mfairbanks

First, let me say this AAAGGGHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Phew! OK, that helps, a little, for those of you not familiar with my plight, last Friday (5 LONG days ago) my blazer decided that life without it's transmission would be sooo much better and proceeded to snap 2nd and reverse gears (its an automatic) thereby effectively stranding me at home all damn day, and making working problematical at best!!! Well thanks to the generousity of freinds and my wife, I have been able to keep working, but that is the only time I have been out of the house, and the weather this week has finally started to be fall like, and I wanna go take some pictures SOOOO Bad!!! Plus scout some locations for the rapidly approaching foliage season, this year, my foliage stuff is gonna ROCK!!! However, the garage claims that with any luck my truck will be fixed sometime Saturday, hopefully.  All I know is this weather had better hold until next week so I can get out and release some of this pent up photo frustration!!!!!!

By Popular demand, here is my Mother's AWESOME Blueberry Buckle recipe, for those of you who are not familiar with Blueberry Buckle (poor unfortunates, probably johhny reb's) it is a New England traditional dessert made with blueberries and resembles a very thick moist cake with a crumb topping. And yes it is WICKED GOOD! 

Blueberry Buckle

10 years ago, and seemingly another lifetime ago I was a young gung-ho Firefighter /  First Responder on a busy little town department in Southern New Hampshire (East Kingston) when one of out local cops (of which there were only 4 all part time, like the fire department) was run down by a drunken driver (I dont car what fuckin scan his scumball lawyer pulled to get the blood test made inadmissable in court, he was drunk!!!) while assisting with traffic at an accident scene in the next town. It's been 10 yrs since "Uncle Mel" died, seems like just yesterday "Uncle Mel" was one of those special people who truly would give anyone the shirt off his back, a true peace officer, a man with no hate or ill will in him, he just wanted to make the world a better place, Run down by a friggin repeat offender DWI, what a waste. The drunk of course basically got away with it, thanks to a slimeball lawyer he pleaded out to a lesser charge and was sentenced to time served, which since he pled out was only like 2 or 3 months, this for a repeat offender who drives drunk and kills a cop, a few weeks later, the same judge sentenced a man to 6 months for killing his cat....how did our legal "justice" system ever get so messed up???!!!???

Being the 10th anniversary of "Uncle Mels" death the State of NH today renamed the section of the highway where he was killed the "Officer Melvin Keddy Memorial Highway" while I was unable to attend the ceremony, I understand it was quiet a tribute, below is an article from the Union Leader newspaper (NH's statewide Paper) about the ceremony, along with a pic of "Uncle Mel" and a link to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial.

Highway to be named for fallen East Kingston officer
By ADAM GROFF
Union Leader Correspondent

KINGSTON — A stretch of Route 125 running through the middle of town will be shut down for about two hours tomorrow morning for a dedication ceremony honoring fallen East Kingston Police Officer Melvin Keddy, who was struck and killed there 10 years ago.

Gov. John Lynch and a host of county and local officials will be at the 10 a.m. ceremony, at which the stretch of Route 125 from Route 107 (Depot Road) south to Route 111 — about a mile and a half — will be renamed the Officer Melvin Keddy Memorial Highway.

Keddy was 54 and had been a part-time East Kingston officer for eight years when he responded to a call for assistance at an accident scene on that part of the highway on Sept. 7, 1995. He was hit while directing traffic at the scene.

Kingston Police Chief Donald Briggs, whom Keddy was assisting, said the one-car accident was alcohol-related, and the motorist who subsequently hit Keddy had also been drinking. The motorist, Steven Balukas, pleaded guilty to negligent homicide in 1997.

Keddy had also served on the East Kingston Planning Board and as that town's emergency management director. He is survived by his two children.

Rockingham County Attorney Jim Reams will officiate at tomorrow's proceedings, which mark the 10th anniversary of the tragedy, and which the public is invited to attend.

A line of cruisers from every law enforcement agency in the county will trace Keddy's last journey, from the East Kingston Police Department on Route 107 west to Route 125, then south past the location of the accident, near the intersection with New Boston Road.

