:Sick of winter

Remember a week ago Sunday when I posted the gentle snowfall that morning was beckening me to slow down? It snowed at least twice yesterday and again in the night. Do you think if I listen to stillness of the snowfalls, if I pay them heed, it will quit snowing??!! This is the time of year that is the most difficult for me. It seems like spring has sprung everywhere else.

Certainly there are signs of spring. I hear birds in the morning. And the mud. Can’t forget the mud. Much of the snow melts within hours (this is not to say I can see the ground!!!), leaving sticky, mucky mud. Okay. Okay. I’ll stop whining. After all, in a few months when most of the rest of you are sweltering, up here fresh mountain breezes will flutter beneath bright blue skies. That’s when I’ll slow down! That’s when I’ll sit on the deck for entire afternoons!

This past weekend was another whirlwind. Rose Day. Tax Day. Sun Day. Over the past two weekends I’ve also spent time completing the requirements for recertification of my Red Card, the credential required for getting ‘behind-the-scene’ in case of evacuation for forest fires. Recert requires an eight-hour refresher in Wildland Fire Training and the infamous Pack Test. We were fortunate enough to be home when evacuation was required for the Black Mountain Fire in 2002. Had we not, my dogs would have been unattended for several days, not to mention possibly being the victims of the forest fire. Citizens cannot get beyond the barriers set up once evacuation is in place. I’m now part a group that formed that summer – Animal Evac Volunteers. My status on the Red Card is THSP – which means Technical Specialist.

Here I am controlling a ferocious dog in a mock-evac…

And here I am in full Wildland gear…