10/30/09 POWER down!!

So here I am sitting in the dark by candle light. I just finished my left over fried rice and chow mein from dinner in Forks. I am drinking a little Scotch and Powering Down. Why? Well fortunately and maybe a little unfortunately I am forced too. The power is out for the third time this month in Kalaloch. I don’t know about you but I love it when the power goes out. It forces you to relax.

Back to the Scotch, it warms the soul, I am drinking a MacAllan Cask strength scotch from the highlands. A sip warms your body all the way down to your toes.

Isn’t the power out a blessing?

First you need Candlelight, you know how a flame no matter how small or big relaxes the mind. There is something about the color and magic of a flame. The rhythm it flickers across your eyes must slow the heart rate down. The shadows it moves across your apartment and the different shades of light it shows.

Second, you are more in tune to the noises, hear in Kalaloch there are a lot of different noises if you listen. you have a steady roar of waves on the ocean beach, you can always hear them. It’s a low continuous roar, it doesn’t seem to change much. I believe it sounds the same on a sunny day or a stormy night but it’s beautiful! It like the background of a picture, you notice it if you want too.

Third, the wind, I guess the winds tonight could get up to around 50 mph, they have already taken down a few trees on the roads. But, the wind makes a different noise then the waves, it’s a little higher pitched, sometimes a little whistling mixed in, you can hear the fluttering of the leaves move from far to closer, amazing. If you listen really close you can here the trees creek and crackle, a thump now and then from a broken branch or maybe a whole tree fell.

When I look out the window, I can see sheets of rain moving across the ground, though now it’s hard to see cause it’s pitch black outside, So the rain is easy to hear because my apartment has a metal roof so I can hear the quick rhythm move across the ceiling, it gets quicker then slower, moves left then right and gets louder and softer always changing.

Another sip of scotch ☺

I decided to add John Denver to this soundtrack I am listening too. (Technology (with the power out), here I am typing on a computer while listening to music from it, I am glad it is helping me capture this night) John Denver is some great stuff to listen too with his stories of the outdoors, I love John!

Well to move on, today I spent the day in the wind and rain doing firearm qualifications. I was a little nervous, I was shooting with all the permanent Rangers, plus we don’t shoot very often, if you know what I mean. The permanent Rangers here have all been really cool and helpful, they don’t do anything to make me feel nervous, but I can’t help feeling it, this is there year round job and they see many seasonals (that’s me) come and go. You feel like a rookie showing up for the first day of practice, you want to show them what you got and blend in with the chemistry. The shooting went well, I passed all my qualification on the first try. I do enjoy shooting, I hope to own a couple guns so I can practice in the off time, it would also be nice to get into hunting. We all left the range really wet but hey you never know what the situation will be like when an unfortunate time comes when you have to un-holster your weapon.

I got back to the apartment around 7:30 pm, (you see we are required to do a night shoot when its dark, the qualifications is a all day event with at least 3 different weapons) I quickly put on a comfortable pair of sweats and through on some hot water for a french press coffee. I needed energy! Janelle is coming tomorrow and I have not had anytime to clean up. Now I know what your thinking, but it’s not true. I don’t clean up because I am worried about Janelle’s response, no, I clean up because if I don’t Janelle will spend most of her time here cleaning instead of relaxing. Her last visit she did not move from the couch for maybe 8 hours straight, it consisted of mostly naps and reading. It makes me feel real good when I see her relaxed. I remember another time this summer when I had borrowed Ernies Wii (it’s for activity style video games). Janelle spent the WHOLE day playing the drums on rock band, she’s really good. I would take a break from work to say hi and she would be sweating. She wouldn’t stop playing she would just talked to me while playing. That was fun, if I can attach a video I will, I recorded her playing on my phone, good stuff!

Anyways, I was cleaning the apartment, I have laundry still wet in the dryer waiting for power and I am about 75% done with the cleaning, though I need power for the vacuum too. I could not resist this chance to relax when the power went out. I hope it’s out tomorrow too so I can share this storm with Janelle.

Another sip of Scotch, mmmm. By the way, if you are a Scotch drinker you have to have a Scotch glass, it tastes better! It look better! It feels better! Trust me.

I wish I could record the sounds here... amazing, you all should come visit! Maybe for Thanksgiving we can have another power out, well after the Turkey’s cooked!

OK well I better finish up, I going to try and clean a few more things by candlelight and then I am going to read until I fall asleep. God Bless!

AND Yeh for my Uncle John, he is doing much better! John! get up here and show me how to hunt!

Good Night ALL!

Our New Home and a little past info!

As most of you have hear Janelle and I moved to Port Angeles at the start of October. It has been so nice living here. Our living room window has a view of Mt Angeles and we can hear the ferry horn blow (but not to loud). Janelle has started her practice and she is quickly getting through the growing pains of getting her new business on its feet. I am so proud of her. She spent 9 years in school to become a Doctor, but only received maybe a 16 hour lecture on how to be a business woman. Now she is tackling both at the same time. GO JANELLE!!! She gets most joy from seeing her patients, it's all the other stuff that tightens the curls in her hair, but she is doing it. As she gets further into the business things will become more simple. Your prayers are much appreciated!

