Smoking a pork roast covered with bacon from William’s hog – Carla has picked beans and used some of that same bacon to steam them, scorch them a bit and then let them steam and cook a few hours – and I will be grilling some zucchini a little later – will be a home grown meal tonight.

I have a great story on hummingbirds shared by Gerry, she gave me permission to pass it along.

A hummingbird happening.  The other day early in the morning I heard a crash in the living room and knew it was my year old cat who thinks she is a kitten.  When I went into the living room I saw the tea kettle that goes on the wood stove, it was on the floor.  She usually walks around things.  Then I heard a noise in the wood stove.  It was a bird.  So that is what made her crazy.  I opened the door a crack and out it flew and went to the glass door like it knew the floor plan.  The cat was right behind.  I grabbed the cat and put her in the bathroom.  Then I took a towel and threw it over the hummingbird.  I walked to the front door all the while the birds was screaming.  Almost sounded like a Jay.  It flew away soot and all.  It left behind two feathers that were about 1 ½ in. long.  I layed them on a t.v. tray.  A  couple of days later the cat was sitting on the tray and was shaking her head.  I saw that she had a feather on the end of her nose.  If was standing up straight from her nose.  I said her name and she turned and when she did she was looking cross eyed at the feather.  I guess you would have to be here to appreciate how funny it was.  I rescued her nose.  We have three feeders across the deck and I fill them all the time.  Someday I am going to have a bird stuck in my forehead I just know it.

Thanks, Gerry, loved it!

She passed on another one on a bat and I will post it along with my own experience with a bat while on duty with the P.D. tomorrow.

Galatians 6:9-10 And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.

¹⁰ As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith.

As we watch the news and see the attacks, both physical and vocal against law enforcement officers around the nation I am greatly troubled.

Not just because these are my brothers and sisters in arm, not just because an attack on police is an attack on our very system of justice, but because politicians are latching onto the stories and are using it to berate and belittle the profession.

They are using the grief of all of us to their benefit, financially and to further their own agenda of chaos to obtain power.  They are heaping coals of hatred on the police and making them the enemy of not only the blacks but anyone who has dealings with them.

They are stirring up the emotions and everything is the police officers’ fault.  Yet, without the police there would be nothing but anarchy in our country.  We look at the leaders who have told police not to take action in riots and see the results, thousands of criminals taking advantage of their neighbors, stealing and destroying their property.

Have police made errors, yes.  Have there been shootings that were not justified, yes.  However, those are few and far between and the system has ways of dealing with those officers that use unnecessary force.

The police are being scrutinized over every minute of their day.  That is not necessarily a bad thing, since when everything is known about most of these incidents it is found the police used good judgement.  But, many of the videos that hit social media are only showing part of the contact, not all of it and then they incite others to take action that is not only detrimental to the communities they live in but make it even more difficult for officers to do their job.

Now, that officers are not only being scrutinized with every move, but they have to be hyper alert, because they know there are criminals out there deliberately targeting them.

There has always been a threat to officers and they have weighed that threat and still go to work every day to protect their community from criminals.

They know that on almost every call they are sent on someone is not going to be happy with them.  Many situations are loaded with emotion and violence, yet, the officer must go into the middle of it and restore peace as best they can.

If they make an arrest that person is not happy and if it is a domestic violence call, it isn’t unusual for the offended spouse becoming upset and attacking the officer(s); no matter the call, no matter the circumstance, no matter how often the officer may have had contact with the people in the past he/she knows that it can go sour in a moment and their lives are in danger.

The police grow weary over this, I have seen many good officers give up the profession because they just can’t deal with the depravity of people and the seemingly endless streams of suspects committing crimes over and over to only receive a ‘slap’ on the wrist and sent back out to attack citizens.

They are tired of seeing the look of anguish in the eyes of their spouses and children as they put the uniform on and go to work – none of them knowing if this is the last time they see each other.

They are tired and weary of the hatred spewed out by suspects, families and now politicians who would rather blame the police than take a good look at what society has been allowing these past few years.  What society has done with those that commit crimes and instead of being held accountable are given excuses for their bad behavior.

And let us not be weary in well doing:

Even still most officers don’t give it a second thought, they put on their uniform, they get in their patrol car and they go about the business of protecting the public, answer calls for help and put their lives on the line every single day.

The hyperbole being spouted by the media and the ‘leaders’ in our nation is creating a much more dangerous situation for our officers, they have to be on guard even more than usual and that can lead to further claims of excess force.

I have said it before, let’s put some of those ‘leaders’ in patrol cars with officers and make them respond to these calls of violence, make them go in and see what awaits officers on these calls and how they have to deal with them.

The only problem with this is the officer is going to feel an obligation to protect that ‘leader’ and put an even greater strain on their ability to handle the situation.

I can remember the first time we had a barricaded subject in a house.  He was threatening suicide, we didn’t know what he was going to do.  We had no training in this, no department had that kind of training, we just did what we could based on our experiences and other training.

Still, this was obviously a mentally disturbed young man, he had the means to take his life and we couldn’t just leave him there.

We go the idea of calling mental health and asking them to come to the command post.  We wanted advice, but they refused to come, the reasons being that they didn’t have any training in dealing with someone who was acting ‘out’ they were afraid of making it worse.  They would be glad to help him once we got him into custody and calmed down.

As I see the ‘leaders’ and politicians making sweeping claims against the police, I am reminded of that time – they can’t help in a crisis, they can only make it worse.  But instead of trying to helping after the fact, they make if even worse by fanning the flames of hatred.  Instead of dealing with the root cause of disrespect, selfishness and unwillingness to accept accountability for actions and responsibility and consequences of unlawful actions, they blame the police.

If you were an officer wouldn’t you be weary also?  (I know many of you have worn the colors and some are still wearing them and you have my undying love and appreciation – and more importantly, my prayers.)

I don’t want to see our officers so weary of their work that they finally say, I give up and let the criminals in all levels of society and those that protect them, win.

Later, Art :-)