Garbage dump + fire = stink

Yes, it's true. If one mixes the already repulsive smell of the garbage dump and the miracle of fire, one gets a disgusting smelly mess. How would I know? Well, I'll tell you. It's because I was there. For four hours! Presently in Squamish protecting the lives of thousands via the ambulance service, I was called out for a fire standby yesterday. This is normally pleasant and here is why:

A fire standby is required at most major fires by the fire department. Our job on scene is to be at their staging area (command post) and, when one firefighter comes in overheated we are to strip them down, douse them with water, cool them down and monitor their vitals before recommending they return to 'light duties' and sending them on their way. You can see how this would be good n'est pas? This particular fire standby was not pleasant and here is why:

We were at a dump, and it smelled bad.

Not only that, but the fire department decided to stage right beside a pile of poo that was being treated (read: sitting in the sun, drying out) (I stole that 'read' thing from Mike Laroy, I think it is clever. Props to Mike Laroy, one of the coolest guys I know).

So when we finally cleared to go help some poor elderly lady with her chest pain we smelled like pooey garbage and so did our ambulance. Poor, poor lady.

Tonight we are expecting a call from the police department. A man in an SUV sideswiped a truck, did a full 360 flip, lost a tire, and then drove for another km before taking off on foot naked with his rotwieler. They haven't found him yet, but how long can a naked man with a rotwieler go unnoticed?
It could be a busy night...

Delicious anger filled rage!

The following is a list of things that make me really angry. I feel as though I need to get these things off my chest.

1. Slow turners.
Imagine if you will that you are driving at a normal speed, say 50 or 60 km/h. The car in front of you signals to turn right. Oh car, you think, thank you for signalling because equally as frustrating is drivers who do not signal before they turn. What makes you so special that you think you do not have to signal like the rest of us? Should we just know that you will turn? Sorry, tangent. Anyways, turns out the car that so politely signalled slows to almost a complete stop before turning, causing you (if you drive a standard like me) to have to shift down 3 or 4 times and also to almost stop. So angry.

2. Dropping things.
Why sometimes must I have such slippery and clumsy fingers? Dropping things is so preventable. Then, after dropping said thing, you must also pick it up. So much expended effort for the lazy like me. And all this is so unnecessary. So angry.

3. People are suing KFC and Starbucks for serving fatty products.
What? Seriously... can you believe this? I saw it on the news last night that horrible companies like KFC and Starbucks are out to make us all fat and that we better sue them because it's obviously their responsibility as to what they feed us. I don't like or eat KFC, but if they want to serve a fatty product, go ahead and let them. It's your own damn fault if you choose to eat it. Morons. So angry. So very angry.

There are no stoves in Madiera Park

Ok, that may be a lie.
BUT, there is currently no stove in the shack in which we paramedics stay whilst we are in the quaint town of Madiera Park, anxiously awaiting a call-out so that the 41 dollars we paid for the ferry is not in vain.
No stove = no cooked food for me.
For this, I am sad and will either be hungry or even more poor because I will have to buy some food that either a) does not need to be cooked or b) can be cooked in the microwave.
I suppose I could cook chicken in the microwave but, come on, we are not savages.

Camp Luther

For all those who are just itching to know the truth about Ferozza and whether or not she will return to Camp Luther this summer....

Here it is....


The answer.......


To the question you've all been asking......





maybe.

Shark Bait and Ferozza would like to make another appearance at Camp Luther during senior teen week. Hopefully all works out and we can afford to take time off our respective works.
Oh camp.
How I miss waking up at 3am to give a cough drop to a child. And how I miss eating endless crappy macaroni and cheese. And how I miss wrapping thousands of 'sprained' ankles. And how I miss pretending to have energy when really I want to strangle you.
Yes, we are looking forward to coming back. Wierd how God works hey?

Wedding photos!

Today is another day and here is another post. Alright. Can you feel the excitement?

Last night our raccoon friend visited again. He waddles past our patio window every night setting off the sensor light. Last night WE surprised HIM when we opened the curtain. He froze in place, lifting his right paw in the air, desperately trying to balance himself while staying perfectly still; quite a feat considering he only has half a tail. We waved emphatically, hoping that maybe he would become curious and come closer. But after an intense staredown, he waddled away yet again. How disappointing.

