Bringin' Home the Silver

Gear turned in, bags packed, housing cleaned, and a last round of golf off of Vista Point. Left at 6pm and we drove back to Denver for our last spike travel by way of the Grand Canyon and Mesa Verde National park. It was a long, but incredibly fun trip. We managed to sneak in a viewing of the 7th Harry Potter, part 2. End of an era in so many ways. Weird to think this was the last time all 9 of us would be together, trying to agree on where to stop, what to eat, and who would drive next.

We got back to campus and as our Govies pulled up, we were met by huge hugs from hollering friends and the usual tangle of unloading the luggage and sorting it out. 9 days of paperwork and merriment before we laid to rest our Corps Member year.

It was the same as every other transition week: debrief, portfolio, end of round media closeouts...only this time no briefing of our next task. Even though our next task was going to be more difficult than any of the others; Life after AmeriCorps. It's funny how easy it is to get used to living with 10 others, to enjoy shopping and cooking for an army of boys and girls, to play games and get through team builders. Only thing to do was enjoy our last week together as Sun 3, and so we did it like champs.

The Amerilympics are held every year so that each team can battle it out for pride, glory, or just fun! Sun 3 went in there dressed to intimidate and own each competition. We weren't so hot at "Name That Tune," but when it came to the relays, disc golf, trivia, kickball, ultimate Frisbee, feat of strength, and the foot race, well Sun 3 is a team not easily forgotten. The day long competition yielded us the coveted Silver Medal spot. For our prize we all got silver stickers :)

That night we all cleaned up and made our way downtown for the End-of-Year banquet. Never had our team looked so polished all dressed up and smiling. We've come a long way from our "chicken fat yellow" hair as the Jet Blondesons and "No-Shave November."

 Graduation came and went and our last goodbyes given. For our team, Sun 3 could never be disbanded. We'll keep in touch and somehow we'll learn how to drive without Ground Guides or ATD's, make food for less than 10 people, and act normal in a society that favors those who shower and shave. Harder still will be learning how to live without 8 cheerleaders and constant companions, my best friends who would lie in bed together and "debrief the day."

We can hope to hold on to the love and clarity we've found from living a life of service together. It's funny to know that in a month the cycle will be repeated and across the country thousands of Corps Members and Team Leaders will begin a life changing endeavor. Thank goodness for their compassion, their talents, their able bodies and minds, and the opportunity they will bring to our world.  This country doesn't realize what an asset these new leaders will become. -Lyndsay

"I will carry this commitment this year, and beyond..."

There was great anticipation heading back to Crown King, AZ for Sun 3’s second round to work with the Crown King Fire District.  Heading back to the small ghost town was very comfortable and exciting knowing we would reunite with newly made friends.  The appreciation for our work fourth round was nothing short of what praise we received all of second round, which is continually a great feeling.

Our main assignment consisted of continued fuels reduction in the Crown King area in order to reduce the threat of wildfire.  However, our method of eliminating fuels changed from burning to chipping due to the high forest fire threat.  In addition to fuels reduction, Sun 3 participated in community events.  Such community events were a fuels clean-up day where homeowners could gather brush around their house and the fire department would schedule to have it picked up for free. 

Mopping the Floor

Other community events included cleaning up the town cemetery, participating in the Memorial Day Parade and Fire Department carnival, and planning a Day of Service.  The Day of Service was with the Crown King Road Maintenance Association and consisted of cleaning out culverts so that rain could freely pass through.  Having variety in giving back to the community of Crown King really made this round special. 

Along with our community efforts and fuels reduction, Sun 3 was assigned to be ‘on call’ throughout the week so that if an emergency occurred within the town, members of Sun 3 could be dispatched to respond to the call on their respective assigned apparatus.  I enjoyed this aspect of the project because it gave our team a great deal of responsibility and made our team feel very important.

Lastly, the highlight of the round in my mind was responding to a quarter acre fire with Prescott National Forest Engine – 931.  E-931 requested the assistance of our team to help them suppress a wildfire that started due to a lightning strike.  Getting the experience of responding to a wildfire with a National Forest Fire Crew was an amazing experience and something I enjoyed greatly.  The job of our team was to dig line around the fire and make sure it was contained before returning the next day and dry mopping the fire to make sure it was fully suppressed.  Responding to this fire enhanced my thoughts of continuing with wild land firefighting in the future.

