No, really this isn't a joke...your balcony is on fire
Mood:  lazy
I feel compelled to tell you all what happened to me Saturday.

After a long, hot day at work Saturday, I came home and noticed smoke pouring off my neighbor's balcony. Had it smelled like Charcoal I would have dismissed it (even though it is against the law here to grill on apartment balconies)But this smoke smelled like burning wood and vegetation. Being a ranger and having been around countless forest fires I am very familiar with the smell. I ran up and knocked on my neighbor's door. She answered it and seem surprised to see me. I asked her if she knew her balcony was on fire. She looked at me and said, "no it isn't!" and then shut the door in my face. Noticing the smoke was now getting worse. I called for the maintenance man to come down and take a look. He showed up several minutes later and quickly rushed up and knock on my neighbors door and told her that her balcony was on fire. She looked at him said "no it isn't." She points to me and says, " I already spoke to her about it." She starts to shut the door and the maintenance man and I both told her to come out into the stairwell and look for herself. She looked over and saw the smoke we had both seen then screams, "OH MY GOD MY BALCONY IS ON FIRE!!" and runs back into her apartment to access her balcony. The maintenance man and I looked at each other like "what? did she honestly think we were joking?" The maintenance man grabs a fire extinguisher and runs in after her. I thought to myself, "I have got to see this." so I ran in after him. It turns out that a plant had gotten knocked over. It had a glass wind chime thing stuck in it which when the sun shines through it acted like a laser beam and burned not only her plant but the wood of the balcony. We managed to get the fire out and my neighbor apologized. My the maintenance man then says to her what I was going to say, "Miss if someone tells you that your balcony is on fire it is probably a good I idea to believe them and at the very least check the situation out." She then looks at us and says,"I honestly thought she was joking." I then told her that for future reference...I would never joke about your apartment being on fire.

People sometimes just blow my mind.

Anyway....My sister posted a website with a video on it called, "The evolution of dance" on her livejournal page. It is pretty funny but you have to watch it with the sound or it wont make much sense.
Evolution of Dance

Is it Monday again already. What happened to the weekend?
Mood:  caffeinated
The weekend went okay considering that I had to work. I didn't have too many problems with people. Most of the dogs were on leashes and I didn't have any body trying to swim where they shouldn't. I did have a family at the end of the day who refused to move there vehicles outside the main gate. When I told them that if they didn't move them they would be locked in and could come back and get their vehicles the next morning. That was enough to make them comply.

A couple of months ago I wrote about 8 puppies that had been abandoned at Jordan Lake. Well I received an update Saturday from a woman who took two of the puppies. I thought you all would like to see how they are doing.

Rebecca,

Here is an update from our two new family members. Tesla (Tes) and Cosmo at 5 1/2 months. They're close to the same size even though Cosmo looks a lot bigger in this picture. They're around 45 pounds or so. They spend a lot of time in and outside playing. We're so happy to have them and love them very much!!

Kristyn

Writer's Block
Mood:  caffeinated
What in the world was up with LOST last night? There are now more questions left unanswered. Why did Michael shoot Ana Lucia? Is he now one of "the others"? Have they sent him to take someone? Was he hoping that by killing someone he could blame it on Henry causing the rest of the group to become so outraged they will have no choice but to fight the others? It is a quandary.

The amazing race was good last night. My hippies were spared again, which makes me very happy. I did get a good chuckle when karma came around and bit the frat boys in the ass. I am hoping it may teach them a lesson but I doubt it.

On the work front...my boss has giving me the task of writing an article for our District Newsletter about our foxes. I have always co-written our submissions with Dana our out reach person. But Tom wants me to handle this on my own. It is funny that I can write pages on here but when I sat down to write this article I just stared at a blank screen for about an hour. I was finally able to come up with a decent article towards the end of the day yesterday. I just now need to decide what photos to include and send it forward. We will have to wait and see if it will be good enough to make the newsletter submissions. I have had tons of photos published in Corps articles but never an article and photos together. Exciting!

