2003
2003 has been a quiet year. Due to a glitch at the WO (Washington
Office) I did not get to any fires this year. They came out with a
requirement for some refresher training for us AD's. The announcement
came out just before fire season and the units I work with did not have
the time or the personnel to put on the training. So I had
time for other things, such as feeding our coyotes.
But I would have liked to have gone to a couple
fires, especially one of the big ones in Southern Cal in the
fall. My back is still bothering me and I am not too sure how I
would survive fire camp. I had a MRI of the back this fall and it is a
mess. My lower back is pretty rotten and the nerves are really
pinched. Will probably have to get an operation and have the back
fused, but I am putting that off as long as possible.
13-19 April
Kemp borrowed the Motor Home for their annual trip to Ft. Bragg,
and as usual the weather was miserable. But at least this year it
was rain instead of a raging snow blizzard. Unfortunately they
did have other problems. They got to Ft. Bragg and set up camp in
the State Park and when they got up the next morning they opened the
fridge to get food for breakfast and were hit with a cloud of
Ammonia. Seems the cooling unit decided to go out. And then
with all the rain, it puddled on the roof and a couple of leaks
developed. Fortunately they (Kemp) were able to get the leaks
caulked so they could enjoy the rest of their vacation. When they
got back I took the MH down to Carson City and had a new cooling unit
put in the fridge. Also got a new water pump and had some
cleaning work done on the furnace. Made a major mistake and left
the MH with the dealer on consignment hoping the could sell it for me.
I don't think they even tried to sell it, but it was broken into and a
few items were stolen. The dealership was not interested in
reimbursing me for the stolen stuff, claiming their rigs on the lot
were constantly broken into and major items taken.
30 May-1 June
Last year we Elks took a trip to the Delta and rented a house boat for
a weekend. It was so enjoyable we decided to take another trip
this year. I set up a trip to Bear
River Lake and we camped out for the weekend. There were
eight of us and we had one Motor home, one Tent trailer and 5
tents. Froze our butts off the first nite but Sat was a little
better. Did a lot of fishing. There were about 16 fish
caught, I got 6. They were all in the 12-14 inch range.
July
I thought I would lump all of July together as there were a few
different activities. For starters, we finally put a new floor in
the house. We pulled the carpet and tile out of the
Kitchen,
Dining & Living Room, Bathroom and Hallway and put Pergo Flooring
in, with a couple of area rugs to break things up a bit. I am
finally getting a few people to go Salmon fishing with me. Went
up to Oroville 22-24 July. Took Pete Baerwald, Lee Morris and Bob
Whelan.. There was a lot of water coming out of the Outlet Dam and
fishing was a little rough. Had a good time, but we did not
catch any fish. Had a lot of good hook-ups but could not land any
of them. Finished off the month with three days of Jury Duty.
August
Not much happened in August. Did get a fishing trip in.
Took Pete Baerwald again plus Paul Hale from the Elks. Paul took
his two sons with him. Pete got a bit tired of the crowd at the
after bay so he went looking for a different spot. He found a
couple nice spots downstream of the After Bay. We tried one of
the spots
Thursday and Pete got a nice salmon before we had to head home.
Paul and
his sons had a lot of good hookups by did not land any.
October
Really did not do anything exiting so will skip September.
October was also fairly quiet. The only big thing was another
fishing trip to Oroville. This time I took Clyde Perlenfein with
me. Clyde went with me last year and this will be his last
trip. Unfortunately, no fish were caught, a bad year for
me. Clyde will be getting married next spring and will be moving
to Iowa. No salmon there. My back really bothered me this
trip and I really was not able to do much real fishing. When I
waded out in the river to fish, I could only make one or two casts and
had to get back to shore and relax. On one occasion my legs
gave out and I had to get one of the nearby fishermen to help me back
to shore.
November
Another quiet month. My back was so bad I had my Doctor refer me
to a Neurologist to see if I could find out what the problem was and If
we could do anything to get it fixed. Had a MRI and found my
lower spine to be a mess. The lumbar vertabrae have degenerated
and the disks are gone. I have bone on bone pinching the nerves
that lead to the legs. Have to get some more tests but I will
probably have to have some type of surgery in the near future.