Good Intentions

Well, the intentions were good but the follow-through wasn’t so much!  I really had every intention to write often here. I also had every intention to NOT go back to work. I failed on both!

Going back to work is what made me stray from writing on here. That and volunteering. However, the volunteering is much more fun and I get way more satisfaction out of it!

But I did last almost 3 months re-retired! AND although I did go back to work for the Sheriff’s Office, I DID NOT go back to work in the 911 Center and made it very clear that I would only work part-time in Corrections and not at all in 911. Before I quit the 911 Center I told the Corrections Director that I would do some work for him if needed so felt that I owed him something. After all, he wasn’t the one that lied to me.

My first assignment was to partner with Don last week on a transport to the prison in Lawton, Oklahoma. The trip down there was fine. I knew the prisoner well as he is a frequent flyer in our jail. He was doing time in Oklahoma for crimes committed there and came back to Kansas to court for crimes committed here. Then we had to take him back to Oklahoma. He will be released from there in July so we will have to go back to get him then and bring him back to do his time here. Even though a criminal he is personable and was a good traveling companion. The toughest part was restroom and meal breaks. We don’t like taking people in those places in shackels and prison garb any more than they like being taken in that way. I suggested we eat at a Sonic for lunch so that we wouldn’t have to get out and that worked out well.

The trip after we left the prison wasn’t so great. Don and I were both tired and Don was cranky because he can’t smoke on transports. Because of this he refused to take me anywhere to eat that evening. I was cranky because I was hungry and my blood sugar was low. So the night in the Hotel was pretty stressful. Early the next morning we left to go back to Kansas. Don wanted to stop at Cracker Barrel for breakfast. I’m not a big fan of Cracker Barrel but knew better than to object. We went into the restaurant but there was no one in the gift shop or the restaurant. We stood at the counter for about 10 minutes then Don went to the restroom. After another 5 minutes or so, a woman came out of the kitchen and told me that someone would be out shortly to seat us. After another 10 minutes someone came out of the kitchen and seated us. Because I’m not a fan of CB food I ordered toast. Don ordered biscuits and gravy. I expected white toast, cut in triangles arranged on a small plate. What I got was three pieces of white bread tossed haphazardly on a large dinner plate. I don’t know how they “toasted” them but it certainly wasn’t in a toaster. It looked like they had put the bread slices on forks and held them over a flame. Don’s biscuits looked like tiny hockey pucks. He was only able to eat one and I could only eat one piece of toast. Don refused to complain about it! I did send an email to the corporate office after we got home and they sent an email back for me to call them back. Don and I talked later and are pretty sure, being a pretty rough prison town, that it was either the color of our skin or our Sheriff’s uniforms or both. We even have to be careful where we eat locally because some of our former prisoners work in the eating places.

This week has been somewhat better except that sometime between Thursday and Saturday about $30 in cash and my debit card came up missing. I have cancelled the debit card and have a new one coming. I don’t know how to shop without a debit card!!

The good news is that my son Jason was here for the weekend. He had training in Ft. Collins, Colorado so rented a car and came here afterward, then flew back to Alaska on Monday. So he was able to visit relatives on his employer’s dime, with their permission. Since he had so little time I went to the northern part of Kansas and his daughter and family came down from Nebraska. We met for lunch on Saturday.  I hadn’t seen my newest great grandson so got to see him and his brothers and sisters also. He came right to me when I walked in and sat on my lap for quite a while. My granddaugher said that he normally won’t go to people he don’t know and won’t go to her in-laws at all. So that made me feel good!

I have pre-school tomorrow. The kids were really rowdy Tuesday!! I think it’s the weather change. Now it has changed again. From a little bit of spring back to cold, cloudy and rainy!  I had to chastized one of my favorites. It probably hurt me more than him. He whispered an apology in my ear afterward. He is such a sweetie but learns some not so nice things from his older siblings.

I think I will have Friday free but we will see…….