This year we went to Ill. in July for a vacation and to see my wife's family, her mother and her father who was in a hospital near Chicago. Over the last six months he has been in one hospital, a nursing home, home for a couple of weeks, back to the hospital and then to a wound care center for treatment of a bed sore that he got at the nursing home... During this whole time he had not been eating very well and has lost a lot of weight unfortunately and he didn't have it to lose. They were giving him some appetite enhancing medicine which was helping imminencely and he was hungry all the time. During our time there, we usually try to do some things around the house that haven't been getting done for a variety of reasons. We fixed some lights, a toilet that wasn't working right, some spindles for the ramp we built the last time and new carpeting for the kitchen to cover up the bad looking old floor. We caught up with her brothers and their families too. On the last day, for excitement, we rode the subway from the airport to a White Sox baseball game. It was awesome for all of us, and we had good seats too.
All in all we had a good time, the planes worked out right and the rental car was more than we could have asked for. It was good to see her family, even though her father is not good and in the hospital.
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Sunday, May 31, 2009
barn and call
They tore our former dairy barn down this week. I stood on my lawn and took some pictures and quite honestly tried not to dwell on it too much. A lot of things come into play here though. The barn had been added on to several times and had a few things that made it not to useful. Many places made for serious challenges, the layout and the height in some places made it important to use the right kind of equipment inside. I did think about my ancestors a bit here. My grandparents, my parents and others built that place over three different times from the 30's to the 70's. And today it's gone. Well it will be really interesting to see what develops for a new facility over the next several weeks. I am sure that even though it will cost, for the long run it will be much more useful.
On a different topic, two of the different jobs that I perform have different ways of dealing with people. The team leader position at work is a motivating, quarterbacking, training position. I'm not the boss or do I want to be. The assistant fire chief position is different. It's still a leadership position, I have to make decisions, lead the team and deal with the people problems. I'm sure that your wondering were this is going. I couple of night ago, I get to a simple rescue call and on the front porch of the house when I get there, two firemen are nose to nose arguing. The EMT's were taking care of the problem and I tried to diffuse these two guys. One guy, a commissioner, an officer, didn't want the other guy there because he said he didn't live in the district. The other guy, hadn't done anything wrong, said he lived with his father during the week to get a ride to work and his mother on the weekends. To make this thing work what the chief on the scene says has got to go. There is just no other way. I'll talk to the CHIEF and we'll deal with it. It was not a good situation to be a part of.
On a different topic, two of the different jobs that I perform have different ways of dealing with people. The team leader position at work is a motivating, quarterbacking, training position. I'm not the boss or do I want to be. The assistant fire chief position is different. It's still a leadership position, I have to make decisions, lead the team and deal with the people problems. I'm sure that your wondering were this is going. I couple of night ago, I get to a simple rescue call and on the front porch of the house when I get there, two firemen are nose to nose arguing. The EMT's were taking care of the problem and I tried to diffuse these two guys. One guy, a commissioner, an officer, didn't want the other guy there because he said he didn't live in the district. The other guy, hadn't done anything wrong, said he lived with his father during the week to get a ride to work and his mother on the weekends. To make this thing work what the chief on the scene says has got to go. There is just no other way. I'll talk to the CHIEF and we'll deal with it. It was not a good situation to be a part of.
Friday, May 15, 2009
breathing is a good thing
Yesterday just for fun...I had a septoplasty, they fixed my deviated septum. My snoring was getting unbearable to my wife and it was time.
They told us when I got moved from the fifth floor at Upstate to the rehab floor that I had a broken nose. It would have been nice if they had fixed it while I was laid up and in the hospital a year and a half ago, but I know there were bigger things to worry about. So, I wanted to get it done at some point. The insurance co. decided that it would cover it too, per the pervious injury. A bonus....
I jumped through all the paperwork, the blood tests, the ekg and more paperwork and a couple of different doctors. I this process I saw a PA at the ENT office who looked up peoples noses for a living. UGH.. Well I guess she wouldn't want to breed cows for a living either.
In my conversation with the anesthesologist I told him my biggest concern. It was simple, I just wanted to wake up aferward... I simple request.
The hospital called and wanted me to come in early. I did and they pushed me along an hour early. No waiting. I woke up as planned, a little grogy though. They told my wife I had hives really bad during the surgury and they think I was allergic to Kaflex. In a couple of hours I went for a Wopper and then I spent the rest of the day resting with this weird bandage under my nose to catch the ozzing and their is some packing up there too. Beleive it or not I'm seeing the doctor on Saturday morning to take this packing out. I'm really stuffed up, but the doctor's office says it's just the packing. My nose is a little swelled up too. The doctor wasn't sure how straight he could get it, but he said he could scrap the cartilige from the inside and I could go back to work in 5 days. They get this packing out and I'll feel alot better. I don't have black eyes, but I feel like I have a bad cold. I'll decide next week how I made out, but I am sure that the breathing will be better 24 hours a day.
