Here we are......

Off tonight so once again I'm relaxing in the recliner and listening to my itunes. Currently I'm listening to "Stupid Girl" by Cold. The last few days have been interesting. The new partner and I are getting along well and starting to figure each other out. We've been keeping ourselves entertained lately by stopping cars and making arrests. We worked Wednesday/Thursday this past week and my partner got a DUI each night. I went in to work Saturday evening and played since my family was asleep. Stopped a few cars and wrote a few tickets but mainly just relaxed. One thing I've learned since becoming a cop is the fact that cops only truly relax around others in the business. We understand what each other goes through and the social isolation that we endure simply by the virtue of being in law enforcement. Had to go in yesterday afternoon to try and do a narcotics thing but it fell through.

Anyways, I WAS looking forward to having some time this morning to spend with my wife but unfortunately she has to go into work since the day shift nurse called out sick. I'm still worried about the way things are going with us. We're doing better but I'm still concerned. We're going away for a weekend at the beginning of next month so hopefully we'll have plenty of time to spend TOGETHER. The positive side is that she's supposedly going to be off on Thursday which is a day that I'll be off. I have to teach that evening but we should have some time that morning. We'll see, that's about all I can say.

Having fun

Feeling mellow tonight. It's been a very good day. I worked all weekend and did some good work. I arrested a lady for an outstanding warrant Friday evening, arrested a guy for DUI on Saturday night and then my partner got 2 felony arrests, some marijuana and a gun out of a car early Monday morning.

We came in for work Friday evening, had supper at a local restaurant and then went out to run some traffic. When I say we are running traffic, basically we're looking for whatever we can find. It isn't about the ticket but rather it's about looking deeper for something more serious. I could care less whether or not I actually issue a citation, I'd rather catch someone with drugs or a warrant than give someone a ticket for having a headlight out.

Anyways, we get a call about an argument between a man and a woman. We get to the house and find out that the guy has already taken off. The woman we talked kept insisting that they were just friends and not dating. She said they had an argument and she asked him to leave because he was drunk. So I'm thinking we might could catch a DUI so my partner calls him on the cell phone and asks him to meet us at the police department so we can talk. He agrees and we get set up to try and catch him coming back into town DUI. Well, he was smart and had a friend drive him to meet with us. He admits that he's engaged to the girl and just wants to get his stuff out of her house. We take him back to the girl's house and talk to her about it. She agrees to let him get his clothes and leave. During the course of the situation, I check the girl's license through dispatch. Uh-oh......... she's got 2 warrants for bad checks. We end up having to call her mom to come get the 2 little girls that were in the house and then we end up taking mom to jail for the warrants. That was pretty much it after that. We stopped a bunch of cars but couldn't find much of anything. It rained most of the night so it was hard to get motivated in the pouring down rain.

Saturday was better. I got to spend some time with my wife before leaving for work and was feeling pretty good by the time I started my shift. Stopped a bunch of cars but didn't find any serious crimes so they got warnings. We decided to go to the interstate about 2 or 3 in the morning. Usually, traffic in town dries up about 9 or 10pm and you can almost see tumbleweeds rolling down the sidewalks. Having the interstate in our jurisdiction makes for a nice change of pace. We roll down the on-ramp and park where we can watch traffic. A few minutes later, my partner rolls out to stop a car and I stay put. He'll call for me if he needs some help and I can find my own car to stop. While I'm sitting there, this white Honda comes past me like a bat out of hell. He was EASILY doing 100mph. As I watch him, I see him swerve across the white dotted line between the lines, which is a violation. I pull out after him and stop him about 2 miles down the road. I walk up to the car, introduce myself and the guy says "You got me Officer! I was speeding!" I ask him how fast he was going and he replies " I was doing at least a hundred when I passed you." Well, as I'm talking to him, I smell a familiar odor. Bingo!! I ask him to step out of the car to speak with me and he complies. Again, I smell an alcoholic beverage so I'm resisting the urge to giggle in front of him. I'm being very polite and asking him if he'd mind taking a few simple tests for me. He's more than happy to oblige and ends up in handcuffs for his trouble. I put him in my car while my partner starts the impound sheet and take off for the jail to give him the state required breath test.

Of course, with my luck, the guy starts flipping out in my car and ends up cursing me from the time we leave the scene until the time we get to the jail. He even bashes his head against my cage, earning himself a small bruise and cut. When we arrived, the sight of 6 deputies with Tasers drawn settled him down and he promptly blew 0.169 on the machine which is twice the legal limit. I'm actually looking forward to seeing him in court because everything was caught on tape and I'll be happy to let the judge hear just how many times he referred to me as a "cracker motherfucker."