I am still working in the Southwest District, stationed in Kalaloch, it's about a 1.5 hour drive. It has been everything I have been looking for in a job. It has many dimensions and you never know what the next day is going to bring. Some of the focuses during the summer were beach patrol (consist of walking the beaches during the day and night. The night usually found the most situations as you would step into a groups fire light and surprise them with "Good evening, Park Ranger" as you could imagine the underagers, drugs and drunks etc.. There are also around 300 campsites in the Southwest District, so campground patrol gave a lot of variety as well, once again a night walk through the campground a hour after quiet hours usually had the most interesting situations. Patrolling traffic was good experience, we have highway 101 going right through the park, so you could work traffic as much as a person could want, it's a 13 mile stretch that goes from 60 to 45 to 55. We did have a few motor vehicle accidents which puts you into 2 roles (Law Enforcement and EMT). This summer we had a dozen plus EMS calls (heart attacks, broken hips, alcohol poisoning, knife wound, car accidents etc, our ambulances are 30 minutes away so it gave you plenty of time to work on the subjects. We also have some back roads that are used for fishing, if they are not fishing or sight seeing they usually are up to something they are not supposed too. In Quinault there are in-holders (people that own houses on park land) it's a neighborhood so we get 911 calls for DV's and loud neighbors and etc etc, so I was able to enter a few houses, even retrieve to people wanted with warrants in Florida, that was cool since one tried to hide. I had a dozen warrants I came across, most were releases because county jails were full. Now, our focus is mainly on hunting around the boundary of the park and fishing. You see you can't hunt in a National Park but hunter comb the outside of the park and sometimes illegally on purpose or accident shoot a nice Elk (or other animal) just inside the park. These are the big numbers of people we are seeing, we still do the other stuff but it's a lot quieter. Anyways that was my summer of work in a nutshell, I have about 2 more months left to work before I am done till next May.

BUT.....I wrote this to tell and show you our house and neighborhood. We have a 3 bedroom place with a large fenced in yard and a garage that is separate from the house. The people before had many flowers around the house as well as tomato plants, we have had tomato's growing out our ears. They are wonderful but are just coming to an end. THere was also some corn and cucumber plants which we have utilized as well. We have heard P.A (Port Angeles) is a great place for gardening, Janelle is really excited for spring, she will have lots of space to repeat her gardening experience from this summer, I will post that picture as well (from her garden in Seattle) I am loving having a garage, I have been trying to organize it. I love having a place to use my tools! I will build Janelle a gardening corner. Our 3 rooms have been designated as bedroom, office and spare bedroom, it's nice to know we can house company since all our family and friends live at least 2 hours away.

P.A is a beautiful little city (I believe around 18,000 people). The restaurants have a lot of character to them, they are all like the little places in the city you fall in love with, real food! The ocean is no more than a mile away, a easy walk. There is a ferry that goes to Victoria, Canada. I do think everyone should try and visit Victoria at least once. The ferry drops you off in downtown so you don't need to bring a car. It's a big city with personality. It is great for shopping, restaurants, theatre, art, or just sight seeing. It is also a great Island to scuba dive off of!! On the other side of us are the mountains. The Olympic National Park (my employer)we are a 30 minute drive to hurricane ridge a beautiful spot that looks over ALL the mountains, I will post a good picture of Janelle from this summer on the ridge. There are more hikes than we could probably ever do in this park, but we will try!!! This area is also the best river fishing area in the state, some beautiful rivers flow out of the peninsula. So I look forward to learning all of them, I have learned two already and I will post a picture of some fish I pulled from one. Lake Crescent is 20 minutes away, it's a crystal clear blue lake that is around 600 feet deep carved from glaciers. I scuba dived it this summer and the underwater rock cliffs and walls are beautiful, they go forever down!! So are are many beautiful lakes to kayak on, as well as the ocean (because our beach runs east and west, we don't get much for waves). There is amazing hunting here as well but I have not gotten into that hobby "yet". I have gotten into mushroom hunting, I have learned the Morel, chanterelle, oyster, shaggy main, bolete (porcini) chicken of the wood, and the different russula's plus of course some poisoness mushrooms, a fun hobby!! Everything in the town is within about 5 miles from our house, Janelle has road her bike to work a few times. We live a half block from the main field where soccer takes place, football games etc. I have already walked over there once to try and pick up a soccer game. We also live a few blocks from our new gym, the YMCA, it's a nice community place. Janelle is in the middle of rating her favorite coffee shops, I think she has at least 4 rated so far. This seems like a warm community and Janelle and I are looking forward to becoming part of it. Here are some pics of our house!


our front view from window, Mt. Angeles

living room left half

living room right half

bedroom

office

spare bedroom south side

spare bedroom northside

living room into dining room/kitchen

dining room (sorry for the angel

stove view of dining room

kitchen and wife

kitchen view over sink

patio with BBQ and fire pit

backyard

alley view of garage and back of house

OUR HOME!

Diggin It!! 10/19/2009

Wow am I happy! Do you ever have that really content satisfying feeling after putting together some new food dishes for yourself? Well I want to share my experience.

Yesterday was the last of 2 days of razor clam digging on the Kalaloch beaches. This was the first “dig” in a long time because the beaches have been closed for about 5 years to try and help the razor clam numbers grow. For work I had to patrol the beaches for the last 2 days, checking peoples counts and making sure they were following regulations. It was a good shift, a little variety from the past shifts (which is a big part of being a Ranger (Variety)). I have my shellfish license and watching all the people (hundreds) have fun with there families and kids really made me wish there was one more day open, maybe a day I would have off. Well.. the tide was a late one, close to 7:30pm and by then it was already really dark, most everyone had left. The other Rangers and I made a few final sweeps across the beach and headed out. My shift ended at 9:30pm and I decided to throw on my waders and head lamp and make a dash back to the beach to try and dig my limit.

While combing the shoreline for “nipples” (razor clam lingo for the little hole they make in the surface of the sand) I notice maybe 3 other lights out on the beach looking for the prized clams. It was so dark I couldn’t see much more than my light showed me. One of the lights made it my way. It was a gentlemen who worked at the local correction facility and got off work late both last night and tonight. The guy shared that last night he couldn’t find any in the dark, uh ohh.

We worked together and had a great time and great conversation as we took turns digging as we came across many “nipples” ☺ We both limited after about an hour, it was awesome. I can’t wait to take Janelle clam digging, I know she would have a hoot!

Well if any of you have ever caught razor clams, well they aren’t like normal clams where you leave them in a bucket of water to clean themselves. No, you have to basically dissect them to clean them and take them from the shell (creating razor clam steaks). That was what I was up to tonight after work. Just after work I helped my Ranger friend with her bike and looking at her ocean view yard I made a discovery. I saw my first King Bolete and a couple admiral boletes. You may say, HUH?? Boletes have another name you may have heard… Porcini, the king boletes are the most prized and many say the best mushroom overall. They have a nice nutty flavor to them, so I have heard. That was my second project clean and prepare these boletes.

