It Takes All Kinds

This evening I sat down to do my weekly mani/pedi (yes, I was pampering myself. I figured that every homeschooling mom needs one vice. This is mine. Salon quality, Walmart prices. DIY, baby.)and the tones went off. No surprise. It is pretty standard. Nail polish goes on, tones go off. So anyway, I was just starting my mani/pedi when our tones went off for the ambulance. I sighed, rolled my eyes, I am sure, and set aside my "Preppy in Pink" nail polish. I grabbed a light coat (remember yesterday's post?), put on my striped barn boots (rubber boots, Wellingtons, whatever), and headed out the door. I arrived at the fire hall, parked, grabbed my bag and ran to the ambulance. We were off.

After about 90 seconds on the road, I began to second guess who my driver was. We were careening around corners and bouncing over every bump. Quite unusual for the driver I had tonight. Arriving on scene in record time, I jumped out of the ambulance with my hands covered in a gorgeous blue latex free glove, my jump bag over one shoulder and clipboard in the other hand. I walked over to the little car at the side of the road, introduced myself, and began asking the pertinent questions. Only to find out this:

Driver A and Passenger B were driving down the road when Little Dog C needed to... potty..... Driver A slowly pulled off the road onto a patch of what appeared to be dead grass and Passenger B proceeded to take Little Dog C out to.... potty. Little Dog C finished its business and Passenger B and Little Dog C returned to the car. Driver A put the car in gear and applied the gas only to find that all three of them were stuck in the mud.... The little car would just not go anywhere. Passenger B called her husband who met them at the side of the road and Mr. Passenger B then called for a tow truck. Somewhere along the line, a Good Samaritan who was passing by decided to do their Good Samaritanly duty and call 911 to report the .... accident... that they had just driven by. At that time, 911 did their job and toned us out for the MVA. Hence the interruption to my mani/pedi and our manic drive down the bumpy road. Now, let me tell you: one of the things that we are strongly encouraged to do (after we establish SAFETY) is this - remain professional AT. ALL. TIMES.

Yeah. About that. I slipped today. When Driver A finally stated (and by finally, I do mean FINALLY. This was not the first piece of information that was given to me. If the shoe had been on the other foot, that would have been the FIRST piece of information I would have gotten across. But that is just me.) that there had been no accident, I broke. I admit it. I snickered. What else was I to do? I quickly pulled myself together, got my information for my paperwork, and returned to the ambulance so we could go home. Here is my plea to you. If you ever find yourself in a situation where you have the opportunity to play Good Samaritan, could you pull over and find out if there was an actual accident first? That would be really helpful. This type of thing happens relatively frequently. It just isn't always this amusing. Ah well. Back to my mani/pedi.

Priceless

Yearly dues for membership at F-town Volunteer Fire Department:

$5.00


Flippers, Mask and Snorkel set from KMart:
























$30.00


Needing your newly purchased scuba gear to respond to a call for a car in the reservoir and finding out that said car was in said reservoir because the owner of the local porn shop was mad at the fire department so he drove his car to the reservoir to "drink some beers, look at the stars and cool off" and then accidentally put said car in drive instead of reverse *whew*:

PRICELESS

*CHICK FLAIL!!*

I PASSED!!! With flying colors, no less!! The state average is 83. I got a 93!!! Here it is:

Hypocritical maybe?

Today I got a chance to see my friendly nearly neighbor and physician. I went in for a check-up and my HEP B vaccination. The nurse gave me the paperwork on it and I started reading:

Who should get hepatitis B vaccine and when?
Children and Adolescents
• All children .... blah blah blah, not me, don't care right now, skip that part....
• Children ... skip that one, too. The hot pink paper just didn't make it interesting enough to read that part...
• All unvaccinated adults at risk for HBV infection should be vaccinated. This includes:
- sex partners of people infected with HBV, (uh, no.)
- men who have sex with men, (eek! Number one, not a man. Number two, that is just so wrong.)
- people who inject street drugs, (nope, don't do drugs...)
- people with more than one sex partner, (at this point, I am REALLY starting to wonder why I just subjected myself to the sheer toture of a needle.....)
- people with chronic liver or kidney disease, (not me, healthy as a horse over here...)
- people with jobs that expose them to human blood, (OOOOOOHHHHHHHH, THERE I am..... ok, quit reading now.....)

