The first department I worked for had a dispatcher who was on a forest service hot shot crew (El Cariso) and was one of the survivors of the burn over on the Loop Fire that killed 12. He was near the top of the chute the fire ran up and tells the story that as he dove to the ground and put his arms over his head to protect his face he lost consciousness. When he woke up his arms were on fire. He put them out and hiked up to help. Well his injuries prevented him from working as a firefighter again…his arms were pretty bad and he had just a couple fingers on each hand but he could work as a 911 dispatcher. It was a small department so the dispatch center was at the HQ station. After dinner we would pull the rigs out a set up a ping pong table next to the dispatch center room and he would prop the door open so he could hear the phone ring and run in to answer it. He was a madly good ping pong player but once in a while would nic his pretty thin skin and it would bleed. When that happened he had one of those skin scraper things and he’d pull up some skin, put it over his owie and bandage it up till it took. Tough guy.
Why am I thinking of cheese and crackers?
My grandmothers, went to nursing school at U Penn probably 110 years ago or so.
I can smell the ether!
WOW! A pre-spiled garboard plank! Just needs rabbeting and beveling!
No.Cal has some very nice softwood lumber. New England has very nice soft wood, and hardwood lumber. (You don't get much Cherry, Northern White Oak, Northern Red Oak, or Black Walnut in the PNW) The south has pallet lumber. There used to be great timber down here. Cypress, SYP and Live Oak, but that's either all gone, or the mills can't handle it. I got a really nice Sycamore log that was lightly spalted, and a fairly good sized Cherry. The mill I brought them to had to order a new blade because they didn't usually cut hardwood. The Cherry turned out OK. Somehow he "lost" my spalted Sycamore..... I'm guessing someone who knew what it was bought it for more than the mill had quoted me for sawing it.
What a beauty, you should clean it up keep on board, sterilise with methylated spirits before use! Even can catheterise if they go into urine retention. Just need a hand drill for burr holes and your set…
1976ish I’m a young FD paramedic bringing a neurotrauma into the ED. The ER Doc…..a really good one by the way…..is struggling with an expanding epidural hematoma. The patient is rapidly deteriorating so there is some sense of urgency. I remember a conversation between the two ER Docs on duty that night with an old fashioned looking brace and bit in one of their hands. Worried the patient wouldn’t make it till the neurosurgeon on call got there but not exactly sure where and how. After some debate the Doc whose patient it is is just getting started on a burr hole and the neuro guy comes in with much flourish and bluster…..like all neuro guys….looks at the - I think it was an XRay, it was a long time ago - and says “give me that thing….not there….here!” A irritated but relieved ER Doc hands him the drill and the neuro guy says “no not this goddamn thing” and throws it. Then he says “that goddamn thing” and points. A minute or so later blood kinda slowly wells up through a small hole and with rolled up sleeves and bloody hands down the hallway to the OR they go. The ER Doc shakes his head, loudly mutters “asshole” and goes back to ER Doc stuff.
I have several “scenes” that still work their way to the front of my consciousness and leave me a bit emotional. Sometimes I see it coming, sometimes it’s a complete surprise. Sometimes I can recall them intellectually with no real impact. Funny thing is most of them are incidents that were not all that remarkable or different than any of the others. I’ve decided that sometimes for an intersection of “reasons” you become especially vulnerable emotionally and your emotional coping practices are swept aside.