So we come back in Sunday evening and I'm not expecting too much. Sunday isn't usually a party night and most folks are in the house asleep because they have to go to work on Monday morning. We tool around town for a couple of hours until my partner decides he wants to go write some speeding tickets. So we grab the laser and head out to the big road. Now I don't have any type of certification to run radar of laser but I can write speeding tickets for people that have been lasered by my partner so we get set up with him zapping cars and me playing bird dog. Sure enough, we get one running 93 in a 70 mph zone. I stop the car and hand the lady driving a nice yellow driving certificate. She said she's just going to pay it off but I forgot to mention the extra $200 fee the state is going to send her for doing more than 85mph on the interstate. Anyways, we hang around out on the interstate for a little while longer and then head back to town. We ride the city, patrolling businesses and neighborhoods looking for people up to no good. Thankfully we come up empty and go back to the interstate after a couple of hours. We set up again and traffic is slow compared to what it was earlier. We're standing outside of our cars despite the cold and talking about nonsense when my partner zaps one at 95 in a 70. We go after them and stop the car which is from one of our neighboring states. We start talking to the 3 occupants and I see that one of the passengers has lit a cigarette. Now this is a CLASSIC sign of extreme nervousness so I am extra alert.

My partner starts pulling people out of the car and having them stand at the front of his car. He gives me a thumbs up letting me know there's dope in the car. I go up to talk to the passenger in the back seat and I get a good whiff of it too. Very strong odor of raw marijuana in the car. We get permission to search the car and recover an ounce of weed as well as a pistol. Well, as it turns out, both of the male occupants are convicted felons which means they can't be in possession of a firearm. We end up arresting both of the men and the female subject who was 17 ends up having to sit at the PD until her father can come from the neighboring state to get her.

All in all, a very enjoyable and productive weekend at work. I ended up getting off work about 90 minutes late after all the evidence was logged and paperwork completed. The sun was rising as I drove home and the fields on both sides of the road were coated in frost. It was just a wonderful way to start a couple of days off. I even snapped some pics with my Iphone.

So I make it home and spend a little bit snuggling with my wife before heading to bed. We had a wonderful dinner this evening and my wife made a homemade banana pudding for dessert. Now I'm just relaxing in my recliner listening to Colt Ford on my Iphone and typing this post. This is what I'm all about. I work hard, love my family and try to be the best husband/father I can be.

worried and depressed........

No, no, no, no I'm not about to eat the barrel of my gun. It's not like that at all. The wife and I had a big blow up Saturday evening and I'm still recovering from it. I worked a part time job Friday night. It's good money, very boring work providing security at a construction site in the same city I police in. Mostly involves sitting around, watching movies and goofing off on the internet. The wife worked Friday and was scheduled to work Saturday as well. I had been hoping that we would get to spend Saturday and Sunday together but that was before I found out what her work schedule was. Anyways, I get home Saturday morning and the wife is looking HAWT! Something about her in scrubs just pushes my buttons. I didn't want her to go and she knew it. I didn't like the fact that she had to work but I just let it go.

Well, I wake up that afternoon and she had sent me a text message saying that her parents were going to keep our son so we could go out to dinner. I guess I was in a bad mood that evening. I'm just sick and tired of not having any time with her. Granted, it's not totally her fault. I work nights and she works days so that causes problems automatically. We end up driving up to a nearby town and get into a screaming argument in the process. There are a bunch of issues and I'm not about to get into them here but we ended up talking about a lot of things. I promised to try and spend some more time with her and go to bed a bit later so we can have some time alone while our son is in school.

I plan on talking to my boss this week to ask about going back to days next rotation. I really enjoy night shifts but they aren't worth my marriage. But, I'm going to try staying up until 10am this morning and then going to bed. We'll see how things work out. I do love my wife but I'm starting to feel as if we are drifting apart. She wants me to stay on nights since I'm pretty happy there but we need to figure out how we can maintain our relationship in the process. We're planning on going away for a weekend in early March and that will help. We've both been working very hard building careers and paying bills. My oldest stepson gets married in June and will hopefully be moving out then. If we can only get the other stepson off to college then things will be pretty sweet.

We've been discussing having another baby but I'm not sure where that is going. Our son is very intelligent and full of life. He has become obsessed with wanting a baby brother AND a baby sister. I thought it was cute and have been telling my wife all the things he's been saying about it. BIG MISTAKE!!!!!

