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.

It has been a crazy day around here for all sorts of reasons. Some bad, some amazingly good. We have a good friend who was diagnosed with inoperable lung cancer in CO, so she moved back home. She kept telling her family that if she could get back here with all of us and we were praying, she would get better. To shorten the story CONSIDERABLY, she saw the doctor on Monday (yesterday). He said there was no lump, no spot, no bump, no cancer, just pneumonia. We all got VERY excited. He kept her in the hospital and today went in to see her shrugging his shoulders. He told her he couldn't explain why, but there was ABSOLUTELY NOTHING wrong with her. At all. Not even a sniffle. How awesome is that?! I know what happened. She knows what happened. And my guess is the doctor has more of a clue than he is letting on. God is a Greater Physician than any other we could go to. So, today, as I've dealt with ambulance issues, and heard about God's healing touch, this song has been going through my head. I've been singing along, and I do wonder if the kids are sick of it yet. But, how can I not tell God this? No matter what is going on, this is how I feel:

In the quiet, in the stillness
I know that You are God
In the secret of Your presence
I know there I am restored

When You call I won't refuse
Each new day again I'll choose

There is no one else for me
None but Jesus
Crusified to set me free
Now I live to bring Him praise

In the chaos and confusion
I know You're soveriegn still
In the moment of my weakness
You give me strenght to do Your will

When You call I won't delay
This my song through all my days

All my delight is in You Lord
All of my hope
All of my strength
All my delight is in You Lord
Forevermore

None But Jesus - Hillsong United, United We Stand

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.

The Easter Bunny Returns

Happy Easter!


















Now to go hide their baskets (by the way, the Easter Bunny loves mommy and daddy enough to leave them one, too! Oh, that's right... we ARE the Easter Bunny. I forgot, we told the kids that little secret. BUT... there is a tooth fairy - for real!!) And the bucket of eggs in the back? Yep, hiding those too. We have our work cut out for us. Have a great day and God bless!!

Real Moms

Mean Moms

Someday when my children are old enough to
understand the logic that motivates a parent, I will
tell them, as my Mean Mom told me:

I loved you enough to ask where you were going, with whom,
and what time you would be home.

I loved you enough to be silent and let you
discover that your new best friend was a creep.

I loved you enough to stand over you for two hours
while you cleaned your room, a job that should have taken 15
minutes.

I loved you enough to let you see anger,
disappointment, and tears in my eyes. Children must
learn that their parents aren't perfect.

I loved you enough to let you assume the
responsibility for your actions even when the
penalties were so harsh they almost broke my heart.

But most of all, I loved you enough . . . to say
NO when I knew you would hate me for it.

Those were the most difficult battles of all. I'm
glad I won them, because in the end you won, too.
And someday when your children are old enough to
understand the logic that motivates parents, you will tell them.

Was your Mom mean? I know mine was. We had the
meanest mother in the whole world! While other kids
ate candy for breakfast, we had to have cereal, eggs, and toast.
When others had a Pepsi and a Twinkie for lunch, we had to eat
sandwiches. And you can guess our mother fixed us a dinner that was
different from what other kids had, too.

Mother insisted on knowing where we were at all
times. You'd think we were convicts in a prison. She
had to know who our friends were, and what we were
doing with them. She insisted that if we said we
would be gone for an hour, we would be gone for an hour or less.

We were ashamed to admit it, but she had the nerve
to break the Child Labor Laws by making us work We
had to wash the dishes, make the beds, learn to
cook, vacuum the floor, do laundry, empty the trash
and all sorts of cruel jobs. I think she would lie
awake at night thinking of more things for us to do.

She always insisted on us telling the truth, the
whole truth, and nothing but the truth. By the time
we were teenagers, she could read our minds and had
eyes in the back of her head. Then, life was really tough!

Mother wouldn't let our friends just honk the horn
when they drove up. They had to come up to the door
so she could meet them. While everyone else could
date when they were 12 or 13, we had to wait until we were 16.

Because of our mother we missed out on lots of
things other kids experienced. None of us have ever
been caught shoplifting, vandalizing other's
property or ever arrested for any crime. It was all her fault.

Now that we have left home, we are all educated,
honest adults. We are doing our best to be mean
parents just like Mom was.

I think that is what's wrong with the world today.
It just doesn't have enough mean moms!

Real moms are willing to be mean moms.

Thanks Lisa, for the Real Mom tag! Now, Emily, Nan, Vicki and La Bellina Mammina : TAG, YOU'RE IT!! Have at it girls! I know mine wasn't original - it's been floating around as an email for awhile, but a friend just sent this to me the other day and I thought of it's potential postability, and Lisa gave me my opportunity!! So here's to all those real, mean moms out there. And mom, thanks for being a mean mom to me.

My Birthday

Thanks for the birthday wishes! I had a great day! I went shopping with my mom!! How much more fun can that be? So...

I now have a pair of really cute strappy slip on heels because Spring and Summer are coming.... eventually....

AND

a pair of jeans that are long enough for heeled shoes. Do you have any idea how hard it is to find jeans that fit when your legs are really lllooooong? Much less finding jean that will make a cute pair of heeled shoes work? But, we succeeded!! Thanks mom!!!!

I love them!! :) T says she hates them doesn’t like them doesn’t like the knee parts cause it looks like they are dirty like I fell in the sand or something. Exact words. (At least her opinion has mellowed as time goes on.) Lurkers who APPROVE of these jeans with said "dirty" spots, speak up! Quit lurking! Lurkers that agree with T, you may say so if you are nice. I might cry if you are mean. I myself like them. Dirty or not.

This really very well may be the best cake ever!!

Ok, I will not post picture or the recipe. To see it and get it so you can make it yourself, you need to go here. Trust me, clicking that link in the previous sentence back there is worth it!! Even if you have never ever followed another link on this page ever. Even if you are just lurking, take some action on this one. WOW! I am putting this recipe in my book, and I think I will call it "Ree's Chocolate Cake", cause, I got if from Ree, after all. TRUST ME, PEOPLE, YOU NEED TO CHECK THIS OUT!! Your hips are asking for it. I can hear them from here. They are joining the chorus that my hips are singing... "pad me, pad me" and the stomach is saying "feed me, feed me" and, and, you just have too...........