Now I feel better.... I had a logical reason for putting myself through that... I guess. I hear it is mandatory for EMT's to get it done. Yay. So, I jumped into this field for WHAT reason? Wait, it will come back to me eventually...

Anyway, on to the hypocritical part: I was sitting in the exam room, already slightly nervous because I had more things to deal with at the doctor's than just the shots. And, honestly, I completely forgot I was getting them til I looked up and saw the little menacing vials sitting there on the counter, laughing at me. Really, they were. My nurse read through my paperwork and mentioned said laughing vials, sending me into a nervous twitch. She laughed and said perhaps a dose or two of Valium would be appropriate at this point, then proceeded to take my blood pressure. What good timing. What is hypocritical about any of this? you may ask..... Because, needles really do make me freak out. I start to shake, my palms get all sweaty, and at times I wonder if I will end up passing out.... Yet, on our rig, anytime the needles come out for drawing blood and starting IV's and the patient starts to panic, I calmly bend over them, gently place my hands on their face, tell them to just look in my eyes, and say, "it will all be ok. This is not a big deal. You can do this...." Meanwhile, if it was ME on that cot, I'd be heading for a full blown anxiety attack. I have one more shot in the series left... maybe I can do better on that one.

Feeling Frazzled

As of RIGHT NOW I have just under seven and a half hours to go before my test starts. And we have a camp out birthday party tomorrow and there is... well, basically EVERYTHING... that needs to get done around the house. I just got up a little while ago (ah, life on second shift) and already I feel like my head is spinning around as if in need of the Exorcist. I just want to go back into my room, crawl back on my bed, bury myself under the covers and remain in the fetal position til sometime next week..........

But I can't do that, so I am going to take a deep breath.... and another..... and one more for good measure...... and remember that "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." So I will "be anxious for nothing, but in everything (including tests and the structure of my day) by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, (I will) let (my) requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding will guard (my) heart and mind through Christ Jesus." *Philippians 4:13 and 6-7 respectively. Parenthesis my own alterations and additions.*

Almost Done!!

Well, tonight was my LAST class.... For the next two years and three months, anyway. Today was just a final review in prep for the BIG TEST on Thursday. I have found that I am stronger in some areas than I thought I was and that I do need the work I thought I needed in others. Overall, if I had to take the test this minute (well, aside from being exhausted), I would pass....

Back to the books.... I will be done soon.

Accomplished

I did it!!!!! I had my practical exams for EMT-B tonight and I ACED them!!! Woo hoo!! Now I just have our written state exam next Thursday and I'll be done! *happy dance*

'Tis the Season

Remember the helper? And the fire he was so willing to help with? Well, this picture showed up on the front page along with an article about said fire the following day:


















And on the day this picture was published we were out fighting ANOTHER fire. ALL. DAY. LONG. On a big hill. With lots of woods and brush. And several very nice, very expensive homes. No, none of the homes were damaged. Just their backyards/woods. Because one of the homeowners decided that such a breezy (I do mean BREEZY) and warm (I also mean warm.... if you are dealing with flames, turnout gear, hoses, hills and walking) day was PERFECT for burning their pile of leaves at the edge of their woods. Um........... I think all I can say at this point in time without getting rude is "WOW." Last I knew, twenty-three (yes, you read that right, 23) fire companies responded for this fire. And fought it for two days. *sigh* Spring is one of my favorite seasons. I love the smell, I love everything starting to grow again and turn green. But I get slightly irritated and really tired when everything is very very very very very dry because of VERY LITTLE rain, and people get the brainy idea that "today would be a good day to burn stuff!" Especially when we go to the same hill with the same woods and brush several times every year. You'd think they'd learn......

But, hey, the guy in the photo? I think he's pretty hot. AND, we are VERY thankful for his job and bosses.... Not only were they great about our fire chief calling him out of work two days in a row, but they pay him for his time lost to boot....

At Least He Wants to Help

This morning we took the kids for their first trail ride.... A couple spills, but they are none the worse for wear. They did GREAT. The Boy loved it and the Girl would like to continue to blaze her way around the farm. She is a little less inclined to dive into something brand new... Even if it is just a new trail. While we were out riding, we passed our neighbors house and they were burning a small junk pile. How fun! We then returned home and got cleaned up and ate.

