Tuesday, January 08, 2008
Politics
I really don't like discussing politics, so this is a rare post for me. A couple of weeks ago, I believe between Christmas and New Years, I got a phone call from the John Edwards Campaign, and they stated he was going to have a meeting/speach in the town South of where I live on Sunday afternoon. I decided to attend this function just to see what it was all about and possibly get to shake the hand of one of the people who have a chance to be elected President of the United States of America.
The event was to begin at 4:00, so I took off from home at about 2:15 for the 15 minute drive and then sat in my truck another 15 or so minutes before venturing inside the restaurant it was being held at. There were probably 15 people inside waiting already, and as the room wasn't quite ready, kind of stacking up in the hallway. I signed in and proceeded to get myself as much out of the way as I could, while still being able to take in the sights of the people coming in. At about 3:15 or so, we were told we could go find a seat, so I took a seat against the South wall of the room. To my left, there were a couple of flags hung, then moving along the West wall was another and then a screen for viewing movies and such.
Just after 4:00, the first speaker took the floor (chairs were arranged around the floor in a circle), and he was the County Democratic Party Chairman. About this time, I look to the door that is behind the flags to my left, and Mr. Edwards and his family are standing there ready to be introduced. Not a good time for approaching him, so I stayed where I was, and listened while the County Chair introduced the State Chair, who then eventually introduced Elizabeth Edwards, who gave a little speech before introducing John.
I was very impressed with his speech and pretty much decided that he was the Candidate I would be supporting in the Iowa Caucus a few days later. Once the speech was over, John posed for some pictures and shook hands on his way back out of the room. I carefully got into position to be one of the people that shook his hand, and it's a good thing I was able to or I would have had to physically attack 2 people that pushed their way past me for the same opportunity.
On to the Iowa Caucus held Thursday, January 3rd. This was the first time in the 20 years I've been eligible to vote that I've taken the opportunity to attend this function. I've voted in every General Election since I've been able, but have usually skipped the Primaries and Caucuses. We had a crowd of 46 voters in the room for our Caucus, which was more than double the attendance in 2004. When we broke into the groups, I held with my intention and went with the Edwards group. The Richardson group (my second choice), was 2 people short of viability, and since my Dad and another guy that I respect a lot were in that group, I switched to theirs, along with another person that got recruited.
Once it was all said and done, Candidates Obama and Clinton had 2 delegates, and Edwards and Richardson each got 1 delegate to the County Convention. I was also selected as an alternate delegate for Richardson, as well as a member of the County Precinct Committee (don't yet know what that entails, first meeting is the 23rd of January).
Well, now that my life is that much more open, I hope I haven't bored anybody out there reading this...or changed your opinion of me for the worse, knowing that I'm sort of Politically active this time around.
Thanks for reading.
The event was to begin at 4:00, so I took off from home at about 2:15 for the 15 minute drive and then sat in my truck another 15 or so minutes before venturing inside the restaurant it was being held at. There were probably 15 people inside waiting already, and as the room wasn't quite ready, kind of stacking up in the hallway. I signed in and proceeded to get myself as much out of the way as I could, while still being able to take in the sights of the people coming in. At about 3:15 or so, we were told we could go find a seat, so I took a seat against the South wall of the room. To my left, there were a couple of flags hung, then moving along the West wall was another and then a screen for viewing movies and such.
Just after 4:00, the first speaker took the floor (chairs were arranged around the floor in a circle), and he was the County Democratic Party Chairman. About this time, I look to the door that is behind the flags to my left, and Mr. Edwards and his family are standing there ready to be introduced. Not a good time for approaching him, so I stayed where I was, and listened while the County Chair introduced the State Chair, who then eventually introduced Elizabeth Edwards, who gave a little speech before introducing John.
I was very impressed with his speech and pretty much decided that he was the Candidate I would be supporting in the Iowa Caucus a few days later. Once the speech was over, John posed for some pictures and shook hands on his way back out of the room. I carefully got into position to be one of the people that shook his hand, and it's a good thing I was able to or I would have had to physically attack 2 people that pushed their way past me for the same opportunity.
