Hello friends

Although I am currently in the Philippines, I have to rectify my laziness about my blog and put up some info from the remainder of Arizona before I can talk about the Philippines. I know I have seen everyone recently and talked about the last couple months, thus this last post is more for myself than for you perhaps. I will however try to explain what it is like to work alone in the woods for as long as we did. I wrote some of this a bit ago...
(thunderstorm)
So I haven't blogged for a long time and that is both my fault, and a result of our last work location being 1.5 hrs away from the nearest town. I suppose a lot has happened so I will cut it in sections :)

Since coming back from Vancouver for my visit in August I was picked up by the airport by Lou in Las Vegas and we made our way to the new work location which was at first by Jacob Lake, Northern Arizona and about a 10 minute drive from the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. On our way back to the tent trailer, about 4 hrs away, we were listening to our favorite radio podcast - This American Life with Ira Glass on PRI (Public Radio International) and NPR (National Public Radio). The premise of the show is to pick a theme such as "Return to the scene of the crime" "The Fall Guy" "Pro se" "First Date" or serious ones such as "Arms Trader 2009" "Housing Crisis" etc. Anyways and then they bring us four acts or stories from totally different perspectives on the theme. Some are hilarious, some are totally random and bizarre or extremely informative issues about health insurance in America or why the housing crash happened but in general it passes an hour of driving pretty memorably.
(Quaking aspen)
As we were driving past the town of Colorado City and Hurricane City which are border towns (one in Utah, one in Arizona) that are both very strict Mormon towns we were listening to an episode of This American Life. The episode was talking about Warren Jeffs who was the former president of Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and the very strict Mormon following. Incidentally Warren Jeffs and his very large extended family (there are rumors he had up to 90 wives) live/lived in the town of Colorado City. It was talking about the city and the problems that were plaguing the town after Warren Jeffs was arrested for marrying a 13 year old girl to a much older man and I believe also possibly rape charges. Anyways, not to go into a great detail about it there was just one interesting point about the podcast as we drove by the town. We noticed that all of the houses were missing windows, didnt' have a roof or were just plywood houses that had no siding. It turns out that Warren Jeffs forecast Armageddon and the end of the world so often that people would never fix their houses, repair a window or spend money or day to day upkeep! I suppose it was just interesting to hear it explained as we drove past it. The liquor store serves a beer called Polygamous Porter "So Good Why Have Just One?".....

Oh and beer in Utah is only 3.2% alcohol.... all of it!


... I enjoyed this work location a lot more because there was variety in the work. Instead of working just in predominately pure Ponderosa Pine stands, we were now facing the challenge of a mixed conifer lineup. We had three firs (Douglas fir, White fir and Subalpine fir), two spruce (blue spruce and engelmann spruce), Ponderosa pine and quaking aspen. It provided an added challenge of identification (which often proved difficult) as well as we had to core every species on the plot, which took both more time and effort.

This work location was also sweet because technically our closest place for groceries was the north rim of the grand canyon. We visited the north rim and were pleasantly surprised to find considerably less people than the south rim (definitely more our style). It is so nice to stand there and then you eerily can't stop thinking about falling in, or watching someone fall in. It never left my mind...

When moving to our new work location we had to say goodbye to Marley but still wanted to get involved with humane societies in the area. We were very happy to find that in Kanab, Utah (where we went to go get groceries) there was the largest animal sanctuary in the world. We of course went on the tour of the place and spent two very memorable afternoons volunteering with dogs, as well as, going to puppy class. Working with animals makes me feel better about my day whenever I get the chance. They constantly live in the moment and are very giving with their love. I think that dogs can make even the most uptight, fearful and angry person relax and give to the animal. It makes me happy that we have dogs at the home in White Rock because they are good for the soul.


And now to something i have been thinking about for awhile and I want to get it down so that I can remember how it felt before I commit myself to this job again:
(Sand Dunes State park)
The problem is though, that there is no point in me even explaining this to you or anyone (and thus I dont' try) because unless you have worked in the bush you will not have a full understanding of what I'm really trying to say. In part I write this blog for myself but also I tend to find it easier to express myself in writing than in verbal communication. When I come back to the city and I see Sarah we talk briefly about being in the bush and then it's like we can't talk about it anymore. I know that she has seen things that are so ridiculous and unreal that there is no point in trying. It is so far removed from the city that it doesn't make sense to talk about it in that context. What i'm trying to say perhaps is that I have a different personality when i am out in the woods, just like the Sarah I know in the city is completely different in the bush.
(view of the grand canyon from a forest service road near our plots)

Towards the end of working, and now in reflection, we were definitely getting a bit bushed( to say the least). To those who aren't used to working in forestry or the bush, it is a common term that gets thrown around. Urban dictionary defines it briefly as:

	Bushed: A person that has been isolated from mainstream society for a long period of time, and/or has never seen a major urban setting. A rural person that has never been to a big city. A bushed person will temporarily become shocked or claustrophobic in an urban setting.