Just after lunchsupperdinner today, our fire company got toned out for a brush fire. I grabbed our gear and ran out the door and look up the hill.... And saw a HUGE column of billowing black smoke. I knew right where it was coming from... That little burning junk pile was now burning something that definitely should not be burning. I got to the fire hall and met J there (he had been on his way to work and turned around) and away we went along with the rest of our crew. Now, today was not overly warm, but in turnout gear at a fire on a hill hauling fire hoses, it is HOT. I called our cousin's/neighbor's house and asked them to send the Boy up to the top of the hill with water. I SO desperately needed a drink. However, somewhere in the message passing, there was a mix-up. Half an hour went by and I called back.... Is he coming with water? Several minutes later, the Boy called from his aunt's phone and asked if the fire company had gotten the fire out or did I still need him to bring water. "I only have five buckets full. Do I need to bring more?"

Um, Bud, I AM the fire company and I have a tanker and an engine and they work together to pump tons of water onto the fire... No, I don't need any buckets of water. But I sure would love a Nalgene filled with ice cold water if you could work that out for me.......

What is going on?

Yesterday marked two weeks since the tragedy. Saturday J and I drove by their house on our way to our friends' home. Road crews had covered over the skid marks in front of the house.... My heart re-broke for the family. Sunday I read about this incident on my brother and sister-in-law's page and last night at class some of my co-workers were talking about this - a couple of them were on the scene responders. Is there a rise in tragedies or am I just that much more aware of it because of my job? My heart goes out to every responder and family member and friend that has been touched by these tragedies that our area has faced in the past couple weeks. Part of me is so thankful that our crew has only been called to one of them and that the other two were in different townships. I am not sure how much direct involvement I could take right now.... each person in each of these three tragedies was too young to go. What is going on??

Still Small Voice?

The alarm went off at *shudder* 3:30 this morning and the VERY tiny part of my brain that was SLIGHTLY awake rationalized that if I did not move, J would KNOW I wasn't getting up with him this morning and I wouldn't have to work up the energy to actually say so. Plus, not moving at all was very easy. BUT... I had to... um... pee... and that kept me awake. I argued with myself for a few minutes on the pros and cons of staying in bed anyway. I REALLY did not want to get out of my warm cozy bed. BUT, the knowledge that if I didn't get up right then and go, by the time I did get up (only a couple hours later, give or take one, or maybe two) my kidneys would be screaming at me. So, I got up. Then went DIRECTLY back to bed. And couldn't get back to sleep. *sigh* I would close my eyes and have all these thoughts about having to respond to the scene of an accident and the people involved be my children who were out with their aunt and I would instruct the ALS responders and our drivers to load my two children in my ambulance together so I did not have to choose between them. They could take the sister-in-law that was dumb enough to wreck her car with my babies in it.... Er... Oh.... Breath... I climbed on top of those thoughts, rebuked and prayed protection over my kids, my hubby and extended family. Then snuggled back into the bed, closed my eyes and attempted to sleep.... I then was either thinking (seriously, I can shut my brain off sometimes! I think.... If I try really hard.......) or dreaming about responding to an accident and the driver was not injured, just shaken and wanted to "sign off".

We always have to respond to a car accident once we are toned out for it, but sometimes people just get their car into a ditch, maybe deploy their airbags and are not really hurt, but it is always a good idea to just get looked over. We then advise them of their "rights" (no, not like Miranda Rights) tell them all of the possible things that could happen after a car accident, even if you don't feel bad then. Blah blah blah....

So, back to the thoughts/dreams/whatever..... I was talking to someone who had been in an accident and didn't want to go to the hospital and I was telling him how your brain will slosh around when you are involved in accidents like that. Your body is stopped by the seatbelt and/or airbag, but your brain has room to move (this would be the whole reason for "don't shake the baby....") so problems can become evident later. A few minutes after six our tones went off for a possible MVA and away I went. Half an hour later guess what I was doing? Yep, along with my team, explaining to this guy what his brain is like and what can happen with it. Huh.

One of the things that I have noticed is that many times I will be going about my day and the thought of getting called out will cross my mind or I'll just get this feeling that we will be called out sometime that day. When I do get that thought, we usually do get called out for something that day. So, I am thinking that those thoughts or feelings might be that "still small voice" from God. Now what? Am I just supposed to be prepared or is this something for me to be able to intercede for situations before-hand??

