The Learning Curve!

I have taken on a huge responsibility. I have had this blog for years and barely keep it updated so what makes me think that I can keep up with 2 websites 2 additional facebook pages and a new twitter account even astounds me. I think what will keep me going is the passion for the subject matter.

I have launched 2 websites with corresponding social media apps.

 SLC911PST.com              with facebook     SLC911PST-Facebook

and

E911dispatch.com        with facebook    E911Dispatch - Facebook

and twitter      PSE911Dispatch - Twitter

I am really excited and the past 3 weeks have been a challenge but I love being a 911 Dispatcher and this is my way of helping the people and profession I love best. My goal is to post and write as much as I can about current and past issues related to my job and try to keep up with my personal Blog.

Yes huge challenge but I think I am up to it.

Wish me luck!!

Mango Madness

Mango season is over......Its been over at least in my yard but at the top of this huge tree is one last Mango. I see it every day. It is taunting me. It is ripe and ready to eat and I have waited patiently for it to fall but so far no luck.

Today my hubby backed up our truck to this tree and it still wasn't high enough to reach. We added a ladder to the back and it was high enough but our poor picker was not study enough to pull it from the branch it is clinging to. It is still sitting up there watching me and teasing me driving me crazy.

Water Barrell

I found a couple south of us who have very similar goals as we do. They have chickens and a garden and are trying to eat fresh and buy local. They make water collection barrells and Aquoponics barrells. I purched one of there water barrells and set it up the other day and of course since then we have had no rain to speak of. Today it sprinkled a little but not enough to even cover the bottom of the barrell.

Next week I pick up my Aquapomics barrells. I can't wait!!

St Augustine 2007

I haven't blogged in a while so I decided to post a few pictures I've taken over the years. Enjoy!

Happy 24th Anniversary!

Even as I approach my late middle age and try to act mature and wise, I know that I am very childish when it comes to truth and fairness. My husband has told me often that life is not fair and I know this but the little girl in me cries every time she witnesses an injustice and has to swallow the fact that people she looks up to are only human and often fall prey to lies, laziness, greed and politics. I often wonder what happened to the good guys? I know they are out there because I married one 24 years ago. He saved my life. He is my hero!

I find it upsetting that we have struggled all our married life to be honest and open with each other and have tried to impart the same morals of truth and honesty to our children. We have failed often as parents and partners but we are human. Thankfully, God gave us forgiveness and the intelligence to learn from our mistakes. As we have watched our children grow into maturity, we know that we have not failed to pass along the values and morals that our parents imparted to us. We have taught them that hard work and integrity are important but as I watch them enter the work place I wonder if we were wrong and have sadly misguided our children by teaching them a fairy tale.

Thankfully my husband kept very little from our children. I tried to protect them from the world but he came home everyday and told them about what he did and the things that went on in the street. He told them the stories of death and life and the good and the bad. He taught them reality but he also taught them to put themselves out there and help when they could. My hero frequently reached his hand out to help people and he has made a difference even if it was only for a brief period of time. Even when he failed or when a person did not understand the concept of friendship, it did not stop him. He still puts himself out there and tries to make a difference and I proudly watch my children try to do the same.   

Our children have celebrated with us our success and suffered through our failures and we have survived each conflict stronger than we were before. I am so thankful that God blessed me with a partner who was strong enough to accept me with all my baggage, tolerate my stubbornness and having the tenacity to stay even when we were at our lowest. I know they say love is blind but my eyes are wide open and I love this man more than ever. I would not change a thing about him nor do I regret one moment that I have spent with him.

No matter what happens in life from this day forward, you have always been and will always be my hero!

Happy Anniversary! I love you!

Good Bye 2013 Hello 2014!!

Tonight I plan to get shit-faced and I deserve it. 2013 has been a hell of a year. I am at my wits end but I have learned just how strong I am and were that strength ends. I have been humbled by all that this year has thrown at me. I beleive stronlgy in karma but I can not recall doing anything that terrible to have the year I have had. Maybe its not me but the people around me. Do I blame 2013 on my husband and children?  My co-workers? My Mom? Was I just an innocent by-stander of bad luck or am I really Evil Kathy Pate as my hubby calls me?