I cooked a few of the razor clams. What I did was I dipped them in egg yolk and then in a flower mixed with many seasoning and fried them golden brown and wow did they taste good. Then I sautéed a little bit of the two different boletes, separately, but both in butter, garlic and salt and pepper.

I am telling you these to “appetizers” were amazing. There is a wonderful nuttiness to the boletes and there texture is great. The razor clams were nice and tender in the middle with a crispy outside. I had to maintain my self not to cook up them all!

I am looking forward to bringing some home to share with Janelle tomorrow for dinner. There is something really satisfying to finding or catching your own food. I have put a lot of time into identifying mushrooms and I have learned a whole lot (and yes mom I am really careful). If I had a choice to be doing one thing it would be to be with my wife. If she wasn’t around, my second choice would be to be doing something in the outdoors. I feel really lucky to have so many amazing blessings in my life!!

FISH ON!! 10/05/2009

Well I have a lot of time to make up on the blog, but since I am not in the mood to think back too far into my summer yet, I will start with the last week.

Last week was my salmon week. I landed my first ever river salmon on the Queets river. I had a day off and decided to make a whole day out of the adventure. I walked down from the Salmon Bridge to the mouth where it dumped into the Queets. A week earlier my dad had a HUGE fish on which decided to wrap itself around a branch underwater and escape.

I got to the river and it was a gorgeous cloudy day, perfect for fishing. I brought myself a six pack, some homemade jerky and spicy cheese-its, a meal any fishermen could enjoy. The fish were rolling and I was excited for my chances. I tried everything, finally throwing on the wiggle wart, 3 hours later all I had was about 3 beers and a lot of jerky and cheese-its. I went for the impossible cast over a branch knowing the wiggle wart floats until you reel I felt it was a good chance to get it into a deep hole. Well… I over threw it and it went across the river and stuck into a tree. I couldn’t believe it, those things cost 6 bucks! I decided I needed a break from fishing. I had noticed some broken lines in various spots on the other side of the river, so I decided I would get my wiggle wart back and improve my tackle box. It was hard to cross the river but I made it without getting wet. The far side bank was covered with downed roots and trees from winter storms. It was hard maneuvering and climbing and at times, I put total faith into my balance a few times I probably shouldn’t have but it worked out. In the end I retrieved my wiggle wart and also gained 7 more lures/spoons. I was pretty happy about my find! I got back to my side of the bank and I knew I was going to catch a fish. It didn’t happen. I had been on the river for 6 hours and no fish, I was ready to head back to my truck I wanted to pick chanterelles before it got dark. On my way up the river I spotted another lure stuck across the stream, I decided to go for it, I took my rod with me and after securing the lure I tried one more cast while I was standing in rushing knee high water. I through the cast….I got ticked I got snagged….oh……but……wait! My snag jumped out of the water a waved its tail at me. FISH ON!! Now all I needed to do was get back to shore, I still don’t know how I managed not to fall but I got to shore and landed my first Silver caught on a river. I then raised my hands in the air to accept the applause, I turned south and north, east and west, yelling "thank you, thank you" Of course no one else was out there but it felt good! Half of it fed four Rangers that night, I served it with some pan seared chanterelles in a garlic butter sauce mmmmm, I ate the other half the next day for breakfast lunch and dinner.

Few day later Ernie, Christina and I went to the Hoh and fished by the mouth. I caught 4 fish that day and Ernie caught one MONSTER fish. I think I would of traded Ernie my four catches to get to reel in that large Silver. I sent one fish to Ernie’s dad to get smoked, 3 fillets to Janelle and I have been eating the other fillets daily. I also caught one last salmon yesterday. So I have made a chanterelle broth salmon soup, I have been playing with different sauces to top the fillets and I have also taken slices and soaked them in a light salt water solution with cayenne and a drip of liquid smoke, today I dehydrated them and they turned out to be a tasty salmon jerky. I have kept the eggs for future fishing trips but the next hen I catch I will use the eggs to make caviar

Chanterelles and salmon have been about 70% of my diet lately and it still isn’t getting old!

I am back!

I know it has been awhile but I was home enjoying a month with my wife!!! I got to see my Mama and Papa Johnson and over all recovered from the academy. Graduation went great, it was a honor to graduate with that class and my speech I was so nervous about turned out good (so I am told) If anyone of you wants to see it email me and I will send you the clip of it.

I do have to make a shout out to Commander Overby and Lt Overby, the heads of the academy. They were exactly what I need as leaders and more importantly as friends through the academy. They were mother and father figures. They were the support I needed being so far from home. The other great support was the Thor family who hosted me while I was in Mt Vernon. They were my host mom, dad and sister. I look fwd to staying in touch with all of them!

OK so here is a 2 day update I have pre-typed on word. Oh Yah, I have no cell phone service but roaming, I can be reached at the Ranger office but if you want to talk with me it has to be set up ahead of time and happen after hours. There is no wi-fi connections here so I am in the office now at almost 10pm just to get online. Though I can't use facebook here :( Get a hold of Janelle to get my address and the office number here and email me and I can set up a time to be in the office when you call. Difficult situation huh? best option??? COME VISIT ME!!!!!!!!! :) OK here is the pre-typed stuff!

Summer at Kalaloch 2009

Day 1 (one of my 2 days off this week)
I arrived in Kalaloch around 6 pm the Sunday before my first day of work. I will be staying in the Bunk House this summer. It’s like a college dormitory for 12. We all have a small room connected to a bathroom connected to who-ever our roommate ends up being. There is a bed in which my feet hang off the end of it, a chair and a dressor in the closet. This being my first season I am the low man on the totem pole so the other Rangers have individual apartments.

Wow I miss my wife already!

I met one of my “teammates” Dylan, he seems like a cool guy. He worked here last year, this is his second season. Tomorrow, Dylan and I will start a drive to Port Angeles at 0800. We will then fill out paper work and get issued our badges, uniform, utility belts and anything else we may need.