It's Hump Day!!!
Well I managed to edit together some of the footage that I took of the foxes. If you aren't tired of looking at them yet. LOL Just click on the My video Icon.

My Video

I have a lot that I need to get done this week but I have been really lazy. The weather has been so nice that is hard to concentrate on my data entry work when I want so bad to be outside. I have an eagle nest to monitor tomorrow so I am hoping that will rejuvinate me.

I have agreed to work this Saturday. I really didn't want to because that would mean I would only have one day off this week and there is a lot of stuff I need to get done before I go to Nags Head next weekend. I think it is also Kentucky Derby weekend so I will miss watching the race as well. My friend Kurt is leaving to go back to Texas on Sunday so I have to find sometime to take him out to say farewell.

Well I should get back to work and try to knock out this stuff today. LATER!

I hate Monday's
Mood:  lazy
It always seems that while I am gone over the weekend the work on my desk multiplies. I always come in Monday mornings to a huge stack of stuff on my desk. To make matters worse it is the first of the month which means I have to pay all my contractors and I can't seem to get our inspector to look things over so I can enter the invoice. *sigh*

The weekend wasn't too eventful. Saturday I cleaned the apartment. Then that evening I went with a bunch of friends to see a new 3D movie they are showing at IMAX called Deep Sea which was AMAZING. Then we all headed over to 518 West for dinner. Sunday I got up and went hiking with the same people from Saturday...minue one. We wanted to go to a new park that is opening in Wake County called Yates Mill but apparently it is not due to open to the public till the 20th. So we heading over to Ulmstead Park. We had a great time and the weather was perfect. Then I headed over to Target and then came home to cook dinner for Kurt (since I wont be able to cook for him next weekend) and we just hung out on the couch and vegged. He is so easy to talk to and you get the sense that he is really listening. I have never gotten that typically smile and nod that I get from most men.

I did manage to edit the fox photos over the weekend and I posted the revised ones as well a 2 new photos to the album. (see Friday entry for the link)

Well I should get back to work. LATER!

TGIF
Mood:  happy
It is like clockwork. 9AM and the baby foxes come out to play. I was able to get some good shots this time. I discovered that there are actually 5 kits. Which is HIGHLY unusual. Normal they have two...sometimes 3 if food is plentiful. But 5? WOW. Momma must be finding enough food because they all look fat and healthy. They didn't seem to be too concerned with me being there. Momma came up behind me in the woods and barked a couple of times and then she must of realized I wasn't a threat because she laid down and started grooming herself. I tried to get pictures of her but she was surround by too many trees. So I just settled for pictures of the little ones. I sat there for awhile and watched them play. Momma had caught a rabbit and they took turns throwing in the air and playing tug-of-war with it. I got some video footage as well but it is apparently too big to load on Angelfire. So you will just have to settle for the pictures. I really love my job. :)

Enjoy!

(clicking on any of the pictures will take you to the photo album and you can see a larger version of the picture. )



               
Baby Foxes

What a crappy day
Mood:  lazy
It has been raining here all day. It was suppose to stop 2 hours ago but it shows no sign of stopping. We are in dire need of water so I can't really complain much. It is just that it is one of those days where it is cold and wet outside and all you want to so is curl up on the couch under a warm blanket and watch tv.

Yesterday was Administrative Professionals Day. I don't really consider myself an admin person but my boss said I do more admin work than they do so he took me out to lunch. Today our Forester, who couldn't come out with us yesterday, took me to Quiznos today. Maybe I will get another fee lunch tomorrow. LOL

I was disappointed in LOST last night. I hate this repeat clip shows. Just get on with it already. I am getting very frustrated. On a positive note...my hippies on The Amazing Race last night came back from last place to take 3rd. I was sorry to see Fran and Barry go. I was so hoping it would be MOJO. Tonight is Survivor and I am keeping my fingers crossed that Shane gets voted off. Gosh...I watch way too much tv. LOL

Oh well back to work. I am going to try to build some bluebird boxes today. Me with a hammer and nails...can you picture it. Dangerous!

