The Quarry of Life

Walking the cemeteries, we see fields of stone; stones representing the eternities of time. Each contains a life's story; a never ending story. As children we have skipped stones across the water. We marveled at our small accomplishment seeing the ripples created by the multiple encounters with the water; the ripples ultimately connecting together. With baptism we ripple the water once again. Longingly the stories of the stones wait for the ripples of water of baptism to connect their ripples with ours.
Nauvoo Quarry
From the stones of the limestone quarry at Nauvoo, the eternal stones of time were placed with loving care to create the Lord's House - His Temple. From the rural cemeteries containing their stones of life to the baptismal fonts of the temples of stone, the quarry connects the ripples of the stones across the water to an ever lasting life.



Nauvoo Temple

Favorite Family Pics

Crapo Creek view - Yesterday 15 Jan 2009 we went to the woods to review reforestation needs in Crapo Creek. Crapo Creek flows into the Salmon River below the Forks of the Salmon. You go up the Pollocks gulch road to get into the drainage. Its a steep one way in/out road system. The Hog Range is part of the south ridgeline of the drainage. The infamous Hog Fire started here in 1977. It burned 40,000 acres. Part of Crapo Creek burned in that fire. In 1987 most of Crapo Creek burned. We planted 1000's of acres there then. To get to the far side they used pack stings to carry the trees in. I was not involved in this planting effort as I was in charge of the fire salvage. So I was busy doing other things. So in 2008 we burned up a few thousand acres of Crapo Creek again. That is why we were out there yesterday; to schedule out our site prep and reforestation plans. We drove on some roads that I never had been on before. We ate lunch on the Hog Range ridgeline. The view was beautiful. Sourcraut Peak was just across from us which is the District boundary with Ukonom. Orleans Mtn was off to the SW. Far in the distance to the NW was the divide between the Klamath River drainage and the Smith River flowing to the coast. Sometimes I just can't believe I get paid to do what I do. Heavenly Fathers creations are my part of my lunch break. Then see the pic of my other office.

Southern Hospitality - Etawah Tennessee 1984

I just stumbled onto this pic at work so I thought I would blog it. Spring 1984 was very dry in the Southeast and arsonists were rampant. So they loaded up five 20 person crews from California in a military cargo plane ( I think a C140) at Redding. It was late March or early April 1984. Attached is a group pic of the Klamath's contribution. I'm the 3rd one from the left in the back row. We sat in web seats against the fuselage - all buckled in with webbing seat and shoulder harness. Could have used some ear plugs as it was not exactly a very quiet ride. The plane was so huge that i thought it would really struggle to get off the ground. No way - it took off it seamed almost vertical with seamless effort. That baby had some power. We landed in Asheville North Carolina. They fed us in a restaurant. That began the main theme of our trip- getting fed. The place mats on the tables had southern terms written on them. I was the only person on the crew that was from the "East" (anything east of the Sierra Nevada's). Growing up in Illinois I had heard all the terms except one - "go red up your room". Apparently it meant to go clean your room. The rest of the crew had a blast learning new terminology. I became their interpreter.
One thing about fire fighters, they do not travel with money. These were the days when by the wisdom of procurement officials , a restaurant could not include a tip in the charge to the government. So after the 2 waitresses worked their hearts out for us, they essentially got no tip. One waitress started crying. Fortunately a few years later the regulations were changed and tips could be placed in the restaurant bill. After the meal, we were bussed to the motel at Etawah Tennessee where we stayed for the duration of our detail. In those days they always put 2 to a room. They do not do that anymore when we travel. Most of the time now we get our own rooms.
The guys had no idea of what trees they were looking at. Back then I still remembered almost all the eastern harwoods. There were some southern hardwoods that I was not sure of. Dendrology was my favorite class in college. I'm afraid that time has taken its toll. Now I would really struggle to remember alot of the eastern hardwoods.
One day as we were digging line (duff layer was a bout 1 foot thick) someone scraped up a box turtle. They had never seen one before. So naturally I was the one who told them what it was. Springtime is usually when the Southeast has its draughts. They fight fire differently than out west. They go to the head of the fire with a tractor plow to head it off and then get the rest of the line in around it. In some places the duff layer was 1 to 1 1/2 feet thick. They told us just to dig down to the wet duff. We did not have to dig all the way down to dirt as you have to do out west.
The daily routine was to get fed breakfast, go rehab some fireline (throw fertilizer on the line and place the sod back in the line, get fed, go on a tour of one of the Districts, get fed lunch, rehab some more line (or go fight a fire if an arsonist had struck), get fed, finish rehab or fire fighting, go for dinner. One day they sent us over the the Smokey Mtn National Park to fight a fire. We got there late in the afteroon. So we went to work digging line and backfireing through most of the night. Guess the local town at the base of the mountain we were working on got quite the show. We missed going down the side ridge we were supposed to go down and wound up back firing an extra 300-400 acres. We really lit up the hillside. Just turned out to be a really good wildlife underburn. The towns folk were happy as it helped the turkey poulation and the hunting.
Etawah had an old FS compound. So I went looking to see what they might have ratholed in the nooks and crannies. Sure enough i found a box full of P38's. So I grabbed a half dozen. Unforutunately I lost my last one a few years ago when I took it off my key chain before I flew to a fire assignment. Since it has a sharp edge I figured it would not make it through TSA airport security. A P38 is a WWII canopener that came with the C rations. You can a get a modernized one in the camping section of almost any store. They just are not the same.
I don't recognize most in the photo. One of the guys in the photo was killed by a top of a snag he was falling while on fire in the Sierras. A day or so later we got hit the same storm the Sierra's got hit with. Siskiyou county got hit with 2000 lightning strikes August 30th, 1987.