Well, here are some wedding photos...


Yes, in an ambulance. Ahhhh... I am such a loser.

Awwww, how cute.

Here are my boys, acting like monkeys under, yes, a monkey tree. Braden is the most proper monkey in the jungle.

Ah, what a day. And soon it will be AJ's turn. Yes, that dashing young man third from the left is no longer available ladies. He and his lovely fiancee, Lindsay, will be married this August. I think the best part about the wedding day is knowing that you no longer have to plan this freakin' wedding. Anyone who has ever been a bride: I dare you to disagree that it is the best feeling in the world to just be done.
Have a lovely day.

A good old fashioned gnome chase

This gnome was chasing us down the highway. It had crazy eyes.

This weekend Ryan (my husband, if you didn't know) and I went to a wedding on Quadra island which is a beautiful island just off the coast of Cambell River, which is also a beautiful place.
Coincidently, the wedding was also beautiful.

It reminded me of my own wedding which was only a short month ago. (When I get pictures on my computer I will post some). It's crazy how even after a month you can forget the crazy things that you vow to do for this other person that you have chosen to spend the rest of your life with. I think it should be a requirement for being married that you have to attend at least one wedding per month to remind you how you need to be and how you need to treat your spouse.

Well, hopefully this blog will be a good way to reconnect with some people. And, even if they don't reconnect, they can spy on my life and then, perhaps, when we meet again at a reunion or a chance encounter in an airport or mall they will know all this stuff about me and I will know nothing about them and it will create a delightfully awkward moment. Ahhhhh... I can't wait.
Seriously though, I would love to hear from all of you.

So, have patience please as I am new at this. Hopefully all my posts wont be this boring. To spice things up, here are some other things we did on Quadra.

I'm Sick Today

(editor's note - warning: this story contains blood and vomit. If you are sicked out by such things and are perhaps ill like me to begin with... proceed with caution)

On today, the first day of my blog which I'm sure no one will read (and really, do I care?) I am sick. I blame my husband.

Being sick now reminds me of the last time I was sick. Wierd? Yes, I know.

I was working in Whistler. By working, I mean sitting around the ambulance station hoping that something not entirely lame was on television (Top 10 scariest creatures was the winner today). This story should be prefaced by yet another story.

Yes, the abundant life of the paramedic is not as glamerous and exciting as one may think. As a new paramedic my career consists of sitting at the station making $2 an hour to hold a pager in my hand and anxiously hope and pray that it will go off so that I can feed myself for yet another day. Have I saved any lives? Officially, yes, I have saved one. But as a paramedic what counts more is that someone needs help, and I am there to give them whatever help they need. A ridiculously crappy union coupled with interactions with crabby employees and horrible pay is overruled by a passion for patient care and a love of preserving life.

Anyways, I was sick. It was that horrible 'I've just woken up at 3am and have to drive to Whistler' kind of sick and it stuck with me all day. Nausea and dizziness and an intense urge to sit completely motionless so as not to disturb the contents of my stomach which wanted to leap out and find solice in a ceramic, water-filled home. (sorry, that was gross). At 9pm when I wanted to sleep the pager went off. Yay! Food for another day! But NO! I am sick and now need to be in the back of an ambulance with a sick patient down the sea to sky highway.
Unfortunately for me and fortunately for my patient, he was conscious (Unconscious patient's are less demanding you see, plus I was sick and did not feel like talking. Am I a horrible person?). He could not speak anyways as he was suctioning blood out of his mouth. But even if he could speak, it would not be in English. He couldn't understand a work I said either. In my efforts to try to keep him as comfortable as possible and while dealing with a tricky IV, my stomach decided that now was the time to give way. Yuck. Unfortunately for both of us, throwing up sounds the same in any language.

I hope that guy is ok today.

Anyways, today I will take it easier. No rollercoaster rides or ambulance adventures today. Grocery shopping is on the agenda and hopefully my food will stay where it belongs.