Ride Along continued

*The computer screams and dings, the flashing lights are blinding, the speed you zoooooooom down the road, making zippy in U-turns for traffic stops, listening to the radio, listening to the police radio, calling in license numbers and listening for answers, chatting, getting in and out, in and out of the car, dealing with life’s problems, dealing with those that MAKE their life a problem, being on edge at the beginning of a call….it’s was a very sensorial evening.
*One woman called 911 for personal assistance. (I don’t want to go into to great of detail about what calls were about called because these are people’s lives here. I was basically a voyeur into them.) O1 & O2 couldn’t do anything for her. O2 had already spoken to her once before. (there really was nothing they could do to help her.) She got mad. She was also filled with attitude, a bit belligerent and didn’t seem completely in control. She was holding all of her belongings in a grocery bag under her arm.
She kept saying, loudly, “YOU aren’t doing your jobs!!
O2 - “Lady, I can’t help you with this.
Lady- “YOU AREN’T DOING YOUR JOB!
O1 - “Did you do X”? Did you do Y? Yes. Well, then we cannot help you. You
have to go to court to take care of this.”
Lady - YOU AREN’T DOING YOUR JOB! YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO DO YOUR
JOB!
O2 - “But lady, we cannot do this!
Lady - FINE then, give me your badge number. I’m going report that you aren’t
doing your JOB!
O2 - “You already took my badge number on the last call!”
Lady - She turns to O1, “fine give me YOUR number!”
She reached into the bag and pulled out this itty bitty receipt. She searches for a pen.
O1 - “Here, let me write it down for you!”
Lady –“Do you have a phone”?
A phone? O1 points across the street
O1 – “You can use the payphone at the convenience store there.
Lady - “Well, do you have money”?
O2 - WHO are you going to call”?
Lady - I'm calling THE POLICE!!!!
O2 - LADY WE ARE THE POLICE!!!!
Lady – “ BUT YOU AREN’T DOING YOUR JOB!!!!!!
I nearly cracked up when she told the police that she was going to call the police!!!!!! OMGoodness. It ended with them sending her on her way.

*When there were no calls needing attention, O1 and O2 did traffic stops. Now let’s not confuse traffic stops with handing out tickets. They actually didn’t hand out even one ticket. As O1 said, they are looking for drugs and thugs. Well, in the meantime, any itty, bitty infraction was cause for us to zooooooom down the road, throw on the flashers, pull the car over and give them the once over. O1 and O2 took turns being on point and most of the time I had to ask why we were stopping this car or that. Trust me; take a look at the lights that illuminate your license plate. These traffic stops got to be kinda funny because they didn’t hand out one ticket. When they weren’t stopping cars, they were running license plates. I looked at O1 and said “You don’t give out tickets.” He jokingly said, ok fine, next traffic stop, I’ll give them a ticket, just for you! It was a little lady sitting right on top of her steering wheel, peering over the dashboard. I looked at him. Nah, he didn’t give her a ticket.
*when we finished with dinner and got back into the car, O1 looked at me and said “You ready to go have fun!” These guys LOVE their job. They spend half of their day playing counselor and half of their day enforcing the law.
* I was really hoping that we would get a chance to go with lights and siren. We didn’t. The police must have a certain level call or be given permission to use sirens. O1 was pretty funny because we were nearly back to the station, he was talking on the phone, he put the phone to his shoulder said “hang on” and turned on the lights and sirens for about 1 sec.! He then went back to his phone call and said, “ Yeah, she wanted to go lights and siren and we never got a chance!” I thought that was pretty nice! Not quite the same but really nice.

One more entry on this topic….It was the most interesting call of the evening and the reason why I got home at 4 am…….

