Boy, have I had a busy last couple of days. Yesterday morning (Feb. 1, 2007) at 3:00am, our phone rang. You know that's not a good sign that early in the morning. I answered and a Parker Police Officer identifed himself and said that Daddy's trailer had caught fire, but Daddy managed to get out. He just wanted to notify a family member. I told him I would get dressed and be there in a few minutes. I woke Vance and told him where I was going and took off. When I got there, the street was covered in fire trucks and police cars. I parked and jumped out and found Daddy sitting in a lawn chair with only a tee-shirt and jeans on. No shoes. A fireman had given him a light-weight windbreaker to drape over his shoulders. His hair was singed, the tops of his ears were blistered. He was on oxygen and very shook up and cold. The trailer was a total loss.
(Pictures are posted at http://picasaweb.google.com/rutherford.patricia ) The firemen believe a little heater caused the fire. It started in the bathroom.
Daddy said he woke up with flames right in front of his face. He jumped up and realized he only had once chance to find the doorknob before he died. He found it and slid down the railing outside. The next thing he remembers is being in front of my grandmother's house at the end of her driveway screaming for help. A man about half a block away called the fire department and came running to Daddy. By this time, Daddy had gone to the edge of the house and was peeking around the corner watching his trailer burn. He was expecting it to blow up because of the two propane tanks on the front of it. I believe with all my heart that angels woke my Daddy up and carried him to safety. You see, my Daddy can hardly walk. He has to have a cane and his legs sometimes give out on him. If he doesn't have a cane, he has to grab onto something to keep from falling. So, I know he couldn't have run around that house without divine intervention. You can call it adrenaline rush if you want to, but I believe God intervened.
The police officer took down info from me and carried the only thing they salvaged out of the trailer to my car. It was an antique 22 rifle. He put it in my trunk. I doubt it can be refurbished, but I may be wrong. I turned up the heater, wrapped a jacket around Daddy and headed home. He was freezing. It was pretty cold out. We got home and I made up the couch for him to sleep on. I couldn't go to sleep, so I went in my computer room and prayed and thanked God for saving my Daddy. Daddy had refused medical attention, but I was worried about his lungs.
He refused to eat all day, but he drank a lot of water. That's good. I called Penny and Chip before they went to work. Penny had an inhaler like the one prescribed for Daddy, so I went and got it. Naturally, he lost all his medication. All he has left was the clothes he had on his back. Good thing it wasn't summer. He would have been in the buff when they found him. Now, that's a horrible thought!
I started cleaning out the front bedroom (Vance's old room). It has been my storage/junk room, so it's a mess. Tabitha and Hope came over to help. She carried off about six bags to Goodwill and clothes to a friend from church. And I threw away a lot of stuff, too. Michelle would be proud! Speaking of Michelle, she sent out emails to family and friends to pray for my Daddy. Her mother called and asked his sizes. You've got to listen to this - Mike (Michelle's dad) wears the same size clothes as Daddy. Pam is packing up a box and putting it in the mail. Now, that's how my God works! Was getting calls all day asking "What does he need? How can we help?" Kim called and said my co-workers were taking up money. I cried a little at that. They are such great people.
It was raining so hard all day, but I needed to go get Rubbermaid containers to put stuff in that I'm keeping - like photos, hundreds of photos.....) I ran by Gulf Power to give Trish a going away card and gift. Several of the guys came up and hugged me and asked how Daddy was doing and asked if there was anything they could do to help. Like I said, they are a great group of people. I left there, in a torrential downpour and headed to Big Lots. I ran through several streets that were flooded and got about half-way to BL when my car started sputtering. I couldn't go over 5-10mph. Several times, I had to pull off the side of the road to let cars pass. Then, I had to decide which roads would have the least amount of traffic so I could drive without having to pull over every couple of minutes. I went to the Dollar General Store behind Loco's and got some containers and some soup for Daddy. I was in there about 30 minutes hoping the car would dry out or whatever and work like it's supposed. No such luck. I made it about two miles before I decided I better not drive it anymore. I pulled off the side of the road and called Discount Mufflers to come get the car and called Penny to see if she could pick me up. She left work and pulled up behind me as the tow truck was turning. Chip called to see what was wrong. He had just passed us and pulled over up the block to see if we needed help. I told him we were okay. We unloaded the car and I remembered the rifle in the trunk. I told the driver and he said we better get it out. He hid it under his poncho so no one would see it. The road was packed with cars - rush hour traffic. I noticed when he drove the car onto the flatbed that it didn't sputter. I told Penny "It went up on the flatbed faster than I was able to drive it. I bet they won't find anything wrong with it." Sure enough, when I called about an hour later, Harry had driven it and put in on the computer and couldn't find a thing wrong with it. This is the third time they have tried to find the problem and it works fine for them. Penny took me to her house. We picked up a TV for Daddy and she brought me home.
Mama called about a dozen times checking on Daddy and telling me different things that I needed to do. She says she hates him, but she sure seemed mighty concerned about him.
I was in bed by 9:00. I was exhausted. Woke up this morning and started on the room again. Turned on TV to check the weather and saw where Central Florida had been hit with tornadoes. Michelle's parents and sister live in Orlando. I called her and woke her up and told her to call her mother. She called back and said they were fine. It also hit the Villages where a friend of mine lives. I didn't have her number, so I called Dot. She called Connie and woke her up, but Connie didn't know anything about it. She must have slept right through it.
Managed to get Daddy to eat a honeybun for breakfast. There's a lot he won't be able to eat until we get him some new false teeth. I forgot to find out who his dentist was. I'm really not good at getting things like that done. Right now, my brain is overloaded on trying to get a room ready. I've got to buy a single bed whenever I get it cleaned out. I may have to take off a couple more days next week to get that done and get other things done. I don't know where to start.
Kim took half a day of vacation and came over to help me with the room and run me places. Hard to go anywhere without a car. It's still in the shop. I talked Daddy into eating some soup and Kim and I went to Big Lots and then to PoFolks for lunch. I've been forgetting to eat, too. I was beginning to get a headache and getting the shakes. We ate white fish and Kim said we needed to take our leftovers back to Daddy. Thank God for somebody who can think at a time like this. I would have just left it. We took it back to Daddy and he ate half of what we gave him. We worked in the room another couple of hours, then I had to go to the Credit Union and we went around to Kim's office and she went inside. Came out with an envelope from the employees that we took and deposited in Daddy's savings for him to use for whatever he needs. Then, we headed to his place. I took pictures and we sifted through stuff looking for his ring. That's the only thing he really wants to find. We found some rolled coins, but haven't found the ring yet. I'm believing we'll eventually find it. We worked there over an hour until my back was in so much pain I was in tears. I told Kim we had to quit. We fed the cats, checked the mail and went by and picked up my car. No, they haven't fixed it, but they have ordered a part. Some transmission sensor that kept flashing up on their computer.
Penny called and said her boyfriend told her that if my car had a distributor cap to check it. He thinks there is a crack in it and that's what the problem is. Vance said he didn't know if it had one or not. We'll check it tomorrow. Wouldn't that be great if it's something that simple?
I did remember to call CVS to get Daddy's blood pressure medicine refilled. Went and picked that up. Vance called and said he was going to bed. He was exhausted. Got home and Daddy didn't want any supper. Neither did I. Daddy went to sleep and I uploaded the pictures. Now, I think I'm going to bed.
Good night and God Bless..........................
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