Dad's surgery

Dad had his surgery on his leg last week. He had to have the artery replaced so he is in much more pain than with just the shunts. This time he was in the hospital for four days and came home Tuesday. The doctor said he had a good pulse in his leg and is doing fine. He is all bruised up and his whole leg is swollen. He is just glad to be out of the hospital. Who said you can rest there? He said he could do a better job taking care of himself than they did. One time he had to wait three hours for his pain meds when he asked for them and if you need to use the bathroom forget it.  He is using a walker a little bit around the house mainly outside. Mom stayed home yesterday just to keep him in line because when he came home on Tuesday he wouldn't sit down and was really hurting by night time. If you read this Uncle Jim, Dad was actually wearing those crazy pants you got him for Christmas one year.

He said they were very comfortable. He is due to go back to the doctor on the 12th to see if he can go back to work etc. Slow recovery but he is doing fine.

School and my birthday

School started last week for the kids. Brandon is in 4th and Jessie is in 1st this year. They both got the teachers they wanted so that was good. Jessie is having a little trouble dealing with all day. Not because she can't handle it but because she misses the mother daughter quality time we had while Brandon was in school. She enjoys it otherwise. She is such a social butterfly that she thrives and she is a good student so it is pretty easy for her. Her only problem is going to be to make her do her homework but so far she has done it without a problem. Brandon has already forgotten his homework once and got into trouble for talking twice and we are only a week and a half into it. The medication the doctor put him on to help with his ADD isn't working so we are trying something else out. We'll see what happens.

The kids wanted to pick out their own presents for my birthday so Mom took the kids shopping after doing GG's hair on Sat. Brandon wanted to get me flowers so Mom talked him into fake flowers so they would last. He was very picky on which flowers and what vase and then they bought some of those glass rocks to put in it. When they were wrapping it up, Jessie put some flowers in and the vase shattered. Mom said they were both ready to cry. So while they cleaned up the mess, Scott ran out and bought another vase.Of course I didn't hear about all this until afterward. Jessie bought me two candles and two statues. One of a little girl holding  flowers and the other was a bird. Mom said the pickings were slim but Jessie said I would like them and that I would like anything they got me anyway. She was all excited because she thought she found a dolphin statue but it turned out to be a shark. Mom said she loves taking them shopping because they have such strong takes on what they want and don't want. You can't talk them into anything once their minds are set. She loves to see what they are going to pick out. It was a good birthday I got lots of things I needed and we took the kids to the city park rides because we got rained out the last time we went so we tried it again. This time it was really nice weather and it wasn't as crowded since it was a Sunday evening. Everyone had a good time.

Brandon's last baseball game

Brandon had his last baseball game last week. Mom took a vacation week since it was the last week before school started. We did lots of swimming, had a campout and bbq in our back yard. We went to the riverwalk and rode the boat and rented paddle boats then got ice cream. The last baseball game was supposed to be the week before but it was rained out so they postponed it. I was going to video tape it but forgot the camera. It was a really good game despite the fact that some of the players couldn't make it.

Brandon got a hit three times and was able to run home every time. He really likes it and is already talking about doing it next year. I am hoping to find a cheap pitching machine some time because I can't pitch very well so he can practice batting.

Brandon's birthday

Supposed to be a mountain rescue scene

 

Brandon's already ten. He was so excited, I think he started counting down after Jessie's.  He is a little torn about being ten. In some ways he feels "grown up" but in others he still wants to be a little kid. Sometimes I look at him when he comes in the room and expect to see this little boy and am surprised.  He had a great birthday. This year he wanted practically everything emergency oriented. His cake he wanted emt/rescue since he had fire the last few cakes. It is supposed to be a mountain rescue but the frosting was melting because it was so hot. Not one of my better ones. He got lots of cool toys. I asked him if there was anything he didn't get that he wanted to spend his birthday money on and he said " I don't know what didn't I get that I said I wanted?" I figure that if he doesn't know then he must have gotten everything. Scott bought him a child size fire pack because he was feeling guilty about missing his birthday and then Scott was home after all. Scott's family came out Sat afternoon and gave him their birthday presents.  We went to the mountains on Sunday for his actual birthday. It was the first time both dogs have ever been so they were pretty excited too. It was fairly cool up there and not a lot of people so it was nice. The only downfall was there was a huge party at the park so they couldn't play there which Jessie was pretty disappointed about. Brandon said it was the best birthday ever.

fire station for matchbox cars

the big rock at Rye

dogs exploring the water

kids playing in the water

4th of July and GG's birthday

Jessie's present

Cuties. GG loves them

silly string war

playing with bubbles

We did GG's birthday on the 4th of July like usual.  GG said it was a great birthday and one of her best. The weather was beautiful so we were able to eat outside which she loves to do. She got a couple of dark chocolate candy bars that she loves and a waffle maker. She also got the also salt she wanted. It is basically fake salt since she is on a low salt diet. Jessie made her a heart with the two of them on it and Brandon did a birthday dance for her.  She also got a gift card to Walgreens which she loves because she does most of her shopping over there since she can walk over.  She also received crossword puzzles.  She likes to do a couple a day. The wind only came up really bad once while we were eating cake. Since we couldn't do fireworks because of the burn ban, we had to get creative. We did bubbles and silly string and when it got dark, we played with light up toys.  Even GG gets a kick out of the light up stuff. For the bubbles we had a bubble maker and wands and the electric wands. If you want giant bubbles get the bubble swords. Don't get colored bubbles though they are messy and the color doesn't show up except to stain your clothes.  The silly string was a big sucess as usual. We do that every year because Brandon loves it.  In some ways it was even better than fireworks because it was more interactive and the kids were moving so they didn't get as tired.  Everyone had a lot of fun and it was an earlier night which was fine since some of us had to get up for work the next day. All in all a great holiday.