Ride along

I decided the only way I can report about my ride along on Friday is through random bits & pieces. It will be so much easier to document. (This will be long and I'm going to divide it into more than one post. Remember, I use my blog not only for quilting but also for journaling) Needless to say I had a blast. The officer I was with is a parent at our school. It calmed my nerves a bit to be with someone I knew. I wouldn't have been able to breathe had I been with a total stranger.
* I was so nervous as I walked out the door of my house that I thought I might have a tachycardia episode. I had to keep taking deep, calming breaths all the way to the station. My biggest fear was that I would have a tachycardia episoide during the evening. It happens rarely but OH that would be awful!!!
* I had to sit through the briefing. I was told where to sit and did as I was told. It was sooooo uncomfortable. The officers are working buddies and chit chatted, and razzed one another. (We will refer here over and over during this post!) Looooodadoooodadoooo. I sat there. Loooodadoooodadoooo. I looked at the walls. I fiddled with my purse. I smiled. I thought the 15 mins of waiting would never pass. Finally the Lieutenant walked in, look at me, said nothing and began the briefing. More razzing, more discomfort. Finally the briefing. Time to go. I stood up and looked around at the 8 officers around me. I could be their mom! They were all so young! Big sigh...
* First call-sad. A minor. She ended up having to go to the juvenile detention center. Just sad.



** The funny, not police work, part of the call - There was myself, the officer I was with, let's call him O1 and another officer (we spent a good portion of the evening with him) and we'll call him O2. The mosquitoes were vicious. We were standing outside and swatting and swatting. The mom/woman in me had to keep from walking up to the two of them, while they were talking to those involved in the call, and brush the off the mosquitoes that kept landing on their backs! It was killing me. We discover that O2 has bug spray. They start spraying. Sniff, sniff....uhm....sniff, sniff....."ya know," I say, this stuff DOES come in UNSCENTED!" It was some tooty fruity smell! O2 laughingly informed me that he liked the fresh and fruity smell! I'm sure we smelled just delish the rest of the night.
* We were called to a grocery store because someone was standing at the door asking for money. We were literally in the parking lot when the call came in. We only had to drive from the back to the front. In the time it took us to drive around the shopping center, there were already 3 other police cars! It looked like there was a major event happening at this little grocery store when actually it was just a woman panhandling! O1 gets out along with O3 and the store security. I tag along behind as we begin walking the store looking for the panhandler. The security guard shoots me a look and I think nothing of it. Panhandler caught, given a stern talking to, sent on their way. The security guard looks at me and says, "are you with her?" meaning the panhandler. "NO!, I'm with him!" as I point to O1. The security guard laughs and says, "we were walking through the store and I saw you tagging along. I couldn't figure out what you were doing!"
*Police officers may work alone in a car but they operate as if they were all in one the car together. If one gets called, anyone that's not busy shows up! I used to always wonder WHAT was going on whenever there was more than one police car with their flasher on. No more. I realize that they are just helping each other out/waiting for another call to come in/curious/in the same area/waiting to help a fellow officer....any of these reasons. It doesn't necessarily mean that something big is going on just because there are 4 police cars in one little grocery store parking lot! Firemen operate in the same way. We once called because our hot water tank caught on fire. THE ENTIRE department responded....two trucks, the cheif, all the fire fighters,the paramedics.... because they were having a meeting when we made the call! They thought they'd all come and see what was going on!!!!!
* another call - at a gas station on the corner of the freeway and major a crossroad. Ug! It's Friday night! I can jsut imagine a parent driving by and seeing me surrounded by 3 police cars and the prisoner transport truck! As I stand there O4 comes up and begins to talk to me. Ah! Finally, an officer with bifocals!!! Someone my age! He was very nice. He pointed out this and that, showed me what all they needed to do to impound the truck there and then showed me the transport truck. It's a scary thing lined in metal and metal doors in addition to the outside doors. There was a prisoner inside and I jumped to the side so that I didn't need to embarrass him and he didn't see me. It turns out that O4's wife is in our Citizens Police Academy Class. Small world. Remember O4 because he comes in the picture later in the evening.
*lunchtime aka MIDNIGHT at I-Hop, sitting at the table with 3 police officers, is at the very least, awkward! I was fading by the time we stopped. I was thirsty and getting very tired. Water and diet coke perked me back up to face the rest of the evening. Luckily O2 was there and since we'd spent so much time with him already, it was a bit less uncomfortable.

