I had planned several posts after Toolik. My sister and I had enough adventures over her week in Alaska (and we took enough pictures) for several installments. Then there was a curious incident involving a boy in respiratory arrest in Anchorage, which certainly merited a page or so. After I got back to Fairbanks, there were several days running the overbooked kennel - which is, of course, undergoing major renovations - while the boss was out of town. Then there was the very unusual four-call-shift at the rural fire station last Sunday, and my first responding-from-home calls ... which means getting to a patient before the ambulance for the first time. There were several trips up the haul road with bus-loads of tourists, full of characters with fascinating stories of their own. And then today I rode along as a medic for a borough-wide mass-casualty drill. And the garden, all this time, has been growing by leaps and bounds in the midnight sun. The peas are shooting up so fast, I can hardly keep them supplied with strings to climb on.
[peas four days ago ... already 6" higher]
[hang on!]
There is plenty to write about, but not enough time to get it all down. But I was planning on getting it all down this weekend, or at least making some headway. I am now off of the call list for tours and on a very limited schedule at the kennel, because I am hoping that despite the cold, wet, fire-free summer here in the Interior, something, somewhere will burn and the firefighters putting it out will need band-aids and SAM splints.
California, of course, is burning right up. As more and more of the Fire Medics headed off to those blazes, I was beginning to wonder if my name would ever come up.
Tonight it did. I got the call right after five, and will head out to the Cub Complex in Lassen National Forest in the morning. Although I have been packed for a month, I re-packed and re-checked everything twice tonight, and will probably do it all over again in the morning.
[re-checking gear]
So much for a mild Alaskan summer. California here we come.
So much for a mild Alaskan summer. California here we come.
4 comments:
mary, you are so hardcore. :) you inspire me. hope it all goes ok in CA.
Congratulations on your peas...and on your fire call!
Be safe--
Jeanne
wow, maybe a mild Alaskan summer will call for you another round some year. In the meantime, I'm impressed with the multitude and magnitude of your adventures.
Hey.. just checked in... sorry I dont keep up consistently enough, but you REALLY need to write #1 about my trip (haha I know I am very selfish) and #2 about the fires!!! And everything else that is going on in your life since I left, because I am not sure if I know
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