My Day Off

As a pastor involved in the community my "day off" is often filled with activities that are actually part of my job. Yesterday was very much like that.

It was the smoke that I first noticed as I woke up, thick and with the acrid smell of fire retardant. I closed up the windows and tried to keep the worst of the smoke out. It seemed that the cold night and an air inversion had worked to bring the smoke from the wild fires down to us.

Quickly getting ready I headed to Church for the Men's Ministry meeting where we had devotions together, breakfast and then organized some on going projects.

Leaving there I headed to the Park where the local Kiwanis were having their Annual Duck Race. For the next several hours I worked in the creek, putting up the barrier and chute for the finish line and then called out the winners as they came into the chute. And finally dragging everything back up out of the creek and putting it all away.

I wrapped a towel around me as I headed home to change my clothes. As I was getting dressed I got a call from the Fire Department asking me to report to sign some checks and to meet with the chief to talk about the local wild fire situation.

A couple of hours later the Fire Chief and I headed to an Emergency Operations meeting with the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde where we planned, strategized and shared the information that we had on the fire. From there we headed back to the Fire Station where I picked up my car, stopped at the store and I finally headed home.

I ate a quick dinner, checked on my lung function (down a hundred points, the smoke is not my friend), e-mailed some fire photos, watered the garden and at last, fell into bed.

That was my day, It was busy and involved a lot of different facets of my involvement int he church and community. But it was satisfying and filled with the knowledge that I am right where God wants me, doing the work He has called me to.

And that is a pretty good feeling ....

Just Connie

Wrong Place, Wrong Time

I was roaming up and down the road, taking photos of the burning forest of both sides of the road when I heard the helicopter coming back to drop another load of water on the fire above us. I quickly began to snap some shots of the helicopter, getting completely caught up in getting the perfect shot.

And that is when I caught the trailing edge of the water drop. Stunned, I quickly shoved my camera under my coat as the water showered around me. Shaking off the water,  I told myself, "If the helicopter gets you with water you are too close!" as I began backing away. I checked my camera and found everything checked out fine as I continued with my assigned tasks.

It was several hours later, when I pulled my cell phone out of my pocket that I found my pocket full of water. With disbelief I looked at the dead, water soaked phone in my hand. Sighing, I dried it off and settled it in a pocket that I checked to make sure was dry and went back to the job at hand

Hours later when I finally drug home at 2:00 in the morning. I placed the carefully dried phone in a bag of rice and prayed for a miracle.

I am still praying ....

All I can say is, "Poor phone".

Just Connie

Forest Fire

The call came as I was heading back from McMinnville in a fire department rig. Wildfire in Willamina, switching on lights and siren I followed the Chief's rig in front of me. Arriving at the Station I threw my turnouts on, grabbed my Wildland jacket and jumped in the Chief's rig to head to the scene. As we climbed the mountain, I could see the massive column of smoke above the ridge.

As we pulled up with the other first responders, I sat there stunned. There was fire on both sides of the road. On the left the fire was coming down the ridge, Ahead of us the fire had jumped the road and was moving down the canyon below us and coming back towards us. Looking at Chief for confirmation, I jumped out of the rig and began snapping photos.

For the next 7 hours I hiked up and down the road passing information to the Chief as I snapped photos. We were in a ravine that made communication very difficult, no cell phone service and the radios were spotty. Around 11:00 pm we jumped in the rig and decided to head up the mountain to "Command" to get more information. A couple of miles up the road, we were stopped by a burning tree across the road, Chief quickly put the rig in reverse and began backing back down the narrow one lane road. In a state of shock I watched as a giant fir tree cashed down within feet of the front of the truck. It was then that I found that I, the professional communicator suddenly could not get anything out of my mouth but a gasp and the word "tree".  "Uh huh, there was a tree across the road" the Chief muttered as he continued looking back over his shoulder backing down the road. Still unable to get many words out of my mouth, I finally stammered, "New tree! New tree!"

And that is when he took a look in front in front of us and saw the tree that had come down. Surprised, he continued to back down the road as quickly as we could. Arriving back with the other rigs and fire fighters, we grabbed a couple of crew members and a chain saw and hiked back to the last tree that had come down. Chief and I had the job of keeping watch for other falling trees in the burning forest around us as the 2 crew members began to cut the tree into large sections that were then rolled off to the side of the road.

Getting that tree cleared, we hiked up to the burning tree that had first stopped us and began the process all over again. Finally we were rolling the last flaming section off the road as we quickly hiked back down the burning forest road.

I have to say that it was exciting, horrifying and sometimes scary to be on that fire. But I came away with a new appreciation of the skill and expertise of the people working the fire. I  also came away with everyone hearing about the near miss with the tree. I knew that because every time I walked by someone would say, "Tree, tree!"

I have a feeling, I have a lot of teasing ahead of me .....

Just Connie

Adventuring

A couple of years ago when it became evident that whatever was making me sick was not going to go away quickly, lead me to make a decision. I decided that I had to keep moving and keep exercising. I stepped up my yoga classes, I trained with the Ropes Rescue Team, I did whatever I could to keep moving and not become a lump in bed. Sometimes this meant I spent most of the class laying on my yoga mat wheezing, or there was the memorable night when I could not breath and the paramedics in my class noticed my lips had turned blue. But I have kept trying.

This summer I picked up a couple of new activities and took a kayak class and then began paddle boarding. Of course I love anything that allows me to be out in the water, so both of those activities were good matches for me. And of course both of those activities kept me moving.

This past weekend I headed to the Willamette River outside of Dundee and spent four hours paddling the river.

Behind me you can see my adventure friend and community paramedic, Tami. It was a gorgeous day and there is something about being out in the midst of the wilds that always blesses me.

I paddled back to shore after four hours of exploring, with my nose a bit sunburned and feeling good. I am so grateful to have these opportunities to continue to stretch myself.

I think there are many more of these adventures ahead for me. I just need to keep moving ahead and to be determined to never give up. Besides, Tami and I are already planning our next trip.

The adventure continues ......

Just Connie

Fire Thoughts

 I got the call just as I was curling up in bed for  the night. I quickly got dressed and headed to the fire which was only a couple of blocks away. Part way there I got the call from the fire chief making sure that I was on the way. Assuring him I was on my way, I continued on.

Pulling up on scene, I quickly got into my turnouts and began snapping photos as the crews began to fight the raging fire.

This was an abandoned house, so there were no owners to interview or paperwork to begin at the scene. That left me free to snap pictures.

The fire was so hot that we could not get very close until we began to knock it down. When the fire began to die down the chief and walked around looking for the origin of the fire.

Finally the fire was out and we headed back to the Fire Hall, so I could finish getting the information I needed for the press.

By 2:00 I was heading back to bed, tired, sooty and very smelly. But knowing that we had kept the fire from spreading and that it was a job well done.

And that is pretty good feeling to go to bed with .....

Just Connie