Explanations for Hard Lessons

There are no explanations for why some things happen. At least no easy ones. But because my last post was so... odd... for me, I thought that titling this post "Explanations for Hard Lessons" was my best bet. It started Monday evening......

I was throwing dinner together (literally) because I had to be out the door within 20 minutes to get to school on time. I had not previously planned dinner better because I spent the better part of the day curled on the couch wishing to just pass out because I felt so sick. My family was not willing to accept an icky tasteless frozen lasagna. No offense if that is what any of you serve. There is nothing wrong with them, they are just an inappropriate fare in this household of stay-at-home mom and stay-at-home-and-learn-about-life-including-how-to-cook children. Daddy doesn't go for it. Tacos it was....

I had eaten and just finished brushing my teeth and J had come in to kiss me goodbye when our tones went off.... I grabbed my school books while the pager was still beeping and started towards the door, an ear tuned to the speaker, figuring we would do the run quickly and then I would head to school.... The EMT instructor would surely understand that I was late for being on a call...... Then the words came through the pager and started that cut right into my heart: "....Two year old struck by a vehicle and is not breathing...." Any one of those is bad, but to hear all three together is something we pray NEVER happens. At the scene and in the ambulance I felt absolutely helpless but did me best to be of help in every way possible and to not be in the way. And, oh, did I pray. And I wanted so badly to be able to lay my hands on his tiny body and speak life into him. With every press to his chest that my co-worker administered and with every breath of oxygen that I pushed in I asked God to breath life into him, so unwilling to take no as an answer but knowing that without a miracle, this child was gone. We left him in the care of God (he was really already with Him) and the doctors and nurses at the hospital and went outside. There any professionalism I may have been showing started cracking and cracking quickly. I despise crying in front of most people so I did my best to pull it together again, appreciating so much the support of the guys I was with for me and for each other. Every one of the EMT's on our crew has told me "talk about it. You HAVE to talk about this." And I have even had the same support from one of the H City paramedics that responded. For that, I am grateful. It is good to know that I am not taking this hard just because I am a girl.

At home I hugged my children so tight and I lost all shreds of "professionalism" and composure and wept. I desperately needed my husband who was back on the scene keeping the road closed and helping the investigators piece it all together. I contemplated calling my mom but, while shaking like a leaf, told myself that she was needed at her own home with my dad and younger brothers. I wanted very much to hang up on the person who told me right after I returned home that I need to pull myself together, get over it and pray for the family. Pray for the family, check. Pull myself together, check... in a little while. Get over it? Some say you don't ever "get over it". I can still see his tiny body and brown eyes and hear the anguished screams of his family as they were told that this little boy was dead. I am afraid that they are right.... you don't forget. You don't "get over it". But, part of me doesn't want to. I always want to realize how precious life is and how precious my children are. I want you to realize that as well. Without the lesson.

My mom came over yesterday and before she got there, I wanted to curl up on the couch, lay my head on her lap and have her play with my hair like she would when I was younger. When she got here I think I did the "pull myself together" thing again. I don't know why. I don't even think I realized I was doing it until I wanted to crawl right in her lap again the second she left. I did actually sleep last night, though, so that is good. I still woke up thinking about the boy and his family and the driver. Please, keep the family and the driver in your prayers. It was not the driver's fault. There was absolutely NOTHING that he could have done differently. Pray for the little boy's parents. He was in the care of his father at the time... Pray that his dad will not be beating himself up and overwhelmed with guilt. I have taken my two year old niece downtown, had her by my side, turned to push the unlock button and turned back to her to find her RUNNING and half way across the parking lot. It can happen to anyone. There is no blame. Pray for comfort and peace and healing. And hug the people you love. We really truly never know.

Hard Lessons

Please, if you have young children, teach them the importance of obeying your voice immediately and of the dangers of the road. Please. Because so very easily they can learn just how dangerous it is too late. Some things are truly accidents and there is absolutely nothing that you can do differently. But, perhaps if you have the chance to teach them, even if it is for the millionth time, teach them to stay away. Train them to listen. It truly can be a matter of life and death.

It Was NOT a "Monday Funday"!!

