Let me show you something

A New Adventure
There have been rumors that Engineer Kepler no longer drives E73 in the Kent RFA. Captain Bolender and Engineer Moffatt have said Keith has been a “no show “for the past number of weeks. When Firefighter Gegan was asked what he knows about Engineers Keplers disappearance he replied, “I can neither confirm nor deny his whereabouts.”
  Yes It is true that after almost 31 years on B shift and nine years at 73’s I have cleaned out my B shift lockers, pulled my food from the shelf in the “B” shift fridge, removed my bunkers off the “B” shift rack, boxed my books and papers from my corner B-shift office and relocated.  Some may be thinking -RETIREMENT and I say are you crazy? Retire from the best job in the world, I don’t think so.
  It was nine years ago I left Station 71 and when I did the boy’s blossomed. Engineers Galassi and Woelber became Captains, Engineer Lyons now packs heat and Captain T is now Division Chief Tomlinson.
   Again feeling I was holding back 73”s crew I decided after 31 years to stretch my wings, do something new, take on a new challenge, and leave the nest and take the accumulation of my vast years of experience and knowledge and apply them to a much larger palette of Fire and Life Safety.

  It all started a few months ago when I heard there would be a vacancy in the Kent Regional Fire Authorities vaunted, second to none, Fire Prevention Bureau (FPB).  Wanting this as bad as Ralphy wanted his Red Ryder BB gun I waited till MarLa was batting those big beautiful eyes at me and popped the question, “can I go to the FPB? Being a veteran Firefighter wife she said, “What’s the FPB?”
  I told her about Fire Marshall Bill and how I’ve always wanted to follow in his footsteps. See I said I have the burns! I told her that the vetting process would be stiff but there were a potential for four openings and my chances were good. She asked how many would be applying and I said there was at least three that I knew of.  Hesitantly she gave me the green light and so I tossed my name in the ring and waited like a child waits for Christmas morning.
  Now you may be asking yourself why MarLa harbored some hesitation. Well I’ll tell you why. Years ago in church a wonderful lady got up and with tears in her eyes and a quivering voice stated that her husband of nine years got a new assignment at Boeing and every three months or so he would have to travel for five days back east and leave her alone at home. She went on further to say in their nine years of marriage he had been there every night and she didn’t know if she could survive without him. Soon members in the congregation began to feel empathy and tears started to roll out of their eyes and one even started sobbing. Realizing the sobbing was coming from my right shoulder and MarLa was on my right shoulder I quickly turned and I whispered, “hey… we’ve been married 15 years and I’ve been gone about 1,500 days so why all the noise?” She replied,” I know, I know, I was just thinking that someday you’ll be home every night and there would be no more just me and the pets in a King size bed, no more staying up till 2 AM, no more pajama and popcorn days and the thought of having you home every night telling me what to do was just too much!”  Not sure how to respond I do what I always do in these situations of emotional confusion and agreed with her and gave her a hug.
 
Well back to the important stuff.
  As some of you may know Sargent O’Rourke had his Corporal Agorn, Sheriff Andy Taylor had his Officer Barney Fife, and Marshall Matt Dillion had Festus Haggen. Well Division Chief Napier, Chief Bentenson, and Captain Nee will have Assistant Fire Marshal Keith D. Kepler.  Yep with clip board and code book in hand I’ll be traveling the streets of the Kent RFA making sure businesses are fire and life safety compliant. I’ll be walking miles a day keeping a keen eye open making sure extension cords are not being used as permanent wiring,  hood and duct systems are clean and the other 1000’s of codes that will become my new close friends. Also I’ll get my own pickup, orange vest and office with a view.
  Now some of you are saying, “But Keith you’ll never be on an engine again how sad.” Not to worry, I’ll be keeping my skills finely honed and occasionally I’ll be called back to fill a seat and impart my Fire and EMS skills to some new rookie or rub shoulders with the RFA’s finest.
   Meanwhile back at 73’s I occasionally pull into the parking lot and peer through the windows only to find that Walt Henry from 71’s has quicker than you can say “CrossFit” moved into my bedroom and B shift locker, Engineer Paul has jumped into the B shift Driver’s seat and now controls the helm not to mention he also moved into and took over my B shift corner office. I’ve observed Carlo who seems to be smiling more readily and I hear kissing more babies. Meanwhile Greg seems more laid back and relaxed and cooking more dinners for the boys!
 