Goldie

We got a new companion for BJ. She is 9 months old. They say she is a golden retriever/ lab mix. She is very sweet and a little skittish about new things. She is crate trained so that is a plus. I was a little upset we when we first brought her home because on her paperwork that they didn't show me but read to me it said she does not get along with cats and she was not housebroken both of which I specifically asked them about and they told be they didn't know about the cats and she was housebroken. We weren't too sure if we were going to be able to keep her because of out cat but it is working out. Luckily because everyone is already in love with her. I wasn't going to get another dog quite this soon but BJ was getting depressed with out a dog companion. He has always been a dog's dog. Even though Fear wasn't the greatest playmate he was still there with him. I decided to just keep an eye out for the right dog and figured when the time was right she would come to us.  The kids asked me to call the shelter and ask if they had any new dogs and in and when they told me they just had a golden retriever/ lab mix come in, I couldn't resist. THose are my favorite breeds especially the golden retriever. I still miss Shane and CJ was one of the best dogs I had. I was a little surprised when they brought her out because I was expecting more golden retriever looking but I am a sucker for floppy ears and the kids really liked her. We are still working out the kinks of a new dog but BJ is very happy again and Jessie's estactic to have a girl pet. She has more energy than BJ and I didn't think that was possible. I'll have to post more about her when we have had her longer and know more about her. Right now we are trying to figure out how big she will get so we can order her her own crate.

Famous Firefighters

The boys have become famous on this fire.  The Denver Post took a bunch of pictures at the High Park fire they were on and got a couple of our truck and dad in the rearview mirror.  Then the Pueblo Chieftain came out and took a picture of them too and did an article on them.  It was mostly about our employee Jason because for one thing his dad knows the reporter, but also since this was his first fire and it was such a big one, they thought it would be a good human interest story.  So I'm including the pictures and the article so you can see them.



Dad in Rearview Mirror of Truck



Our truck in front of house they were trying to save. 
Jason is walking and dad is in the driver's seat




Back in Pueblo after working on the High Park Fire near Fort Collins are new firefighter Jason Gutierrez (center) and veterans Scott Atterberry (left) and Bob Antle. They are on alert for possible deployment to the Waldo Gulch fire currently burning near Colorado Springs. Photo by Chris McLean 6-28-12





HIGH PARK FIRE Scott Atterberry of Colorado Wildland Fire Services shot this photo of the High Park Fire burning near Fort Collins while he and his team were helping fight the blaze recently. Courtesy photo

Posted: Friday, June 29, 2012 4:00 am

Baptism by fire

Puebloan's first tour of duty engulfed him in the High Park Fire

Puebloan's first tour of duty engulfed him in the High Park Fire. Jason Gutierrez's introduction to wildland firefighting truly was initiation by fire.

"It opened up my eyes. I pretty much saw and experienced things that I'm told I may never experience again in my life," said Gutierrez, 37, a rookie firefighter who returned Wednesday from his maiden experience at the High Park Fire, one of the state's worst wildland fires ever.

Gutierrez was among a three-person crew from the privately owned Colorado Wildland Fire Service that spent 14 days fighting the massive fire that's been burning near Fort Collins since June 9.

Less than a month after completing a couple of fire science courses at Pueblo Community College, Gutierrez said he was called on to provide firefighting support at the raging High Park Fire, which in three weeks has scorched more than 87,000 acres.

Gutierrez said he and crew chief Scott Atterberry and Bob Antle left Pueblo on June 12 and spent the next two weeks doing structure protection and providing fire support to ground crews battling the massive blaze.

The trio returned to Pueblo on Wednesday and will have two days to rest before the unit can be called back into action.

As contract firefighters, the crew responds to requests for assistance as needed in fighting fires throughout the country.

Gutierrez said he felt prepared for the duties he performed during the long 16-hour days at the High Park Fire, but he admitted he was caught off guard by the strength and relentlessness of the fire.

"It's hard to explain but when you are in a fire, it sounds just a like freight train coming or a jet engine firing up," he said. "Then you see this red glow and the trees light up behind you with an intense heat blowing at you like a furnace."

Gutierrez said much of his time was spent trying to provide protection and mitigation to homes in the path of the flames.

"We sprayed foam on houses and we worked to clear trees, bushes and other debris from near the homes," he said.

Scott with his father's day present. (The tool, it is called a Rhino Hoe) It came the day the were leaving so I gave it to him before he left so he could break it in.