Today I am a grandauntie! Our niece Jenilee's baby Chloe Marie was born today, 8 April at 3:38 p.m. in Kalamazoo. Grandma Joy tells us that both Jeni and Chloe are fine, Chloe weighed 8 pounds 1 ounce and measured 20 inches, and has a lot of dark hair. Congratulations, Jeni and Chris!
Jim spent the last two days in the Flint, Michigan area, working on a new project with GMAC. He will return next week, but was able to come home this evening; just arrived about an hour ago. He left Flint about 5:15 p.m., but was significantly delayed. Let me tell you why.
Jim carries a full first aid kit, including several pairs of latex gloves, in his car, as a matter of course. He seems to run across situations in which he needs them rather frequently. Several years ago he delivered a baby on the shoulder of I-85 in Ohio - the baby's parents were on their way to the hospital and crashed their car, the dad had to have an emergency tracheotomy, with which the only available paramedics were occupied...so Jim delivered the baby! Not long after that, he was behind a minivan with a mattress strapped (not very tightly) to the top; the mattress flew off and jammed underneath the van. No one was injured in that case, but Jim stopped to help the folks maneuver the mattress out from underneath their van.
It must now be said that the Michigan herd of whitetail deer is way too large, and something needs to be done about it. Jim said on his way home tonight he personally saw at least a thousand deer.
Eight of these deer decided to cross I-69 near Lansing this evening at an inopportune time, scattering vehicles, causing several to veer off the road. One of those deer - a buck, probably about 250 pounds, crashed right into a blue Honda Civic - Jim saw the whole thing happen. The deer's head was protruding through the windshield of the car, its neck broken. The female driver of the car was fine, but her husband, in the passenger seat, was badly cut by windshield (or possibly passenger window) glass and was bleeding profusely from the femoral artery.
The injured man was able to exit the car, during which time Jim pulled off the road, removed his jacket and watch, and put on latex gloves. The driver was hysterical and the injured man fell down - probably from blood loss - so Jim calmly walked over and began to apply pressure to the wound, while other bystanders attempted to calm the wife. Twelve minutes ticked by before the paramedics arrived, and they took over. Jim stayed until the injured man was stabilized and loaded into the ambulance, and then gave his report to the police.
So Jim got home a little late tonight, but did a good deed in the meantime!