it pretty quickly.
My roommate here in Texas was a seasonal member of our crew, so he's gone now and I have the place to myself. Nice guy, but I'm happy to be living alone again. Two years living in my camper by myself was pretty amazing. I don't think I was quite ready to go back to roommate life when I did. It's costing me a bit more to keep the apartment on my own, but I think it's worth it for the moment, and now I have plenty of room for guests! (hint...hint...)
Hope everybody is going well!
My roommate here in Texas was a seasonal member of our crew, so he's gone now and I have the place to myself. Nice guy, but I'm happy to be living alone again. Two years living in my camper by myself was pretty amazing. I don't think I was quite ready to go back to roommate life when I did. It's costing me a bit more to keep the apartment on my own, but I think it's worth it for the moment, and now I have plenty of room for guests! (hint...hint...)
Hope everybody is going well!
Monday, March 26, 2007
Gettin' hot down here!
Things are cookin' in Alabama. We are detailed with the US Forest Service to the Oakmulgee Ranger District on the Talladega National Forest, located about 45 minutes from Tuscaloosa, AL. We rolled in on Saturday night and were breaking on our first fire here by late morning on Sunday. Folks that have been working in this district for 30 years have told us they've never seen fire activity and intensity like they have in the last week, so it looks like we're in for a trip over the next two weeks. In addition to us, the Cherokee Hotshots from Tennessee arrived yesterday and in the next day or so command of the activity down here will transfer to a higher level incident commander who will begin oversight of all of the activity in the region.
I'm trying to get some good pics and videos as time and safety allow, so hopefully I can get some downloaded from my camera and posted in the next few days.
This whole staying in a hotel with showers, cable tv and internet access is pretty darn nice!
Best,
jason.
I'm trying to get some good pics and videos as time and safety allow, so hopefully I can get some downloaded from my camera and posted in the next few days.
This whole staying in a hotel with showers, cable tv and internet access is pretty darn nice!
Best,
jason.
Saturday, March 24, 2007
Off to Alabama!
Wow, posting a new blog a lot sooner than I thought I would.
Well, yesterday was officially our last prescribed fire of the season, but thankfully we got a call just as we were finishing up that Texas has been asked to send some folks to Alabama to help with wildfires there. Woo hoo! Off we go. We got the call confirming the orders this morning and will be on a plane in a couple hours. We'll be working on the Talladega National Forest for the next two weeks or so.
Yee haw!
Well, yesterday was officially our last prescribed fire of the season, but thankfully we got a call just as we were finishing up that Texas has been asked to send some folks to Alabama to help with wildfires there. Woo hoo! Off we go. We got the call confirming the orders this morning and will be on a plane in a couple hours. We'll be working on the Talladega National Forest for the next two weeks or so.
Yee haw!
Saturday, March 17, 2007
First update...
So, here's the first update/recap. It's long (certainly longer than anything else I'll probably ever write on here) but there's a lot to catch up on and I've been really bad about letting friends and family know what's happening with me!
After leaving NYC in 2004, six months with my parents in Atlanta and two years in Florida with AmeriCorps, in November I packed up and hauled my butt out to Texas for a new job with The Nature Conservancy on a fire crew. We do primarily prescribed fire work with private landowners in an area where their ranches are prime habitat for an endangered prairie chicken. We also do a lot of burning on Conservancy, state and federal land around the region and try to get as many wildfire assignments as we can. We're working on getting included in the local emergency response plans to act as an initial attack agency for local wildland fires, so hopefully that will be just around the corner! If any of you are like my parents you are probably thinking that for me to be working for the Conservancy and out in nature that I have become a crazy hippie tree hugger (like my brother, Johnny...hehehe...). Now I have no problem with crazy hippie tree huggers, some of my best friends fit the bill quite well, but it ain't for me. I'm not looking to single handedly save the planet, I'm just here 'cause they told me I could set it on fire.