My wife texts me the other night while I'm at work and has decided the exact day that she wants to get pregnant. This being so she can schedule the approximate date of birth so she'll have the summer off work and won't have to take kids to/from school on top of dealing with the baby. Well, this issue came up in the argument and she apparently feels like I'm pressuring her for another baby. So, I'm just going to leave it alone and not mention it. I'm not sure if that's the best approach but it's the best I can come up with right now.

Anyways, I'm back to work tonight. Hopefully we'll get some bad folks off the street and help some folks. Y'all have fun and be careful. I'm going to be keeping my head down at work as well as at home.

I'm back!!

Okay, sorry about the lack of posts. There's been a lot going on here in my world. We've been battling illnesses, the weather and life in general. My father came into town recently for a visit. Ordinarily for those of you out there, this might be perceived as a happy event. However for me, it's usually a stress-filled weekend of me wanting to order him to leave us alone and never darken our doorstep again. Of course, I never do because of my son. I feel that, as much as I dislike my father for what he has done in the past, my son still has a right to know him. Combine that with the fact that my father is some kind of emotional eunuch and you START to get an idea of what that whole situation is like.

My distaste for my father began after he and my mother separated. He was making her life hell and I was getting rather sick and tired of watching my mom break down into tears every time he called on the phone. I pretty much refused to speak to him and hung up on him whenever I answered one of his calls. He has been pretty much non-existent in my life since I was a teenager. He wasn't invited to my high school graduation, wasn't invited when the wife and I got married and wasn't invited to see my son after he was born. He requested to come see my son after about a year and I really agonized over the decision. My in-laws live directly across the street from us so my son has daily contact with them and they are a BIG part of his life. I didn't really want to expose my family to the person I despise most in this world. After talking things over with my wife, we decided to allow it.

This has evolved into the (usually) annual Creepy Grandpa Visit. My father drives down on a Friday, we meet him for dinner that night and then do something with my son on Saturday. This is followed by him coming for dinner at my in-laws' house that evening and then another visit Sunday afternoon before he departs back home. He stays in a hotel and that's the way I like it. On top of all this, he leaves strange comments on Facebook for my wife and I. Nothing really out of line but things that make you say "WTF?". We hardly ever get any message thanking us for the visit and then Creepy Grandpa fades away into my son's distant memory until the next time.

I end up being stressed and edgy all weekend because I don't want him here and it just makes life difficult in general. He seems like he's trying to mend things with me but I really don't have a clue about where to begin. My brother seems like he's going to be a screw-up for the rest of his life and my sister is still crazier than a shithouse rat so it seems like I'm the only kid who ended up somewhat decent. Anyways, he's gone and things are back to status quo.

In other news, I'm busy breaking in a new (to me) partner at work. My new partner is an okay guy. We're still getting used to working together and that's going to be happening for a while. He's having some problems with motivation so that's something I'm trying to work on. We were out working on the interstate the other night and I was steadily stopping cars but he wouldn't do much. I ended up catching a DUI about 2 hours before the end of our shift so I ended up getting off late by the time all the paperwork was done. Otherwise, things have been nice lately. I'm just relaxing here in my chair while the dog does her thing outside and I'll be headed to bed in a couple of hours. Hope things are going well for whomever ends up reading this.

Happy New Year!!!!

Well, just got back from work after going in for some OT on New Year's eve. Working in a small town, we usually only have 2 officers on at a time. However, we wanted to do a road check to try and get some DUIs so that required some extra assistance. Myself and another officer ended up coming in so that we could cover the road check and cover the expected extra traffic coming through the city. Things started off right just as I was coming in about 10pm. One of the other officers stopped a car for running a stop sign and ended up getting 2 arrests out of it. He arrested the driver for DUI and he also had a warrant for his arrest. One of the passengers also had a warrant so he got a free ride as well. The third passenger was released and the driver's father got the vehicle.

After those 2 were booked and transported to jail, we went and got set up for our road check. These aren't very complicated. We ask for driver's licenses and insurance cards which people are required by state law to have in their possession while operating a motor vehicle. We ensure that those documents are valid, glance at the tag and they're on their way. The kicker is that sometimes things aren't always on the up and up. We hadn't been set up for more than 10 minutes when on of the other officers got a car with no insurance. The driver was promptly cited for the infraction and the car was towed away. A short time later, a car pulled up and the officer could smell the odor of marijuana coming from the vehicle. Surprise, surprise!!!

