Fun Night of Poker

This evening I was in Colfax for training. It was EVAP refresher. With being on two departments many times I get the same training from both departments. That is just the way it is. I have considered reducing my weekly requirements by leaving Colfax Fire. But as of right now I am not going to do that.

After training we had a great night playing poker. We had a full table and a ton of laughs. We had some new blood as well as the regulars. I was only able to stay until around nine-thirty because I had to be back in Pullman because I was on call tonight as well. I am only on engine and we didn't have any calls for the engine.

A Crazy Busy Day

It turned out my trip to Seattle today was delayed until tomorrow. I was going to get going in the morning, but due to the fact I really didn't get my day started until after the noon hour I was behind the eight-ball. I started with a phone call for my new contract web job. It was clear that I should have read the e-mails. But from the ones I had read I was under a different impression. There are still issues with exactly what I need to get done. I guess I will get the UI work underway and work on hooking stuff up later on.

I went to Sprint to have my phone looked at. The year of some of my texts are coming back as twenty-sixteen. That was fixed by doing an update that was sent to my phone. I also considered updating my phone plan which will reduce my overall cost by about twenty bucks a month.

I went to the fire station to get some parts for a manikin for training tonight. I also talked to Ryan about getting the new maps made up for the map tests. I spoke with the chief about getting the career timesheets set up to work like the reserve timesheets I did. While I was showing the chief how it worked I found an error in a formula. The cells that I was looking for only covered about an eighth of what they should have covered. That meant I had a couple hours of work to update all the timesheets. That sucked. So when I got home I worked on that. It took me until nearly six to get done. But it is complete and I was able to update the server with the new timesheets.

I went to Colfax for fire training. We went over the King Airway. After practicing that I went to the SO to work on my supplemental report from the DUI from the other day. I also got my ticket written up and turned in.

When I got home I got a hold of Keegan on the computer. We went to Rico's and sat there talking for about two hours. It was good to chat with him. He is a good looking guy. But he is just looking for friends, so I am not going to cross any lines. After we were done I went to shake his hand and he preferred to hug. So I gave him a hug.

Daytime on the Road

I worked the road today with Melcher. We met up at ten o'clock and hit the road. We took a nine-one-one hang up. That was about the extent of our major responses. We hit lunch in Pullman. I drove for a while. We drove south towards the state line. I also drove us by the search area on Rimrock Road.

I was going to make a stop. But the driver stopped just after I got turned around and we were in a dead spot. I was able to get out as I was making the stop, but nothing more. So soon they were sending units to check on us. The Sheriff, the chaplain, Colfax Police Chief, and a trooper were all coming. Melcher took the stop and wrote a ticket as fast as possible. Then we got into radio communication where we were able to let them know we were okay.

I was supposed to have a meeting on the phone with the company I am doing the contract work for. But before the meeting time I got notified that it was cancelled. So Melcher and I stayed on the road longer. I got back in time for board and business at Colfax Fire. We covered the end of the year things such as the Fireman's Toybox and the yearly elections.

After the meeting I went to the SO and worked on some reports that I had to complete from previous nights out on patrol.

DUI Crash Demo

Parrish woke me up this morning with a phone call to let me know the guys are coming over to start work on the installation of my new heater. It is a gas forced air furnace. It is made by Carrier. I went ahead and went with the upgraded model because with rebates it turned out to only be five hundred more than the lowest model. In the long run it could be the best option for me.

I left the house around ten-thirty to head up to the CUB mall for the DUI demonstration. The reserves are going to work on extricating some people out of a car as part of an example of what could happen in a car accident.

When I got up there WSU PD had booth and they had drunk goggles. I tried on a couple pair. I was amazed how those made it hard to walk.

I was talking to Garner who was up there as well. He said he is going to stick around Pullman for a while. He got a job working at Les Schwab. That is great for him.

I was thinking that Les Schwab seems to hire a lot of ten-six-sevens. Including the one I had written about several years ago who worked in Clarkston. They should do a men of Les Schwab calendar.

As it got close to the event the guys from the fire department came up. They were looking over the scene to make plans on how to do the work they needed to do. I got my video camera ready and started to video tape the whole thing. I got them coming to the scene with the sirens. Then the whole job of the extrication.

When they were done we went into the CUB and had lunch together. I went home afterwards and got the video downloaded to my computer and working on putting the video to some music.

I went to Colfax Fire for training tonight. We were doing OTEP. It was spinal injuries. The guy did a good job with the presentation.

Triple Layer at Colfax Fire

I spent a lot of the day working on my music collection. I have been working on trying to standardize my collection. I am getting all the album names, song names, band names, genres, and what not. It took a long time to go through all the songs. Then I also standardized the naming convention. It is something I have wanted to do for a long time. But with the purchase of my Durango that stores music on the radio, I wanted to make these updates. The system uses the band name, album name, and genre to list songs. So I wanted things done correct.

I got a long way through but some songs were messed up and the tags were not being saved or they were not reading correctly. So I had to go through all the songs on the radio and see what ones were not displaying correctly. Then I had to use a program to run through those and fix them. Then I had to re-enter the data. It really was a big under taking. But now that I am done, it feels so good. Now my car has my whole music collection so I can listen to my favorites on the road without having to switch CDs.

I went to the Fire Station in Colfax for fire training. We were doing some work with the dump tanks and drafting. We also were working with the new hose loads. They are trying out the triple-layer loads.

With my foot in the walking boot I didn't do much of anything except for watch. The people are new with the triple layer loads so one person who pulled it allowed a lot of the hose to just drop to the ground and got it sort of tangled up.

When we went to reload the hose there were some other issues involved. They are still new at it, so getting it set up and ready to pull aboard it was slow going. I helped make that go faster.

Fire Training House

I went to Colfax Fire for training today. We had a training where we had to crawl around the training house. I went in with a new guy. We had to crawl in and do a wall search to find the area of the fire and spray some water. Then we continued the search without the hose and went through some obstacles. I had not been in there before so it was all new to me. We finished by exiting through a window and down a ladder. It was a good training.

We finished by washing a couple rigs and getting all the hose reloaded.

Three Hats Today

I ran a call with Pullman fire early this afternoon. We took it all the way to the hospital. When I got home I heard a call go out in Albion. So I went out there for that call. Due to manpower needs we called for D-Twelve to come and help. When they got there we got things taken care of. Parrish made a comment about my hat changing.

This evening I worked the sheriff's office. I went out with Zehm. We had a call for some goats on the road near Palouse. We took care of it, it turned out they were not located. After some looking we found a neighbor who said he chased them back where they went.

I ran some traffic on some county roads. I got a couple tickets out of it. I also learned some more from Zehm. It seems like I learn things from Zehm. This time it wasn't in reference to something where I messed up. He told me about asking people if they looked at their speedometer.

The night was pretty uneventful again. It seems to be uneventful whenever I go out on patrol. I seem to have the white cloud around me.

Back at Colfax Fire Training

With the reserve academy and working at the fire department as well as Men's softball, I haven't been able to make it to a training in Colfax for ages.

I went to Colfax early so I could go look at the Suzuki. I had the money and I was ready to buy it. First I bought a helmet at the Honda dealership. But while in Colfax there were some issues with the bike. It took a while but we worked through them and got the bike going. The guy who was selling me the bike had his son helping us out. He is probably in his early twenties. A rugged ten-six-seven. I didn't mind that the motorcycle was having problems because it allowed me to spend more time trying to fix it with the ten-six-seven's help.

When the bike finally started to work I rode it around Colfax for a little bit, but I had to hurry because of fire training. I went back and told the guy that I was interested but I wanted to have more drive time with it when I am dressed for riding the bike. I was wearing shorts and a t-shirt on Airport road doing fifty. I was thinking about what my arms and legs would look like after a crash.

Tonight at Colfax Fire it was the monthly board and business meeting. Those don't typically last too long. When it was over I went back to Pullman. I was tired when I watched Rescue Me and missed the second half. So I went up stairs to my computer. And I watched it on TV next to my computer while I was doing some web surfing.

Command of Albion Call

After getting a call at seven-thirty in the morning, I was running late for my dentist appointment. So I rushed there and got my teeth cleaning. It only took about fifteen minutes. Probably my quickest appointment ever.

I was on my way home when I heard about a structure fire in Albion. I wasn't going to go until I heard Scott from Colfax request that D-Twelve and D-Eleven Colfax and Steptoe stations get dispatched. I called Colfax to have my turnouts brought in.

I drove to the scene and I knew no one was there, so I thought I might be first on scene. So I upped my response a little bit. An Albion unit with one person got to the scene the same time I did. I went to the rig and gave a size up of the scene and took command. D-Twelve got there. I sent two in to check for signs of fire or smoke. There was nothing. When an assistant chief from Albion got there I handed over command.

We spent the next twenty minutes going through the two apartments with a TIC and checking for a source of the smoke that was witnessed by the residents. We were not able to come up with anything. So everyone was cleared.

Tonight was Heather's birthday at the Moose. I went down there after taking a nap. I made her a birthday card after I went to buy one. It was a big hit at the Moose. Her dad was there so were Dan and Michele. We sat around joking and laughing for several hours. I finally left around ten o'clock at night to go home.

Big Photo Shoot

I have been wanting to do this for a long time, and finally I got my fire department uniform to my house so I could set it up. I wanted to take a photo of myself in each of my uniforms. Then I would put it all into one photo to make it look like I posed for the photos all at one time.

I spent some time trying to get the lighting and other set up things just right. Then I put on one uniform after another. It took a long time to go through all the uniforms. One by one I had to put it on and use the ten second delay to take three photos. Then sometimes I had to change out the badges and other brass to other uniform parts for another photos. It was a long process. But the photos all turned out well.

I then started to go through the photos and chose what post to use for what side of the photo the pic would be on. It took a lot of time to cut out the background even though I was using a solid colored background. The whole process to make the photo took about six hours.

I then had to run off to the softball game. We were playing against Spellman's team. It was crappy because we couldn't hit the ball. Some of our best hitters didn't have a hit on the night. We ended up losing after only scoring five runs. Spellman's team scored twelve in the first inning alone.

I ended the night by watching Rescue Me. It is the first episode I was able to catch in the last three weeks.

EMS Week at Sunnyside

After leaving the fire station Chia and I went to Tam's Place for breakfast. We hung out for a while talking. We were going to work EMS Week at Sunnyside Elementary school. We were burning some time before we had to be back at the station.

We got back around nine-thirty and got our uniforms on. We took Ambulance Thirty-Two up to the school. I did my normal task of showing the outside of the ambulance. I felt really comfortable doing it and ran the kids through it.

After showing the ambulance to four groups we went to lunch with them. Then out to the playground. We played some wall ball and tag. The kids are full of energy and I was having a fun time as I always do.

This evening was fire training at Colfax. We are doing the red card refresher class. We watched the same material I got a couple weeks ago with Pullman so this was a review of the refresher stuff for me.

Following that I went to the SO to put the meeting minutes in the folder and send them out to everyone. I also saw Jordan. He was telling updating me about my Friday arrest. Like I said I am excited to see the process that happens as it goes through the justice system.

I went home and went to bed early so I could get up and go work out. I am in real need to do something as I am getting into some bad habits. I am not eating as well as I should. I need to get back into a routine. The fire department really hurts my routine, so I have to work extra hard to combat it. I have allowed the fire department and the SO to be excuses, but I cannot continue to use those excuses.

Dual Transfers

I was hoping to work at the SO today, but I wasn't able to get something set up. So instead I did two transfers with Colfax. We first went to the hospital to do one to Spokane. But when we got to the hospital they were not ready, so we left to go to Spokane and get someone from up there to bring them back to Colfax. But after we got outside Steptoe we got called back to the hospital in Colfax.

We turned around and picked up the patient from Colfax. Then off to Spokane. After we got to Spokane we went to pick up another and drove back to Colfax. I was the attendant for the second patient.

Before we left to head to the hospital a rep was there selling fire related items. They had some very nice structural gloves. I asked about the kangaroo gloves. I was told they are not good because when they get wet they get really slippery. I tried on a very nice pair with some good dexterity. I bought two pair. One for each department.

I was at Colfax fire for a while longer. We were listening in to the missing kid search from near Malden. They think he may have fallen in a creek.

Later we had the coroner meeting. That lasted about two hours. We discussed recent cases and then did our schedules. I got home and wrote up the schedule and sent it off to Whitcom and updated the Google calendar with the schedule. I brought up the idea of using the calendar to the group after Annie's husband brought up the idea to me.

Another Colfax Structure Fire

I slept in today because I was up pretty late last night. I talked to Pat about the property out on SR One-Ninety-Four. He is thinking about re-listing the property and wanted to give me a chance to make an offer before he puts it on the market. I told him about the things that I have done to learn about the property and what it would take to build on it. I am going to do some more work and then we will meet to discuss it. I think the only way I will get it to work is if I work out a deal to buy it via owner financing.

Around six o'clock today a call went out for a structure fire outside of Colfax. They called for Albion and Steptoe to respond. I went to the station. I made it to the scene in Brush One.

We were there for several hours. I was able to throw some water on the fire in the mop-up mode. It was pretty much out by the time I got there in the Brush rig. I helped to clean up the scene and took the rig back to the station. I was out of there around ten o'clock.

Got An Oil Change

I was excited this morning to go to Lewiston to look at a Durango I found online the other day. It appeared to be exactly what I wanted. It was a fully-loaded SLT model. Last night, however, I noticed when I was online that it didn't have leather seats. That made me a little nervous. I figured that would be one thing I can overlook.

But when I got there I found there were other things it didn't have. Including navigation built into the radio. It has DVD, but not rear DVD. There were a lot of things like that. But the two biggies where the leather seats and navigation.

So we negotiated. I was able to get more money for my trade in. They offered to have leather seats installed. I still wanted the navigation. So we worked out a deal that we would install the radio with the navigation built in. But then I wouldn't get the leather. As it was the rig was discounted about nine-grand.

So I made the deal that the leather would get installed at the cost the dealer was going to have to pay. I would pay that. The radio would be installed and I would have the rig. So I have to wait about one week to actually pick it up. In the mean time they are letting me "borrow" my old rig until the new one is ready. So the rig I am driving actually now belongs to the dealership.

