At what point are we too old to ________________?

I’ll let everyone reading this fill in the blank.  It has many meanings. 

For me this is mostly physical labor kinds of things, such as crawling on the floor on my hands and knees while cleaning the baseboard.  My house has gotten to be such a pigsty of dust and crap that I had to start in cleaning it while I have a day off.  Now my back hurts like heck tonight from all that activity.  But I got part of the dust bunnies up and dusting done.  I never got as much done as I was planning on, but that’s usually the way it goes. 

Tomorrow is back to work again.  Ugh!  Right now standing up on my feet for six hours doesn’t sound enticing at all, but I’m sure I’ll feel better once I get a good night’s sleep.  I do coconut cookies tomorrow so that’s an easy demo.  Most people like them, it’s in the warmer part of the store, and I’m not cooking so it’s easy to keep the tray full of samples.

This is our Bradford Pear tree in the front yard.

Speaking of weather, it’s finally warm.  Spring is here!  I could dance I’m so happy about that.  The trees all over town are budding out.  I even saw a bat out tonight.  That’s early for them to be out of hibernation.  So we can get ready for the allergies, but I’d rather have that than the cold weather any day.

I rewarded myself by sitting in my courtyard soaking up the last rays of the sun tonight.  I wanted to go outside so bad today, but I kept working cleaning house instead so I could get part of it accomplished.

An action filled Saturday night

This is a similar vehicle that I was in for my ride-along

Wow!  Wow!  Wow!  I couldn’t have asked for a better ride-along with the police department.  I was so stoked I’d love to do it again, but nothing could top this one so I’d likely be disappointed.  And after comparing notes in my citizens’ police academy class, I think I had the best one so far.

I’m not going to mention any names here because I really don’t think it’s my place to say too much about this experience and I don’t want to step on any toes without permission.  Let’s just say it was better than any TV show, or the movies.  After all this was happening in real life and right in front of my eyes.

We did a lot in three hours.  That police radio goes off constantly.  I really don’t know how the guys and gals keep it all straight because the reports come in non-stop and they change every few minutes.  I learned so much from the officer I rode with that night.  He was careful to explain all the equipment and let me look at the laptop that’s mounted partially over the passenger seat.  Luckily, I’m small enough to fit in the tiny space that’s left.  Everything is computerized these days and there are little gadgets hanging everywhere. 

Of course I had instructions to stay inside the car for my safety when he made traffic stops, but I was able to bring him up on the tiny monitor mounted above my window and actually listen to him speaking to anyone when we made stops.  He also explained to me how the radar mounted on the dash worked.

Our first stop actually turned into an arrest of a drunken man that we later drove to the jail after he was handcuffed, read his Miranda rights, and frisked down right in front of me.  Wow!  The officer placed him in the backseat behind me.  Of course there’s a Plexiglas window between the seats.  So that started things out on an exciting note.  After that he took calls for two domestic disputes, stopped a lady for speeding, and then to top the night off he took a call for a stolen vehicle.  That was a crazy experience with about five cars in on the chase to apprehend this person.  I’m not going to go into any more details here. 

Once I got back to the station, I was ready to go out again, but the officer had reports to write up and I needed to come home and wind down.  Needless to say, I was still wound up for the next couple of days.  I don’t think I’ll ever forget this.  It was the most exciting Saturday night I’ve ever had in my life.

Very Interesting

This is similar to the 45-pound SWAT vest

This citizens’ police academy I’m attending is getting more interesting every time I go.  Last Thursday we had two speakers, hostage negotiations and then the lieutenant that heads up the SWAT team.  Both of these guys were excellent speakers and often work together on cases.

They brought all the SWAT gear in and asked for volunteers to put on that big pack.  He looked over at me and asked me if I wanted to volunteer.  Good heavens!  I couldn’t even pick the pack up, much less put it on.  But he thinks I’m fearless, I guess, and up for anything because I told him to put me on the most action-packed ride-along he had.  (This is the lieutenant that sets up the ride-along for civilians.)  He finally grabbed one of the older guys in our group and he was the guinea pig for this demonstration. 

