It's been awhile

Well I am finally getting to post after some time. So this might be a little long. My internet was down for about 3 weeks. Lets see Brett started base ball about 3 weeks ago, he is doing really well with it. He really enjoys playing. I hope to make a game this week if everything works out. He was selling onions for his team and I bought a "box" well the " box" came in this week and it had a total of about 10 small and I mean small onions in it, I had to laugh about it. Guess for 6 dollars I should have known but it went to a good cause.I no longer work or LVFD. I went to upper Hominy full time as a shift captain. I am really enjoying it. We have been doing alot of work around there to get it cleaned up and working to get it on the right track. I got 26 more drills with the national guard know that I decided to not get the MMRB (militarty medical review board) and finish my time out. I took a reduction in rank this weekend due to not being able to fullfill my commit to go to school after my surgery, and I don't have enough time to to go to the school before I get out of the Guard. We had a PT test this weekend and know I can hardley walk cause I am so sore. I went and seen Paula in Indiana for a week and had a great time. We have got to do a little letterboxing and I got to plant my first geocache. I have got alot a great commits about the hide and where I had placed it. I have been able to do a little caching since I got home I have been working on a series in Hominy Valley since I started working there. Brett and I when in Hot Springs like I talked bout during the last post had found a small jeep. While playing around online I found out that the jeep was a travel bug and last time we was together we hit several untill we was able to rehide it. I carved A new stamp the other night and I was going to go place it and found out there is another one there already of the same thing. I am plaining on going to a gathering in june if I can and I am going to hide it there instead and I am going to carve several others before then. Sarah is doing well she acts mad since I went back on shift cause when I come home she has made a mess in the house with toilet paper and other items. Paula will be here in about 2 weeks for 6 weeks externship, while she is here we are going to NYC for her to gradulate with her class. I am so proud of her. I will post more since my internet is back up and running. Kim my sister got reamrried couple weeks ago and I was best man in the wedding. I was a really nice small wedding.

wild weekends

I know it has been a couple weeks since I have posted. Week last time i posted kim had been here with cody for the weekend. Well we had got my pants for the wedding and when she got home she called and said to return the pants cause they was the wrong ones. Well that week was a short week. Had board of Directors meeting on Monday after we had our pics taken for the fire dept. the meeting was really long and thought it was never going to end. We had a big discussion about changing people around and hiring 3 more people. Then on Thursday we had a long day with brush fires we had a 8 acres and then a really small one that I I pulled up to while going home and then later that night we had about a half acre fire. Finally got to be around 200 am and had to get up at 0530 for the national gaurd. yes it was national gaurd weekend again. Had to be at Fort Jackson on Friday and guess who was chosen to drive. You guessed correct here I was with little sleep and had to drive 4 hours to there. We then had to go and do some crazy thing with weapons. We got to go to the PX and clothing and sales. We got back on Sunday and I finally got out of there around 730 that night. We had no meeting on monday ause we had a fire control class scheduled on tuesday and thursday and I got a call at 658 tuesday night as I was walking into a meeting and they stated that the instructor was a no show. I was able to talk to the person that is over the class from the college and he came back to me and stated that the class had never been scheduled. On Wednesday I had to go to McDowell CC to register everyone for the fire school next weekend. Then Wednesday afternoon had a meeting with all the chiefs from every department in the county and the prisedent of the CC about building a training facility in the county seeing we have appx 500 paid firefighters and 1500 volunteers in the county and we have no training facility's.. Thurday and Friday I caught up on paper work and waited onn the state to fax me paper work that I have been needing. Friday afternoon I went and picked up Brett and on saturday morningwe went Geocaching and Letterboxing. We just started Geocaching and we got to the first one and we finally figured out that it was on the other side of the river and went across the bridge and when we got there it was showing about 400 feet up the mountain. Well it started out on the Appalachian Trail , well then it showed straight up the mountain and up me and Brett went. we climbed and climbed. When we got near the top near Hell at the top we found the trail again I was so mad We had climbed for over a hour at time grabbing limbs so we would not fall. but we made it and safely. we then went after another box after walking the trail doen that took us 15 minutes and walked to the next one that we was going to be a first finder on and when we got there it had been found that morning by then I was getting pissed. Well we walked back to the truck and got something cold to drink and it had been 3 and 1/2 hours, we had forgot our water in the truck so we drank from a stream like the old days out of our hands. Brett kept asking about how bad that was for us. We then had lunch more like dinner since it was 400pm and then cach and boxed till dark. on Sunday I got a e-mail about my hitchhiker for letterboxing and someone had found it and planted it as a regular box. so we had to deal with that this am and then me and Brett went out caching for the afternoon. I finally go him home about 430 pm and got home answering emails about the hitch hiker. Well this week is going to be long wtith 3 days of training and finishing the paper work that I started last week. Well all take care and will post again hope next week. pic is of the mountain that we took the long way up and Brett at the top of the mountain over looking Hot Springs NC

