Fire Lookout: Warning Children are not advised...

Last week I was once again off in Billings and this time Brenda went to her parents to spend the weekend. She had a great time there and Billing was...well what can I say. Spending your birthday alone in a unfamiliar town working 13 hours, I guess it was fine. Most people make a big deal of their birthdays, but I have always been one of those people who think it is just another day...because it is, just another day.

I made arrangements that I had to be back for this past weekend and that was the fire lookout tower I had rented in March. Brenda and I headed out Friday to Boundary County in Northern Idaho to the Deer Ridge fire lookout. It is a tower 40' in the air and at the top is a 14'x14' room for sleeping and living.

Before we left we took the 13 week picture.

Finally we arrived. The tower is very cool, but as the forest service had said "children are not advised".

Nice views from the top. I have been to a lot of fire lookouts, but this is the first one I am going to spend the night in.

Notice the wire going from the roof, past the railing, and to the ground. That is in case of lightning. They had two chairs in the building that if there was a lightning storm you are supposed to sit on them with your feet off the floor. The casters/bases of the chair are old fashion glass insulators off a power pole...not very reassuring.

View out the front door.

James loved it as well

You could see to Montana and to Canada.

We went on a hike about 20 miles away the next day to Pyramid Lake. Nice hike with great views

and only about 7-8 miles round trip. The we continued to Ball Lakes

Lower Ball Lake

We rested at the lake for a few minutes and James was able to grab a bite to eat. He then got very tired...pretty standard.

He is so cool in his hat.

Another great view

Then we drove to another hike which was very short. We were tired, but had to cram it all in.

Then back to the lookout for dinner and relaxation.

James is smiling a lot now and starting to laugh occasionally.

You got to wonder why I am so perplexed. Must be because I am a horrible speller and playing Scrabble...not a good combination.

Nope...just got some very bad letters. I had a heck of a time this game and lost to the "dominator" aka Brenda.

Great sunset

The next day we went about 400yds from the lookout to pick some huckleberries. They were pretty well picked over, but we got some all the same.

Then to one more hike on our way out of town.

We saw this waterfall at the end. Easy hike and had a great time.

Back home I checked on the progress of my beast...I hope this thing will get huge. I have about 10 pumpkins that should pass the 30lb mark and a few of those should go well past that.

Not sure if these videos will work....there seems to be an issue with blogger.

Headlining the NBC nightly news was Beyonce noting she was pregnant. Those idiots actually think that is news. They had very little credibility before and now I have lost complete faith in any news organization.

I also hear that unemployment is dropping and don't care. Besides the fact that those numbers are fairly subjective, I would argue that there is a larger percentage of the population which is actually unemployable. By unemployable I mean 1. refuse to move for a job-why someone thinks they should be able to get work where they live is beyond me. Being flexible and willing to move will get you a job very quickly 2. Poor work ethic and always looking for a easy way out- constant problem with people thinking the company "owes" them. 3. Feels entitled to work. You should be happy for any job you can get and quit feeling you are above a job. I have a lot longer list, but am getting a bit long winded.

I have a lot of construction workers tell me they are working so they can "save up" unemployment so they can relax this winter. Or another one said when he was laid off at the end of the construction season last year he made a conscious effort to "spend time with his kids" because he had saved enough unemployment to allow him to do that (he went 10 months without working and collected unemployment the entire time). This is total BS and in general if you have to go on unemployment you should only be allowed to do so once or twice in your lifetime, and it should be limited to 6 months. I am sick of these leaches sucking the rest of us dry and acting as if they are entitled to it. I have no problem paying more taxes as long as it is not wasted...which 25% of it is...

Have a great day