On to the Iowa Caucus held Thursday, January 3rd. This was the first time in the 20 years I've been eligible to vote that I've taken the opportunity to attend this function. I've voted in every General Election since I've been able, but have usually skipped the Primaries and Caucuses. We had a crowd of 46 voters in the room for our Caucus, which was more than double the attendance in 2004. When we broke into the groups, I held with my intention and went with the Edwards group. The Richardson group (my second choice), was 2 people short of viability, and since my Dad and another guy that I respect a lot were in that group, I switched to theirs, along with another person that got recruited.
Once it was all said and done, Candidates Obama and Clinton had 2 delegates, and Edwards and Richardson each got 1 delegate to the County Convention. I was also selected as an alternate delegate for Richardson, as well as a member of the County Precinct Committee (don't yet know what that entails, first meeting is the 23rd of January).
Well, now that my life is that much more open, I hope I haven't bored anybody out there reading this...or changed your opinion of me for the worse, knowing that I'm sort of Politically active this time around.
Thanks for reading.
Thursday, December 27, 2007
2 days after Christmas
Hello reader(s), it's that time again to apologize for not posting more often. Since my last post sort of centered around the passing of my bestest buddy, Sherman, I guess I should update you on my emotional state. As late as 2 days ago, I held off from telling Dad something, as I just would not have gotten through it without breaking down and crying. On Christmas Eve, Dad was up at his girlfriend's house and I was at home with our 2 remaining cats...Bela and Sneetch. Bela decided she was going to lay in the living room for once, on a towel we just had in the middle of the floor, and take a nap. She rarely does this (spend time in the same room as me) when Dad's not there. It was nice just having a cat to talk to (if she cared to listen) once again. That's what I miss the most about Sherman...he was always there by my feet (if he wasn't on my lap), ready to listen. He was a pain in the butt about it sometimes, but I miss it nevertheless.
Yesterday morning, Sneetch just had to be a pain in the rear end...about 4:30, she was sitting in the middle of the basement floor, far enough from my bed for me to see her when I woke up. She then proceeded to push the bathroom door fully open (I close it most of the way to let some light out, but open enough so that the girls can walk in to get to their bathroom and dry food dish overnight), causing the light to shine in my eyes brightly. I should have gotten up to close it again, but I didn't want to have to try to get comfortable again in the same or similar position for the final 2 hours or so of sleep. I just slid down and tried to sleep on my side, but it didn't work.
News from the health front. 2 weeks ago, we started a new wrapping process on my leg that's been swelled/swelling for nearly 8 years now. A week ago is the first time in 8 months that my leg didn't leak any fluid out and onto the floor, and has been nicely dry ever since...must be working, at least to some extent. It also seems to be getting some of the fluid out of my leg, as the place where my shin meets the top of my foot, I can actually touch there without going under a fold of skin filled with excess fluid. Last night was a very trying time when we were re-wrapping the leg. Neither Dad or I are in very good physical shape, and we had gotten the under wraps pretty much done and were putting the over wrap on when I told him that I could'nt feel my foot. He then tried to flick at my toes a couple of times, and I couldn't feel it. As we had struggled for about a half hour getting it this far, neither of us was in a very good mood when we had to undo what had been done and start over once the feeling returned to my foot. We did, however find a little bit easier way to do the wrapping. A couple of modifications and possibly a construction project, and we can do it easily.
Well, I hope you had a Merry Christmas, and I wish you the best in the New Year.
Yesterday morning, Sneetch just had to be a pain in the rear end...about 4:30, she was sitting in the middle of the basement floor, far enough from my bed for me to see her when I woke up. She then proceeded to push the bathroom door fully open (I close it most of the way to let some light out, but open enough so that the girls can walk in to get to their bathroom and dry food dish overnight), causing the light to shine in my eyes brightly. I should have gotten up to close it again, but I didn't want to have to try to get comfortable again in the same or similar position for the final 2 hours or so of sleep. I just slid down and tried to sleep on my side, but it didn't work.