  Ah…but that is the circle of life in the firefighter world as we try to make the best out of a sad situation. Sometimes though it’s too hard on a few and there are those like John Robbins who took my leaving B-shirt so hard he turned in his retirement papers. I’m going to miss you #124.
So wish me well on my new adventure and know that I now play a larger role in protecting the citizens of the Kent RFA.
Smiles
Assistant Fire Marshall Keith D. Kepler #125

One week post surgery and so far all is well. MarLa has been taking good care of me and keeping me from doing too much. When I listen she is an angel. When I don't listen she becomes Nurse Kratchet. I've decided to listen. Many, many thanks to all. Got visits from my sister Karen and my fire department buddy Paul Moffat at the hospital. Plus many phone calls from old friends and family. Mike McGinness my oldest and fondest friend apologized for twisting my back into knots in wrestling back in Jr, Hi. and starting this whole need for surgery. Then all of you sending your prayers and kind words my way has been great. Surgery was not 2-3 hours but 4 hours as the doctor told me my bones were 50% lager than most of the patients he works on and took more drilling and grinding time and that everything went on without a hitch. I had two bone spurs pushing in on my right sciatic nerve and some scar tissue taking up some nerve space. And so now I now am a proud owner of a 10" incision from the base of my ribs to my plumbers crack. Attractive right??? Some folks do tattoos, I do scars. I was told by a doctor once that men with scars are found to be more attractive. Well never had a problem there but little extra good looks never hurt. So what's the future hold? Well there will be one more week to get past the infection concern and then it's just be getting the back, back in shape. Decided to do the mini Tri-Athlon at Moses Lake again this year in June to help motivate me into better health. Looking forward to 2016 as it will be a year of change. I start my new job in Fire Prevention as an Assistant Fire Marshal (post coming soon), MarLa and I celebrate 30 years of marriage (going to Costa Rica for 2 weeks), looks like Jared will be assigned to a Marine battalion in August stationed at Hawaii, and hope to get over to Spokane a lot to be with AriAnna, Ryan and the boys.I'll also work on doing a little better job at Husband, Father, Grandfather, Brother, and friend. In the meantime it'll be sauntering for another week, then graduate to short then long walks for two weeks, add in swimming and water aerobics at week four, and  then adding on the bicycle and jogging at week eight and beyond. Even though it will be cold I'll probably go without a shirt as people will honk and wave as they drive by and say to each other...Wow look at that scar... but what a handsome looking middle aged man!                                                                     Merry Christmas and many smiles. Keep your eyes open for those whose Christmas is anything but joy and peace, and lift their hand and strengthen their knees.

Don't call me as I will not call you back...
So in the process of trying to "find" my skinner self I "lost" my cell phone. The saga starts where I'm on my newly remodeled bike (extra wide handle bars (Due to my expansive chest) and a new speedometer to avoid getting a ticket from MarLa's co-workers) I zip about nine miles when that little voice in my head says, "Keith did you zip your little pouch shut that holds your cell phone in on your bike bag?" Screeching to a halt which took a while as I was going an amazing 17.9 miles per hour I limped off my bike and NNNOOOO. It was not zipped and it was GONE!!!
I looked in the cloudless sky and said to the man upstairs WHYYY didn't the voice come sooner? He answered and said ... I'll tell you what he said when his response hits my slow thick skull. Needles to say I did a 180 and double timed it back with speeds that would have made "American Pharaoh" look like she was at a stand still.
I'm sure at intersections small children mistook me for Captain America on a bike. Having peddled the flats of the valley and up 277th Mount Kilimanjaro to Military road I came up empty. I was by then admittedly exhausted and tired. So stand by as a replacement phone is as they say "in the mail". What's weird is last few days have been like the 1970's and 80's where I find myself free of the Matrix and the fibers of the world wide web. Big brother does not know where I am 24/7. And I kind of like it. It must be the dirt farmer in my blood.
Phoneless in Seattle