It took several hours to do this deal. I was down there for a while. But I am excited to get it. I like the new rig.

I got home and then headed down to Colfax for fire training. We were doing stuff on fire alarms and sprinkler systems. We went out and looked at sprinkler heads and wedges to get the sprinkler shut off. We also looked at the alarm panel in the station. Then we talked about all the buildings with FDC and Knox boxes in Colfax.

After training I went home and I was working on my computer when I heard Colfax get dispatched to a structure fire around eleven o'clock. After I heard the update and a request to dispatch Albion and Steptoe, I went to the station. I didn't get to the fire itself, but I did stand by the station until three in the morning.

I went to the hydrant that was set up to refill the water trucks. I was up there for about an hour helping to fill the trucks. Then they didn't need a lot of water for a while so Tim and I went to the station. I left around three in the morning.

Training at Colfax Fire Again

With fire training tonight I decided that I would see if I could set up a ride with Paul. We started by going to meet up with Vinny. We did a walk of one mile to see how long it would take us. This was to help with an accident investigation Vinny was doing.

Then we went to deal with a dog bite problem near Tekoa. It was a pretty quiet day with Paul. But he had some good information for me. One was that he uses the odometer. He resets it every time he passes a mile marker that ends with zero or when he starts on a new road so he can easily tell someone exactly how far he is from a known point to have people more easily be able to find him.

Fire training in Colfax was building construction.

Final Day of Academy Classroom

After nearly five and a half months of training tonight was the final class for the academy. We had a video for EVOC and the final test. I scored the highest on the test so I was happy about that.

Earlier I came down to Colfax. I was able to go on a call to Spokane on the ambulance. It was a pretty straight forward transfer. I spent a lot of my time talking with the patient on the way up.

After the class was done I was going to the Zuu for a celebration of the end of class. I invited everyone else to come with me. All the Pullman people ended up showing up for the celebration. We had beer and tacos. I also sang a couple songs. I got one with Peter and one with Jesse Two.

I was at the Zuu until nearly one-thirty in the morning. While we were there a lot of homoerotic joking was going on. One thing happened with Jessie. I jokingly said that I would switch for her. One of the D-Twelve guys, Neils, was there and heard me say that. He made mention that there have been rumors around D-Twelve and Eleven about me being gay, but he didn't know it was true. I sort of laughed it off. I am not too surprised that they know, but I guess I am also a little surprised.

I think that at least some of the people at Colfax have to know because I heard about one person there saying that during the wildfires last year that she found my blog and they were reading it while sitting on the fireline trying to pass the time. If they have read it, then they had to have found some of my posts that point out my gayness.

Nothing at Colfax Fire

I went to the county today to look up information on the land that Pat has for sale. I am trying to find out what it would take to build on the land to include crossing the seasonal creek, flattening the land, and putting in an engineered sewer system.

It sounds like it may cost a fair amount of money to start, but it sounds doable. I had to see people in several different departments.

I went to the fire station and hung out there for several hours. I chatted with Carl, Scott, and Tim while I was there. Tim and I were talking about him and Jim's project for monitoring live fires with equipment to watch the fire growth, heat production and more. It is pretty interesting.

He did some work at the live fire we had in Pullman a couple weeks ago.

Yearly Superbowl Party

Today was the Superbowl. I did some shopping for some pizza and M&M's and then went down to the fire station in Colfax for the poker party. We get together every year to play poker and watch the game. I made the pizza and put out the M&M's with we like to call crack. Because once you start you cannot stop eating them.

The poker went well. I was losing pretty bad for a fair amount of the day, but I made a pretty good comeback towards the end of the night and I think I ended up doing pretty good with the game.

The whole time I was there I got skunked on calls. But that is pretty normal for me to get hosed on calls when I hang out at Colfax Fire. I will listen to them get toned out all the time, but when I am around, there is nothing.

Lunch with Colfax Fire

I heard Colfax get dispatched on a call that would take them to Pullman and it was around lunch time so I called Scott to see if he would be interested in catching lunch. He said he was.

I went to the rec center and did some lifting, but my shoulder was hurting a lot so I wasn't able to do certain lifts. I was shooting some hoops when I got a call from Craig saying they were going to Cougar Country. Craig, Scott, and Steve were already there when I got there. We had lunch and BSed for a while.

I went home afterwards. BKoe and I were going to see Gran Torino. I drove us to Village Centre theatres. There were only two others in the theatre with us. It was a pretty good movie.

When it was done I fueled up the car and went home. I was pretty tired but I wanted to watch House and Kyle XY. That pretty much summed up my night. While resting on the couch I was counting my pulse. It was down to fifty while at rest. I thought that was pretty good.

No Calls at Colfax

This morning I wanted to go to Colfax fire. But I had things to do around the house. So I worked on getting caught up on some of the chores. Finally after spending time getting things taken care of I went to Colfax Fire.

I was there for several hours and we didn't have any calls I could go on, because there was only one. That call was out to LaCrosse. I was there until around nine o'clock before I finally went home.

I watched a little TV before deciding it was time to get to bed.

IC on Second Fatal Wreck

I was down in Colfax for my reserve class. I was sitting in Ross' truck waiting for class to start. I was reading my notes for the test we had coming up. A phone call came in. I looked and saw it was Jessie. I was going to give her a hard time when I answered it because I figured she was running late. But I didn't.

She said that someone spun out in front of her, she T-Boned them. She said to get the ambulance and rescue and get up there now. I ran to Colfax fire. I jumped in the first out ambulance and we went to the scene.

It wasn't long after we were en route that we were getting updates. I wasn't clear whether we had no injuries with all the patients, or one non-injured with others being injured. But I did get notified that there was one death. I started to feel really horrible for Jessie.

When we got to the scene I set up command and made sure our resources were coming. I had two people, including myself, check on the deceased to make sure. We got everyone transported and then I went back to Colfax so I could get to class.

We had Anderson doing the teaching. The class went by fast. We got through everything shortly after the two o'clock hour. So we got out of class early.

I got back to Pullman and we were busy there. I got on an ambulance and went to the hospital so Blake could finish one of his reports. But then we started to get more calls. It was a very busy day.

We had a very good dinner together. We ran calls together. Blake bought everyone a Blizzard from Dairy Queen. It was a stressful and long day.

Met a New Man

The plan for the day was pretty simple, go to the Colfax football game and meet Gunnar. The first part went well as did the second part.

I heard the ambulance leave Colfax on their way to the game. So I talked to one of the guys on the Ambulance and then headed to Martin Stadium to watch the game. It was a semi-final game between Colfax and Asotin. Early in the game a player of Colfax got hurt. I ended up transporting him to the hospital. In the end Asotin was too big and over powered Colfax. They lost.

When the game was done I met up with Gunnar. We have been e-mailing back and forth the last two days and decided that we wanted to watch the movie Scream. So he called me up. We met at Starbucks. We sat there talking for a while. He is working on a project and he told me a little about what he is doing.

Then we went to Blockbuster. I bought a couple movies but we didn't find Scream. We went to Video Quest and found it. We rented it and went to my place to watch it. Following the movie we sat around and talked as the TV was on in the background. In all we talked until nearly two o'clock in the morning.

We talked about a lot of different subject. It was very easy to talk to him. He is twenty-one years old and going to WSU and is planning on going into law. We have that in common. Well more so that I wanted to go into law. We talked about our homosexuality, but that was not a huge part of the night, it was just a small part.

When it was time for me hit the hay, I gave him a ride home. He was impressed that I was real and was true to my word about who I was and the way I acted.

The Ladders Were Switched

This afternoon I went to the fire department and did the walk-throughs of a couple buildings around campus. As we were going from building to building I got a chance to drive the PL. I need to get ten hours of drive time. I was able to knock out another half-hour of it. It was fun to get a chance to drive it.

After that training I went to Colfax and Tim was working. I asked him what rigs had a twenty-four foot ladder. He said only the ladder truck. I asked if we could pull it out. He asked why. I wouldn't tell him, but I said it would be worth it.

When we got it out, I said that we were looking for a one-inch long piece of black tape. Sure enough it was on there. The twenty-four footer from our PL and Colfax's ladder truck got mixed up sometime last year during the Whitman County fire academy. We had a good laugh about that.

I went to the reserve training afterwards. Cooper is teaching now. We are learning patrol procedures. This is where things start to get more fun. More hands on.

A Quiet Day at Colfax Fire

I spent most of the day at the fire station in Colfax, but as is the case when I am around, we didn't have any calls come in. So I spent most of the time talking with Tim and waiting for my reserve training to start.

I also talked with Bill from the PD. We were talking guns and he offered his up for sale. I asked how much. Sounds like I will be the proud owner of a new gun. It will be the first time I have bought a new one in about a decade. It is a forty-five. If it fits in my holster, I may see if I can carry it instead of a forty for being a reserve.

The class was good. Waltz has been doing a great job with the teaching. I think most of the people in the class have been happy with his teaching style.

Getting Errands Completed

I had a lot of appointments set up for today. I had to do a post-exposure meeting. I got poked with a needle. It wasn't very bad, but I wanted to make sure I followed all the precautions.

I also had the washing machine looked at today. It is having some problems. What I found out was that it is not something that can be repaired without a fair amount of money. It is at the point it would be better off for me to buy a new one. The one I have is pretty old. Now I can get a front loader, which is what I wanted anyway.

I had to make a bank run to deposit money as well as get some cash for the dinners. I went to the rec center to get my workout completed. The back thing was that I wasn't able to do it yesterday at work.

I went to my training in Colfax. We were doing evidence law. The class was pretty quick over all. We went to the SO and looked at the evidence lockers and that was about it.

I went to Colfax Fire when the class was done. They were just getting done with training. Jessie was with me for a while. I got to talking with Carl, Jim, and Tim. We were joking around and having fun.

Working Hard at Jail

After getting off work at the fire station I decided I would go to Colfax and work at the jail. I had my fire pager with me but Colfax didn't have any calls while I was there. It was a busy day in the jail as normal. I helped do some rounds, a booking, and run the control room. I worked there from around eleven to six in the evening. I was getting ready to go get some dinner.

I was at Main street and saw Carl drive by. Went I went by the fire station I saw Ken's truck. I decided to swing by and see Ken. They were going to work the Colfax High football game. I was asked if I wanted to come. I said I did. I grabbed my turnout coat and went to the game.

Colfax dominated the game. It didn't even look like a game until Colfax put many of their freshmen into the game. I saw several people from Colfax Police and McNanny from the SO there. We talked briefly about the upcoming academy.

When the game was done I went to Ken's to get his computer for me to work on. I am going to scrub it and reinstall everything for him. I got home and pretty much went to bed. I had to get up early tomorrow to stop by the Deuce to work on their photoboard.

Mock Train Crash

This morning when I got off work at the fire department I went to Colfax for a mock scene. It started out with a train vs car crash with alcohol involved. It was for the Colfax High students. We started with an assembly. Then to the scene. I was on the ambulance. During the scenario we got a real patient. I was the attendant. That took me out of the rest of the mock scene.

Following my call we went back to the scene. It was cleaned up. We all had lunch and prepared for the hazmat portion of the event. I set up the computer items and walked the Colfax people through how the system worked. We went to a train car to see how some of the tools we have work on the train car. That was nice to get a chance to see how the tools worked. We cleaned up and headed back to Pullman.

I was meeting up with Brandon and Kevin. We went to see a movie in Pullman. We saw Eagle Eye. It was an alright movie. When it was done we went to my place and played some games that Brandon had before Kevin had to leave. I went to bed a little while later because I had to work in the morning.

Ladders and Ventilation

This morning came sort of early, but I had a busy day ahead of me. I was going to be doing some training in the heat of the day today. I was looking forward to getting it done with, but I wasn’t sure I was going to be a fan of the heat. When I got to work I found out that we were going to go up earlier in the day to get it done to keep cooler. I was also getting engine drive time. I still need more time on the engine, but I am getting closer.

We had a call to start off with. Then it was off to station one until the ambulance was back in service. Once in service we went to the tower. I had to throw some ladders and do some ventilation. It was a good training. I had a chance to learn some techniques for vertical ventilation I hadn’t done before. I also learned a way to help get someone down from an upper floor if I were by myself. I did some tandem horizontal ventilation before we were done. It was a good training day in all.

I worked on the engineer book in the afternoon. It was pretty quiet at far as calls went. I was planning on going down to Colfax after the day working. I stopped at the station first to get my backpack with my computer. I talked to the guys I use to work with for a little over an hour before heading to Colfax.

I got to Colfax and went into the SO to drop off my paperwork from the coroner’s case from the other day. I went to the fire station after that. I hung out there for a couple hours but nothing came in. We had a city cop ask us to help with the removal of a dead deer. That was about all we did, that and watch a movie.

What a Great Day

I started out this morning watching Hang 'Em High, but I wasn't able to finish it because I had to go to Spokane to hang out with Ryan. His birthday was on Wednesday and we were planning on going to see the X-Files and have lunch.

We started with Pizza at Rocky's. I bought a large. We had some leftovers for Anna. We spent a fair amount of time talking about what names that could be used for naming a baby. We were joking about making sure the kid is named something cool and not doing the dumb things some parents do. Such as naming their kid a normal name but spelling it different.

We walked down to the mall to watch the X-Files. It was like watching a long episode. I guess you wouldn't expect anything different though. When the movie was done we got some ice cream from Ben and Jerry's. We did some people watching and we saw two people walking around with their kids on a leash. I told Ryan I would kick his ass if he ever did that to his kid. He laughed and said he wouldn't.

I left and went down to Colfax. I hung out at the fire station for about an hour with Tim. Then we went to Jamie and Brett's wedding together. It was a nice service. The jail Captain did the service. He did a very good job. There were some good laughs. After the service we went in to the banquet. I had some food and spent time talking to everyone up there. I had a chance to congratulate the newly weds and talk to many people I have worked with over the years.

I also spoke to Myers a while about being a reserve. I told him about about the situation that I am in and that I have been working hard to be a reserve. He said we will do something to make it work. I still need to make sure I get enough time off of work to make it work out correctly. I am going to have to talk to Dan and John and some of the other guys to see if they are willing to help me out as much as possible about covering some of my shifts so I can make the training.