As I talk about what an awful year it has been I find almost everyone I come in contact with has had the same year I have had. So many people I know have lost loved ones and have had other terrible issues with their health or just plain bad luck. I really havent talked to anyone who has had a banner year. Really bad things have happened to just about everybody I know.

So I am glad to see the backside of 2013 and I am determined to enter 2014 with a positive attitude but only after I get stinking drunk and spend new years morning good and hung over. I get to work New Years Evening and we are planning to have blacked eyed peas and cabbage for dinner for good luck. I plan on eating alot of peas. I need a lot of good luck this year to make up for last year!!!  

Todd the Rooster

This is our first adventure with chickens. We purchased 5 pullets or so we thought. My daughter did an excellent job naming Todd. Todd was the largest hen in our little brood who we recently discovered is in fact a rooster. 

Todd the rooster started crowing this morning. It was pretty pathetic but he was trying so i whipped out my handy dandy smart phone to capture the moment on video only to discover that I have no more memory. A moment lost as poor Todd has settled down for the day. I am hoping I might get lucky and he will crow this afternoon because tonight he will be dinner. We live in a residential area and I am sure my neighbors would not appreciate crowing in the wee hours of the night and early in the morning.

I am going to miss Todd he was a pretty little thing but the rule when we started this experiment was that any bird that didn't lay eggs went in the freezer. Man I am not looking forward to this...............    

Public Service Announcement

I haven’t posted anything in a long time about my job because there are a lot of privacy issues that I obsess about and feel that most of what I hear really should never be repeated but the other night something very disturbing happened and tied up our 911 lines for almost 10 minutes and I have to express my shock and displeasure.

I am a 911 operator and dispatcher and we field many calls that are not emergencies but do require some type of response from Police, Fire or Rescue which is fine and don’t worry if it is not an emergency I will place you on hold and answer other lines if I need to. However at around 0125hrs the other night our phones lines were inundated with multiple non-emergency calls that did not require any form of emergency assistance or response.

The electricity went out in a large portion of Port St Lucie.

Many people called to let us know.

One person complained because they were walking there dog and the street light were out and they could not see.

One person complained that they were cramming for a test and they could not see to study.

One woman called because she was afraid and I stayed on the line until she found a source of light…..this however I could understand and did not mind staying on the line to assist her.

We gladly take calls for traffic light malfunctions however remember when you took your driving test any intersection with a traffic light that is malfunctioning should be treated as a 4 way stop.  It was a question on your driving exam……… At a busy traffic intersection during rush hour officers will respond for traffic control but at 0130 hours in the am...........you figure it out.

Most people just wanted to keep us informed but..... 

We know and there is nothing we can do about it and we have no clue why and we do not know for how long. And when we tell you to call your power company for that information……

No. We do not have the phone number we are not 411. We do have the number for emergency response but the lights’ being out is not an emergency. It is an inconvenience and we don’t call and ask why.
  

Do not call 911 when your lights go out call your power company or if applicable call an electrician and no we do not have the number that is 411 and no we can not refer you to an electrician we are not allowed to.

If a transformer blows, catches fire and drops live power lines then please call 911 imediately. We will send the Fire Department and Police. If your medical equipment you need to survive malfunctions during a power outage please call we will send you and ambulance. If you hurt yourself because the power went out, yes PLEASE call 911 we will help you. That is what we are here for. But please use some common sense people, power outages happen sometimes especially when it gets hot and everyone is trying to keep their houses cool. Sometimes transformers blow and relays malfunction and when this happens the power company knows and has a crew en-route as quickly as possible. It is not the Zombie apocalypse and the world is not coming to an end.

Trust me when the power goes out we know because so do the traffic lights and someone will call and let us know or the officers on the road will notice and also let us know.

Sometimes when the power goes out it includes the 911 center so we know.

