froggie

oh my goodness.. speaking of our pets. this is too funny. My husky is nestled comfty on the couch, resting her head on a pillow. She looked so cute that i HAD to put a blanket over her. She does this all the time. She will even fight me (ie: lick my face, hands, neck) to get pillow space if im laying down too. ah geeze, like the discovery channel says "life is better with animals" :) froggie

karen and albatross, its been a while since we posted to this thread but i wanted to give you guys an update. Last night we had an 'in the classroom instruction course' on rope rescue. We learned all different types of knots, ways to rig up ropes, equipment uses..etc. Then today we actually went out to the dz and did some scenarios. That was so much fun. I got the oportuntily to be a rescuer and a patient. Hope that its the only time i have to be either one! But no scenario can ever be as real as an actual emergency. For instance, today we were drilling and our patients were CAOx3, there was no parachute, and they were already rigged up to ropes and a harness. They were able to help us out. But there may be a situation where your patient is unconscious, unresponsive, in shock, has an altered mental status (Read: VERY ROWDY)..... I know that my patient assisted me in his rescue, but it was my first time up in the tree, and things are very different up there then down on the ground. I had to be in control, and with his assistance i was able to . I have the confidence in my skills now to know that if im a rescuer in a real situation, im gonna be able to handle it. The class was really benificial, especially considering Im also a skydiver. It gave me confidence in what rescue operations need to be performed and the time that it will take to do each rescue so if im ever stuck up in a tree, i have a good idea of whats going on. It also gave me some real perspective... our dz is surrounded by woods, and where their arent woods theirs runways and houses and narrow/busy roads. my point being, for my squad and my dz, it is really important to be familiar in this rescue scenario. We dont have much water around us, so water rescue drills with the dz arent as imperative as tree rescue drills. This is something that none of us had mentioned before. If your dz is surrounded by water, you should be very educated/trained/informed about water rescues. The same goes for tree rescues, extreme weather (do you really think that you learn as much drilling every july if you might end up resucing a skydiver in 30 degree weather that youve never drilled in before?), things like that. Maybe your dz is surrounded by swampy land. Then you should probably get out there and be SWAMP THING on a semi regular basis. Okay, enough examples, you guys get my point. Something that im certain about is the fact that EMS is an ever revolving profession/lifestyle. Even if this thread is 2 years old, resurect it please, cause if you know something that i may not be aware of, i would be very grateful if you could share that info wiht me. by the way, we got pics of the drill today. Ill be finding a way to post them to dropzone.com. some may end up on the Xkeys website, im not sure though. In any case, ill let you guys know when you can check them out. Thanks again for contribuating to this thread, any oportunity to grow as an EMT is much appreciated. kelly

im going thru the tandem progression program right now. But with the locality of the dz (5 minutes away) and the fact that ill be working out there this season, I know that im going to be making a lot of jumps, and will be ready for my own rig soon. My question is, how do i even begin to learn about all of my options for a rig. I know that i can talk to people at the dz, but i was wondering if anyone had any links to articles or anything. Something that i can copy and paste and printout would be great, cause i could refer back to it in an instant, something that doesnt always go perfect when reflecting back on a conversation. thanks in advance for your help. Please just post or email me any links you may have. froggie flyingfrog5@rcn.com

Blues clues!?!?! ah man! i love that little blue dog! hes great. lol. i even have a little blues clue tee. Couldnt help but to buy it besides, it fit right into a skydivers budget~it only cost $1 dollar. :) froggie

stac, i loved the private version. actually saved the email so i can listen to it more! The live versions that will come this summer are gonna be the best though. gotta get everybody singing, everybody dancing. froggie

propblast, it was a Rope Rescue Course. At first that sounded funnny to me. using ropes to get a skydiver out of a tree? Why not use a ladder? but then i learned more about it, and after the class this weekend, I totally respect those who do this for a living. Rigging the ropes, with the support lines, tether lines, pull lines, support lines, carabeeners, pullies, rope bags, secure lines...etc. etc... It was a lot to learn, but it was really benificial and educational. Next time i gotta keep the helmet on my head and the carabeener in my hands :) cant go dropping them all the time. lol hey! i did an ice water rescue course 4 weeks ago. Had an awesome time doing it too. Same thing there, not too many women actually participate in the rescue aspect of emergency scenes, so to be a woman and recieve special training in these rare rescues is awesome. Glad that i do this whole ems thing. I would never have been swimming in a dry suit in febuary or climbing a tree rigged up to a harness without it. climbing and Sitting up there, high among the branches, i looked like those mountain climbers and lumber men. That was the *moment* of the day :) froggie

