Ada-Ruth Lorraine Southern-Weber

As many of you have heard, yesterday Kimberly gave birth to our darling daughter, Ada Ruth Lorraine. The time was 1714hrs, Mountain time. She weighed 7 pounds, 13.5 ounces and was 19.5 inches in length. Both mother and baby are doing well and were able to come home less than 5 hours after delivery.

I Have Returned

Only a month ago I was describing what I was hoping would be a pleasant adventure (new job, house hunting, moving, etc). Today we are a little less than halfway through the adventure and so far, so good.

I have completed two weeks of work at my new posting and work is going well. In fact it's going very well. I arrived during a fairly busy part of the year for western fire and well over half of my peeps were on out-of-forest assignments. This has allowed me to meet folks incrementally and really learn a bit about them. All said and done there are 26 people on the org chart beneath me, with another couple informal assignees for fun I guess. So meeting them one by one has been a real boon.

When not meeting people my boss has had me driving around the forest and getting to know the roads. I have taken a handful of pictures and as soon as I find my cable I will be uploading. As you might imagine there are some stellar vistas, particularly in the Red Feather area.

House hunting has been kinda rocky. We have placed offers on four different homes and gone to inspection on two. With any luck we will be taking possession of this charmer on August 18th. The actual address is 2937 Mountain View, but because Google Maps - Street View is approximate I tweaked it to give you the right view. It's the split level on the south-east corner of Mountain View and Princeton. I also have a pile of photos of interior and backyard which will have to wait until I can find my cable.

The adventure of moving will be getting into full swing tomorrow (Sunday). It's a sorta funny story actually. At the time that I was applying for my Transfer of Station benefits, I indicated that I had what they call an 'extra stop': my storage unit in Indiana. My counselor assured me that although we would have to pay for it out of our own pocket, it rarely cost more than $50. A month later I got the estimate: $3000. Naturally I was concerned so I called my counselor back. While that price will not change, I was informed that I could avoid it altogether if I brought my stuff up to Chicago for the movers on Monday. I was told that I would be reimbursed for the cost of a rental truck. And a dolly. And blankets. AND, if I hired anyone I would be reimbursed for labor. Naturally at this point I wanted to know why the &#$% they wouldn't just pay the moving company to do it.

The outlook/schedule for the next week or so: today we have our shower & party, Sunday I load the storage unit. Monday the packers arrive. Wednesday the loaders arrive. Thursday we get on the road and Friday evening we arrive in Longmont to begin our new life.

Wish us luck!

On the road again .. and again... and again

Well, things are really starting to shape up. First and foremost I think it is worth mentioning that all of my misgivings and any bad-mouthing I may have given to the Albuquerque Service Center were misplaced. To date they have been very prompt and helpful, a complete change from what I was expecting.

But they were hardly the only piece of the process which had potential to perturb (all hail alliteration!). In the next month I will be driving between Illinois and Colorado a grand total of four times, with a flight thrown in for good measure. This Saturday, the 5th, I will be heading to the Longmont area on a week-long house-hunting expedition. I will return to work at the Indiana Dunes for my final week then return to the road on the 20th. I will report for my first day of work at CO-ARF on the 23rd. Then I will take off again on Friday, August 1, returning to the midwest for our baby shower, going-away party, packing, loading and leaving. IN THEORY we will be settled in our new place by August 10. In theory.

All of you who are reading I am making this small request. Please put positive thoughts and prayers toward the selling of our condo. There is the distinct possibility that the government will have a relocation company buy it from us, but it is not written in stone. Your well wishes will help and be very appreciated!

Nothing left but the shouting

Almost a week ago I received the final confirmation that I am indeed qualified for the AFMO(pdf) position on the Arapaho-Roosevelt NF & Pawnee NG, which means I will soon be in that position.

For those of you who MIGHT be confused, let me recap how I ended up here.
2008.03.26 : a fella by the name of Dave Hamrick sent out what is commonly referred to as an 'outreach', soliciting interest in the aforementioned AFMO position.
2008.03.28 : the aforementioned outreach arrived in my inbox.
2008.03.29 : I begin working on my application to the position.
2008.04.17 : I have flowers sent to my mom (which apparently failed), finish my application and reply to the outreach, indicating that I am very interested.
2008.05.05 : Phone interview #1. I think it goes well.
2008.05.13 : I get a call from Mr. Hamrick asking me if I would be available the next day for a phone interview, to which I say 'yes'.
2008.05.14 : Second phone interview.
2008.05.15 : I call Dave to update my contact info and am told that he will be taking his recommendation to the Forest Supervisor on Friday the 23rd. He will let me know yea or nay at that time or shortly thereafter.
2008.05.23 : Dave calls to let me know that the Forest Supervisor has approved his selection which as it turned out was me. But the catch is that they needed to contact the Albuquerque Disservice Center to find out if I am qualified for the position. I have to admit that I was a little surprised to hear that I had been interviewed twice and tentatively offered a position before they even knew I was qualified, but that is the new Albuquerque way.
2008.05.29 : Dave sends me an email to confirm that I am qualified (what a relief, right?) and I should be expecting some packet including the form which I am supposed to sign.

So here I sit, waiting for said packet. It remains to be seen what all will happen, but here are some of the possibilities:
- a paid move. All of our stuff will be packed, loaded, shipped, and unloaded for us.
- selling and buying assistance. We may get financial help with closing costs, etc.
- a home-shopping trip. A 'free' trip to CO to try and find a home.
- a guaranteed home sale. There used to be such a thing for gov't empoyees. Dunno if it's still in the deck anymore.

Someday I will go ahead and throw up some pictures of the my world, but in the meanwhile my words will have to do.

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.