This man wasn’t a big man either and had trouble getting the pack on and he sure couldn’t get it off.  He had to sit down so the lieutenant could pull it up over his head.  Of course they had a couple of shields in there too (like you see on the police shows) and also a battering ram.  We were allowed to pick up and inspect all these items.  How they don’t hurt their backs hauling this stuff around is amazing.

You wouldn’t believe the obstacle and training course these guys have to pass every six months to stay on the SWAT team.  It has to be the best men they have for situations like that so you can only imagine the rigors they go through.  We’ll get to see a demonstration of this later on in the academy when they take us to the shooting range.  Not only do they have to wear this heavy pack weighing about 45 pounds, but they also have to carry other gear and their rifle, or pistol, depending on where they are in the course.  They must carry a 180-pound dummy and leave it at a given spot and then hurdle over six-foot walls while shooting and wearing all this equipment.  All this has to be done in nine minutes and they can only miss 4 shots out of about 80 rounds. 

To say you’d have to be in top physical shape is an understatement.  I honestly don’t know how people do this job for a living.  It sounds damn hard to me, not to mention dangerous.  I know I’d never be strong enough to do this, let alone withstand the initial boot camp to start with.

All the guys we’ve met so far are very nice people and they love their jobs.  This academy certainly gives you a different perspective of the police department when you can see things from their point of view and the things the job requires them to do.  They literally have to make split second decisions involving people’s lives.

Until next time, stay safe out there.

Do your peers ever inspire you?

Store front

I’m talking about coworkers that do the same job you do and are on the same rung of the ladder as you are in the company you work for. 

About five days ago, I had the pleasure of working across the aisle from a peer I really admire.  We both do food demos so basically share the same responsibilities at work, along with all the other crew that works alongside us.  The only difference between us is that I’ve been on the job about a year longer.

The reason I’m even writing a post about this day is because it’s the most fun I’ve had at work in a long while.  This fellow really loves his job.  Anyone could see that by the way he talked all day to sell his product and hand out samples.  He kept me in stitches laughing all day long.  All the customers had smiles on their faces too.  He was thoroughly entertaining everyone in the course of his work.

Who knows what our crew could do if we all were this enthusiastic every day?  I’ve always liked this guy from the day he was hired.  He fits into the job like the piece missing from a big puzzle.  I love what I’m doing although it can be trying at times, but this coworker made me want to strive to do better, even though I give it my all daily.

Has anyone else out there had an experience like this?  I bet most of you would say you’re there to do the job and go home.  But working is so much more when you’re having fun doing it.  That fun is actually contagious and draws the shoppers in to see what’s so funny on your side of the store.  I went home that day feeling very motivated to try harder and do better.  Now that's always a good thing.

Wouldn’t it be nice if…?

Clip art

I got to thinking about this Thursday as I scrambled around trying to get everything done before I had to leave for my citizens’ police academy.  Sometimes I wonder if my life will ever slow down.  I can think of several things it would be nice to do if I wasn’t always on the go.

Thursday I was trying to set up the printer replacement I received a month ago.  That still isn’t done, by the way.  I think I need to change the black ink cartridge and try again.  There’s plenty of black ink in the cartridge but it seems to have the same problem as the printer I sent back.  I was trying to catch up on bank statements at the same time because I got tired of waiting for things to load for the new printer.  Naturally, all the menu items for set up are in a different place too.  I don’t have the time to spare for all this stuff right now, even if it does need doing.

I finally gave up on that and the bank statements and got ready to leave for class.  As I ate a quick microwave cup of soup for dinner I texted with my sister to catch up on her news.

Then a sergeant from the police department called me to set up a time for my ride-along.  Yeah.  I can’t wait.  He told me I could do it on a Friday or Saturday evening as those days were the busiest ones.  I had written a note on my request form that I wanted action.  Now I have to work that out with work.  I don’t imagine they’ll let me take notes and I bet it’ll be too dark anyway, so I hope I can muster up a photographic memory to take everything in.

As soon as I walked into class, a fellow citizen in the class asked me to help him with his book.  Good grief!  I have no extra time for that and don’t really want to get involved in his survival book.  It sounds like he’s not computer literate, so he had someone type a handwritten manuscript he wrote ten years ago.  Now he tells me he has that on a flash drive but it needs editing and formatting and pictures inserted that he hasn’t even taken yet. Yikes!  What?  I gave him the address of a website that could help him.  I hope I encouraged him to go that route, although I doubt it.  When this academy first started we had to introduce ourselves and tell the reason we wanted to take the class.  I guess I’ll never know when to keep my mouth shut.  He says he’ll pay me, but I didn’t even go there.  Something tells me I haven’t heard the last about this.

