Hello, everyone!  Are you still there?  I am... I think.  Well, physically, maybe not mentally.  It has been requested that I write more posts.  Blogger went and changed the formatting on me while I was away, it seems.  It's kind of annoying. 

So, yeah, it's been a while.  I got a whole year older since I last posted.  Okay, not really a whole year, but I did turn 29.  I think most people who read this knew that already, though.  My birthday fell on a weekend this year, which was nice.  I went out to dinner at Sandiago's, which I'm surprised more people haven't heard of because it's right by the tram...  duh.  Anyway, it's good, and they have an awesome birthday deal where you get a FREE dinner AND dessert if you bring four people.  So I did.  The two margaritas might have racked up the bill a bit but, seriously, who can say no to fresh-brought-in-that-day watermelon blended into a frozen margarita-y goodness?

The next day we went to a pool party, and I thought about taking a picture because I very much enjoy taking pictures of pools... but I didn't.  Instead, I took one at the Hilton, which I went to this week for an amazing, spectacular Watershed, Air and Soils conference. 

it has a fricken water slide!

I went on Wednesday afternoon to hear my cubicle mate Susanna talk about air and dust and stuff.  Apparently, she's kind of a big deal.  The rest of the afternoon was fire talks, or rather, fire response and remediation talks.  My favorite parts were a research presentation by a guy from Idaho, and the drama that occurred on one of the forests last year.  Sadly, that probably held my attention better than anything else.  I'm a sucker for pain and suffering, when it's not happening to me.  But really, everything was pretty interesting.  It makes me excited to work on a fire this year.  If I ever get my darn red card.

In other news, I went to Silver City again and found a hotel that I like better than my usual Holiday Inn Express.  The Econo Lodge.  I know, right?  It is totally not scary, like I was expecting it to be.


I don't know how to end this so here's a picture of my dog.

How to Build a Fire is a depressing story by Jack London.  I'm not going to talk about that.  And I'm not going to talk about how to build a campfire either.  I'm going to talk about my firefighter refresher training that I took last Friday.

But... umm, wait a second.  Didn't I just take four days of fire training?  Oh yes, I did.  But boss W said I had to take it, and he's the boss, so there I was taking the same exact dang class watching the same videos that I just saw last month.  

There was one part that wasn't in my first class, though, and it was one of the most interesting parts of the whole day.  One of the meteorologists in my office recorded a powerpoint presentation on five predictive fire factors, and how each of them played out in 2011, one of the most historic fire seasons in our region.  The factors are:

Drought
Fine fuels (small stuff, like grass and forbs and baby trees)
Seasonal temperature and precipitation
Spring and early Summer weather patterns
Monsoons

He then provided a history and showed a map of the occurrence of each of these factors in the winter and spring of 2010-2011. The map showed that all of them lined up pretty much perfectly with each other to create greater than normal fire conditions in 2011.  The three big fires of last season, the Wallow, Horseshoe II, and and Las Conchas, were all located exactly in the ring of fire.

Next he went on to discuss the conditions for 2012.  So far, this year has been cooler with more precipitation, but we are losing snow pack when we should be gaining it.  Additionally, the shift to El Nino occurs this year.  Fire conditions are dependent on how fast or slow this shift is.

As for the five factors, this is how they are currently playing out this year:
Drought- still continuous
Fine fuels - a more normal amount with some snow compaction
Seasonal temp/precip - a more rapid shift to El Nino is favorable for reducing fire conditions
Weather pattern - more "normal" than last year
Monsoon - wetter across the west and drier across the east (of our region)

Basically, this means it's still up in the air as to exactly how the fire conditions will be this year, but there are indications that it won't be as bad as last year.  I wanted to write about all of this because I think it's really interesting.  I like weather and climate stuff a lot.  Probably more than mapping and geomorphology, although I still love working with soil and plants.  I'll try to make my next post have more pictures and less science.

Cochiti is our puppy.

