Done, done and done.

The past few days have been fairly exciting here on the ranch, Friday especially. The week began with a road trip for your's truly. I went back to Ohio. To teach a course on chainsaw use and tree falling. Or felling. I'm not sure which is the more correcter. In any instance that was how I killed the first half of the week. It wasn't easy since I knew Friday was going to be a big day. The two events which I was anticipating were K's birthday and a formal job offer. The third event which I was not anticipating was our first showing of the condo. All three went off without a hitch. The condo purportedly showed well, albeit to a disinterested party. Kimberly's birthday was a success all the way around (my gifts: earrings to match an earlier necklace, a beach cruiser bike and a baby seat for said bike).

And finally, I was given and accepted a formal offer to the AFMO for the Arapaho-Roosevelt National Forest and Pawnee National Grassland North Zone. There are no real details at this time. There is one administrivial element which must be satisfied before I am considered an actual employee of the Forest Service and I have been told to expect all other information sometime around the middle of July (no guff).

P-p-p-p-p-p-p-pressure

The hiring process to which I have been alluding is moving along fairly quickly. Today I had my second (and final?) interview. Both my potential boss and the District Ranger were on the phone. The vibe, on the whole, was good. With any luck the final answer will arrive early next week.

In addition to the nail biting suspense of waiting to hear whether or not I have gotten an excellent job, I recently learned that I will be in a golf foursome with a big-wig at K's company. The words 'immanent danger' leap to mind as does 'embarrassment'.

With spring here we have taken it upon ourselves to tidy up the lawn, etc, around the condo. We mulched nearly everything, planted some flowers and grass, and mowed. It took a lot longer than I would have originally guesstimated, but it is a real pleasure to sweat a little and have clear accomplishments to look at at the end of the day.

The picture included here deserves no explanation. It was an experiment which ended. Poorly.

Spring has been sprung

So life in Chicago is getting very green. Or at least it has in the past two weeks. Somehow we have managed to complete all of our prescribed fires in spite of the compressed season. All of them were impressive, but I only managed to get pictures of Miller Woods Unit 7 and Unit 3. That's the fire world here.

In other fire news, I recently found out (in a frustratingly round about way) that RMF has already hired their seasonals for the season. Not so much as an email to me. On the other hand, things with the Forest Service are warming up. I'll make sure to let you all know as soon as there is something definitive.


In non-fire news, our condo is on the market now. There have been no calls, but it's only just been posted. We remain optimistic.

And this past weekend we were in Tennessee for a wedding. Kimberly's good friend Andrea had us down for her big day and we had a splendid time. My wonderful mother-in-law joined us which made things all the more splendid. She is truly a delight to hang out with.

Not much else to tell. I hope you are all well.