I still have to gather all my stuff for taxes too.  Don’t you ever wish you just had a day to do nothing at all?  That thought has crossed my mind a few times lately.  Why can’t I just sit with my cats in a sunny window and read a book half the day?  

The splendor of nature

Sunrise under a stormy sky

I’m posting some sunsets and other odd things today.  My life has been way too hectic to write up anything intelligent.  I seem to be moving at a pace that’s much faster than I’d like.  Between working, going to my citizen’s police academy and doing all the chores around the house, there’s no time left over.

 A fiery sunset under storm clouds

 

Sometimes I really wonder how all the people I work with are still going strong.  Many of them have been there way longer than me, not to mention are much older too.  Maybe they go home after their shift and collapse on the couch like I do.  Sometimes it’s a real chore just to get my body out of the car once I get into the garage.  LOL  I like my job, but it can wear me out.

 Raven using this box from Costco as a new hiding place

Raven and Koki with a toy mouse. 

 

I’m learning a lot at the academy.  I hope it’ll come in useful when rewriting my mystery series.  

We had our gates redone.  After 12 and 1/2 years they needed it.

Working, classes, and other things

Clip art

Sometimes daily life is hard to juggle, but I’m sure most of you know that. 

Police academy classes are ongoing and will be for the next two months, twice a week.  It’s very interesting.  The last two classes were on use of force and all the weapons that are used in crime enforcement.  We watched demonstrations and listened to protocol lectures.  Along with this we had a three-hour class on dispatch.  This was the only civilian that’s spoken to us so far.  They have a battery of tests they must pass also but it isn’t quite the same as for a police officer.  You aren’t expected to leap over six-foot walls and things of that nature.  This dispatch supervisor had moved here from Los Angeles twelve years ago.  He was very passionate about his job.  I actually think he would have talked to us all night, if we let him.  He let us listen to calls that came into the center and took us up to the control room where he explained all the equipment.  This place had more monitors than NASA. 

I always thought being a dispatcher would be an interesting job.  I still think that way, but it would take a lot more fortitude than I have to have to hand out food samples.  You don’t even get a lunch break on this job, but eat between calls when you have a chance.  This center works 24/7 all the time.  There are no holidays off. This would be very intense.  What about bathroom breaks?  I think I can cross this off my bucket list.

I would also like to tell people PLEASE don’t call 911 unless you have a real emergency.  Some of the typical calls they played for us were totally ridiculous and not at all emergencies.  You’d be surprised what people call 911 for. 

I’m enjoying this police academy class immensely.  I turned in my paperwork for a ride-along last Thursday so we’ll see how that goes once they do more background checking to make sure we’re qualified to sit next to an officer, I guess.  We had to sign the form where it stated in big black letters at the bottom that we would control ourselves in any situation and stay in the car while the officers made their stops.  Of course it asked what shift we wanted to ride on etc.  I told them to give me the most action packed thing they had and that I wasn’t easily rattled by things.  More on this later.  I’m hoping I can bring a camera along but something tells me this is probably a no-no.

In other news, we’re working all the time, which seems strange for our status as part time people.  We’re so shorthanded and very busy at work.  That alone will wear you out by the end of the shift because it’s nonstop all day long.

To add a little more to my plate, I backed into hubby’s truck last week and dented both our bumpers and broke my tail light.  This happened right in the driveway!  How stupid of me.  I was ready to kick my own ass for being in a hurry and not thinking.  I guess all the extra money I’m making right now from working so hard will come in handy, although I didn’t have in mind to use it for car repairs.

And so life goes on here in the desert without a minute to spare.  I still have a new printer sitting here I’ve never hooked up over the last two weeks because there’s no extra time.  I sure hope it works since it’s a replacement for a defective one.

And we’ve had days and days of rain.  The Parade of Homes is an annual event held in February every year and it rains every time.  You can set your calendar by it.

Until next time…