sis and skyhawk, i dont know how i could have forgotten the beer! oh man. now where does it belong? lemme see what i had before.... if we conducted a survey on Different topics and thier %s on these threads then wede realize that we talk about (in this order) 1) sex 2) skydiving and then ending the day with some cold ones! 3) sex and skydiving together while sitting here drinking beer 4) working while dreaming of having sex on the ride to alti then drinking the night away okay, there we go. ive fixed it! :) froggie 5) intelligent, non sexual, geographically oriented conversations. anybody disagree? :) froggie

big daddy fruce oh man, i can see that were gonna have some hilarious times at the dz this summer :) You do know the words to Build me up BUttercup dont you? hehe. prepare to be singing along! ps. - Just dont send me to my room, at least not alone :) If ya need somebody to punish with me, lemme know, ill drop a few names :) ROFLMAO froggie

venwood, this is gonna sound funny but all four of my jobs have been great for a different reason. THe first one was awesome just because it was my first. The second jump was awesome cause of my JM, camera flyer, and my friend were so much fun in freefall. The third one was awesome cause it was a sunset load. THe fourth one, my first solo, was awesome cause of the whole thing but especially the landing. I loved that landing. :) and i learned a lot from it too. froggie

propblast, freag! i forgot. man, it was way too cold out there today, didnt even think to ask stac to snap a pic of it. Besides, she was gracious enough to let us borrow her camera to take some pics of the drill. Thanks stac! THe drill went great, as usual XKeys was wonderful to us :) I got to climb a really tall (to me!) tree and 'rescue' a patient. then i got to be the patient. Oh man, the view was pretty cool too. Got to see a couple of different jumpers land after exiting the steerman biplane, which means i musta been up there a while cause it only carrys the pilot and one passenger. But it didnt feel like it. I think that ive found a new sport. And ya know, there are actually rescue teams that do this for a living! It was just really cool climbing the tree and having to do all that work. At one point i had to hang on by just my arms and lift myself up 3 branches, about 7 feet, cause there wasnt a branch to put my feet on. Its just something about playing with the big boys, and being a girl. I dont know. But in any case, it was awesome. I just sat up there, laying back on a branch wiht no worries. Not even holding on wiht my hands. I totally trusted my ground support crew and that helped a lot. The scariest part? had to be when i had to go from one tree hugger (thats what i call them. dont know the real name) harnes to another. Carabeeners all over the place, ropes all around me. The mini ride down from the treetop was pretty cool too. I got strapped to a rope and was sort of pullied down. The harness hurt everyone else but luckily i knew how to adjust the leg straps just right (thats a tandem skill for ya :) By the time i got to the ground they were halfway to my knees :) oh yeah, you had asked about the pics. woops. got a little off track :) froggie

i didnt mean to. i swear, i didnt know that he was a minor! if i did I would have never corrupted him! im sorry man. im sorry. :( ROFLMAO

Hey! I was actually able to catch the ENTIRE episode, even though I was on ambulance duty. I thought that it was great. But i gotta agree wiht pammi about the whole guy thing. fruce, did you catch Rob Stanleys shot on there? oh man, i was friggin surprised as hell that that clip from the faster '99 vid made it on there. So proud of my little canadian buddie :) But anyway, the show was great. and right before that they did a show on deadly sports or something. well, they showed clips of people getting really hurt/dying while racing horses, riding motorcycles, dirt bikes, all types of sports. but, when they showed the clips of the basejumpers, there were no injuries. They even said "but fortuantly this story has a happy ending, nobody got hurt" or something like that. Point being, they showed people getting injuried for every sport, but not base jumping. thanks zennie for letting us know about this!

skyhawk, stacy will prolly have her camera tomorrow. ill see if shell snap a pic of it cause i keep forgetting to. in any case, there will be one out soon. might take a few though, the tatoo curves from my hip around to my shoulder. froggie

stacy and fruce. stacy, please let fruce know that i am a little person. If he slaps me then i might break a bone. :) fruce, youre gonna love me. :) you wont have any reason to slap me . lol come back soon! i wanna meet the famous fruce! froggie

fruce, hey. when you get back to crosskeys and were on a load together feel free to reach out and give me a friendly tap. i wont think that youre gay, just considerate. :) froggie

i missed it! i had to go on an ambulance call. I even had to leave my rope rescue class a little early since im on duty! darn. well, ill be waiting for the 2am repeat episode. sometimes they do that. froggie