We woke up late... Hey! It's our prerogative... We're on summer vacation! T had a doctor's appointment at 10 and it was 9:00... I had to shower, get her showered and ready and we had to stop at the bank on the way. At 9:02 I was in the shower, off to a good start. My phone went off. The screen said "The in-laws". "I can call them back when I am done. The shower really isn't good for my phone and probably it is not something super important," I thought. No more than thirty seconds later our fire/ambulance pager went off. The age old "when it rains it pours" went through my head. Not planning to answer the call (there are occasional times that I DO NOT respond... one of the perks of being a "volunteer") I still kept my ear tuned to what the 911 dispatcher was saying (ever the curious one, here). "...respond to a structure fire on Guthrie Rd..." Um... news flash.... that is MY road. We have seven structures on our road. Four are family's homes, one is our longtime, non-family neighbor, one is my father-in-law's business and on is a barn. So.... odds weren't the greatest. I FLEW out of the shower, soap and conditioner and all and threw clothes on. As I was grabbing my fire gear my phone rang again and I saw the screen said "dad-in-law." I flipped it open, barked out, "I'm on my way!" and slapped it shut, running to the truck. Let me tell you, I had that truck SAILING! Dad laughed about it later and said that if I had been going 5mph faster I would have stopped IN the garage. Hey, I got there! Turns out Uncle S was welding in dad's shop and a spark flew into a gas can and, well, that was that..... Dad and Uncle S were hauling stuff out when I got there and throwing buckets of water at the fire. Thankfully our crew got there when they did or we would not have a garage standing. Now, for the record, I was side by side with Dad and Uncle S until our assistant chief got there... I donned my gear when they arrived and went into professional mode rather than frantic daughter-in-law. Several of my.... "co-workers" (??) asked me if I was ok... my response was usually "I will be FINE as long as we get this totally out and taken care of!!" I took a minute when I was not needed and sent T with my observing sister-in-law and called the doctor's office to explain who was taking her down and why. Thankfully I did not have to reschedule a physical. Mom's brand new motorcycle was saved... It was the first thing Uncle S pulled out after calling 911. Unfortunately, my motorcycle is now in desperate need of a new motor. *sigh* Dad kidded that now his ceiling fan will not be very effective.... Perhaps the insurance company will replace that as well as the back wall and roof.... J is actually hoping that the insurance company will give them enough money to just put up a new pole barn across from this garage. They (J and his dad) have discussed building a bigger one and bringing some of J's work much closer to home.... I myself wonder if they will replace my bike's motor. THAT would be nice. :)

Needless to say, my Monday was not very "fun." BUT, we were able to share with a couple of the other fire-fighters how mom and dad were not even supposed to be home and mom for a couple days told their team (they were away ministering at another church) that they HAD to leave Sunday night. She NEEDED to be home Monday morning. If dad had not been there, the garage would have been totally engulfed by the time our fire company arrived.... Another reminder to listen to the still small voice and the inner urgings....

Tips of the Day

Here is what NOT to do:

1) Do not get loaded of your rocker and drive your four wheeler from Town A to Town B 18 miles away.

2) If you DID that, please, upon arriving in Town B, DO NOT steal a 1970 diesel flat bed dulie farm truck with a water tank on the back from the one of the town's largest farmers who also happens to be our neighbor and drive it from Town B to Town C five miles down the road. While you are still loaded of your rocker. It just isn't a good idea. Really, it isn't.

3) Upon arriving at Town C, it would NOT be in your best interest to turn left on to Main St. from Route 36 and cross two oncoming lanes and go around a car (oncoming) and then turn in to Friendly's parking lot. In. front. of. a. cop. It is a REALLY bad idea. Trust me on this one.

4) Assuming you still are not listening to my advice and you have done the above three things, the worst thing you can do at this point, when the cop drives around and shines his spotlight on you is to get BACK in the stolen truck and take off up Route 36. On 36, your maximum speed will ONLY be 60 mph because the truck you stole is, after all, a FARM TRUCK. Used for watering fields. Oh yeah, did I mention that it is not registered, not insured or anything of the sort? Yeah, right now, you are racking up some serious tickets. Remember, you are still LOADED.

5) Leaving Route 36 and going up Route 21 toward Town B is also not the greatest of ideas. That would turn your non-high speed police chase into a VERY SLOW one. You can only go up the hill at a shuddering 10 mph. Who knows, maybe you are trying to get back to your four wheeler.