They told us when I got moved from the fifth floor at Upstate to the rehab floor that I had a broken nose. It would have been nice if they had fixed it while I was laid up and in the hospital a year and a half ago, but I know there were bigger things to worry about. So, I wanted to get it done at some point. The insurance co. decided that it would cover it too, per the pervious injury. A bonus....
I jumped through all the paperwork, the blood tests, the ekg and more paperwork and a couple of different doctors. I this process I saw a PA at the ENT office who looked up peoples noses for a living. UGH.. Well I guess she wouldn't want to breed cows for a living either.
In my conversation with the anesthesologist I told him my biggest concern. It was simple, I just wanted to wake up aferward... I simple request.
The hospital called and wanted me to come in early. I did and they pushed me along an hour early. No waiting. I woke up as planned, a little grogy though. They told my wife I had hives really bad during the surgury and they think I was allergic to Kaflex. In a couple of hours I went for a Wopper and then I spent the rest of the day resting with this weird bandage under my nose to catch the ozzing and their is some packing up there too. Beleive it or not I'm seeing the doctor on Saturday morning to take this packing out. I'm really stuffed up, but the doctor's office says it's just the packing. My nose is a little swelled up too. The doctor wasn't sure how straight he could get it, but he said he could scrap the cartilige from the inside and I could go back to work in 5 days. They get this packing out and I'll feel alot better. I don't have black eyes, but I feel like I have a bad cold. I'll decide next week how I made out, but I am sure that the breathing will be better 24 hours a day.
Saturday, April 11, 2009
Tuesday night
Just a simple Tuesday night. I had got my new truck outfitted with all the fire stuff (radio's, red lights and headlight flashers) and then what was bound to happen happened. We had a house fire. I suited up and rolled down the road and was the second to arrive. As it turned out I was in command too and it was ripping. Soon after I got there, our rescue went to a car accident on our road. I didn't give it a lot of thought, I had enough to worry about... About an hour into the whole thing one of the other chiefs came up to me and said it was my wife in the accident and she was going to the hospital. I took a few minutes went and called the hospital. They connected me to her and she assured me she was OK just alittle banged up and sore. I took a minute to thank the lord and went back to the fire. The brotherhood was at full strength and one of the other fireman's wife's was at the hospital with her. I felt better already. The crew that I was leading was doing an awesome job and the fire went out, the house is repairable and nobody got hurt. I huge bonus. Well, as it turns out she was getting home a few minutes after I left. She slowed to pull in our driveway, a left turn and got hit Tboned if you will, by a firemen going to the house fire, who passed on the left. The sheriff on the scene asked if she needed a tow and she said she laughed and said she was in our driveway. He goes oh you live here.... So now she's filling out forms up the _____. I hope in the short run we will get enough money out of the insurance company's to replace it. Just another Tuesday night.
Monday, March 30, 2009
Life events
Sometimes I just write about stuff. Life things I guess.. A few things going on in my life. I'm working on getting my nose bored out, router routered I guess. I sleep fine as far as I'm concerned, but my wife says sometimes it's noisey, really noisey, almost unbearable, in her words. The Dr. says they can certainly open it up, because the one side is almost closed.. We didn't know it at the time of the accident,but several weeks after the fact they mentioned it. I wasn't concerned about, they had bigger things to worry about. Unfortunatly, if had it had been taken care of at the time the insurance co. wouldn't have made us jump through so many hoops. But, I think we'll get there, maybe in May.
I got a new to me used truck this week, which is cool. The last one I had, had 203,000 miles on it and it was time to move on. I drive about 35,000 miles a year for work, so I need something dependable for sure. Me and my son spent 2 hours taking my fire stuff out of the old one, radios, lights etc. Today I arranged for a company to put it all back in the new truck for me. It seemed like the right thing to do, so I know that it will work right when they get done. I'm on my fourth truck in March of 09. Two ford rangers and now the second Dodge dakota, the first three had over 200,000 miles. That truck is my office and I live in it daily while I'm at work. These are life things, not life changing, but like the song " sounds like life to me".
I got a new to me used truck this week, which is cool. The last one I had, had 203,000 miles on it and it was time to move on. I drive about 35,000 miles a year for work, so I need something dependable for sure. Me and my son spent 2 hours taking my fire stuff out of the old one, radios, lights etc. Today I arranged for a company to put it all back in the new truck for me. It seemed like the right thing to do, so I know that it will work right when they get done. I'm on my fourth truck in March of 09. Two ford rangers and now the second Dodge dakota, the first three had over 200,000 miles. That truck is my office and I live in it daily while I'm at work. These are life things, not life changing, but like the song " sounds like life to me".
Thursday, February 26, 2009
associations in life
We have experiences in our life were we make associations with people and your life. Today was a once in a lifetime association. My wife and I attended a calling hours for a gentlemen whose son and grandson are in the fire department with myself. I assembled the uniform and off we went.