I have been trained for this summer, and I am ready for it but I am really curious to see what it has for me. I am in the lobby area of the bunk house trying to cook a pizza without a pizza pan. Lets hope it doesn’t stick cause I am hungry!!

I think the off time for a while may be a little grueling for me, but who knows. I am so used to staying busy and I am already trying to figure out what to do, hince me writing 2 hours after I have arrived.

I also met two nice people names James and Hanna. They are border Rangers, I believe they go around the border of the park and add, change and take down signs so the park is properly marked. They do this so hunters don’t come from the National Forest into the park “accidently” and just so people know what is legal and illegal. They spend a lot of time in the woods but not on trails.

By the way my pizza cooked just fine, I will have the other half for breakfast or lunch, so I guess I am done with information for the day, I am going to eat my pizza and maybe read, I don’t know maybe I will go for a night walk on the beach but I’ll probably just get to bed early!

Day 2 (My first day)
Dylan and I left for P.A at 0800. I learned a lot more about him. He has been married the same amount of time Janelle and I have, and he has a little baby boy. He is into fishing and shrimping, oysters, clams etc.. his parents live on the water in Olympia and “breed” them. (I am sure that is the wrong word for it) This is his second summer here. He will be a good guy to work with. My whole team seems pretty awesome, my boss Heather seems to be really cool, she has been a permanent since 2001 here, so I look to learn a lot from her.

In P.A Dylan and I met with Heather and then did the tour of the main offices meeting all the administration people and high up people. Everyone was really kind. As I said for yesterday I filled out paperwork, got keys, uniforms and most of my utility belt put together, No bullets yet I have to pass qualifications on Thursday and no taiser till I get that class over again.

Tomorrow George, who works in Quinalt area will pick me up at 0745 and he will show me the deal over there, I most likely will also be working in Quinalt every now and then. That should be exciting. We will see what it feel like to wear my bullet proof vest for a whole day.

So had the other half of my pizza for dinner then I went for THE JOG!!!

THE JOG:
My first jog in Kalaloch, and I can say it will be easy to get motivated for the second jog. I jogged 3.65 miles today according to my GPS and it was amazing. I jogged across the street through the Kalaloch Lodge parking lot and down onto the beach. I started heading North but quickly ran into the Kalaloch river, not shallow enough to cross. So I jogged South. As I was jogging I started looking out across the ocean. Big waves were crashing in, it was a little windy with light sprinkles but it felt great!! The waves were powerful and noisy, I could hear them even if my headphones on. The clouds were a light blue mixed to a light grey and bubbly and wavey yet full, no breaks. I started preying as I jogged just thanking God for everything in my life and for such a beautiful place, the only thing that would of made it perfect was having my wife there jogging next to me. It was breath taking. As I finished praying I noticed a large Eagle playing in the wind. I have always thought to myself that seeing a eagle was good luck and a answer to a prayer. It sent chills down my back. Not 50 yards later I looked out to the ocean and saw a seal with his head popped up watching me as the waves crashed over him. (We had a moment) Next thing I knew I was 2 miles into the jog, oops I only wanted to jog 2 miles so I headed back. On the way back there were these little birds. They were the size of sparrows yet the had a long thin beak they plucked the sand with, as I got closer they would fly 20 yards ahead of me and continue what they were doing. There was about 50 of them so when they flew together it looked pretty cool. They did this about 5 times before they decided to turn and fly around me the other way. What a amazing jog!!

When I got back to the base I went and worked out in the gym. They have a really nice gym and I think working out will be a good time abuser.

So here I am now showered refreshed and enjoying a little scotch on the rocks. Life is good and the highlight will come when I walk to the station to go talk on the phone with Janelle and share my story and hear hers.

God Bless You All!

P.S Sorry for any typo’s I am not proof reading ☺

Week 10, 11, 12

WOW, sorry for the long delay in the update, I will skip the job update because if you read the last update you have seen that I will be working in the OLYMPIC NATIONAL PARK!!

So Week 10 started with the O.C Spray (pepper spray), in short it hurts….ALOT!!! We were sprayed in the mouth and eyes and had to defend ourselves against a suspect for a timed minute. I was actually sprayed by 2 people at the same time. I had to try and hold one of my eyes open just to be able to see in glimpses of the suspect. I got some great shots in though, a front kick that backed him up and then I attacked. It is very painful and hard to breath with it in your lungs. Your nose and mouth leaks like a bad faucet snotty gooey substances. Then you had to unlock your patrol vehicle and get inside and make a calm dispatch for medic and back-up. Let me tell you that was one of the longest few minutes of my life and it continued into the second day. We had firemen and nurses on scene to take care of us. There is no quick solve to a oleoresin capsicum. (OC Spray) Any contact area of the skin turned bright red like a sun burn and hurt long one as well. My right eye was still watering the next day. Even talking about it now makes it water a little, but that is mental. Those next 2 days I washed my face maybe 100 or more times!!

We did some Search and Rescue drills. We got to see our King County Police helicopter fly into the school land and tell us about their job. That was pretty cool. Good advice is not to run up-hill when exiting a helicopter.

The next day we got to do some simunitions where we were shot at with tiny paintball like capsules that are smaller and move faster, so they sting more too. I was fortunate to not get shot!! We were put in scenarios to try to deflate escalated situations that involved armed suspects.

Finally that week we learned Collision Investigation. Measuring skid marks, determining speed and re-creating the accident. I hope the drawing I made would make the engineers in the family happy.