When you call to let us know the power went out, it ties up our lines and interferes with calls that maybe true emergencies and may delay a response to someone who truly needs help.  Tying up our 911 lines with no-emergencies like this means there is a delay in answering and you wonder why no one is picking up or when we finally can get to your call and we are not pleasant when you tell us the lights are out it is because you are the 5^th person to let me know and there are 2 more lines ringing that I can't answer because you want to know why and wont let me off the phone.

Well now you know.

This has been a public service announcement and thank you for letting me rant!

I feel better now! 

(Just so you know I may have exaggerated a little on the complaints as some were second hand so don't quote me in court. This is just a blog people.)        

Todd _ Hen Ruler of the Universe!

 These are my girls, my biddies, my reds. These are my Rhode Island Red Hens.

And this is Todd....I don't know why my daughter just said so..... 

and when I think about Todd, it always reminds me of one of my favorite silly movies - "Mom and Dad Save the World" with - John Lovitz aka Emperor Tod Spengo. 

I of course have to giggle every time a see poor Todd. She is however the dominant hen of the coop or Hen Ruler of her Universe. 

(If you notice they do sport many of the same colors.)
So...

All Hail Queen Hen Todd! Unless of course she fails to lay eggs then it is - All Hail Fried Chicken with gravy and mashed potatoes......

Because we have always done it that way!!!

I love this anecdote......

If you start with a cage containing five monkeys and inside the cage,
hang a banana on a string from the top and then you place a set of stairs
under the banana, before long a monkey will go to the stairs and climb
toward the banana.


As soon as he touches the stairs, you spray all the other monkeys
with cold water. After a while another monkey makes an attempt with
same result ... all the other monkeys are sprayed with cold water.
Pretty soon when another monkey tries to climb the stairs, the
other monkeys will try to prevent it.


Now, put the cold water away.


Remove one monkey from the cage and replace it with a new one.
The new monkey sees the banana and attempts to climb the stairs.
To his shock, all of the other monkeys beat the crap out of him.
After another attempt and attack, he knows that if he tries to climb the
stairs he will be assaulted.


Next, remove another of the original five monkeys, replacing it
with a new one. The newcomer goes to the stairs and is attacked.
The previous newcomer takes part in the punishment... with enthusiasm.


Then, replace a third original monkey with a new one, followed by
a fourth, then the fifth. Every time the newest monkey takes to
the stairs he is attacked. Most of the monkeys that are beating him up have
no idea why they were not permitted to climb the stairs.
Neither do they know why they are participating in the beating of the newest
monkey.


Finally, having replaced all of the original monkeys, none of
the remaining monkeys will have ever been sprayed with cold
water. Nevertheless, none of the monkeys will try to climb
the stairway for the banana.


Why, you ask? Because in their minds...
that is the way it has always been!

My husband read this to me not to long ago and it has stuck like glue. I can not tell you how many times I have heard this same response from supervisors in my work place. These are the ones I refer to as "the dinosaurs". I am thankful that my mind does not work that way. 

I am a "Why?" person and the "because" answer has never been one I could just let pass. Is it because I follow the beat of a different drummer, am I more brave and less afraid of the consequences or is it my insatiable need to just know "why" so I can "fix it".

I'm thinking it is all three. 

I try really hard to think outside of the box to see what is beyond what is in front of my face and to see more than what is being presented to me. I am a fixer and I obsess over making things better, run smoother or be more efficient. I like to improve or recycle and make new. I hate waste. 

And I really hate being told because we have always done it that way! 

Graduation 2013

We survived graduation but what a mad house. I am thankful that I wont have to do that again for a long time. Getting pictures was a nightmare and on top of it all as the graduates were walking out the lights failed. Transformer blew at exactly 9 pm. It is pitch black out there on the fairgrounds property. Thankfully most people have a flashlight APP on the their phones and lit up the area but we lost Erin and took us forever to find her. She was upset by then and it took a lot of the joy out of her big day. No family pictures of the happy graduate which sucks but what do you do.

