Fire on the Freeway

The Relief Society Pres has felt impressed to make little banana breads and plates of cookies to be delivered to some of the sisters in the ward.  I volunteered to help with deliveries and had Jenna with me as we drove around to deliver cookies.

 Two of the sisters we had delivered to live off the same exit as our friend Caroline.  So after we had finished delivering the cookies, we stopped by Caroline’s house to visit.  I think we were a bit closer than six feet apart but did keep our distance.

 We could hear the sirens and then followed by a noise between a “pop” and a “boom” – it didn’t sound like gunfire exactly, certainly not an explosion.  I still don’t know if it was related to the sirens or not, nor do I know what happened.  Caroline  said she could smell something resembling like burnt plastic. If I had gotten back on the freeway and headed south, driven through Canyonville and back through Riddle I would have missed the “stand still” traffic – but I didn’t know I5 had been turned into a parking lot until I was part of the non-moving traffic.

I had even pulled over to allow a firetruck to pass.  We didn’t know that we would see at least eight more emergency vehicles use the shoulder to pass the long line of trucks and cars.   We could see the smoke.  Black smoke to the west and white smoke to the east – or so it appeared.  Some drivers exited their vehicles and walked around in search of answers.  I don’t know if they ever came.  I watched three different news shows and there was no report.

 I don’t know how long those toward the front of the line had been waiting.  Jenna and I had only been a part of the line only twenty to thirty  minutes though it seemed longer as it was over 80 degrees outside.  I think the smelly smoke just added to the heat that was felt.  I don’t know if plastic was involved.  By the time we got pass the “source” it wasn’t identifiable.  According to this report which I found this morning, the remains had once been part of a motor home.  

rough example of where I think fire was.  Red line indicates
the area we were delivering cookies.  Purple path is alternative
of not using freeway.  Orange path shows path firetrucks had
to take in order to get to the fire.

This view was taken from above - I have no idea where the
photographer was standing.  I didn't know there were roads there

This is how the smoke appeared on the west side;  photo cropped from this link
 https://kobi5.com/news/i-5-temporarily-closed-north-of-canyonville-due-to-fire-128192/

Jenna took most of these.  I think I may have taken this first one

There were several cars between us and the ones in photograph

Taken from our car

I took this one of Jenna handing out paper
cranes she had made during our wait

after about 20 minutes or so

all of these vehicles had passed us on the shoulder

hard to believe it had been a motor home as this was all that remained

 

There Goes Our Disneyland Fund

Our biggest reason for moving to Oregon was so that I could breathe.  I didn’t wish for my family members have to listen to me hack out my lungs or gasp for air – and yet this month has seemed to defeat the purpose.  Yesterday I spent the majority of the day in the emergency room – first the waiting room and then a small section in another room divided by curtains.  I thought Dial-up AOL was the slowest thing ever.  They are speed demons next to Urgent Care.  And Urgent was five times faster than Emergency.  Granted, it was Memorial Day and there was nowhere else to go.  Most of the patients there didn’t seem in bad enough shape to require emergency care.  I heard three or four of them just chatting away as if they were there to socialize.  I clung onto my head so that it wouldn’t roll off or explode.  I suspect I was dehydrated as I had left large evidences of my DNS at different Urgent cares that Google had said were open, but were not.  I didn’t realize that it was possible for me to throw up that much when I really hadn’t sent that much down.  Half a yogurt.  Perhaps a third a bottle of water.  My stomach hurt more than my head.

At first, the cool air coming from the ceiling felt really nice.  Throwing up really wears me out.  I was hot.  I was panting.  However, I did eventually get cold.  Roland offered to go out to the car and get a coat for me.  A coat?  I don’t have a coat in the car.  He brought a jacket that I had never seen before.  I asked if it was an early birthday gift.  He just smiled.  Someone in the ward had given it to him to give to me.  I still don’t know if it’s a birthday present or not.

Funny how I was cold and the woman on the other side of the curtain was complaining about how hot she was.  It sounded as though she had many of the symptoms I had experienced on Mothers’ Day.  I was sweating then.  I am usually always hot.  It is rare that I get cold.  I have been blessed with cool weather to suffer through.  Wish I could enjoy it more.  It has been the perfect temperature overall.  But this month has been extremely painful for me physically.  I am starting to get better again.  Let’s just hope it sticks this time and doesn’t resort back to something else.

I feel bad that my emergency bill is going to be costly.  I think they charge by the hour.  I’ve been wanting to take Jenna back to Disneyland for a while now.  She would also like to visit Universal.  We would also like to take someone who would be willing to go on rides with her as there are many that I can no longer do comfortably.

Should get busy on my discussion and assignment for my class as I have to make the Writing Center part of this week’s assignment.  I will need proof.  I hate that.  So I will write the thing and turn it in ASAP.  I’ll submit the assignment but I won’t make an appointment for a live session.  Those have been painful experiences.  Like I need more pain to deal with right now.

I found a message on my phone from Tony and Ester.  They had called to sing “Happy Birthday” – Ester echoed a little “Cha-cha-cha”  It made me smile.  I shared with Roland and Jenna and they smiled too.  

Recapping the Last Four Weeks

          On March 18 I started a class in public communications.  My first assignment was to take (or make up) a situation from work and address it.  When I initially looked at it I had decided to speak on connecting parental support to the child’s behavior – but I had misread the point of the assignment.  Fortunately I decided to wait until Wednesday (the day of the lecture) before I started.

          A teacher’s aide, for the most part, rotates among different classes.  The particular schedule I had followed on that day was 30 minutes each with kindergarten to 3^rd grade, most of the time with kindergarten.  Also, that particular position required me to monitor the 4^th grade during recess and their lunch.  I was with the kindergarten class when the fire alarm went off on Monday for a fire drill. 

          By Wednesday I had changed my topic from behavior to the fire drill as the alarm went off a few hours before I returned home to watch the recorded lecture for the week.  The fire drill had been on Monday and there was a real emergency evacuation on Wednesday.  I was with the fourth graders whom I had never lined up with before.

          I found it interesting to compare the fire drill on Monday to the results that took place on Wednesday. Only my first assignment was supposed to be addressing a co-worker or someone I manage one-on-one.  My topic of conversation was not one that I would choose for just one individual but was able to make it work by pulling out a specific.  There have been so many times when I have not had a walkie-talkie with me (mostly because I haven’t made it a habit) but did have on Wednesday but not on Monday.  The assignment I turned in was on the importance of having the radio device with me at all times and not just at lunch.  I imagined the conversation from my manager’s point of view.  That is what I handed in.

          The following week’s assignment was to write a speech that I would give in public.  I was required to give the audience three things to talk about.  I incorporated that we practice fire drills to ensure safety, we are more focused when we are prepared, and when we are focused and calm it is easier to make adjustments – such as evacuating to an area that we had never practiced before.

          I have always been under the impression that the more excuses a person uses to convince another of something, the less believable it is. My throat had been dry since the class had started, and seemed to dry at more as the class progressed.  The week I was to record my speech was not a good week for me.  I hadn’t practiced my speech orally because of my dry throat and the rain fell heavily and was louder than I was I tried recording.  I compared my situation to Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day as mentioned here. 

          I ended up with a 107 out of 120.  Not bad.  I wouldn’t have scored myself that high.  I couldn’t even watch it as my voice didn’t even move in sync to my lips.  That really bothers me.  Now I am waiting for the grades for this last week.  Tomorrow I start a new class.