Briggs said Route 125 will be closed starting around 9:30 a.m. Motorists may use Main Street, which Route 125 was designed to bypass, as an alternate route.

National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial

http://www.nleomf.com/

"Uncle Mel", R.I.P you've earned it, and you will allways be remebered and missed. 

Wow, this journal thingy is catching on with me, can't belieb this is the fourth entry, wow.... Anyways, what I want to know is who the heck decided that putting NFL football on Thur and Fri nights was a good idea??? I mean come on, some of us have lives, and Football is for Sundays, with the rare and extremely special Monday night occasion, geez!!!! Yep, you guessed it, I stayed up late to watch the game again, and again, am spending the next day regretting it, although not as bad as I was at 2am working.......

Speaking of work, tonight is my mentors last night delivering papers, he and I have had the 2 routes that run out of North Conway for the last 4 1/2 years, gonna suck not having him out there at night, cause I knew I could always depend on him for help If somethin happened, Man I've got to get out of this Job, gas at 2.55 a gallon equates to over 125$ a week in fuel for me <bangs head> Theres a night desk clerk job in the paper 11pm-7am shift at a fairly laid back hotel in town, I'm just nt sure I want to chase it, I'd really like to get the hell off of these night shifts, they're also lookin for 7am-3pm, but that too would put me working exactly opposite the wife, ickkkkkk, been there, done that, sucks! Still, I might chase the night shift, at least it would give me regular days off every week, instead of every year.....dunno.......

Todays my Birthday, wow, another year has flown by, so much I still have'nt done, like finish college (those 40+ credits are gettin pretty dusty), have kids etc, but on the other hand, things are improving, all the utilities are on, and I havent gotten a call from a bill collector in at least a couple of weeks (crosses fingers)!

And just what are the big party plans you ask, well a little road trip for lunch at Taco Bell (nearest one is 60+ miles), dinner with the wife and a couple of friends then perhaps out amongst the tourist mobs for a Mudslide or two.

And just what does the coming year bring with it? Your asking me? If I knew the answer to that, I'd be out buyin some lotto tickets!! <grin>  Now as far as what I hope this year brings with it, well some increased sales and comments at my web site (www.mikefairbanks.com) would be nice, a better job is an absolute MUST, the rest of the bills paid, and who knows maybe it will be time to start a family, maybe, maybe (more on this in a later post I'm sure....) Oh yeah, and a 3rd Consecutive SuperBowl Championship for the Patriots In Feb!!!!! Wooo Hoooo GOOOOO PATRIOTS!!!! (can anyone tell it's Football season?!? Lol) Oh and this year WE ARE HAVING A XMAS TREE!!!!! (even if i have to "borrow" one form the national forest, hee hee)......

Ok, not sure this is my thing, but here goes..... Today was my Aunt and Uncles 50th wedding anniversary, I love them both dearly and as my aunt is the closest remaining relative to my late mother, she has a special place in my heart. However, what should have been a great time, was overshadowed by my Aunt's altzheimers which recently has required her to be placed in facility seperating my Uncle and her for basically the first time in 50 years, the toll this takes on him is huge, I'm not sure which is harder for him, her being at home and all the challenges that placed on him, or her living apart from him. (even though she is only a 15 minute rides away) my cousins live in Cali and Ill, and while they were both able to come back for the ceremony being so far away makes things challenging. On the plus side my aunt did have one of her better days and with only a little help was able to converse with and seemed to know almost everyone there (although it is hard to tell sometimes as she is very very god at covering for herself...)

 During the course of the event my father was talking with some folks who run a local diner, their son goes to the same high school i did ( a private catholic high school) which as it is about 100 miles away, its rare to see someone from there, what really bothered me, and is still bothering me 3 days later is his introduction of me, he stated "and this is my son Mike proof that not everyone who graduates from St Thomas Aquinas is successfull...." Thanks dad, just another wonderfull family experience, courtesy of dad, and folks wonder why my involvement with my family various from strained to none at all.....