different kind of tired

I know, I know. I haven't been posting as much as I would like. During much of my free time (the little I have), I have been writing on my thesis like a good graduate student. I need to get myself grad-ee-ated. To complicate my schedule, several days of my work week have been spent working in Natural Resources, doing the work of a biology technician. So far, that has been comprised of killing exotic, invasive plants and chipping the results. Read: physical labor.

I do not think on my toes the same way I do as "ranger." I do not have to constantly pull mental files to answer questions. I do not have to make calls, plan events, deal with massive numbers of school school children, sit in meetings (and receive sucking head wounds), or type out reports. I can tell the difference by looking at my typing hands.

When I work inside, I do not have to cut plants, spray herbicide, and shove tree limbs and trunks into a wood chipper. When I work inside, I do not come home with dirt under my fingernails and scratches from my hands to my shoulders. When I work inside, I can come home to shave my legs without having to see the many shades of blue, orange, purple, and pink bruising covering my legs or avoid the scrapes (heaven-forbid I run a razor over those open wounds). When I work inside, my hair stays neatly pinned to my head and, generally, no mascara runs ( I don't even bother with makeup on my resource days).

After I come home from a day of working in Natural Resources, I am not only physically tired, I smell HORRIBLE, have dirt streaks on my face, sticks in my hair, particles of nature in my waistband, hair sticking in every direction manageable, and spots of blue skin from where the herbicide soaked through my clothes. The very last thing I want to do is... anything but shower and sleep. I am still trying to get into my swing of things.

The cover for the handle of the chipper. I love it.


I show felled trees no mercy.