We got him in January.  Yes, I've wanted a puppy pretty much my whole life (seriously, I dreamed in puppies) and now that I have one, I waited two months to even mention it.

Why, I have no idea.  Probably because I'm lazy, and because having a puppy takes away some of my energies (he has enough for all three of us).  I've heard people say having a puppy is like having a baby.  I'm going to go out on a limb here, and say that it is definitely not.  Not that I have much experience in the baby department, but I think it's a fair assumption.

It is definitely work, though.  Especially when your puppy is just a little bit, well... let's call it "special."  But he's sweet and he means well.  He definitely has a lot of personality.  For brevity's sake, I will bullet-point his most interesting and noteworthy characteristics.

• From the beginning, his favorite toy has been a plastic flower pot.  He loves flailing it around, throwing it in the air, and just generally trying to rip it to shreds.
•  One day, he had said flower pot on his head and he ran right off the porch because he couldn't see that he was on the edge.
• He's a heeler, so he LOVES biting feet.  It's pretty much his favorite thing, besides the flower pot.
• He goes wild over snow.  Just the tiniest little patch, and he's happy happy happy.
• At my apartment, he once decided to pee on the sliding glass door.  I'm pretty sure he thought he was going outside.  At least he tried...
• He has a serious underbite and could use some doggie headgear.
• The bottom of his paws smell like popcorn.
• His poppers STINK!
• He has demolished countless small sticks
• He mows his food faster than a crocodile in the Nile.  And he snaps his jaws like one too.
• He sometimes thinks "good boy" means he can immediately start being bad.
• He has gained 5 lbs since we got him.  We think he might be part German Shepherd.
• He is very capable of jumping up on top of the kitchen table.
• He is very affectionate and likes to cuddle with us in the morning.  He has also decided it's a good idea to put his head on the pillow.
• When he dreams, he acts like he is running and makes tiny little barks.
• He runs like a madman in the hills.  Seeing how much fun he has always puts a smile on my face.

Hello anyone out there who still reads this.   It's been a while.  February was a ridiculously busy month.  I didn't have one weekend off.  The first two weekends, I had to drive to Silver City.  Yes, I had to drive there and come back... twice.  But I didn't mind, because I was doing something I really wanted to do, which was...  firefighter training!

Last summer, while I was off breaking the truck, the rest of my crew was in Arizona doing remediation work on the Wallow Fire.  I was the only one out of my entire staff (including the students) without fire training and therefore couldn't go along.  Needless to say, I felt left out.  At the end of the fiscal year, our travel budget was cut (again) and I thought there wouldn't be any extra money for trainings, so I tried not to be too disappointed about another summer of working alone while everyone else went off without me again.

But when I got back from the holiday break, something incredible happened.  My boss came by and said, "We have some extra travel money, and W [his boss] wants you take fire training this year, so... find a class."  YAY!

It was actually really hard to find a class.  I kept getting different information and getting referred to different people.  But I finally found one.  In Silver City.  Over two weekends.  Silver City is about 4 and 1/2 hours away, if you take the shortcut.  More if you try to go through Hatch and Deming.  And even longer if you have to do what I did last year, and go all the way down to Las Cruces.  Blah.  So it was a long drive and  totally killed my weekends but, like I said, I really wanted to do it, so I sucked it up and went.

The weekend of Feb 4 and 5 was the first weekend of the training, and I learned A LOT.  There is so much information.  We learned all about wildland fire behavior in one day.  And then took a test.  So in one day, I had already completed 1/4 of the 4-part course.  The class was actually pretty big, with about 30-32 people, most of them volunteer firefighters from different departments around Southwest New Mexico.  It's weird to see all these middle aged and older people who want to fight fires for no money, when all I really want to do is go around and look at stuff that's already been burned (because I'm a wussie) and get paid for it.

Required reading for firefighters.

Wildland fire behavior reminded me a lot of physical geography, because it deals with how weather affects fire.  Wind, thunderstorms, relative humidity, air temperature, etc.  I also learned a lot about how the actual fire behaves.  It's pretty cool, actually.

