Drummer's Corner of the World

In about 30 minutes, I head out for Chicago and Capricon. We've got a ton of great music planned... I hope I see some of y'all there! :-)

We finally got enough snow to take pictures, instead of just the little dustings we had earlier in the winter. Since this was Petey’s first real snow, I naturally had to take pictures. The shot of Petey play-bowing at a stick may be one of my favorite pics of him so far… it completely captures his personality and his boundless enthusiasm for play.

Click through to the blog to see the pictures!

Originally published at reddogs.com

I spent a great portion of 2011 in a state of near-panic about financial issues, which tended to overshadow other things on a day-to-day basis, but when I look back at the year, it was really a pretty good year (especially when compared to 2010, which definitely overstayed its welcome).

( So, what did I do with my year?? )

So yeah... eventful year, and one that I could look back on and find a lot of negatives, but instead I look back and realize that I have amazing friends (both new and old), I have challenging volunteer opportunities that I enjoy and which get me out of my house and interacting with people, I've got four healthy dogs (counting the visiting Nick) and four healthy cats, and I got to spend the year making really incredible music with Wild Mercy. So I'll count 2011 as a win for me and challenge 2012 to be even better for all of us!

So... who all's going to be there?

Wild Mercy has a kickass set planned (in our full "with fiddler" configuration, which makes me squeee!), and all of us plus the luminous quadrivium will be the backing band for cadhla's concert.

It's going to be So.Much.Fun!! I hope I see lots of you there! ('Specially since I won't be at OVFF, so Conclave has to provide enough of a FilkerFix to tide me over for the rest of October!)

Wow... so I kinda forgot to update here after the "Eek I have to have surgery!" post.

After going to the walk-in (irony, there) clinic on Tuesday and finding out I needed surgery, I got a call from the scheduler on Wednesday telling me that Dr. Hupfer could fit me in on Thursday. Thursday? Like, _tomorrow_ Thursday??? EEEEEK!!

But it needed to be done sooner rather than later, and I started making panic-stricken calls and emails to see if we could get everything arranged in time. Jen, Barry and Michael came up after work and moved my bed from the basement to the living room, and staged everything else that I would need in easy reaching distance. Various friends offered to Debbie-sit, and I put them all in an email together and let them sort out the scheduling. Bob offered to take me to the hospital on Thursday afternoon, and Jen offered to pick me up and bring me home, and Liz was onboard to stay for the first night. My friend Christin, who's showing Nick for me (loaner dog visiting from Canada), and her mom (mostly her mom) agreed to take the dogs while I was out of commission, and Sherri came up and helped me haul the entire canine crew off to boarding.

Before I had a chance to panic, everything was arranged and Bob was whisking me off to IOH for surgery. According to Dr. Hupfer, the surgery went well and they were able to put me back together with a plate and five pins without need of the syndesmosis screw (between the tibia and fibula) that would have required me to be non-weight-bearing for months instead of only a week or so. Jen and Liz managed to get seriously drugged me into the house and settled in bed and the next couple of days kinda went by in a blur. (Sidenote: Percocet is good stuff. Also, oxycodone makes me itchy... apparently this is normal, but it freaked me out at first. Benadryl and Percocet combine for Really Good Sleep, which is most of where Friday and Saturday disappeared.) After Liz took the first night shift, Rexene came up and stayed for the next couple of days, and we made good use of the supplies laid in by Li, who ensured that I'd have easy to fix/eat foot for convalescing.

So... here we are on Tuesday... almost five days later. Spending a week in bed is getting old, but my energy levels are about up to hobbling to and from the bathroom and anything beyond that is gravy. Actually assembling food is kinda possible, but carrying it from kitchen to somewhere for eating isn't really a possibility when both hands are busy with crutches, so I still have people coming by and making sure I stay fed. Liz is back today, and she brought cookies. Yum. Also, crocheting, which is amusing the cats (Izzy keeps trying to help).

Friday, I have a 9:15 a.m. appointment to go get the staples out and (hopefully) a real cast to replace the current fiberglass splint and miles of gauze and ACE bandage. If I'm really lucky, I will get ordered to start putting some weight on it, which might liberate me from All Crutches All The Time, which would be nice. If nothing else, being able to hobble on one crutch and carry things in one hand would be a novel change. :-)

Sunday, we have a fire department picnic for 9-11, where I get to go and convince them that "No, I'm not quitting because of this... seriously, guys, you're stuck with me!" :-)

Til then... sleep... lots of sleep. And maybe cookies.

Greetings, faithful LJers!

