Wrong end of a gun...

   There are many times I have been on the right end of a gun.  Hunting with my  Step-Dad, gun range at the police station in Orlando, shooting things out of trees with the Dad of one of my high school girlfriends and the great and wonderful pellet gun I had as a teenager.  I loved that pellet gun until I got in trouble for shooting my little sister, also the neighbors dog and big bulb Christmas lights around the house.  But lest I forget that the title of this page is about being on the wrong end of a gun...
   Of course when your little and you have a Daisy pump action b-b gun in your possession its bound to end up in a sibling or friends hand, which in turn gets turned on you.  Especially after you have pelted them a few times first.
   Then there is the a fore mentioned Dad of a high school girlfriend who happened to listen in on a dialogue on the phone one late night and decided he had enough of certain young man climbing in his daughters window.  I unsuspectingly walked up to her window, slid it open, and before I could reach in and shake her awake like I had done several times before... "BAMMM"
   There really is no sound like a 12 gauge shot gun going off within 2 feet of you when you are not prepared for it,and I couldn't remember a time prior to that where I thought my life was ending, but apparently I was not dead even though I was suddenly on the ground involuntarily.  As I look up 'Dad' shoves the 12 gauge in my ear and says,"Don't move the cops are on their way."
   Laying on the ground, I noticed that in his back pocket was the 22 revolver I had bought the bastard for his birthday.  Guess I am glad he didn't use it first.  After what seemed like an eternity of him, his wife, and the girlfriend yelling back and forth over me, the squad car arrived.  The officers came up and took me to their car and sat me in the back seat.  Then they returned to discuss the situation with the girlfriends family.  About 10 minutes later, they came back, drove me to my car down the block and said that since I was 18 and she was 17 and 10 months that it wasn't statutory rape, but I hadn't heard the end of it.  About a week later a sheriff came to get me and drove me to see the Asst Attorney General of Okeechobee County.  During our meeting I learned that a 500 yard restraining order had been imposed between me and the girlfriend.  Which was silly at best because we had the same classes in school and worked at the same fast food restaurant, but I also ended up being charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor that never actually stuck in the long run.


    Few years later I started working at a little known convenient store with 2 numbers in the name.  During one shift, a guy walked in and showed me his gun inside his jacket and explained that he was going to go over and look at magazines, I was suppose to push the buttons on the time lock safe that dropped twenties, tens and fives every two minutes to make change.  Since it took two minutes before I could push the next button it took almost an hour to get all the money out of the safe.  I was also told not to make any cash drops while customers continued to purchase items over the hour he read various magazines.  Since it was midday I was the only one on shift and our panic button was in the back near the entrance to the cooler.  Since this was the early 90's, the stores idea of video surveillance was a 35mm camera staged inside a fake speaker mounted on a shelf behind the counter.  If the right money was pulled out of the drawer, the camera would automatically start snapping pictures.  This guy knew about this particular security and when it was time for him to leave he had me empty all the paper money I had in the drawer except that particular $5 bill.  Not long after that incident I became one of the managers and spent a lot of hours on the graveyard shift.  And a few months into the new shift there were two of us working, but the other guy on the shift was in stocking the cooler.  It was pretty quiet and I was filling the cigarettes in the over head bins.  I heard the door bell of someone coming in and when I raised the cigarette bin so I could assist the customer all I saw was gun.  He told me to empty the drawer and grabbed some stuff we had sitting out on the counter.  I took every bill I had out of the drawer, and as soon as I removed the special $5, the camera behind me started taking pictures.  Not sure if it was because it was older than dirt or because of the moment, but it was the loudest camera I had ever heard.  'CLICK' 'RRRRRRRRRR' 'CLICK' 'RRRRRRRRRR' over and over till it went through a whole roll of film.  I thought for sure he heard it, but he was more concerned with getting the money and running.  When the cops showed up, the only thing I could remember was that the gun was a revolver, very large and black.  And the noisy camera you ask?  Was angled wrong and took pictures of the friggin cigarette bin above my head.  One other time during my time as a convenient store manager, a man walked in, fixed himself a large soda and grabbed a sandwich.  Walked up to the register, showed me his handgun and had me empty the drawer.  After handing him the money, he apologized and left.  The girl that was working with me that night was coming out of the back just as he pulled out his gun.  In her wisdom, she stayed out his line of sight, but was able to get a good description of him.  When I left the next morning she stayed on to help with the morning rush.  That morning, during the hustle of coffee and donuts, he came back in wearing his work uniform.  She immediately recognized him and after he left she told the manager on duty who he was based on his uniform and the name badge he was wearing.