Babies everywhere
Mood:  surprised
This must be my week for baby animal sightings. This morning I went out on the dam and the foxes were back. There were 5 of them (4 babies and one mom) By the time I got down to the hole there were only 2. The camera we have at work isn't the greatest so the pictures are a little fuzzy but you can stil make out the image.

When I got back up to the office I noticed something beside one of the other patrol vehicle At first I dismissed it as a rock. As I got closer I noticed it was moving. It was a baby snapping turtle. So cute and little. I was lucky that I had a camera with me this time.

I am going to bring my good camera tomorrow and hopefully will get some better shots.

I love spring time
Mood:  happy
I was out on the dam this morning looking at some graffiti that had been sprayed on the wall over night when I was approached by a visitor. She asked me if I knew that we had a den of foxes on the north end of the dam. Hearing about this for the first time I asked her if she could show me where she had seen them. I always get concerned when visitors spot wildlife that close to the walking trails because we tend to have a lot of dog walkers and all I need is for momma fox to go after someone's dog. We walked down a little path towards the tailrace and as we came around the corner, there they were. Three little kits (baby foxes) playing in the culvert. Apparently momma had them living in a small drain pipe. They were so cute. They were very curious and approached us to check us out. I didn't see momma. I figured she was out looking for food or a new place to move the babies. We stood there and watched them play. They would jump on each other and roll around. One discovered a butterfly and proceeded to chase it. SO CUTE!!! I ran back to the office to grab a camera (of course I never have one on me when I need it). I unfortunately got cornered by my boss and by the time I got back out to the site...they were gone. I am going to keep a eye on the hole to see if they come back. Hopefully I will be able to get some pictures to post.

Today should be a fairly slow day. We are preparing for a safety inspection on Thursday but I think we have got most of the stuff done. My friend Marie is coming in from Greenville tonight and we are going to eat at Firebirds...one of my favorite restaurants. I am so excited and so hungry. Thank God it is almost lunchtime.

Creepy Crawlies Freak Me Out....
Mood:  irritated
For anyone who know me knows that I am afraid of spiders. I know that I am a park ranger and they shouldn't bother me but for some reason they do. I have been known to scream and freak out which amuses my co-workers greatly. Well today was no exception.

I was sitting at my desk typing on my computer listen to my boss's conference call, when I saw something move out of the corner of my eye. It was a small jumping spider scurrying along the window sill. I frantically looked around for something to squash it with but by the time I got a hold of something...it was gone. So I decided to try to go back to work. A few minutes later I catch some movement again. This time the spider was on my desk. This I can not tolerate. I grabbed my steno pad and attempted to whack it. But it was too quick and went down in a crack where two parts of my cubical connect. Panicked that it would be crawling around under my desk where I couldn't see it, I went and grabbed a flashlight and proceeded to crawl under my desk. I searched everywhere but couldn't't find it. I convinced myself that the spider had left and went back to work.

I was reading a fairly long email when all the sudden I got the feeling like I was being watched. I glanced up to the top my computer screen and what do I see...the spider. I just sort of froze...trying to figure out what my next move would be. All the sudden the spider jumped from the computer onto my shirt. I FLIPPED OUT! I screamed and pushed my roller chair back away from the desk as hard as I could...knocking over a full cup of water and some strawberry yogurt. I then proceeded to beat myself with a steno pad and wave my arms around frantically. I must have manged to hit the damn thing at some point because I looked down and saw it dead on the floor...either that or he had a heart attack from me scaring the crap out of him. My boss came running out to see what was going on. I looked at him...hair disheveled and breathing heavily and just said one word...spider. He giggled and walked back into his office.

I am still not entirely over the incident. I have had the feeling all day that spiders are crawling all over me. *shiver* I hate spiders!!!!!

Goosh....It is only Monday? *sigh*
Mood:  lazy
Well Easter dinner turned out well. It was nice to have friends over and to cook for everybody. I tend to pick at the food while I am cooking which results in me not being hungry when it is time to sit down at the table. I am assuming they liked it because there wasn't much talking during the meal. LOL Sorry Anne there wasn't any pie left. *points to Kurt* Someone ate 4 slices.