Thanksgiving 2008 - Tam wanted a picture of us. Everyone here except Jay and Rachel family. Nothing like sweet daughters. Got a pic of Lee and me too. But she would not let me post it. Sambo came home surprising Carolyn. I knew she was coming home. Who says dad's never know whats going on?







For the 2007 and 2008 fires we have placed sowing order for a million trees to be sown for a spring 2010 plant. Most will be grown at Stone Nursery in Central Point. Its not far from Ty and Tams. I think it would have been a fun career to have worked at this nursery. They have closed most of the federal nurseries. There are only 4 or 5 left in the nation. It difficult to keep them open as the reforestation program is based on wildland fires and not a timber management program. Another casualty of the preservation movement. Each nursery had a capacity of about 20 million trees per year. The Nation is good hands. We know how to reforest and we know how to grow and harvest a forest.









Cool fire pics. San Diego I think it was 2003. The other was just one that somebody sent around on the internet. The elk in the water photo was on the Bitterroot in 2000. I was in Hamilton Montana in October working in supply as an ordering manager.






Yellow jackets were extremely numerous this fall. As soon as you parked the yellow jackets were flying around your rig. You could even see some bald faced hornets flying around too. Bald faced hornets prey on yellow jackets. One day in Sept or October I pulled my shorts down to change my pad and 2 yellow jackets immediatley were flying around in my shorts. Then a bald faced hornet flew in and nailed one of the yellow jackets. The other yellow jacket flew off. It only took a slit second for all of this to happen. However when you are witnessing a war in your shorts it seemed like an eternity.

August 1973 on Ukonom district. I was an inspector for a helicopter spraying project. We called the mix Lawton's witches brew - 245T, 24D, atrazine and dalapon. On one unit the chopper had covered the unit so I went out to collect the spray cards. The helicopter came back for another spray. I just hunkered down under some hardwood srouts. I only got few drops on me. I'm one of the few FS employess that can say they got sprayed by 245T.
On a timber recon project in 1974, we got dropped off on a knife ridgeline. The pilot set one skid down under full rotor power and said get out. That would never happen today. Now you have to have a full helispot built to meet safety policy. Back in the 70's these were mostly Viet Nam vet pilots. These guys really knew how to fly.



2006 Fire outside of Junction California (near Weaverville). Thats our FS helicopter. Region 5 bought 2 surplus military choppers.











I drive a real muscle car- 1993 Geo Metro. Some of my co-workers have attempted to own a muscle car but have missed the mark. My first car was a 1964 Plymouth Belvedere 4 door sedan. Rich and I shared it. Couzin Lee called it the "Beige Bomber." Then we bought a 1948 F150 our first semester at U of Illinois. We gave the Beige Bomber to Cuz lee.






My beauty. 1964 F250 flatbed. I bought it from Charlie 3 years ago. Almost have it running really good now. Sambo's high school friend Robbie has been helping me work on it this last year. After if irst saw it, I told Carolyn that it was "pretty rough." She Said, "How bad is it?" I brought some pics home and her first words were, "Oh my gosh, its worse than I expected."