I drove past this sign every day for almost 2 1/2 years. I’m sure it is/was a Forest Service sign- but it is a style that is no longer in use and no one on the district knows what it was for. But I always liked it. I passed it as I turned onto I-17 north and it pointed me home.

On Saturday we headed down to my old district, the Red Rock Ranger District, to help out with dutch oven cooking and so I could visit some of my old coworkers, friends and volunteers from the district. The Red Rock received approximately 44,000 volunteer hours in 2007, or the equivalent of 25 full time employees. Though I love my job in planning, I miss getting to hang out and chat with the volunteers at the visitor centers, or tell former oil CEOs that they need to wear a hard hat for trail work.

I must admit I have been taking quite the hiatus from thesis work for the past couple of weeks- hot tubbing it in Scottsdale while there for a retirement training, working on way too many crossword puzzles, getting into soup season, and spending more time with Jeff-away from the computer. He supplied me with Coors at 9 a.m. (not for consumption of course) to whip up 21 loaves of Bill Stafford’s Dutch oven beer bread, gets me to work on time, and has kept me sane and happy for many a day.

I truly admire pretty much anyone who has ever written a thesis, but particularly two women who both defended almost 8 months pregnant (a big no way as my caffeine and wine intake have both greatly increased) While I could probably do it, I am extremely grateful for my morning thermos of coffee. In addition to my constant flow of alcohol and caffeine- Jeff’s support and optimism, as well as his editing skills and data expertise have helped get to where I can see the light at the end of the tunnel- and still be smiling. He joined me in assessing many a transect, this picture was from the last day of field work.

My self-appointed break is over and Jeff just walked me through the joys of creating TOCs in Word. He’s also been working on getting our site switched over, so I took this opportunity to see if I could navigate the new system. I guess I managed. Back to work.