Lakewood Park Brush Fire

We left 'Archies' after a wonderfully glutinous lunch of beer, bacon cheeseburgers and wings. As we drove over South Bridge we noticed smoke. Where there is smoke there is fire so we drove north west looking for the 'inferno'. We finally found it up on Indrio Rd in Lakewood Park......Sorry no flames I tried to con Fred into trespassing but the kids kept begging to go home. There bellies were full and they were tired. Teenagers and their nap times can be frustrating.



Forestry Chopper dropping water



The sky is so pretty.



FHPL blocking the road for Fire Department....Where's SLCSO?

Victory Forge Military Academy in Port St Lucie

I vaguely know of this facility. I only am aware of it through my job so I am not surprised that many residents do not know it exists. I have had parents on different occasions ask about military academy's for their children and have had little information to give them but what one can locate in the yellow pages or the internet.

Now I am very familiar with DCF and these are regular folk like you and me trying to do their job. Unfortunately, this type of job can leave little room for error like my own. There is no room for personal opinions and beliefs. I need to know has the law been broken?

Just because as a parent I give my permission to the handcuff and detain my child, is my written permission enough?

I went through Florida statute and I can't find anything that indicates this is specifically illegal. However read Florida State Statue 39.001 Purposes and intent; personnel standards and screening.

Loose definition - Abuse is determined by DCF and the Sate of Florida.

Federal Guidelines dictate:

"The new protections establish two sets of standards, depending on the type of facility. One applies to "non-medical community-based facilities for children and youth." The facilities will be defined in regulations and will include group homes and the like. The other set applies to any health care facility that receives federal appropriated funds, such as a public or private general hospital, an intermediate-care facility or other health care facility. All must comply with the general principle of protecting and promoting the right to be free from restraints and seclusion for purposes of discipline or convenience.

The statute requires that seclusion and restraint be used only:

* to ensure the physical safety of the individual or others; and
* subject to a written order by a physician or other licensed practitioner permitted by the facility and state law. In most cases, the written order will be obtained soon after the restraint or seclusion is initiated by staff. "


Personally and my children know this and believe this, I will use restraints to keep them safe and will give permission for the same to a military academy if I felt the need to send my child to one. However, I hope I have raised my children with respect and given them enough freedom to choose for themselves the path of right and wrong. I will do what ever I have can to make sure my children abide the law and it is no ones business how I raise my children as long as they are not harmed or in any danger of being harmed excluding corporal punishment - spankings (I am a firm believer in 'spare the rod spoil the child'). It would be nice if Florida law was a little more specific like federal guide lines. I know it would make me feel better than having to rely on another person's opinion or beliefs as to whether I was abusive or not.

You Can Run But You Cant Hide...........

My daughters are the worst. They are so pretty and I love to take pictures of them but bring a camera anywhere near them and they throw up the arm, turn away or flat out run away.


I keep trying though.



I will get my pictures whether she likes it or not.



Maybe not......................

Winner - Florida Shine Team wins a phone call from Bucky Covington and Name that Picture Contest.

And the winner is Moon with "Where the heck is Rocky going with MY bike?"

Congratulations!!!

Moon needs to send me her address for her 8X10 glossy!!!!!

My team the gals from Florida Shine did it again. We posted the mostest so we win a phone call from Bucky Covington. I want to thank anyone who helped by posting or visiting the widget. I also want to thank Bucky's fans for working so hard at taking Bucky into the top ten by holding a little contest. I took this picture of Bucky in Zellwood, Florida last summer. It is the most popular picture on my flickr account.

This picture needs a name.

Please send me your great ideas. I will pick the best name with the help of my very picky daughters and send the winner an 8 x 10 glossy of this picture.

I will make the deadline Sunday evening 11pm on April 20th eastern standard time and announce the winner on Monday afternoon April 21st.

Good Luck!!!!!

I have a new title!

I mentioned earlier that I had some news but I have yet to figure out if this is good news or bad news. I am excited but a little upset all at the same time because my "promotion" for a lack of a better word came at the expense of another.

I am now the "Assistant Training Supervisor".

I get to train. I get to train from point A to point Z.

What have I gotten myself into.

I have less than 2 weeks to ammend my training manual for one on one training. This was the idea that I came up with so SURPRISE! I get to implement it. I am very pleased and happy that my boss likes my ideas and has given me so much support. But, I really think I have chewed off a large chunck. I admit I am not prepared for complete and total control over such an important aspect of the center.

I do not want to let this go to my head as if that was possible. I am terrified I am going to screw up. There are so many things I would like to see change but I am afraid if I move to fast I will be pushy but if I choose to move cautiously I will be over run. I guess I will settle for doing the best job I can and hope for the best. Wish me luck!!!!

Procrastination

 

I am going to call this one 'Procrastination'. Yesterday, my hubby and I took a trip to Okeechobee. We enjoyed a nice ride, one stretch included a very bumpy, dusty dirt road that took us out into cattle fields. Hubby sees this structure off in the distance so we park and start hiking. Now my husband is 6'5 and I am 5'2, yes it looks funny but I love him anyways. Hubby takes a direct path through the thickest part of the field. He has long legs the only thing he is worried about is feral hogs. I could care less about feral hogs. I am meaner than a feral hog. It's those large reptiles I don't like. My ears and eyes are sharp listening to that tell-tale rattle or hiss. I am carefully scanning the tall grass looking for that large monster rattle snake that is going to jump out of the palm scrub or abandoned gopher turtle hole and bite me. I really don't mind snakes in general but I hate rattlers.

