Hello blog, nice to see you. It's been a long time. Sorry couldn't help the Conway Twitty intro, I've been listening to the new radio station in Everett 1520 AM - all classic country lately. I love that I can listen to the Oak Ridge Boys or Alabama without the Hermit complaining about the iTunes library.
Since April, I've graduated, of course, and planned on blogging all summer about our adventures. Unfortunately, I owed the Hermit a lot of free time, and so we spent most weekends looking for the latest flea market, yard sale or swap meet, and spent one weekend in Gold Bar buying a sluice box and another gold pan. I am a victim of too many episodes of "American Pickers" and "Gold Rush." Anyone who knows me, knows this was complete torture, but I did manage to slip in some Beach Boys and Chicago records (and one Waylon and Willie) into the yard sale/swap meet piles. "As I was walking down the street one day..." hit the brass. :)
I've also been spending a lot of time applying for jobs, two of which I had interviews, made it to the final selection only to have them cut from the budget. Anyone who has ever applied for a government or engineering job knows how long and complicated just the application process is. It's very disheartening, so I have decided to put my skills to use while I still have 4 months left of my contract job to something worthwhile. I will be volunteering for the Friends of Darrington Public Lands to fight the lawsuit threatening the permanent closure of the Sauk River Road.
In order to shift the economic focus of Darrington from a logging center of business to a tourism center of business, a lot of work needs to be done. I am going to be putting my mapping skills to work making them destination maps of trails with pop-up photos. Hopefully soon, I will be able to take a mapping in the cloud course to be able to make it a mobile app. The trail maps will feature either historical or ecotourism destinations on trails in the Darrington area, including those on currently closed forest roads. Hopefully this will put enough public pressure on the Forest Service to know that public users are extremely responsible and want to bring their own solution to the table for the future of these roads. Their future use should not be determined by an ecomaniac hiker from Lake Stevens or a litigation focused "non-profit" "wilderness" group from Montana.
Stay posted for how you can help. I know some of you who, like me, used to hike along the Sauk River road, and were looking forward to its opening next year. I'll be posting potluck opportunities soon where we will be drafting a plan of action.
A bit of my view...
Saturday, December 17, 2011
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Bring it on
I used to roll my eyes at the "old" people who would comment about where time has gone, but seriously, where did it go? I need some back, please. In fact, the only reason I am able to post just now is the fact that I (along with lots of tree pollen) have run myself ragged and have been knocked flat on me arse.
I am proud to announce that I have been able to conquer (for the most part) one of my biggest fears over the last few weeks, all while adjusting to a new quarter, a new job and a new sleep schedule. It's like I always say - go big or go home, right? Clichés aside, I have always been somewhat afraid of the rivers out here in PNW. On Delmarva, our rivers ran wide, flat and muddy. I have no trouble facing rough surf at any beach on either coast, or going out on a boat in a river delta out here in Washington. But I have been scared for years to go into PNW rivers unless it was a hot August day and the river was running low.
To be fair, many rivers drop thousands of feet in elevation within 20 miles, and even the most basic understanding of physics tells you that water runs fast under those conditions. The currents are strong and include cascades and rapids, which are even scarier when you've seen them under flood conditions. Don't get me wrong, the creeks and rivers are beautiful, but so far I have admired them respectively from the shoreline. I've been invited to go floating or kayaking and have always declined. The most time I spent in a river out here was in high school rowing in crew, but like I mentioned before, I was in a boat, and we were on the flat, wide mouth of a river or on a lake.
In order to complete my minor in Environmental Science, I have to take Stream Ecology, and I thought surely we would be studying the river from the classroom and shorelines. Unfortunately, the first announcement on BlackBoard instructed us to invest in waders. Two hundred dollars later, I forced myself into the creek that second week of class. The next week, I added an extra pair of wool socks and toe warmers and went in past my waist. Last Saturday I sank up to my knees in stinky mud, but I admit, I've done that at Padilla Bay before.
I also went on the public record at a Planning Commission meeting, and it feels great to face all of these fears and be successful. The new job is going great, and I'm actually making a lot of connections through our Stream Ecology tributary comparison of Portage and Squire Creeks. Next up - time to conquer deadlines.
