New stuff in my life.

Well, there are a lot of things going on that seemed to have culminated into a new phase in my life. In large part it is due to the economy, and then there is just stuff that comes in the course of one's life. Some things, I am really excited about, while others maybe not so much.    I am presently in the midst of the promotional process for the rank of Engineer, at the fire department. I took it a couple of years ago, last time it was offered, only to choke on the Pump Test. The first step is a written test, a predetermined number of individuals who score a passing grade will go to the pump test. The pump test is a hands on practical, testing one's ability to operate the pump on the fire engine. This was as far as I got last time. I practiced pumping so much, I could do it blind folded. Once it was test day though, I let my nerves get the best of me, I made some silly mistakes, and ultimately bombed the test. I hope things go much better this

 Thursday.

 

Opportunities to practice have been extremely rare, as for the sake of P.R. we are only allowed to pump off one hydrant in the whole county at our training center. My hopes are that my previous testing experience will be a feather in my cap. The next big thing is that after four years, I am moving to another station. I started working at Station 11 in January of 2005 as a result of another transfer from B shift to A shift. At that time, my lieutenant was Duan Patterson, engineer was Steve Bradley, and the other fire fighter was Terry Kraker. It wasn't long and Terry got promoted, move to the Second Battalion, and Tony Ruppert came up and took his place. Duan left for Station 17 and we got Tom Hancock. About a year later, a new Station 11 was built, to replace the 40 year old building we were in. With the addition of a Rescue truck, we became an ALS station. So Tom leaves and is replaced by Bill Dean (who is a paramedic as well as R.N.); we also added Jeremeiah Lewis, a Paramedic Engineer, and Chandler Pullen a Paramedic Fire Fighter. We were latter joined by J.T. Gregory another PMDC F.F. from the 3rd Battalion whoeventually got promoted off the last list. Steve left to join the Technical Rescue Team on Truck 14, and Terry Kraker came back up to take his spot. Chandler left to fill a hole at 24, and then was promoted as well. Now it's my turn. We have "Probies" already in the field who need to be moved so to gain experience with a different crew, as well as a class of new recruits coming out into the field. It is a testament to my Lt. and the other guys I work with that our Batt. Chief wants probies and rookies to work at our station. Unfortunately, either Tony or I had to transfer to 24 and Bill was all in a quandary. He told the Lt. at 24 to pick one, and he picked me. I really had no wish to leave, which is why I didn't volunteer, but I had a feeling it would be me. I have to admit though, that I may have been getting a little stagnant in my career, and it was time for a change. My goal right now is to get promoted to Engineer and then possibly go to Paramedic school. Economically, I am in the worst condition in my adult life. Katie was also working a full time job back when we bought our house. I had been on the Fire Dept. a year and a half, and I had a lawn care business on the side. The lawn care was bringing as much money as Katie was making, and so we decided our children would be better off if she was a stay at home mom. To make a long, sad story, short and sad, the lawn care business has pretty well tanked, we're a month behind on our mortgage, and quite frankly we've actually out grown our house. I've written to our mortgage holder, Citi (who by the way has received something like 400 MILLION dollars from the Gov't), but thus far, they've not yet offered much in the way of help. I fully realize that my situation is partly due to my own choices and decisions, that had I known the future, I'd have done some things differently. We are hopeful, however. My grandmother owns a farm that need to have someone living there full time to manage it and there is a Four bedroom house that has been mostly remodeled. There are just a couple of other issues to get through. The last thing I'll pontificate on here is one thing that has brought a HUGE amount of stress to my life as well as to my mother and grandmother, has been the timber harvest on the farm. It has been pure nightmare and since it was my idea, I feel responsible. Basically, the timber company acted without regard to the land and did extensive damage. The job is still unfinished and I am so ready for things to get moving forward. There are fences to repair, new trees to plant, grass seed to sow, and I'm hoping to be able to add some cows and chickens to the mix. Well, change happens whether we want it or not and that brings to mind one of the few quotes that I actually have memorized. "Change is the way of life. Those who look only to the past or the present, are sure to miss the future." John F. Kennedy