News from the health front. 2 weeks ago, we started a new wrapping process on my leg that's been swelled/swelling for nearly 8 years now. A week ago is the first time in 8 months that my leg didn't leak any fluid out and onto the floor, and has been nicely dry ever since...must be working, at least to some extent. It also seems to be getting some of the fluid out of my leg, as the place where my shin meets the top of my foot, I can actually touch there without going under a fold of skin filled with excess fluid. Last night was a very trying time when we were re-wrapping the leg. Neither Dad or I are in very good physical shape, and we had gotten the under wraps pretty much done and were putting the over wrap on when I told him that I could'nt feel my foot. He then tried to flick at my toes a couple of times, and I couldn't feel it. As we had struggled for about a half hour getting it this far, neither of us was in a very good mood when we had to undo what had been done and start over once the feeling returned to my foot. We did, however find a little bit easier way to do the wrapping. A couple of modifications and possibly a construction project, and we can do it easily.
Well, I hope you had a Merry Christmas, and I wish you the best in the New Year.
Thursday, November 29, 2007
Been gone too long again
Hi. I'm going to start with some bad news, as I know that my lone remaining reader can relate to it. On November 12th, I lost my best buddy in the whole world...my cat Sherman. He hadn't been doing real good all summer, seeming to battle a neverending case of the sniffles. On Sunday the 11th, I noticed his left eye didn't look right, so I picked him up and looked closer. The eye was pretty much blocked off by some "mattery" stuff that had dried in place. I took a washcloth and wiped at it, it moved without him trying to get away so I continued and did get it off, revealing his real eye.
I gave him a hug and started to apologize for letting it get that bad without me noticing it, and he stuck his paw up to my lips, sort of as if to say "don't worry about it, I feel better now and you fixed it".
On his last day, he was laying between the living room and dining room, but still strong enough to say "Good Morning" as I walked by to get stuff ready to wrap my leg for the day. A short while later, while watching TV before going to work, I saw him get up and walk toward the hall that leads to the bathroom, he stumbled a bit, but then continued on his way. He then let out a wierd sound, so I went to check on him, he was laying down, but still living. I pretty much knew at that point that the time had come to say goodbye.
There was nothing I could do, so I left for work and told Dad about it, and that he'd probably find Sherman deceased when he went home for lunch, and that's exactly what happened.
Upon realizing just how long he'd been my buddy compared to other people in my life, it made sense, but at the time I couldn't figure out why I was crying more over the loss of a cat than I had for many of the PEOPLE who I've gone to funerals for (I gotta know somebody pretty well to go to their funeral). I had contact with him almost daily for nearly 16 years. My next best friends, I had met prior to meeting Sherman, but didn't become friends with them until a few years later. I can't believe that almost 2 weeks later, I'm still getting choked up typing this.
Anyway, enough of the sad stuff. On a happier note, I went to Thanksgiving Dinner with my Aunt, her Daughter, Son-in-law, 2 granddaughters, and another Nephew, at a restaurant that had a buffet for both Dinner and Supper crowds. I didn't stuff myself for once, only hit the buffet line once and didn't pile the plates 2 feet high.
I had also bought a Turkey earlier in the week that I was intending to roast for myself and try my hand at making some gravy. Well, when the location changed from my Aunt's basement to a restaurant that I could easily walk into, that plan changed and I suddenly had a project for my smoker. On Saturday evening, I put some water in a big pot, added half a bag of Morton Tender Quick (basically a curing agent), set the turkey in there, and topped the water off to cover the bird. Since I didn't really have a cool place to put the bird and the sink under the kitchen window stays cool anyway, I just poured ice in the sink around the pot and covered with foil and some insulating material.
On Sunday, I pulled the Turkey from the brine and transferred to a rack at about 1:30, then went and started preheating the smoker. About 2:45 I took the bird and 4 hours worth of Hickory Bisquettes and started smoking it at 250*. Five hours later I looked at my remote thermometer and it had dropped the signal, so I went out to the sender to see the temp of the bird and it said 159. That was good for me, so I unplugged the smoker and took the bird inside to cool a bit over the sink. A couple of hours later, it was time to carve and de-bone the bird and I set to it with my nice sharp Santuko knife, tasting a few of the delicious morsels as I went.
This project had the least amount of thought and effort put into it than any other, and I have to say the results are some of the best I've done.
I gave him a hug and started to apologize for letting it get that bad without me noticing it, and he stuck his paw up to my lips, sort of as if to say "don't worry about it, I feel better now and you fixed it".
