I'm Baaaaaaaack

What's the best solution to a recurring back injury that's all like "hey, I'm baaaaaack"? Sitting on your butt in the office all week!

That's right, I got my one and only office week of the summer. Nearly all of the other crew leaders got one or two scheduled office weeks this summer, it's a great way to take a mental and physical break while still working. Lumberjack and I were the only ones that did not have a scheduled office week because we're an hour east of the office, so my impromptu off week was my only experience in the office.

Office week began with being in the field on Monday, as any good office week should. I didn't get swapped out until dinnertime because of scheduling shtuff, so my office work actually began on Tuesday. I started off with data entry, quite possibly the worst task to transition from being in the field for 2.5 months to being in the office. Even being in an unsupervised office with my own music on wasn't enough to make me not feel like a caged animal. I spent a lot of time watching the groundskeeper mow and rake the grass with his dog, wondering if he needed my help. "Please, sir, I could assist you in picking up the grass... right? Yeah? You need my help, right?"

Office Week

I survived data entry (just barely), and the next two days were centered around FOOD. Planning, shopping for, and repackaging food for three crews of up to 12 people each is NOT easy. It is an absurd logistical and budgetary nightmare that would make anyone's head brain out of their ears. I am a good food shopper. I know my way around a supermarket. My six years of experience planning and buying my own meals on a budget did not prepare me for the madness of trail crew shopping. The menus were already made but had to be modified to cater to allergies and use all the leftovers from the entire season. It took me half a day just to inventory and modify the menus.

Sorry, Great Barrington shoppers

Shopping was actually very fun, though I could have used a cart pushing assistant. The fuller it got the more I chuckled when I precariously stacked another item on top. The box you see balancing on top came from a sympathetic Price Chopper employee. The conversation when as such:

"Do you know where the Jambalaya box mixes are?"

"Aisle 8, it's at the other end of the store... let me go down there and check before you go over there"

"Okay, great."
"Looks like we have nine boxes down there. How many do you need?"
"... Twelve."
"Well. Let me get you nine... and a box to put them in."

 

~$630 (significantly under budget, I may add) and two hours later, I was heaving the cart out to the parking lot feeling pretty good about my food shopping skills. My Thursday was spent driving to and from Mt. Grace, about two+ hours each way, to swap out one of my co-leaders that replaced me for the week because of scheduling conflicts.  Friday was a "half" day, I put half in quotes because it didn't turn out to be so. I tried to repackage and organize three crews worth of meals amidst the chaos of two crews returning, cleaning gear and tools and vans, preparing to go home, and preparing for a BBQ. Teens are a funny breed, and they don't always follow instruction well. They tend to need a significant amount of guidance on every single thing. Because of this, I had to say "I'm not the person to ask" about 1,492 times while drowning in a sea of food. It was one of my least favorite days all summer.

As I was contemplating whether I should take another "off" week or return to the field I got a call from Lumberjack. He told me he had been T-boned and flipped his truck. It sounded like he was going to be fine, but suddenly there was a chance that neither of us would be able to lead for the last week at Noble View. Once Lumberjack got the seal of approval to work I decided I would also return to the field for our last week together.

Hey trail work, I'm baaaaaack!

After three weeks in the backcountry, there was plenty to do at Noble View. The highest priority was to get all the sign posts into the ground, but two post hole diggers and ten participants does not a fun week make. We decided to return to an unfinished section where we put in three bog bridges and install stepping stones to span the rest of the mud. We would take small groups out with the post hole diggers to get as many posts in the ground as possible. 

It was a nice plan, but as Murphy says, "what can go wrong, will go wrong". It was the week of incident reports. The entire season we had four total incident reports for very minor things (ticks, mostly), and in our last week we had FIVE for not so minor things. We also lost half a day to the worst rain storm of the summer. It produced more rain than Hurricane Arthur earlier in the summer. There was no lightning in the morning, so we went into the field and worked in the rain. As the morning progressed the rain steadily got worse until it was absolutely dumping water on us. We called it early because our entire worksite was flooded with a few inches of water. There was a small river running through it. Being soaked to the bone was an understatement.

Alright kids, let's get on outta here.

Despite the all of the bumps in the road, and there were many, we managed to get 16 posts in the ground and a large step stone segment completed. We were eager to say goodbye to the group because it felt like the longest, most mentally demanding week of the season. Lumberjack and I decompressed with laundry and booze-buying in preparation for STAFF PARTY.

The last full day was a muddy one!

STAFF PARTY '14 was a great success. Everyone came to Noble View for one last night of debauchery together, and debauchery was certainly achieved. I received the "Overall Badass Award" and Lumberjack decided to stay the night instead of going home, so it was a fantastic night for me.

"STAFF PARTY '14, official sponsor of water chugging contests"