Rarely in a summer job does one get bushed to the point of loopy (mostly just bushed to the point that returning to the city is frightening). This is mostly because being bushed usually requires a good amount of time, as well as very little to no people... most summer jobs have crews and thus you are constantly about to come a little back to reality at the end of the day. In Saskatchewan I wasn't bushed, I just loved being in the bush and was happy beyond everything to be there. Being bushed is not a good thing because it basically means that you are slowly going crazy out in the woods; getting further away from who you conceive yourself as. It takes different forms in people i.e. some guys feel they are invincible or you will hear them say things like "I wish I could meet my death fighting a bear". It could also make you spend hours and hours thinking about how nice it would be to talk to someone, say a friend that you miss, or even take great delight in the thought of a very, very cold coke. You have nothing so you desire the simplest things that you cannot have. You also no longer have anyone to tell jokes to, so you tell them to yourself.
(ally at work)
The majority of the population is not accustomed to living in the middle of nowhere, and working alone in the woods day in and day out. Most forestry jobs you don't even work alone, because for safety reasons you work in partners or as a small crew. This job we were alone for 8 or so hours a day and you can really spook yourself out. I also have an overactive and creative mind... so i would start to sketch myself out by imagining certain animals watching me. And the thing is, sometimes in the day, you just feel weirded out. Maybe the plot doesn't feel right, or you think something or someone is there but you can't quite see anyone or put your finger on it. I've had plots where I just totally am freaked out... so I run through the entire plot in a frenzy because I have convinced myself that there is a bear den in the cave 200 ft. from me. Sometimes all it would take is for me to see a mountain lion print that was fresh and that was it. I would spend a lot of my time constantly surveying the perimeter of my plot always. I got so good I could spot Lou working very far away from me just by seeing a movement of red. The thing is... that is not good to deal with all the time. I would also imagine people coming out of nowhere and play scenarios though my head. I would often walk with a big stick and I carried my knife at all times (Lou has his gun sometimes even).
(happy to be doing work...)
Naturally, things start to happen. Maybe you talk to trees, or maybe you talk to yourself, or maybe you spend hours upon hours not thinking one thought, but regardless you lose touch with your concept of your self-identity as that has no prevalence in the woods. There is no point in being "Ally" or caring about anything that you do in the city: what you're doing that night, what you are wearing at the moment, what you look like, what music you like or any other anxiety ridden thought caused by being surrounded by other people doing those same things. You have to define yourself upon other things than that and mostly this comes out in a competitive form. For example, instead of caring what you are doing or what bus to catch, you are saying to yourself that you have to get to the top of the next hill without stopping or that you must finish this plot in 20 minutes ... or that if a guy popped out of nowhere that I would charge him and bash his head against a tree (hahaha seems bizarre to say out of context).

Another common one is dreaming of water. A pool, a shower, an oasis... it's almost like a person wandering in the desert thinking they see an oasis. Things get loopy. Lou and I definitely digressed into very childish humour and enjoying shadow puppets on the tent trailer ceiling. I don't know anyone else in the world I could do this kind of work with other than Lou- he has seen it all now and there is no going back!


Anyways, I don't feel like I did that justice, but I'm glad to get it out. In reflection of my last summer, I think there is a reason that only certain guys can do it. The guys we met in the beginning who had been doing this work alone for up to 10 years for some of them. Even in the beginning of the season I could tell it wouldn't be long before they were bushed a gain. This is why forestry workers drink so much, the city becomes very foreign and confusing. The best advice I have ever gotten related to this subject was from this guy mark who was my helicopter pilot on my last contract in Saskatchewan (when everyone was going loopy from needing a day off from work). Anyways, he said "don't spend too much time in your head today". It is simple, but if you don't think too much you'll be okay.

I'm proud of the work that Lou and I did this summer. We accomplished a lot, not just work. We also somehow became part of the communities too through working with humane societies- which is a difficult feat when you know no one in the town. Most importantly, we took a pretty solid relationship and made it unbreakable. I don't think many couples could withstand what we did this summer, and we came out the other end loving each other more.