I was aware previously that this gentlemen was a carpenter by trade and built my parents office when I was a kid, a day or two ago. My parents sold that home, but the office is still there, but that's not the interesting connection. As we were coming down the receiving line, we began talking to this gentleman's sister, a neighbor of ours. She had previously given us a picture of our house which she played at as a child in the late 30's. She had mentioned that their parents had lived on a dirty road off of a dirt road. Are you getting the situation? She told us that when she and her brother were to be born, their mother went to their grandparents home (where we live now) and they were both born in our house. Not in the hospital, but in this house, under this roof. He was born in 1923 and this house was built in 1917. In today's society that never happens, but it's still really cool. He had been sick off and on for the last year+. His wife died about 2 weeks ago and he sot sick again. He went into the hospital and just didn't have any desire to continue in life without her. The end.
I was aware previously that this gentlemen was a carpenter by trade and built my parents office when I was a kid, a day or two ago. My parents sold that home, but the office is still there, but that's not the interesting connection. As we were coming down the receiving line, we began talking to this gentleman's sister, a neighbor of ours. She had previously given us a picture of our house which she played at as a child in the late 30's. She had mentioned that their parents had lived on a dirty road off of a dirt road. Are you getting the situation? She told us that when she and her brother were to be born, their mother went to their grandparents home (where we live now) and they were both born in our house. Not in the hospital, but in this house, under this roof. He was born in 1923 and this house was built in 1917. In today's society that never happens, but it's still really cool. He had been sick off and on for the last year+. His wife died about 2 weeks ago and he sot sick again. He went into the hospital and just didn't have any desire to continue in life without her. The end.
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Inauguration 2009
An interesting week in politics and work....
Politics first. This week, the third week in January 2009 our new president is a young black man. He seems motivated, has a plan and seems to be inspiring the nation that there will be change. It really doesn't seem to be the same old thing. Some news shows said that 2 million people attended the inauguration of Barack Obama, the 44th president of the United States. Our youngest son, Nick, at 13 years old went with a school group to the celebration. They were gone four days, flew there, saw landmarks and museums and went to the inauguration. The Smithsonian did the Washington part of the organization. The local teachers have been planning this trip for a year and everything went off without a hitch. The biggest challenge was the weather, it was the middle of January and it was cold, about 20 degrees. They stood outside for about 8 hours in the crowd and watched the inauguration ceremonies on a megatron screen. What an experience of a lifetime... My wife and I lived this day through him and I am sure that he will never forget it.
Genomics is the second topic. I don't know if you know what genomics is, but it's DNA. USDA has now been able to use a DNA sample of bulls of any age to predict his daughters production outcome before his semen is even used.... Look it up on the internet if you want to learn more. It has revolutionized our industry. We have had a past situation of taking 4-5 years to get reliable information on our bulls, to today of getting 65% - 70% reliable information instantly after the test. It made a huge boost all at once to our industry. I realize it's hard to understand because this information is not even yet avaliable for humans, but someday it will be.... What a week.
Politics first. This week, the third week in January 2009 our new president is a young black man. He seems motivated, has a plan and seems to be inspiring the nation that there will be change. It really doesn't seem to be the same old thing. Some news shows said that 2 million people attended the inauguration of Barack Obama, the 44th president of the United States. Our youngest son, Nick, at 13 years old went with a school group to the celebration. They were gone four days, flew there, saw landmarks and museums and went to the inauguration. The Smithsonian did the Washington part of the organization. The local teachers have been planning this trip for a year and everything went off without a hitch. The biggest challenge was the weather, it was the middle of January and it was cold, about 20 degrees. They stood outside for about 8 hours in the crowd and watched the inauguration ceremonies on a megatron screen. What an experience of a lifetime... My wife and I lived this day through him and I am sure that he will never forget it.
Genomics is the second topic. I don't know if you know what genomics is, but it's DNA. USDA has now been able to use a DNA sample of bulls of any age to predict his daughters production outcome before his semen is even used.... Look it up on the internet if you want to learn more. It has revolutionized our industry. We have had a past situation of taking 4-5 years to get reliable information on our bulls, to today of getting 65% - 70% reliable information instantly after the test. It made a huge boost all at once to our industry. I realize it's hard to understand because this information is not even yet avaliable for humans, but someday it will be.... What a week.
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
trophy
You aren't truly surprised in your life,but last week I was... My wife and I attended the officer installation dinner for our fire department last Saturday night. Fire people and spouses, other department officers and county officials were in attendance for a nice catered meal at our firehouse. We have dinner, the oath is given to the new officers and the chiefs have some awards. We recognize firemen for years of service, attendance at the most calls etc. then the deputy fire coordinator gives out the trophy pictured above. The person it is usually given to is a newer member that has excelled in the county training and at his first several years of fire activity. When my friend, a deputy coordinator, was reading the trophy I was trying to think, in our fire department, who might qualify? He goes "yes Mr. Potter that would be you". I couldn't believe it... I stood up and thanked everyone for the award and again for getting me out of this town when I needed too ie. my helicopter ride. I was very shocked to say the least. Some days when you spend time at a volunteer activity you wonder if anyone is watching. Not that it maters, but you wonder. I seems somebody was. And it's a really nice trophy too.
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