One big change for me is that following two years in Florida and now living in Texas, I've realized that all things considered, the heat isn't all that bad. Of course it sucks when it's over a hundred degrees for days/weeks at a time (and you are lighting fire next to you), but at the same time, today it was 73 degrees while the northeast was getting blasted by a snow storm. We've had some awfully cold spells that lasted a few days, but when they are bookended by 70 degree days (even in January) I can handle it. I did get caught unprepared during our one frost of the year and had to improvise a window scraper. Thankfully my roommate is one of them northerners and had a spare scraper, so I'm all set for when we have a frost next year.
We've gotten to travel across the state burning and doing prep work on burn units. This is a pretty amazing state. Last month we spent a little over a week out in the Davis Mountains of West Texas and went from there directly to work with the US Fish and Wildlife Service at their refuge on the coast. I can't say I ever imagined I'd have the chance to burn at 7,000 feet one day and right up to the beach on the coast the next day, all in the same state. The area I live in is pretty blah...no public land to speak of, mostly all private ranches and urban sprawl, but thankfully we spend enough time working in amazing places that it's not too big a drag. I could certainly see moving out to West Texas though if the opportunity ever presented itself. Not many people think of mountains when they think of Texas, but it's damn beautiful out there. And holy cow - do you have any idea how many stars there are in the sky?
I've been promising a lot of people pictures over the last couple years, and in typical Jason fashion have rarely delivered. I'm going to try including a few here and I'll see how it goes. At the moment all I really have to share are fire pictures because that's all I've done is work since I got here, but hopefully I'll be able to branch out with the content a bit. I'll throw in a few good ones from Florida too.
I hope everyone is doing well. I would love to keep in touch with everyone individually, but I know myself well enough to know that it would be a lofty goal never reached. So, this is my attempt to at least get everyone up to speed with where I am now and to hopefully be a bit better at keeping ya'll updated in the future. I look forward to hearing from everyone - yup, that's right, every single one of you! Of course there are probably tons of people that I neglected to send this to, so please be sure to share the blog address if you know someone I forgot!
If anyone cares to get in touch, my address is jasonpahern @ yahoo . com.
Best,
jason.
My camper was home sweet home for my two years as an AmeriCorps volunteer with the Florida Park Service. I spent the first year living (and dodging hurricanes) at Grayton Beach State Park in the panhandle and the second year at 21,000 acre Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park near Gainesville.
Just out to enjoy a day of paddling on the salt marshes at Talbot Islands State Park. The tides changed just a bit faster than we thought they would and gave us the opportunity to spend the next 6 or 7 hours contemplating our tide chart reading skills while we waited for the marsh to fill back up with water. Paddling home after dark while wearing my prescription sunglasses was interesting.
Not only do they let me set stuff on fire, but they give me a big tractor to play with too! We use the tractor for prepping fire lines around the units we burn. First we mow and then disc down to mineral soil. No, I'm not responsible for the canopy being smashed in - that's the way they gave it to me, I swear! (Unless you saw something, you didn't, did you? Really, it wasn't me!)
It's a dirty job. Can you believe they pay me to do it?
It makes me giggle every time.
Every kid should have a drip torch (it contains a mixture of gasoline and diesel). Come on dad, why mow the lawn when you could burn it!
This one almost got away from us. We had fun catching it though and then of course had to snap some pics.
As most people know, fire needs oxygen to burn. Well, when a fire gets strong enough it can actually create its own weather, pulling so hard to suck in the surrounding oxygen that it creates its own wind. Below are a few links to videos of such a phenomenon on a recent fire:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_pVyZ7cpIw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f48CaWQKlnk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1EcifWRZpU
After leaving NYC in 2004, six months with my parents in Atlanta and two years in Florida with AmeriCorps, in November I packed up and hauled my butt out to Texas for a new job with The Nature Conservancy on a fire crew. We do primarily prescribed fire work with private landowners in an area where their ranches are prime habitat for an endangered prairie chicken. We also do a lot of burning on Conservancy, state and federal land around the region and try to get as many wildfire assignments as we can. We're working on getting included in the local emergency response plans to act as an initial attack agency for local wildland fires, so hopefully that will be just around the corner! If any of you are like my parents you are probably thinking that for me to be working for the Conservancy and out in nature that I have become a crazy hippie tree hugger (like my brother, Johnny...hehehe...). Now I have no problem with crazy hippie tree huggers, some of my best friends fit the bill quite well, but it ain't for me. I'm not looking to single handedly save the planet, I'm just here 'cause they told me I could set it on fire.