At the end of working we had a disastrous vacation which included almost being struck by lightning and visiting Bryce Canyon during a tornado. But we got some cool pics and ran around in the rain looking at cool National parks which we were planning on doing back country overnight trips in. Oh well, another time...

(Bryce Canyon National Park, tornado warning!, Southern Utah)
(Vermillion Cliffs, Northern Arizona)

Zion National Park, Utah


That is it for now. I have lots to say about Philippines so far, so I will update as soon as I get my courses figured out!

Hey guys,

We have been with our new foster dog Marley for about a week and I know already that is going to be so incredibly hard to say goodbye. He is an amazing boy! He comes to work during the day, never barks, doesn't chew things he isn't supposed to, sleeps like a dream and loves to just hang out in the shade. He has been a great addition to our life and he waits every morning for me to lift my head up and then he comes over with a big wagging tail.



He used to be a rez dog and is a little sick at the moment. He was neutered this morning and the vet discovered that he used to have fleas that have attacked his immune system and cause his red blood cells not to clot very well. So he has a lot of swelling and bled a lot during the surgery. They also determined that he has a massive tumor in his sheath and is now getting chemotherapy once a week. The good news is that it is curable and also that we aren't covering the costs. We want to find him a really good family because he is such a great dog. I already wish that I could adopt him for life because he fits so well with us, but I know we are doing a great thing by finding him a forever home. He was going to be euthanized by the humane society because he had been there since May so it's a good thing we found out about him.

We don't have that much longer in this area (maybe about 3 weeks) so we will have to say bye sooner than we like. However, we plan to foster a dog when we move to our next location which is the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest near Springerville, Arizona. There isn't much to tell right now just been working in a pretty hilly area and our new boy in our life.

love

Sedona Red Rocks and Mikey

Hey all,

We finally finished our work area down near Sycamore Canyon which was a bit of a hole. Well, I admit it wasn't even half that bad, but it was south-facing slopes that were prime rattle snake locations (although we only saw one) and difficult plots which made getting up and making money difficult. Alas we finished it and we are back up north of Flagstaff in the hilly, shady and pine-dominated forests once again. Last week we went down to Sedona which is an hour south of Flagstaff and was well worth the trip. We left the tent trailer and brought our tent down for the night. This was our second trip down there and so we had a little bit better idea of what we wanted to do. We camped along Oak Creek in Oak Creek Canyon and then went into town where we met several people who told us about full moon ceremonies and different events we should come down to. I suppose I should have prefaced that but I mentioning that Sedona is home to several vortexes and thus has attracted many spiritual people, from heelers to outdoor enthusiasts.
We are open to all such ideas and continued to meet people who had their own opinions of where we should go and what different parties/ceremonies we should come down to.The Red rocks are truly beautiful and it is nothing like I have ever seen before. It was quite packed with tourists and popular... we didn't go to the most popular place of all but will go next time (its called Slide Rock State Park and it a series of flat rocks that sorta gradually decline like a big natural slide with water running over hot rocks. People flock to lay in cold water warmed by the hot sun.


Anyways, as we mosied around downtown Sedona I kept sayin that I wanted a beer and a hot dog at the same time and we wanted to see if there were any local breweries in town. We ended up at Oak Creek Brewery which was awesome and had some great brews fresh from the tap. We also came on the perfect night because it was an "all drums circle" and we had our djembes. So we hung out and played drums for hours with about 20 other folks (the place was intensely loud and reverberating but sounded wicked) and I continued to alternate from drumming to dancing. I realized how badly I needed to dance and socialize after being in the forest with not much outside contact for awhile.

The next day we went to Bell Rock and Cathedral Rock which are both vortexes. Although I can't say I was in the right mindset to open myself up to anything spiritual, we enjoyed the views and the hike nonetheless. I did feel though that Sedona in general was very spiritual and it felt like I everything I thought I wanted I received. We're gonna go down for the full moon ceremony with a lady who lives in an earthship (which we want to build for ourselves one day) and hopefully we can do some drumming.

Then it was back to Sycamore where we moved camp to a nice lake that we could wash up in after work. We had sorta a wildlife week actually. One day as we were walking into our plots we came across about a herd of 35-40 elk complete with newborns at all, it was quite an awesome stampede that we created but just walking around the corner. Later that day Lou had a close encounter with a rattler, which spooked me quite a bit, and then on the way home we saw a red fox. To top it off that night we were visited by 3 wild horses and about 20 cattle, as well as a pack of coyotes who never stop yipping and keeping me up.

