Fallen Heroes



Pensacola Journal Editorial Page, June 23, 2011

  It has been a solemn week, since the news headlined that two men, fighting wildfire in Hamilton County lost their lives.  They went to school in the area and I have discovered just how small our community is.  Two people I have never met died and their deaths touched lives around me.  The two firefighters were part and parcel of the life of our town.  Someone Elder Daughter knows went to school with Josh Burch and attended his funeral today.  She also learned that her mother attended school with Brett Fulton.  His funeral will be held on Saturday. 

Elder Daughter called me about 5:00PM today, asking if I could watch the grandsons while she and her husband took this  friend out to dinner.  When I learned that she had just come from attending the funeral today - and was in need of some quiet fellowship,  I said of course I would watch the boys.  Elder daughter described some of the funeral to me from her friend's remembrances - there was a flag folded and presented to a mother with smaller flags given to the surviving sons.  There was a fly-over of the Ranger helicopters at the cemetery.  The dispatcher called the Final Roll Call - asking for the firefighter to respond to the radio.  After the last request to respond, the dispatcher announced that the fallen hero had not answered the call and was Out of Service for the last time.  Oh, my!   Elder daughter and I had tears in our eyes and quavering voices at the end of the conversation.  

This loss is felt deeply in a such a small community.  Keep the families and friends of the two men in your prayers.  They stood between the community and the danger of wildfire and lost their lives doing something they loved.  When I think that the one man got out of the area, realized that his friend wasn't there and went back in - the words come to mind, "no greater love..."


 

It was a Red Touch Yellow Snake!!!!

The date was June 16th, 2011.  The Lieutenant had just walked past my cubicle on the rug between my opening and the one just across the way.  He passed beyond the cubicle opening and was heading towards his office door when he turned back to say something to me.  Instead, I heard him say, "Is that a snake?  Who put that there?  Is it a rubber snake?" 

I turned in my chair and looked back to see this colorful snake stretched out along the rug, just beside the wall of the cubicle across from me.  Maybe ten feet away.  About the time I turned and Lt. was taking a step towards the thing on the rug, it moved!  I picked my feet up and Lt. took a step backwards.

Things got a little frantic.  The office became a hive of activity with two of the guys headed for higher ground and two more heading towards the little visitor on the rug.  One of the guys plopped a trash bin upside down atop the slithering serpent as it tried to round the corner and take shelter under our briefing table. 

Oh, no!  The snake managed to escape the Rubbermaid receptacle.  Using the edge of the can to sweep the colorful thing backwards from the table, he managed to push it towards the cubicle wall near the opening.  Oh, that's good, but it wouldn't be trapped.  Another of the guys rushed up and together they stomped the snake against the rug and the cubicle wall.  Finally they managed to get their shoes on the body of the snake pinning it down and the one man leaned down, whipping out his knife and opening the blade up.  Slice.  He cut  the head off.

The body was tipped into a bag and the guys thought the head was there as well.  It wasn't. 

After a search in all areas the guys had moved around with this snake-in-a-bag, the head was located on the floor in the very area where it had been cut from the body.  The guy who decapitated the snake kept saying that this variety didn't have fangs and couldn't strike at anyone.  He said it needed to get hold of soft tissue and chew on it, in order to kill prey.  That wasn't much comfort to know.    I think I blurted out that I didn't really need the snake's resume - just please, please PLEASE find that head!
Thank goodness, I work with brave men and women.  The guys surely know how to take care of snakes and the lady with her camera was able to document the actions of some of the non-snake handling men.




Coral Snake - held by the snake killer and hero of the morning

 



 

Shaken but not stirred....