                              -Nicker

Dirty legs after work

Round 4 has now come to an end and I can't believe how fast our 10 months of service have gone by.  It's amazing to think how much our class has done over such a short period of time and how many communities we have helped.  It's been such a pleasure sharing my experience with the other members of Sun Three and I can't imagine the year any other way. We have become quite the little family.

Through the good, the bad, and the ugly we have come a long way since our first journey out to St. Louis, Missouri where our first ever team builder (the dreaded spider web) almost tore our team apart before we even got started.  Looking back on our time together, I am amazed at how fortunate I am to have been a part of such a great team.

Going back to Crown King for a second time had advantages and disadvantages.  It was nice to know what we were getting into and it took no time at all for us to get right back into the swing of things with the Fire Department.  Instead of burning piles to get rid of all of the fuels we were cutting and removing from each property we had to learn how to chip.  We were trained on both the small and large chipper within the first week and then were set loose to chip until the cows came home.  One of the disadvantages of going back to the same project for a second round was that the monotony of the work definitely got to the team by the end of the second round.

There are only so many piles of brush that one can haul up a mountain before they start to go a little crazy (which might explain some of the air band videos that we have of our team mates on the haul line).  Despite the monotony of the work we managed to have tons of fun along the way.  From day trips to Phoenix, Flagstaff, Prescott, and Jerome to tubing on Salt River and jumping over waterfalls at Fossil Creek we filled our weekends with as much fun and adventure as we could find. -Not to mention costume parties and a home made slip-n-slide in the kitchen from the overflowing dishwasher!
This last round was such a blast and a perfect way to finish out our term of service.  Our team got a lot accomplished for the town of Crown King and had tons of fun along the way.

I look forward to returning next year as a Team Leader and I can only hope that my team will be half as amazing as Sun Three has been.  I will certainly miss being a part of such a great group of people but I know we will stay in touch and luckily the majority of our team will be in Colorado for at least another year!  Thank you Sun Three for an unforgettable year!!!  I love you guys!

-Carlo 

Seein' Red

A normal day of work quickly shaped into the day we’ve all been waiting for…the reason why we joined this team in the first place…

Two days ago Sun Three (now “Crew Three” officially) was called to respond alongside Forest Service Engine 931 to a fire about thirty minutes outside Crown King, AZ.

Experience of a lifetime. Here she is in a nutshell. A tiny tiny nutshell

We were doing normal fuels reduction work up on one of our normal properties when the call came in at about 2:30pm. They weren’t absolutely sure our crew would be the one to respond at the time of the call but we raced down to the station to get ready anyways. Trucks were packed and gear was prepared. We waited for another thirty minutes then Engine 931 requested our AmeriCorps team! The fire titled “Twin Peaks Fire” was under way. Let’s do this!

I got to drive our truck up the mountain behind the forest service crew. Every bit of tiredness we all felt from working the previous seven hours quickly vanished. We were on our way to the real deal! We parked the trucks and assembled for our briefing. Engine 931 consisted of five really awesome Forest Service firefighters. Four goofy dudes led by one smokin’ hot gal lemme tell ya. She was not only gorgeous but wow could she run a crew. Kept those boys in line.

It was a 1.6 mile hike through the Arizona brush to get to this baby. Roughin’ it. And we had to hike three bladder bags in also, each weighing about forty pounds. So a 1.6 mile hike carrying a forty-five pound fire pack with a forty pound bladder bag on top – Eighty-five pounds! Should have used us to film the movie 300. Right.

By the time we get to the blaze it’s pushing 7pm. Light is fading fast…Darkness swells…Shadows grow…Evil lurks…The forest shivers with torment…and yet Frodo carries the One Ring closer to the fiery gloom of Mount Doom…

Ha. We cut line around this thing for awhile, following the sawyer who relentlessly slashed through brush, timber and flaming logs! It was extraordinary. The 931 crew was so fun and exciting to be around. They really helped us, supported us and taught us all so so much. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We were rookies on the fire line but they made us feel like we were really contributing. We didn’t actually extinguish the fire during this initial attack at night – we suppressed most of the flames and contained the fire with a well cut fire line around the entire perimeter. The team got back to the house at about midnight. We met the crew at 7am in front of the saloon the next morning to go back and finish the job the next morning. So…another long hike back in then it was mop up time. “Mop up” means ensuring that everything is cool. Everything. All logs, brush and ground coals left inside the fire line must be cool to the touch for the fire to be deemed controlled.