After dinner we watched. Narnia and Pride and Prejudice. Which were both great movies except there were parts of the second movie that we had to rewind because we couldn't make out what they were saying.

Thanks to Tanya and Andy for brining the Garlic Smashed potatoes and a huge Easter basket filled with Hershey Reese peanut butter eggs and Chocolate covered marshmallow eggs. Thanks to Kurt for the assortment of beer and wine. It was great to have you all over. Thanks for spending Easter with me.

This week is shaping up to be a quiet one. Lets hope it stays that way.

I think I saw the Easter Bunny go that way.....
Mood:  energetic
It is a quiet day in the office. Some people took off for the holidays and the others are out in the field. So at the moment it is just me. I managed to get most of my work done yesterday so today I will probably just work on my program and maybe check some of the trails to make sure they are ready for the weekend.

I somehow got talked into cooking Easter dinner for a few friends who wont be able to make it home to spend the day with their families. I went to the store yesterday and got all the stuff I will need. The Menu will be as follows:

Herb Roasted Free Range Chicken with Cranberry Stuffing.
Green Bean Casserole
Deviled Eggs
Watergate Salad
Corn Pudding
Bubba's Beer Batter Biscuits with Honey Butter
My Famous Red, White, and Blueberry Pie

Hopefully everything will turn out okay. We are planning to eat dinner and watch some movies. I somehow managed to get all Chick Flick movies.LOL Sorry Kurt.

Well I should get back to work. Happy Easter to everyone and if you are traveling somewhere...be safe.

Its almost the weekend...thank God!
Mood:  on fire
We did our big 30 acre burn yesterday and things went fairly well all things considering. We had a couple of tense moments. The wind was very low yesterday which made the fire burn too slow. So we had to run strips of fire through the area with a drip torch. We all took turns and when it came time for me to run a line, I ended up in the thickest section on the plot. At one point I got entangled in a mess of vines, briar, and sweet gum trees. Here I stood caught with no way out and a drip torch dipping fire all around me. I looked over to my right and saw the last line that had been lit moving rapidly towards me. I had to do something fast or I would be overcome with fire. I blew out my torch and threw it as far ahead of me as I could. I then put on my gloves, covered my face with my handkerchief, pulled my goggles down over my eyes, and started to plow my way out of the briar. I could feel the briar tearing at my skin and blood starting to trickling down my leg. I didn't care. I would rather have a few scratches than burn to death. I emerged from the thicket and I was finally free. I picked up my torch and ran straight for the fire line. I reached it just as the fire had caught up with me. Close call. What a way to get the heart pumping. The others on the line came running over. Apparently they had tried to call me on the radio to see if I was alright and when I didn't answer they feared the worst. In all the excitement of trying to get out I didn't even hear them call. I went over to the fire truck and cleaned up my wounds and ate my lunch. It took awhile for my heart to stop racing.

I went back out to the line. This time instead of running more strips through the thick area they decided to run a chevron shape line close to the fireline. Which worked great. The only draw back to this was that it made the fire run hot and quick. There was a dead snag right on the fireline that was burning fast and was throwing off bits of flaming bark across the line, into a section we didn't want to burn. We had about 3 spot fires that had to be dealt with.

Towards the end of the burn we had a couple of trees falls over the line and some hot spots that had to be dealt with. At one point we had taken the fire truck down the fireline to put out a tree that was on fire and then couldn't get the truck out. LOL We ended up having to cut down some small saplings in order to be able to turn the truck around. It was pretty funny.

We finished everything up by 5 o'clock and headed back to the office to store everything and go home. I was EXHAUSTED. It was all I could do to stay awake to watch LOST. I woke up this morning, sore from my shoulders to my feet. I NEED A MASSAGE!!!! I hurt in places i didn't know I had.

It was a good experience but I am glad it is over with.

The start of another week
Mood:  caffeinated
Woke up this morning to frost and temperatures into 30's. Wasn't expecting it at all. Maybe if I had actually watched the news this weekend I might have been more prepared. It is suppose to get up into the 70's today so the cold will be short lived.