On his last day, he was laying between the living room and dining room, but still strong enough to say "Good Morning" as I walked by to get stuff ready to wrap my leg for the day. A short while later, while watching TV before going to work, I saw him get up and walk toward the hall that leads to the bathroom, he stumbled a bit, but then continued on his way. He then let out a wierd sound, so I went to check on him, he was laying down, but still living. I pretty much knew at that point that the time had come to say goodbye.
There was nothing I could do, so I left for work and told Dad about it, and that he'd probably find Sherman deceased when he went home for lunch, and that's exactly what happened.
Upon realizing just how long he'd been my buddy compared to other people in my life, it made sense, but at the time I couldn't figure out why I was crying more over the loss of a cat than I had for many of the PEOPLE who I've gone to funerals for (I gotta know somebody pretty well to go to their funeral). I had contact with him almost daily for nearly 16 years. My next best friends, I had met prior to meeting Sherman, but didn't become friends with them until a few years later. I can't believe that almost 2 weeks later, I'm still getting choked up typing this.
Anyway, enough of the sad stuff. On a happier note, I went to Thanksgiving Dinner with my Aunt, her Daughter, Son-in-law, 2 granddaughters, and another Nephew, at a restaurant that had a buffet for both Dinner and Supper crowds. I didn't stuff myself for once, only hit the buffet line once and didn't pile the plates 2 feet high.
I had also bought a Turkey earlier in the week that I was intending to roast for myself and try my hand at making some gravy. Well, when the location changed from my Aunt's basement to a restaurant that I could easily walk into, that plan changed and I suddenly had a project for my smoker. On Saturday evening, I put some water in a big pot, added half a bag of Morton Tender Quick (basically a curing agent), set the turkey in there, and topped the water off to cover the bird. Since I didn't really have a cool place to put the bird and the sink under the kitchen window stays cool anyway, I just poured ice in the sink around the pot and covered with foil and some insulating material.
On Sunday, I pulled the Turkey from the brine and transferred to a rack at about 1:30, then went and started preheating the smoker. About 2:45 I took the bird and 4 hours worth of Hickory Bisquettes and started smoking it at 250*. Five hours later I looked at my remote thermometer and it had dropped the signal, so I went out to the sender to see the temp of the bird and it said 159. That was good for me, so I unplugged the smoker and took the bird inside to cool a bit over the sink. A couple of hours later, it was time to carve and de-bone the bird and I set to it with my nice sharp Santuko knife, tasting a few of the delicious morsels as I went.
This project had the least amount of thought and effort put into it than any other, and I have to say the results are some of the best I've done.
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Is this thing on?
Hi, anybody who may stop by and read this. I've been MIA from here for a while, but kinda hope to get back into it.
My last post told of my getting a new business venture off the ground, selling Bradley Smokers and Accessories. I'm happy to say that I have sold 3 smokers and several boxes of the bisquettes that are burned to smoke the food. I also have 3 of the cheaper model smokers on backorder (hopefully only until the end of the month at latest), and quite possibly have them sold as soon as they come in the door.
Leg is still leaking badly...should probably go see the Doctor once, especially since I've noticed a little infection in the other leg again now. He'll probably cuss me out for not taking the fluid pills he prescribed, but I do have a couple of good excuses. First is that they don't seem to be helping the leg when I'm on them, and the second is that after a few days on them, I get a kind of a pain in the left side of my belly area....has happened the last 3 times I started on them.
Fire Department. Well, no real interesting calls, but during Fire Prevention Week last week, we held a Fundraising picnic. Haven't heard the tally yet, but I was told the crowd was really good. I spent the evening out with the grillers as I had been in charge of getting the food for the cookout, and spent the afternoon cutting the 560+ buns for the hamburgers and hot dogs. The place I had to order from never asked if I wanted them cut, so I assumed they would be...I'll know better if I do it again next year.
On August 19th, I bought a new Cell Phone, and set off on a quest to have my number ported from my old service provider (Alltel) to the new one (TracFone). After 13+ hours on the phone with Tech Support and Number Portability Departments from both companies, spread over 50 days, I finally had a working phone on October 9th.