I am proud to announce that I have been able to conquer (for the most part) one of my biggest fears over the last few weeks, all while adjusting to a new quarter, a new job and a new sleep schedule. It's like I always say - go big or go home, right? Clichés aside, I have always been somewhat afraid of the rivers out here in PNW. On Delmarva, our rivers ran wide, flat and muddy. I have no trouble facing rough surf at any beach on either coast, or going out on a boat in a river delta out here in Washington. But I have been scared for years to go into PNW rivers unless it was a hot August day and the river was running low.
To be fair, many rivers drop thousands of feet in elevation within 20 miles, and even the most basic understanding of physics tells you that water runs fast under those conditions. The currents are strong and include cascades and rapids, which are even scarier when you've seen them under flood conditions. Don't get me wrong, the creeks and rivers are beautiful, but so far I have admired them respectively from the shoreline. I've been invited to go floating or kayaking and have always declined. The most time I spent in a river out here was in high school rowing in crew, but like I mentioned before, I was in a boat, and we were on the flat, wide mouth of a river or on a lake.
In order to complete my minor in Environmental Science, I have to take Stream Ecology, and I thought surely we would be studying the river from the classroom and shorelines. Unfortunately, the first announcement on BlackBoard instructed us to invest in waders. Two hundred dollars later, I forced myself into the creek that second week of class. The next week, I added an extra pair of wool socks and toe warmers and went in past my waist. Last Saturday I sank up to my knees in stinky mud, but I admit, I've done that at Padilla Bay before.
I also went on the public record at a Planning Commission meeting, and it feels great to face all of these fears and be successful. The new job is going great, and I'm actually making a lot of connections through our Stream Ecology tributary comparison of Portage and Squire Creeks. Next up - time to conquer deadlines.
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Shot in the Dark
It is late at night and I am delerious from salmon on the brain, but I just wanted to update everyone that I got the job! Even after I thought I blew the interview, my title is now Associate Planner for Snohomish County Planning and Development Services. This was all the result of a class assignment for our Senior capstone class where we were required to turn in a final resume, ready to send to a potential employer. I was going to put it off like everyone else, since I had one that just needed some updating, but the county posted the position the same week the assigment was given. I took a shot in the dark and sent in my newly updated resume.
Today, I met a whole office full of planners, engineers, permitters, IT, and inspectors, and was shown my cubicle and "a good GIS computer". I had to chuckle at that one, as sometimes the park planners (including myself) would freeze the Willis Tucker server by using too many GIS applications, to the point of almost crash it on time card day.
After my intro meeting with one of the department heads, I'm trying to figure out whether it was really my GIS and data skills that got me hired, or if it was my retail pharmacy people skills. I told them in my interview that I had been called every name in the book, had things thrown at me, and yet I still didn't mind confronting Trouble customers (notice the capital T - Elvis shout-out). I think all three interviewers wrote down that response, and today I got to hear about "new approaches" and "customer service" when dealing with stakeholders (such as large developers?). It's all good, I can handle it.
It will be strange not working in a pharmacy full time. Even when I was 9 my dad had me sweeping floors, filing prescription numbers and filling vials. I should have known that it wasn't a long-term career choice at that age though, as my favorite part of hanging with my dad at work was pulling the gate down at the end of the day. It meant it was finally time for the pharmacist to go home, and mind you sometimes this was long after everyone else had left. So be nice to your local pharmacy staff even when you called in your prescription 4 hours before and it's not ready. You never whose hand they had to hold that day, or what kind of crazy person they had to deal with.
Today, I met a whole office full of planners, engineers, permitters, IT, and inspectors, and was shown my cubicle and "a good GIS computer". I had to chuckle at that one, as sometimes the park planners (including myself) would freeze the Willis Tucker server by using too many GIS applications, to the point of almost crash it on time card day.
After my intro meeting with one of the department heads, I'm trying to figure out whether it was really my GIS and data skills that got me hired, or if it was my retail pharmacy people skills. I told them in my interview that I had been called every name in the book, had things thrown at me, and yet I still didn't mind confronting Trouble customers (notice the capital T - Elvis shout-out). I think all three interviewers wrote down that response, and today I got to hear about "new approaches" and "customer service" when dealing with stakeholders (such as large developers?). It's all good, I can handle it.