But the greatest news of all happened today and will be finalized in a short two hours. We got a call from Paw Placements and they have a dog for us to foster! So we rushed over to the humane society and visited with our new buddy who is a male golden retriever mix named Mikey; about 1.5 yrs old who hasn't been trained much but is very responsive. Out of all the dogs we play with on our visits he was one of the only who actually wanted to play fetch with Lou and would give back the toy! Oh man, we are very excited about it and I really don't know what to expect at all. We're going to go pick him up from his vet visit and the lady Carol will give us a dog bed, crate, food and everything else we need. It is going to be a big adjustment but I think it will be very great for us. Hopefully we will have him for another month or so until we move onto our next work location. I'll put up pics of our new buddy as soon as we come back into town. He is golden all over, but not as shaggy as most golden retrievers with a white blaze on his head and a medium sized body.

That is all for now!

Love Ally

Canyons, Caves and Canines

Hey all,

I hope everyone is well up there. Oh yah, it would be nice if people left a comment from time to time... its becoming lonely writing to outer space with no feedback (thanks).

We found out there was a cave nearby our last work location and we thought one day when we finished up early that we'd check it out. Both of us weren't really sure what we were getting into... i.e. was it a wimpy cave or the real thing. Anyways, turns our it is the real thing. Called the Lava River Cave it is 3/4 of a mile long and quite large inside the cave. The first fifteen feet have ice and it is freezing inside the cave. We went pretty far along the cave and it was really cool and we wanna bring our drums there next time for the full experience.





Last week Lou and I were evacuated from our location (which we luckily were leaving anyways) because of a rampant forest fire just a few miles from where we were at. We got out okay and then decided to take a few days and go up to the Grand Canyon for a visit. It is only about an hours drive from here and we brought our tent trailer and camped on forest service land just outside of the park (feeling like lucky bastards for camping for free while every other tourist seemed to be doling out way too much for hotels). Our first day we went to the IMAX center and got our tickets then went on a good several hour hike in the canyon along the Kaibab Trail. We went probably around 6 miles or so, not sure, but dropped about 1000 feet. It was a very hot day and the air is very dry in the canyon. Anyways, check out some of the cool shots we took along the hike.

(you can spot me on the left hand side of the trail down there... i'm wearing a blue shirt. )
(hot and tired but happy)

After our hike we went back to the tent trailer for dinner and then decided to head to Desert View point which is about a 45 min drive. We went there for sunset and it was absolutely amazing and worth it. After lingering with the tourists for awhile as the sun creeped away, we decided to go to one of the deserted viewpoints (tourists don't venture far from the main lookouts) and we brought our new hand drums. We hung out at the rim playing our djembes for awhile and it was pure magic.




The next day we took the free shuttles around and went from location to location taking pics and took in another beautiful sunset. We quite enjoyed our adventure there and are thinking we might try and camp at the bottom later on in the year. It is quite a hike down and back (though our co-workers did it in one day which is highly recommended not to).



We went back to our new work location which is Sycamore Canyon, the second largest Canyon in Arizona. It is a beautiful area but it is harder work for various reasons (more trees, more species of trees, graveyards of downed trees from forest fires) and therefore harder to make really good coin. We have a week and half down here before a new location though which will be nice. We took a day off a few days ago and went down to Sedona which is absolutely stunningly beautiful. It is red rocks, canyon, arches, and a really nice river surrounded by oaks and sycamore trees. We are probably going to go camping there in a few days. We went swimming in the river and i was the happiest little water baby that there ever was. The heat has been really dragging my energy levels down and water provides such rejuvenation.

The other update in our life is something we don't know if it will work out but we are trying to foster a dog. We both really want to adopt a dog and I fell in love with a blue heeler 1 yr old male in sedona last week. We visit the humane society on every day off we have it seems and it is harder and harder to say no. We both know our reality though and that there is no way a dog would survive in Malaysia, so we found a non-profit called Paw Placements which places dogs with foster homes for as long as the people decide to and provides all the food, crates, toys and vet costs. It saves the dogs from having to live in the humane society until they find "forever" homes and also helps out the human society when they are over crowded. We have a perfect job right now for a dog and having a dog come to work with me would really ease my mind of working alone all day. Although we have radios, spending all day alone out there can be unsettling when there are bears, rattlesnakes and almost 1.5-2 hrs away from the hospital. It would also be nice to provide a high energy dog such as a border collie, blue heeler or lab x with the opportunity to walk/ run around all day outside. Anyways, not to jinx it but I"ll keep you posted. We talked to the paw placements people today at petsmart and sent in our application. They said they will contact us soon and see if they can find a good match.