WEEK 11
This week turned into a half week, so I was able to stay home Monday. The Emergency Vehicle Obstacle Course was a blast. Driving through cones over cones and hopefully between cones at a high speed in a Crown Victoria (Cop Car) was a adrenaline rush. We were taking the class up at the Bellingham Airport on a landing strip. There were two main courses. A forward course that took a little over 2 and a half minutes and a backwards course that took around 2 minutes. The forward course had high speed corners, quick lane changes, last second decision making turns, long fast straight-aways, swerving you know all the fun stuff and all surrounded by accurately measured cones. We needed to passing turns in 4 trys. Later we followed it by a top-gun run. Where you drove the course as fast as you could but as soon as you touched one cone you were done. The object is for the fastest perfect run. Everyone only got one try. We had 13 of us in our class and 7 of us had a perfect run. I was the top-gun for our half with a time of 2:35, I was pretty stoked about that. The other classes top-gun had a 2:34 (Oh dang). In the backwards course we needed to run a perfect course twice in a row under a certain time limit, So we couldn’t tap one cone. So 2 minutes driving backwards, swerving, parallel parking, a lot more swerving between tight spaces. During top gun I believe 6 of us had perfect runs. Ernie (my buddy from the Hoh tribe) had an amazing time of 1:45. There might have been 1 or 2 runs that were under 2 minutes but barely. My time was 2:01. We also got to do the course at night with the lights going. The first run we did it quickly just to prove we can see just as good in the dark, the second time could have been called a time to see how many cones you could take-out. The most exciting was doing persuit of the instructors in another cop car. We got to chase him around in whatever pattern direction he wanted to go, he did not follow the course and did take it off into the grass some as well. We chased him down for 5 minutes straight while maintaining calm contact with dispatch.

I don’t care how uncomfortable you are as a driver, if you got to take this course you would of loved it. We had a few uncomfortable cadets that were having a great time by day 3!

WEEK 12
Field sobriety testing was cool. I look forward to trying it on some of you!! Radar and Lidar was interesting but not too much you can write on that class. Basically it tells you the speed the vehicle is going. The other class we had was Rifle training. These guns are cool and accurate and they have way more power than my beebee/pellot gun.

So that is pretty much it for the last 3 weeks, last week and this week coming up I will write next weekend. I only have 2 weeks left! Tomorrow, I have my physical fitness test, it’s one of the last big tests left, you need to pass all categories or you do not get certified! I feel I am prepared and ready, tomorrow I will know for sure!

God Bless All and thank you for being part of this journey with me!!

Gods intervention

As we all know God is pretty powerful!!  He intervenes in our daily activities and we usually don't even notice.  Maybe it's a sunset, or a flower, or possibly just a nice shade of green on a tree.  Some of the interventions He made for us a long time ago and we still get to enjoy them today.  He had you and me in mind when creating these interventions.  Other interventions happen and change our lives, and most of those we miss as well.  Now and then we thank God for all His blessing and we really can't grasp how many blessings there truly are.

Every now and then God intervenes in a way that leaves us breathless, amazed and feeling His love. We get this feeling that He is there right beside us and we feel how much He cares for us.  We all yearn to see and feel this love, and it is overwhelming and indescribable.  God has made an intervention in Janelle and my life just recently and it has us both so in awe.  So I am going to tell you a full story to try and point out how these little interventions turn into one big one.

As you all know I have been in a Law Enforcement Academy that has consumed my life recently and it has taken great sacrifice from Janelle as well as me.

First noticed intervention:   when I left Canlis Restaurant I was given a candle for Christmas.  These candles were pulled from a box of many(random) and my sticker tag, it happened to say "Ranger-inspiration" it didnt say this on the candles given to the people next to me, I thought that was pretty crazy.  I use that candle to connect with God and find strength for this long academy.

Janelle and I found out that I was going to need to apply to many National Parks to find a summer job and the job could take me anywhere in the U.S.  Janelle is committed to her residency both by contract and love and she will be there till the end of September. The news that I would probably have to leave after the academy to a different State had both of us worried and stressed.  We tried our best to give it to God and put it in His hands.  I filled out around 40 applications and with this economy and the competitiveness of the job I was advised to take the first offer I got.  My very first application was for the Washington National Parks including the Olympics.  It was due the day of my first day of the academy (Dec.29th).  Dec. 3oth I was taught how to fill out these applications properly.  Well I filled out my application wrong for Washington and was deemed ineligible for a job in the State for all the Law Enforcement jobs.  This obviously put Janelle and I in a frustrating and upset mood.  

It was hard to think that I was going to be in the academy for 3 and half months and then leve the state for another 5-6 months.  Not a great thing for your second year of marriage.  As most of you know we didnt get to see each other that much in the first year between my Canlis work hours and her Medical school and boards.

I started getting eligible notices back from parks all over the U.S.  I am new to the field so my rating isn't as high as people with prior experiences.  So being eligible was good but that didn't come with any job offers.  Slowly people in my academy started getting phone calls and job offers.  Janelle and my stress levels went up as we prayed, hoped and wished something would come along.  It is normal for it to take a while in your first hire but it is also possible not to get a offer.

A Ranger from Olympic National Park suggested I also apply for a Back-Country position in the Olympics.  Now this isn't a Law Enforcement position so it doesn't help me gain and earn experience to get a full-time L.E (Law Enforcement) Job.  At 34 years old it is important I get off to a quick start in L.E because I need to be hired full-time before I turn 37 or it is impossible to be hired full-time for the government in L.E.  I told her I was already deemed ineligible in Wa. and she told me to try again and it wouldn't hurt.  I applied because if I didn't get any offers as a L.E Ranger it would be still good to get that job at Olympics, since Janelle and I plan to move to Port Angeles in October.  Well I got deemed eligible but didn't get that position either.

About 4 weeks ago my first call came.  It was from Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park in Colorado.  The U.S Park Rangers there checked my references and interviewed me and offered me a job.  They said we want to 99.9% offer you the job here.  They said the .1% was just that my paperwork for eligibility needed to clear.  They both said they looked at my resume and said it shouldn't be a problem and they would call me when it was 100%. 2 weeks ago today they called and said, for some reason you were not deemed eligible.  They thought this was strange, as did I.  I have been deemed eligible in every region up to that point.  It was the first region to say I wasn't. Hmmmmmm 

I tried to get it all straightened out but by that Wednesday morning I was told it wouldn't work out and I wouldn't be able to get a job anywhere in that region.  I was crushed!!  It was my only offer and it was gone, and it is a GREAT park.  I went to my friend Sara's to pick up her and Alec to drive to EVOC training (emergency vehicle obstacle course)(FUN STUFF).  I was crushed!  I turned to some christian music to try and uplift myself.  I only had time for one song.  The one song that came through a shuffle mix of 520 (1 in 520 chance) songs was called "second chances" by needtobreathe.  It was perfect for the moment.  I decided I was going to trust God and know it wasn't the right place for me to be.  I told Sara and Alec what happened with Black Canyon but I think I kept a pretty good positive attitude.  Sara told me that Olympic Park had called her that morning and offered her a job.  She had turned it down because she had already accepted a job at Yellowstone.  She suggested I give them a call.  I reminded her I was deemed ineligible earlier this year when I applied wrong.  She told me it wouldn't hurt.