Dinner was a rushed affair at Archie's, the kitchen closed at 10 pm and we put in a last minute order of wings and smack and beer!!! Not what I had planned for dinner but by then we were all starving.

We survived graduation and my baby has her diploma and is headed to college this fall. I am so very proud of her!

I love you Baby!

Change

It has been a very rough year and this month has been the worst, thankfully this past weekend has been awesome and I predict this week will pass quickly and my beautiful daughter will graduate from high school without a hitch.

 (Knock on wood!!)

But even if something unfortunate happens this week to dampen our joy, I know that we will get through it as a family and survive whatever life has to throw at us.

I have discovered just how strong I am over the past year and a half and that I am not to old to change for the better.

I have found so much joy and love in my life that I never could have imagined and all I did was change one thing.

I changed my attitude.

I can not believe that something so simple has had such an enormous effect on my life.

I made a simple choice.

I choose to be happy.

I choose to be flexible.

I choose love and patience and tolerance.

I have learned to let go and have freed myself from anxiety and stress but i have also learned to be more disciplined and found structure and security.

I found my morality hidden under layers of cynicism and indifference.

I have found me again or a better me I should say.

An older wiser and more experienced me who can still love and learn and laugh and make my world a better place for me and the ones that I love!

I will miss you!

Tuesday afternoon our family suffered a great lose, my father-in-law Fred Pate Jr. passed away from cancer. I am blessed to have been able to spend some time with him while he was still up and clear of mind. I am also blessed to have witness the great love that his wife and children have for this man. I will miss the stories that man used to tell with a twinkle in his eye. I will miss his smile and sense of humor. I will miss his deep gruff voice and his laugh. I too love him dearly and will miss him.


 

My Yard - A Garden

I have a black thumb but every year I try to plant something. This year I had the opportunity of time so last month with hoe in hand I started a real garden. With a little help from my children, we managed to dig up a small garden plot where I went crazy and I am now growing beans, squash, cucumbers, carrots, and radishes with the space to grow okra or some mystery tomatoes I found growing in my pepper container. Please ignore the weeds and grass. We used a shovel to turn the soil and its funny how quickly grass roots bounce back.

I see a gas powered tiller in my future maybe for my birthday!




I usually grow tomatoes since I love them, they are expensive and I like to save money. I have not always had good luck however last year I planted cherry tomatoes and fell in love. I have almost always used containers. It is easier to water and keeps the dogs out of them but this year I decided to take a chance and plant a few tomatoes and peppers by the patio. I am still using my containers but I have them spread around the yard where I can maximize the sunshine. I went from 5 plants last year to 11 plus this year. However with more plants and garden means more time spent outside in the yard versus playing on the computer or Xbox. The sacrifices I have to make for my family.......sigh.






I started a lettuce garden last year. I planted in the front flower garden area by the front door and it is doing very well. I have arugula, a red leaf lettuce and several romaine plants I just put in. There are two other greens I have no idea what they are but they are growing like crazy. They have actually bolted and are a little bitter but I hate pulling them up because I like the flowers they produce. I put some basil in a planter and started some cilantro, sage and thyme from seed in a planter by my front door and they to are starting to coming up. I cant wait to have fresh herbs in the house to cook with.I have always loved gardening even though I have experienced massive failures but I would rather try and fail then never try, plus the rewards when you succeed are delicious!!!!

Forks Over Knives

To be vegan or not to be? That is the question of the day.

'Forks Over Knives' is another good movie to watch if your concerned about your health. The documentary makes a lot of sense about the amount of meat products we eat in the United States. Over the last 70 years as meat consumption in the United states has risen so has an alarming increase of obesity, cancer and heart disease. At 47, I am relatively healthy but by medical standards I am morbidly obese. I have worked on changing my diet over the last few years and have eliminated a lot of bad habits including reducing my intake of sugar and adding exercise to my life. In the past few years I have managed to rid myself of a little over 25 pounds. It has taken me years to get this way it will take me years to get it off. I don't trust fast weight lose as it tends to come back plus some. I know this from years of yoyo dieting.