Horror of Horrors
As I have been trying to achieve an Olympic body I realize there are two objectives I must meet. Objective “A” is consuming 10,000 calories a day and objective “B” is no less than 3 work outs a day. I have achieved object” “A” quite nicely and now it is time to focus on objective “B”. And so I wake up at 5:15 to start my day with my mile swim at the Mt. Rainier pool. In my excitement to have a body like Michael Phelps, not Bruce Jenner, I fail to remember I ...took my swim trunks out of my swim bag for my Whidbey Island get away. This discovery was not realized until I drove into the pool parking lot and my “cat” like senses told me something was wrong. I thought, “Well I could go home and work on objective “A”, but then I thought, “Possibly they might have a spare pair I could borrow.” Approaching the young lifeguard I told him of my predicament and he said you can check the lost and found for a pair to wear. This is where my story gets ugly. For those of you who are University of Washington grads or fans (go Dawgs) I suggest you quit reading now. So digging through the huge box of swim suits I discover the “only” pair large enough to fit my Olympic body in training is the Crimson and Gray WSU trunks!!! Horror of horrors. It was at that time that my life flashed before me like a VHS cassette tape with all the joyous moments of Husky wins and Cougar defeats. Now my grandson Hunter, a BYU cougar and WSU cougar fan would have been ecstatic at this time. I can hear him saying “Wear them grandpa nobody will know.” Now I love Hunter but I don’t give in so easily to temptation and so dug through the box again. And my second efforts of finding a suit large enough to fit produced a woman’s one piece!!!. But as stated earlier I wanted a Michael Phelps body not a Bruce Jenner body and so with a heavy heart placed the Cougar trunks on the Husky hips and thighs. Some of you may be judging me now and saying I would have swam naked before donning the Wazzu colors. But the lanes were full of swimmers and those folks paid good money to exercise. If I would have swam al- a- fresco somebody would have screamed, “There’s great white, run for your lives” and vacated the pool, thus losing out on their workout, and hard earned money I might add. So I quickly dove in the pool, (oddly landing on all four paws). The swim went well, but for some reason I just wasn’t quite as fast as when I wore my purple and gold trunks. I can’t explain why. On the way back to the showers the young lifeguard snapped a picture of me for my “time-line”. As it turns out he graduated from Wazzu and so the smile on his face was memorable. Leaving the locker room I left the “borrowed” trunks in a strategic place where he could easily locate them.

Once again I have found out that life can be unpredictable and occasionally throw you a curve ball.

 

Devil Dogs

Another near death experience where good wins out over evil!


A-71 slows down and pulls slowly into the side street behind the sleazy motel. As the drizzle of the rain falls on the windshield I tell my partner , Dave to drive slow and keep your eyes peeled. I sense with my Jedi power his presence and know he is close... gates of hell close. Slowly we pull up to the inconspicuous Mobile home and I find my self thinking back to my last "dance with death" not more than three weeks ago. The call came in as a female who fell and couldn't get up. At 2:00 PM that's code in Kent for DWF (drunk white female). After helping "Charlotte" up off the floor from her alcohol induced collapse and placing her on the couch we proceed to say our good byes when from outside Scotty and I hear an unnatural inhuman noise with scratching on the trailers walls. Using the Vulcan death grip we bring our patient back to consciousness and ask her to identify the noise. She smiles, brushes my leg with her hand and invites me over for dinner and cocktails... minus the dinner. Throwing caution to the wind we quickly exit the residence and walk the "green mile" to the exterior wood gate knowing at any moment that the "noise" could attack. Scotty walks through the gate of freedom and I having held my breath the whole way let down my guard and relax expelling the fear ridden air from my lungs. Then suddenly...BAM... I felt a muscle tearing pain from behind the right knee shoot through my rather muscular leg causing me to drop like a Redwood. Stunned, blind but alert I find myself laying on the ground with my mind screaming for an answer of WHAT HAPPENED and WHY AM I BLIND? Realizing that my eyes are closed I slowly open them only to look up into what can only be described as the eyes of Satan's Spawn. Call it the grace of God, call it spidey sense, I discovered I had not put away the metal clipboard in the "jump kit" but instead held it in my right hand as I walked out through the DMZ. With lightning like reflexes I quickly parried Devil Dogs yellow fangs as he tried to deliver the final death bite where upon his fetid maul clamped down on cold steel bending it like a pretzel. Frustrated and confused from his failure to rend flesh from my bones I sensed this was the exact moment to use my "urban dog tactic training" and so pointed and yelled "squirrel". Just like the SWAT instructor said the foolish creature looked where I pointed giving me the precious seconds needed to make good my escape.