Well, I think that's about it from this go-round. I hope it isn't so long until the next one, I really do enjoy writing here, I just don't do it enough.
My last post told of my getting a new business venture off the ground, selling Bradley Smokers and Accessories. I'm happy to say that I have sold 3 smokers and several boxes of the bisquettes that are burned to smoke the food. I also have 3 of the cheaper model smokers on backorder (hopefully only until the end of the month at latest), and quite possibly have them sold as soon as they come in the door.
Leg is still leaking badly...should probably go see the Doctor once, especially since I've noticed a little infection in the other leg again now. He'll probably cuss me out for not taking the fluid pills he prescribed, but I do have a couple of good excuses. First is that they don't seem to be helping the leg when I'm on them, and the second is that after a few days on them, I get a kind of a pain in the left side of my belly area....has happened the last 3 times I started on them.
Fire Department. Well, no real interesting calls, but during Fire Prevention Week last week, we held a Fundraising picnic. Haven't heard the tally yet, but I was told the crowd was really good. I spent the evening out with the grillers as I had been in charge of getting the food for the cookout, and spent the afternoon cutting the 560+ buns for the hamburgers and hot dogs. The place I had to order from never asked if I wanted them cut, so I assumed they would be...I'll know better if I do it again next year.
On August 19th, I bought a new Cell Phone, and set off on a quest to have my number ported from my old service provider (Alltel) to the new one (TracFone). After 13+ hours on the phone with Tech Support and Number Portability Departments from both companies, spread over 50 days, I finally had a working phone on October 9th.
Well, I think that's about it from this go-round. I hope it isn't so long until the next one, I really do enjoy writing here, I just don't do it enough.
Friday, August 03, 2007
Got a little update for ya
I mentioned in my last post that I had started a new business venture and was waiting on my new inventory. Well, I got impatient on Wednesday and made a call to the company to see if/when they were planning on shipping the product. They couldn't check on it, so they took my number and said they'd have to call me back. An hour later, still nothing, so I decided to check the online status thing again, and lo and behold, the status was changed to "shipped" (an hour and 10 minutes earlier, it was still "processing"). There was also a tracking number for Fed Ex, so I clicked on that and saw that the shipment was shipped the day before, and would arrive the following day.
Then came the wait on Thursday. This is the main reason I prefer UPS over Fed Ex. With UPS, I have my shipments by 10 AM or so, if they're arriving that day. The Fed Ex truck finally showed up at 3:30 PM.
Before I could play with them, I had to deliver some pop and beer to the Fire Station for our meeting that would be taking place later that evening, so I took care of that. Got back at about 5:00 (had to pack it all into the coolers so I only would have to ice them after work). Totally worn out at this point, as it was a long hot day, and carrying the pop and beer took a lot out of me. Sadly, I waited until this morning to unpack the 4 Rack Digital smoker and get it displayed, as well as displaying the bisquettes that weren't yet spoken for/sold. I also took one on my sales call, as my friends/customers there had ordered one of the ones that are backordered, and I was hoping to upgrade them to this one. So far, they haven't jumped at my offer.
Had a long day yesterday. In the afternoon, there was a big Ethanol leak in the town South of mine, that required our department as Mutual Aid (several others too). I didn't go there, but I did go to the station so I could get my report info together. After work, I dropped the ice off at the Fire Station, and relayed that I would go to training, but not the meeting...just plain wore out...left from there to get my cooler from home for some bottled water and Gatorade for the guys during training (chief caught me after the ice and told me to get it). As I was calling the convenience store to get that stuff together, something was paged, but I turned the radio down and missed it, and almost simultaneously, one of our firefighters called for assistance at an accident near the c-store I was going to. I'm not sure if we got paged on this or not.
Anyway, we got that taken care of (I picked up the stuff before responding to the accident), it was training time, actually a half hour later than it was supposed to start. I finally got home at 8:00 and got my soaking wet and heavy wrapping and towel off my leg (towel was to prevent fluid from going to the floor...didn't totally prevent this).
Have a good one.
Then came the wait on Thursday. This is the main reason I prefer UPS over Fed Ex. With UPS, I have my shipments by 10 AM or so, if they're arriving that day. The Fed Ex truck finally showed up at 3:30 PM.