6) Once you get back into Town B, turning onto Cream Hill Rd probably isn't very smart either. See, it is pavement, but then turns to dirt, and immediately on the change from blacktop to dirt, you will find yourself heading into a 70 degree corner. Chances are very high that you would wipe out 20 feet or more of guardrails and then go over an eight foot embankment into the stream and muck that feeds the reservoir.

7) After landing, please know that if you jump out of the truck and are now fueled by tons of adrenaline as well as alcohol and you start running, all of the police that have been chasing you in their cars would then tackle you and you would wind up face first in the reservoir. I just want you to know this so you can be prepared.....

If you didn't listen and you did all of those things, then, I have to get called out and get out of my warm cozy bed at 2:30 in the morning, and, well, that just doesn't sound like fun to me. When I get there, I'll have to help put a C collar on you and get you strapped to a backboard. I will have to listen to you tell all of us how stupid you were for doing this, mainly because you just got off probation for the very same thing. And because this is not your second offense, it is the third time that some of these very nice police officers are arresting you for this. And because you are supposed to go fishing tomorrow. Personally, I don't think you are going to make that fishing trip, but that is just my opinion. All the way down to the hospital my colleagues and I will have to ask you all sorts of questions, try to keep you awake, and listen while the very nice police officer reads you your rights. So, just keep in mind next time you think this might be a good idea, it isn't. You probably didn't really think this one through that well the first time... or the third... Hopefully I won't see you in a few years when they let you see the light of day....

And The Winner Is...

"new Cover Girl nail polish outlasts any heat wave" just because I think I laughed the most on that one. Dan gets the consolation prize - his comment actually nearly made me CALL HIM. Now the real kicker is... Is "Dan" the Dan I know and have in my phone?? Cause, otherwise, THAT Dan would have been in for one heck of a surprise if I called at that time, insisted on talking to him then asking what he wanted. And a note to THAT Dan, could you PLEASE put your phone on jajah so I can talk to you for free like I do with your wife?!?! Thank you very much! :) Oh, by the way, Mira, your prize is a great big hug from me, so you might want to come to the states to get it ;)

Ok, so, what was REALLY going on...

Dearest dramatic daughter of mine yelled from Engine 77, "MMMOOOOOMMMMMYYYYYYYYY! I DON'T HAVE MY FLIP PHHHOOOOOOOOOOONNNE!" I rolled my eyes at her. Mind you, I was ten feet away from her and most of the action was dying down, but still...

Our oh-so-observant chief saw the little exchange and heard yelling, but was clearly unable to understand WHAT daughter dearest said because he - with concern I might add - asked what she needed. I turned to him and prepared to raise my voice above the din of 100 firefighters doing their jobs, hoses still spraying full force, and flames putting out that "roaring" sound. Putting my thumb and finger out and raising my hand to my face to help him understand (in case he couldn't hear) I told him that she just wanted her cell phone and I was NOT about to walk all the way back to our truck to retrieve said phone for her. Her big brother thought this would be a great photo opportunity. *Note to self: thank the boy later.*

"She has a cell phone?!?!" I know that they think we are very odd for playing "double jeopardy" and homeschooling our kids (they consider it that because we pay the taxes AND do the work) and other such mildly crunchy things, but a giving our child a cell phone would put it over the edge. Reassuring him that I would not give a six year old girl a cell phone, I let him in on the fact that it was a broken phone and she just PLAYS with it. Somehow, though, I think he may still be under the impression that I am odder than originaly thought....

Go Ahead, Give This Picture a Name

Or just tell me what you think I was doing.... BE NICE! I'll tell you what was going on tomorrow, AFTER you name it. :) Don't make me regret this!!
And, James, this is for you.... does this work for "uniform"?

What We Do For Fun

This is what we do on a warm sunny Saturday morning.



















We burn barns.















And we let our kids tag along to watch.












But by the time lunchtime rolls around and Farmer Joe up the road wants us to burn junk for him, too, the kids have had enough and are ready to go play with Papa. They go play and we stick it out and go to the second burn, get sunburned to boot, cause for this one we are just sitting around in normal people clothes and it is close to 80 degrees. But it is fun.... At least the first time around, when we are actually doing our job and keeping other things from burning to the ground in the process.

What do YOU do for fun??