And so here I am back only this time I know the enemy within. My new partner Dave innocently approaches the wood gate and just before unleashing the Hound of Baskerville I scream...WAIT!! Startled but trusting my vast years of experience pad wan Dave asks "what is wrong master?" It is that moment that from behind the gate we see what appears to be two points of Master Mahans pitch fork appearing intermittently breaking the fences horizon and my blood freezes as I realize its not the fork of "pain and dispare" but the tip of Devil dogs ears that appear to have calcified and have taken on the shape and density of the horns of Lucifer himself. Knowing that "Charlotte" is unconscious on the floor and another life is crying out to be saved, it was not a question of "do we go in" but "when". With life in the balance I request a "Code 3" (firefighters life in imminent danger) and give a brief description of the situation and confirm to dispatch that this is the "Devil Dog" as sketched by an artist from my prior assault while recovering in a hospital. And so with Adam 12 on the way Dave and I patiently wait when from the inside of the trailer we hear a crash, scream, and a groan. (Later we discover Charlotte dropped her Vodka and the loss caused her to scream as it hit the floor and she moaned as the contents soaked into the foul stained carpet.) But not knowing this and thinking a life was in peril we made the fateful decision to go in without backup. Suddenly like a sun in nova I had the brilliant idea to grab the three gallon pressure water extinguisher to use in our defense. Approaching the gate I went to put on my helmet when a voice in my mind said, "Keith...use the force." Tossing my helmet to the side I had Dave pull open the locking latch and advancing I mentally reviewed the PASS technique and without mechanical assistance Pulled the pin, Aimed at the Devil Dogs uvula, and squeezed the trigger while sweeping from left rear molar to right rear molar. Startled Devil Dog was bowled over backwards and like Teddy Roosevelt's charge up San Juan Hill I pressed my advantage. The inhuman little Curr knowing it was time to retreat so it could rend another day, evaded the killing squirt and ran around the back of the trailer. There I stood holding the "thin red line" when from my rear I felt the warm breath of deaths door from none other than another creature from the bowels of Hell. Yes you guessed it there was not one but two servants of the evil master and seeing a brief glimpse of the dogs rear end I knew this had to be "She Devil Dog". Yes Devil Dog had a female partner and with her man on the run she was coming at me like a wall of flame fanned by the fires of perdition. Pivoting like Jason Bourne I brought the extinguisher to bare and let go its cold flame quenching fluid only to find that unlike her evil male counter part she just kept coming with jowls wide open. Seeing my life flashing before my eyes I screamed at Dave to run for cover and said if I don't make it, "tell MarLa I love her!" Just before the She Devils final leap for my throat with her red hot glowing charcoal briquette sized brain hoping to make me a neck breather Officer Sniper arrived out of no where and from a rolling position discharges his tazer from exactly 23ft four and three quarters inches away. A distance known as the "Kill Zone". With fangs approaching my muscular but exposed neck the probes flew true and found there target in "She Devil Dogs" flank. With milliseconds to spare the 400,000 volts made positive contact with her evil soaked bones and discharge into her body. Right before my gratefully tear soaked eyes she vaporizes into a puff of smoking fur and Devil dog fangs.

Epilogue: Like a Marine on Omaha beach who made it to the bluffs I collapsed on the porch and told Dave he'd have to pick up "Charlotte" by himself but watch out for her hands and don't accept any appointments for dinner with cocktails...minus the dinner.
Sadly in time "Charlotte" died from her addiction. But to this day I fear going out on wet rainy days in Kent. For I know somewhere out there lurks "Devil Dog" who lies in wait for "he who vaporized his mate".



Discloser: No tazer was discharged and no animal was hurt.
Author embellished to make himself look braver than what he is. Names have been changed except, Dave's, Scotty's and mine.

Cute College Coed

Well I've always dreamed of being married to a cute college Coed. And well "I am". Most of MarLa's girl friends think she is under 35!

When I've climbed Mt. Rainier you feel success when you can look down on Mt. Tahoma the peak on the east side of the Mts. Profile. Then you look up and realize the summit is in view and a reality with a little more hard work. MarLa's got her 2year degree and is a Junior at the University of Washington and heading for the peak. Go Dawgs...Go Cute College Coed...Go MarLa.

