Remembrance

Today is set aside as a holiday. One to remember those who have given their lives in service to this nation's military throughout the centuries, to honor what they sacrificed and remind ourselves as a country the price which continues to be paid daily for the freedoms and luxuries we have.

A great many people will view it as just another excuse for a three day weekend, to have a party, sleep late, or catch up on chores.

Others will take a moment to reflect upon these sacrifices, and will take part in a parade, or say thank you to a veteran, or any of a hundred other things.

As for myself - every day tends to be Memorial Day. The random thoughts and memories of friends who have passed on, or sharing a story when I spend time with someone we both knew. A quiet reflection as I consider how lucky I am to have made it through my experiences relatively intact; the reminders of those who weren't so fortunate, and of the loved ones they left behind. Wives and husbands, sons and daughters, parents and friends, all denied the chance to be with that special person ever again.

As a nation we have problems and disagreements. But we also live in an amazing time, with freedoms and opportunities the majority of the world can only dream of. Every one of these is owed to the men and women who throughout the years have given of their own lives to build what we have today.

I miss my friends - this weekend reminds me of that more than most. But I am reminded on this beautiful morning that life goes on, and that we honor their memory best by using the days we have been provided to build the world they dreamed of. With the laughter and smiles of my children, the sun rising over my home, and the future ahead, I am blessed by those who have passed before me.





"Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." John 15:13

More...

A friend of mine from work passed away last night. She just had a baby 5 days ago, and picked up a resistant staph infection which very quickly took her away.

You'll understand if posting doesn't happen for a bit.

Goodbye to a friend

Almost ten years ago we took Dakota in through an Akita rescue organization. He had been mistreated in his first home, and all he ever wanted and needed was someone who loved him and let him be part of their family.

Over the years I watched him go from hyper almost-puppy, to his last few months of trouble walking, climbing stairs and other signs of old age. He adapted to sharing space with a bossy cat who was there first, to the arrival of two munchkins who would crawl, poke, pull tails, and kiss him goodnight, and to the horror of having to share his backyard with my work dog.

Through it all he still felt I was the most amazing person in his world, and would pine if I was away for longer than he felt proper. Even last night he just wanted to spend some time with his head in my lap, getting his ears scratched, and knowing he was loved.

Today Dakota's time was through. I lay him to rest in a patch of woods, where hopefully no one will bother him, and he can be surrounded by nature.

I'll miss you my friend. Thank you for sharing some of your days with me.

Great pictures

Some great pictures of Saturn - hit the link here for the full set.

More filler

- Spent the majority of my morning running around with the Princess, just enjoying some daddy-daughter time together & giving my wife a bit of a break to get some things done. We both had a good time & I am very grateful that our lives and schedules let me be around for things like this. The thought of still living a life where I deployed for 6-9 months of the year, and the resulting part of my children's adventures I would miss just shocks me - and for the men and women who did & do it, I am most in awe.

- To the lady with the stunning inability to drive this afternoon... perhaps if you removed the midget dog from your lap, stopped texting on your phone, and generally comported yourself as an responsible adult instead of a self-centered twit, you and others would be safer. Just sayin'.

- Still a few more days off of work, so enjoying the break, but no new stories and adventures.

Strange words

Oldest child just told me, apropos of nothing, "Daddy, did you know we have an Elvis cheer, and that Elvis is real?"

Ummm, yes son I did, and I wasn't aware you were acquainted...

Bits o'stuff

- The news media has done a poor job of covering the loss of two officers & wounding of others in Arkansas the other day. Looks like the shooters may have had ties to some of the "sovereign citizen" bozos who pop up now & then. A grim reminder of the dangers we face on every traffic stop - be careful out there & my condolences to the families of those killed.