Sister comes and visits

Well I can't believe that it is Sunday again already. This last week started out long but slowed down by the end of the week. On Monday night we had training at the fire dept on personal protective equipment. On Tuesday we had a we had a special board meeting on some personal actions. We got them just about all the way resolved. Wednesday Thursday was about normal. On Friday everything was going good till the accountant called and said she needed to talk to the treasurer and it was urgent after work I went to get Brett and came come we ended up watching wresleing. We got up on Saturday and headed to town. On the way we tried our hand at Geocaching. We was not faring to well till we called paula and she started helping us the best she could over the phone. We ended up getting 8 out of 12. We then went to K-Mart and did some shopping that I have been needing to do. I ended up buying Brett and Cody a Dale Jr pillow. Sara got a couple new toys got home and about a hour later my sister Kim called said she would be here in a few minutes. Kim and Cody got here around 530 pm and we sat around till that evening and then we started looking for some place for her and Dennis to go on their honeymoon. They are getting married on April 22nd. We found several places that was really nice but cost a bit more than I would have paid to stay. The kids played well together they played checkers, with john Deere toys and Sara. Today we got up and went to Ryan's and had lunchthen went to the mall and found my pants for the wedding. We then went to Michael's and A.C. Moores and found several things that Kim needed for the wedding. We finished the day by taking Brett home and coming back to the house. When we got back Kim and Cody headed out to home and I layed down and started watching the race, I awoke and the race was still on and I got to see the endof the race it was good till Tony Stewart blew his engine and had to drop out of the race. Well this is all I have this week. Everything have a safe week.

Well its been a couple weeks since I last posted so I am going to try and catch evveryone up. The week after National gaurd I got premission from my landlord to get a cat. i had been having problems with mice from the field below the house here. I think it was from the warm weather we was having and then it started getting cold again so they was looking for some where warm to stay. Her name is Sara and she is a grey tabby. Sara is 11 months old. I got her from the Buncombe County animal shelter. Rest of the week went pretty well till Friday when I was to get Brett and it started snowing and I was not able to get him. Called my sister Melissa on saturday night and she had got 27.5 inches of snow in 24 hours and it was still snowing in CT. We got about 7 inches here in Leicester. It finally cleared off on monday. On tuesday was our big inspection from the state for our rating system. They stated we did a really great job considering we hada change over in coomand and to keep up the good job. After a long week at work I finally got to pick Brett up on friday evening and spent the day on saturday with him. When we woke it on saturday it was iceing and then it started snowing. We hope that it clears off for saturday this way we can got to town. On valentines day I sent Paula a star named after her. She sent me to a fleece shirt that is great and warm. Well I know that this is not much but its bed time.

Well if you have been reading the blog then you know that I am going to have a inspection for the fire dept. Well got a email this week that they will be there on thbe 14th of Feb. at 300 pm. That gives me another week to finish what little is left to be completed. This week seemed to go on forever. Lets see Monday worked over so that Damon could attend class, Tuesday was a Board of Directors meeting, Wednesday went to Sylvia for a visitation for a friends dad. Thursay work late for something can't remeber what. So I had worked late everynight except friday.
Not much more has happened.
This weekend that to attend the national gaurd. last month had to turnin all shirt tops and coats so that they could have our new unit patch put on it. well showed up on Saturday with no top and they asked where my top was and I stated that I turned it in so the patches could be replaced and they asked if I had kept one out and I stated no and they said I should have. I stated that I asked about it and was told I needed to turn them all in and we would get them back before drill. then they came to me and said that I needed to get a fit for duty. with to come and find out means that I would need to see a gov. doc and then they could keep me as a MP, say no MP work but iI could do something else and be moved units to any place in the state, or be medical discharged. Well then later I helped set up for lunch and then helped in the arms rooms the remainder of the day. The supply Sgt came to me near the end of the day and asked if I would like to temp hold the NBC NCOIC slot. I thought about it all night and this morning I went to him and told him I would take a reduction in grade and hold it till I get to retire in 2 years. This was because of my new Platoon Sgt. I do not agree on how he is treating the guys in the platoon. On saturday after we busted our butts to get the inspections done on the vehicles he collected the paper work and said "you all need to get in the class room for a class right know" then on sunday he had taken me out of my slot as 2nd squad leader and and placed me as 3rd squad leader and placed someone that just got E-5 and phase I MP school into my place. If you don't understand then that was a slap in the fac