I called.  The Ranger who had talked with Sara answered and I said "Hi, my name is Brian Doolittle and I am part of the Park Law Enforcement Academy at Skagit Valley College". Her response was "Brian, we were just talking about you!"  I almost fell over.  She explained that she knew I had problems with the first application and that might be a hurdle.  Then a thought came to me....I was deemed eligible for the Back-Country position and I told her.  She said that should work and continued to tell me about the park and the job.  She told me to get resume and paperwork and we would see what would happen.  REMINDER:  this is the same day I lost the Black Canyon Job REMINDER:  I haven't been getting calls from other parks.  REMINDER:  Out of all the parks in the U.S THIS IS THE PARK I WANTED TO WORK FOR!!!  I quickly got the paperwork in. Waiting and trying to control hope and emotions (guarding) was hard for both Janelle and I.  I think we both aged 10 years!!  We trusted God and knew whether we got the job or not our life was already FULL and BLESSED and we would be ok because we had God and each other but of course we really wanted that job spot!

To make my long story end quicker......   On Saturday I was offered an L.E position in the Olympic National Park based out of Kalaloch.  It wasn't a miracle it was God and I wanted to share that with all of you.  He might not get you to place you are trying to get too but he will guide you to Him and the place you need to be.  Trust Him!!!

The two of us and our family as well our so excited.  I know that our church has been praying for us and this situation as well as Janelle's parents church.  Family and friends have also been praying!

We are overwhelmed with love!!

Thank you all!!

P.S Come see me at the Olympic National Park, I will be the one with the really cool hat!

Coming Soon!

Week 10, 11, 12

Oh Week 9!!

Wow week 9 was packed with events. Started out with a test. (93%) and then we learned about crime scene investigation. Which is a really exciting topic. We talked about evidence and fingerprinting, tracking and a whole lot of other cool stuff! Wednesday we had a mock crime scene in the wooded park next to the college. I was lucky enough to be one of the first on scene. There was evidence everywhere including weapons and a right leg from the knee down. We had a cadaver dog there to help find evidence (which he ended up tracking blood everywhere). I was able to work with the dog owner and dog. (Really cool stuff) I also got to make my own trail through the woods to give back-up to a fellow ranger who was trying to detain a man in camouflage. Exciting and fun and later on I realized how many sticker bushes were actually out there. It was good experience trying to put the evidence together to figure out what happened. I really look forward to the first time I get to work on a crime scene! Thursday and Friday we had testing for our defensive tactics fighting and firearms. There our 4 different firearms we needed to pass (shotgun, hand gun national (day and night) and state. I only had the day course left to pass and I passed it on my second try on Thursday (huge relief) I hit 24 out of 30 shots and needed 21 to pass. In Defensive Tactics we had 22 moves/takedowns/punches etc to pass. We partnered up and we were called out of a waiting room to go in and test. I was able to also pass all my moves Thursday. This made Thursday night really nice! Friday some people continued to test and we also learned extra cool stuff to work on both in firearms and in DT. Saturday was EMT training during the day.

Then I WENT HOME (first time in 5 weeks) it was great I was full of energy the whole night in excitement. Janelle and I went to my parents for a big family dinner and game night. Sunday came early as I had to be at the Monroe Fire Department by 8 am to try and get 5 ride-along patient contacts on the ambulance. Well I am still here and it is 8:30pm and I have only got 1 contact. So I did not get to see Janelle very much this weekend and I have to comeback again and hope for a more full day at the fire department. My first ride-along was nervous and exciting, it is good to have the first one out of the way. I am getting ready to take off and head back to Mount Vernon. Sorry for the poor typing but I am trying to finish this in a hurry.

Next week I should have at least one good story for tomorrow. I get sprayed in the eyes with pepper spray. You have to wait till the weekend to hear more about it!

Have a great week everyone!

Week 8

Over the half way mark!!!  There wasn't much new to last week, I did pass my state firearms test and my national night firearms test (shooting in the dark with police lights flashing).  It almost puts you into a seizure.  The weekend I had 8-5 classes both days but I still have a lot of energy left in me.  Today we took a test on 2 weeks of information and I think I nailed it.  That was a lot of stress off my shoulders.  I have also finished all my readings and HW for this week.  I needed all that out of my way because I HAVE to pass national daytime firearms on Thurs or Friday to graduate as well as I have to pass about 45 different Defensive Tactic moves on Thursday.  I am confident I can pass these but that doesn't less'n the pressure any. As I said though not much to tell you about last week.  Half of all the cadets were sick and the commander got pneumonia.  I have maintained my health (knock on wood)!

I do miss Janelle, I am going home this weekend to have a 3 in 1 birthday celebration for my mom, dad and I.  That should be fun, I will also spend all of Sunday at the fire station going on medic rides and working with patients. Should be interesting!  Mostly I am looking forward to being with Janelle and family.  I miss you all. 

Mom and Dad Johnson thank you for the valentines day package, those cookies were great!!

God Bless All!

Week 7

Well week 7 went extremely slow due to not getting any days off to separate it from week 6.  My friend Sara has renamed days to leading up to the weekend, so this last week went Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday1, Wednesday2, Wednesday3.........Wednesday9, Thursday, Friday then the weekend. Anyways week7 was 16 hours of arrest, search and seizure, plus Radio 2, Gang awareness G and Rules of Evidence.  In Defensive tactics we got to start throwing punches and pulling hair.  There is nothing more awkward then practicing pulling hair of women while throwing them to the ground. During Firearms I got to lay in the mud on my side while shooting at the target, very cool!!

