Dear Tumblr followers,
January was a month of contrast—between cozy time with loved ones and solo interstate travel to learn about chainsaws. At home, I delighted in the company of my fiance (alternating between Wedding Planning Activities and Avoiding Wedding Planning Activities), my dearest friend from college and her lovely family (and she’s also an incredible artist with a focus on painting houses and actually knows how to do consistent engaging content—check her out at @dltartwork1!), my stalwart attendant and familiar for the last 12 years Gali, and our newest family member Kumquat. (Gali as usual dominates the photos on my phone.)
I struck out to Tennessee on my own to attend the TN-KY Wildland Fire Training Academy and knock out S-212 (Wildland Fire Chainsaws) early in the month. While I’m reasonably comfortable with a chainsaw for limbing and bucking at this point (AKA cleaning up stuff on the ground), felling (AKA putting it on the ground in the first place) is an art form that always presents new challenges and opportunities to learn. I was grateful for the opportunity to pick up new tips and techniques from experienced fellers out in the field, and see how other states and other agencies do things!
I am a hermit by nature, and at first over those few days when I wasn’t in class I reveled in being alone—going for runs with the sunrise that turned into birding excursions (birding>>>running), writing and drawing comics (some of which are included here), and watching weird animated films before a very early bedtime. However, by the end of the trip, I was thoroughly done with being by myself. Past me was pretty accomplished at solo existence, filling my non-work hours with creativity, projects, and exercise—but now I found myself impatiently looking forward to getting back to “my people”.