In Walmart on Saturday I was headed towards the main aisle when I spotted a female who apparently was one of those few  people who are born with little or no jawbone.  She seemed to have absolutely no chin, with the line of her neck running from her collarbone to approximately an inch below her nose.  She was pushing a basket and was walking perpendicularly across my path.  I was just about to think to myself, "Aw, the poor thing." when she suddenly clapped her lower lip upwards to her top lip and her chin slid upwards into its normal place on her face.  I realized that  what I had mistakenly thought was the silhouette of  a chinless person was actually that of a person in the middle of a gawping yawn.  Then I espied the rest of her.  A pink sleep tee and stripped flannel jammy bottoms.  This lady was wandering the aisles of the store in a sleep deprived state, wearing her pajamas and a pair of flip-flops.  There was nothing in her basket.  She was headed towards the dairy section, so one can only hope she was picking up some milk for her cereal.  Creamer for her coffee.  Something to start the day right, something to wake her up and shake her up and yell in her face, "What were you thinking, going out shopping in sleepwear.....!"

Maybe it would have done some good.  Or, not.

The Walkie Talkie from Heck.

T. and I were talking while he was trying to decide if he should take the tractor down the fire trail.  He hasn't driven the Ford-built machine in a while and has been saying he wanted to drive it to the back of the property across the road and just see how things look over there.  I figured he couldn't get too far off the track since there is a fence across the back property line and the fire trails mark the boundaries on each of the long sides. 

The only thing he was concerned about was the heat of the day and how he would communicate if he broke down.  He asked me if I had a cell phone he could take with him.  I quickly thought of putting minutes on one of the two phones we have stashed away - one was an old one of mine.  Red.   I had put time on it and given it to T. while he was still driving.  He couldn't figure how to turn it on.  Or off.  And, finally he couldn't recall where he  saw it last.  We looked in the car and in  the bedroom but the phone was lost. 

I bought another phone,  Silver.  He couldn't recall how to turn it on.  Or off.  And then he lost that phone.  When I finally ran across both phones stored in our bedroom under a pillow on the dresser - I just left them there.

It's not like I really needed another lesson.  When he asked for my cell phone I just said, "NO!"

He threw a little attitude over it - but then I recalled the walkie talkies.  I had bought them a couple of years ago for him for Christmas and things were getting apparent that electronics weren't his strongest skill. Going through the phone fiasco  had caused me to rethink the whole gift thing and put the walkie talkies into storage in the hall closet. 

I mentioned we could try using the set to see if he could contact me if the tractor stopped running.  He liked that idea and went rummaging in the hall closet until he found both units.  They were still in their plastic cases- never opened.  We cut the cases and dug out the batteries, read the instruction books and put the AAA batteries into the compartments.  We tried the On switches and my walkie talkie chirped and came on.  T's just sat there.  We checked the  battery installation and reversed the positive poles on one side.  We closed that case and T. asked how to turn it on again. 

Once he found the power switch and held it down, his walkie talkie came on.  It didn't make a chirping noise but it did start getting warm.    Okay, now we're getting somewhere.  We checked the battery positions again and they were installed correctly but the unit was still warm.  I had mine in my hand and was able to change channels and then raise and lower the volume levels.  T. was still trying to get his to do something. 

I  looked at it and he had turned it off again.  It was sort of warm in my hand.  I turned his walkie talkie on again then set the channel to match mine and told him to just push the center button to talk to me.  I told him to push where it said TALK.  He did so and his voice came through the little speaker on the walkie talkie in my hand.  Hurrah!

He tried it again.  Nothing happened.  He pushed and pushed.  Nothing! 

I put out my hand and T. put the walkie talkie into my palm.  The switch was back on off. 

Long story short, we aren't going to be using the walkie talkie set.  It's probably flawed.  Or broken from the two years it spent in the closet.  Later on I may see if Radio Shack has any of the T4300 models and just buy one of them.  Then I can give them to someone who would like a walkie talkie set with a two mile range and 15 channels.  They will come with instruction books and neither of them will get really really warm when you turn it on.

Ramblings

This is a rare traffic jam in our small town.  It started right at the end of the driveway where I come out of work.  You can tell I hadn't completed the turn into the roadway before cars had stopped.   I hate when this happens.