After the reception I went back to the fire station with Tim. We went to let his dog inside at his house. While there he was showing me around the house. While there we got toned out on a call. We went to the scene and waited for the ambulance. When it was done I helped restock the Brush trucks' EMS supplies and then I headed home.

First Morning Structure Fire

This morning the tones woke me up shortly before four in the morning. They were calling a second alarm. I went to the fire station after having driven through the downtown area. I would smell smoke. When I got to the fire station they didn't need us to go to the scene, so I stood by. For a couple hours.

When the rigs got back I helped put them in service. I went to the store and bought some donuts for everyone. I got my books from home and came back to work. I pretty much worked there from four in the morning until five in the evening.

I decided to go down to Colfax tonight. I hung out with Ralph for a couple hours waiting for a call to come in. While I was there we sat outside talking about fire services and more. It was getting to be around ten o'clock and I was getting a bit tired so I was getting ready to head out when a call did come in. It was a transfer. I took it. It was only from Colfax to Pullman so it wasn't a big deal, but I did get to go code on the way.

Wildland Field Driver Training

Started off today doing the daily rig checks and chores. We went to the CUB for a tour. I was underwhelmed by the new look. The colors make you question "why?" As we were completing the tour we got a call. I was in the ambulance and we went to the scene. It was my first ambulance call with them.

Later we went to the tower to work on evolutions to sign off Chuck and I on items in our rookie book. Today we were pulling the pre-connects and spraying water.

After work I went to Colfax for training. We went to Steptoe to do some field driving in the rural rigs. It was the first time I drove them off road. I was nervous at first, but I got a little use to it after doing some driving.

They pretty much knew I got the temp position with Pullman. They congratulated me and asked me some questions about how it worked.

Steptoe vs Colfax Fire Softball

Colfax and Steptoe Fire had the second annual softball game for bragging rights and a traveling trophy. I had an okay day at the plate, I did get an inside the park homerun driving in the go-ahead runs. But before we knew it the Steptoe team went to work in the sixth inning and they came back for the victory. At one point Scott was at bat. A pitch came towards him. He didn't move and let it go right off the top of his head. It cracked everyone up.

I got in Albion's Ambulance with Jessie and Ben in St. John to go to the Sprint Boat Races. We hung out with the Rosalia ambulance crew and watched the races for the next five hours. It was a lot of fun.

A boat racing in the slough

This boat hit the side hard and ended up flipping

Some of the boats left some big rooster tails

The Jeeps that were used to launch the boats

The one thing that was nice was the weather, at least for the first part of the race. That caused a lot of ten-six-sevens to remove the shirts giving all the more eye candy to enjoy as I was there.

I got back to Colfax and was dropping off some paperwork for some coroner's cases when Heston called about setting up some huge tents for Cougar High School Football Camp. We had to get two of them set up. That took us a couple hours. A. Wilcox was helping... Yet another ten-six-seven.

I went to the fire station and did some Excel work for Rudy to help me consolidate hours for overtime so they could use it during the upcoming negotiations.

A Record Number of Rainouts

We have yet to play a regular season softball game. We are the only A-league team to not have played a regular season game. We were rained out again today. I am interested in playing softball. I hope one of these days we will get to actually do that. I have a feeling we will either extend the season, cut it short (with refunds I hope) or we will have a lot of double-headers with games on Wednesday's as well.

That made it so I could go to Colfax Fire training tonight. It was OTEP training in Steptoe. We were doing patient assessment. The training took a couple hours total. I was able to be an evaluator. Since becoming an EMS Evaluator I have had a chance to use those skills. That is pretty fun.

I also decided I need to get my den and garage cleaned up. I broke it down in to multiple tasks. I assigned each task for one week. It will take a month and a half to get it all done, but I figured if I do it in steps rather than all at once it will be more manageable. I will probably even get to those tasks because they are more manageable.

Another Shot in the Ankle

I started the day by having lunch with Jon, Jim, and Terry at Three Pigs. After the lunch I went across the street to the doctor's office for another talk with the doc about the ankle. He looked over the MRI shots once more and then gave me a shot in a different spot than the one before. It was very painful going in. I was fighting the pain off.

I hit the road to come back to Pullman after that. I actually stopped in Colfax to hang out at the fire department for a while. Shortly after I got there we got called out to a car accident, but it turned into nothing major. We were cancelled within a tiny bit.

I hung out for a while longer, but nothing new cam out. I did find out from Pete, when I saw him when I first got there, that Brandon was fired from IS. Well it was more of his position being eliminated. But that was interested. After I left the FD, I ran into Dan, who I use to work with at IS with Brandon. He gave me some more information about the whole thing. Brandon had been with the county for ten years.

Working at Colfax Fire

I went to Colfax Fire today and I was planning on working at the jail, but I ended up staying at the fire station. While I was there we got called out on a fire alarm at the school. It turned out to be burnt food.

Later on Tim and I got a pizza while waiting for the meeting to start. We learned about the plans for the new radio system and the fact that once everything is in scanner-land will die as they will not be able to scan us. That is sucky in my book.

After the training we played poker for a couple hours. Jim and I got into a laughing fit again. We seem to feed off each other. Something will happen that will crack us up. Then we start to feed off each other laughing harder and harder. That usually will go on for a couple minutes.

Wiring the Church

I told Ken I would help him wire his church up for Internet. He has DSL there and we needed to lay the wires to install the Internet into his office, the visiting pastor's office and the sound board man. We only got two of the offices completed.

I also helped him to get Total Recorder to start to record his services. Now he can have them saved directly to an audio format. He is happy about the improvements we made.

I went to the fire department after that. Tim talked to me about working as a part-timer down there. I told him I was interested. So we started to talk about it and talk about the things the part-timers need to do and need to know about working there. I spent some time helping him fix a part on the pump of one of the rural trucks.

We worked on there for a couple hours. Then we went to the dayroom when we were done to watch some TV and have dinner. We ordered some pizza.

I hung out there until about eleven o'clock without a single call coming in while I was there. But that is almost always how it is while I am there.

Shook in the Jail

Before fire training I went to Colfax a little early. I was in the jail for a while. We ended up having to do a shack down in one of the units looking for a missing item. When it was done we ended up locking down the whole unit for various reasons.

When it was time for training I went to the fire station across the street. We were dealing with fire alarms and water protection devices. It was a good training.

When I got home I was going to go to The Zzu, but I have had a hard time waking up so I decided it would be best if I went to bed early to make sure I got up at a good time.

It was God's Will

After my workout today I was going to turn to go home from the Rec Center. I was in the turn lane and had my left hand blinker on, but something made me go right. (Not that going right is ever a bad thing).

I turned onto Stadium Way and saw someone near Troy Road was hitchhiking. I thought that was odd to see in general. But it was a younger looking lady. When I saw the size and stature of the person walking along, plus the coat and scarf, I thought I might know her. As I passed her up, I knew who it was.

She is someone who is a fellow DJ on KZUU. She is a very nice person and I felt like I had to go back and pick her up. I was worried about her hitchhiking, even though "it is only Pullman". So I turned around, but I had to go all the way down to Stephenson to turn around because of the median in the road. Finally, I got back to her and she was happy for the ride.

As it turned out she had to get across town and get her computer for a class presentation. I told her I would give her a ride back to campus as well because she would have to take the bus back otherwise. The part of town she lived it would require a transfer to another bus.

While we were driving along I found out that she also has a radio show on a local Christian station and I started to think it could have been God's will that brought me to her.

As my reward for giving her the ride, when I drove down Main Street in Pullman, I saw my barber walking across the street to open his barbershop. I had planned on getting my haircut, so that worked out perfectly. Had I got straight there without stopping to help this lady, then he still would have been closed.

I went down to a couple calls at the fire station, but as normal I only stood by. But Rich and I had a chance to play a game for a bit while he was on his break. That is always fun to have something to do while I am standing by.

Rich also had asked if I could help him with a computer problem. He had some nasty malware application on his computer and none of the major applications were finding it and cleaning it. I did some research on it and found out how to clean it out of the computer. That took about an hour total to get it done and help make sure the computer was good to go.

I had just enough time to get down to the fire station in Colfax for training. There were only about ten people there for the Building Construction lecture. It only took about an hour for that.

Brandon and I were going to meet up at The Zzu for Taco Tuesday. I think things were still going good for me at this point. I started to play pool against Brandon. I was playing my normal game. I was able to sink a lot of balls, but I also missed a lot. But what was interesting is we played five games.

In those five games Brandon had not been beaten once yet I had four wins. He had one. He was on the Eight ball on four separate occasions. He was missing very easy shots. When he would make a shot, he would also sink the cue ball for a loss. Or he would sink the Eight ball in the wrong pocket. I think I had an unbeatable force on my side today.

EMT Class Final Practicals

I went to Colfax fire in the morning before the practicals started. A couple of the people in the class were there. Steve had brought some donuts. I had one on my way out the door.

It was my first time being an evaluator on the check offs for the EMT practicals. I was nervous because it was my first time. I had a lot of questions for some of the other who had done this before. After the first couple groups I felt more relaxed.

It took the whole morning and into the afternoon for everyone to get through the testing.

I went to Colfax fire and hung out for a while. We watched some movies and talked about the EMT class. Around five I had to head back to Pullman. Just as I was walking out the door they got toned out to a car accident. So I didn't get to go.

On the way home Pullman got toned out to an alarm. A. Wilcox called and asked if we go. I said I was planning on going to the station. So he said he would come down. I had to make my way from Albion Road and One-Ninety-Five.

It turned out that we just stood by the station for the call.

The evening was sort of slow, but we had three calls. They were spread out so I saw almost every hour until four in the morning. One call I slept through the tones and only woke up when the Ambulance went en route.

Seeing an Old Friend

After my workout I went to George's office in the IT building on campus. We spent a couple hours catching up on the latest changes around campus. One of which is the restructuring of SCS. George has been moved from SCS and is no longer in charge of it. That is a sad day. SCS is what it is today because of the years of work George has done. It is not clear what is next on George's plate.

I also went to the Carothers Road structure fire critique. We talked about what happened and how things could have gone better and how things went well. It was a productive meeting.

Final Day in Wildland Class

Today was the final day in Wildland training. I have been doing it all week in Colfax. We did our final sections, then did our written test and shelter deployment test.

After the class I went to help C-Shift with their weekly rig checks. While at rig checks I got a call about going bowling. I had not been bowling in years. Due to my ankle I have not been able to bowl very well.

Kevin, BKoe, and I went to Zeppoz. I was able to bowl pain free. We ended up bowling four games. My first game was around a one-fifty-two. Pretty good for not having bowled in a long time. Brandon is a good bowler and I was only able to beat him once.

After bowling we went to Brandon's place and we played poker. We were there until nearly four in the morning. We were playing dealers choice. That was fun. It was all low stakes.

Wildland Class Day Two

Today was Wildland class. I was a little tired due to staying out a little late last night. We had a full day in the wildland class. We covered a lot of the sections in the book. It was a fun class over all. The chairs after a while was being a pain in the rear end.

I was on call for the fire department in the evening, but it turned out to be a quiet night with no calls. I was able to sleep through the night.

BKoe the Cop

BKoe invited me to his swearing in at the police station. I showed up to see him become a sworn police officer. I also had a chance to see several of Pullman's finest and say hello to them all.

After the swearing in I went home to get ready for the Wildland fire class being held in Colfax all weekend. I wasn't looking forward to the early hours, but I needed to get the class done and out of the way. I figured doing it in Colfax I would be able to skip the Pullman class coming up.

When I got back I went to Rico's for Andy's engagement party. Mike had come out from Montana and he was there for the party and they all planned on going to the Cougar Basketball game tomorrow.

I hung out chatting with Andy about his student teaching and his responsibilities that he has coming up following his completion of school. It was great to see Mike as well.

SSDD - Same Stuff Different Day

I went to the fire station this morning to give everyone their worksheets for last nights training. I also spoke with Turpin about a couple shift related things. Nothing major.

I went to Colfax for fire training. It was OTEP in Steptoe. I went up there in the ambulance with several other people. The training was pretty uneventful.

When I got home I worked on my schedule for tomorrow before hitting the hay.

EMT Class Help

Started the day driving to Steptoe for the EMT class. I was doing more medical assessments. My roll was mainly to help people with doing a medical incident. I made up some scenarios and run the groups through it. I did that for most of the time there. I also helped with some check-offs on using the long bone splint for a femur fracture.

For lunch a group of us went to Colfax fire for some pizza and watched the Cougar game. Well we watched the tip-off and the first points scored by the Cougs. We were back at the school until around four in the afternoon.

When I returned I went to the Dodge dealership to look at their trucks. I found one fifteen hundred. But with what I would get for my truck and what they wanted on that truck I would not be making a good switch. I want to reduce the overall amount owed on the truck. I would have only reduced what I owe by about two grand and I would have added about forty-five thousand miles to the rig. Not a good trade off.

I will keep looking until I find the perfect truck and the perfect deal for me.

I went to the Rec center and did a cardio workout. Then I swam five laps. My legs were tired and I was really not swimming super well. But I chalked that up to having just done twenty minutes of cardio.

After the Rec center I went to the casino and played with about forty bucks. That didn't last forever. Russell was there. He was looking at getting off pretty soon. I was going to give him a ride. But I got a call from Avalon about transporting a person from the hospital. When I was done it was after three in the morning. I went back to the casino wearing a polo shirt and slacks. At first Russell glanced at me thinking I was someone else.

He got off and I gave him a ride to Nick's apartment. I went home and called it a night.

Colfax Responded to a Structure Fire

I wanted to get my truck washed today because it was pretty dirty. While washing it I was trying to think about what I would do tonight. I figured a trip to the car dealer to see about getting a fifteen-hundred truck would be a good idea.

I upgraded to a twenty-five-hundred because I figured that I would get a camper for my truck. I needed a bigger truck. But with my decision to buy my parents' motorhome I don't need a camper at this time and paying off a huge truck payment is probably not necessary.

But before I was completely finished cleaning my truck a call went out for a structure fire for D-twelve. Soon I heard it was a two story house that was fully involved. Calls started to come in for Albion, Colfax, D-Fourteen, and Steptoe.

When Colfax was asked for I called the fire station and asked them to bring my gear so I could help with the fire cause.

