Or rather, 48 hours in my life so you can fully grasp hold
of the crazy that is working three jobs!
Saiph requested I do this, so I hope she (and you) enjoy!
We’ll start on a Thursday morning and move through until a
Friday evening, as these are my busiest two days due to ALL of my jobs being
rolled into one. I’ll give you a play-by-play of what I’m anticipating today
and tomorrow to be like.
4:37am: Alarm goes off. I press snooze.
4:38am: Atticus aggressively cuddles my face, or tries to. I
push him away.
4:39am: Atticus returns. I push him away.
4:42am: Alarm goes off again. I press snooze…again.
4:43am: I scowl at the ceiling or smother my face into the
pillow, cursing myself for this early wake up hour.
4:47am: Alarm goes off again. I begrudgingly press snooze
and rise to begin my day.
4:49am: I hop in the shower.
4:57am: I’m out of the shower and rushing about the
apartment to dress and prep. I let the dog out to potty.
5:12am: Have I packed everything up and prepped well for the
mountain this weekend? I double check my mental lists of ski gear, dog things,
human things, off-mountain clothes, and food. I let the dog back inside.
5:30am: I’m still double-checking, loading the car, and have
started the car so it can warm up for the next several minutes and melt the
inevitable ice. If it’s windy outside while I’m doing all of the above
(likely), I’m cursing the wind and the field and the godforsaken barn and the
hour and the night and the dark and….
5:50am: I’m on my way to the office.
6am: I plop down at my desk and begin my daily tasks. I read
and reply to emails, phone messages, edit documents, send correspondence, and
begin to set up an outline for biological opinion number two (yet another 70+ page
document composed by moi), log projects, close out projects, so on and so forth. Such is the life of a biologist at her desk.
~1pm: I head home for lunch where I will let the dog out,
stuff my face with something, finish loading the car, load up the dog in the
car, and then head back to work.
~1:30pm: I’m back at the office for another few hours.
4:30p: I dart away from the office and head to the barn.
4:45p: I pull both horses in from the field.
4:50p: My lesson student arrives with her father. I proceed
to have her help me feed, de-blanket, brush, and saddle the horses.
5p: I’ve got her aboard one of the horses and we begin our
red-light green-light game that will help her warm up her confidence for the
rest of the lesson. (Hey, she’s 3!)
~6p: The horses are blanketed and turned out, I bid my
student and her father adieu and head to the valley.
~7p: I arrive at a friend’s house for dinner. We’ll eat,
relax, talk, maybe pursue the hot tub, and then crash hard.
FRIDAY
6a: My alarm goes off. I growl at it and press snooze.
6:05a: My alarm goes off again. I growl again and press
snooze. Godforsakenholidaymotherfuckingweekendhours. I should have another hour
but noooo.
6:10a: All hail the motherfucking holiday weekend, I’ll
growl. …and then press snooze.
6:15a: The alarm goes off. Snooze is no longer an option. I
roll out of my warm nest and trudge downstairs to stuff my face with something
edible.
6:30a: I pull on layer after layer and prepare for 10 hours
in what promises to be temperatures below 20°F….windchill not factored.
6:35a: I trudge outside, cursing the cold and the wind and
the dark and the god forsaken holiday weekend hours, and start my car so it can
warm up. (I’m kind of bitter about life early in the morning.)
6:45a: I load the car up, load the dog up
7a: I arrive at the mountain, clock in, and proceed to flop
down on the bench in the boot up room amongst all male ski patrollers. We laugh
and joke and snark about the day to come. Are assigned trails for the morning
set up, and await the start-up of the ski lift.
~7:30a: The lift should have started by now and we’ve all
filed out, attached some sort of sliding board or boards to our feet, and head
to the top. Likely I’m on a chair with Dan, discussing Nez Perce horses,
endurance, Lakota life, Dolly Sods, and days gone by.
~7:45a: I’ve got a drill in hand complete with a 18” auger,
maybe an armful of bamboo, and I strike out down whatever trail I’ve been
assigned to place signs and ‘boo to mark hazards.
~8:05a: I’m back on the lift headed to the top.
The rest of the morning and afternoon will be a toss up. I
may have to go and build fence to block hazards, I may work some accidents, I
may transport patients, I may transport incompetence, I may nap, I’ll likely
sit around and snark about the world with my cohorts, I’ll eat something, I’ll
drink something, I’ll ski hither and thither and yon, and I’ll visit Kenai 2x
to let him out for a potty break and short walk.
~4:30p: I’ll either grab last day chair on the lift, or
await it’s arrival at the top.
~4:45p: I’ll perform day-close on my trail, ski to the bottom,
clock out, put my radio away, and hop in my car (ski boots on!), and drive the
5 minutes to the other mountain.
~5:05p: I’m typically clocking in at Canaan.
~5:10p: I’m snagging a radio for this resort.
~5:12p: I’ve popped back into my skis and I’m headed to the
first of two lifts that will take me to the top.
~5:25p: I’ve arrived at the top of the mountain. I remove my
skis and head into the bump shack where Friday Night Supper Club is inevitably
prepping something amazing for dinner (last week we had elk, antelope, bear,
goose, Jack Daniels sweet potatoes, garlic bread, kettle popped chips, pop, and
chocolate chip pumpkin muffins.)
~6:15p: I’ve likely eaten far too much food and am in a coma
fighting sleep. If I’ve got my druthers about me, I’ll snag my skins and ski
down to the base of the main lift.
~6:25p: I’ll take off my skis, put my skins on, and set to
skinning up the mountain.
~7p: I’ve arrived back at the top, sweaty but definitely feeling
better for my decision. I’ll hang out for the last hour, await last chair, and
then close the mountain.
~8:20p: Back in the boot up room, I’ll put my ski gear away,
and make plans to visit the bar.
~8:30p: I’m clocking out and heading to one of the local
bars for a few drinks.
~10:30p: I’m back in my nest, likely showered, and about to
pass out. Another 13 hour patrol day awaits me on the ‘morrow!
No comments:
Post a Comment