Liralen's Adventures Through Life

I've been going into 911 on Mondays for more than seven years, now. I have been staying constant with that, no matter what, even when my left hand hurt when I touched a keyboard, I'd go in an do nearly everything with my right hand.  To detail more of what I do... there are eight phone lines into Dispatch. There is one police coordination radio channel, a data radio channel for confidential records information, half a dozen tactical channels along with the SWAT channel, and two fire coordination channels (only one of which is usually used unless someone has to set up a command center for a big fire or, of course, our 2013 flood). Most of those aren't running most of the time, but the capacity is there for when a disaster hits and then all the lines can be going at the same time. And all of them are recorded whenever they're used. My job starts when an officer, the court, a prosecuting attorney, a PI, or a private individual asks for our records about a specific incident...

Our walk was along the Sandstone Reach, which follows the St Vrain Creek as it meets up eventually with Boulder Creek and other Front Range waterways. It is open land, with plenty of wetlands and the birds and wildlife that goes with it.  There was one bald eagle right on the waterway who flapped painfully up until it caught a current and then it circled higher and higher until we couldn't see it when it presented sideways to us and could only catch the black flash of its wings when it was headed away from us. It was amazing to watch it just ride the wind up without a single flap after the initial flurry. It's about a two mile walk from the parking lot we've found to Sandstone Ranch proper, and another two back, all as flat as creek side paths can be, and Longmont City has paved it all with cement so it's smooth, easy walking and we can make distance at a good pace for aerobic work. There were a lot of people on the path, today, and nearly everyone wore masks when we pa...

I know, I know, it's been a long time since I've written, and it seems an odd place to start: why I failed to write. But I think that knowing why I failed and stopped for so long, and understanding it is really the only way I can figure out how to avoid those failure modes and get back to writing in a way that rewards me again. I know that, for the longest time, the main reason I blogged was because I could remember what good thing happened that day. Most of my blog in the 80's and 90's was in order to fight depression and to keep an on-going record of the adventures and miracles of each day. When I gave birth to Jet, I wanted to remember all that was going on and how my baby was growing. Laurie Santos, the seven step program, Kurzgesagt, AAA, and all kinds of research show the importance of "gratitude" in the quality of everyday life. Not the "be grateful to God" religious gratitude, but the everyday, every person kind of thanks that can be given to...