- Speaking of risks, we've had a rather bad trend here in the metro area over the past week of offenders trying to hit officers with their cars, either during stops or pursuits. Fortunately no one hurt or killed yet, but it's only a matter of time. Very fortunately, unlike some jurisdictions, our agencies recognize this as a deadly force situation. Hopefully the trend gets nipped in the bud before things get ugly.

- Took Jacob to a nice birthday party today - he did great, had fun with a bunch of his school friends & there were no issues. I did have to text my wife though - it was in an area I used to work on midnights, and I was curious if it would be considered poor taste to discuss the neighbor I had sent to prison for 5 years...

- A bit of a kerfluffle going on because of State Police chaplains invoking Christian prayers during various events - it has folks on both sides up in arms every few months, with the "official" rulings going whichever way the daily wind prevails... As for my thoughts (like anyone will listen) - I could care less. I have my beliefs, they have theirs, and others may believe what they want. I don't take someone praying during an invocation as them pushing their particular flavor of God upon me, and I think those who get wrapped up in such are missing the bigger picture. But that's just my simple view.

- Was going to do a DUI special tonight but it just got canceled due to weather. Hopefully this will lead to a normal night's sleep then and me being better able to help with the kids in the morning.

Small world

Ended up going in for a bit of unplanned work today - had another agency doing some training in town & we were asked if we had an interest in collaborating on some explosive breaching training. While it was an unplanned way to spend my day off, it was nice to do some stuff in an environment we don't often get to practice in.

The laugh came about twenty minutes into things, when I ended up talking with their head breacher - a German immigrant who spent some time working in a unit that I had trained with during my military time. After a few minutes of talking and swapping secret handshakes, code ring passwords and all that junk we ended up spending the next hour enjoying stories of mutual acquaintances and sharing tradecraft. It ended up being a nice change of pace, and let my wife & coworkers have a giggle at my ability to run into people from the various communities I've been lucky enough to associate with.

Enjoying tomorrow off with the family but I have a longer post percolating...

Rainy night fun

Just got home from a call-out - cold, rainy night; got asked to take the dog out & look for a gun in a patch of briars that was sufficiently thick to keep a rat from even wandering through, much less a dog... and if the dog can't get there, he certainly can't search. Needless to say it wasn't particularly successful.

While the overtime is nice, as my wife said when I wandered in dripping wet and dirty, "Do the road guys even think of this stuff before they call you, or just figure the dog can do anything?"

Sunday morning brief post

Hasn't been tons of excitement this week, which is a nice thing. A few quick notes though.

- Apparently it is MY fault, and that of my local department that the Amtrak station doesn't have a larger sign up denoting their location - I must have missed the memo giving me that responsibility over a national thing. Because the lady in question was going on a serious rant against me for said failure the other day...

- For the first time this week a grown-up managed to wake up before all the munchkins - littlest one has been on a 5:45 kick all week, which got old fast trust me...

- Had a chance to do some shooting at the range the other afternoon following training - was nice to get out again & I got to test a few things out from the gear/toy bin. May post some commentary soon.

- With school done, and some of the work craziness slowing down for a bit I'm even getting to enjoy a few extra days off. Extra time with my family & not being as stressed is nice.

- Try to get back to some better posting soon, just not much to write about lately.

Feedback

Well, the training presents delivered, and a long day done (THANKFULLY) - sore and tired and all that...

But you know the day was a success when several variants of "You bastard" were uttered as folks worked the problems.

Quote of the day

As I work on a training scenario for Monday, from my lovely wife:

"Do you need help wrapping your bomb?"

Only in my house.

Ultimate Beverage Alert

Dear Lord I wish there were photos to go along with this story...


From Gay_Cynic today.

I'm sure lovely wife can comment on this one...

Mad science report

Apparently, according to my wife, "normal" people don't take advantage of the youngest's naptime to put together explosive mixtures in the office for work training sessions...

I told her that at least I wasn't doing the mad scientist cackle as I worked, but that didn't help much.

(and yes, it was all legal and safe - I have a permission slip and everything)