This weekend was fairly relaxing. I didn't do much. Friday night I went and tried a new restaurant with Tanya, her brother Andy, and my semi-date Kurt. We decided to try Vivace because everyone keeps talking about how good it is. The atmosphere was cool and relaxing. The food was okay but I thought overpriced. I would have rather gone to Firebirds or Taverna Agora. It was nice though just to hang out, drink some wine, and talk to friends. We decided that night to hit the Renaissance Festival again on Sunday because Kurt has never been to one. I think he really enjoyed himself. We went to one of the stage shows and he got pulled out of the audience to participate. It was hysterical.

This week should be a busy one for me. I have to go out sometime this morning to help our Forester do the burn plan for the 30 acres we are hoping to burn on Wednesday. This one will be a little scary for me because I haven't done a burn this big before. I also have 2 eagle nest to monitor. One of which has chicks so I am excited to see the baby eagles. I also have to work on getting the boat ready for summer use. I love busy weeks. Makes it go by faster.

Back to work!

I've burned the forest down
Mood:  happy
The burn yesterday went really well. I was a little nervous because we are currently in a severe drought and everything has been extremely dry. We burned near the buildings so we had to take extra precautions. There was only one tense moment when the flames rushed up the hill right towards me and things got VERY hot, but the fireline held. The whole burn only lasted a few hours and I was able to take the rest of the day off. I went home, took a shower, and crashed on the couch. I felt so lazy.

My weekend will hopefully be quiet. I have promised Tanya that I would go with her to the Renaissance fair either Sat or Sun. I am hoping we go Sun because the weather is suppose to be cooler. I have been invited to go out tonight, but I haven't fully decided yet whether or not to go. I have just been so lazy since I got back from FL.

Well I don't know if I will update this weekend so have a great weekend everyone. See you next week.

Well the decision is....
Well it looks like I will be starring at hunky fireman tomorrow.

There was suppose to be another girl going with our outreach coordinator tomorrow to assist with the programs instead of me. She decided she had too much work to do and didn't want to drive all the way to Roxboro. Well our Forester found out that I would be missing from the fireline and wasn't at all happy about it. She told the outreach coordinator that I could go as long as the other girl came and took my place on the fireline. Apparently the other girl hates working fires more than she hates to do programs because she called back and said she would go to Roxboro to do the programs.

Too much drama going on in the office today.

I think I can see the top of my desk....
This morning it finally feels like I am making a dent in the work that piled up while I was gone. Yesterday I was so overwhelmed I didn't know what to start on first. I have about 6 more bills to pay and 2 travel vouchers to enter and I will be done. THANK GOD!!!

We are planning on doing a prescribed burn tomorrow near our Visitor Center. I have been looking forward to it since before I left for Tampa. I love doing the prescribed burns. It is a day totally out of the office and I end the day smelling like a campfire. When we do the burn close the visitor center we alway have the local fire company come out and just stand by in case it gets out of hand and starts to head towards the building. It is always by favorite burn because some of those firefighters aren't bad to look at. :) Well this morning our Outreach coordinator came to me and said she will need help with two school programs tomorrow. So now I must decide. Be the voice of Seamoor the Sea Serpent or stare at hunky firefighters all day. It is a really tough choice. She has given me till noon to decide.

Back to work
Mood:  on fire
Well this one is going to be short. I have returned from my trip to Tampa and I am SOOOOO glad to be home. I came into work today to a stack of stuff on my desk that apparently all has to be done ASAP. *sigh* So much for an easy start to my week back to work.

I think I have had my fill of Tampa for awhile. Our hotel was awful. It was in a really bad part of town and with no rental car you didn't have much selection in places to eat. I did take a cab one night to a place downtown. I am hoping the govt will reimburse me for it. Cost me $60 round trip. The pool at the hotel was closed till Wednesday due to a "bio accident". I have no clue what that means...it was what was written on the closure sign. I did get to go to Busch Gardens. Cost $62 to get in and I am not sure it was all that worth it. But it did beat sitting in the airport for 6 hours.