Hunter is my co-pilot

AriAnna loading R2D2 into the Millinium Falcon. The truck drove great and God blessed us with minimal snow and traffic.

Went back to help Ryan and AriAnna move to Spokane for a new and exciting chapter in their life. Hunter wanted to ride with grandpa and what a great travel buddy he was. He read the map and pointed out the trains, trucks, cows, back hoes, excavators, trains, deer, trains, cars, christmas lights, trains, etc. and I did the driving.

Brrrrrrrrrrrrr it's cold

It's below 30 degrees and people are driving crazy. Here Kyle Bieber (tallest guy in the KFD) and myself, (fiercest guy in the KFD) are next to a car driven by two young ladies. They were seat belted in and both were pretty young ladies so the young firefighters took real good care of them. Me being an old guy stayed out of the Aid car and put out traffic cones to protect my engine and got my picture taken. It's what I do...

Twas the Night Before Christmas at the Fire House

T’was the night before Christmas, when all through the firehouse...
Not a creature was stirring, not even the fire mouse.

The bunkers were hung in the rig compartments with care...
In hopes that in a house fire they soon would be worn there.

The Firefighters were nestled all snug in there racks...
With visions of aid calls, fires and CPR heart attacks.

Captain T in his boxers and a fire Tee shirt he wore...
Lay down for a long winters night and thru the door you could hear him snore.

Then over the intercom there arose such a clatter...
The crews of Engine and Aid 71 awoke to see what was a matter.

I sprang from my rack to the response of the call...
With Scotty, Dave, Paul, and BR chasing me down the hall.

Out the bay doors the rigs flew like a flash ...
With Paul Lyons getting so excited he threw up on the dash.

The opticoms bounced off the snow flakes of the new falling snow...
As Keith drove the engine medium fast not slow

Then what to our wondering eyes should appear...
But a red glow on a two story single family residence in the nights sky and we all yelled with a cheer.

More rapid then eagles the firefighters came...
For we had to move fast before the house ended up in a large ball of red flame.

As engine 71 arrived Captain T yelled for an axe and a TIC...
Then Tom the Battalion Chief got there and yelled out the attack commands so lively and quick.

Now 71 attacks the fire, and 73 be RIT...
76 pull the ceiling and Ladder 74 you guys get to the roof and vent.

To the top of the porch to the fire in the hall now dash away dash away dash away all.

The blower was started and in the front door it's wind like a hurricane blew...
With the guys on ladder 74 climbing the Aerial and to the roof like a cat they flew.

Starting their saws and cutting to the peak with glee...
When astonished they bumped into three reindeer's times two, plus another three.

Meanwhile the guys in the house were soaking the fireplace down...
When Santa made that fateful choice to climb in the chimney and almost drown.

He came out of the hearth soaked and matted from head to foot...
With his clothes washed clean from all the ashes and soot.

His soaked bag of toys lay across his back...
And for a moment it looked like the jolly old boy might be having a heart attack.

Then a piece of wet sheet rock from the ceiling fell with Santa beneath...
And smoke from the fireplace encircled his head, now exposed, like a wreath.

But a wink of his eye and a twist of his head...
Soon gave me to know there was nothing to dread.

Quietly he stood and pointing through the roofs hole...
It was obvious that Rudolf, not a fire, was the source of that red glow.

A few gifts lighter then up the attic ladder Santa arose...
And so Captain T radioed to me to stop the water and start rolling up the hose.

Santa sprang to his sleigh as we all called it a night...
And the red glow was soon lost, in the darkness, to the firefighter’s sight.

But he was heard faintly to say as we were getting ready to leave the scene...
Merry Christmas to all units and to all units’ code green.

Bunkers: Fire clothes
TIC: Thermal imaging camera
Blower: Large Fan
RIT: Rapid entry team
Opticom: Turns trafic lights green
Code Green: return to quarters

Another Rainey night..

Went on a pretty cool accident but I couldn't get a picture of the cars. Here Paul and David F. are treating a patient.

They didn't want to be saved!

We were called in to save three men in a capsized boat off of Salty's in Puget Sound.
They sent us and our boat, two other engines, a Medic Unit, Coast Guard helicopter, and special rescue truck only to find three birds on a log. Not only did they not want rescuing they refused medical treatment!