One big change for me is that following two years in Florida and now living in Texas, I've realized that all things considered, the heat isn't all that bad. Of course it sucks when it's over a hundred degrees for days/weeks at a time (and you are lighting fire next to you), but at the same time, today it was 73 degrees while the northeast was getting blasted by a snow storm. We've had some awfully cold spells that lasted a few days, but when they are bookended by 70 degree days (even in January) I can handle it. I did get caught unprepared during our one frost of the year and had to improvise a window scraper. Thankfully my roommate is one of them northerners and had a spare scraper, so I'm all set for when we have a frost next year.
We've gotten to travel across the state burning and doing prep work on burn units. This is a pretty amazing state. Last month we spent a little over a week out in the Davis Mountains of West Texas and went from there directly to work with the US Fish and Wildlife Service at their refuge on the coast. I can't say I ever imagined I'd have the chance to burn at 7,000 feet one day and right up to the beach on the coast the next day, all in the same state. The area I live in is pretty blah...no public land to speak of, mostly all private ranches and urban sprawl, but thankfully we spend enough time working in amazing places that it's not too big a drag. I could certainly see moving out to West Texas though if the opportunity ever presented itself. Not many people think of mountains when they think of Texas, but it's damn beautiful out there. And holy cow - do you have any idea how many stars there are in the sky?
I've been promising a lot of people pictures over the last couple years, and in typical Jason fashion have rarely delivered. I'm going to try including a few here and I'll see how it goes. At the moment all I really have to share are fire pictures because that's all I've done is work since I got here, but hopefully I'll be able to branch out with the content a bit. I'll throw in a few good ones from Florida too.
I hope everyone is doing well. I would love to keep in touch with everyone individually, but I know myself well enough to know that it would be a lofty goal never reached. So, this is my attempt to at least get everyone up to speed with where I am now and to hopefully be a bit better at keeping ya'll updated in the future. I look forward to hearing from everyone - yup, that's right, every single one of you! Of course there are probably tons of people that I neglected to send this to, so please be sure to share the blog address if you know someone I forgot!
If anyone cares to get in touch, my address is jasonpahern @ yahoo . com.
Best,
jason.
My camper was home sweet home for my two years as an AmeriCorps volunteer with the Florida Park Service. I spent the first year living (and dodging hurricanes) at Grayton Beach State Park in the panhandle and the second year at 21,000 acre Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park near Gainesville.
Just out to enjoy a day of paddling on the salt marshes at Talbot Islands State Park. The tides changed just a bit faster than we thought they would and gave us the opportunity to spend the next 6 or 7 hours contemplating our tide chart reading skills while we waited for the marsh to fill back up with water. Paddling home after dark while wearing my prescription sunglasses was interesting.
Not only do they let me set stuff on fire, but they give me a big tractor to play with too! We use the tractor for prepping fire lines around the units we burn. First we mow and then disc down to mineral soil. No, I'm not responsible for the canopy being smashed in - that's the way they gave it to me, I swear! (Unless you saw something, you didn't, did you? Really, it wasn't me!)
It's a dirty job. Can you believe they pay me to do it?
It makes me giggle every time.
Every kid should have a drip torch (it contains a mixture of gasoline and diesel). Come on dad, why mow the lawn when you could burn it!
This one almost got away from us. We had fun catching it though and then of course had to snap some pics.
As most people know, fire needs oxygen to burn. Well, when a fire gets strong enough it can actually create its own weather, pulling so hard to suck in the surrounding oxygen that it creates its own wind. Below are a few links to videos of such a phenomenon on a recent fire:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_pVyZ7cpIw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f48CaWQKlnk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1EcifWRZpU
Getting started...
Alright, well I've been looking for a way to share updates and pics on occasion. I guarantee I'm going to be bad at updating this thing, but at least I'll have a way to send out some pics when I have some good ones to share, and maybe an occasional update.
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