Hey Stumpy
26 Nov 2009 06:20:41 am
This week was easy as far as work goes. I think total I spent about 8 hours in two days actually working. The rest I spent driving way up north, and when I say north you know it’s up there. Yup I was practically knocking on Canada’s door. We spent the week cleaning up after a timber sale had been fulfilled so dose norturners culd use dare ski do’s and ski don’ts (with or without the skooter stick). That’s right cleaning up the slash and low stumping to connect a snowmobile trail back together. It was pretty fun mostly because it involved using a chainsaw, oh and riding a four wheeler into the northwoods a few miles… I love my commute to work sometimes, beats traffic jams. We were in the middle of no where, I mean NO WHERE. The middle of an endless spruce/cedar wilderness. I swore to myself that every time I looked up I was going to see a moose stepping out to investigate just what the hell I was doing. That unfortunately never happened, but it felt great to know I was off the map.
Well it is turkey day once again, HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL!!! I am thankful for the past year and the experiences I have gained, and also for all of the family and friends I am missing this year. It’s good to know I have you out there. Hope everyone’s travels are safe and that everyone enjoys good food, and football!!!!
Happy Thanksgiving
Posted By : paul | Category: General | Comments [[3]] | Trackbacks [0]
Man down
22 Nov 2009 08:53:16 pm
Some excitement this week in our seemingly endless routine of ridding the state parks of invasive species. It was a normal morning, kind of cool. The low temperature for the night was in the lower twenties, so it was taking it a while to warm up in the woods. The north facing slope that we were on probably only sees the sun this time of year for about two hours out of the day anyway.
We were working in pairs of two, which is pretty standard, I was with Peter and Joe and Aaron were working together. Peter and I had made a bet earlier in the morning that the person that fell on his butt first had to do the other one’s dishes this week. It turns out that it wasn’t in the cards for us to fall on our butts. Aaron, on the other hand, was about to take quite a spill.
Peter and I were working towards the end of a little section that we were told to spray. Are job host had just caught up with us and was filling us in on what we could expect the rest of the day. We were debating whether or not to take are morning break when we heard Joe call out from in front of us that Aaron was on the ground and was not responding.
It seemed as though my mind realized “oh shit” and “stay calm” all at the same time. I took off in a sprint following Peter who was a couple of strides ahead of me. Joe and Aaron had been working a few hundred yards ahead of us, so Peter and I caught up to them quickly.
As we approached I saw Aaron on his back laying against a tree and Joe was hovering over him frantically calling his name to try to gain a response. Immediately upon arrival I handed Joe my phone told him to go to the top of the hill and call 911. So he took off up the hill. Then I began to try to recall my training from February. Ok so the first step is to assess the situation…what do we have? We have a twenty year old male who has fallen (head trauma/neck injury)…”Peter you need to hold c-spine and don’t let his neck move.” Continuing on with my memory jog, ABC’s… Airway, then breathing, then circulation. Ok does he have an open airway? Yes, he does doesn’t appear to be choking…Next… Respiration rate is a bit fast but…wait he is making a gargling sound…ok we need to turn him…so the three of us me, Peter and Cindy (job host) counted up to three and rolled him on his side….Now go back to the beginning again Airway….fine no choking…Breathing better, onto circulation. As I was getting to the circulation portion of my check I noticed that Joe was standing around us once again and I told him to take the Polaris Ranger (AT V that their tools were on) and run down to meet the ambulance who was still a couple of minutes away. So he tore off towards the park entrance, as I was coming back to Aaron Cindy (who is a certified wilderness first responder) had picked up on where I had left off on my assessment. She is better trained, so she assumes responsibility. Aaron is still laying unconscious with his eyes shut, terribly peaceful. Scanning the hillside that Aaron had been coming down I see 5 yards up the hill a huge rock, also multiple stumps no more than shin high. In other words a plethora of things to wack your noggin on. Off in the distance now I hear the sirens approaching, and feel a bit of relief that Aaron will soon be placed in the care of professionals. So I step back and call my boss to let her know what happened (that was a fun call).
