My Numbers
Okay, so I've beened tagged for the very first time...anyone got a cigarette?
Here it is!
10 years ago - The First Year of the Rest of my Life
I left home after taking a semester off of college and went out to Utah to work on a guest ranch for a summer. Two weeks before my dad was going to come out and drive me back to Virginia, I called to tell him I wasn’t coming back, that I was changing my major. I applied to the University of Montana and would start there the following January. I spent the fall on the ranch while taking some courses in Vernal, Utah. I haven’t looked back.
7 years ago - Graduation Year!
My last year at the University of Montana (December graduation). During that time I traveled to Tucson, Arizona to represent my school along with other students as part of the Wildlife Society Student Chapter at a conclave. I spent a month chasing after wolves in Idaho and spent the last half of the year working for Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks on solving conflicts with black bears and mountain lions. Started a series of “Living With Wildlife” brochures that are still used across the state of Montana today. I had no budget for them, but a few years after I had gone, the state put some money into them so that the graphics are a bit better. I’m tickled!
5 years ago - Bear Conflict Specialist
I spent the first half of the year as the Field Supervisor on a large-scale urban deer project in St. Louis, Missouri. Aching to get back to the west, I received a call from a biologist mentor suggesting I look into working for an organization called the Wind River Bear Institute. I talked with Tim Manley, the Grizzly Bear Management Specialist that contracted with WRBI and was hired by WRBI. I moved back to the west in July and started as a Bear Conflict Specialist working in Montana and Alberta. That October I met my future husband, Derek Reich (didn’t know it at the time…didn’t like him when I first met him!). WRBI was my dream job and I saw myself doing it for the rest of my life!
3 years ago -
I was still with WRBI as a Lead Biologist. April of that year I realized that I was in love with my very best friend, Derek Reich, and took him out to dinner where I explained my feelings for him. That summer saw WRBI work the G8 summit in Kananaskis Country, Alberta. I then went with WRBI to California . I spent the fall behind a desk with WRBI while Tim and another WRBI biologist were begging our boss to send me up to the field to assist with problem bears. Apparently her Lead Biologist was too good at taking care of dogs to lend a hand with problem grizzly bears. It would be my last full year with WRBI.
1 year ago - Torn…but in love!
I spent the firs half of the year working as a veterinary technician, but wanted to get back into Wildlife Biology, somehow. I got a job working with the Utah Department of Wildlife Resources as an Information Tech…the lowest position possible. I spent 5 miserable months commuting to and from Salt Lake City through ugly weather to a job I despised. Derek bought me a new/used 4-Runner as my old one wasn’t going to last much longer doing the commute. I cried a ton over this job…when I got home I was exhausted…I would eat dinner, shower, spend an hour with Derek and fall asleep. In the morning, I would wake up before Derek and leave the house before he ever got up. We hardly saw each other. It was a tough time for us. But, he must’ve still loved me despite lack of time with each other because he proposed to me Christmas Eve.
1 day ago - Back with Bears
Derek, Tim and I went to pull a culvert trap that we set in the hopes of trapping a female grizzly bear. We also went scouting for a new snare site, had lunch at our favorite little lunch spot, ran errands in Kalispell. It was cold and raining…but I get to work in Montana with grizzly bears with my husband by my side! Can’t get any better!
5 Favorite snacks: (favorite not necessarily healthy)
POPCORN!!!!!!
Raisenettes
Peanut Butter cookies
Chai Tea
POPCORN!!!!!!
5 Songs I know the words to:
Any song by Eminem
The Monkees Theme Song
The Itsy Bitsy Spider
Bohemian Rhapsody
Valley Girl (Frank Zappa)
Trapped Inside the Planet of the Rollerskating Bees (Cherry Popping Daddies)
What I would do with Five Million Dollars:
Buy a cabin/second house on the North Fork of the Flathead River
Donate to my nieces’ college fund
Invest responsibly so that I could keep doing my current job and not worry about paying bills
Buy my dream horse and two saddles for it, and another horse to keep it company and so that Derek would have one to ride…and buy some land to put them on.
5 Places I would escape to for a while:
New Zealand
Ireland
Alaska
Vancouver Island/Knight Inlet
A private island
5 Things I would not wear:
Anything indicating any interest in S&M
A business suit-outfit
Anything you would see someone in Wal-Mart on a Saturday afternoon wearing
Bell bottoms
Tube top
5 Favorite T.V. Programs:
Lost
Cops
Airline
Seconds from Disaster
Deadliest Catch
5 Greatest Joys:
My husband
Fancy and Usko
Seeing bears, wolves or mountain lions in the wild
Riding horses
Helping people
5 Favorite Toys:
My 4-runner
Derek’s Landcruiser
LJ
My Swiss Army Knife Multi-tool
My camping gear (tent and cooking stuff)
5 People I will Tag to play (I only know three!):
bonjovigrrrl
Shopperdoc
Wudtrnr
Here it is!