No, I haven't fallen off the face of the earth. However, having been hit by a raging attack of volunteerism, I've found that my time for even things like answering email has gone the way of the Dodo, and updating LJ/Facebook/Twitter/etc., just really hasn't been happening. Occasional short things to Facebook, and a couple of tweets early this morning, but not much even in that short format.

So here's the basic rundown.

July 22-24, went to Confluence... had a lovely time... heard some great music.

July 28, went to first Firefighter Mandatory (hereafter known as FFM) class.

July 31-Aug 2, went to Canada... had a lovely time... came home with a puppy (and his dad). Puppy is Petey and is insanely cute. Dad is Nick and is the most laid-back Toller ever. Petey is permanent. Nick is visiting. Missed a FFM class while driving back from Peterborough.

Aug 4, went to second FFM class, on SCBA use. This was only the second time I'd ever put on my turnout gear and an airpack. Discovered that crawling on concrete (simulating search patterns in dark/smoky house) is really hard on knees. Ow.

Aug 5-7, went to Musecon... had a lovely time... heard some great music... did lots of puppy socialization... proved to people that not all Tollers are as busy as Drummer.

Aug 8, took pictures at a barn fire less than a mile from my house, then worked half a day, which wasn't enough time to catch up on the email that had piled up while I was off the previous week.

Aug 10, FFM class on search and rescue (in structure fires... not in the open).

Aug 12-14, worked security for IndyFurCon with the Dorsai Irregulars. Spent too much time hanging out and not enough time sleeping, as the DI are a highly entertaining bunch to spend time with, and I don't see some of them very often.

Aug 13 (note overlap w/ above), had five-hour practical session doing search patterns in a very very dark two-story building at the training center. Knees and shoulder are officially on strike, but I survived. Still have one sign-off to get from that section, but we're going to do it next time we're at the training center, as it wasn't worth pushing the bad shoulder any farther on Saturday.

Aug 14 (note continued overlap), worked IFC shift in a.m., then actual Indy Zoo shift in p.m. Went home, snuggled dogs, took a nap, and went back to work the dance at IFC. Hung out talking to some of the other Dorsai Folk (that's those of us who work contracts w/ the DI but who aren't DI ourselves) 'til stupidly late. Headed home, anticipating arriving around 2:30 a.m. Got diverted by a fire department page for a motorcycle vs deer accident. Took pictures of downed motorcycle for run report. Finally got home about 3:30 a.m., let all the dogs out to do their thing, put everybody back up, and fell in bed sometime after 4 a.m. Alarm clock was not my friend at 6:45 this morning.

Today is an exercise in trying not to fall asleep at my desk. Whee! Tonight, more S&R/SCBA practicals, hopefully also posting updates to FD website for last several incidents, then sleep... blessed blessed sleep...

Tags: dogs, friends, ifc, musecon, travel, volunteerism

Busy busy busy...

Firefighter Mandatory class started Thursday night. Three-hour class turned into four and we still didn't actually get to finding turnout gear, so I go back in the morning to see if we can find gear that fits me. That should be fun.

Things you never think about (or at least I didn't, til now)... it takes a crapload of hose to run a fire department, and all that hose has to be pressure tested every year! We've tested 12,000 feet of hose in the last few weeks. 5-inch hose, even empty, weighs a lot. With water in it, don't bother trying to move it.

Got word today that I passed my HazMat Awareness and Operations test, so I have my first official certifications now. Also, my very own Indiana PSID (Public Safety ID) number. Kinda nifty. Test was hard and I was worried. I'm really glad I don't have to take that one again!

( More training, and a puppy! )

Apparently I've lost my mind. Eep!

And if that's the case, I should have done it sooner, 'cause damn this is fun! :-)

See some of y'all at Muse!

Confluence was fun... introduced some new people to our music and heard several people who I'd not heard/met before (Andina & Rich, Patricia Wake, and Pete Grubbs). Also had a good time hanging w/ the Dorsai. I do love working the dealer's room door, 'cause it means I actually see and talk to more than just filkers during the con! (Not that there's anything wrong w/ filkers, mind you... just that I sometimes need incentive to remember that there's more to the con than the filk room(s).)

Thanks to mrgoodwraith for giving us concert slot and the all-important setup time, and thanks to fuzzyvanman and rms_butterfly for hauling sound equipment over to Pittsburgh so we'd have enough channels, and to judifilksign for signing our concert! (I especially enjoyed "Fly Little Bird" 'cause I got to stand where I could watch her while I was singing.)

Tired... sleepy... back at work. More later, maybe, when coherent.

(What is wrong w/ LJ today? I've been trying to post this all day, both from my iJournal app and directly through the web interface, and as of 3:40 p.m., it hasn't posted yet!)