It will be strange not working in a pharmacy full time. Even when I was 9 my dad had me sweeping floors, filing prescription numbers and filling vials. I should have known that it wasn't a long-term career choice at that age though, as my favorite part of hanging with my dad at work was pulling the gate down at the end of the day. It meant it was finally time for the pharmacist to go home, and mind you sometimes this was long after everyone else had left. So be nice to your local pharmacy staff even when you called in your prescription 4 hours before and it's not ready. You never whose hand they had to hold that day, or what kind of crazy person they had to deal with.
Thursday, February 24, 2011
The Amazing Salmon
Whoa two in a row! Honestly, I'm just killing time waiting for Darrington schools to report so I can know whether or not to set the alarm when I go back to bed. I think the school should be closed, but they were open yesterday despite the 18 inches of snow and all of the crashes and jack-knifes out here on the highway. Not exactly safe bussing conditions to me, but who cares about safety when you're trying to boast about staying on budget, right?
After going through two large snowstorms that have turned to ice within 2 years time, I can definitely say that when the Hermit eventually goes to Scandinavia to trace his roots when we are older, I will be hanging out in South Germany or France while he visits Ice world. Not a fan of perma-snow. At least this one hit us in February and not December so it will only be a week or two of white instead of months. I just hope our fruit trees are okay, since the pear blossoms indicated it was time to prune them to stumpiness on the 13th. Maybe it snowed enough to insulate them before the temp dropped into the teens?
I did run across some very interesting fish facts last night while researching one of my term papers, and I would love to share them with you. First amazing fish fact - juvenile salmon are territorial, including a dominant individual, and that fish is much larger than the rest because it is an aggressive glutton. Second amazing fish fact - salmonids can exhibit hyperactivity. Of course this usually gets them noticed and eaten by larger fish, but ADHD in fish seems kind of funny to me. And the third and most amazing fish fact (to me at least) - fish can cough. I'm not sure how it sounds or what it looks like, but according to fish scientists, they cough. Now I hope you all feel a little smarter knowing these trivial salmonid facts. Time to recheck the school report.
Update: School is closed. Enough parents must have complained yesterday - good job Logger moms. Trying to stay positive about Ice world - I caught air in a tobogon yesterday, and today it gave me a chance to sleep in for once. Good night world.
After going through two large snowstorms that have turned to ice within 2 years time, I can definitely say that when the Hermit eventually goes to Scandinavia to trace his roots when we are older, I will be hanging out in South Germany or France while he visits Ice world. Not a fan of perma-snow. At least this one hit us in February and not December so it will only be a week or two of white instead of months. I just hope our fruit trees are okay, since the pear blossoms indicated it was time to prune them to stumpiness on the 13th. Maybe it snowed enough to insulate them before the temp dropped into the teens?
I did run across some very interesting fish facts last night while researching one of my term papers, and I would love to share them with you. First amazing fish fact - juvenile salmon are territorial, including a dominant individual, and that fish is much larger than the rest because it is an aggressive glutton. Second amazing fish fact - salmonids can exhibit hyperactivity. Of course this usually gets them noticed and eaten by larger fish, but ADHD in fish seems kind of funny to me. And the third and most amazing fish fact (to me at least) - fish can cough. I'm not sure how it sounds or what it looks like, but according to fish scientists, they cough. Now I hope you all feel a little smarter knowing these trivial salmonid facts. Time to recheck the school report.
Update: School is closed. Enough parents must have complained yesterday - good job Logger moms. Trying to stay positive about Ice world - I caught air in a tobogon yesterday, and today it gave me a chance to sleep in for once. Good night world.
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Forecast for Fun
Before I begin, I need to get something off of my chest that has been bugging me for several weeks - a janitor is not an environmental technician, a garbage collector is not a sanitation engineer, and a librarian is not a scientist. This is why - unless you took classes and tested for a license, you are not a technician of any kind. If you do not use AutoCAD or CATIA every day, you are not an engineer of any kind, and if you do not work in a lab, in a clinic or in the field, or study results from a lab, clinic or the field, you are not a scientist. NOW QUIT CLOGGING UP THE SCIENCE JOB BOARDS WITH YOUR BOGUS TERMINOLOGY!!!!