10 years ago - The First Year of the Rest of my Life
I left home after taking a semester off of college and went out to Utah to work on a guest ranch for a summer. Two weeks before my dad was going to come out and drive me back to Virginia, I called to tell him I wasn’t coming back, that I was changing my major. I applied to the University of Montana and would start there the following January. I spent the fall on the ranch while taking some courses in Vernal, Utah. I haven’t looked back.
7 years ago - Graduation Year!
My last year at the University of Montana (December graduation). During that time I traveled to Tucson, Arizona to represent my school along with other students as part of the Wildlife Society Student Chapter at a conclave. I spent a month chasing after wolves in Idaho and spent the last half of the year working for Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks on solving conflicts with black bears and mountain lions. Started a series of “Living With Wildlife” brochures that are still used across the state of Montana today. I had no budget for them, but a few years after I had gone, the state put some money into them so that the graphics are a bit better. I’m tickled!
5 years ago - Bear Conflict Specialist
I spent the first half of the year as the Field Supervisor on a large-scale urban deer project in St. Louis, Missouri. Aching to get back to the west, I received a call from a biologist mentor suggesting I look into working for an organization called the Wind River Bear Institute. I talked with Tim Manley, the Grizzly Bear Management Specialist that contracted with WRBI and was hired by WRBI. I moved back to the west in July and started as a Bear Conflict Specialist working in Montana and Alberta. That October I met my future husband, Derek Reich (didn’t know it at the time…didn’t like him when I first met him!). WRBI was my dream job and I saw myself doing it for the rest of my life!
3 years ago -
I was still with WRBI as a Lead Biologist. April of that year I realized that I was in love with my very best friend, Derek Reich, and took him out to dinner where I explained my feelings for him. That summer saw WRBI work the G8 summit in Kananaskis Country, Alberta. I then went with WRBI to California . I spent the fall behind a desk with WRBI while Tim and another WRBI biologist were begging our boss to send me up to the field to assist with problem bears. Apparently her Lead Biologist was too good at taking care of dogs to lend a hand with problem grizzly bears. It would be my last full year with WRBI.
1 year ago - Torn…but in love!
I spent the firs half of the year working as a veterinary technician, but wanted to get back into Wildlife Biology, somehow. I got a job working with the Utah Department of Wildlife Resources as an Information Tech…the lowest position possible. I spent 5 miserable months commuting to and from Salt Lake City through ugly weather to a job I despised. Derek bought me a new/used 4-Runner as my old one wasn’t going to last much longer doing the commute. I cried a ton over this job…when I got home I was exhausted…I would eat dinner, shower, spend an hour with Derek and fall asleep. In the morning, I would wake up before Derek and leave the house before he ever got up. We hardly saw each other. It was a tough time for us. But, he must’ve still loved me despite lack of time with each other because he proposed to me Christmas Eve.
1 day ago - Back with Bears
Derek, Tim and I went to pull a culvert trap that we set in the hopes of trapping a female grizzly bear. We also went scouting for a new snare site, had lunch at our favorite little lunch spot, ran errands in Kalispell. It was cold and raining…but I get to work in Montana with grizzly bears with my husband by my side! Can’t get any better!
5 Favorite snacks: (favorite not necessarily healthy)
POPCORN!!!!!!
Raisenettes
Peanut Butter cookies
Chai Tea
POPCORN!!!!!!
5 Songs I know the words to:
Any song by Eminem
The Monkees Theme Song
The Itsy Bitsy Spider
Bohemian Rhapsody
Valley Girl (Frank Zappa)
Trapped Inside the Planet of the Rollerskating Bees (Cherry Popping Daddies)
What I would do with Five Million Dollars:
Buy a cabin/second house on the North Fork of the Flathead River
Donate to my nieces’ college fund
Invest responsibly so that I could keep doing my current job and not worry about paying bills
Buy my dream horse and two saddles for it, and another horse to keep it company and so that Derek would have one to ride…and buy some land to put them on.
5 Places I would escape to for a while:
New Zealand
Ireland
Alaska
Vancouver Island/Knight Inlet
A private island
5 Things I would not wear:
Anything indicating any interest in S&M
A business suit-outfit
Anything you would see someone in Wal-Mart on a Saturday afternoon wearing
Bell bottoms
Tube top
5 Favorite T.V. Programs:
Lost
Cops
Airline
Seconds from Disaster
Deadliest Catch
5 Greatest Joys:
My husband
Fancy and Usko
Seeing bears, wolves or mountain lions in the wild
Riding horses
Helping people
5 Favorite Toys:
My 4-runner
Derek’s Landcruiser
LJ
My Swiss Army Knife Multi-tool
My camping gear (tent and cooking stuff)
5 People I will Tag to play (I only know three!):
bonjovigrrrl
Shopperdoc
Wudtrnr