Posts

Bear down (By the way, this is gross)

Image
 Yesterday was not cool. While out surveying in the woods (as one does) where there had been a recent fire, we came across a very recent juvenile bear carcass. I first saw an articulated paw and forearm, and from the way it was laying, it initially looked human. After turning it over, it was apparent it was not: it had pads on it as well as claws that (hopefully) could never be mistaken for human. Here is a photo: Later, another member of our team found the rest of the carcass. I won't post a photo, because it is gross. From the way it was positioned, it was apparent that when the fire was approaching, it climbed a tree like Smokey Bear, but instead of being rescued, it was overcome by smoke, and it fell out of the tree, hopefully dead before it hit the ground. 
Post a Comment
Read more
 So this morning I was supposed to drive down to Happy Camp in California for "on-boarding" on the project I will be working on near Roseburg, Oregon. This is about a three hour drive from Roseburg according to Google Maps, which I was using for navigation.  The project I am working on is in a forest fire zone and specialized training is required to be onsite.  So I leave with plenty of time to get there. But as I am getting closer, all the roads Google Maps is taking me on seem to be getting smaller and rougher. And then I come to a "Road Closed" sign.  It turns out, the most direct route to drive to Happy Camp is through the Slater Creek fire. Since it is both extremely dangerous and illegal to drive through a forest fire, I opt to get Google Maps to re-route me around the fire. Which it won't do. So I drive back to Grants Pass, Oregon, from that point, to follow I-5 south to get to Happy Camp will be another 2.5 hours of driving, and I will miss the on-boardi...
2 comments
Read more
 Ahhhh.... Back online. The days have been good. Except the parts that weren't. Like yesterday. So I was driving from the Tri-Cities, WA down to a worksite in Roseburg, Oregon. Instead of driving my truck, since the company I will be working for is willing to rent me a truck, I chose to drive the Kia Soul, and just transfer my field gear to the rental when I got there.  I haven't driven the Soul a lot lately, and that turned out to be a problem. A problem because my truck gets better mileage than the Soul, and additionally has an enormous 33 gallon fuel tank, whereas the Soul gets surprisingly poor mileage (for what is essentially a go-cart with a windshield), and has a surprisingly small fuel tank (11 gallons).  There is a stretch of State Highway 14 in Washington that parallels the Columbia River through the Gorge that has no "services" for approximately 85 miles. When I turned onto this stretch of highway, the Soul had about 3/8 of a tank of gas. I thought this wou...
Post a Comment
Read more