Five hours later…a job well done.

 

Chriser

New to CK

Hi! I am Jeff, the newest member of Sun 3, having joined at the beginning of round four. I missed out of being in Crown King during round two, but I get to work with the Crown King Fire Department for the busy and warm summer season. I was originally an alternate for the fire management team and was a part of Sun 2 for the first two rounds. My first project was near Golden, CO working with Denver Mountain Parks (DMP) at Katherine Craig Park, helping to clean up the site and perform wildland fire fuel reduction work. I really enjoyed that project, as I got to work outside everyday in a scenic area and learned how to use a chainsaw to fell trees and turn logs into firewood.

The project included a lot of firsts for myself and others on the team including using the chainsaws, driving a skid loader, and feeding bison on a ranch operated by DMP. My team lived in an old Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) bunkhouse, built in the early 1940's. It had one large open room full of 70-year-old bunk beds that were first used by CCC members and now, most recently, by us. The close living quarters and secluded location allowed the team to get close and definitely bond.

Second round sent Sun 2 and me to New Orleans, LA (NOLA) to work with the local Habitat for Humanity  ReStore. However, before joining the rest of my team, I went with Sean to Colorado Springs, CO to learn wildland fire fighting from the El Paso County's Sheriff's Office wildland crew.

After a week and a half of the necessary training, I rejoined my team in NOLA. We lived in the Upper 9th Ward, an area still rebuilding after Hurricane Katrina, in a Habitat for Humanity house that proved tight living for all eleven of us. The cramped quarters helped push us out into the city and we got to experience a truly unique part of America, by trying the cuisine, music, and overall culture that New Orleans is known for. At the ReStore, we collected donations and prepared them for sale along with other used building and home supplies. The work took us all over NOLA and brought into the store a variety of local residents that we got to learn from, helping us appreciate New Orleans even more.

For third round, shuffle round, I joined Lyndsay and Bobby in Flagstaff, AZ, working with the National Park Service at the Flagstaff area national monuments. It was exciting to get to know the new people of my shuffle team and we took full advantage of the hiking and camping of the area, including going to the Grand Canyon and the Sedona, AZ area.

Now that I am in Crown King, AZ, it is easy to see that there is a lot to appreciate here. It is great to know that an NCCC team can be so connected and involved with the local community. Often residents of the host town of a team do not even know the team is there, but in Crown King, everyone knows how important the Fire Department is to the town and how AmeriCorps NCCC teams in the past have contributed to everyone's safety. It is exciting to be a part of this community and see how we are making a difference. Leaving Sun 2 was certainly not easy, because of the connections that I had made, but Sun 3 is a great group and has been very welcoming. Crown King is yet another unique stop in my AmeriCorps adventure and with a lot to like, I look forward to whatever comes my way this summer.

Jeff Leininger, Squad Delta

First Week, Comin' Round the Mountain, and Slidin' into Fourth Round

Heyo, made it back to Arizona safe! That’s right – original fire management team is back together. We made it back to Crown King, AZ to start right back up where we left off with fire mitigation work. Let’s hear how we made it back:

Transition week back in Denver was great. Got to play with all my friends, ate awesome campus food (nope), slept in a bed (whoa), played guitar, played trivia, went to a ROCKIES game, went to an improv show for Angie (look it up online), said goodbyes, and hit the road…

The team went to Great Sand Dunes National Park for the first day of the road trip back to AZ, then went to Petrified Forest National Park the second day. Arrived in Crown King, Arizona to the familiar team house, saloon, general store, fire department… smells like home.

Work is a little different now that it's summer time. The project goal remains the same – reduce hazardous fire fuels around the town but this time there’s no burning! What the heck right? Na, it’s not so bad we just use a cool wood chipper instead. And…our EMS first responder training is now officially in action as we are ON CALL everyday of the work week (our weekends are Wednesdays and Thursdays). Let’s not hope for a medical call, but what an experience!

We were off work our first two days here so I had some time to hang in town. What to do? See the elementary school performance of course. Yes – all the kids did an hour long dance performance for the town. All the kids = two stunning young girls age five and thirteen. Had a blast! Two little rockstars.

What a place to spend the summer and our last round. We're all loving it and looking forward to playing it up with the townspeople and all the flat-lander visitors. Pool, karaoke, and BBQs. Can't wait to see how it all shapes up!

