Pilot called a couple hours ago. We canceled out yesterday because of the high winds. (Don't know what the winds were, but when the windsock sticks straight out, you probably do not want to be flying close to the ground.) It was a real pleasure to be able to go back home and eat something. Forecast on the weather channel did not look good, with higher winds today, snowing on Saturday and into Sunday, and high wind warnings for Monday. Like most pilots, he preferred to rely on their aviator's weather service. But it said the same thing.

So the question becomes, do you:

a) keep the pilot and fuel truck driver here for four or five days, hoping for a gap in the weather, all the while paying their per diem and losing half your flight money?

b) send the chopper and fuel truck home (paying their ferry time and mileage) for four days and try again next week (paying their ferry time and mileage back down, again eating up a major chunk of your flight money)?

c) send them on to their next job to the west, hoping they can fly there for a day or two (staying at someone else's expense) and then come back early next week?

or d) keep the chopper here, and send the pilot back north with the fuel truck and driver until the storm blows over, still paying mileage but saving ferry and per diem costs.

We settled on option c), but today the storm is already hitting the west side of the state and coming our way fast. So no flying for my compadre to the west.

So it's option d).

The good news is, while I lose the assistance of one warden on Wednesday, the other comes back on Tuesday. I may not have to fly much (or at all, as I am technically on annual leave after today until the end of the year, but that doesn't always matter. Have worked on lots of days when I'm on leave. Best time in the world to get done the things I think are important, rather than what someone else thinks is important).