What's under those northern skies....

Ahhhh! I had a great first day on the job.




When I first made it up here on Monday night, my new boss said I shouldn't try to find the place in the dark and offered for me to stay the night at his house with he and his wife. Uh.... nerve racking. Great way to meet the new boss I guess. He was on the interview panel, but still. He's a good guy; says he likes to be personal with his employees, unless it becomes uncomfortable for either side. I took them up on it and they were very gracious and inviting. We had a drink and chatted, met each other's dogs (dogs have such a wonderful skill of brining people together), and then I dragged my cat and 2 dogs into their guest room (so clean and finely decorated - fit for a queen. Add on 2 dogs and a cat) and went to bed.



The next morining I left the same time as my new boss; I went to find my new house and he went to the office to pick up a posse of employees to meet me at my new house and help me unpack. A whole bunch of people showed up, about 15. Met them all, including my two technicians. They all got to see my collection of junk (at least my underwear were taped tightly in a box thanks to Katy :), got comments on my shotgun and skull collection, and had lots of help deciding were to put my 'armoir' (they didn't want to move it more than once :), and help putting my bed back together. A bunch of great people. Another biologist that lives in Bonners Ferry followed me to the U-haul rental return and gave me a lift home after giving me the 5 minute tour of Bonners Ferry - grocery store, gas station, library, grocery store, court house.



I'm a bit nervous about this position in terms of my now being a public figure. Practically a politician. Truly. People will know who I am. I'll be required to participate in several citizens management committees, local resource mng commissions, local hunting group meetings, etc., (was invited to attend a Pheasants Forever meeting held my first night here, before I even got to sleep in my new bed, or even start my job!). People will know where I live, know my emblemed truck, etc. And I've been told lots of stories about people in Bonners Ferry causing trouble and elected officials fighting and bad mouthing the IDFG. Although relations have improved immensley over the past couple of years, alot due to the previous guy in my position. Those are big shoes. Hope I can do this well.


But the sun shone today. My first day went off very well. A more indepth description of my job duties, work set-up for the first week and first month, expectations, people to meet and contacts to make. Next weekend I guess I will be going to the Bonners Ferry gun and knife show to meet many of the local 'players'. Seriuosly. Many of the same people are on the local committees and members of local hunting groups. Those that are invested in natural resource management....or who want things done their way. Anyway, I actually feel very capable of meeting my duties, as challenging as they all are. Like I said, the scariest is the public relations, and that I guess only time will tell.


And I can't wait till some of you can come visit. My boss, Bryan, said my house is mine and I can live like it is. If I want to have a family reunion and have tents and trailers all over my yard...that's fine. Here that ya'all! A GSH Reunion! Or open house for the "Northern Satelite Office" :) How bout Selkirk Mts. Satelite Office....sounds nice. Jodi, aren't the Selkirks another wonder of Idaho.... a must see?

P.S. Did I mention that I saw two shooting stars on my drive out here. One during daylight hours even! And one at night. I'm personally taking it as a sign from that in the heavens that I can expect good things.