The job is not done until "Da Girls" say it is.

When last together in the annual return from Arizona last month, I took the opportunity to put beetle-kill pine on the ceiling of the family room.

The ceiling "I thought" to be done was that to the right of the glulam in this picture.

The idea being that by differentiating between the ceiling to the left and right of the glulan it would set the family room area off from the entry area.

Having done that I blogged that the ceiling was done.

I was however told that according to "Da Girls" of which Marlys is one, that in fact it was not. So I spent the first day of the Memorial Day Weekend rectifying this oversight on my part.

Today though is for racing (Monaco Gran Prix, Indy and The 600), at least what can be fit in between other engagements on the calendar.

Woofer Dave

The WFR training revolves around a process called the Patient Assessment System (PAS), this guy named WFRDAVE put the whole thing to music; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bP2T0O_yD74 . Dave may seem to have a little too much time on his hands, but he did a nice job.

For those of you who have had CPR training you know how they want to you to sing/hum to a song to keep your frequency correct this is my favorite, the song is a little paradoxical: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0HNYmWLqdc&NR=1

Woofer's

Well we are back, after 10 days of 8-5 (a couple of days 8am-10pm) training to become Wilderness First Responders, which are called "woofers".

Although we planned on eating in (we had the camper with us) each evening, the homework and reading made that impossible, as we would get home at about 6pm and study until we couldn't stay awake, usually about 10pm, which is real late for me.

Even the evening sessions didn't end when the instruction stopped, as our homework included things like; getting vital signs on all participants, so one night we all just stayed around and had a VS session until the University folks kicked us out.

Even though the days were long and FILLED, I always looked forward to the next day. I would recommend this course to anyone that spends time in the back-country. In fact, the amount of info attained was amazing, beyond that directly attributable to rendering help, e.g. water filtering vs. purifying, loose vs. tight boots, sleeping mats, etc.

In my 57 years and numerous course and classes, this is probably the best one I have ever taken, both from a content/usability and material presentation standpoint. This WFR class was by the Wilderness Medical Institute of NOLS the National Outdoor Leadership School. I highly recommend our instructors Josh McNary and Maureen Fox.

Another big plus during any course are the participants, and here again everyone was great. The class was made up mostly of young folks involved in outdoor education and work that required a WFR certification, but there were a few of us with a "life experience" edge, e.g. older.

Sometimes the practice session in the classroom (BTW: Mesa State is a wonderful campus) could get messy in the lead up to a outdoor scenario.

We would have about 3 outdoor scenarios a day. These outdoor scenarios went on rain or shine and last week was a rainy one in Grand Junction. On one of the occasions when it wasn't raining they brought out the hoses to "keep it real". In fact on a multiple patient (not victims) scenario last Thursday afternoon the GJ Police and EMS groups showed up.

Saturday night we had a scenario set in the ravines and rocks of Bang Canyon west of town.

The views before we were out on the trail (and the sun set) were spectacular. We got out of the

canyon about 10pm. We both decided our $5 headlamps from Harbor Freight needed to be upgraded.

UPDATE: Marlys and I went in to the REI in the Springs today and picked up Black Diamond Storms recommended by our lighting consultant, thanks Alan.

Monday was for testing, a 100 question multiple choice and a practical scenario that included both a medical and skeletal/muscular injury. We both passed and were back on the road home by 2pm.

It is good though to be home.

Such a thoughtful Mothers Day Gift

Marlys has always talked about how easy it is for guys in the woods when nature calls, so be the thoughtful husband I am...

It even came with an after use re-sealable baggy and some mountain money (TP).

The Blossum Festival Parade

It was a busy weekend for us. It started Saturday with the Annual Blossom Festival in Canon. This is the biggest town event of the year and we were going to walk the parade with some of the Search and Rescue Team. The parade didn't start until 12:30, but we were told to be there by 11am, naturally I had us there by 10:30am, so there was a lot of standing around...with our packs.

We were told to keep our gear ready as Mother's Day weekend can be busy.

After the parade we made our way through all of the craft booths in a couple of the city parks. I did a fantastic job of limiting myself to only one corn on the cob. For me CoC can be like Sloppy Joe's, in the quantity I will consume.

On Sunday we went down the Royal Gorge on rafts with some more of the Search and Rescue group, mainly the Swift Water Rescue Team. Believe it or not went we got to the meeting location (Raftmaster's) a standby call went out to the team to search for a missing 5 year old. I guess Mother's day being busy can is true. While we were all getting organized to move from rafting fun to search a cancel call came in that the child was found at a neighbors, but it was a hectic 10 minutes.

The Arkansas was flowing at about 650 cfs, and Jessie, our guide and another one of the SAR members, said that the commercial operations will guide down the Gorge up to 3200 cfs (compare to the Mississippi that is currently flowing at 2000000 cfs). At this point Jessie said most of the rapids were in the Class 3 range, but would climb to the 4 and 5 range once the snow melt really begins to hit. We have been down the Arkansas a couple of times, but this was the first time through the Gorge. I want to try in again in June when the flows are up.

We stopped a couple of times in the Gorge to explore a clef through the Hobbit Hole underneath the railroad tracks. and then again to jump off of a rock about 10' above the river into the cold water. We were in wetsuits, splash jackets, booties and helmets.

I would recommend Jessie at Raftmasters in Canon City, they were great. He and his soon to be wife are guides.

Hard to believe that only a week ago we were coming out of a 11" snowfall, but things change up here quickly sometimes. Our small herd of mule deer decided that since the hummingbirds were back they too could come up to the front of the house. There are about 12-15 deer that seem to stay on our parcel, mainly in the Ponderosa, but sometimes they are by the shop or going after the especially green grass over the septic drain field. It doesn't show up in this picture, but a few of them were to the right laying down in the shade under the trees.

First Hummingbird of the Season

First one showed up this afternoon, just as the last of the snow from Sunday melted away.

The ceiling is done

Just finished up putting in the beetle kill pine ceiling. It turned out pretty good. As I mentioned in the last ceiling post I has able to salvage the pieces I drove over and actually ended up with one full board to spare.

I am still 6 weeks out (waiting on cushions) on finishing the Molesworth club chair, so it looks like we will make a couple of ski Adirondack chairs. I picked up some old used army skis on Friday should be able to match them as they are all white.

April Showers Bring May Flowers

My Arse (kinda British after Friday's shindig)!