Photo By: Hillary Hamm/Daily News

When I arrived I saw what was in the photo above. I helped with the water shuttle. I helped to get a couple of the Colfax rigs filled with water and then helped to fill the dumptanks. I was on scene for around four hours of the night.

Bought a Pop Machine

I did some shopping at Safeway and stopped by Al's Auto Body to look at the pop machines. I found one that I liked. It was branded as a Coke machine, but I figured the features it had it was worth dealing with that. It has up to nine selections. It holds a lot of pop. Plus I can vary the prices depending on whether I have pop, beer, or some other beverage in the machine.

I had to run home for a bit then I went back to pick it up. I helped to do some cleaning on it and replaced the locking mechanism on it. Then the guy delivered it to my house.

I set it up in the garage. Next to the other vending machine.

I went to Colfax for fire training. We were doing our Confined Space refresher course. That went pretty quick. Carl, Jim, Tim, and I play poker. I had to get some cash from the store. While I was there I saw they had a good deal on some kinds of candy. So I bought thirty bars for the vending machine.

I didn't do great at cards, but I ended winning a couple hands late and walked away with about fifty cents.

EMT Extrication class

Started the day with Extrication class in Colfax. I got my turnouts from Colfax. My role was at photographer and as a trainer on some of the scenarios. I would set someone up in the car and help people with how to take them out of the car. Later on when we were cutting I mainly was taking the photos of everything. I ended up with more that four-hundred photos on the day.

I worked the Cougar Basketball game. We need to be able to beat Arizona, but we were not able to do it. I don't know why we are having some of the problems this season that we didn't last year.

It sucked to lose to them. That sort of put a damper on the day.

Transaction Completed

I met with the crew leaders and the Lt's about some issues and where we stand in the whole order of things. I went to Colfax a little bit later to complete the transaction for the boat. I met up with Eric at the Auditors office. I signed over the boat to him. He paid me the final portion of the bill.

I went to the fire station and stayed there until they were back from the call they were on. I talked to Ralph about getting into the Red Card class they were going to have coming up. I also got information about the CISD training. There is a class coming up in April. I am thinking about signing up for that. But the class will be in the Seattle area.

I spent some time with Bien on the engine. Once I am satisfied with his knowledge of the engine he is able to get checked off with it. We went down to HazMat training. It was fairly short. I spoke with Chapman about the meeting we had this morning as well as some of the issues we have had with some of the guys.

Another Cancelled Colfax Training

The snow hit hard this afternoon. I was watching it pile up when I heard D-Twelve get toned out to a car accident. Soon I heard it had three cars involved. They asked for Pullman Ambulance and Rescue to get toned out. I knocked on Tyson's door and went off on the call. McPherson came down as well.

We got to the scene with three cars. We did pop a door on one car, but that was about it as far a rescue went. It was a long scene as we called for an ambulance from Lewiston because we didn't have career guys to run the other two ambulances in Pullman.

As we were clearing the hospital I heard Colfax get an information tone about the fact that training was cancelled today. That made my life easier. I wouldn't have to drive down there.

When we were back at the station we cleaned Rescue and I stuck around to chat with the other guys for a little bit before going home. I had some dinner. Plowed the driveway and watched House before going to bed.

Super Bowl Party

Today's Super Bowl party was held at Bryce's house in Colfax. I purchased some peanut butter cups, chips, and dip. I brought that down with my pop. I got there around the same time Carl did. He brought his beans stuff. Jim and Connie brought their taquito's. Everyone had their thing there.

We started by playing some poker. But I was not doing very well. I sort of just bled out money most of the night. We were rooting for the Giants to beat Patriots to ruin their attempt at a perfect season. We stopped playing cards at the start of the game. We were not very impressed with the commercials this year. They were not very funny nor ground breaking.

At half time we played cards until there was about five minutes left in the game. After that we went back to watch the final part of the game. That was probably the best part of the game as well.

We played a tiny bit more cards before calling it a night. I went home and watched the end of House.

Lost the Cable Modem

Last night my internet stopped working. I figured it was due to the snow we had been getting. This morning when I still didn't have connectivity I called work and let them know what was going on. Then I went off to Colfax.

I contacted TimeWarner about the problem. There were not outages, so to me that meant the modem went bad. An appointment was set up for me for tomorrow.

I decided to work in the jail followed by a trip to Colfax Fire for training. When I got to the fire station I hung out for a little bit. I helped Hickman chain up his car. He didn't quite know how to use the chains that he had. I had them both on in about five minutes.

I told them I would be responding on call from the jail. I was told there was no training tonight. So I have not been to a training all year due to them either being cancelled or me being gone.

I went over to the jail. The snow had been falling and things were getting bad. The county sent people home for the day. Roads were getting closed. We were getting calls from people asking about the roads. I didn't get to book anyone today, but I did get a couple teletype warrants sent out.

I worked eight hours in the jail and left shortly after dinner. As I was walking out the tones went off for an unknown injury rollover accident. I made the ambulance. We went en route, but firefighters who got on scene before us said that it was non-injury. So we cancelled and went back to the station.

A day of lots of snow

We got a call today that Wilcox and I went down on. While en route it turned to an echo call. We ended up doing CPR. When we got to the hospital it turned out to be a save. I did compressions at the scene, in the ambulance, and in the hospital. When the call was done we went to the fuel pumps.

I was running late getting to Colfax. I was meeting up with Ken at the Church to go over some computer and networking things before training tonight. I covered the questions he had as well as looked around the area where the equipment would be set up.

As it turned out fire training was cancelled tonight. It was going to be OTEP. With it cancelled I went home and had some of my final meals for the day. I got a call from Russell asking if I would like to watch a movie with him and Nick. I said I would like to, but I needed to get up early.

I have been working on going to bed earlier than normal so I could get up earlier. I don't know if that will last. I like to be up late. But I don't know what I am getting out of it. I know what I am losing. My early morning exercise time.

The End of an Era

Ken the Fireman M is no longer. He has taken a job as a pastor at his church. He is giving up firefighting as a full-time career. He said he knees just cannot take it anymore. So, as he said, God has shown him the light to his new career.

I wanted to hang out with Ken on his last day. I have spent many hours in the last five years sitting at the fire station with Ken. I was at home when I heard Ken tone out a transfer. I called him and let him know that I was going to come down there and if there was not a crew that showed up, that I would be there shortly.

As it turned out I was needed. So I met up with the ambulance on scene. It turned out to be a mental patient. So that added a bunch of fun as I had to deal with someone who was not very happy that I was around. The mental health worker was able to help us out.

While I was writing my report at the hospital, David, one of the EMT's had to get his wife. So he got a ride to my truck and drove my truck to the fire station. He then got his car and picked up his wife.

The hospital staff got what they needed and said we could take her back. So we called David and he came back to the hospital to help us give her a ride back to her residence.

Following the transfers it was time to go back to the station. I said hello to Ken and then went to Rosauers. I was going to get a cake for us to have. I was going to have it say "Happy Birthday Ken 3.0". That was in relation to the fact he was military, then fire, and now a pastor. So this is his third iteration of a career path. He thought that was cool.

But do to the transfer call I wasn't able to get the cake. Instead I got him and I some ice cream to share. I stayed at the fire station until around nine o'clock PM. We didn't get any other calls while I was at the fire station.

We watched some football on TV and I worked on getting my reports completed from the transfers.

Take the long way home

The only real plans for the day was to head back to Pullman. I got my stuff packed and loaded into my truck. I had to make a couple phone calls about the insurance coverage from my surgery as well, but that was something I would do on my way to Pullman.

I hit the road. I knew they pass conditions where not great, but not bad either. I was told that the state patrol was holding up traffic near mile post forty-seven to check for chains or four-wheel drive vehicle. That caused nearly a SIX MILE BACKUP! It was stop and go for a great length of time.

Well the urge to relieve myself of liquids was great. I saw mile post forty-two coming up and Tinkham road was there. I worked my way over and took the exit. I was dismayed when I saw the exit was crawling with people participating in recreational activities.

I went up this road. I was pretty sure it would end at I-Ninety near the police road block. That would cut out about five miles of traffic. I also figured I would find a place to go pee. The problem that I ran into was that the snow was really deep on the side of the road. There were two tracks where peoples' tires drive.

In front of me was a car and a truck. The car was starting to have problems. The guy stopped and came back to talk with me and the guy in the truck. Finally it was decided that he could not continue up the hill. So without a place to move out of the way, we would have to back out of there. I wasn't worried about that. But I wanted to go forward not backwards, and I still needed to go to the bathroom.

After backing a short period of time I thought I saw a spot I could pull over. But what happened was instead I got stuck in deep snow. I was mad because I was stuck. I was also worried because I was stuck. The people above me could not get around me either. So they stopped and assisted me in getting un-stuck.

While we were digging the truck out, I said, "just a second, I need to go look at something". I jumped a small stream and ran up a hill. I was finally able to relieve myself. I got back a little more relaxed. It took a bit more digging to actually get the truck out. I had some people in the back to give more weight over the back axle.

We continued down, but now vehicles were partly in the roadway. That caused me to move wide, and I got stuck again. After I got stuck, one of the guys came down from where he was and moved his truck, that didn't do me any good. But some people helped me get out.

I got back on I-ninety and continued my slow process of getting over the mountain. Once across the mountain, it had been nearly three hours to get from Seattle to Ellensburg. Some of that was the time getting stuck.

The roads were now bare and dry. I was able to fly. I made up for lost time. When I got to Whitman county the roads looked wet. I was not sure if it was icy, or if it was the chemical that is put on the road to stop from freezing. I drove with caution.

But around milepost one-twenty-six on SR Twenty-Six the roads were icy. I slowed down. A truck I had been following all the way in lost control on a corner. She swerved back and forth across both lanes. She was lucky no one was coming. She lost control because as we rounded a corner someone else had gone off into a ditch.

She hit her brakes and started to lose control. I thought she was going to hit the other vehicle. But instead she missed it and just went on to the opposite shoulder of the road. No injuries in either situation. I continued on. I saw one other vehicle that had gone off the road. I called in both on my radio. I let Whitcom know that we had three cars off the road within one mile. I said the road conditions were really bad.

I went to Colfax fire and hung out there. But no calls came in while I was there. I was hoping for something. Tim was working and Bryson was on for the police. They gave me a hard time about not stopping to take care of the slide offs. I laughed and said that had I done that I would have probably be run over due to the bad road conditions and the fact I had no warning devices to allow the other drivers to know of the danger.

Calls Getting in the Way of Driving

I just couldn't get out of town today. It started in Pullman. I was up and getting cleaned up. I was thinking about the things I needed to pack to take with me. While doing that a call came in for someone who had fallen at Kamiak Park. I had never been there before so I was actually looking forward to heading there. I got a call from Dearth who also wanted to go, with some of the same feelings that I had about going to the park.

While en route it sounded like they didn't know exactly where we needed to go. The call was a relay from Latah County Sheriff. We were one of the last units to get on scene. We helped to get the equipment loaded onto a John Deere Gator that was being taken up a trail. The first units on scene split up on the trail where it forked. One crew found the person and we were sending the Gator in. We were told to get the ambulance ready by turning it around and heating up the back.

We went into the hospital with the person and then Dearth and I went back to the station. I had said that I am not responding on any additional calls. It was around noon when that one came in. It was nearly a two hour call. So I was getting behind the eight-ball in terms of getting home during the daylight hours.

I started to pack my stuff. I got everything prepared for me to be gone for almost three weeks. I loaded my truck. Dearth had asked me if I had chains for my truck. I am glad he said something. That helped me remember there were not in the truck. I put them in the truck and took out my Coroner's stuff.

I hit the road. There was a bit of snow on the roadway and it was snowing. It was slow going to Colfax. One truck decided to take his sweet time driving down there. But like I say, there is a reason for everything. I drove past Island street and looked down the road to the fire station. I thought that a call would have to pretty much come out right now for me to be able to go. Colfax had actually been out on a couple car accidents already.

Just as I was going to turn into the Rosauers parking lot we got dispatched to a roll-over car accident on Airport Road. The car was fully engulfed in flames. I went through the parking lot and got to the station. I put on my turn outs and hopped on Engine One.

We went to the scene. As we were getting to Airport road I didn't see a column of smoke. I said that outloud to Carl and Jenny. Shortly thereafter Carl said "Hey Scotty, there is your column." I could see a big column of brown-black smoke. We got on scene. I was packed up and ready to go. I grabbed a blitz line and went into the field where the car was burning.

It was about one hundred feet into the field. I called for water. Approached the car from a corner and started to spray the water. I got the fire on the ground put out. Then worked my way up. One thing I had to be aware of was that we had no hydrant. Only tank water, so I couldn't be wasteful. I got the passenger compartment of the car put out. Carl opened the hood of the car so I could put all that fire out as well.

I was able to get the whole thing extinguished on tank water. That was a good thing. Really this was my first real car fire that I started, attacked, and put out without anyone else doing anything.

After we got back to the station I helped to clean up everything. I went to Rosauers. I got some stuff for dinner. I hit the road. The Cougs were playing basketball. I was able to listen to the game on the way back. The roads had snow on them causing some slow going at times. Actually the pass and into Issaquah were the best parts of the drive. I was able to cruise along at a good clip most of the way anyhow. The Cougs won and I got home safely.

A Night on the Town

I got up late this morning, allowing myself to sleep in. I got on the computer and worked on a couple bugs for work before I went to Colfax. I was there for only about four hours. But I got three bookings and releases done. It was the guys who were busted for the frat fight last month.

I went to Colfax for training. We were doing cardiac emergencies. Before the training started we went on a ambulance call for a cardiac emergency. The class went from seven until almost nine-thirty. I was put in charge a group doing CPR.

Following training it was back to Pullman. I was going to meet up with some of the guys from the FD at Pete's for Wiley night. I got down there and it was packed. The line to get anything was long and thick. It took about forty minutes to get to the front of the line. Dearth and Wilcox were in front of me. Anton, Bien's friend, was also with them. We spent the time talking about various things. I finally got my pitcher of beer and went to the table. I saw Grim and Andy from poker playing fame. A. Wilcox was there so was Pritchett. Blake was on his way out the door. A. Wilcox came up to hang out with us. I finished off the beer and we headed up to the Zuu.