* called to a fight – we zooooom down the road to get to this fight. Down the residential street we go, behind another officer. The street is very narrow and lined on both sides with cars. Bumper to bumper cars. Once we pulled down the street, there was no way for any other cars to go in or out. The car in front of us pulls to the left of the cul-de-sac, we stop at the edge and another car pulls behind us. O2 jumps up, grabs his keys, locks the doors and takes off!!!! Locks the doors???!!!! “OMG! HE LOCKED ME IN! HE MUST WANT ME TO STAY HERE! I BETTER STAY HERE! OOOO THERE ARE 5 OR 6 OFFICERS NOW! STAY IN THE CAR! HE LOCKED YOU IN TO KEEP YOU SAFE! STAY IN THE CAR! DID HE TAKE THE KEYS? YES. OOOOOO THEY ARE SHINING FLASHLIGHTS EVERYWHERE, IN THE CARS - ON THE HOUSE, THEY ARE POUNDING ON THE DOOR TO GET THE OWNERS TO COME OUT! OOOO LOTS OF POLICE NOW! STAY PUT! Tap, tap, tap on the window! AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH I nearly had heart failure! Come on!!!!!!! It was O4. He was tapping on the window and telling me to get out and join them. “BUT HE LOCKED ME IN!” I say. Come on! Says O4! It’s ok! #1 - O4 nearly gave me heart failure. #2 – How stupid did O4 think I was thinking I was locked IN the car! I never did explain to him my reasoning but man! I must looked like a doe-doe! I get out and hear the Lieutenant’s voice….Oh boy I really don’t want to be in the way now. I stand off to the side. We get back in the car. “Hey, you locked me in.” “I did????, said O1! I didn’t mean to lock you in. Now I feel like a real ditz!!! “I thought it was your way of telling me to stay put until it was safe for me to get out! “ Nope.” It seems he was just doing his job! What a dingbat!

More in my next post.

What am I thinking - Non quilty this time

I am waiting for the afternoon to go by because tonight I am going on a ride-along with a police officer. I'm excited. I'm scared. I'm nervous. I'm..........OMGoodness! What am I thinking! I am the original scareddy cat. I thought for sure I was going to be required to stay put in the car but NO! He told me to bring along a flashlight. Why????? I asked. "So you can see where you are going!" He said, followed by, "We are going to have fun!" Now I'm scared. He then told me "Maybe we'll get in a foot chase." A FOOT CHASE! Do I LOOK like I run??????? I'll be the official car watcher!!

Random bits about tonight
-if/when he needs to go fast AND turn on the sirens....my sister says "You'll be giggling the entire time!"
-if/when he needs to drive fast my daughter said "MOM! You CANNOT hit the imaginary brake on the floor and tell him to slow down!"
- I want to ask another officer to take a picture of us but am waaayy to embarrassed to be so...so...well, I don't know the word but just that it would be embarrassing. I am however taking my camera in case I can get random shots for my blog.
- I told him that all of my friends are going to be standing on the street waving as we drive past....he said, "we can go visit them." What is this a 6th grade field trip!?
-I was told by another police officer that the "bad guys" tend to talk to the ride-alongs because they are just regular people. AHHHH!!!
-being invisible, discreet and unnoticed is just not possible for someone my size

Oh my It's time to leave......

What am I thinking?

I don't know where my brain was when I made this or why I made it! I found it in my huge pile of untrimmed 1/2 square triangles.

You know the ones....they are the itty bitty waste triangles you cannot bear to throw away. ( read a great line in another blog that was something like...I have yards and yards of fabric. WHY am I muddling about with these itty bitty things that could be thrown away!! We all know the answer....we paid for them!!! But I love the sentiment. It's how I feel exactly).

These are 1.5" big. That means they will finish at 1" each. Am I nuts?

Men

Men are so funny. They would never admit that they gossip, chit chat or chatter. If you ask them, they would say that they go in, get a job done, and get out. THEY LIE!! I'm sitting here at a friend's house while some work is being done. The guys are in the foyer, doing their work, but the chit chat and chatter abounds! I bet if you would ask them if they chat while they work, they would say no. True, they are negotiating how to best get this job done, working out the details ect., but once they are each doing their own jobs....their jaws start to flappin'! LOL!! I'm quietly sitting at my laptop and chuckling.

I have had this same observation at work. We have off duty police officers on our campus. Let me tell you ....THEY GOSSIP! Oh sure, rough and tough, carry a gun and all but man o man. Let something happen at school on Monday and by the time the Friday guy comes to work, he knows all about it....with details! They don't even work in the same office.

