Speaking of embarrassing moments............
For those of you who don't know, I was in law enforcement for 28 1/2 years, just retiring in November 2004. I worked the streets as a patrol officer for about 6 months, then I was assigned to Criminal Investigation, where I spent nearly 11 years. After my time in CID, I was promoted to Assistant Chief, held that position for 11 years, then was appointed Chief, holding that position for almost 7 years. So, my time as a patrol officer was short and sweet. At the ripe old age of 23, working the streets on a midnight shift, I was surely God's gift to law enforcement. (I had a really bad case of rookie-itis).... It was about 3 a.m. and the streets were empty. (The city where I worked is not a large city, by any means. With a population of around 9,500 people and a grand total of five (yes, 5) stoplights, everyone pretty much rolls up the sidewalks at 5 o'clock. The only thing open later are convenience stores and liquor establishments.) I noticed a vehicle coming down Main Street, weaving from lane to lane. I knew I had a DWI arrest. I was THRILLED...... I waited till the vehicle got to me at the main intersection in town, pulled in behind it and turned on my emergency equipment. Luckily, the driver of the vehicle pulled over almost instantly. I called dispatch on the radio to advise them of my location and told them I had a possible drunk driver. As I exited my patrol car I could see the driver was an old spanish man and I could tell as I got closer to him that he had definitely had one too many Corona's. Now, mind you, I am not fluent in spanish, just knowing enough to get information from a drunk. I asked the gentleman for his drivers license, then asked him to step out of his vehicle. I got him out and as he stood on the side of the road, or should I say, TRIED to stand on the side of the road, he suddenly broke down laughing. I'm talking about a deep down belly laugh, the kind where you can hardly catch your breath. Now, I couldn't understand what he thought was so damned hilarious, as I was fixing to cuff his ass and take him to jail. This poor guy was laughing so hard, he was having to lean on the car for support. I finally got enough spanish out to ask him what was so funny and all he did was point behind me. I turned around to look, and there was my patrol car, red lights flashing, slowly backing down main street, about a block from where I was. Well, I immediately started running down the street after my patrol car and all I could hear was the little old spanish man trying to catch his breath behind me. I finally caught up with my patrol car......out of breath and wheezing......(and yes, the drunk was still laughing his ass off). As I pulled my car back up toward my original traffic stop location, I noticed something shiny in the roadway. As I approached it, I saw...........MY GUN!!!! It had evidently fallen out of my holster while I was running down the middle of main street chasing a runaway police car. Holy Shit!!!!!!!!.......
You know what I did?? I got the guy's license, found out his address, locked his car up and took him home. I wasn't about to arrest him for anything, not after what he had been a witness too.........drunk or not....

Is There Such A Thing As A Chicken Rancher???
Mood:  d'oh
Along with our garden, this year we decided to get some chickens so we could have fresh eggs. We ordered our chicks from McMurray Hatcheries (after much discussion about which type chickens we wanted.) We finally settled on the Rhode Island Reds, mainly because they are supposedly prolific egg producers and they are a beautiful reddish-brown color when they mature. We told the kids we were ordering some chickens and they decided they needed some too, so instead of ordering 25, we ordered a total of 50 chicks. Now when you order chickens, you get day-old chicks delivered to your local post office....(yup, that's right.......to your local post office.) It was a Monday morning, March 21st to be exact. The phone rang just prior to 6 a.m. It was the post office advising us that our chickens had arrived and we needed to come pick them up. Jayme, (being the sweetheart she is), told them I would be down to pick them up when they opened, at 8 a.m. "No, you come now. Just knock on the door and we'll give you your chickens." Nuff said, we got the message. I arrived at the post office a little after 6 a.m., went through the front doors and, prior to knocking on the wooden door, could hear the chicks peeping inside. As I knocked on the door, the sound got louder. The half-door opened and the kind lady handed me a box about 18" x 18" and said, with a smile, "Here's your chickens, have a great day" and closed the door. Okay..........

So, now I have this box of chickens(?) .......How in the heck did they get 50 chickens in this box?? Surely this is like, box 1 of 2, and the rest of them will be in the mail tomorrow.

The chickens and I arrive at home. Jayme is trying to get ready to go to work and we are trying to decide what we are going to put the chicks in. (When we ordered them, they said the chicks would be shipped the week OF March 21st, not ON the 21st. Anyway, here is basically what we got 50 of

We originally decided to put them in a large box, in a spare bedroom, with a heat lamp. When they are small, they have to be around 90 degrees for the first week or so, then you slowly move the heat lamp up so it's about 5 degrees warmer each following week.







Needless to say, Tipper was all about trying to get in to see the new babies. Believe it or not, he didn't bother them, he just wanted to see what all the commotion was about

Well, they are now right at 2 1/2 months old and they have G R O W N !!

More on the chicken rancher as time goes on. Till next time.......

I'm Just A Farmer At Heart
Mood:  energetic
Jayme and I have planted a garden and done some home canning of veggies for the last couple of years. Last year we decided to plant artichoke plants, since we dearly love artichokes and good ones are sometimes hard to find in the grocery store. We kept expecting something from the plants last year, but our expectations were for naught. We piled hay on the plants for the winter and uncovered them at the first hint that frost season was over this year. We've nurtured them, watered them and waited for them to do something this year. As you can plainly see, they have definitely done something this year. We have artichokes running out our ears. Although none of them are ready yet, it won't be very long before we have fresh artichokes on our table............Yum, Yum......Will keep you informed on the progress of the garden this year..........Till next time

My First Entry
Mood:  a-ok
I've been browsing quite a few blogs lately on the web and thought it was about time I started my own. The reason my blog has the title that it does is because I thought it sounded better than something like......"Ramblings From Deep Within The Cobwebs".......... Darkness definitely makes you want to read further, to investigate just what kind of person this is that is rambling on. Feel free to leave comments, suggestions, etc., as I am new to this and I can take constructive criticism pretty well. You will find that I do have some rambling thoughts on occassion, and some of those ramblings could come close to having me committed so let's just keep them between us, shall we? Till next time.....