After pulling all 5 people out of the car, nobody wanted to admit to having any marijuana. One of the passengers kept proclaiming how he was on federal probation and wouldn't have anything to do with marijuana. Of course he was on probation for possession of Crack cocaine with intent to distribute. So, we decide to search the car and end up finding 33 individually wrapped baggies full of marijuana. Fun times, fun times. After talking to the 5 occupants of the vehicle, one of the passengers claims the weed and is promptly arrested, thereby saving us from having to arrest all 5 of them. My buddy Andy ends up transporting the guy for booking and then to the jail while we continue the road check. We decide to wrap things up and head back to the PD for a break while we wait on Andy to get back.

We're sitting at the PD waiting on the coffee to finish brewing when we hear Andy on the radio advising that he hit a deer on the way back from the jail. So we haul ass up to check on him and find his car lying in the ditch with a very badly injured and very much alive deer lying in the roadway. This deer is pretty badly hurt with 2-3 broken legs but still hell bent on getting away after 3 more police cars pull up so she starts stumbling down the road, bumping against the door of my car as I'm trying to get out. I end up having to pull my backup weapon to put the deer down and end it's suffering. Andy was fine but his car is pretty bad. He was mainly just mad since he just got it back from the shop after hitting another deer (which I also had to put down) about 2 weeks ago. I was laughing about it and told him that every time we work together, we end up tearing up a car.

Anyways, I finally got home about an hour ago and it's almost time for me to get to bed. My wife is getting ready to go to work and my son is going to spend the day with his grandparents so I can sleep before my regular shift tonight. Y'all have fun and have a wonderful new year!

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to one and all!!! I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. I managed to get off a bit late this morning since I was forced to arrest someone this morning. If you know that you're going to argue with your dad when you drink too much, why wouldn't you just go to sleep instead of continuing the argument? That's all this guy had to do was go to sleep and it would have been fine. Instead, he elected to punch out the window in his bedroom and tell me to arrest him now or else I was going to have to come back and arrest him later.

Folks............for the record, that's NOT a wise thing to say to a law enforcement officer. That results in you being arrested, carted to the hospital since the jail won't take you with the cuts on your hands and then carted to jail once your medical treatment is finished. Not that his injuries were serious but the jail won't take somebody who has injuries if they haven't been medically cleared. Needless to say, I got off late and managed to get home shortly before 7am so all was well and I made it in time to have a wonderful breakfast, watch my family open their presents and open some myself. Then I crashed about 9am and slept until about 3. All in all a wonderful day well spent with my loved ones. Christmas dinner consisted of homemade Brunswick stew courtesy of my mother and father-in-law along with homemade bread, coleslaw and a congealed salad. Toss in some german chocolate cake for dessert and I was about set for the evening. Now it's time to settle down and watch some TV before my friend's podcast kicks off in about an hour. Have a wonderful evening!

Identity crisis?

I finished my first post on this spiffy new blog thing that I've decided to do and was comfortably ensconced here in my recliner buzzing around the web when I had a thought strike me. Why did I leave EMS and decide to become a cop? I figured that someone may EVENTUALLY find their way to my little corner of the web, read my ramblings and wonder what I was thinking. To be quite honest, there were a number of factors involved in that choice. After 19 years in EMS, I'd gone almost as far as I could go without moving into management. I've been a paramedic for 13 years now and I was TIRED. I've worked in busy urban areas where you run your tail off for the entire shift and I've worked in small, quiet rural areas where you can easily go 24 hours without a call. I spent 2 years working as a flight paramedic on a helicopter in a large metropolitan area and I even started doing a little teaching as an adjunct instructor for the EMT program at my local community college. Short of getting promoted to a supervisory position, things weren't likely to get any better for me in EMS.

I have several friends who were EMTs that I worked with that made the jump into law enforcement and they all loved it. What it boils down to is I think I needed a change of pace and something to get me back interested in my career again. I enjoyed EMS and I still do enjoy it, but I also enjoy law enforcement. Granted, I'm still a rookie cop but it's nice to get in the car, do my shift and then go home. There's no getting woken up after I've been asleep for 10 minutes to go run a call. When I'm asleep, I'm asleep and I'm lucky enough to have a wonderful wife who understands how important it is to get enough sleep when you're working nights like I am now. I've only been on nights for almost 3 months now and I enjoy it. Less traffic, better calls, less of the brass around, etc. The only problem is that my sleep schedule is now tuned to nights so I sleep a good part of the day and I'm up all night. Oh well, can't have everything I guess! I'm going to mosey back to browsing the webs and I'll be back later.