   I could go on about other negative times that I have been around guns, but we will save that for another blog....

Tree Pics...

Today was a very important day in the Wortman Domain.  One that we do every year.  It is what we like to call 'Tree Pic Day.'  It has become a tradition that we go to the same nature park and take pictures every year of the children in the same tree.  

2005

   

   Above is the initial installment of the Tree Pic, and everyone fit well in the small tree.  Of course, as you will notice, our level of camera with get better over time.  Its an event that lasts a couple of hours and spreads out over the whole main area of the park.  

2006

   As you can see above, it's amazing what just one year can make.  All four children still fit on the tree, but you can see it getting a little tighter.  

2007

   The years just seem to keep flying by as the children continue to come into their own.  Its amazing to realize how much they have grown in just one year.  They fill the tree more and more.

2008

   This will be Dustin's last year in the tree, because he has become a strapping young man and causing the tree limb to bend significantly.  The girls weight on the branch doesn't help much.

   

2009

   A few changes this year.  Dustin is standing now, and the branch that Brad always held onto was broken off during the year.  The girls have gotten a lot bigger and the picture quality has improved.

2009

   The above picture was also taken in 2009 as one of the other pictures we always include throughout the day.  As you can see the kids really get into this event.  This particular picture, the kids were just throwing leaves everywhere, but if you look closely, when Annie took the picture she caught an amazing anomaly.  The leaves make a 'heart' shape above the kids.

2010

2011

    As for now this is the last picture in this line up, and as you can see the kids are quite grown up.  Dustin is 20, Brad in the tree is 19, and the girls Aramys is 8 and Kendalyn is 11.  They are my beautiful children and I would never give them up for anything.  And I especially want to give a big round of applause to my dear Annie who has taken almost all of the pictures every year....

Above Annie is in the middle of our children, and a recent addition to the pic, Annie's Second Cousin Samantha...

2012 

Welcome to 2012 and the tree pic of the year.  As you can see there have been some considerable changes over the last 12 months.  

 This year the 4way stop is now a 5pointed star... From 12'clock clockwise is Dustin(21) Sammi(20), Kendalyn(12), Brandon(20), and Aramys(9)

This years latest addition to the troops is Sammi's wonderful little boy, Scott(2.5mos)
As you can see, it was a little chilly out for the pics, and he is sporting a red nose and rosey cheeks...

Above is one of the best pics I think I have taken... Not because of the quality as much as the content...

This is one of the only pics of the entire brood...

It took another tree, my iPhone with a timer on the camera and some electrical tape to get...

 2013

Now for 2013 and the tree pic of the year.  Unbelievable the changes that have occurred.  As with pictures in the past, Sammi and Mr Scott are in with the 'kids'...

Mr Scott sitting in the same crook in the tree he was in last year, looking a LOT bigger...

 He is such a great little boy with a happy spirit...

 Mr Scott and his Momma.  Great shot taking by Annie.

And here is the crazy bunch once again...

Thank you for stopping by...

As the years go by I will continue to add each years picture to this blog....thanks for stopping by....