And now, because my geology professor once said that drawing pictures helps you learn and remember things, I give you the parts of a fire:

In case you cannot tell from my amazing drawing skills, this is a fire in aerial view

Origin - Every fire has an origin, but it's not always at the lowest point on the fire like I've drawn.  There can be other factors, like the tree that initially ignited could have fallen and rolled down the hill, thus bringing the fire down with it.

Head - this is the biggest, scariest part of the fire.  It's the place where the fire is spreading the fastest.

Flank - These are basically the sides of the fire that aren't the head.  They are the coolest part of the fire (temp-wise), so that's where the firefighters are usually sent first to start containing or controlling the fire.  They say go up the right or left flank instead of using directions like North, South, East and West, because it's too hard to tell that kind of thing when there's a fire burning all around you. 

Heel - This is the "bottom" of the fire.  It has the slowest rate of spread and is opposite the head.

Finger - Extension that is still connected to the main fire

Pocket - Unburned portion between the finger and the main fire.  You DON'T want to be there.  If the fire jumps across and closes the pocket, you are screwed.

Island - A part inside the fire that isn't burning.  It may be a rock outcrop or a lake or a change in fuel type.  Just something different that decided not to burn for some reason.

Spot Fire - These happen when a piece of fire (yes I said piece, whatever) is lofted out into the atmosphere and lands on a fuel bed.  It's not connected to the main fire.

The entire outer boundary of the fire is called the perimeter and the already burnt middle part is called the black, so I made it black in the picture.  Doesn't it totally look like a burnt forest?  Yeah, I thought so.

I got tagged by Chloe.  She is cool, so I will play along.
 
The Rules:
1. Post the rules
2. Post 11 fun facts about yourself
3. Answer the questions the tagger gave you in their post & then create 11 new questions for the people you tag.
4. Tag 11 people and link them in your post
5. Let them know you've "tagged" them

11 Fun or Random Facts About Me

1.  I am allergic to Robitussin.

2.  I am currently taking classes on how to be a firefighter.

3. Matt and I recently made a new addition to the family... More on this later.

4. Since I've lived in Albuquerque, I have witnessed more criminal activity and vehicle accidents than any other time in my life.

5. I have not had my wisdom teeth out yet.

6. Matt's family is from Kansas.  I have never been there.

7. For my Master's Degree, I basically studied the properties of air bubbles in dirt.

8. I used to sweat a whole bunch when I lived in Vegas, but when I moved to New Mexico, it magically went away.

9. I took ice skating lessons.  For kind of a long time, actually.  But I could never get the concept of rollerblading.  Especially downhill.

10.  I probably love chips and salsa more than a normal person should.

11. If I really like a song, I will listen to it over and over, and get sad when it ends.  And listen to it again.


Questions from Chloe

1. What is your most embarrassing nickname?  In high school, some people called me Maureen the Moron.  It made me sad.
2. What makes you anxious or nervous?  Haha.  Everything.  Driving.  Getting lost.  Not having the right answer.  Most social interactions....
3. What is your biggest fear? Hmm... I don't know. I guess I'm afraid of something bad happening to me while I'm in the field by myself.  Getting bitten by a snake, getting in a vehicle accident, falling into a hole, a rock falling on my head, falling off a cliff, getting accidentally shot by a hunter, being mauled by a bear.  You know, stuff like that.
4. Facebook or Twitter?  Facebook.  I don't even have a twitter thing.
5. Dogs or cats?  Dogs, but I like cats too.
6. What is your favorite recipe?  Pretty much any kind of dessert I can bake.  I like baking more than cooking, generally.
7. What are your resolutions for 2012?  Save money and get out of debt.
8. Books or magazines?  Books.  Everyone at work says that I'm always reading.  I only read at lunch!
9.  What is your favorite color?  Purple.  Obviously.
10. Worst part of the day?  The middle of the day, when I'm at work and really bored but I still have hours to go.
11. Favorite part of the day?  When I get to go home, play on the computer and eat a snack. 