Ok, with that said, it's time to brag about the awesome snow going on here. We have 16 inches so far, and plan to hit our 40 foot sledding hill on and off throughout the day. Perhaps construction of a snow man will happen as well. The plan is to research one paper, then play. I think that's a good way to break up the monotony and prevent cabin fever. If you have a four wheel drive vehicle, you may want to check out Oso today as the eagles are hanging out waiting for salmon above the river. It's a beautiful sight. However, if you don't have 4 wheel drive, don't go past Skaglund's Hill. I'm not sure if you can get past it anyway, as there was a jack-knifed 16 wheeler blocking both lanes last I heard.
The weather forecast calls for snow all day and night, with temps diving tonight into the teens. Something tells me we won't be planning rain gardens in Gleneagle tomorrow. Unfortunately by Monday, a pineapple express storm is supposed to move in and shoot snow levels way up with a ton of rain to go with it. Can you say flooding?
Ok, with that said, it's time to brag about the awesome snow going on here. We have 16 inches so far, and plan to hit our 40 foot sledding hill on and off throughout the day. Perhaps construction of a snow man will happen as well. The plan is to research one paper, then play. I think that's a good way to break up the monotony and prevent cabin fever. If you have a four wheel drive vehicle, you may want to check out Oso today as the eagles are hanging out waiting for salmon above the river. It's a beautiful sight. However, if you don't have 4 wheel drive, don't go past Skaglund's Hill. I'm not sure if you can get past it anyway, as there was a jack-knifed 16 wheeler blocking both lanes last I heard.
The weather forecast calls for snow all day and night, with temps diving tonight into the teens. Something tells me we won't be planning rain gardens in Gleneagle tomorrow. Unfortunately by Monday, a pineapple express storm is supposed to move in and shoot snow levels way up with a ton of rain to go with it. Can you say flooding?
Monday, February 21, 2011
Graduation Contemplation
So I'd like to say that I have so many exciting things going on that I haven't been able to update my page lately, but that would kind of be a lie. Don't get me wrong, we have a lot of exciting projects in the works, but I'm just in the boring research phase of my city projects and school papers. My head throbs daily from reading so much and the arthritis in my fingers refuses to deflame from all the typing, but it will be worth it in the end. Heck, I found out the head librarian in town has an Oceanography degree, so even if those Baby Boomer planners continue to refuse retirement there's always research work in the library, right? NOT - I'd find myself beating my ADD head against the wall everyday. It's too quiet in there. Who gives up the ocean for a library anyway? Crazy lady.
Speaking of my future career plans, I did make it through the first round of cuts for the Associate Planner position at Snohomish County Planning and Development. I don't feel very confident about the interview though. I did all of the right things, held up my posture, smiled, firm handshakes all around, gave off a self-confident aura until... the curveball question. It all went downhill after that. I said so many uhs and ums after that, I wouldn't hire me. I HATE uhs and ums. I'm sure it's not as bad as I make it sound, but compared to all of my pharmacy interviews where I came out feeling like a stud it was cow material.
So, I'm applying for more positions at private firms and other municipalities as they come along, and hopefully I'll network into something. Until then, I'm still a giant Pez dispenser at the pharmacy, and a freebie at the city. I hope you all can make it to our Humanimal series at the City of Arlington every Thursday in May, it's going to be fun.
Speaking of my future career plans, I did make it through the first round of cuts for the Associate Planner position at Snohomish County Planning and Development. I don't feel very confident about the interview though. I did all of the right things, held up my posture, smiled, firm handshakes all around, gave off a self-confident aura until... the curveball question. It all went downhill after that. I said so many uhs and ums after that, I wouldn't hire me. I HATE uhs and ums. I'm sure it's not as bad as I make it sound, but compared to all of my pharmacy interviews where I came out feeling like a stud it was cow material.
So, I'm applying for more positions at private firms and other municipalities as they come along, and hopefully I'll network into something. Until then, I'm still a giant Pez dispenser at the pharmacy, and a freebie at the city. I hope you all can make it to our Humanimal series at the City of Arlington every Thursday in May, it's going to be fun.