I am the product of a man that had few words. "Had" I say because over the past few years, since my mom died, his shell broke. It is a wonderful thing to be honest. However, I was raised by the part of him that didn't talk alot. He certainly didn't verbally express emotion. Now is different. To be fair, he fairly bubbles with words now.

The same goes for men when it comes to their children. They would never admit that they are as soft as they are. I see alot of men with their children at school. Dads are no different than moms, they just won't admit that they have the same emotions!!! These are two stories of men not realizing that others could see their love and devotion.


....again, one of the policemen. This guy is a very muscular guy, He calls everyone "ma'am" and is someone I wouldn't want to meet in the dark (on the wrong side of the law! LOL!!!!!LOL!!!) He has two little girls. One morning, as I waited to turn into the lot, I watched him and one of his daughters, about 3 at the time, walk across the parking lot. In one hand he held her hand. In the other, he held her little pink backpack. I don't know what they were doing but all of a sudden he skipped! Just one or two skips but it was a sight. This big man, complete with a police uniform, gun, bullet proof vest, a little girl and a pink backpack, and skipping! It was a priceless image!

.....my dad. When I was pregnant with my oldest child my dad had a party for his employees. I was very pregnant. I remember him tracking me down, dragging me around and introducing me to his employees. The look in his eyes. I'll never forget the glow of love. He was so pleased that I was having a grandchild! Remember, this was the man that would rather do ANYTHING than EXPRESS emotion.

Why do men work so hard to make us believe that we are so different? What's this macho business about anyways? Every man from my father & my husband to the guys at work, are no different from the women I know. It's just that the women are not afraid to admit that they have emotions or gossip. I really think that it comes down to image. What the men don't realize however, is that we see right through them. We'll let them keep up their charade.

Batik nickel quilt

The batik nickel quilt that I showed on my design wall has been in "row" form for at least 3 years. I have hung the rows on my design wall at various times over the last 3 years thinking I'd work on the quilt. Two weeks ago, I finally attached the rows together, hung the flimsy on the wall, sat down, inspected my work and was very pleased with myself. The next day, the NEXT day, I looked up and discovered that one of the blocks was assembled wrong.



See the middle top. It is supposed to look like a flying geese, not two half squares side by side! Now, I had looked at these blocks and rows for weeks and weeks. How did I miss it? I considered leaving the mistake because the block was in the center of the row. In the end I fixed it. I can't guarantee that I didn't curse and mumble but I did fix it.

Doesn't it look so much better? Here is the worse part. I went through the entire process...AGAIN....with a different block last week. Again, AFTER I had assembled the entire thing! If there are any more mistakes, I'm leaving them!

Design wall Monday

I have been working on this quilt for at least 5 years. I should really say that it has been sitting in the drawer that long. I have been slowly working on it over the past few weeks. I am only showing a bit of it because I hate to show things until they are completed. It is hanging on my design wall. It is the dusk to dawn pattern from the 2nd Nickel Quilts book. I am in the process of growing a 72" top to a king sized quilt without making more blocks.






It's all set up at the machine and whenever I get a chance I make another border block.

Halloween

October 31 - check

Nightfall - check

Candy - check, check, check


Children......

Children......

Children.............even Minkee was wondering where they all were....



Sigh. Double triple sigh! I was going to skip candy this year, or at the very least buy a small quantity, but DH insisted. The last few years he has been in charge of the candy dispersion and INSISTED that each year he runs out of candy. I had my doubts. I have the most lackluster neighbors...they usually don't even turn on their lights so no kids come down our street, but ok. Buy extra candy this year.
We had 7 trick or treaters! SEVEN! Ahhhh!! Now I see his plan!




On a different note, I have a night blooming jasmine outside my front door. The smell has been overpowering and wonderful at the same time. It seems that just as butterflys like to drink nectar, during the day, of good smelling plants, so do moths, at night. My plant was vibrating with moths. Add to this that the light was on for the trick or treaters and it was attack of the moths when you walked outside. I tried to get pictures but it was too dark. I resorted to using the garage door to exit the house and warded off the unsuspecting children. I don't think they would have appreciated being pummeled by moths.