One of the highlights of the week was Janelle setting up a surprise birthday party for me and Sara (hers is the 10th) with Alec and Sara (my 2 closest friends in the academy).  We had a Salmon dinner at Alec's place with good beer (thanks Alec). We also watched the movie "the Guardian", good movie.  Janelle got me a nice outdoor rough and tough watch. 

This last weekend Janelle and I drove to a cabin out in Glacier (thank you Rob) and spent Saturday night through Monday there.  We played scrabble, watched movies, cooked meals together, went hiking, played raquetball, played ping pong and over-all just hung out!  It was so refreshing and nice to spend so much quality time with her.  I miss her already.  I have another 12 straight days of 8-5 class in front of me with a few night classes.  I do miss having a life.  I haven't gotten to fly-fish, scuba dive or play soccer since December.  Things are well and I am learning really cool important stuff.  Please feel free to give me a call or email, its great to hear from all of you!  Much Love to you all!

Week 6

Week 6 is connected to week 7 because there was no weekend.  Hmmm lets see, last week we qualified for shotgun.  We shot buck shots and slug shots.  Pretty Cool!  I was amazed at how easy it was to aim.  I plugged the bulls-eye with all my shots, though the first shot I learned never to put my trigger hand thumb over the gun.  I punched myself on the nose on the kick-back, it hurt! :)  During defensive tactics we got to start using the hand-cuffs, so now everyone in the class has black and blue wrists.  Nothing like being cuffed 30-40 times in a day.  Every once in awhile your partner would hit you right on the wrist bone with the metal cuff and it would sting like crazy! Sunday I passed my Wildland Fire 190 certification now I need to pass my 130.  Things are moving along, though I have been pretty exhausted lately.

Janelle my sweet sweet loving wife came and visited me even though I would have classes 8-5pm through the weekend.  We had a nice Italian Dinner Saturday night, Saturday day she came to the last 4 hours of EMT-B training and took a combitube certification course and did just as well as all of us who have been trained on it recently.  She is so smart!  You all should of seen how beet red she turned when the instructor announced her and her testing ability in the class.  It was nice to have her meet more of my cadet friends.  We had a 6:30 am Denny's breakfast/study session before I went to take a test and she drove home.  She definitely provided me with extra energy (atleast mentally) for this week.  I am excited to spend Sunday Monday with her this week in a cabin in the N. Cascades.

I haven't landed a L.E Park Job yet but there is a lot of opportunity out there.  Keep praying! I miss you all and apologize that I have become such a stranger to most of you recently!

Break Time is over I need to read 2 chapters of EMT before a 14 hour day tomorrow.

~God Bless!

Happy 69th Birthday Dad!

Dad, I hope your day was wonderful.  I hope I can be as youthful as you are at 69!  You carry it well!  Happy Birthday!!

Week 5

Well week 5 was filled with Criminal Law, 16 hours of lecture on it plus 4 hours on Environmental Crimes and 4 hours on Natural Resource Law and Protection Strategies.  That sums up Monday through Wednesday.  On Thursday and Friday things picked up.  We went to the shooting range and I was able to fire a hand gun for the first time.  I wasn't a bad shot and I enjoy shooting.  We practice drawing to fire, speed, accuracy and magazine exchanges.  Right now our range we practice from is from 3 yards to 7 yards, pretty close next week we will be shooting long distances.  The other class we had Thursday and Friday was Defensive Tactics, which I think stands for let the instructor beat the crap out of you in front of the class.  We only had a few concussions and we all felt whip-lash Friday and Saturday.  It was cool learning the different moves and tossing your buddies around. EMT-B training is going well, we get to start working at the hospital and start riding on EMT calls with hands on! Cool.

The weekend was studying and the SuperBowl, WOW what a game!  My new friends saw a different side of me that most of you already know.  Man I think I aged 10 years during that 4th quarter.  I didnt get to see Janelle, she is going to come up for awhile next weekend. 

I just finished my test and I have no idea how I did, I am sure I passed but ....  Today is the first day of 13 days straight of 8-5pm including Sunday, it will be a long 2 weeks!

I hope everyone is well, don't forget to call me and leave me a message!!

Week 4

This week was a shorter week with us having Monday off.  The test was 156 questions and I am proud to say I tied for the highest score in the class. For all of you that know my past testing ability you can understand why I was so happy about that.  Maybe it's the years that have helped me in test taking but I feel a lot more comfortable and confident with tests. Specially multiple choice :)  Tomorrow's test have to do with Mental Illnesses, suicides, sex crimes, Federal Codes and Natural Resource Law.  As you can see last week could of been a pretty depressing week but our instructors kept it lively.  Thursday and Friday was 16 hours of Intro to Firearms.  We got rubber guns and our utility belts.  We learned to take apart a AR 15 (Rifle), Shotgun and a Sig 229 9mm handgun.  It was a very interesting last 2 days and I look forward to going to the shooting range next week.  

The study group I am in meets Friday after classes where we make dinner together and pre-study to make sure we are all studying the right things over the weekend.  This last Friday we watched Police Academy (for the younger readers the movie was made in 1984)  It was awesome to watch and laugh and relate to a lot of the movie.  Unfortunately we have know real person like Tackleberry in our academy!!

Janelle drove up Saturday night and watched me show her how fast I can drawer my rubber gun.  We also went to the Skagit River Brewery with Gary and Jenny Thor (they are my "host-parents" that have been so kind to let me stay at there home for the academy.  It was really nice to sit and talk with them, unfortunately I haven't had as much time during the weeks to really just chat. Jenny has a wonderful New Zealander accent and Gary has a lot of great stories!  

That night, Janelle and I watched the movie "the mission", another old movie. Sunday we went bowling with Alec and Sara two of my new friends I have connected the most with.  Alec also went to PLU like me though we are few years apart.  It's pretty cool to be surrounded by so many people with the same interest.  It was fun for Janelle to get to know them.  The rest of the weekend was studying, working on my resume and doing homework. Oh yah... I did play the guitar a little tonight, you could say it was my personal church session.  

