Kaiser Mommy

Umm, hi… **nervously popping in…**

This would be my first attempt at guest blogging, so please be kind. I feel like I’m hosting a party at someone else’s house, so please, keep the food and beverages in the kitchen.

My name is RC and I am a work-outside-the-home mom.?Ǭ†(Gosh that sounded kind-of like a confession…)

My home, where I will allow all the adults to eat and drink in the living room, is my blog at Hill Smith Family Update. It is totally a mommy blog, with some small bits of me thrown into it (that sounds a bit disgusting, doesn’t it…). And I totally refuse to apologize that it is another mommy blog.

I brag about, and share pictures and videos of my toddler, Little Dude.

And if you want to get a laugh, check out his laughter here (I tried to bring the video over, but it didn’t work – so sorry!).

I try not to complain about the Hubby, too much, even when I’m questioning how I can possibly be married to him. I praise the cuteness that is my cat, who I refer to as Supercat, in the blogging world.

Honestly, it is pretty tame. In other words, my family and in-laws know the blog exists and they read it. Not to mention my coworkers…

However, if you catch me in one of my non-family moods, I’m usually going off about crappy customer service or getting excited over one of my electronic gadgets.

I’m a bit of a tech-geek, but I’ll be honest and tell you that I’ve killed off my laptop computer, my PDA, and my work cell phone since January. And dare I mention the need for a new camera – mine was awful, the virus that attacked the Hubby’s computer, or the fact that our house was recently the victim of a nearby lightning strike. I’ve blown my five-year electronic gadget budget in the period of five months.

Occasionally I’ll share fun facts about my life, write corny poems, hang my worries and depression out for the world to see, do a little photo journalism on the floods in my area, or mention how I’m also a firefighter (second career).

This last part of my life leads me to a recent post I wrote. And let’s just pretend it is a hypothetical situation, okay? 😉 Thanks!

p.s. Feel free to come over and visit at any time! I’m usually a family-friendly visit, if you have kids coming with you.

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Let?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s pretend you live the midwest. For this scenario, you live in a trailer park near a river.

Just for fun, let?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s pretend that this area of the midwest has been hit by a lot of rain. So much rain, in fact, that the river is way above flood stage, and that little trailer park you live in is now, for the most part, surrounded by water – including the road in and out of the trailer park, which has more than a foot of water covering it.

Because of the flood, you?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢ve been advised that you might want to evacuate your home, but as you?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢ve seen many floods and figure it won?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢t be that bad, you decide to stay – you just park your car on dry land, and hike through the water to get to it whenever you want to go out, or you keep your car near you and figure you shouldn?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢t have an issue driving through the water to get out.

Now picture this area being threatened by tornadoes, and no way for the residents of this?Ǭ†trailer park?Ǭ†to safely get to shelter. On top of the tornadoes, more rain is pouring down, too, causing the flood to increase, bringing with it currents from the swollen river.

Enter the local fire department. Picture them bringing out two of their heavy-duty trucks to get through the water to the residents, stuck in an almost island-like trailer park. Men and women who would like to be home, and possibly in their own basements, but at least with their families, especially with Little Dude their toddler, perhaps, are here to help those residents stuck with no way out or no rides. They are willing to take them to local government buildings for shelter.

Rescue etiquette: Please go with the nice firefighters. They aren?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢t out to evacuate anyone for no reason, and yes, they know this is your home. These firefighters just want everyone to be safe and sound, and are risking their own lives?Ǭ†to help you. Thank you.

Edited to add: And please hurry a bit?¢‚Ǩ¬¶ The nice firefighters don?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢t like to be sitting ducks for possible tornadoes entering the area. Little Dude Their families might miss one of them.

Last edit, I promise: In the end, the hypothetical firefighters all made it home okay, and that trailer court is still heavily surrounded by water. Several of the hypothetical residents have chosen to wait it out in there little island.

This was originally published on Thursday, June 12, 2008, at Hill Smith Family Update. Thanks for allowing me to visit…

**carefully slinking back to my blog**

(And to RC – thank you! – loves ya – Dawn)