Luckily we saw no giant rattle snakes and I eventually found a cleared path and I was happy again. We finally make it to the silo. I was thinking it was old and falling down but no it's worse. It was under construction and never finished. The steel rods at the top as you can see are falling off. It was a sad sight and I think this pictured turned out fairly well with a little light adjustment. All my pictures came out too bright. I will learn one of these days but my hubby still shakes his head. and tells me to go take a class.

"I will." I always respond. The queen of procrastination has found her totem. Her mantra "One of these days."

I am proud of myself regardless because I did finish my taxes today. I finally made copies of my return. I found all the correct paper work that goes with it, placed it in an envelope, addressed the envelope, found stamps (A NIGHTMARE IN ITSELF)and had my hubby mail it before 4pm. Sadly, I really finished our taxes several weeks ago hubby had to move the papers off the printer to use it. On top of the printer they have laid until this afternoon and believe it or not, this is an improvement for me. I usually don't file until May sometimes later...........

Fort Pierce City Hall and Eric Pierre-Jerome's Family

I happened to see this article and found it very upsetting. There are so many things I would like to say but I will let the article speak for itself.

Early Morning

 

This picture is a little dark but I love the way the rising sun reflects off the water. I love sunrise. I love the sky and the brilliant color palette as the sun rises over the horizon.

I was up early this morning and made sure I grabbed my camera so I could get a few shots of the sunrise as I made my way up the highway towards Orlando. I found a nice grove of palm trees, the clouds little cotton puffs against a lovely orange and purple background. I whip out my camera, focus and take the shot. I repeat only this time nothing. I fiddle with the camera turn it off then back on but I get a blank screen. Damn, the battery is dead. I need to make sure I check that battery thing more often because I don't have a spare battery. I did have my daughter's little Cannon One Shot so I took a few road shots as I traveled up SR 441. I needed to do something at 8 am this morning to keep me awake. I still haven't looked at those yet maybe tomorrow.

I spent most of the day in Orlando waiting for my mom to be released from the hospital. Made it home a little after 1pm nap at 4pm back up at 6:30 pm more nap now back up with little to do but write about it. I need to go play WOW. ('World of Warcraft' for u noobs) TaTa!!!!!

The Beach

The Beach March 2008_0048, originally uploaded by kathleenpate.

There is nothing like a warm day at the beach. Enjoy!

A few posts ago I mentioned a new beginning, boy was that the understatement of the year. I will fill everybody in over the next week or so on what is going on.

Back on Midnights

I answered phones, came up with a training schedule, and read blogs (in between answering phones).

A large thanks to all the great blogs out there on the internet. I am entertained!!!!!!

What a week!!!

 

I am posting another picture I took Sunday morning on my outing with my hubby. I like the way this one looks in black and white.

I think I am looking forward to going back to work after my very interesting 10 day vacation. I have to start working on my training manual as usual it needs to be update already and more detailed I think. It will also take my mind off what has been going on in my life these past few days. Mom is in Orlando in the hospital she has had a stroke but will be home Friday. She will recover slowly but she will recover. I saw her yesterday and will be back up to get her on Friday. Everyone in my house seems to be doing okay but I do not know what the future holds and I think that is what scares me the most.

A Beautiful Sunday Morning with a Little Rain.

 

Fred had me up early this morning to watch the sunrise. There wasn't much to see with all the clouds but Fred took some gorgeous shots as usual. This is mine the better of a bad lot. I can't get that ISO thing right.

The day cleared up and was sunny for a few hours but now thunder rocks the house upsetting poor Zack. He is trying to lay on Fred while Cujo sleeps through it all. Kids are back to school tomorrow and I have two more days of vacation. Lucky Me!

April, A New Bginning!

This last week has kept me very busy. I took the week off to spend time with my family, catching up on badly needed chores and I ended up with more than I expected. Day one my husband was admitted to the hospital for a rapid and irregular heart beat. Five days later they released him. He is fine but they have him on blood thinners and have changed his blood pressure medicine. He has also stopped smoking, quit drinking alcohol and has limited his caffeine consumption. He feels better and we like him better this way.

Now during hubby's stay at the Holiday Inn at Lawnwood Medical Center, I took the girls to Universal Studios. We promised them at least two days this past week and actually made plans to stay Sunday to Tuesday possibly Wednesday depending on how much money we spent. We drove up early Monday spent the night and all day Tuesday at Universal/Islands of Adventure.



I hated leaving Fred but he kept thinking the Dr. was going to let him go home and was actually looking forward to some quiet time. We left him the van and off we went. We had a good time. The girls walked my legs off. I ended up with blisters all over my feet.



We made it home Tuesday night and Fred finally came home Wednesday morning. Life is getting back to normal. Elizabeth has decided to take Warrens old room and spent most of the week painting. She just finished last night and will be moving in this morning which is a good thing because Warren will be staying with us for a few months until he can get caught up on his bills. His last job did not work out. He starts a new job in Vero on Monday but until his finances are more settled he has decided to stay at home.

I just printed out my taxes - done. I painted my bathroom - done. I need to repaint my bedroom and the hallways of the house - hopefully done soon. I have not felt so good the last few weeks and even though so much has happened this week I think it has all happened for the good. There was a lot of drama here this past week as you can imagine. However, I am feeling better and I am looking forward to what the rest of the year will bring.