Well back to work.

I don't care if monday's blue...
Mood:  spacey
Well I am all packed and ready for my trip. At least that is what I keep telling myself. This trip wont be as bad as others I have been on because I will know at least 4 people in my class. One of which I work with. I hate going to sessions where I don't know a soul. I never seem to have trouble making friends or talking to people so I don't really know why I get so nervous about it.

Fenwick my cat tried to stow away in my suitcase this morning. I had it sitting on the bed with the top closed but not zipped. I finished getting ready and went over to zip up the suitcase. As I did I felt something move. I opened it up and there Fenwick laid with his head down on his paws and a look on his face like, "please mom take me with you, see I can be good." It broke my heart. I hate to leave my pets. I have a great pet sitter but I still hate to be away from them for more than a day. It is hard to sleep without Fenwick curled up by my side...purring softly.

Well I should get back to work. I have a ton of stuff to do today before I leave. Take care all and I will chat with you when I get back.

Attention Target Shoppers
Target has always been one of my favorite stores. I would much rather shop there than Walmart. I am sure the merchandise is the same in both stores but Target has always seemed a little bit more upscale. I had no idea how much until I went in yesterday looking for a coat.

My mother had gotten my sister a trendy black trench coat from Target for Christmas. I was thinking about the dress I would be wearing to lasts night concert and realized that my dress coat would be way too heavy for the evening. I thought about Anne's coat and thought it would be perfect. I had seen a similar coat at a Target store on the other end of town. I decided however to check out the new Target that had opened at the trendy new mall a few blocks from my apartment.

I walked into the store and it looked like every other Target I had every been in. I went over to the section where the coats usually are and searched and searched but didn't see a single coat. I then spotted a worker hanging out by the dressing rooms. I approached the lady who immediately turned her back to me to appear to be busy with something. I must have said, "Excuse me...miss." 20 times before she finally turned around. She looked at me and said sort of disgruntled, "Yes, may I help you?" I then asked, "I was wondering if you have any coats?" She proceeded to look me up and down and then said in kind of a snotty manner, "For you?" I wanted to respond, "No actually some women has been going around the store looking for coats and I just thought I would help her out by asking you." But I was good. I simply smiled and said, "Yes, for me." She looked me over again and replied, "Ummm....no." Wanted to get away from this woman quickly I thanked her and started to walk away. As I turned she said, "Wait a second let me call someone." She sighed like it was a huge inconvenience. She radioed some woman and asked if they had anymore Merdona jackets. What? I never said anything about a Merdona jacket. I wanted the Mossimmo trench. But I couldn't stop her. I kept trying to interrupt and she would say, "Just wait a second...she is checking." Finally the woman radios back with a "no". So I smiled...thanked her again and walked away. I decided that I had had enough with coats and thought maybe a new pair of shoes would brighten things up.

I was checking out a cute pair of sandals when this women comes up to me and whispers, "I heard you were looking for a coat?" I wondered why we were whispering but decided to play along. So I whispered back, "Yes, but they are apparently all out." She whispers back, "They have coats. I don't know why she told you that. Follow me and I will take you to them." I felt like I was some sort of outcast that this women was trying to sneak past the coat Nazi in order to get me a coat that I apparently wasn't good enough to purchase. The shoe section that I was in was right across from where this woman wanted to take me but we had to go all the way up through the jewelry and purses and come back down the isle. We were on a secret mission....trying the whole time to avoid being detected by the enemy. We finally arrived at a rack and there...sure enough...was the coat I had been wanting. I thanked the woman for her help and grabbed the coat and proceed to the check out lane.

Never in a million years would I have thought that I would have been treated like that. I could probably except it if I was going into some place like Sax Fifth Avenue. Who would have thought I wasn't good enough to shop at Target. I don't know what that woman was doing getting all uppity. She works at a discount department store. I can bet that I make more than she does. Even though this Target is closer to my house, I think I will stick to going to the one on the other side of town. Apparently I fit in better with that sort of crowd.