Or, why I missed most of the Super Bowl
When I [del]was railroaded[/del] volunteered to do today’s MMP, I figured I’d have many mini-tales of stupid people because the plan was to go to a home show this past weekend, and I could avoid telling more firehouse stories. Well, the financing fell through because we need to own the joint 12 months to redo an FHA mortgage. That means the home show was a no-go, and all I’ve got are firehouse tales.
Saturday was a nice day. Unfortunately, I was very tired, and I slept away most of the afternoon instead of tackling items #56,749 and #272,453 on my list of crap to do. With the help of a neighbor, we got the 2[sup]nd[/sup] fridge out of the kitchen and set up in it’s new home in the garage. That was great, but then I had to use up the rest of the daylight shampooing carpet and mopping the kitchen floor after Loki, in his idiotic enthusiasm, tracked dog doo through the house.
Yes, there’s a point to this. I was annoyed yesterday about the lack of progress on my list, and I went out to the workshop to do some more arranging and setting up. The temperature was in the low 40s, and the wind was blowing out of the south at a speed approaching Mach 1. Even inside the shop, it was COLD (I don’t wanna hear from the frostbitten Midwestern contingent about what constitutes ‘cold’ right now, either).
I gave up after about an hour, and went inside to start making horse doovers for the game. Right about the time I started stir frying cabbage for the eggrolls, my pager went off. The initial report was a fire in a junk yard. OK, this won’t take long… After getting to the station and suiting up, we were on the way when the sheriff came on the fire band and advised us that there was gasoline, rubber, and LP gas involved, as well as 2 explosions already. Oh, SH&T.
We got there, and I did my first round of hose time with an air pack. An old RV had burned down to the frame, and set fire to about 1 /2 acre of pine woods downwind. Fortunately, we’ve had rain recently, so the ground cover was burning, and not the trees. Everything was out within 20-30 minutes or so… Remember the stiff wind? The business owner was burning trash in an open pile, and the wind spread it to the Winnebago :smack:.
Funny part: when my truck rolled up, the sheriff pulled an axe off, and was going to town on a lock and chain holding shut a sliding gate. The business owner lifted up the other end of the gate off the track and pulled it open, and the sheriff is still chopping away…
We cleaned up, and it took us an hour or so to clean up at the station, and get everything ready for the next run. I got home about 45 minutes before the kickoff, and went back to work on my eggrolls and other things. I thought I had my excitement for the day; but wait, there’s more.
The tones went off again, but not for my station. A house was fully engulfed, with a wheelchair bound kid and his mom inside. VWife and I listened intently as 2 other stations and the rescue squad went nuts getting there. Good news is that mom got her kid out before anyone got there.
With 14-6 Bears at the end of the 1[sup]st[/sup] quarter, my pager went off again, as a second alarm for tanker support. I went, and it was A Good Thing, too, because I was one of 2 to answer that call. We dumped 3000 gallons, tried to draft from a creek to refill but sucked air instead, and were relieved from the scene. I got home in time to see the score go from 22-17 Colts to 29-17, and didn’t miss any more of the game. I told the wife that after two calls in a single day, I reserved the right to skip a third last night unless the nursing home was on fire.
Colt, Boo-yah!
for them
I’d take a Mach 1 wind with 40 degrees about now… It is -11 at present. I’d say it in Celsius, but that just makes it feel colder. I am in layers, many of them. I have to read my Reference text today (altogether now…zzzzzzzzzz) and make something in the crockpot for din-dins. I am using the crockpot to warm up the kitchen.