"Not the Gait Belt!'

WARNING! The following contains ADULT firefighter content. Do not read if you do not have a sense of humor.

The following is an explanation to the department medical supply staff wanting to know the Engine and Station number of where they were sending the gait belt and how the Gait belt was damaged.

TONES!!! Engine 73, Medic 7 respond to "666 Anywhere Street" (a.k.a. drug alley)for an unconscious 35 year old female in the bath tub. Aroused from a "Power nap" I lope to the engine and fire up "Big Red" and with the boys on board skillfully like an INDY driver respond with lights and sirens to the location. Well as you can imagine my mind pictures a 35year old fit female in the tub and I say to myself that I might need to protect this young lady from the young boys but then when the short report comes in over the radio that the patient has overdosed on Methadone I picture a gaunt, toothless female with track marks along the femoral artery and so my mind shifts gears and I think, " I may need to protect the boys from the female".
As we arrive and grab our kits we rush in and meet a late 50's male at the door telling us the female is his sons girlfriend but the son is in treatment (your kidding) and he does not know her well and not sure if she overdosed. (Uh Ha) Well we barge into the bathroom prepared to save a life, but to our horror she was not a 110 gaunt recovering heroin addict, but a 450lb.(+) heroin addict soaking wet with only a long T-shirt on! At that time I tell the Captain we must have the wrong address and so we both went back outside to check the number on the front and to our horror,it was the RIGHT address. Running back in I look and see probationary firefighter Tonga standing there with kits in hand asking,"What do you want me to do Keith?" I yell drop the kits, jump in the tub, grab a leg and Pullll. With the Captain on the torso, Tonga on the legs and me grabbing an arm and yelling, Pull...Pull...Pulll I realized it was fruitless and so told the Captain we needed to enlist the "Gait Belt" and he concurred. So out came the 60" strap which Tonga then wrapped around the torso and on the count of three with two men on the gait belt and Tonga on the legs we pulled in unison and was able to get her to the cornice of the tubs edge. With the Captain and I high fiving to our success our celebration was cut short as we saw her start to roll off the edge of the tub towards the unsuspecting Tonga. I yelled at the Rookie to run but if you get caught under the patient just start to swim, and if buried form an "air pocket" and we'll get you out as soon as we can! With Tonga's life in peril the Captain and I like two linebackers hit her upper body spinning her in such a way as to deflect the weight so that the Rook's life was spared. Now with our unconscious, slow breathing patient on the floor we had to move her to the living room so we could have some "working space". Dragging wet flesh on linoleum takes a Herculean effort but when we hit the carpet, Oh My Gosh! I NOW have empathy for the slaves moving the Egyptian pyramid blocks. Needless to say by the time we hit the middle of the living room the three of us were exhausted to the point that when the medics arrived and entered the room there were four bodies laying on the floor. Assuming the patient was the one without a badge, the Medics yelled the battle cry "Kurrahee" stirring us into what I can only describe as a super human effort to perform and tackled the challenge of saving another human life. Now with her T- shirt all a tussle I grabbed EMS scissors yelling at Tonga to get ready to hook up the Life pack 12 (LP-12)patches to her chest once exposed. Cutting like a beaver through a birch tree I started at the bottom heading for the neck. At the point where I was cutting over the breasts and through the "Got milk" logo on the T-shirt I suddenly hit a harder pliable substance. To my horror, for the fourth time, I froze and started to look for blood gushing because I thought for sure I had buzzed into the left breast.
Quickly yelling for an "Asherman Chest seal" STAT! to plug the open chest wound I pulled back the T-shirt and realized the material I cut was not soft tissue but the "Gait Belt". Yahoo.... wait a minute.....Ohhh Nooo... my mind being at ease was short lived as I now pictured "Commandant Kingpen" in charge of department medical acquisitions yelling at me and threatening the firing squad for destroying Fire Department Property. So as you can see it was under maximum stress I entered the request and as such forgot my apparatus and station number.
Sorry
Firefighter Kepler.

PS. The Young Lady Lived...

The last few weeks

Here hunter and I are at the train station waiting for "Thomas". Hunter was asking me questions and I was answering to the best of my ability hoping that I knew the difference between a engine, boxcar, bird, plane etc.