Questions for You
1. What do you like to eat for lunch?
2. What is your favorite part about the place where you live?
3.Your least favorite part?
4. Would you rather clean and fold a large pile of laundry or wash and put away an equally large pile of dishes?
5. Coffee or Tea?
6. What was your coolest injury?
7.  Do you have a favorite pair of socks?
8. What food do you despise with a passion?
9. Would you rather camp or stay at a hotel?
10. What movie do you want to watch right now?
11. If someone said, I will give you a million dollars but you have to move to someplace you hate, would you do it?

I hate tagging people, because I'm always nervous that they'll think I'm dumb for tagging them, but I'll do it anyway.  I will tag:
Pam
Sam
Rachel
Jessica
Camille
Megan
Wildlife Biologist (I don't know your name :)

Do with that what you will...

Over the holidays, I took lots of pictures of food.  And I'm hungry right now while waiting for dinner to be finished (spaghetti squash! yum!) so I am obviously thinking about delicious food and wanting to look at pictures of it. You can too! Isn't that lucky?

Christmas dinner.  My plate would have been more full if I hadn't already eaten a million snacks.

My brother made cake for dessert and it was not very good, but my aunt made my favorite cupcakes and they were spectacular.

This is a sandwich from Zingerman's (local restaurant in Ann Arbor).  It had green chile on it, but the spiciest part was the dang mustard.  I seriously could feel it burning in my nose.  Ahh, the pain!

My brother and I went to a restaurant in East Lansing and he said I needed to get this soup because it was the best soup ever.  It's white chicken chili, I think.

I have traveled to many different restaurants in search of the best Philly.  (It's not in Philadelphia)

My mom made these for breakfast one day.....mmmmmmmmmmmmmm

My mom also made these, from some kit she bought on sale.  She kept calling them whoopie cushions.  (we also drank a lot of tea while I was there)

While I was back in Michigan, I went to my dad's temple for a latke dinner.  My dad is Jewish, if you didn't know that, so we also celebrate Jewish holidays (such as Hanukkah).  My dad's men's group was hosting the dinner, so I was already familiar with the side dishes -- cole slaw and homemade applesauce -- before the dinner even happened.

Also included in the dinner were latkes, of course, and hot dogs.  It was actually pretty good.

And a pickle.  Jewish people loooove their pickles.

After the dinner was over, the rabbi tried to convince us to stay for the service and menorah lighting.  He said they lit about 50 menorahs at once.  But my mom and I had plans to go out for dessert instead. 

Anyone who says they do not like dessert is in denial

At home, we celebrated Hanukkah by lighting our own menorah.



We also have a sticky window menorah, which I had the duty of "lighting."

I wanted to get the reflection of the Christmas tree lights in for the double holiday effect

I'm not gonna lie, part of the fun of Hanukkah is seeing what kind of presents we get.  It's usually some cheap thing my mom found on sale the year before, but it's amusing to see what she comes up with.  I'm not going to post everything I got for each of the 8 days, because my mom enjoys giving us underwear in hopes that we'll throw our old ones away.  Haha.  But here's a few things.

Matt actually used this oven mitt today

Adventure Time! (if you don't know what I'm talking about, look it up)

wool socks are the best field socks

In the spirit of catching up with things, I will now post about my trip to Phoenix.  Did I mention I went to Phoenix?  Well, I did. 

I went for some soil meeting thingy-majobber.  Basically, we went to tell another agency(ies) how our methods are way more awesome than theirs.  Okay, not really (well, not totally, anyway).  I went because I wanted to know how the other agencies worked.  Because things vary from one place to another, whether it is in a different region or a different agency, and I generally get a very biased version of how things are "supposed" to be done.  I won't get into the details of Ecological Site Descriptions, because that would be boring, but that's pretty much the gist of why I was there.