I was in the very back of Dearth's blazer. I left my truck at Pete's. On the way I farted. I didn't think it was bad, it people started to make a huge deal about the smell. Bien was pretty drunk, so I was able to get everyone to blame him.

When we were going in the Zuu Bien's girlfriend, Megan was texting him. I took over his phone and started to respond to her. She wanted to pick him up. We were able to keep him until midnight.

At the Zuu I saw Peter as well as Loren. Doug, Denise, and Neils were there as well. I had another pitcher of beer as we sang a couple songs on karaoke. We closed out the bar. Dearth was really drunk and left. Wilcox also left because he was drunk. So it was just Anton, Bien, and I left. I got a ride home, and I was feeling the alcohol.

I drank a lot of water before finally going to bed.

Chatting with Brandon

I started the morning out getting an oil change for my truck. I was at home making lunch when I got a call from Brandon. He is looking at buying a gun and he was out looking at some.

Later on when I was making dinner he called again. But I was on my way to Colfax for the coroner's training. We talked about the guns he looked at. He is looking to getting a revolver.

When I was getting to Colfax the ambulance was getting ready to leave and a lot of people were showing up. I turned on my radio and heard it was a car wreck. I went to the station and watched the rescue leave. I was there for a little bit when a second ambulance was requested. I called Pete and told him what was going on. He said I could go.

It turned out that the second ambulance was needed. We were turned around, but we set up flares because we were nearly on the scene.

I got back for training in plenty of time. The training was good, we covered some recent cases. After the training was over with I went to Colfax Fire and hung out watching some TV shows with Ralph.

When CSI was over with I went home.

Spending the Day with Ken

I went to Colfax fire today because I had the day off of work and because I wanted to help Ken with his report and follow up from yesterday's case. I advised Ken on things to write in his narrative and checked it when he was done writing it.

I was also hanging out waiting for a call to come in. Before I had to leave we did have a call come in. It was a low level call. We didn't do a lot, but we did transport.

I had to head back to Pullman to work the WSU Volleyball game. It was the last game of the season. They were playing Oregon State. When we got to D street and Colorado I saw lights flashing inside Bohler Gym. I said it looked like a fire alarm. Reed said "they haven't dispatched one." Then it was dispatched. We investigated it. It was burnt popcorn. We helped to get everything reset and watched the matches.

The Cougs went on to win in five games. It was need to see.

Another Day in Jail

Another shift working in jail. I worked with a new person today. I helped him book someone in and did a round with him. I worked there until around six o'clock pm. It was pretty uneventful for the most part.

I went to training in Colfax. It was a pretty short one. We went over the cascade system in the rescue and in the station. We learned how to hook up bottles and how to hook the rescue to the in-house system to refill it.

When that was done Carl, Scott, Chris, and I played poker for a couple hours. I won the first hand of the night and couldn't do anything after that.

My Interview

I was scheduled for an interview at SEL today. It was for eight in the morning. I got up and dressed. I had to scrap my window. Then I got to SEL. I was taken to the interview room which was in a different building. I had three people asking me questions.

I think I did well with the questions that they asked. It took about two hours in total. They did not ask any specific coding questions, just things in general about my previous work. It sounds like there are two others who would be working in the same area as I would work. I would be working to get data from Access databases and move them to SQL server. Then I would build front ends for them in ASP.NET. I am not sure if they job will be a good fit, because I get the feeling they have the normal eight-to-five work schedule rather than the mentality of a development company that gives more flexibility to developers. They may worry about that too, because the main guy did ask me a question about the flexibility that I have.

When I was done with the Interview I got my jail uniform on and went to work in the jail. I had lunch first at the fire station in Colfax and then worked for the next six hours in the jail. I did a partial round, mainly worked as help on the floor doing fingerprints and some stuff with getting inmates to see the nurse.

When it was close to time to go to Colfax Fire a call came in looking for help to package a patient for sending on the helicopter. I went to help out. It was the patient that Colfax fire had transported earlier in the day. I hope everything turns out well for the patient.

I got some dinner and ate at the fire station in preparation for our board and business meeting. When the meeting was over Tim and I watched House before I came back to Pullman.

Strolling To Bellevue

I needed to head out to Renton today, but I didn't have to hurry. So I took my sweet time this morning. I got my stuff packed and gathered everything I needed before I left to go to Colfax.

I started by going to the Auditors office to turn in my ballot. But Debbie was working out of the commissioners chambers. I walked down there. I turned in my ballot. Debbie and I talked about little about my radio show from yesterday talking about places to register to vote.

After I was done I went to the fire department. I decided to hang out there for a while and go on a call should one come out. But as I sat there it was quiet. We had nothing for the time that I was there.

I wanted to be back in time to see House, so I left Colfax around four in the afternoon. I got some dinner from Rosauser and drove to my mom's place. Amber was happy to see me.

Work a small wildland fire

This morning Bien said he could not do the drive time so I decided that I would go to Colfax and hang out. I was hoping that I would get to go on a call. after a couple hours of watching movies with Ralph a call went out for Steptoe for a wildland fire. It was close to the Colfax/Steptoe line so we went out with one rig.

When we got there we got the pump started. I got into the catwalk and started to spray out the fire as Clark drove. I was getting the head of the fire extinguished as we drove up the field. I got a lot of fire put out.

Then we were sent to the barn that was starting to burn. I was able to get some water on it pretty quickly. We were able to stop the barn from burning. I helped to build a fire line around the barn and we put out some hot spots before leaving.

I did not have a lot of time before I had to be in Pullman to be on call. The Cougars are also on TV so I wanted to watch it. Bien, Dearth, and I were going to watch it at the station. We got some pizza and watched the game against Cal.

The Cougs did not look very good through out the first half. Then in the second half we started to do some scoring. The TV showed a stat that the Cougs have the fifth longest non-shut out streak in college football. It dates back to eight-four against Ohio State. After the Cal game it is at two-hundred and seventy games.

We went to the final seconds to of the game. We were within a field goal after a late touchdown, but we needed to get an onsides kick. But it was a poor attempt at the kick.

I went home and started to work on my web application. I was able to figure out how to get the calendar to display correctly. It felt good to get it done. Now I need to work on a portion of the web site where I need to add a couple of new tables. But I need to think through how that will work to make sure that I design things to work nicely. I am working on the training and check off reporting. I am not sure exactly how I want it to work, so I decided not to continue working on it until I think it through a bit more.

SCBA Quarterlies in Colfax

Today was the first of my string of Tuesday's off. I am burning my vacation days one at a time rather than taking a week off. Around ten-thirty I got a phone call for the daily scrum. When I told them it was my day off they were going to have me get off the line, but I told them I wanted to hear what Lance had to say.

When Lance was done with his stuff it was nearly eleven o'clock. I had a meeting with George. I went to that, but the other guys did not show up. So I did the stuff George wanted all of us to do. I went home and worked on going through all the SOP's and I gave him a list that I thought all the reserves should know.

It was around four that I went to Colfax for training and to hang out. While there we got a call. I went on it. I was the ambulance driver. It was a minor call. When I got back to the station I watched some TV until it was time for training. Due to the rain we decided to do something inside. That was our SCBA quarterlies. I got my first attempt in one minute exactly. That is the target time. So I passed the first time through.

After that I went to the SO to get my photo taken for the new Colfax Fire ID cards. I dropped off some photos from a previous case. As I was leaving Russell called and we decided to get together, have some pizza, and watch a movie. But he was a little tired, so we got a DVD of House TV show episodes. We watched a couple of them. He enjoyed that.

Typical Tuesday

I made my way to Colfax around the same time on Tuesday evening for fire training. Today it was OTEP in Steptoe. While up there I found out Zach was going to be leaving and heading to the South. That got me thinking about Kentucky Fried Chicken. So I messaged Peter about going to Taco Bell in Moscow. He said he was up for it.

I had to get done with training. It was geriatrics. Not a fun subject unless you want to hear about how you will slowly die over the next thirty years. The scenario was good and I thought I did okay. I could have done better in my interviewing techniques. I should have dug deeper into his history. But I did recognize the need for the BLS things I was able to do.

I got back to Pullman where I got Peter and Danny. We went to Taco Bell, but they were closed so we had to go through the drive thru. We took the food back to Peters and started to watch Harold and Kumar go to White Castle.

I left before the movie was up to get back home and take care of stuff here.

OTEP

We were going to learn about respirator emergencies tonight. A guy from Waterous also stopped in and started to teach us about engineering. But it was a two and a half hour class. But OTEP was tonight too. So we got about twenty minutes. I was disappointed.

I also drove the Dodge for the first time since parking it across from my house in my neighbors spot.

The training did go well though. The guy who taught it was the first time I had him as an instructor. He was in my EMS evaluator class recently. He did well and talked about a lot of things that I had not really heard before.

I got home and got myself packed for the trip back to Bellevue.

Two Weeks in a row

I called again about the notice on the Bumblebee for parking on the street for too long. I am not very happy about it because my neighbor called me in. The neighbor is from across the street and it is not like they want to use the spot. I have no idea what the reasoning for it was. I need to talk to parking services to see what I can do and make sure they will not be problems in the future.

For my second week in a row I made it to Colfax for fire training. I got down there a little early and ate some dinner. We went to the training trailer to do some evolutions and test some hose. That lasted about two hours. We got back to the department and placed the hose out to dry.

I went back to Pullman and I was off to the Zuu. I was going to meet up with Brandon, Peter, and Kevin. They were up there playing pool and enjoying taco Tuesday. Brandon and I talked for a while. I also saw Eric and Michael B. They are playing in a fall co-ed league in Moscow. I was invited to play with them. I am excited about getting to play softball some more.

Working a Shift at the Jail

I decided to work the swing shift in the jail. I also figured I could go on Colfax fire calls if any came out. After my first round I was in the front office and Pete was there. We had the coroner clothes come in. We went through those and went across the street to give Ken his stuff. It turns out I got the wrong size for him.

Shortly there after a call went out for a fall. I went with Ken in the fire engine. I got back to the jail and did some rounds and hung out in Control. Close to midnight another call came out. I did a round down. I was going to close the till out when Dale came down to relieve me. He said he heard the call and figured that since I was in Colfax I would probably want to go.

I got to the fire station and ended up driving the ambulance. We picked up our patient and transported to the hospital. We got to the station and restocked the ambulance. I found out Ken had a MySpace page. I added him to my friends list when I got home and made a page for Amber.

Back at Fire Training in the 'Fax

With summer I am playing softball on most Tuesday nights. Then with work over in Bellevue I was gone for some weeks. So I have not been able to make it to many of the trainings in Colfax. I was able to be there tonight.

It felt good to be there. Tonights training was very good. We were broken into groups and were assigned a vehicle. We went through each compartment. Talked about equipment in the compartments and started up the power tools from those compartments.

I drove Engine Three outside and ran the pump. We did hose tests on several of the hoses. We reloaded all the hose lays that we pulled out of the rig. That was the end of training. I learned a lot about the engine.

Scott and I went to Subway afterwards. We had a sub and talked about some of the calls we have had in the past.

Welcome to the new Deputy Coroners

I got my bugs done for the day sort of early so I headed to Colfax early. I figured I would spend some time at the fire station in case of a call. Turns out we did not get a call, but I got to hang with and speak with Ralph for a little while. When it got closer to time for the coroners meeting I went to get some dinner from Arby's.

I got to the office and I was the first there. Close to the time for the meeting I went to the side door to let the two new deputy coroner's inside. We have Bill and Ken joining us. Ken is with Colfax fire and Bill was a captain at Pullman fire when I started on the department.

We went through the meeting in the normal way we do it a mix of joking, side tracks, war stories, and learning. I enjoy the meetings.

At the end of the meeting Pete and I were talking about the Easter Massacre. I was telling him about the research that I had done about it in the past. I told him about the shootings and how the official report said that the shooter committed suicide. Pete got interested in it and he is going to look up some information, whatever he can find. We might be going somewhere with this. Stay tuned for that.

Golfing in the 'Fax

This morning was Joe's golfing game. It is always an early tee time. I always get there just before the actual tee off time. Today was no different. I spent the normal amount of time hitting trees. In fact I won the award for the most trees hit.

After the golfing I went to Colfax Fire. I hung out for a couple hours. Eric and Rick were there. We watched Rocky. But as the day was going it was very quiet.

I had been needing to do some shopping for a while. I finally got off my duff and made my way to Safeway for a shopping trip.

A lucky day?

With the date being seven/seven/seven people thought it was going to be a lucky day. I wouldn't say it was a lucky day for me, but it was a good day and I didn't get struck by lightning, so it couldn't have been that bad.

Starting out this morning with golf was fun. I was running late getting down to Colfax. I was pulling into the parking lot as the group was heading out to the first tee. But we had two groups and I was able to get part of the second group. I was playing with Carl, Brian, and Diane. My first tee off was very nice. But the day was about normal for my kind of golf. I got a one-thirteen on the eighteen holes. I actually did worse my second time through.

I won a prize for hitting the most trees during my round. I didn't realize how many times I hit trees, but I counted and I hit about seven per round. That is nearly one per hole on average.

After the golfing it was off to Colfax Fire. I hung out with Ken for a while watching some TV and having lunch. We were watching Mythbusters. Around four I had to leave to get back to Pullman to be on call here. I told Ken that I was done keeping it quiet for him. I was going to be heading out.

When I got home I heard Colfax get dispatched out to a car vs motorcycle accident. That had to have been dispatched shortly after I left. I really was keeping it quiet.

I got cleaned up and went to the station for rig checks. We were talking about Rescue and being a driver. A. Wilcox asked if he could ever go on the ambulance and not be the drive all the time. I told him that because of the fact he doesn't have all the Rescue training he shouldn't be the driver at all.

We then went out and did some training at the tower with setting up the rig, putting water on the fire, doing pump and roll attacks and other such scenarios. We did a good two hours of training.

Afterwards Bien bought the ice cream he owed for getting into the newspaper. We went to Dissmores to get that. Back at the station we had some cake and ice cream. I went to Peter's afterwards for poker. I was not doing too well. I had one big win, then I had a big loss where I tried to push someone off a hand when mine was weaker. But he did not get off his hand and ended up beating me. I re-bought a couple times. I was sort of up and down on my third buy-in.