Minkee Monday

This is the 2nd pair that has fallen into the Minkee trap. The first was DH's. This set is mine...Need I say more?

Dinner recap

Dinner was a relative success. I managed to make it through without a major embarrassment. It was easier than I thought to avoid asking anyone if they needed to potty and I didn't once break into the ABC song !! I did however use the wrong knife at the appetizer course!! After I did so, I had no idea where to put it? The bread plate? The table? At one point, I had 3 knives on my bread plate!!!

The meal/award dinner was at the Republic of Texas. It began with appetizers served on a rectanglular plate. There were five tidbits on the plate and the food was placed so the plate sat on the table perpendicular. It was a very pretty presentation. A house salad followed the appetizer. For the main dish, I ordered the 5 Star Pepperloin. Here is the menu description -FIVE STAR PEPPERLOIN Eight-Ounce Grilled Tenderloin Tournedos Topped with Five Blend Peppercorns, Jack Daniel’s Demi-Glaze. It was served over mashed potatoes and asparagus.

The tenderloin was fabulous, out of this world, crazy delicious and tender. I never, and I mean never order beef out. What posessed me on Thursday night I don't know. I stopped ordering beef years ago because I have the worst luck with getting the toughest, most gristle filled piece of meat. This dish restored my faith in ordering beef. The delectable main course was followed by cheesecake and coffee. Oh yeah, the wine flowed all evening. I don't drink wine but managed to imbibe in my beverage of choice. It was easily the best meal I've ever eaten out. The biggest problem is that I now know how good this restuarant is and what they serve. DH may be in trouble on our next anniversary.

Oh did I mention that the resturant is on the 2oth floor and over looks the city and the bay. It was a spectaculr view. Unfortunately I sat with my back to the windows facing a huge head of a bison! Luckily it was so far above me I could avoid it's one eyed stare.

As I said, other than using the wrong knife for appetizers, and as usual talking too much to total strangers, it was a successful evening. DH received an award for 10 years of service. Af ew others received 10 year awards, one man a 30 year award. It was really nice for his office to honor these folks and do it so nicely. I'm just glad I managed to not embarrass DH tooooo much.

Oh I have a limited life!

Going to dinner with the BIG bosses. DH has a "years of service" dinner. We are going to a fancy schmancy restaurant. I do hope I remember how to act around people who
- are taller than my knees
- call me by my first name
- are trusted to drink out of a cup with more than 2 oz at a time
- potty on their own
Hopefully I won't wipe any faces or cut up anyones dinner!!!!

Halloween wall hanging

I made this about 4 years ago. As usual I made one for myself, and one for each girl. It' one of my favorites. It comes from a Art to Heart book.

S'mores

We live in the city. Now, I was raised camping and doing lots of outdoorsy things. My girls...not so much. So on Saturday night, when Mrs. S called to say they were making s'mores, I asked her how??? I don't remember her answer but they live in a 1 bedroom apt with no amenities. Not wanting to miss out on s'mores, I told them to come on over. Here they are using the only logical thing we had available for "marshing" marshmallows.

The grill! Not any ole' charcoal grill but a gas grill!!!! It was too funny!!!!! But we perservered! We should have removed the grates but in our haste to cook and devoured these little goodies, we didn't think about it until they were blazing hot.

At one point, Mr. Fancypants decided he wanted a char on his marshmallow so he did so with a lighter!! Never mind the method....the results were fabulous!!!

Now here is the weird part. My sister lives 1500 miles away. On the same night, at roughly the same time, her and cheergirl made s'mores....in the TOASTER OVEN!! I thought we were silly trying to roast them on a grill.LOLOLOLOLOLOLOOLOLOLOLOLOL~~~!!!!!
As she said on Facebook, what are the chances that sisters living hundreds of miles apart make s'mores in a very unconventional way, on the same night? I have always said that we have some telepathy thing. Further proof is all I say, further proof.