-Chriser

Shuffle Party!

During our 10 months in AmeriCorps we get to experience 4 different project rounds. The third round is what they call "Shuffle Round." This is a chance to mix it up and be on a team with other corps members and a new team leader. Here is how Sun 3 fared during our shuffle party:

March 22, 2011:

Just over a week ago, the Shuffle Round began and all of us Corps Members began our two month journey with other members of other teams.  I got the opportunity to join Sun 6 in Williamsburg, Missouri, alongside of TL GG, and several members of my former team (Sun 7). 

We are just outside of Columbia, MO working alongside of the Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) at the Whetstone Conservation Area, as well as several other conservation areas throughout the middle of Missouri.   

We have been tasked with Invasive Species Removal, Seed Collection, Trail Maintenance, as well as Controlled and Prescribed Burns. 

On our first two days here in Missouri, we took a Chainsaw Safety course (an abridged version of S-212, the National Certification) and took the Missouri Level 1 Wildland Fire course (a one day race through the S-130 and S-190 courses that Sun 3 and the other Fire Management Teams took to be Red Card certified).
 

On Monday (21 March) we headed over to Eagle Bluffs Conservation Area, in Columbia and right next to the Katy Trail State Park, to help check and clear wood duck houses in the morning. 

Basically, we all put on waders, jumped into canoes, floated off into the different pools and channels, and opened up wooden boxes, checking for evidence of use (egg shells and / or a nest) and make sure no other animals had decided to use them. 

After spending the morning clearing out a number of boxes, we took a quick lunch break before putting on Nomex and setting selected fields on fire.  With very little instruction, we were handed drip torches and told, literally, “Walk that way.” 

We ended burning three different fields, using roads, pools of water, and green grass as our fire lines.  No digging to bare mineral soil.  No Pulaski or shovel.  Not even a McLeod.  A Fire Rake, Flapper and Drip Torch is all you need (but the 4x4 Polaris with a water tank behind it is also useful).  It’s the easiest fire work that I’ve ever done (given, my experience has been limited). 

I’ve found the difference between fighting fire in the East so different than how it’s fought in the West.  Different tactics, different fuels, and different landscapes.  It’s all been extremely fascinating to me, though I think it may be driving my current team a little insane. 

Though this project is not a ‘Fire Management’ project, being able to burn 60+ acres in an afternoon is awesome, not to mention the 15 foot flames and the raging head fire that I started.  And in case you haven’t noticed, I am enjoyin’ myself. 

God Bless and PEACE

STKerr

April 5, 2011:

I thought Crown King was secluded.  This round, shuffle round, I have found myself in the middle of nowhere!  But trust me; this is far from a complaint.  I was originally scheduled to be a part of Sun 3 again in the Denver Metro area working for Habitat for Humanity.  However, sticking to the AmeriCorps mentality, things changed drastically and quickly for me.  I was informed I had switched teams to join Sun 1 on their project working on the Paria Plateau. 

This project is very outdoor’s based with a living arrangement of camping the entire duration.  Our camping location changed week by week based on our different hitches.  Hitches are different project on the plateau that consist of building hiking trails, constructing barbed wire fence, or removing invasive species.  One of our project locations will require backpacking 30 plus miles into the Paria Canyon.  This specific hitch is pending on flash flood potential at the time. 

                 

When I refer to seclusion for the description of this project, I mean really secluded.  We have no cell phone service for miles, no refrigerator, very little running water and electricity.  And this is only on our days off!  Otherwise, when working, none of these luxuries are available. 

                Despite the living conditions, this project is incredible.  I really feel I am learning a lot and have become to appreciate nature environmental conservation even more than I already had.  In addition to long work days and work weeks, our team has long weekends.  With our team’s outdoor personality, we have already begun to utilize our location in this beautiful part of the country.  Such activities have been hiking around our cabin, visiting Lake Powell, and enjoying magnificent Zion national park.  We have already begun to plan great addition trips our future days off.

                Our team is looking forward to working with Grand Canyon Trust for the coming weeks and exploring this beautiful part of the country.

-Nick

April 11, 2011:

Wildlands Restoration Volunteers- Boulder, Colorado

Once I was assigned to my permanent AmeriCorps NCCC team I was extremely reluctant to be "shuffled" into a new team for third round. Over the first two projects I have become comfortable with our team- learning everyone’s strengths, pet peeves, breaking points, and commonalities. I was nervous to get thrown onto a new team with a new Team Leader, mostly new team mates, and a completely different team dynamic.  