Saturday, January 22, 2011
Closer to Home
This week has been a great one, I must say. But first, I have to brag that my daughter took one in the face for her basketball team and still scored 8 points in the game. Way to wear a shiner to the dance, and make your team proud!
Our visit to the Elwha River last weekend was a great opportunity to become more familiar with the Olympic National Forest and to hang out with the other Seniors from the peninsula campuses of Huxley. The rivers in Western Washington were all running at or just above flood stage, so the Elwha was raging, and it made the discharge falls from the lower dam loud and powerful.
We all chose our top three category picks to work on for the Environmental Impact Statement of the dam removals, and I'm hoping to get Natural Resources so I can have a chance to research the historic fish run numbers. It will be interesting to keep an eye on recovering run numbers and see if, and how long it takes to see those numbers again. So far, I haven't seen anyone else choose the category.
I'm interning much closer to home these days, and have a lot of great projects lined up at the City of Arlington. Last year the city was able to obtain enough grant money to combine with their funds to purchase the old Country Charm Dairy. Plans for the lower flood plain portion of the acreage include a large open play field (which I intend to write a low-mow plan for), a community farm and garden on existing farmland, a fishing pond, trails, a 26 site campground, and a safe swim area with an interpretive salmon education sign system. To connect this property with the future downtown riverfront park plan an interpretive ecological and historical water trail for human powered watercraft with four pull-out areas is being designed. Then Arlington will be a walkable and rowable city. How cool is that?
I'm also helping a fellow Senior intern with a four night ecology class curriculum sponsored by the city. I'm not a great teacher, but I'm getting more patient. At least this will be in front of a crowd and not as frustrating as tutoring. I'm thinking about what portions I would be able to teach well and I'm leaning towards toxicology, flooding and perhaps some forest ecology if my friendly ex-forester neighbor will let me borrow some books. The final night will be a green networking night, and I'm hoping to get the SnoCo PUD, the SnoCo Green Team and SnoCo Public Works there. The Public Works biodiesel booth was an absolute hit at the Darrington Community Science night two years ago when I asked them to make some on site. I love watching the public get excited about science, especially loggers.
Our visit to the Elwha River last weekend was a great opportunity to become more familiar with the Olympic National Forest and to hang out with the other Seniors from the peninsula campuses of Huxley. The rivers in Western Washington were all running at or just above flood stage, so the Elwha was raging, and it made the discharge falls from the lower dam loud and powerful.
We all chose our top three category picks to work on for the Environmental Impact Statement of the dam removals, and I'm hoping to get Natural Resources so I can have a chance to research the historic fish run numbers. It will be interesting to keep an eye on recovering run numbers and see if, and how long it takes to see those numbers again. So far, I haven't seen anyone else choose the category.
I'm interning much closer to home these days, and have a lot of great projects lined up at the City of Arlington. Last year the city was able to obtain enough grant money to combine with their funds to purchase the old Country Charm Dairy. Plans for the lower flood plain portion of the acreage include a large open play field (which I intend to write a low-mow plan for), a community farm and garden on existing farmland, a fishing pond, trails, a 26 site campground, and a safe swim area with an interpretive salmon education sign system. To connect this property with the future downtown riverfront park plan an interpretive ecological and historical water trail for human powered watercraft with four pull-out areas is being designed. Then Arlington will be a walkable and rowable city. How cool is that?
I'm also helping a fellow Senior intern with a four night ecology class curriculum sponsored by the city. I'm not a great teacher, but I'm getting more patient. At least this will be in front of a crowd and not as frustrating as tutoring. I'm thinking about what portions I would be able to teach well and I'm leaning towards toxicology, flooding and perhaps some forest ecology if my friendly ex-forester neighbor will let me borrow some books. The final night will be a green networking night, and I'm hoping to get the SnoCo PUD, the SnoCo Green Team and SnoCo Public Works there. The Public Works biodiesel booth was an absolute hit at the Darrington Community Science night two years ago when I asked them to make some on site. I love watching the public get excited about science, especially loggers.
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