It has been about 15 minutes now and Aaron is still unconscious as the first paramedics reach him. One of them was lucky enough to get a ride up the hill with Joe the other two had to hoof it, they were out of breath and not too happy about where everything was going on. So up and out came the neck brace and the back board. And for the next few minutes I felt like a professional question answerer. What’s his name? What is his medical history? Where are his parents? Blah blah blah….They seemed like they were more focused on asking me questions then listening… I must have answered how to spell his name 700 times. (Later I noticed on his hospital wrist band that they had still managed to spell it wrong.)
The next hurdle is how to get Aaron out of the woods and down the hill so he can get going to the hospital. So each one of my remaining crew grabbed a hold of the backboard and lifted him to the top of the hill where another team of paramedics with different equipment met us and began doing a short assessment. I was never really clear on the differences between the people who arrived first and the second crew who seemed much better prepared. After 25 minutes Aaron was finally lifted into a 1 ton pickup that was provided by the fire department and was transported down to the ambulance, just as he was being lifted up one of the paramedics got him to respond and squeeze her hand. That was a relief, to hear her say “good job.” There was a little bit of calm as the ambulance pulled away, and the chaos died out for a bit before Cindy and I began our drive into the hospital. For the next 15 minutes it was back and forth on the phone with my boss, Aaron’s dad, and the rest of my crew back at the park…repeating the whole story over and over again.
As we are arriving to the hospital I hear the distinct sound of a helicopter thumping towards the hospital and noticed that there are hospital personnel blocking off an adjacent street. So we step inside and are instructed to sit and as soon as Aaron gets out of x-rays we will know if they are going to have to transfer him to a hospital with a neurology department. So 5 minutes pass and a nurse comes out to tell us that Aarons is awake and talking and that it looks like he will be ok.
That was the news that we were hoping for. I went outside to relay the news on the telephone to everyone, and to watch the helicopter take off and fly away thankful that it had just as many passengers on the way back as it did on the way here. I spent the rest of the day hanging out with Aaron in his hospital room. Aside from a headache he was no worse for the wear, and still couldn’t remember what exactly happened. That was a pretty exciting day to say the least, but I was glad it turned out the way it did. Everyone was safe, and well taken care of. So Aaron gets a couple of weeks off and to spend thanksgiving back home in Iowa, and although my crew will be a little short during this short work week we are all thankful that he’s ok.
The rest of the week was normal as normal can be, snapped a few pictures so enjoy, and safe travels to all who will be journeying anywhere this week 
These are the camper cabins we stay in…really nice I think that if there was a bathroom and a kitchen I could easily live in it all year.
Joe and Peter Spraying in the morning frost
Me acting tough
This was my personal best buckthorn for the week, normally no bigger around than my thumb this was a good find.
What are you looking at?
Posted By : paul | Category: General | Comments [[1]] | Trackbacks [0]
Buffalo River State Park
14 Nov 2009 08:22:34 pm
Worked on buckthorn removal in Buffalo River State Park this week. We had really nice weather. It was pretty much business as usual. More of the same next week, just a diferent State Park. Here are some pictures. As usuall I hope everyone is doing well 
The Rigs...
A Jet
No bodies home
Beaver
The tools of the trade
Me and the River
Just the River
Hope you enjoyed
Posted By : paul | Category: General | Comments [[4]] | Trackbacks [0]
Top of the hill
08 Nov 2009 11:28:31 pm
We spent this week attacking more buckthorn in the state parks this week, seems like that’s all we do now a days. We were at Maplewood State Park working with brush saws and sprayers to rid the park of this pesky invasive species. Our seek and destroy mission lead us through some steep terrain, also we traversed through thorny areas. We also found ourselves in thorny and steep terrain at the same time…Ok I’ll quit complaining now.
Once we had waded our way through the thorns and climbed to what seemed like the top of the world we did have some nice views to take in.
Since daylight savings time has kicked in now we literally start when the sun comes up and our done with work when the sun sets. On the way back to the shop I got a pretty cool picture of the moon as it was rising.
Caught this guy trying to hide in a tree near the trail
All I have left now is some pictures of the me and the guys screwing around while on break toward the end of the week. I must add the disclaimer that no crew members were harmed during the week.
Posted By : paul | Category: General | Comments [[2]] | Trackbacks [0]