Although I had my reservations about shuffle round, now I see that it really is an important part of the AmeriCorps NCCC experience.  I have learned to work under a very different leadership style and how to deal with team mates who are completely different from myself and others who are on my permanent team.  Now that I am half way through shuffle round I see that it is good to get away from the team that we have all become comfortable with in order to give each of us a more rounded experience overall.  

The county is having helicopters drop mulch over areas that were most affected by the fire.  One day we were seeding directly next to the area that was being mulched so we had a front row view all day of the helicopters hard at work.

Sun 5's current sponsor is Wildlands Restoration Volunteers in Boulder, Colorado.  From the minute we arrived the entire town has been nothing but welcoming and generous.  We have three dinners per week donated to us from California Pizza Kitchen and Noodles and Company, along with free continental breakfast at the amazing Boulder Outlook Hotel which has donated seven rooms to our team for seven out of the eight weeks that we will be staying here in Boulder.  The work that we are doing for WRV is mostly fire restoration work after the Four Mile Canyon fire which happened in September of 2010.  

Our main project is to reseed over 500 acres of land over the eight weeks that we will be here.  For some of this work we have been assigned to crew lead other volunteers who have signed up with WRV for large scale volunteer events.  I enjoy these events because we get to work directly with the people who were affected by this fire the most.  Many of the community members who come out to these events were directly impacted by the fire.  It is amazing to hear all of their stories about how it affected them and others they know.  This is my favorite part of this project because I can see the direct impact we are having on the community and it makes me see that the work we are doing is really necessary and worthwhile.  

This was from one of the private property sites that we were seeding.  You can see just how hot the fire was when it came through this area by the pool of metal that melted and ran out of the car.

All of the AmeriCorps NCCC teams had a stressful few days toward the end of last week.  With the possibility of a government shutdown this past Friday we were all on the edge of our seats to see whether or not we were going to be sent back to campus in Denver to wait out the budget resolution.  Thankfully it did not come to that, however we are all still anxiously awaiting the specifics of the new budget to see if our program is going to be completely cut or not.  We are all crossing our fingers and trying to stay optimistic.  Hopefully we will find out sooner rather than later that we will be able to finish out the rest of our Corps Member year.  I certainly hope that our program gets the funding that it needs to continue.  It would be devastating to many of the sponsors that currently have teams or are expecting to have teams in future rounds.  A few of us from Sun Three have already decided that even if our program is cut before the end of our year that we are still planning to go back to Crown King Arizona to finish out what would have been our fourth round.  They have given us so much that many of us feel an obligation to continue our service to them even without the backing of the program.   

Again, hopefully it won't come to that, but it is good to know that I am not the only one that feels such a strong connection to Crown King to be willing to go back either way.  It's hard to believe that my AmeriCorps NCCC year is more than half over.  It has been a blast so far and I am very hopeful that our program will be saved so that we can all finish out our year as expected.  

-Carly

April 25, 2011
National Monuments in Flagstaff, AZ

Working in the Walnut Canyon, Wupatki, and Sunset Crater National Monuments has been a blast. We have 10 hour days from Mon-Thurs. which means we get to enjoy 3 day weekends! Those 10 hours have been filled with trail work, hauling heavy gear, clearing rock slides, carrying timber, peeling logs, removing tumbleweeds from barbed-wire fences, weeding invasive species, and re-building historic pathways. Those 3 day weekends are spent hiking, exploring, and cross country skiing in places like O'Leary, the Arizona Trail, downtown Flagstaff, and the Grand Canyon. We work hard, and play just as hard.


 








Life is a little different this round. We live in a little secluded tent community on Forest Service land. Every night after work we have just a few hours of daylight to cook dinner and wash dishes before we have to throw on the headlamps. In the beginning of the round we would head out to the YMCA in the evening for PT and showers. The YMCA was very generous in donating 3 weeks of free membership to our team. Unfortunately, after those 3 weeks we were back to rationing showers and spending our free time in our windy tent homes. 