But if we really want to be honest, then I went because I wanted to stay at my favorite hotel in Phoenix, The Embassy Suites.  I attempted to make a video blog, all travel channel style, the last time I was there.  Unfortunately, my camera and I are not that awesome, so this time you are just getting pictures.

Since the last time I was in Phoenix, some hotel policies have changed.  The first one, although it didn't directly affect me, was somewhat unpleasant.  They now charge $5 to park in their lot.  Lame. 

The second change, however, was much better.  The last time I was there, we were given tickets that allowed us to have 3 free (alcoholic) drinks per night.  This time, happy hour lasted several hours each evening, during which time you could have as many free drinks, and snacks, as you wanted.  That was pretty darn cool.  Except for that for my first drink, I wanted Jack and Coke, but all they had was... bourbon?  It was not delicious.  I decided to stick with the old standby, vodka and cranberry, for the rest of the night.

But you want to look at pictures, I'm sure... so, here are some pictures.

Dining Room

Living Room

Kitchen.  The water from the sink tasted weird.  Like mold.

Bedroom

Cool fountain outside the lobby

The best hot tub ever

Old Smoky lives in the apartment downstairs and kiddie corner from mine.  He is old, and he smokes cigarettes.  Hence, Old Smoky.  He likes to sit in his gray computer desk chair, which is outside on his patio, and smoke his Camels or Marlboro Reds, or whatever the heck it is he smokes.  During these times, he enjoys "trapping" innocent passerby into long, drawn out conversations about a set variety of topics he enjoys.  I will get into more about those topics in later posts.  There are some large shrubs in front of his apartment, so we don't always see him right away, and sometimes he surprises us.  We'll be heading towards the stairs up to my apartment, and will hear:

Old Smoky has a deep voice.  It sort of sounds like the guy who does the voice-overs for Dodge Ram commercials.  So, picture that voice in your mind as you read the above greeting.  When you hear it, you know what is going to happen next. Well, YOU don't.  Not yet, anyway.  But I do, and over the course of this series of posts, I will introduce you to the man that is Old Smoky.

As usual, I'm ridiculously behind on posting.  So I'm catching up.  Last month, we went sledding.  It was an interesting adventure.  Let's have a look into the past, shall we?

We decided to use inner tubes to sled with.  So we went to the store and looked for some.  But all they had were ones for water.  But we thought, 'what the heck!' and got them anyway.  This will be important later in the story.

After we finished blowing up the inner tubes and getting all our snow gear, we (finally) headed off to the mountains.  It had snowed a crap-ton up there and it was cold, really really cold.  Like 15 degrees (F not C -- which are both bogus units of measure by the way, but that is neither here nor there). 

We found a good parking spot and hiked a little way in to find a good little section of an awesome hill for sledding.  Matt went down first, and he went down FAST.  I started to get a little bit nervous.  Especially since some jerkface was sitting at the bottom of the hill with his dogs, and would not move.  But I decided to face my fear, and started down the hill.

That's one of us at the top of the hill (probably Matt)

Everything was going decently well... that is, until I got to the bottom and my inner tube scraped over a rock we hadn't noticed before.  And immediately deflated.  True story.  This is the problem with floaty inner tubes.  Not exactly the best ever for sledding down rocky mountain slopes.

At least I got a good workout walking back up the hill

We had to take turns after that.  The idiot was still there with his dogs.  So when I went down I screamed the whole way to get the dumbass to move, but he never did. That F-er.  My third attempt was the best one, and amazingly enough, that's the one when we got video.


After that, I was like "oh yeah, I am totally awesome at this!"  and went down again.  Only to freak out right at the end and plant my feet, resulting in me flipping over, flying in the air, and face planting right in the snow.  It hurt.  And it was cold.

And since 2011 was the year of technical difficulties, I should mention that my camera didn't like the cold either.  Ever since, the digital screen has decided to stop working.  I can still take pictures through the little view finder window thingy, but it may be time to consider a newer model.  I mean, my phone camera takes better pictures than my actual camera.  But it can still take some pretty good ones.