Small Town Clinics

TINS©, TIWFDASL© in Da Nawth. I was working my weekends off in a rural hospital’s walk in clinic, and, surprisingly, saw folks who walked (and limped!) in to obtain care for their particular maladies. One snowy weekend, a gentleman limped in, with a complaint of bruising and knee pain after rolling his snowmobile.

Once the nurse had finished her interview of our friend, I entered for my share of the proceedings. I introduced myself, and asked him to tell me what happened.

“Well, Doc,” (No, I’m not a doctor, yet folks persist in addressing me as a physician, notwithstanding the fact that every single time I begin an interview, I introduce myself as ‘Hello, I’m Reltney McFee, a Nurse Practitioner. What can I do for you?’), he began, “Yesterday I rolled my snowmobile down an embankment, and it wound up on my leg, pinning me to the road. I rolled it right in front of a DNR officer, and he and one of my buddies rolled it off me. My knee feels pretty sore, even though I can walk on it. I have another bruise, here on my side, I guess from my Sig 365, that I had in my pocket.”

For those in our studio audience who are not “gun guys”, a Sig 365 is a striker fired semi auto 9 mm handgun, with a 10 round detachable box magazine. It is relatively small sized, being just under 6 inches from muzzle to the back of the slide.

I asked him where his pistol was presently, and he responded, “Well, this is in the hospital, so I left it in my car. That’s what the regs regarding my CPL (concealed pistol license) call for.”

I performed my exam, and we chatted about firearms while I did so. I contributed, “My wife is looking at getting another concealed carry pistol, and she has considered the Sig. What do you think about that?”

“Well, I really like my Sig. It carries well, and I am pretty accurate with it. You read about firing pin drag on the primer, and some guys say that the firing pin may break because of that. I haven’t had any problems myself. Just in case, I carry it with the hammer down on an empty chamber.”

TDW bought a Springfield Armory Hellcat. And loves it!

Another, tangentially related, small town story. Several weeks ago TDW-Mark II and I went on vacation. We set our camper up, and decided that this night was a good choice for pizza. We went to the local pizza place, placed our order, and settled in to wait. It was getting on towards dusk, and I noticed that, as I turned on the lights, there did not appear to be any illumination from the passenger side tail light. Since I did not feel any particular desire to explain to Officer Friendly how this light might have failed, nor my plans to remedy this failure (let alone the conversation that begins, “Well, officer, you see, I have my CPL, and my sidearm is on my right hip. How would you like to proceed?” I have had a couple of friendly roadside conversations about carry sidearm choice, but, wouldn’t it be nice to not encounter Officer Friendly as the traffic stop just after he received a soliloquy regarding his mother’s poor life choices?)

So, the next day, TDW and I set off on our day, and detoured to the Rural Town Truck Dealership. I explained my need to the service advisor, and he said that one of the mechanics could set me right, once the present job was complete.

Cool by me.

I settled in for a spell of a wait, and soon met the mechanic, who identified my bulb type, and led me to the parts counter, there to pay for my bulb.

I typically wear a ball cap, and this one is from Freedom Munitions (no payola, simply a satisfied customer). The parts guy asked me if I worked there, and a conversation about The Ammo Drought ensued. We chatted about caliber, about carry choices, and about setting ammunition by for a “rainy day”.

At the end of the chat, my taillight was repaired, I was NOT charged for the mechanic’s time (despite the fact that I asked what I owed for his time!)

The moral of the story is that, as Commander Zero (http://www.commanderzero.com/)often notes, there are Like Minded Individuals all over the place, if you look carefully.

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