 

This is an un-traffic jam in our small town.  I would rather drive in this kind of traffic any day.



These flowers were planted from bulbs given us by a cousin.  They come up year after year and I enjoy  seeing them, like old friends in the early Summertime.  They remind me of Charles Vining whenever I see them waving in the breeze.

This is a group collecting donations from passers-by at the local big box store.  The group advertises as an animal rescue and requests donations both here and on the radio.  I have heard some pretty ratty rumors about how they treat their animals and the condition of their facility.  I wonder how they can afford to advertise over the airwaves.   I would much rather see flowers waving in  the breeze than see some child waving a bucket and a sign outside a place where I buy groceries.

Further Deponent Sayeth Not. 

Happy Day, Mothers!

May you have the kind of memories today that make you smile - recalling your children being raised by their loving mother and recalling your loving mother raising you.

I'm remembering the child who offered a snack to siblings from the birdseed can..... when Mom wasn't around.  The  spankee who shoved a spelling book down the back of his jeans when told he was getting a spanking.  What was he thinking would happen when the spanker made that distinctive discovery!

I recall sisters playing outside and being called to come in for dinner.  When only one child appeared and was asked about her little sister, she explained with a straight face that Lil' Sis was tied up and couldn't come right then.  Literally tied up, as we found out years later! 

And the Lil' Sis who mentioned a visit by her Big Sis and they were in an establishment.  Apparently  Big Sis didn't make such a favorable impression on a store clerk.  Said clerk made a comment about Big Sis - and Lil' Sis had one foot over the counter when a friend grabbed her and pulled her back from wreaking vengeance on said store clerk.  That's the kind of loyalty a mother hopes to instill in her children.  The kind of closeness that makes a parent proud to know her children would go to the ends of the earth to protect each other.  Or, at least over a service counter - if that's what was required! 

Our mother instilled it in us.  The greatest gift we can give our children is the memories and feelings and love they have for each other. 

Pass it along.

One, two, three - - blast off?

No, I'm not talking about the delayed launch of the space shuttle.  Although it has been put back until the end of the week due to a switch  box in the engine compartment.  It needs replacing - so the launch is not happening tomorrow (Monday) and I am glad to see that NASA is still concentrating on safety in the fleet.  It's down to two, now. 

My Blast Off refers to the other night when I was supposed to be sleeping soundly.  My sleep was broken by my two eyes popping open at about 3AM.  Now,  I don't brag about having an alarm clock in my head that wakens me for a preset event.  Apparently, I do have one.  Who knew! 

Tommy's mother used to be able to pull off that handy little trick.  She would think about what time she wanted to wake up and then she would just be awake at that time.  No alarm clock needed.

My own sister has the talent. 

But I have never thought I had such a useful ability.  I had been thinking about the Royal Wedding for most of the afternoon on Thursday and when I got home, I checked the TV Cable menu and found the schedule had coverage starting at 4:00 A. M. Friday morning.  So, I set the tuner to switch to Fox Channel for that time. 

I had meant to set my alarm for then, as well but I somehow fell asleep on the couch in the living room before I could manage to wend my way to the bedroom.  The TV will not come on when I schedule an event.  The tuner will switch to the show I want to watch but nothing else will happen.  I slept peacefully away.  After midnight, I was still  on the couch.  One in the morning - still sleeping...two o'clock, still sleeping. 

Three in the morning, my eyes popped open.  Wha - what am I doing in here;  And why am I awake?  And if it is early in the morning, what will I find if I turn on the telly?  Ah-hah!  The pre-wedding stuff was already on Fox.  Soooo..... we just sat on the couch and watched the wedding unfold until after the vows were said.  That would be the Royal We.  T. was still asleep in the bedroom.

I wasn't alone, however.  The paper today said that twenty-three million people watched the wedding  all over the world.  (I guess that doesn't include the crowds lining the sidewalks in London.) 

I wonder how many of us felt like we had sand in our eyes at some point later in the day?