One More Day

I spent the absolutely beautiful morning yesterday doing 1000 push-ups (typist’s note – holy sh. . and that’s not a typo, it is one thousand!!!!!! Good grief!). I had an excellent workout and afterward saw a few of my friends who were participants in the PFT class. My one friend didn’t look very good and he said his legs were hurting him especially his hip. It was a good thing I gave him some Ibuprofen the other night because he really needed some. He was able to get through the class but his body was hurting. I told him to go back to the dorm and asked if he needed any help. He assured me he didn’t and went on his way. I was a bit concerned and checked on him in the afternoon. Much to my surprise, he was outside walking around. He made a remarkable recovery in a few short hours. However, this was induced by medication – muscle relaxers. Amazingly, there are so many items available to the inmates if we seek them out, and one of those items is prescription medication. I’m not sure where my friend obtained these but anything is available for a price. I think he paid $1.50 for 2 tablets (seems like a good price?). I told him to use them sparingly over the next few weeks.

After exercising, I headed to the phones to call my wife. I was able to get through the Bail Bonds Company and the very nice woman who always seems to answer the phone said to me that it has been awhile since I called. It has and I am very glad this company has been very accommodating over these past 8 months. She patched me through to my wife and I was also able to speak with my son and daughter. Each time I speak with them I can “hear” them growing up. My son’s speech continues to get better and better. My daughter is 9 years old and seems to be going on 18 years of age. My daughter referred to the brief snow storm they had as a “snow squall”. Both of them are staying active through the many activities my wife has enrolled them in and life goes on. My wife gave me some more news as her life goes on and I was very happy to hear it. My life inside here may at times seem to be suspended in a temporary state but I know life for my family continues to move forward. Things are going very well for them and I am blessed with such a wonderful family.

As I was working out on the Harvard Wall I was listening to the radio and heard two Public Service Announcements for Problem Gambling sponsored by my friends at the California Council for Problem Gambling. They were full 30 second spots and very professionally produced. I was very impressed with the quality of the PSA but more impressed that the word is getting out there. Hopefully, this will help raise the awareness for problem gambling and more importantly help those who need it most.

As I was on the Harvard Wall, I saw the old coach come out on the yard and speak with the lead instructor. I was so relieved to see him because it meant he was not fired as rumor had it. Now I can speak with him on Thursday – the day after I graduate from the FTP class and he can give me the recommendation to the fire camp in Southern California. I was very happy to see him because now I don’t have to result to Plan B which I was formulating.


I wrote until the start of HEROES. Once again it didn’t disappoint me but it is going on hiatus until April 23rd. Hopefully, by this time I will be at fire camp in Southern California. I have been told the camps have satellite television and receive a little more than 12 channels than this prison receives. Some fire camps have three separate television rooms and hopefully if this is the case one of these rooms will air HEROES. It was on to bed for one more day of the FTP class.

Thankfully, my class was not one of the ones cancelled and I exited through the gate. It was another beautiful day with temperatures in the 70’s and it was great being on the “outside” once again. We went to the same location we went to last week and the “swamper” took us on another little hike which was supposed to be longer but the swamper cut it short because he was having knee pain. He took us by two abandoned gold mine shafts (part of the gold rush in the middle of the 1800’s). He also showed us how to use the “Mcleods” (basically an oversized hoe with a rake or the other side of the blade used for scraping debris from a fireline). We cleared a path with this tool as we hiked. After this it was time for lunch and the swamper built a camp fire where he boiled up a fresh pot of coffee and my fellow classmates fried their baloney sandwiches on the skillet. When lunch was complete, the swamper had us deploy our fire shelters and I made a mistake while deploying mine. I had a problem getting my fire shelter out of its holder and had to take off my gloves. In my haste to get it open I did not put on my gloves as is required. I was not the only one; four of my classmates did this same thing. All five of us were called on this mistake and had to hike down about a half-mile hill. I certainly didn’t mind this hike and would have preferred to hike further, but my fellow classmates were having a hard time. We decided to walk up and down as a team which is a good idea. As we finished, I could hear the breathing of my classmates and my heart rate was raised but I was ready for more.

Unfortunately, there weren’t any more hikes, but we did train on the fire shelters some more. I sure hope I never deploy the fire shelters because it is like lying underneath a heavy-duty pool cover. It was extremely warm as we laid in them for a few minutes. The key is to not let any light in whatsoever so it does get claustrophobic. It was a bit unnerving lying there in the hot darkness. The key is to remain calm and relaxed which is much easier when it is only a training session. It must be very difficult in real life conditions which is why I pray I never have to experience this ever.

The day went by very quickly as we finished up after folding the fire shelters. We got back into the CCV and returned to the Conservation Center. How quickly these 7 days of class have gone and I will miss going outside the gates which makes the training worthwhile. Soon enough I will be to fire camp and I will really be outside all the time with no surrounding walls or gates.