   Christmas is a time of love and family; Lights, trees, and presents.  Well for most families, some families choose to celebrate it in different ways.  Others don't acknowledge it at all.  It can be a spiritual enlightening or a time of remembrance   There are families that spend way more than they should, and others who scrape every dime just to put together a little something for their children.  In my life, I have been in various circumstances when it comes to Christmas.  
   When I was really little, Christmas was a big deal that started before Thanksgiving.  I remember having a couple dozen friends and family over.  Adults at the main dining table and all the kids at the kitchen table.  It was quite chaotic at times, but then so are most holiday get togethers.  Christmas day was amazing to see for a little boy.  Our tree was set up in the living room, and it was always real.  A tree that we cut down ourselves I believe from our own property, but not always sure.  It was nothing like the Griswold's when it came to tree cutting.  It was pretty straight forward and without much incident. But when you are small all trees look great when fully decorated, all lit up with lights and surrounded by so many brightly colored packages.

   One year, as we were out looking for a tree, I was left in the truck alone.  At first it was no big deal, but being in the middle of a forest with weird noises can really drive your imagination.  After what seemed like forever, I began screaming out the truck window for who ever would listen.  A few minutes later my Sister's husband came to the truck and started giving me crap about being scared and not being able to stay in the truck.  He got in and after a few minutes, forced me to give him a hand job.  I was about 6 or 7 at the time and he scared me into not telling.  Merry Christmas....

   Other Christmases over the years were better, but varied in levels.  A couple years after we moved to Florida, my Dad had his strokes and couldn't work.  The income in the household dropped considerably and Christmas was quite a stretch for my Mom, but she still manage to make it wonderful for us kids.  Christmas and Easter was very important to my mom and no matter where we lived at the time, she made sure we celebrated them.

   Same can be said for my children, I have lived in some pretty bad places over the years, but we always celebrated the holidays.  Even if we had to get a free Christmas tree from a tree lot.  Something looking not much better then Charlie Brown's tree.  Of course when you stick the dead section in the corner of your trailer it didn't look to bad.  Another year I bought green tissue paper, taped several together, and cut out a two tree shapes.  Taping the two shapes together and stuffing it with newspaper we had a tree.

   Of course, now that life has worked itself into a much better situation.  Christmas is a little easier to come by for the kids.  My tree is now a fake one, that is much more practical to use every year.  And the kids are the main focus of the season, but not beyond our means.  As for me, I still love the smell of Pine Trees and want to put as many lights on the house that I can....

   I still remember all the different Christmases over the years and how we celebrated it with Love and Family, no matter the 'package' the Holiday came in....

Walter...

Winters were really fun for a little boy with a big imagination, but they also required a lot of preparation.  Prior to winter there were things you had to do to get ready.  I know more went on then I knew about, but one of the things was gathering all the vegetables from the garden and preparing them for canning.  One of the chores I helped with was to put the piece of log on a stump so they could split it.  Most of the time I was in school during the week and things just happened when I wasn't there.  Once the snow came, most things happened inside the house.
   I lived quite a way from the school and was the farthest stop on the bus route.  Two friends who lived across the street also got on the bus with me.  We had a large driveway and the bus would drive just past it, then back into the driveway to pick me up.  One day I wasn't paying attention and Walter, the bus driver, backed over my foot.  It really didn't hurt, scared me more than anything.  It was one of the back wheels and I guess the weight of the bus was supported by the inside wheel, so didn't crush my foot.
   Walter was an older gentleman who had the fortitude to be a bus driver, but the patience of someone who should have retired in Florida long before I started school.  Of course, this being the seventies, things were handled a lot differently back then.  When ever I got in trouble, and yes as hard as it is to believe I was a little trouble maker at some points in my life, Walter would make me sit on the steps to the bus.  And since I was one of the last ones to be picked up, that also made me one of  the last to get dropped off.  So depending on when I was busted by Walter, decided how long I was going to be on the step dealing with the other kids giving me crap as they past me getting on or off the bus.   Also, being from a small town, word would eventually get back to my Ma about my behavior.
   My favorite part of the bus rides had to be the bad roads of Maine and the very back of the bus.  Any kid you ask would let you know that the back of the bus is where to be, but especially when you hit a good bump.  And it didn't hurt to give a little boost with your legs at just the right moment to hurl you straight for the roof of the bus.  Several pot holes on old back roads increased this fact ten fold, and would sometimes lead me straight to the bus steps....