Firetruck

Over the weekend there was an Emergency Preparedness Fair at the church. They talked about CPR, finances, 72 hour kits, CERT (community Emergency Response Team) Training, food storage, and how to prepare your home for emergencies. They also had a fire truck there to help entertain the kids. Brennden was in heaven. He recently got a hard hat which he calls his fireman hat so this was the icing on the cake.


At the time, Brennden was the only kid out there so the firemen let him sit up front. He got to put on the headphones and talk through them to the firefighters. He didn't want to leave. They turned on the lights and let him have a hay day. It was great. I felt kinda bad for them near the end though, Brennden is going through the 'why' stage. Poor guys had to answer a million questions, the answer of which I had no idea what all the words were. But hey, as long as he had fun, right.

My favorite quote from Brennden, "Mom, I like trying new things." He was talking about a cucumber. He never liked them before, but now he does. Yea!

Rough Day at Work

Today I had the most interesting day at work I have ever had. I was working at the store for Tiff and Chad. All was normal until about 8:15 pm. I went to "Frank's" apartment to do a collection. 7:45 pm I had been by earlier in the evening and left a notice and drove by and had seen that the notice was down so I decided to stop and wait to see if I could see any signs of life coming from the house. I parked in the parking lot and saw 2 teenages leave the house. I waited until they went in to confirm that someone was in the house. 8:15 knocked on the door heard people inside and knocked several more times. 8:17 The neighbor comes out and asked who I am and what I was doing. I told him I was there to talk with Frank. 8:17:30 The neighbor came up the stairs and asked when I was going to leave and that I woke up his daughter. I informed him I would be there until I talked to Frank or, 9 pm whichever came first. 8:17:45 The neighbors chollos all came out and wanted to fight. The first guy asked if I was always this rude, I apologized and started looking for an escape route but found none. The guys then started with the threats, which included a gun and the most severe beating I had ever recieved. and then retreated to the bottom of the stairs to wait for me to come down. 8:20 Violet called and asked if I were able to get into the home. I informed her that I had not and the guys had threatened me and I felt she should call the cops after I informed her of the situation. 8:22 Sirens in the distance 8:23 911 dispatcher calls and asks were I am and informed me several officers were on the way 8:24 The police show up and all the chollos are nuetralized at gun point and the 911 dispatcher was rudely hung up on as the gun came my way. 8:26 the 8th officer, yup the 8th showed up and began knocking on Franks door. 8:27 after the police threaten to break down the door the door opens. 8:28-8:30 the police search the home of Frank and the chollos, finding 1 loaded pistol in the chollo residence and 6 loaded guns in Franks home. 8:30-8:45 the police question everybody and figure everything out as best they can. 8:50 the police tell me that Frank had given the ok for me to enter his home and do the repo. 9:00 my back up showed up (Jaime) to help me carry the HUGEST couch I had ever seen. By 10:00 we had all the couches loaded, back at the store and everything put in place.

VACATION!!!

Angie got a phone call about 10:15 on Wednesday morning. Turns out she had won an all expense paid trip to Denver for 3 days 2 nights, with spending money. The only catch was she could have 1 guest and had to leave in the next hour or it would be gone. Well I didn't know Angie could move so fast. Not only did Angie pawn off the kids on Grandma and Grandpa, but had her bags packed and had the tow truck coming to my rescue. Thats right it did come with a catch. I had left Wednesday morning to go to take some certification tests on Thursday and Friday, but on the way up Wolf Creek Pass my truck started to sputter and then within about half a mile it wasn't even able to hardy hold an idle. I managed to get turned around and coast all but the last 10 miles to Pagosa Springs were I managed to get slight phone coverage and get out my distress call to Angie to come pick me up and take me to Denver. Within 45 minutes of my call the tow truck arrived, dropped me off at the mechanics and found the problem about 30 minutes later. The culprit? The fuel pump that had just been worked on by the dealer was pumping at 12 psi, a far cry from the 51 psi in the manual. To sum things up, Angie showed up, got me to Denver only 3 hours late, but I made it in time to keep the hotel reservation that were made for me. I was able to get a friend to go get my truck as I type, and was able to still take my tests. Thank goodness for a loving wife, great parents, and an awesome friend.