Hi everybody. How the heck are ya? I'm back from a crazy few weeks. I've been getting home late ... or not home at all, and my home computer is screwed up right now so i haven't been able to check in. I had my phone with me of course, but I can't log into my account from it ... don't know why. I spent a couple of weeks starting in the first week in April in a rescue course. It was awesome. I, along with twenty or so others from our company (and various others...firemen, bin fumigators..and so on) trained with 5 members of the Detroit Fire Dept. These men, when they are not in Detroit fighting fires and rescuing people, travel around the country teaching courses on bin rescue, aerial rescue, and underground rescue. The head man actually owns the company. It's called SATRA...look it up. It's pretty cool. Anyway, it was a tough couple of weeks, but I learned a lot and got to do some crazy fun stuff. Note: I absolutely love repelling ... haha. It's awesome. When you bail off the side of a 150 ft silo or grain elevator, zipping down the side with nothing between you and the groung but air, and nothing holding you up but some rope and knots that you hope you tied correctly...oh my gosh ... it's freedom. You don't think about anything else ...except maybe the guy you are trying to rescue. It's total concentration and focus. It's magical. Of course, the training wasn't so we could have fun. It was so that we could be prepared if and when someone gets hurt and stranded up high. They actually let us carry out real-life scenarios ... hooking up living, breathing people in baskets and skids, or just to your own body, and repelling down with them. I LOVE IT!! I was a good move on my company's part, too. It's a dangerous job and if a guy breaks his leg or has a heart attack 30 ft below ground or 200 feet up on a rickety old catwalk ... he's gonna want to get down (or up) alive. I'm already trained in CPR, first-aid, and all that so this training is a welcome addition. I've got some pictures but they're not that great. Most of the cool stuff was happening while my hands were full, of course.
Besides that, my brother and I spent a few days in southern Georgia turkey hunting. THAT was a trip ... let me tell ya. Seemed like everybody we met spoke like Foghorn Leghorn. Dang, I just thought I was country. I got nothin' on those folks...haha. But they were nice people for the most part, and really not much different than us, aside from a few things that I won't get into. We went to a party one night. That was nuts. Two fights broke out ... between cousins, of course, and over moonshine. I drank some 180 proof cawn licka (corn liquor)...and have to compare it to being on LSD...haha.(Yes, I was a little wild at one time, but that was a long time ago....) Everybody brought shotguns to the party, which I thought was odd. They set up a night skeet shooting competition. I guarantee you there was at least 1000 rounds shot off. It was like a war zone...but no cops showed up....wise on the part of the cops, I think. Anyway, we made good friends and they treated us like we were old friends ... told us to come back and hunt anytime we want. We intend to take them up on that offer.
I am finishing up on judging my contest now, but it seems like many entries have been removed...two in particular that I liked very much have disappeared...darn.
Hope y'all have been well. I saw some disturbing things in past blogs...didn't really look closely because I'm busy catching up on work. Did I see right?...Charma, Flo, Frank, and David are gone....is this correct? Any others? What the heck happened while I was away? Of course, if it's one of those subjects that don't need to be brought back up, I understand. Let it rest, if need be.
Awe, heck with it...here's some pics from training
SATRA Guys from Detroit Fire and Rescue....nice fellas
Going up....
My feet...bout 100 ft up standing on a rail and getting ready for a rescue (to repel)
Bout to pull a guy(victim) out of a boot pit( an underground area about 30ft deep)
Zoomed in on his face..haha...thought he looked nervous..;)
Grain engulfment situation....
Getting a guy out of a grain engulfment situation. We all got buried, chest deep...and by the way...I got out without the rescue equipment..yep, I had to brag...sorry. Mr. Fireman said it was immpossible, but in about 5 seconds I was standing on top...so he buried me again(I think it pissed him off a little) up to my neck this time....guess what?...I got out again...hehehe. Bill, the top dawg of SATRA, said he'd never seen that happen in twenty years. Somebody remarked.."that boy ate 'is grits this mornin!"...and the guys from Detroit had a good laugh about that. All in all, we had a great time with them.