Growing Up
I've had a lot of different dreams and aspirations as to where and how I should proceed with my career. One of the highest aspirations I have is to be able to go out on a fire crew to fight the big fires in the Western United States, in Canada and up in Alaska.
On June 6th I was supposed to take my pack test, a forty five minute hike with a forty five pound pack for a distance of three miles. Practice had become a way of life with both a fifty pound pack and a forty five pound weight vest. As I said before my White's SmokeJumpers are perfectly broken in from Walt's saddle soap idea and simply wearing them for hours on end.
Unfournatley, a lengthy discussion with my wife about our current financhial situation and all of the work that needs to be done to the Vermont house convinced me that seeking a position on a wildland crew this year would be impractical. The deceision was ultimately mine to make as my wife would have supported me even if it meant she'd need to take overtime shifts or get a second job. Her schedule is three overnights a week, 36 hours but since she works as a vet tech, she's not able to sleep like I can on my overnights. So her internal clock and cyrcadian rthyms are all out of whack.
It came down to "Do I go on the wildland crew and maybe make enough money, because of a deployment, to move out of Manchester and into our dream house? Or do I do the safe thing and stay, work my regular shifts at the fire department and get a third job?" I had already spoken with my uncle, a house painter in Exeter, and he said that he could give me extra work this summer. A town run ambulance was also looking for paramedics. So it looks like I'll be home with these three goobers.
When I sat there and thought about it, practicality won out. I need to be in New England in order to do work on the house, it needs to be ready by January. Being out in the greater wilderness of America, while tempting and certainly a lifelong dream, would not really be benificial to moving out of an apartment complex that is basically a baby step above the projects.
So this summer I will be painting houses, hopefully bolstering my income further by working for a small town's ambulance and, of course, working for the fire department.
My wife knows that I have always wanted to do the wildland fire thing, I almost left college my freshman year in order to move to Truckee California for a job that would have had me working as a firefighter/paramedic doing structural firefighting as well as wildland. At the time I had stayed because of a girl, who in the end was not worth it or the four years of my life I had given her. But if I had left I never would have met my wife. So everything happens for a reason.
By staying in New Hampshire for the summer I can get all the work done on our house, I can work extra jobs and I can hopefully start putting some money away. Next April I will take the pack test, nice and early so as to not have to worry about getting things together at the last minute.
Just for the hell of it I had put on my forty five pound vest and boots and timed myself on a three mile course similar to that of the Forest and Lands crew. At 40 minutes and 12 seconds I had finished the course.
On June 6th I was supposed to take my pack test, a forty five minute hike with a forty five pound pack for a distance of three miles. Practice had become a way of life with both a fifty pound pack and a forty five pound weight vest. As I said before my White's SmokeJumpers are perfectly broken in from Walt's saddle soap idea and simply wearing them for hours on end.
Unfournatley, a lengthy discussion with my wife about our current financhial situation and all of the work that needs to be done to the Vermont house convinced me that seeking a position on a wildland crew this year would be impractical. The deceision was ultimately mine to make as my wife would have supported me even if it meant she'd need to take overtime shifts or get a second job. Her schedule is three overnights a week, 36 hours but since she works as a vet tech, she's not able to sleep like I can on my overnights. So her internal clock and cyrcadian rthyms are all out of whack.
It came down to "Do I go on the wildland crew and maybe make enough money, because of a deployment, to move out of Manchester and into our dream house? Or do I do the safe thing and stay, work my regular shifts at the fire department and get a third job?" I had already spoken with my uncle, a house painter in Exeter, and he said that he could give me extra work this summer. A town run ambulance was also looking for paramedics. So it looks like I'll be home with these three goobers.
When I sat there and thought about it, practicality won out. I need to be in New England in order to do work on the house, it needs to be ready by January. Being out in the greater wilderness of America, while tempting and certainly a lifelong dream, would not really be benificial to moving out of an apartment complex that is basically a baby step above the projects.
So this summer I will be painting houses, hopefully bolstering my income further by working for a small town's ambulance and, of course, working for the fire department.
My wife knows that I have always wanted to do the wildland fire thing, I almost left college my freshman year in order to move to Truckee California for a job that would have had me working as a firefighter/paramedic doing structural firefighting as well as wildland. At the time I had stayed because of a girl, who in the end was not worth it or the four years of my life I had given her. But if I had left I never would have met my wife. So everything happens for a reason.
By staying in New Hampshire for the summer I can get all the work done on our house, I can work extra jobs and I can hopefully start putting some money away. Next April I will take the pack test, nice and early so as to not have to worry about getting things together at the last minute.
Just for the hell of it I had put on my forty five pound vest and boots and timed myself on a three mile course similar to that of the Forest and Lands crew. At 40 minutes and 12 seconds I had finished the course.
posted by Nick Stabile at 6:44 PM
1 Comments:
Heap lot of woods in Vermont.
(That's American Indian for "There's a lot of trees in Vermont that might catch fire so you can have your cake and eat it too.)
Good luck with the house!
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