Today my boss of 11 years retires from the US Forest Service, having been a Firefighter for 33 years. He is a good guy, one of the best; frustrating at times to work with (and really who isn't?), but a man that honestly cares about his people...and you don't get that as often as you should in life.

So in 4 hours, we on the crew, and those he has touched through the years, are all tapping a keg at Como Lake here in the Bitterroot Valley (western Montana). The sun is shining, it stopped snowing yesterday, and a good buddy and myself are going to sit on the deck at Woods Cabin and have a smoke and a drink...and celebrate the good things in life.

Congratulations Charlie. You will be missed here, and no mistake...but you earned every damn minute of your retirement. Thanks for the memories.

Russell :D

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"Sometimes I think that the surest sign that intelligent life exsists in outer space is that none of it has tried to contact us yet."


Calvin, speaking to Hobbes