When the tones went off for a call. I quickly went all-in and Kevin called me. I ended up winning that all in and left. I was only down two bucks on the night after that point. I had the best hand after the flop and took it to the river as the winner.

I went on the call followed by a second call just as the movie Desperado was starting. I was hoping to watch to the scene where the bar is shot up. But I got called out to a second call at the very beginning of the movie. That was it for calls. I went to bed around three in the morning.

First Coroners Meeting this Summer

I had to get several things done today. I needed to cash some checks. Put money from one bank to another to pay for the laptop computer. I also planned on getting the license for my boat today.

But around one in the afternoon a call came out for a tree on fire. I wasn't going to go, but when they asked for Rescue I went to the station to find it was not even there. Bien came down and we went to the scene. We took the old Rescue. It was a pretty good sized grass fire.

It was pretty much out when we got there. But we helped with some of the overhaul. Then we helped get one of the engines back in service.

After that call I got cleaned up and did my bank runs followed by a trip to Colfax. After the licensing of my boat I went to the jail. I was there for a few minutes when a call for the fire department went out. I ran over and got in with Ken in the engine. We did not transport. I was back at the station hanging out until it was time for dinner.

I grabbed some food and went to the coroners office for our first meeting in a couple months. It was Patti's last regular meeting as she is moving to Spokane. It was not be the same without her around. I am now going to be the senior Deputy Coroner. Pete is planning on hiring two or maybe three people. We talked about the people on the list. We gave the pros and cons of the people on the list that we knew. Pete is going to work on the decision for the final hirings.

I then went back to Pullman. My ankle was killing me and I was thinking about not responding, but I decided that I was not going to be a whimp. I did wrap it and ice it. That really helped. After about a half hour of that the pain was nearly gone.

I went to bed around midnight. The tones went off for a motorcycle accident on SR one-ninety-four. I talked to a deputy on the scene and he said he just happened on the accident. He was doing something else and he just found the motorcycle laying there and it was one fire and someone was sitting there. That was our only call of the night.

Near Car Accident

I started out this morning waking up without an alarm clock. I forgot to set it before going to bed. I was supposed to be in Colfax at eight o'clock AM to have breakfast with Jim and Jerrid. I got up a quarter of eight. So I had to hustle. I got to Well's in Colfax around eight-fifteen. I had breakfast with the other guys. Carl happened to be at the booth next to us when I got there. Today we are playing softball and golf.

After breakfast it was off to Steptoe for the softball game. It was Colfax fire against Steptoe fire. On the way there I was just outside of Colfax going up Buck Canyon. I saw a truck pulling over to the shoulder, then it kept going off the road into the ditch. All of a sudden the driver corrected and was coming back on the highway aimed straight at my truck. We were on a collision course. I hit my brakes and moved over a little bit. I was getting prepared for the collision. I was not sure where my truck was going to get hit, but I was very scared.

Then the driver re-corrected his path and started to spin out, He did a one-eighty. He was facing the wrong way going across his original lane of travel. Then he hit the soft shoulder and his truck rolled. I pulled over and grabbed my radio. I was shaking pretty bad.

I got out and the man in the car behind me said he thought I was going to get hit. I said "so did I". I got ahold of Whitcom on the radio to let them know what I was out on. Jim and Jerrid were behind me and did not see the accident happen. They stopped as well.

I walked across the highway to the truck. The man was already out and getting things from his truck. It landed on its wheels and he was okay. He said he had fallen asleep. Once Colfax Police got on scene I cleared and we continued to Steptoe. The game had just started. We were on offense. Our hitters were not able to hit the ball very well, and the other teams' pitcher could not get the ball across the plate. But we swung anyway. I did not hit the ball well at all. One time I did get patient and ended up walking.

On defense I played right field most of the game and I played at first base for two innings. We ended up losing to Steptoe. After the game Jerrid, Jim, and I stuck around and hit the ball around. We were hitting the ball well at that time. Ralph asked why we couldn't hit like that during the game.

After we hit around for a while we went to the Steptoe fire station for a community barbecue. Jim and I were sitting inside the office area of the fire station when a mom with a six year old came in and said he got a couple slivers. Jim got an alcohol pad and a needle so we could help the kid. He was whimpering about the slivers. I used the alcohol pad to clean the hand, and then pulled out the needle. the kid wanted to see it before I used it. I handed it to him with the cap still on.

He pulled it out the cap and tried to recap it when he missed the cap and hit his finger with the needle. He screamed bloody-murder and cried like crazy. Then he would not go near me so I could clean the blood. It was pretty much a finger prick like when someone does a blood sugar check. It was nothing major, but he was going to have nothing to do with me after that. His mom took him to the bathroom to clean the blood.

The food was getting served so Jim and I got in line for the food and sat down with Jeff and Ralph. We ate and talked about fire department stuff for a while. This was also the day the big ball was going to get rolled down Steptoe Butte. We were planning on going to watch that. I went to get some gas. When I got back I found they were not going to go do that for a couple more hours. Jim and I decided to just go back to Colfax. I dropped Jim off at home and then I went to the jail.

I went to the Coroners office to drop off my case report from the death yesterday and then went to control and hung out until just after four o'clock. I updated a couple forms we use. The incident and infraction report has a margin on the left side that when it gets holes punched into it, the words are punched out. So I got that fixed by making the margin wider.

I went to Rosauers on the way to the golf course to get some pop and water. I went to the golf course and practiced some golf putting. I put on my new golf shoes and went into the clubhouse to pay for the tournament stop.

We got golf carts which was nice to have because I did not want to have to walk the whole course. We played a shotgun start, best ball tournament. We started on hole number six. We played nine holes and then went to the clubhouse for dinner. Once all the teams were back we ate and held the raffle for a lot of items that were donated. The golf tournament is put on by the Colfax police department for raising money for the Special Olympics.

After dinner and the raffle we went back out for the second round. We played with glow balls and had glow sticks on the flags and markers around the course. It was my first time playing in a glow ball tournament. It was fun to do. We had to watch the ball go because it was harder to see the ball when it went into the grass. I ended up losing one ball on the ninth hole, hitting it onto the road way. I had to use a second ball for the next five holes. I was doing very well today on my drives because I was not trying to crush the ball. In fact if I tried to over swing my ankle would hurt, so I had to ease back and that made a big difference in my game.

When I was done on the golf course it was almost eleven-thirty. I went to Pullman and waited until just after midnight for a poker game at Peter's. We started playing near one in the morning. We played until four in the morning. I did very bad. I was calling on a lot of things and ended up losing about twenty bucks. That sucked, but it was a good day over all.

I got home and went to bed shortly after I got home. I was very tired.

OTEP Trainer didn't show up

I went to Colfax because the softball game was rained out tonight. I went down to Colfax early in hopes of making it out on a call should one go out. But as I sat there nothing was happening at all.

We went to Steptoe for OTEP training, but the trainer never showed up. We sat around for about thirty minutes. When no one showed up still we all left to go back to the station.

I was at the station and we watched NCIS and House. During the last fifteen minutes of House we got a call from a hemorrhage. When we got to the scene, there was a lot of stuff in the way we had to move to get the patient out. We called for some back up to help get the person out.

Once we were at the hospital we were asked to stay around because there was a possibility that we would be doing an emergency transfer to Spokane. We waited around for about an hour and we ended up not doing the transfer. So we went back to the station. Resupplied the ambulance and then I was on my way back home.

EMS Week at Sunnyside

It is the start of EMS week and today we were going to Sunnyside to visit with the first graders. I was going to be taking photos and moving around between the two groups. But then I was told to do the tours around the back of the ambulance. That made it so I could not take photos.

The tours went okay. I did have one group that had no interest in what was in the ambulance. They was sort of annoying. Most of the groups were good though.

We had lunch with the kids and went out to the playground to have recess with them. I played some football with the kids. I also watched a couple on the monkey bars. They all wanted me to watch them do something.

When that was done I went to home to order my toner for my printer and headed to Colfax. We got an omega call that turned into something more. I got to do patient care and do the HEAR report on the way in. When I did the BP I got a super low result. I had someone else do it and he got the same values as I did. That is why we decided to transport.

We were having the second day of our wildland fire class. I missed the first day. Today we deployed the shelters and learned about communication and some watchout situations.

A former co-worker died today

I was at home doing some work on my computer. I bought a new webhosting account. I wanted to get some more storage space and it was cheaper to get a whole new account than to buy extra space. So I did that. They were having special where I could get more space and free setup. I took advantage of those specials.

While that was going on I heard a call go out in Colfax for a CPR in progress call. From what it sounded like the person was already cool to the touch so I figured the ambulance would show up and then leave. But then I heard them ask for Steptoe to come and help. Then I heard them go en route to the hospital.

A while later I was getting ready to head to Colfax and I got a call from Pete. A guy I use to work with at the Sheriff's Office, Kirk Banks, was the deceased. I was sort of shocked. He was still pretty young.

I went to the Coroner's office to get some stuff turned in as well as download some photos that Pete asked me to download. I also picked up the new camera. I got the one with the big zoom and everything else. I was stoked. I started to read about how to use the features.

I went to Taco Time for some tacos then to the fire station. I ate my food and waited for the meeting to start. We were doing stuff with the new tower we are trying to get put in. We were mainly at the meeting for support. It was a hearing to determine whether we could get a conditional use permit to install the tower that is needed to get what we need done. There were some nearby homeowners who were not happy about it and they were there to try to stop it. But in the end we got the tower approved.

Then I went to the SO and did some time on the treadmill and watched House before coming back to Pullman.

When I got home I worked some on my asp.net applications as well as trying to get the stuff from Will to work. I am not having any luck on it.

Softball Signups!

Getting up this early, I had to get to the rec center to sign up for the softball team. I was the first one in the Men's Comp on Sunday nights. It is not like it use to be when there was a line down the hall of the CUB with people waiting to get a team. Now you can show up hours after the sign ups start and still get your team.

My schedule showed a Coroner's meeting as well as a meeting to get signed up for teaching recruit classes. That meeting started at one o'clock pm. I got to the station just in time for the meeting to start. It lasted about an hour talking about the schedule of the academy as well as getting people signed up for it.

I was at home working on some stuff there before heading to Colfax for the Coroner's training. I stopped by the fire department in Colfax to let them know I would not be there for training because I was going to the coroners meeting. I also had Ken's pocket knife and returned it to him. He gave me a lot of crap, in jest, but it was fun.

I went to the coroners meeting and no one show up. After a while I called Pete and there was no meeting tonight. So I went to the Colfax Fire training. I was a little late but I was able to be there for most of the training. We were doing stuff with setting up Command.

Got My Letter Finally

I got the letter that shows my OC training was completed. I am going to send that off to Mercer Island so I don't have to get sprayed with OC again.

I delivered the laptop computer to Poffenroth today as well. At Colfax Fire we had our Board and Business training.

I did some more research on the camera for the coroners office. I am hoping that we can get them. It is a Kodak camera with a twelve-x zoom.

I am feeling pretty mad

The day started off well. I got a couple things around the house done, including the dishes. I went to Colfax to help Ingalls with his computer. I made a ton of stops in Pullman to get my checks deposited, got a new garbage can, and got my turn outs from station thirty-one. They were on Rescue when it was taken down to the station for work.

I got to Colfax and talked to Parks about my letter about OC training. He said he is going to write something up. I should have it tomorrow. I am stoked about that. I really don't want to get sprayed with pepper spray again. I talked to Poffenroth about her computer and got the check as repayment for the parts I bought for her. I also got my license tabs renewed. I was on a roll.

I went to Ingalls' house and worked on getting his new computer set up and all the data from his old computer to his new one. That took a couple hours in all. He only has a dial up connection so it took us a while to download anything.

We were finished as dinner was being served. I had some babyback ribs, potatoes, and corn. That was good stuff. I had to run because of the EMS training in Steptoe. I got up there just in time for training to start. The training was part of the training van. It was OTEP trauma training.

When that was done I was thinking about whether I should stop to see if House is on or not. It turns out it was, but I didn't stop. Ryan hit me up online and let me know that House was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor. That should be interesting to see where they go with that.

I also saw an e-mail from Heston. He wrote:

I am getting some negative feedback again that the reserves (specifically you) are not happy with the progress of the rescue equipment placement. I have heard it from three different career people this week. Before we started this project I asked for your input and help and got some but did not hear any further. I assumed that you were good with the direction we were going with it. I am confused as to why I am hearing this from other people and not through your liaison person Michael. The equipment on the unit will be in limbo for a little bit while brackets are made and attachments are ordered. I would appreciate you to squelch any negative issues in open discussions with other members of the department. Just like the officers and as a crew leader I expect and demand you to control these issues and discuss them in the appropriate arenas. I cannot allow these types of negative discussions to continue from any department member especially from a crew leader. It is not productive or healthy to the department and if it continues any further, I will be forced to make a change in your status with this department. I hope you are hearing me on this.

You can imagine my surprise on this. I was mad when I read it. The first time through I missed the part about him threatening to fire me. Then I saw it and was even more mad. I was going to write an e-mail to explain things, but I wanted a face to face so I asked for a meeting.

He said that three career guys came to him with the same message that I was mad about the changes. First off that is not true. When three people come to you, what makes you think they did not hear it from the same source or at the same time. I have not talked to the career guys about Rescue. I don't talk to them about that kind of stuff. So I know that is not coming from me. Therefore someone is taking what I did say out of context.

He uses that as a basis to say that my negative comments are not welcome especially from a crew leader. Then when I read the part about the change in my status, I was not sure if that was to demote me or fire me. I would think it would be to fire me.

As you can imagine I am not happy. I also had Chapman come up to me and say I was mad at him over it. I said nothing was further from the truth. So it is clear someone is putting words in my mouth and they are making their way around the department and it is getting people mad at me and making me look bad.

The only thing I did say was "I wish someone would have let us know." I don't think that is anywhere near being mad at Chapman and complaining about the movement of things around Rescue. That comment was made in relation to the fact that the new tools were getting new brackets build. But when they were unable to finish it all the old shelves were gone. Therefore all the equipment had to be put on the bottom of the cabinet and it was just stacked on each other. Letting us know ahead of time would have just been keeping us in the loop. I think that is a reasonable comment. I am not sure how it is getting so stretched from what I said.

