Thanksgiving weekend now underway

I was extra tired this morning getting off to work around ten am. I got there about ten-thirty. I worked on the same problem trying to figure out where a piece of data disappears. It works fine on my local box but not the test server so I am trying to figure out why. We had a company lunch at noon. We all sat in the bullpen and ate. Well, the people who were at work did. I stuck around for a while before finally heading out.

The traffic going over the pass was pretty thick. It also did not help that there was a cop. So he was in the same direction of travel from around North Bend until outside of Cle Elum. So, that added a little bit of time on to the trip. Finally on highway twenty-six I was able to cruise along pretty well. Along the way I talked to Sampsons Plumbing. I was told that it would be about five thousand dollars to expose the broken water pipe at my house The hole would be about forty feet wide and twenty feet deep. I hope the insurance company said to just put in a new pipe versus exposing that old one.

When I got to Colfax I stopped at Rosauers and got a ready to serve Thanksgiving dinner with Turkey, potatoes, gravy, stuffing, and pumpkin pie. I took that home and put it in the refrigerator. I got my uniform on. I got some dinner and headed to the jail.

I still volunteer time there. I also had my fire department shirt with me incase we got a call that I would go on. I have been working in the jail since ninety-five. I was twenty-one when I started there. It is amazing the turn over and the changes in both the jail and myself over the years. I have noticed our clientele have gotten a little rougher judging by both their crimes and how they treat the officers.

I was remember back to when I was full time there. I use to work swing shift a lot. I would take work release guys out on cleaning details around the jail. Most officers would leave the inmates to do the work. I always stayed and supervised. I would find things that were missed and make them reclean so it was done correctly.

In ninety-eight there were the WSU Riots. A few people came to the jail. While the rioters were in jail everyday that I worked I found work details. We cleaned windows, floors, cigarette butts, or whatever else I could find for them to do. With them I made sure not a single thing was missed. I thoroughly checked their work. Everyday after dinner they knew I would come for them. They did not like me at all. But I had no respect for them. With inmates you are not supposed to treat them differently and up until that time I had never treated them differently. But I was an angry man at that time. They all got away with only a slap on the wrist compared to what should have happened. So I was not going to let them sit around the jail every evening and do nothing like everyone else. They knew they were not going to get a free ride. As the time wore on though my soft side came out. I would still make them do the work but I would give them a cigarette break from time to time. I always told them if they ever told anyone I gave them a smoke break I would end it on the spot. I did not want people to think I had gone soft.

Anyway, tonight at the jail there was an officer booking an inmate and one in control. There must be an officer in control at all times. The officer working thought he would play a trick on the one in booking. He grabbed the keys to the jail and did a round. When he got to booking the booking officer looked up and saw who it was. He looked back down and within a fraction of a second it registered who it was. Then he quickly looked up at him in shock. He said "who is in control?" The officer who did the round said, that no one is there. He was bored and thought he would do a round. He took the keys and forwarded the phones to booking. The booking officer was shocked. I was cracking up.

A tiny bit later a EMS transfer came out. I called and said I could do it. We had to take a patient from the Colfax hospital to Spokane. We went code three which makes the trip a little quicker. We dropped off the patient in Spokane and came back. It was about a two and a half hour round trip.

I went back to the jail and did the next two rounds and talked for a few deputies in the front office. At midnight we left and went home. I watched TV before going to bed.