This has been another long week tring to get things finished before having our ISO rating inspection sometime before the week of Feb 7th. If you don't know what a ISO rating is it is a inspection by the state to determan what your fire insurance rates will be. This week the guys and I worked and finshed the training files and started on the dailey truck check offs. We have worked on this for the last 2 days this last week. Over all it is going well I think, But only time will tell. We should be done with that area early this next week. I can't wait to be done with thing. This week we will be working late alot to finish things up. I want to have everything layed out so when they come they can just pick up a folder and move on down the table.
Friday I heard Josh talking on the phone and stating that he wished he could have came to a training burn that night so I told him to go and that I would cover for him. So off the went and Damon , Glen and I sat around and ate chili that Damon had made. I ate so much that I had to take a nap. We cleaned the station and then let smokie the firehouse dog in. She ran around and played. When I finally started moving again around 11:30 pm I was drinking some Mountain Dew and was holding my glass in my hands infront of me and smokie came over and started to lick the outside of my glass. If you know me I can't stand even some person drinking after me so you can tell the drink was over for me. I decided to let her drink some of the Mountain Dew and you sould have seen her with the bubbles hitting her nose. Well It gave her a suger rush and she sarted going like 900 MPH around the station. About then josh got back and I finally got home around 12:15 saturday morning.
So since I got home I have left the house a total of 3 times 1 time to go and get drink at the store, 1 time for a call, and the last time to go and pay my rent. The call was a brush fire just down the road and when I got out of car 18 I hit the lock button. I had to get Brush 18 to run me home so that I could get the spare key and get back into car 18.
All I have done all weekend was clean on the house, play on line.
Well everyone have a good week.
The pics are looking out from Mount Mitchell State Park in North Carolina

This week has been a long week. It started tuesday morning after getting home monday pm from taking P to IN for school. Tuesday morning I got to work and started on the the ISO inspection that we will be having in Feb. It is the inspection by the State Fire Marshall's Office. It consist of maps, paper work, and equipment. all week we worked on the paper work mostly the training hours for the members. seemed like we would never get done and we still are not done with it all.
On Thursday night I called Brett and asked him what he wanted to do this weekend during his visit. He said go to "WWE". I went on line and found us some tickets and bought them. He very seldom asks for things and since I had a little extra money this week I decided that I would take him. Saturday morning I picked him up and went to Walmart and got some poster board. We then went to Jackson's western wear to find me a new pair of boots and could not find any that I liked. We then went to Ingles and did some shopping. We needed to eat this weekend. When we got home we had 3 posters to take with us to WWE. Today we went and watched the show. Brett really enjoyed it and we had a fun time watching all the matches. We took alot of pictures and I am going to print them off for him once I figure out how to do that. When we left and was driving down the highway Brett asked where his camera was and I told him that he had it and we started looking around and could not find it. He had left it at the civic center. He got a T-shirt, wrestling mask and a program while at the wrestling event.
When I got home after taking him home I started working on cropping the pics from this camera that I had. I found out that the camera that I have is not the best camera. It really ate the batteries and the pics was not the best.
P found out this week that she could walk with her class but would not get her degree till she finished early next year. She decided that she would walk with her class so I will be taking a road trip in June to NYC and then I am going to Visit family and Friends in Ct. I think I am getting excided about both. I have not been "home" to Ct in 8 years and I really can't wait till then.
While I was in IN a local family the Carvers had some bad news come to them. Their son Mitch Carver a pilot with the 10th Mountain Div had been shot down in Iraq. I found out on Tuesday after returning to work. On friday evening we all (the community) all paid our respects to the family. They had a service on Saturday for Mitch Carver. Today they flew him back toWashington D.C. with his family. 5 buses had been donated or leased by private people so that friends and family could go to Washington D.C. and be at Arlington Cemetery on Monday.
God bless this man and his family for he is a true American "HERO". He gave his life for all of us. So that we can do the things that we do daily like writting this blog.