Anyways,

Love you all and looking forward already to being back in BC by November.

Ohhhh herrrroo,
(Me saying : "oh herrro".
P.s. I've worn that same outfit everyday that I have worked down here... let's just say you wouldn't want to smell that shirt at this point. The summer isn't over yet though, and much stench has yet to be added)


Life is going really great down here. I do miss everyone a lot and I felt a little bit like I had the rug snagged from under my feet because I barely got to see anyone, but I know that I'll be back before I know it. It is really hot and really dry, though to people who live here it is probably neither of those things. For us west coasters though who often don't venture far from the ocean, Arizona is as dry as it gets. I think living down a dirt road in the middle of the South Kaibab National Forest likely might have something to do with it, oh and spending most of my time outside. Nonetheless, a really dry throat and nose and skin can't deter me from thoroughly enjoying this work. Bloody booger nuggets on the other hand are becoming a bit of a hassle haha.

Work is good and some days are better than others aka. some days I have a lot of steep hiking while others it is as flat as a pancake. Some days a plot could have 5 live trees and 5 dead trees, and the next plot could have 30 trees and 40 dead. It all really depends.
(Me measuring a tree height using a clinometer)
(Ally coring a tree to count the rings and determine the age)
(counting the tree rings to determine the age)

For a budding forester this work really is the bees knees. I now have a complete set of all my own forestry equipment (except a ridiculously expensive laser) to use all this nifty forestry equipment, measure tree heights, dbh (diameter at breast height), check for tree damages, navigate with compass and GPS, core trees, set up fixed radius plots... and I have no boss! I also get to work alone which really has its advantages because I rely solely on myself to make money and do not rely on anyone else (and do not suffer from other ppl's mess ups). I think it is going to be hard going back to a job where I have someone to report to. I feel pretty lucky to be running my own show and I'm not even done my degree yet. Most of the guys working this job are older (later 20's or early 30's and have been doing forestry work for years).
(artistic photo of the day: Ally in the compass mirror)
But it is really rewarding and enjoyable to spend all day alone hiking outside measuring trees... I quite enjoy that I can walk to work and that my office is in the middle of pure ponderosa pine forest.

We're really enjoying living in the tent trailer and most nights we play drum, make a nice dinner, drink tea, read and go to bed early. It is quite lovely. We have also developed a healthy obsession with the game Yahtzee which is soon to morph into an obsession with Scrabble. Board games are all the rage in tent trailers. We will be moving down to a canyon area pretty soon and we're hoping to travel up to the Grand Canyon but neither of us really want to take time off just yet. It seems like every day off we have an endless list of things in town we need to take care of so once that list is more manageable I think we'll take off up north.
(Lou relaxing in the shade under the awning of our tent trailer)
(a typical burned area in South Kaibab).

That is all for now. We are off to the post office (a favorite location in Flagstaff to visit) and then possibly to the pound. We keep visiting the pound (even though we both know we can't get a dog and we take out the poor lil guys for a walk around the side yard. It seems to fulfill our desires for a dog for about a week).

Love you guys and hope everything is well.
Missing the ocean a lot down here so everyone better be lapping around in the shallows for me.

Peace and love

ally

Gwaii Haanas and Final Ceremonies

Hey guys,
I haven't blogged in awhile because my life has definitely been all over the place and thus I have some catching up to do. As I saw most of you and filled you in on Gwaii Haanas I'll just hit the highlights and post some pics. Lou showed up on Haida Gwaii the night before we left for Gwaii Haanas. Some people who were supposed to go on the trip got sick last minute and he was able to come along. I don't think he quite knew what he was getting into... we had literally been looking forward to this once in a lifetime trip for the entire semester and he showed up and was going. Anyways, it was amazing and as soon as we got to the Moresby Camp boat launch we all were too excited to put on our 8+ layers of clothing (we were on open hull zodiacs that were really freezing in the wind). The highlights of the trip :

visiting four of the five watchmen sites: The watchmen sites are old village sites where the CHN (Council of the Haida Nation) have built modern longhouse style homes and two or three Haida will stay there the entire summer.
Any visitors to the islands will be shown around by the Haida watchmen so that their history is interpreted by the Haida and to ensure that no one damages the standing totem poles.
The most exciting watchmen site was Hotsprings Island a small island with naturally occurring hotsprings. We brought out the scotch and the whole class had a shot then we jumped in the ocean and back into the hotsprings... such an amazing moment on a beautiful sunny day.
(Above: the whole class including teachers and our tour guides)

We stayed on a remote float camp just outside of Gwaii Haanas where we saw pods of humpback whales everyday that we left the float camp and came back in. On the trip we saw pacific white-sided dolphins, humpbacks, sea lions and many eagles.
(Yes that is whale tongue)
(we pulled up the prawn traps)
The best part of the trip was exploring the rare flora and fauna with Andy MacKinnon and Sari Saunders who were able to explain every moss, tree, fern, etc to the micro detail.