I hope all are well, much love!

week 3

I will try to keep this week short since there isnt to much excitement to it.  We did a whole lot of listening to lectures on constitutional law, criminal and civil law, natural resouces law, juvenile law, risk management and use of force.  This will probably be my most difficult test, it's tomorrow afternoon.  I have never been the greatest at remembering things of the past but I am good at remembering things that help me in the future, which these things fit in both categories.  We learned about 50 case laws.  So I know you are all thinking, wow Dooey that is an exciting week!!!  Other than working out that was pretty much everything.

My weekend was nice, Janelle and I went and celebrated a friends 30th bday Saturday night, ate dinner with my parents Sunday night (and watched the football games) and today we played cards at a near by coffee shop and then walked around greenlake. (talking about all the cool and not so cool dogs we saw)  Janelle and I also made some homemade pizza, which of course always turns out good. :)

I hope everyone is doing well, feel free to drop me a call or email!

Week 2 Complete!

Hello Family and friends! It has only been two weeks but I feel like I have been here for a month or longer.  It was a eventful week.  Last blog I said I would pass on the EMT training but I was convinced that it will give me a good advantage with the application and hiring process for the National Park Service.  So I am up to 43 credits, its easier to tell you how many days I don't work 9-14 hours.  I believe I have 9 Sundays out of 12 weeks left, off.  So if it is not Sunday I am at the academy or studying somewhere.  So I apologize if I am not being good about staying in touch but there really isn't any free-time.  It's good that I am highly interested in all my subjects!! I do miss everyone please call and leave messages I love to hear your voices.

We had our first Core Test.  I believe we have 10 total through the quarter.  These are test of the prior week, usually 110-135 questions.  They are a big deal, we need to pass them all.  I actually took my second core test today.  I got 92% on both of them and I feel pretty good about that.  Last Monday we also were tested on physical fitness, I believe in 8 categories.  I passed all 8 and was one of eight in our class of twenty-six to do that.  Week 14 we will re-test and if you don't pass one physical fitness test you wont graduate.  My buddy Alec and I are doing 160 push-ups a day and 110 sit-ups, plus running 3 times a week and working out 3 times a week.  This usually takes place after class.  My biggest high-light and honor of the week was on Monday my classmates voted me as a class president/ "team leader".  It is a huge honor for me to be chosen by my peers.  They are all becoming great friends, some I feel I have already known for months.  I hope I do my job well!

It is exciting to be able to think of all the different "hats" I will be able to wear after the academy, most importantly a federal Law Enforcement Ranger for the National Parks, but I will also have a "Dr. hat" as a EMT, a "Fire hat" as wildland Fire certified (decent chance you may see me in San Diego during the Santa Anna winds (Lyford-side), I don't know if Hazardous Material people where hats but yeah I guess that one isn't too exciting, but anyways I am learning a ton of skills.  This week class is mostly focused on "Use of Force" and "Constitutional Law".  There is nothing like "case laws" to commit to your memory bank.

Janelle came up Saturday and stayed till dinner Sunday.  She really refilled my "tanks".  It was so nice to spend time with her, I think we played phase 10 for hours and just talked.  She was so helpful, I am a lucky man!  Keep us in your prayers as time away from each other is not easy!  Much love to all of you and really if you find the time please call and say hi, I probably won't be able to answer but your message will make my day.  If you are lucky, I will forget to turn my ringer off and the class and I will get the amazing opportunity to go to "THE PIT" and do some serious physical punishment.  This won't likely happen because I think I check my ringer about 20 times before class actually starts.  OK I need to get to sleep.  Once again I love you all!!!

Happy New Year!

To all are friends and family Janelle and I want to wish you the best 2009!  Take what you learned from 2008 and put use to it but put the past behind you, this is your new start and we wish you the best!

It has only been 3 days of the Academy and it feels like its been 3 weeks.  There are 26 of us and I am lucky to have the classmates I have, I look forward to growing with them through the good and the tough.  It was a great first week, though we still have Friday left.  There is a military feeling to the academy and rightly so.  You feel a sense of pride and honor in class and out!  I know we will all be highly prepared to step into the the Law Enforcement fields for National Parks as well as in good shape too.  I don't believe I can say to much about the training so I will keep it a little vague for my own safety :). As we were warned about what we put on the web.  I can tell you I am am doing great!  I am so excited to learn and grow in this field.  We are committed to 9 hours a day at the academy as well as most of our night working out, doing homework, studying and re-typing 9 hours worth of notes.  I, like many of the other cadets, have added more classes above just the academy.  I will be taking Hazardous Material as well as Wildland Fires which will take up a few of my nights and 3 full Sundays, some have added EMT which is 8-5 on every Saturday.  I passed because I really want to focus on kicking butt in the academy.  Things will be getting much tougher and stressful and I am up for the challenge.  Our first big test will be Monday (120-135 questions) as well as the physical fitness test too.

Janelle came up to Mt. Vernon last night and will stay till Friday morning when I go back to class.  It was great to see her since she has been in Minnesota for the last week.  Last night we had some cadets over for New Years.  We had a good time, we haven't gotten to much time to get to know each other yet so this was a nice builder, plus Janelle got a chance to meet some of my new brothers and sisters.  One of them ran 3 miles UP Little Mountain this morning and then 3 miles back down it.  I passed on the offer to join her..... of course only because Janelle was in town :)

My host family (the Thor family, Gary , Jenny and Kerry) are great, its so nice to have a family up here when 95% of my life is the academy, eating and sleeping.  I look forward to getting to know them all better.  They are so kind and we have a lot in common!

This will be tough for Janelle and I but the Lord's strength and support from family and friends will help.  Janelle is busy with her residency and loving it.  She shares with me all the new stuff she gets to do or teach.  It's amazing to see her passion and dedication to her field.  These next 9 months will be a time consuming and hard time for the two of us because we wont get much time together.  Unfortunately it is a commitment we both need to make for our careers.  It should help us for our future in our careers as well as having more time to "live" with each other and enjoy life!  A little sacrifice at the start to get us both on our feet and moving forward.

Life is good! God Bless and Happy New Year!