Before I could play with them, I had to deliver some pop and beer to the Fire Station for our meeting that would be taking place later that evening, so I took care of that. Got back at about 5:00 (had to pack it all into the coolers so I only would have to ice them after work). Totally worn out at this point, as it was a long hot day, and carrying the pop and beer took a lot out of me. Sadly, I waited until this morning to unpack the 4 Rack Digital smoker and get it displayed, as well as displaying the bisquettes that weren't yet spoken for/sold. I also took one on my sales call, as my friends/customers there had ordered one of the ones that are backordered, and I was hoping to upgrade them to this one. So far, they haven't jumped at my offer.
Had a long day yesterday. In the afternoon, there was a big Ethanol leak in the town South of mine, that required our department as Mutual Aid (several others too). I didn't go there, but I did go to the station so I could get my report info together. After work, I dropped the ice off at the Fire Station, and relayed that I would go to training, but not the meeting...just plain wore out...left from there to get my cooler from home for some bottled water and Gatorade for the guys during training (chief caught me after the ice and told me to get it). As I was calling the convenience store to get that stuff together, something was paged, but I turned the radio down and missed it, and almost simultaneously, one of our firefighters called for assistance at an accident near the c-store I was going to. I'm not sure if we got paged on this or not.
Anyway, we got that taken care of (I picked up the stuff before responding to the accident), it was training time, actually a half hour later than it was supposed to start. I finally got home at 8:00 and got my soaking wet and heavy wrapping and towel off my leg (towel was to prevent fluid from going to the floor...didn't totally prevent this).
Have a good one.
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Hi..do I have any readers left?
If so, thank you for sticking by me and continuing to read the same post that's been there for almost 2 months. I really have no excuse for not posting more often.
Anyway, time to get ya up to speed on what's been going on in my corner of the universe. Nothing new on the health front, leg continues to drain, soaking my daily bandages in the process, as well as the floor under my chair. I've been over on Dad's chair as much as possible, as it doesn't put the pressure on it forcing fluid out like mine does for some reason.
Nothing new on weight loss...of course I haven't been doing much to spur it along, or even get it started.
Love life? That wasn't even around, and still isn't.
Business...ah, there we go, have some news there. I like my Bradley Smoker so much I decided to try to become a dealer. Went through the credit application, submitted it just before July Fourth (I think the Friday before), kept in touch with them until I knew it was approved on July 13th. Got one sold to a buddy so I could place my initial order of 3 smokers on Wednesday the 25th, and am now waiting for them to come in. Had a minor issue with the order entry people not getting it sent on, and then with the order itself...seems they're out of the model that I wanted 2 of, so I had to replace that with the next higher model. The order has now hit the processing stage (did that Friday the 27th), and now I'm waiting on it to change to shipped...giving them until Friday or I'll make another call.
We're also doing a little restructuring of our inventory lines. Not gonna go into it, just say that we're changing our approach on the Auto Parts front, still staying with NAPA though.
Well, I had another item, but lost it while typing...if I think of it, I'll post it later.
Thanks for reading.
Anyway, time to get ya up to speed on what's been going on in my corner of the universe. Nothing new on the health front, leg continues to drain, soaking my daily bandages in the process, as well as the floor under my chair. I've been over on Dad's chair as much as possible, as it doesn't put the pressure on it forcing fluid out like mine does for some reason.
Nothing new on weight loss...of course I haven't been doing much to spur it along, or even get it started.
Love life? That wasn't even around, and still isn't.
Business...ah, there we go, have some news there. I like my Bradley Smoker so much I decided to try to become a dealer. Went through the credit application, submitted it just before July Fourth (I think the Friday before), kept in touch with them until I knew it was approved on July 13th. Got one sold to a buddy so I could place my initial order of 3 smokers on Wednesday the 25th, and am now waiting for them to come in. Had a minor issue with the order entry people not getting it sent on, and then with the order itself...seems they're out of the model that I wanted 2 of, so I had to replace that with the next higher model. The order has now hit the processing stage (did that Friday the 27th), and now I'm waiting on it to change to shipped...giving them until Friday or I'll make another call.