On the trip we also went to Sedgewick Bay which is the location where the massive logging protests occurred in the late 1980's. The protests at Sedgewick Bay lasted several months and we were able to see the old houses that they built as temporary shelter during the protests which were left exactly as they were. Our trip guide Heron who was born and raised in Gwaii Haanas had never been to that site before and not many people have been there before. It was interesting because we had started off our course with a talk from Diane Brown an elder from Skidegate who explained the protest and significance behind it. She talked about the elders being flown there by helicopter and some of them were in their 80's and 90's and they had to climb the hill (that we climbed) to get to the logging road every morning. She also explained about the police coming and arresting the elders.
it was one of the most amazing three days of my life and it seemed like every minute just got better and better as we went. I will never forget it and i can't wait to go back. When we got back from Gwaii Haanas we had a week to prepare presentations which we were going to give that were open to the public. I did some research and with the help of Lou performed some decent field work to come up with an interesting ecological fix for a problem that is big on Haida Gwaii. HG has so many deer it is ridiculous, i.e. on an hour drive you can see 35+ deer along the road alone and it has drastically changed the understory. Many plants and trees (especially western red cedar saplings) are so heavily browsed by the deer that they cannot grow and in some cases are becoming extremely rare. Specifically, I was concerned with the amount of culturally significant plants for the Haida that are becoming rare-very rare due to heavy deer browsing. My study looked at the suitability of old-growth stumps to act as refugia for culturally significant plants and my research supported this quite distinctly. I found that there were significantly more culturally significant and vascular plants in general living on stumps that were inaccessible to deer in comparison to plots on the ground beside it. I summarized my results and gave some management considerations and implications for the future that would utilize these naturally occurring old-growth stumps as refugia and barriers from deer browsing. Mom and Dad came up and saw me give the presentation which was really nice of them; I really enjoyed having them see me doing something related to Forestry because it is a part of my life they don't get to see a lot of. After all of our presentations we had a final ceremonies with a traditional Haida feast and dancing- it was unreal. I gave a speech thanking our program directors and we presented them with Haida silver carved bracelets from a local artist designed with a frog and beaver for them. During the dancing component they got all the women up to do a women's Haida dance and then the men got to do their dance aftewards (I don't think I've ever seen my dad dance so it was pretty special). It was the most amazing graduation ceremony ever and will definitely be way better than the one i'll get from UBC. I'm so glad I did this semester, it was the best educational experience I've had in a really long time and I feel that I have grown so much as a person. Here are some of the pics from the night.(me giving my speech)



Lou and I started work in Payson Arizona and we lived in a tent for two weeks or so. We just got started and the contract finished so we went to Missouri to visit Lou's parent's farm in Marble Hill. It was a long trip and we got delayed by snow and a cranky Ally. We arrived at the farm and had a couple days to relax and take care of business. Lou's parents were wonderful and they helped arrange a lot of things that have made life a lot easier for us for the next six months. They helped us get an amazing tent trailer that is decked out with a shower, porta pottie, fridge and stove! It has made camping so much more enjoyable and I can cook actual dinner now as opposed to eating hot dogs a lot. It was a huge help on their part and we really appreciate it. Lou's mom also let us trade his car for her jeep so anyways, we toted it all back across the country and are now in Flagstaff, Arizona. I really like Flagstaff a lot more than Payson, it is a college town with a unique historic downtown area. We met up with at the Forest Service Ranger station yesterday where we were debriefed by a forester about the specs for this upcoming project. Last night we came into Flagstaff and scored big at the thrift store (i got brand new Merrell hiking boots that are about 150 bucks for 12! yay!) and then we went to bikrams yoga to sweat it out. We're feeling really good about our new situation. Today was another down day as new contractors roll into town so we came into the library to take care of business.

Anyways, I'll try and put up pics of the area and work pics as soon as we start taking them (we keep forgetting to). I'll also put up pics of our new home aka the tent trailer!

peace and love

ally