Now on to the fire season. Their was a party that was thrown for all the rookies on Friday night which was alot of fun. But back to the week. We ended up having a pretty good first two weeks. We had some pretty tough Pt sessions that really worked me like crazy. One of the new returnees came well prepared to kick our butts. So it was a good two a day weeks. But then we had two days where we got to go as a full crew to remind our selves how to work a saw, especially for me that is. When we got to the area to start the saw exercises we were pissed off because the trees that we were cutting were not very big. So for those of us that have at least some experince with the saw all ready we did not really get to try anything that was out of our comfort level. That was a little disappointing but still it was good to run the saw. I unfortunately only got to cut for 2 gas tanks worth but still good to reaquaint myself with the saw. There was some good news and some bad news.
First the bad news was that as I was setting up to cut a tree I had a question and my instructor (Demers) did not quite know the answer so luckily and unluckily Swisher was there to clear up the issue. So when Swisher came over to answer the question. First off the question was how can i fall this tree safely. The background was that it was a double tree. This means that the tree looks like it is one tree until you get above your head heigth and then it splits into two trees. And the trees were leaning opposite eachother. So my question was can I fall both of the trees at the same time, with one face cut, 90 degrees of there lean. I know it is hard to explain but bare with me. So the main question I had was Can I do that in a safe manner and have them fall where I want them. And he says yes you could but you (I) failed to a good sizeup on the tree. So then I tepped back and look for a minute or two and I was like "nice try Dude you must be crazy" or atleast something like that. Then he told me no he wasnt and continued to tell me that even though that looks to be one tree it was really just 2 trees that were very close to two seperate trees. So all that meant is there is no way that my planned would have worked I most likely would have seriously injured...and he was not happy about that.
So that was the bad news. Beacuse I was a complete smartass by telling him that I was told, after he left by Demers that if I keep that smartass shit up then I will not be on a saw at all this year. And being that he will be a crew boss trainee this year, Demers, does have to ability to put me on saw. And he proceeded to tell me I would have been on saw last year but I gave too many smartass remarks to the powers that be and was ousted from the saw the entire season. So the good news that came from all that is that I will most likely have a chance to be on saw because one of the other guys should be but in a more supervisory roll and will most likely be taken off the saw and then I will be put on . YEah
First the bad news was that as I was setting up to cut a tree I had a question and my instructor (Demers) did not quite know the answer so luckily and unluckily Swisher was there to clear up the issue. So when Swisher came over to answer the question. First off the question was how can i fall this tree safely. The background was that it was a double tree. This means that the tree looks like it is one tree until you get above your head heigth and then it splits into two trees. And the trees were leaning opposite eachother. So my question was can I fall both of the trees at the same time, with one face cut, 90 degrees of there lean. I know it is hard to explain but bare with me. So the main question I had was Can I do that in a safe manner and have them fall where I want them. And he says yes you could but you (I) failed to a good sizeup on the tree. So then I tepped back and look for a minute or two and I was like "nice try Dude you must be crazy" or atleast something like that. Then he told me no he wasnt and continued to tell me that even though that looks to be one tree it was really just 2 trees that were very close to two seperate trees. So all that meant is there is no way that my planned would have worked I most likely would have seriously injured...and he was not happy about that.
So that was the bad news. Beacuse I was a complete smartass by telling him that I was told, after he left by Demers that if I keep that smartass shit up then I will not be on a saw at all this year. And being that he will be a crew boss trainee this year, Demers, does have to ability to put me on saw. And he proceeded to tell me I would have been on saw last year but I gave too many smartass remarks to the powers that be and was ousted from the saw the entire season. So the good news that came from all that is that I will most likely have a chance to be on saw because one of the other guys should be but in a more supervisory roll and will most likely be taken off the saw and then I will be put on . YEah
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