We're also doing a little restructuring of our inventory lines. Not gonna go into it, just say that we're changing our approach on the Auto Parts front, still staying with NAPA though.
Well, I had another item, but lost it while typing...if I think of it, I'll post it later.
Thanks for reading.
Thursday, June 07, 2007
HI, Miss me?
Well, I guess I took the last month off from writing here. I didn't intend to, but I could never think of anything blogworthy.
Health wise, I'm doing alright...no better, no worse, just holding my own I guess. Had a pretty exciting afternoon with the Fire Department on Tuesday of this week. About 2:30 in the afternoon, we got called for a guy who had taken a huge amount of a prescription drug he was given that morning after a trip to ER with a sliced wrist. We showed up with a light turnout (me and 3 others who actually worked with the patient). When I got to the scene, one of our guys came out to the EMS unit and got on the radio to call for a Deputy assist as the patient was not cooperating. Couple of minutes later, our other 2 responders came out as they had given up on trying to treat him without law enforcement there.
We were watching the doors when a guy (I didn't know at the time that he was the patient) came out of the house and started running. Since my fellow department members didn't give chase, it continued my ignorance of him being the patient, and by the time I safely backed up to give pursuit, I lost sight of him. I met the deputy after I had driven a block, and apparently we crossed the path of the runner, but didn't see him. A few minutes into the chase, we hear that he's possibly going to another house about 5 blocks away to get a gun, so the deputy speeds that direction, and I follow, if for no other reason than to call for help if the deputy gets shot/shot at. For some reason, I wasn't too concerned for my safety until the reality hit when I saw a trusted source carrying the gun out of the house to give to the deputy. I then thought I was pretty stupid to be sitting there watching this unfold.
Less than 10 minutes after word of the gun went over the radio, our town was inundated with law enforcement. 6 deputies, 1 State Patrol, 1 deputy from the county North of here, 4 DEA/DCI/FBI (I'm not sure, 2 suits, 2 "undercover" guys), and I think a couple more for good measure were meeting with us and the ambulance crew, getting a plan of action put together. About a half hour after this meeting, the guy was in police custody, with plans to be committed to the State Mental Facility.
It was fun....scary for a bit, but overall, a fun afternoon that might not have seemed that way at the time.
I'll try to keep blogging, but anymore I need something exciting to say...sorry. :D
Health wise, I'm doing alright...no better, no worse, just holding my own I guess. Had a pretty exciting afternoon with the Fire Department on Tuesday of this week. About 2:30 in the afternoon, we got called for a guy who had taken a huge amount of a prescription drug he was given that morning after a trip to ER with a sliced wrist. We showed up with a light turnout (me and 3 others who actually worked with the patient). When I got to the scene, one of our guys came out to the EMS unit and got on the radio to call for a Deputy assist as the patient was not cooperating. Couple of minutes later, our other 2 responders came out as they had given up on trying to treat him without law enforcement there.
We were watching the doors when a guy (I didn't know at the time that he was the patient) came out of the house and started running. Since my fellow department members didn't give chase, it continued my ignorance of him being the patient, and by the time I safely backed up to give pursuit, I lost sight of him. I met the deputy after I had driven a block, and apparently we crossed the path of the runner, but didn't see him. A few minutes into the chase, we hear that he's possibly going to another house about 5 blocks away to get a gun, so the deputy speeds that direction, and I follow, if for no other reason than to call for help if the deputy gets shot/shot at. For some reason, I wasn't too concerned for my safety until the reality hit when I saw a trusted source carrying the gun out of the house to give to the deputy. I then thought I was pretty stupid to be sitting there watching this unfold.
Less than 10 minutes after word of the gun went over the radio, our town was inundated with law enforcement. 6 deputies, 1 State Patrol, 1 deputy from the county North of here, 4 DEA/DCI/FBI (I'm not sure, 2 suits, 2 "undercover" guys), and I think a couple more for good measure were meeting with us and the ambulance crew, getting a plan of action put together. About a half hour after this meeting, the guy was in police custody, with plans to be committed to the State Mental Facility.
It was fun....scary for a bit, but overall, a fun afternoon that might not have seemed that way at the time.
I'll try to keep blogging, but anymore I need something exciting to say...sorry. :D
