The logic of children

[Eclipse]

While making #2 son breakfast this morning I showed him my coffee mug from encampment last year that has my grade on it.
And said "See, this is what I am in CAP - Lt Col..."

He looked at it for a second...

"So, kernal like "popcorn exploding"?

"Well, now that I look at it..."

Then he asked (based on a related conversation we'd recently had about the cost of Boy Scout uniforms...)

"At your next meeting, are you going to bring up why you have to pay to be in CAP and then you
still have to pay for all your (pointing to his shirt) thingies and badges?"

Kids are awesome.

[Flying Pig]

Hes going to have a warped sense of employment......  "Wait boss.... since when am I the one who gets paid?  When I was a kid my dad had to pay his boss to go to work"

[Eclipse]

Yeah - between working almost entirely from home, and then 5-6 work trips and CAP stuff, I am either home 24x7 or not around.
Anyone who doesn't know my situation would think I'm unemployed and "steppin out".

My wife has always been great about CAP, she knows I enjoy it, but that it's also a lot of work and effort, so she just treats it all
as "work" - occasionally getting to go and play somewhere that's on the news doesn't hurt, though as the kids get older they
are starting to understand the difference between "work" and "Work$".

Funny thing is #1 is the opposite of #2 - we spent last weekend out in the garage fixing mom's car - needed a muffler and headlights.
#2 was in hog heaven, air tools, jacks, cutters, etc., etc.  #1, wanting to be a part of it, but clearly bored, at one point said "Why can't
we just pay someone else like normal people?"

Heh - that got a reaction.

[Flying Pig]

I can relate.  When I was on patrol, I had a take home patrol car.  I worked nights and we worked 3/12hr shifts.  With that schedule, what did my neighbors see?  They ALWAYS saw my patrol car sitting in the driveway.  When they went to work in the morning, I was just crawling in to bed.  They see my car in the driveway.  By the time they were coming home, I was getting ready for work... they still see my car in the driveway.  They never saw that it was gone between 6pm and 6am. Even with my kids.  I was always gone when they were sleeping, and was always sleeping when they were home.  So, I was home a lot, its just that nobody ever saw me.  I did that for probably close to 10 years. 

It caused citizen complaints a few times. I was actually confronted one day while mowing my yard by a guy who lived down the street who finally had enough of seeing that lazy cop down the street who never has to go to work.  People thought I was allowed to stay home and just handle calls from home via telephone if I wanted to.  It was that way for a lot of officers.   Some officers actually opted to leave their cars at the station to avoid those issue.  I didnt care.  Of the 3 people who thought they were actually going to walk over and "call out" the lazy cop, every one of them walked away educated and apologizing for jumping to conclusions.

[Private Investigator]

When I was on patrol, I had a take home patrol car.

They see my car in the driveway. 

Lucky you. In the greater L.A. area to get a take home car it has to be garaged. Of course in the greater L.A. you may have a shoot out in your driveway. My brother did in 1990 and I thought, gee you live in a bad neighborhood. Then I had a shooting in my driveway in 1999. Makes for a good integrity check of your neighbors   

[Flying Pig]

If we had a house, all we had to do was park it in the driveway, but we had to take our shotgun, rifle and computer inside.  Or any other high value items.  If you lived in an apartment or town house, it had to be garaged.  You couldnt park it in the parking lot. 

Ive seen a few guys who live on busy streets or you could see their house from a freeway over pass or something.... Ehhhhhhhh..... I dont like that.  I lived in a residential neighborhood, way off the path, deep in the middle of twists and turns and cul de sacs.  Basically if you drove past my house, its because you had a reason to be on my street. 

Now, I live way out in the country.  If you are driving past my house, you are lost.... you know me.... or your coming to get me!  You better hope I know which one you are  

[Private Investigator]

Now, I live way out in the country.  If you are driving past my house, you are lost.... you know me.... or your coming to get me!  You better hope I know which one you are

Roger that. Stay safe my friend 

[Devil Doc]

Theres an Unmarked Police city car in our neighboorhood. Funny thing is, he cant police his own neighboorhood, but im sure he can get the PoPo over here quick. We dont live in the city, so he would have to call the sherriff.

[Private Investigator]

... he cant police his own neighboorhood, ...

Yes and no. Yes he can take action to apprehend or resolve a felony in progress. No, he is likely not going to put a parking ticket on his neighbor's car. 

[Flying Pig]

Taking action in the neighborhood you live in, short of life and death is a great way to make your short stay in your house very miserable.  Im a cop, if you have an issue with me, bring it on.   .... my wife and 3 kids aren't.

[The CyBorg is destroyed]

My wife and I don't have children, but these anecdotes are quite amusing...not to mention instructive.  Out of the mouths of babes, indeed.

I remember 20-odd years ago when my then-four-year-old grandnephew was at the house.  My dad had called the PD because of some drug-dealing going down on our block, and two plain-clothes detectives in an unmarked car (though I shouldn't say that; I can recognise an "unmarked" Crown Vic on sight - always clean, and festooned with antennae).  The two officers were talking to my dad and little grandnephew got this ultra, ultra-serious look on his face and asked one of the officers (they were wearing their badges and sidearms on their belts) in this voice that sounded like it belonged to a 40-year-old:

Are you a cop?

You could have heard a pin drop and then both officers started laughing...the one little grandnephew queried smiled and said "mm-hmm" and nodded.  Little grandnephew said, "I thought so from your badge and your gun," and then just went into the other room as if it was the most natural thing ever.

Also, when I moved into my first apartment, two of my fellow-dwellers were police (city and state) who brought their cars home with them.  I always thought it was a good thing.  Let the criminal element think the apartment complex is full of cops.