At times it gets to be a struggle to muddle through the tough ten hour days and the pure exhaustion that comes with camping outdoors for 2 months. That is when we remind each other playfully that "We asked for this!" and that our lives are "INTENSE! or InTENTs." It always comes back to a big smile and some laughs. Many an evening has been spent dancing to Backstreet Boys and Brittney Spears, eating ice cream bought at the wonderful world of Wally (Wal-Mart), and sharing jokes around the campfire. Some of my favorite are:"You know you've lived in a tent too long when..."
1. You wash your hands up to the elbows every time you find a public restroom
2. The smell of campfire follows you even after you've showered
3. Saturdays mean sitting in the food court at the mall for free internet and heat
4. You don't mind that there are rocks and dirt in your food
5. You don't remember what color your hands are when they're clean.


We're having a great time and have all learned quite a bit about ourselves and each other. It's a nice change of pace to have a new project with new people. All that said, I can't wait to get back to Crown King and my Sun 3 team!!! Fire season has begun and our team is ready to get in on the action.  

-Lyndsay

April 27, 2011:

Hey guys,

I’ve been alive and kickin’ with my project in Denver. Working with Habitat For Humanity has been great. I miss the original Sun 3 fire squad a ton…but here’s what the current Sun 3 (shuffle round version) looks like at a glance.

 

The role for my team on this project has several different parts. Obviously we play a big role in the home construction – we get to go to several different build sites throughout the 2 months here and work on finishing these homes. That’s priority #1 for Habitat. But, they also run these big housing supply outlet stores (just like a Home Depot). Here’s the catch – all the materials and appliances in these stores are donated. Stuff gets dropped off by generous Denver samaritans (or picked up by me in my awesome flatbed truck) and then resold (Habitat profit!). And you don’t have to “qualify” or anything to shop at the Habitat outlet stores. Anyone can come purchase cheap, usually used housing supplies. So my team gets to help out on the actual construction sites and also help run the outlet stores.

The biggest misconception about Habitat is they just give away houses out the wazoo. Wrong. The families that are given habitat houses meet very specific criteria and qualifications. They are extremely deserving of the benefits they receive from acquiring a habitat home. Homeowners are selected based on their need for housing, their ability to repay a mortgage and their willingness to work in partnership with habitat to have a finished home. In other words – The family/household chosen to receive a habitat home may be in desperate need, but they play a major role in how the housing goals are accomplished. 

They pay a no-profit, interest-free mortgage based on their job/financial situation and stability, which is incredible. They also are required to put in a certain amount of sweat-equity hours towards the completion of their home. This can be through a lot of different ways including office work, planning, organization and direct labor. The level of involvement and personal accountability instilled in each client is what really makes Habitat such a meaningful and effective organization.

The majority of my time (aside from construction days) has been spent driving the flatbed truck around Denver picking up furniture and appliance donations! The flatbed is awesome. She’s no Engine 2 from Crown King but at least I get to drive this one, haha.

These past few weeks I constructed about 20 garden boxes which were sold at the Earth Day event at the outlet stores. They’re made out of recycled doors! It’s a really sweet idea - we collect donated doors and reuse them to make these planter boxes. Who knew. It was a real busy couple of weeks, but I’ve still had time to do all the other jobs like donation pick ups, construction, deconstruction and store work. I had a pretty awesome experience at one of our construction sites this week. I worked directly with the soon-to-be homeowner of the house being worked on. Like I explained earlier, Habitat homeowner’s put in a specific amount of “sweat equity” hours into their home (either manual on-site labor or office work). I worked alongside a very nice single mother and we finished priming the interior of the house to be painted later in the week. It makes you really appreciate the work you’re doing when everything you touch, change and create will soon belong to the person standing next to you. It’s a whole new level of dedication and pride - and you can see how much it means to them. I heard the words “thank you” at least 50 times when all I did was put the priming paint coat behind the toilet her 3 year old will poo on in about a month. She was so sweet.

All work aside, I’ve also got to go have some fun with friends close by in Boulder and people back home. Went and saw two of my original teammates currently on a project in Boulder (Shout out to Duster and Squad Boss Carly). Such a blast. They also came with me up to Fort Collins for a weekend. Love it.

Also, finished up my Independent Service Project Hours working at the Denver Children’s Museum. I did some outside landscaping – pulling mulch and grass, moving rock and tearing up old dirt liners. Saw a bunch of little tots playing on a fire truck playground and it made me think about Crown King and the approaching fire season. Can’t wait!

                                                                      

Chris-