Asked and Answered

Did you know that you have a finite amount of space on Blogger? That all of your pics posted on your blog (blogger)go into a Picassa account? That you can link photos from other picture hosting sites to blogger? Well I didn't but Paula the Quilter, and Sandy do. Bloggers are the best. They explained and doublechecked for me. They were right there typing me the answers. I so appreciate all the help. It is incredible in just a few hours, with a few helpful bloggers, I grasped something that had been confusing me for a long time!

The Flip Flop Quilt

I could have sworn that I'd already posted this quilt. (if you've already seen this, sorry. I just couldn't find it. Point me to the right spot so I can stop pulling out tufts of hair!) I would have been willing to bet on it! I searched and searched my blog to no avail. Thanks to Sandy I was able to add my webshots photos to the blog. Bloggers are the best!!!





This quilt was a total labor of love. It is also one that I entered into a quilt show a few years ago. Not such fabulous comments from the judges but that's ok. I really didn't enter it to be judged, just to be seen.

You have to read the label in order to understand the quilt. The label give both an explaination of the quilt and a legend to explain each block. I freemotion quilted it on my home machine. You can't really tell but I echo quilted the flip flops to look like they were in the sand. The blue fabric looks like bubbles. The fabric from the quilt came from my stash. Frugal. The flip flop trims were purchased. Very expensive!

Webshots help

I have been searching and searching for a blog post about my daughers flip flop quilt. I cannot find it. Nor can I find the original photo. I do have the picture on my webshots site. I can't figure out how to get it back. Do I really have to buy my own photo in order to have a copy of it? I can't find the answers. All I want to do is post it on my blog. I do not want a link. I want to save all of my photos from webshots and then delete the file. Plus, if I blog it as a link, I won't be able to have a picture of it saved in my blog files. Any insight?

Minkee Monday

I was once again fiddling around with my camera. I used the cat as my subject.

The Aloof Look

Doubling as a rabbit? Mouse?



Curiosity close up!




Sepia Tones.....




I'm ignoring you!






Just cute!



close-up....interesting how I managed to NOT have red eyes...I don't know what settings I used!



I've about had enouuuuggghhh...zzzzzzzzzzz

I'm OUTTA HERE!

APPLES!

I find this so funny. I have loved these apples since the first time I saw them. I never considered making them until last few years. I looked at them and saw too much potchkying around (it's fiddly work). All of a sudden I was hell-bent on an apple pattern. I finally had one but then that potchkying thing kept me from making them. Two years later.......

A big tower of apples. It took me too long to finish them for the 2009 gift. I put them away for another day. But I can finally say that I made them!

What am I up to????

I've been busy. Yes. I have kept up with the gift a month for my girls. I forgot to photograph a few months and has changed. I still need to finish my work though. I'm thinking of continuing this gift a month until next year. It's been a challenge but fun! I'll show the finished product another day.

A little mystery....(HA! not so much if you know what they are! )

Minkee Monday

I just don't know.........she dances to the beat of a different drummer......

AuntieCamp 2009, The final chapter

Mr. Wildthing has this awesome telescope. I was duly impressed with his knowledge of the stars, planets, ect. We took my camera and put it up to the lens to get this shot. It may not look like much but it is Jupiter WITH 4 of it's moons circling it. I had no idea Jupiter had multiple moons let alone having ever seen it. Very, very cool!

See! This is near the end of my trip and Mr. Wildthing understands to just go with the flow of goofey Auntie, smile, and take the picture!

I love this picture! You see, I thought for sure I could whoop him at Guitar Hero. Ha! What an egotistical such and such I am!! LOLOL!! He is GOOD! He just calmly sat there and whooped me but good! Of course he then smuggly smiled to himself when the whooping was particularly dramatic!

One day "Auntie Camp on the Road" went on the road. We went to visit my/our grandma. We had the requisite lunch at Milk & Honey and then turned around and went back home. You can tell from the pictures that Grandma was thrilled that "Auntie Camp on the Road," went on the road!!

Cheergirl came to visit during Auntie Camp. Here they are together, Wildthing and Cheergirl. I tell you, I'm not too sure who had more fun during Auntie Camp. I think we'll keep it our little secret that it was probably the one that took the longest to recuperate afterwards! These guys are so much fun and I think that they may be the closest thing to grandchildren that I will get. I'm already looking forward to Auntie Camp 2010. Perhaps the two of them will come together to Texas!