When I meet with Heston I want to let him know that, plus I want to track down the source of the comments. Because everyone is hearing it from one source. Once we get to the source we can re-educate him as to what I said and that is not not right for him to spread information that is false. You can see I am mad.

Monthly Coroners Meeting

When I got to Colfax I wanted to get a couple things taken care of, so I started at the SO and I talked to Jodie about my OC spray training records. I also saw Tom. I was debating about asking him how he knew about me, but I opted not to.

I went to Colfax fire and hung out there for quite a while. I looked at Tim's CAD drawings of the well incident. They are doing a critique on it today. But because of the Coroners meeting I couldn't stick around.

I went back to the SO and down to the coroners meeting. It was pretty much same ol' stuff. We got our schedule done for next month, followed by covering some of the cases we had over the last six weeks or so. We have not been too busy on the weekends lately.

Falling down a well

So my plans for the whole day were to sleep in and then work on the material for my radio show. As it turned out I was able to do that, but I also did a few other things.

I heard Colfax get toned out to a boy down a well. I figured I would not be able to get there in enough time to help. Reed called me and asked if I could cover him at Pullman for the night. I told him I would. Right after that call they toned for more manpower. I decided to head to the scene.

I got there about twenty-five minutes after the tones went off for the additional manpower. I was on one of the lines helping to hold and pull the people in the well. Then I was asked to go above and get on a different line.

I helped to hold the line and then pull when it was finally time to start to get the people out of the well. According to the newspapers he had fallen about forty feet down and was only about fifteen feet from hitting water.

As soon as he was out I helped to package and transport him to the hospital.

Firefighters Look Down Well

I was just done with that when I had to get to Pullman for being on call here. I made some dinner and went to the station. We had to do rig checks. I worked with Chris D. on some engineer basics and had him do the pump test. We worked on getting through the system when we got toned out to a fire alarm.

It was nearly an hour and a half long because we could not find the problem to start with, then finally once we found it, it was water hitting the detector head. So we put Chris in the ceiling to find the source of water. Between us trying to mitigate the problem and finding the source it took more than an hour.

We got back to the station and finished out the rig checks. We only got one more call on the night at around three in the morning. When I got back from the rig checks however I used that time to get the prep work for the show taken care of.

General EMS Training

Today at Colfax Fire we were doing follow up CPR training for the people who missed it earlier this year. The rest of us worked on learning some of the other equipment on the ambulance. We pulled out the stair chair and went through the ambulance and rescue seeing where some of the tools were located.

After that training I went over to the SO to do a mile and watch House.

Superbowl Party

Today was the final day of our class for Firefight I. I was not quiet as tired today and I made my way to Colfax. I have my new presentation. I had print outs that I made at The Deuce. I was ready to nail my presentation.

We started with a review and then the test. It was a pretty big test and unlike many of the tests we take, this is one you actually had to study to do it really well. I was ready for it and I finished the test before anyone else in the class. I was done a bit before the next person.

I waited in the dayroom at the fire station for everyone else to finish. When everyone was done we went back to the presentations. I wanted Ralph to grade mine. I knew he would grade me hard but I would get good feedback. After my presentation I realized I nailed it hard core.

Ralph talked to me about it. He said I am a natural. He said I did something he has never seen anyone else do when doing the particular presentation that I did. We all have seven choices to choose from. I was teaching the tying of the bowline knot. Ralph wants to get me involved in teaching. He said he liked my presentation and how I did not just read off the slides but talked and explained things. I think I nailed the test and the presentation.

It was time to get home and prepare for my Superbowl Party. I have all the people from the Colfax Fire poker players. Each year we play a poker game and watch the Superbowl. I was about to grab a beer with the others when a call went out for Pullman. I wanted to know who was on for my crew so I checked the schedule and found I was on call. So it was a good thing I did not have one.

We started a tournament. I was in the chip lead when a call came out for a structure fire at the hospital. We went code down Grand to get to that. We got on scene to find it was nothing. We were there for a little bit when another call came out on Clay Ct. We went code back down Grand to that one. But we got cancelled.

I was on my way home when we got called out to yet another call at Zeppoz. We went code down Grand once more. I was joking about how the people would think we were lost with us going back and forth a couple times in a matter of thirty minutes.

I got back to my place to find my chip stack was gone and I was out in third place. Tim and Connie were playing for first place. Connie ended up winning it. We all decided to have a poker game each month on the fourth weekend. The next one will be the end of Feb at Connie and Jims. The winner of the tournament will host the next one at the winners' house.

We were cleaning up when I got another call downtown Pullman. The guys cleaned up my house the rest of the way when I left. I got back and did the final touches. It was a long weekend and I was ready to relax a little bit.

Firefighter I Instructor Class, Day Two

I was tired this morning when I got up for class. I got to Colfax just in time for the start of class. We spent the first part of the day going through the final chapters of the book. We also went over a practice test for the final test.

Then it was time for lunch. We had a group lunch. We made tacos for everyone. Following lunch we did our presentations. I had a chance to go through my presentation. I went almost the full twenty minutes. Our target time was fifteen minutes, but no less than ten and nor more than twenty.

After my presentation I watched the remaining presentations from the other people who did Powerpoint presentations.

When I got home I worked on my presentation. I made some things better and redid other portions. Then I worked on doing my final workbook pages. I also got the test worked on and made sure I memorized certain things.

Firefighter Instructor I Class, Day One

I spent a fair amount of the day getting the final chapters completed before my Firefighter Instructor I class was to get underway. While working on my stuff I heard the dispatchers send an ambulance to a call where a guy was doing CPR on the side of the road. Patti ended up getting called out on that.

The class was starting at six o'clock pm in Colfax. I am actually doing this class for both Pullman and Colfax fire. I got the books and got signed up through Pullman, but I will be doing teaching at both places now. Keith went down to the class with me. We got through several of the chapters in the book. We also got our lesson plan assigned to us for the teaching on Sunday. I was given the Becket bend knot.

While in the class Colfax Fire was dispatched to a car accident. It was not long after that when we found out it was a fatal. We were nearing the end of class and Patti called me. She asked if I wanted to come help. I still had to wait until we were done with one more chapter. It was short one. I was on my way.

We got the scene where a SUV rolled several times and the person was ejected. It does not appear that he was wearing a seatbelt. But I am not sure about that. From what I was able to find however it appears it was not worn. Also the state patrol said it appears that elevated speeds were involved.

I helped get the deceased on the cot and to the funeral homes' van. They drove it to the funeral home and Patti and I made our final photos. We drove in to the funeral home to complete the investigation. There were a lot of injuries. It was clear what the cause of death was.

I finally got home just after midnight. I then spent the next two hours working on a Powerpoint presentation to go with my classroom teaching of the Becket Bend. We were doing a practice teaching on Saturday to get an idea of what we need to work on for our final on Sunday.

EVAP Driving

Last week we did the classroom portion of EVAP training. This week we were doing drive time. I went out in Rescue-Eleven with Ralph and then out in Engine One with Ken. It was my first time driving the engine. It is Colfax's brand new engine from a couple months ago now.

It drives very nice. I did a good job driving it. I had a lot of confidence even though there was some snow on the ground still.

EVAP Training

We had a small training at the Abelson Hall on campus. We were going over the alarm system as well as the sprinkler system. Just before that call however, we got called out for a car accident. Tyson was going to go to the training with me. So he came down for the call with Blake. It turned out to be something minor.

Colfax had EVAP training. I also talked to Ralph about the books needed for the firefighter instructor class. It is the same book I got a couple years ago. So I am going to start working on my workbook to get it complete.

Carl, Jim, and I talked about the Superbowl Poker game. We are planning on doing it at my place this year. With the training class, however, I will be in Colfax for some of it. So they will just have to come and let themselves in.

When I got home I started to work on my worksheets. I got a couple chapters completed.

Quarterlies

I came down for several daytime calls but really did not get a chance to respond on any because no one else was coming down for it. I wish that more people would be around to come down.

The plan tonight was to do the SCBA quarterlies at the fire station. We had to don our turnouts in one minute. Then the SCBA in one minute. Finally we did some stuff with ladders. It was a pretty tame training over all. Following the training I spoke with Ralph for a while.

CPR and Airway Training

Today fire training in Colfax was CPR and airway training. I got to the fire station just after six-thirty. So I missed the first set of rigs leaving for Steptoe. I did make it on the last rig to leave Colfax with the other people who were late.

We were covering CPR and airway certifications and recerts. We also covered cardiac emergencies.

When the training was done I went to work on Scott's printer. It has been having problems off and on at the fire station for the last few months. It is a pain in the butt and I don't know why it keeps getting knocked off. But I got it working before I left to come back to Pullman.

A Year in Review

Jan - I Have Problems with Vomit - I was dealing with the patient when the patient fell over and started to puke. I was doing well until about the third time puke came flowing. Then I started to dry heave hard core. My second one was so bad. I was facing a cop who jump and got out of the way because he thought I was going to puke. After having my dry heaves keep going, Chris got there and saw me. He asked if I was okay. At first he thought I had gotten hit or something. Shane told him what was going on. Chris said I should just go downstairs. My pride was hurt hardcore. I did not feel really bad, it just sucked going downstairs with people watching.

Feb - Grandma Dalen Died - After about thirty minutes of trying to sleep the pager went off for a call. But it was about seven in the morning so I decided not to go. I was way too tired. About fifteen minutes later I got a phone call from Mom. I had a feeling what it would be. I was correct. My grandma had died over-night. So now I had to figure out how to get to North Dakota.

Mar - Mariners Spring Training - You can get really close seats at Spring Training. We got to see a lot of the Mariners players. It is a pretty neat experience. Everyone is very laid back. We were always sitting close to the field. Close enough to hear the umpires and players speak. Very strange in deed.

Apr - Championship Game - We got to the South Fairway fields into for our game. Don't Care is our opponent. They are a very good team who have not lost a game yet. We had to be on our A-game. We started off well. And early on had a small two-run lead. But as soon as we got it, they went to work, coupled with several errors, cost us eight-runs. So we were down by six. After that it is like the team gave up a little bit. We could not hit the ball and ended up losing the game. We are the number two team in the competitive league this year! So we are happy about that.

May - I Have Sleep Apnea - Dave and I left around midnight. We had chatted through out the day about the CPAP machine and his situation. He also has a CPAP machine. I got some distilled water for the humidifier. I went home and had it all set up.

Jun - Tory and Brandt Died - I thought about Tory. He fit all the descriptors. He lived on Merman, he had past medical problems and he is about twenty-nine. So I got this sinking feeling in my gut...I met Brandt through Garrett a couple years ago out boating. I have written about him in my blog before. He loved to go balls to the wall on the tube. He was fun to have around boating. I have been trying to find out when he is coming back to the area to get him out boating again.

Jul - Becoming an Engineer - We went to the tower and pumped water for about an hour and a half. I took a hydrant. I flowed water and simulated the foam. I set up the relief valve and calculated friction loss and the whole works. I passed the test so now I am an engineer.

Aug - Sold My Colfax House - I got a call today from my real estate agent. He said the paperwork is signed and I can start to move my stuff from the house. I have set the plans in motion with renting a new storage place that is larger. I also sent out an E-mail to a lot of people looking for help. I am willing to throw a kegger with a free-roll Texas Hold'em tournament for those who help.

Sept - Crew Leader Anderson - I will forever remember the day I became crew leader. It is "the day." September Eleventh. Five years after the terrorist attacks on America.

Oct - Mercer Island Boat Patrol - While at work today I got an E-mail from Heston regarding employment on a Mercer Island boat patrol. I jokingly asked Heston if he would miss me this summer. He sent me contact information for the Sgt in charge of the boat patrol. I called him up and he wants me to meet with him when I got to Seattle next week.

Nov - Buying a House - Following the show Peter and I went to Moscow to get my boat. We took it to my place and put it into the garage. It fits in there. I was happy about that. Peter and I went around the house. He thought it was a nice looking place. I think over all I am going to be happy with it.

Dec - Thirteen Deaths on the Roads - I got on scene of a truck that had rolled pinning the victim. I did my photos and investigation. Following that I went to the funeral home to complete the investigation. I also went to the coroners office to do my paperwork and print the photos. Pete showed up there and we went over the case and the photos.

This was pretty hard there were about four different things I wanted to post about in September, but I think the longest lasting is my promotion to Crew Leader at Pullman Fire. Over all one thing that has been big the final three and a half months is the high number of traffic fatalities in Whitman County. We were averaging about one death a week. I also had my chance to be the IC on a major call for Colfax Fire.

It has been an interesting year that has allowed me another job with Mercer Island. I also got a lot of experience with the coroner's office on two suicide hangings and many car accidents as well as other deaths.

Today, to start off the new year Brian and I were on Rescue running some calls today. We started with three calls for the night. We broke the ought-seven ice for both EMS and fire calls. But they were all pretty minor calls.

Poker Night in Colfax

Russell came over to my place and helped me remove hard drive from some of the computers I was giving away. I found though that there were four computers in the garage I am not getting rid of at this point. So I will have six computer cases sitting around unless I take some time to go through them and get rid of them. I think I will have to do that, but I don't have the time any time soon. I need to make a list of things I want to get done and put them in order by priority.

After we were done with the computer we went to Moscow. First to Walmart followed by Office Depot, then to Hastings. We looked at the selection of gay magazines. Then we went to the mall. Starting by going to Macy's and then down to the bed and bath place. That is probably the most gay place to be in the mall. Perfect for us I suppose.

When we walked inside there was a ten-six-seven working. I spent some time trying to figure out if he was family or not. After watching him and his actions I started to think that, plus the fact he chose to work there. At one point when I talked to him it was pretty clear he was family. I was looking at getting some oils that when heated give off a pleasant odor. I chose not to when I saw the prices for everything.

We left there and I took Russell back to my place so he could get to sleep so he could work.

I got ready to hit Colfax for some poker. I got someone to cover for me at the fire department. We played a dealers choice game down there. Jim, Connie, Scott, Carl, Kathy, and I were there for several hours playing poker. I ended up losing some. Connie, the newbie, and Kathy did okay. I think Jim won some money as well.