I had a chance last Saturday night to spend time with one of my favorite people. I've known Adrianne since she was about six and I home taught her parents. We have stayed in touch over the years and she is like a daughter to me. Here we are at the church building and her husband "Lee" just  got baptized.  I just told her that if Lee dosn't treat her nice all the time I'll hurt him by using my massive body to "fall on him".

Here MarLa is hard at work. I've never seen anybody study as hard as her. And I mean that seriously. In this shot "Fat Cat" has decided that she needs some me time. Meowing didn't work and walking past the computer screen got a frustrated breath so she fell on her belly, which she does often, and pushed against MarLa's arm getting a slight movement of two

fingers which brought emmense satisfaction.

 Swung Hunter by the firestation to see "Big Red".  There probabley be a few more pictures like this over he years.  I feel bad compeating with Daryl, Ryan's Dad.  He shows Hunter his tool belt and electrical wire cutters and fancy wire strippers and I show Hunter the fire engine.  No competition!  Whats that you say?  Hunter wants to be a chiropractor....oh well.

No that is not Lance Armstrong on Steroids!

It's 7:00 in the morning and I just pulled into work.  I'm on my third year of riding my bike
to work and I've logged over 3000 miles in the last three years of riding. Last winter I had to not ride on four different days due to snow otherwise its year round riding. I started my third year in July and love the summer months but winter can be fun too. Riding with snow flakes falling is like going warp drive on the Enterprise.  My coldest ride in the morning was a starting temp of 20 degrees, but with proper gear I stayed pretty warm.  The ride is about 11 miles and the majority is a bike trail along the Green River so it is beautiful. I've seen Owls, hawks, rabbits, and coyotes. Soon there will be frost and ice and so I will put my studded bike tires on for better traction. You may be thinking right about now that  I am in super shape.  Lets just say that my legs look pretty good but needless to say my stomach is not a six pack.  I like to think of it as a "one keg". Well hope to see you on the trail.

Jared takes me to the "Battle in Seattle"

Well it finally is starting to happen,

Yep Jared, a.k.a. "Mr. Deep Pockets", bought me a ticket to the Central Washington University vs. Eastern Oregon University game at the Qwest field in Seattle. It was my first time at the field and even with only 5000 in attendance the noise was incredible. I can't imagine 70,000 screaming fans at a Hawks game. We'll Jared got great seats for me, Bridgette, and a friend Ryan at about 12 rows up on the 50 yard line. It was a doozy of a game. We were down 20 to zip at the half and it was looking grim. Well they put in a new QB and needless to say we won 21 to 20 with their field goal kicker missing a 49 yarder with about 4 seconds left. Like I said the noise was amazing and the field was beautiful. A great game and a great time with Jared.

One old Dawg has learned a new trick

Okay so Ari Anna says,
" Dad you need to be a blogger. You'd be great at it!"
And so I began the journey of Blogging. I tried Face Book but I do not like the format. I figure if folks are interested about what I'm up to I should provide a smaller group of people better quality material. And to be honest the Farm and Mafia type activities throw my mind into disconsolation. I saw on a news article that about 40% of those on face book spend more awake time on viritual reality life than actuality interacting in real life. And for a man born in the 50's that is a sad commentary on our society. So I venture out on this new avenue of communication with the hope that family and friends, who I'd love to see frequently but the all mighty dollar keeps me from seeing, will have a way to view pictures and thoughts from Dad, Brother, Uncle, and Friend Keith. So I hope you enjoy. I have a new cell phone that takes good pictures and AriAnna educated me on how to insert them so get ready for some great shots.
I'm thinking I'll try my hand at humor too but I'll leave it up to you if you find it funny or the fruits of a sick mind.

Me!!

This is me at work, You can't see her but I'm standing next to a 90's year old young lady who wanted a picture with a "firefighter". I very much enjoy my job. I find the older woman now find me attractive (finally!) and I have to say I have quite the way with the older woman. I do have to be careful though for when I take their pulse the very touch of my hand to theirs throws them into arrhythmia's and sub sternal chest pain. Don't tell MarLa.
In my church we do service and are told that, "you are storing up blessings in Heaven." when you serve. Well as a firefighter I get to serve and get immediate returns. Returns now and returns later. I'm a lucky guy.