FOOBH: A Day In The Life

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!