Poor Terence
One of the unfortunate realities of trying to support a family of five (and a half) on a cop's salary is that Terence has to take as many overtime jobs as he can snag. Our current favorites are wide load escorts, where the job is to make sure those really gigantic trucks don't run off the road, or run you off the road. All of these jobs are posted daily in a database that all the highway patrol has access to, and competition for them is pretty fierce (they pay $44/hr.) So every day I frequently check the database for Terence and sign him up for a job whenever I'm lucky enough to spot one that hasn't been taken yet. Last night I lucked out-- there was an open position for a job today from noon to 2pm. That is perfect timing for Terence, since he could just go straight to work afterward.
Unfortunately, after I signed him up for it, the job was changed so that he would have to be there at 8am (about an hour drive from here.) So Terence grumbled a bit because now he would only get about five hours of sleep. Still, five hours isn't bad, so it was only a little grumbling. He came home somewhat on time last night and crawled into bed about 1 am.
Barely fifteen minutes passed before the phone rang. It was Tucson Dispatch, calling Terence out. (In his area, there are no officers on from midnight-5am. So if they need someone, they call an officer and make him drag himself out of bed.) So what was the emergency, you may ask? Someone had seen cattle near the highway, ten miles west (maybe, they weren't sure) of the town of Superior. *sigh* Superior is about an hour drive from our house, in an area where livestock or deer often get out into the road. Often when Terence finally gets to the area for these calls he can't find anything at all. On the rare occasion that he does, he has to hope that blaring his horn at the cows and flashing his sirens will scare the cows back behind the fence, or at least away from the road. Alas, they don't actually train you to be a cattle hand as part of your police training. His only real other option would be to shoot it. (And I don't think PETA, not to mention the rancher, would care for that.)
Still, he has to go check it out. What if he didn't and someone crashed into the hulking beast?
So by the time he really got to bed last night, he only had two hours until it was time to head out for his overtime job. Still, he managed it, and now we have another extra check to look forward to, plus the overtime for the call out to boot. Maybe it was a blessing in disguise. Still, I wish Bessie and her friends would just stay behind those fences!
Unfortunately, after I signed him up for it, the job was changed so that he would have to be there at 8am (about an hour drive from here.) So Terence grumbled a bit because now he would only get about five hours of sleep. Still, five hours isn't bad, so it was only a little grumbling. He came home somewhat on time last night and crawled into bed about 1 am.
Barely fifteen minutes passed before the phone rang. It was Tucson Dispatch, calling Terence out. (In his area, there are no officers on from midnight-5am. So if they need someone, they call an officer and make him drag himself out of bed.) So what was the emergency, you may ask? Someone had seen cattle near the highway, ten miles west (maybe, they weren't sure) of the town of Superior. *sigh* Superior is about an hour drive from our house, in an area where livestock or deer often get out into the road. Often when Terence finally gets to the area for these calls he can't find anything at all. On the rare occasion that he does, he has to hope that blaring his horn at the cows and flashing his sirens will scare the cows back behind the fence, or at least away from the road. Alas, they don't actually train you to be a cattle hand as part of your police training. His only real other option would be to shoot it. (And I don't think PETA, not to mention the rancher, would care for that.)
Still, he has to go check it out. What if he didn't and someone crashed into the hulking beast?
So by the time he really got to bed last night, he only had two hours until it was time to head out for his overtime job. Still, he managed it, and now we have another extra check to look forward to, plus the overtime for the call out to boot. Maybe it was a blessing in disguise. Still, I wish Bessie and her friends would just stay behind those fences!
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