Human Resources Newsletters

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HUMAN RESOURSES NEWSLETTER

What’s Your Story? – Spotlight - continued

That summer, I had an opportunity to canoe the boundary waters. Spending two weeks in the remote wilderness living on lake water and MREs was a blast. The highlight came when we failed to hang the fish oil in the tree before going to bed. I woke to someone outside the tent grabbing my leg. After repeatedly telling whoever was doing it to “STOP”, I left the tent and discovered a bear. I grabbed a heavy branch and whopped the bear on the butt. It ran into the woods behind the tent. I followed to see what the bear was “doing”. That bear was sprawled out on his belly licking pudding that SOMEONE on this team dumped out. I thought the bear looked so cute I wanted to pet him. Let’s just say that didn’t happen. In college, the university always had a spring concert. This particular year, Bad Company came to perform. I volunteered to be a part of the “roadie” crew. During the concert, I was charged with posting on top of a scaffold 40 feet up with lights and a headset. My job was to take direction and spotlight the performers on stage by cue. It was one of the hardest jobs. I thought it was cool to eat dinner with the band and introduce my baby brother to his rock star idol. While teaching the sciences at the community college where I was employed, I had some adventures outside the classroom. As a 4 th grader, I sustained a broken bones from riding a unbroken horse bareback. After my college class, I decided to ask the locals if I might ride their horses…knowing I hadn’t been on a horse since 4 th grade. The local horse owner said he had a great barrel racing horse and wanted to know if I could ride. My response tongue in cheek was, “of course I can”. Well I mounted the horse and gave commands to have him pick up speed and gallop as fast as he could. I hung on for dear life…until the horse made a 90 degree turn. I hobbled for 2 months trying to heal. I was lucky! I brushed myself off, hobbled to the horse, managed to mount and took him HOME. My husband George and I enjoyed the outdoors each and every day through the commercial hunting operation we owned and operated called The Roost. I met many people from all over the world and felt quite proud when we went to an outdoor expedition in the city and people recognized me….not him. This was before “Lee and Tiffany”. I had a show that aired on the Outdoor Channel before it was cool. Whitetail 101-Bushnell Outdoors hosted by Dave Watson. The focus was the Biology of Deer and the field application by understanding the animal. Camera crews would regularly come to The Roost to film. When one of the camera crew got poison oak in his eyes, I became the ad hoc cameraman. A rainy hunt 40 plus feet in the air hanging off of a “platform stand” the size of a dinner plate, was no easy feat. Add concentration and camera work to boot and what a RUSH! Other than my hunting, the biggest rush…most exhilarating burst…was experienced during my days as a pilot. Yep, I said it. I flew Cessna and Piper aircrafts for fun after teaching at the college. It was common for me to finish teaching Friday, drive to the local air strip (airport) and fly to MO to hunt for the weekend with George. Bag a turkey and fly back Sunday in time for work. For me, connections to adventure, to nature, to people, to common goals and interests…have value. Perspectives differ among people and those who have felt the rush of exhilaration mixed with fear, heard a turkey gobble in the spring, seen a flush of a wild covey of birds or witnessed a 10-point buck chase a doe understand my essence, my determination to live life as an extended ADVENTURE. Because this article is not supposed to be lengthy, I am skipping 98% of my adventures.

AM