Taking a Ride on Engine77

Tonight was clean-up night at the station and the kids got to tag along. All the trucks had to be pulled out, so when it came time for Engine 77 to be moved, Daddy was driving and the boy and girl got a chance to go for a ride. The pictures aren't great since all I had was my phone (what was I thinking?!?) but you get the idea.

Great Starts, 911 Screw-Ups and Blown Transmissions

There is no sound in the world like Ambulance tones... your heart immediately begins racing, your palms begin to get a little sweaty and your breathing gets shallower and quicker.... and I am getting pretty darn good at getting out the door in a very quick fashion when they go off. Today was no exception. In fact, our whole team was speedy today. All of us were at the station and the ambulance was rolling before 911 had a chance to tone us out a second time. While this is a feasible accomplishment, it doesn't happen often. None of this is to say that we are slow... 911's policy is to tone out every three minutes. And the three minutes START the very second the tone sounds. So... only one tone before radioing that we are en route is pretty good. We were on scene within minutes. The woman's jeep was there, all the doors were locked and we were getting no answer. When dealing with a 74 year old whose life line went off, this really isn't a good thing. We were where 911 told us to go. We explored all our other options. She was nowhere to be found. Our only available option left? Break down the door. Still no woman. Now we are calling 911 to verify that they truly had their act together and that they gave us the correct information. "Yes." Ok... call family... Where is this woman?!?! "Oh, she moved down the road a mile." Fantastic. We jumped back in to the ambulance and.... it wouldn't move. SO. NOT. GOOD. We jumped into our Chief's vehicle with all our necessary gear and raced toward the CORRECT scene. Hornell's ALS was en route and we would just have to use their ambulance this time.

Quick little side-note education: ALS stands for Advanced Life Support. We have a BLS (Basic Life Support) ambulance, so all our EMT's must operate at a BLS level, regardless of higher training. For many calls, we tone out an ALS unit and one of their EMT's will ride along with us. They can administer IV's and do other potentially necessary things that we can't. Follow? OK, great, back to the story.

While we headed to the right house, 911 was toning out another town. FOR. THIS. SAME. CALL. *sigh* Same name, same presenting problem, correct address. Uh, hello, guys, can we PLEASE get our act together?? Our chief radioed that we were, in fact, still responding to this call (he just told them this thirty seconds prior) and they could cancel the other town. ALS was there, we could see them pulling in the driveway. We were arriving within thirty seconds. The house was in sight. And we were still FLYING. (You know, come to think of it - another side-note here - perhaps THIS is the reason I love this job. I get to SPEED and it is LEGAL. Hmm, I will have to give this further thought. Back to the story - again.) When we got into the house, we saw that - thankfully - this woman was not on death's door. A very good thing since this call got so mucked up. That had the potential of being a major catastrophe. She was having a panic attack and what she needed more than an ambulance was a friend. I see here where our chief's wife decided that this job was not for her. It is hard dealing with the ones that called 911 just for a taxi service or for a headache or a toothache or what have you. I understand that. It is frustrating. But, every call, no matter how trivial it sounds has to be treated the same. Granted, there are calls we get that I just know, God, if You don't intervene, this will NOT be good. And there are ones like this where I hope somehow I can show just a little bit of His love and grace. Am I making a difference? I would like to think so...

But I'm getting away from my story AGAIN. The chief and I left after we got her loaded into the ambulance and we went to investigate what was going on with our ambulance... THIS is never a good sight:

After tinkering under the hood, it was discovered that there was no transmission fluid in it. Let me clarify. I was not doing any tinkering. I was standing to the side watching and holding our portable radio and looking cute as a button. That is my job. At least for this part of the adventure. Also keep in mind, this ambulance was JUST SERVICED. So, the lack of fluid was not only a problem, but a bit of a mystery. Fluid was added and still nothing. I headed back to the station with our first assistant - he was grabbing more fluid and there was no point in me being there. I stayed at the station with one of my friends and discussed 911's competence and how on earth we can avoid a debacle like this in the future and waited for news on our only ambulance. Between 911 sending us the wrong way and toning out two towns and our ambulance breaking down, it was disastrous all the way around. Current prognosis: It has been towed, problem is being assessed and we are looking into rental options. 911 has been informed that our ambulance is out of commission. Hopefully they will remember.