I was down there until nearly one in the morning when the game finally broke up. I my way back to Pullman I called Whitcom to let them know I was on call for the coroner. I also asked to talk to Jamie.

I had thought of a joke that only certain people could really understand. It went like this:

Did you hear Saddam was executed? (The other person will usually make some sort of comment whether it is sarcastic or just affirming that they had heard.)
I guess he was given three options for method. Hanging, firing squad, or driving on One-Ninety-Five.

Today was a good day. It was enjoyable to go out with Russell and walk around some stores as well as playing some poker with my friends from Colfax Fire.

Goodbye Coach Akey

I am saddened by the news that Coach Akey is leaving WSU for the Idaho Vandals. I hope nothing but the best for him and hope that someday he will come back as the Washington State Head coach.

We had the Colfax Fire Christmas party tonight. I went down to that. I bought one raffle ticket and ended up winning the main prize which was a quilt that Angela made. It is pretty neat and I was hoping to win that. People were giving me a hard time that I had only bought one ticket, then when I won they could not believe it.

We are still without power at work so I have been unable to get any work done. I hope that I can kick some butt on bugs when the power does come back on, I feel like I am getting way behind.

I went to the fire station in Pullman earlier in the day for fire training. We were doing stuff on setting up staging and rehab.

Chirstmas Shopping for Toys

I went down to Lewiston with Colfax Fire to buy toys for our toy give away each year. We went to Shopko and spent a couple hours there buying thousands of dollars worth of toys.

Just before we went to Lewiston Colfax got an echo call for CPR in progress. It turned out the person died and I knew I would be getting a call from Pete. Sure enough I got a call, but I was already en route to Lewiston.

After shopping we went to Old Country Buffett for dinner. I had more than I should have. After getting back I did not stay up too later because I had to get up at seven in the morning for ICS training at the fire station.

Final B&B of the year

Tonight was the final Board and Business meeting in Colfax. I made my way down there around six o'clock this evening. After the meeting was done I went to the SO and printed off my reports and photos from my two cases this weekend.

While I was waiting for the photos I walked two miles and watched House. Not much of a day to report on.

Short Work Day

My plan was to go into the office in the morning and work on some stuff with the people there before I headed to Pullman. I was going to take half a day off but my boss said not to worry about it. So I did not turn in a time off slip.

I left around one in the afternoon and got over to Colfax for fire training. I was there early so I hung out and talked with the guys until training started. It was OTEP training. We were doing extrication and immobilizing.

Following the training I went to Whitcom and got the recordings from the car accident. I was able to listen to them and get an idea about how I did on the car accident. After listening to it I thought I did okay. There were some stuff I could have done better when I first got on scene and I should have verbalized more stuff but over all for my first real big scene I thought I did well.

The Office is Gone

After years of renting office space on Nye Street in Pullman, I have closed the office and turned in the key. I will take the money I was spending on the office and put it towards my new house payments. I also will cancel my phone and DSL service. It is cheaper for me to use cable and it will work out okay, as far as I can tell at this point.

I got my cable installed today. Because of the savings of not having the telephone bill, and the offer that cable has at this point, it is going to be the same price to have cable TV and internet service. So I will have both for six months. Who knows I may keep cable TV, with just the basic channels, but then again, I am so unproductive when I have TV calling my name. I will decide soon. It probably was a bad idea to get TV.

I would like to hook up a computer to the cable system so I can record shows and watch them when the time is good for me rather than being locked down to watching the show when it comes on the air.

I went to my OTEP training tonight, but then I got a call about a CISD about the car accident from the other night, so I opted to go to that instead. That went about four hours. I got home as it was snowing and ugly. I only have three hours until I have to get up again.

Incident Commander

When I woke up this morning, if you had told me what I would have been doing today I would not have believed it. I started out as expected. John came over and helped me load up all my trash from the boxes that I have been going through the last few nights. I have been getting rid of a lot of things that I don't need, but I have held onto over the years. Anyway, John and I went to the dump and threw everything away. Then we went to my office and he helped me get a couple more items from there and dropped them off at the house.

We went inside and just hung out for a while we were talking about Pullman fire and the divide between the reserves and career guys. We talked about the union and their position on things as well as how Moscow Ambulance covers Pullman when there are no career guys left to cover the city. I told John that I thought it is strange the union would argue that a reserve cannot run the ambulance but at the same time allow a volunteer from a different state cover the city. John argued that the volunteers have experience running the ambulance but the reserves don't. That I would be one of the only reserves who would be able to do what is necessary to run the ambulance and only because of my experience from Colfax. John said he felt I was experienced.

After John left I headed to Colfax to work on my coroner's report and printing the photos from the case I had on Thanksgiving night. I was in the Coroner's Office printing the photos and typing up the report for about an hour and a half. I got everything completed and was starting to gather up all the case files for this case and organize it when Pete showed up. I went through the photos with him and he agreed with me about my findings. I took off and went to Rosauers to get some pop and my plan was to go to Colfax Fire and hang out for a few hours because I wanted to relax from all the moving stuff I have been doing over the last two weeks.

Jim was working and we just were talking about the weather, with the snow coming, plus the case I had on Thanksgiving, as he was a responder to that case. It had been a little over an hour when a call came in for a roll-over accident. I was shotgun with Carl driving. We got on scene and pretty much were cancelled by Squad Eleven-Thirty-Five who was first on scene. We went back to the station.

Carl left, David, Craig, and I hung out with Jim. We were there for about twenty minutes or more. We were watching some TV and talking about the call. Plus we were listening in to WSP and Colfax PD going to slide off after slide off in the S-Curves outside of Colfax. The snow was not falling too much, but it was cold and things were getting slick. Then Craig mentioned that we should get some food before we get too busy. I said that if you eat, go to the bathroom and are totally ready for the call they will not happen.

I said that as I sat on the couch thinking about how bad I needed to go to the bathroom. But no sooner than that we hear tones. A two car injury accident the S-Curves south of Colfax. David jumped in the drivers seat, I took shotgun and Craig got in the back. I was going to wait for Carl to show up, but then I hear someone was unconscious so we hit the road.

As we were en route I thought about the number of patients and what we would see. I told Whitcom to make sure Rescue Eleven was going to be responding, so they toned out Rescue Eleven. When we were getting closer we were told it was near Huber. We could see the car accident as we rounded the last corner. I had been thinking about my size up and what to do when we got close to the scene. Dispatch advised us that we had something and one code black. I cannot even remember what the "something" was because when the words code black were thrown at me I did not have time to think about it more than someone died. I had to get on the air and give a size up. I could see a big suburban and a small car. I Suburban had eating the small car. I could see the deceased in the front seat of the small car. I saw people gathered around the backseat of the small car. I saw someone in the front seat of the Suburban. I gave my size up, but I lost my train of thought with all the things I was thinking about at once. I cannot even remember my whole size up. I had a nearly impossible time saying who I was and what I was naming command.

I went to the car at first and tried to open the door of the back seat. It was jammed. I wanted to make sure it was unlocked. David could not get to it from the front because of the deceased. The EMT who happened on the scene was not able to get the door unlocked. We needed extrication.

The small car was handled by the people there so I went to the suburban and started to talk to the people there. Seeing they were not really badly injured I knew they were green. I went back to the small car briefly. In that time the people had moved around in the Suburban. I went to the passenger side where the driver was now sitting. I spoke with him briefly. I told him that someone would be coming to do patient care. Ambulance Eleven-Two was coming on scene. I took Milt with me to a truck where the others from the Suburban were sitting. I had the others go to the guy in the Suburban.

With my nerves jumping and the cold weather I has shivering really badly. My teeth were chattering and I was trying to see what was wrong with the patient, if anything. I talked to them and they seemed okay for the most part. I went back to the Suburban. The guy agreed to go to the hospital, but he did not want to go by ambulance. The driver of the Suburban agreed to go to the hospital. When I was explaining that to the driver of the Suburban, Jenny, who was holding C-Spine was shaking her head "no" because of the mechanism of injury she felt they had to go by ambulance. I went back towards the truck. During this part I was not really thinking I was command even though I initiated command. Then Milt sort of inadvertently got me into command-mode. He started to ask me about what resources we had and what I should call for. I knew that if all the patients were to be transported we would have two red, and three green. Which would mean four ambulances. One red would have a prolonged extrication and the green were ready to go if we could convince them to go.

While I was thinking about resources I knew I needed another ambulance. I asked Whitcom in Albion Ambulance was en route. They told me it was. One red was already en route to the hospital. I soon got word Whitman Community was putting us on divert. So all additional patients needed to go to Pullman. I contacted the people with the car and tried to find out about the patient who was still in the car. I was told the patient appeared to be in bad shape. I knew we needed MedStar but I was not sure if it could fly. I contacted Whitcom and asked them MedStar's status. I was told they could fly. I said to launch them and have them go to Whitman Community hospital for the LZ. I told Albion Ambulance when they arrived where to park. We got two patients with Albion and one in Ambulance Eleven-Two. Now I only had one patient. I also had Paul-Sixty-Five put on alert. About two minutes later I got a call from Whitcom. I saw the number and knew what they were doing. I answered the phone and they were putting me on stand by. I informed them I was IC and that they needed to put Patti on stand by.

Rescue Eleven's crew and some of the others who were on scene were working on getting the Suburban lifted and the patient extricated. I got called on the radio by Scott to see if we needed him up at the scene. I told him we needed ILS and had him come. He came POV. He started an IV and did patient care. We were trying to find out where MedStar was and they were getting close, but extrication was taking a long time. The Suburban had T-boned the car at a slight angle. The drivers wheel was on top of the patient in the back seat. It was getting dark and we were still working on everything. I was not cold anymore. I was quite comfortable in an odd way because it was cold outside, but I still needed to go to the bathroom really bad.

Ambulance Eleven-One was back and Ambulance Eleven-Three out of Steptoe had been called to assist on another accident that happened. It turned out to be non-injury so they asked if we needed them at the scene. We had all the people we needed and had no ambulance in the city. I told them to go to Colfax Fire and stand by for additional calls.

We had the Suburban cribbed and using airbags to get it lifted high enough, but we were starting to run out of cribbing. Carl asked me if we could remove the deceased. That is not something that is done unless there is a good reason. I asked if it was necessary for the rescue operation. He said it was. I told him the living that priority. So I said that we could remove the deceased. I took a bunch of photos for the coroner as the deceased was removed. All of a sudden a loud noise happened and I saw the Suburban break some cibbing and the airbags came out and the Suburban fall back into its original position. We called for a tow truck to help. When it got on scene we had it lift the Suburban.

MedStar then wanted to know if we were nearly ready for them because they wanted to transport the first red patient. I contact the people doing the extrication and they said they were close. I was then told they wanted to know in minutes how long. I asked Scott and he said if they need to leave send a second bird. I told that to Whitcom. Within about seven or eight minutes the second patient was free and I told Whitcom we were transporting the patient to hold the bird if it had not left.

We were finally in clean up mode. We were done. Chief Krause pulled me aside for a moment. He said that he did not take command from me because he thought I was doing a good job. He let me know I had done a good job. I had been asked by State Patrol how long the coroner would take. I said she was coming from Garfield. They asked if we could have the coroner coming. That was a while back and I had the coroner en route. She arrived just after we got the last patient free. I told her what happened and she started her investigation. We cleared the scene and I terminated command. It had been nearly an hour and a half since the incident started that we had the final patient freed.

I went to Colfax fire and took the camera to the coroners office to download the photos for Patti. I went back to Colfax fire and spoke with the people there for a few minutes. Scott said that I had done a good job. Then I went to the funeral home to work with Patti there. The deceased had massive injuries. Following the time at the funeral home Patti and I went to the coroners office to print photos and she wrote her report.

I finally left the coroners office around nine-thirty at night. I took a body bag to the ambulance to replace the one we had used from there. Then I went to Pullman. But as I got to Colfax Body I saw the cars and state patrol there. I stopped in and spoke to the trooper. I got a copy of the drivers license and looked at the car some more. It was amazing, a miracle that the patient in the back passenger side even lived.

I went to Pullman and then to Whitcom. I showed Jamie the photos from the wreck. We talked about it and how the whole scene went. I spoke to the other dispatchers who were also there for part of the wreck. I stayed at Whitcom for a couple hours unwinding and talking with them about various calls and learning more about how they dispatch things.

That was my first time being command through out a major incident. Normally I can stay command on Pullman calls if it turns out to be a small call, like a fire alarm. Many times I initiate command but it is taken from me as soon as someone else arrives. I have been thinking about all the things I did not do that I probably should have done. Nothing affected the outcome that I did "wrong". It wasn't necessarily bad, it would have been better form if I had done certain things. When Scott got there I should have put him incharge of a patient care group. And I should have put Carl or Krause in charge of the extrication group. That is pretty much what had happened anyway, but I did not verbalize those things. I just wish I had verbalized them. I should have had someone on safety detail as well. I was doing that job myself. I made sure that I mitigated the things that I saw that needed to be done for safety. It was a great experience. I had five patients, two car, extrication, cops, the coroner, and multiple agencies and rigs that I was dealing with. Everything happened that needed to happen and things went pretty smooth considering what we were working with.

Actually doing some moving

This is day two and I hoped to get some moving done. I went to my house and got my boat out of the garage. I then unloaded my truck cab as Brian from Hillards worked on my heater. I am thinking about upgrading to a programmable thermostat. That will be about eighty bucks.

I went to the office and started to clean out some of the thing and shred stuff. I also started to pack things for a while. But around five I decided to head to Colfax for fire training and hope for a call while I was there. It was board and business tonight. We had nearly a two hour meeting.

I went to the SO and watched House before heading back to Pullman. I got a full load into my truck of many of the boxes and things that had not been unpacked since moving to the apartment. I had four laundry baskets full of clothes as well as a huge duffel bag. I sorted the items. I have a huge pile of stuff I was getting rid of because it was either way to used or too small. I also set aside nice stuff to donate. Finally of the stuff I was keeping I sorted it so I could wash it. Some of the things were covered in cat hair.

I ended my night by putting the washing machine through an empty load to get everyone cleaned before I start to use it.

Quiet On Call Day

With all the car accidents killing people it was nice to have a quiet day being on call for the coroner. With my upcoming move I started to think about what items I needed to get moved and making plans for the actual move.