Happily, my sugar levels have become stable but I am still fighting high cholesterol. I have increased my intake of fruits and vegetables but my love of animal products in all forms is undeniable. Beef and chicken are staples in my kitchen and there is nothing better in this world then my husbands grilled beef fillet. Add a baked potato and slather it with butter and sour cream with a side salad covered in a sour cream based dressing. An awesome meal or an epic failure in a nutritious diet?

I will be adding more fruits and veggies to my daily routine and continue to reduce my intake of meat and dairy. I will never be a vegan or a vegetarian but I see organic soy milk in my future over my cheerios and more vinaigrette dressings on my salads.

Scuppernong Grapes - Jelly Adventures

Hanging Pictures

I have spent the last two weeks of my vacation packing, loading, unloading and unpacking stuff that we have no room for. It is amazing how much crap you can accumulate in 5 years.

Today is my last day of vacation and I am using it to tidy up and give our new dwelling those endearing touches that make a house a home.

I love these old pictures of my children and my husband. It is hard to believe that we were really that young once.

But enough of this for today I am running out of walls and hangers which is bad because I still have boxes of pictures I need to find a home.

Did I mention I love moving.

January's Photo Outing

Not once but twice this month I was lucky enough to be invited on a field trip with my good friend Rachel. She has taken a huge leap in her life and is braving the new world of entrepreneurship with her new business -Fins & Lens Photography - http://finsandlens.com/ .

For her birthday we went to the Morikami Gardens for the zen experience and a photo shoot. We arrived fashionably late and we only had an hour to tour the gardens before the park closed.

Although our time was limited we still took some pretty decent shots as the day turned into late afternoon. I tried to capture the shadows and low light settings and the sun started to set for the day.

The Morikami Gardens are very beautiful even with the large crowds that attended that weekend for the 10 year anniversary festival so we decided to make another trip. Luckily the Gardens were offering a free admissions day so we pulled out our schedules determined that we were free and pinky swore that we would go.

Our second trip was almost a disaster; we arrived early along with the the storm clouds and cold rain but we unloaded our gear and headed into the gardens determined to find zen or at least a good time and a few good pictures before we were frozen and or drenched.

As if the weather wasn't bad enough, our bad luck continued as both of Rachel's cameras malfunctioned. We later found out as the clouds moved off and the sun warmed up the day that her camera seems to have issues with the cold and caused her shutter to stick. We were back in business.

We missed the Bonsai exhibit on our first trip as we walked towards the bridge the security guard chased us off and pointed us towards the exit. We spent a good portion of the morning of our second trip looking at the tiny sculptured trees.

The bonsais were so oddly shaped I had a hard time focusing and this is the only picture I was satisfied with to post so I guess I will keep practicing.

We thought it was odd that we did not see any koi on our first trip in any of the lakes or ponds but apparently they were hiding by the bonsai. These fish are huge and you can feed them if you like. I know the fish don't mind.

We toured the small museum that displayed Japanese culture and heritage and its growth in South Florida.

We found out of the way paths that lead to bamboo fountains

and tranquil beauty.

The gravel paths are shaded with benches to sit at your leisure. The view over the small lake is pretty and conducive to calm and relaxation.

It was an amazing day and I thoroughly enjoyed having Rachel's son Christian with us. What an awesome little boy.

I cant wait for our next photo outing.

Happy New Year!!!!! (Better late than never.)

This year I vow to take more pictures, pay attention to my blog, eat better, exercise more, spend more time with my family and pay more attention to me and my needs.

Invasion!

I have been invaded by these huge bloated little buggers. Caterpillars have made their home on my tomatoes.

I was not alarmed by the few holey leaves I was seeing here and there and when I discovered that it was caterpillars causing the damage to the leaves I removed them quickly. I am trying to stay organic so I am not using pesticides however I did "Google" for a few organic options including a garlic spray.

But apparently I may have waited to long, in just a matter of 2 days my plants have become bare.

The little buggers have become huge which makes them a lot easier to find but they are a lot hungrier.

They are now eating my tomatoes.

Will I ever win?????