ROFLMAO! i enjoy that too. weve got a lot of pets here. my poodle is going blind (poor thing is so old) and he always walks into things. Hes a little guy, but i gotta open the slider all the way to let him in/out because if i dont he walks into the glass. he also has a habit of walking directly into furniture and into your legs if your walking around. Its sad, but its soooo funny to see him ram into something, shake his head, back up, and try again. some times hes successful, sometimes it takes a few more trys before he gets 'clearance' btw. dont think im cruel, the dogs only problems are his eyes. weve had him checked out. i wouldnt let him suffer if he was in a lot of pain or anything froggie

dutchboy, congrats man! sounds like you had a lot of fun. froggie

..... in between two rows of planes on the oppisite side of the airport from the dz? wait, that was me, and i pulled a bit higher than 3500

decorous, there was a thread about this very same topic about a week or two ago.... my superstition is red. i have to have something red on. whether it be a sweatshirt, underware.. whatever. Im gonna have to buy more red clothes. lots more jumps this season! whippeee! yahhooooO! froggie

denaga, i wanna add to this question : how many of you landing off the dz because of a low opening? thanks froggie

chris, i laughed too but i still feel bad for ya. My husky will wake up from a dead sleep, trot across the room. jump into my lap, look at me, then sneeze right in my face. Its actually really disgusting, and she never does it anyother time, only when shes right up in my face. And if shes not sneezing in my face, shes devouring food then licking me before shes finished the whole chewing/swallowing process so i end up wiht sticky dog food crumbs on me! why do i love this dog so much? froggie

speed racer, evans is my last name and bob is the iguanas name. I didnt even realize the connection to the sausage man until i had bob for about 1 1/2 years. I had to take him to the vet and they asked for his name. I told them bob... when they called us they sang the "down on the farm!" song. So everytime i took him after that they would give us a little vocal entertainment. Planning on taking bob to the bob evans restaurant and getting a pic of him and me hangin on the sign. Think theyde be quite amused by that :) froggie

im sitting here playing on the computer and i happen to glance over at the iguanas cage. I see bob and fred sitting there, looking at me while they bask in the glow of the sun thats filtering thru the door. Bob looks lonely so i take him out of his cage. Now hes sitting here, climbing up my head wiht the help of my ponytail until hes safetly nestled perched on top of my head. This is his normal posiition. He likes it the best. When i use to take him out all the time last summer i even had a little leash for him, so i was able to walk around in open farm markets and stuff like that. Anybody else have a amusing animal story? what does your pet do that makes it unique? Im bored. bobs moved down to my back so im a bit immobiziled (dont want to make him move!) and technically, im forced to sit here and thread (poor me :) lol. froggie

hey all. got this forward from pammi.. most of you already read it though. Just thought that it was a great story. Maybe one day elizabeth will join us here on dropzone.com? Hey, This came off the A&M skydive mailing list, thought it was kinda cool. Hey everyone, I'm Elizabeth, And I had a great first jump, I can't wait to go again. If anyoneis goign out there after Big event in two weeks, I so want to go. I can't make it this weekend, I hhave a big marching competion. I was in a rush and told my dad I went on my jump so that he knew I survived, this is the reply I got, so I thought you'd skydive lovers like to hear it. :) ~Elizabeth ~e-mail from my dad~ You experienced the best feeling since sex was invented (after marriage only) and all you can say is I jumped this morning. I want the details. Something like: I ascended to the heights of heaven and touched the face of God. Having sensed that glory, I hurled myself to earth without benefit of machines and desended to the surface realm where lesser humans know not the ecstacy of those who have tasted the sky. I, alone and unafraid, teased death and tasted my own mortality without benefit of windscreen or padded chair. I have fallen like fresh snow and walked again as a mortal, but remained changed forever in ways those who know not can never fully understand. I was and will always be in my soul "Airborne" and will carry in my mind the memories of feeling alive in a way "legs" can only aspire to in dreams and fantasy. OK? Luv U James R Trahan of the American Marines