This time with feeling.
Last shift, after the combat test, I got to bed about 10:30 or so. I shoulda known we were going to be in for a strange night. About 9pm we had a PT with a nice laceration show up on the front ramp of the fire station. They were new to the area and not used to living in a place with 911 coverage, so they were hoping that some of the volunteer firefighters would be at the station and able to help. Whoops. No volunteers here haha. Luckily us paid guys were able to get them sorted out.
Anyhow, after getting to bed at a decent hour, we got up about 3:45 to go rescue a dog. A well loved (read: fat) beagle had managed to get herself stuck in a fence. The owner said that she was old and scared of storms, and had likely panicked. The odd part was that she was trying to get <>into<> the yard, as opposed to getting out. Whatever, no big deal. She had too much belly, and not enough noggin, much like a certain beagle that is near and dear to my own heart. If you picture a fork, imagine something being stuck between the tines right in the curve. She had gotten her shoulders past the bars, but was now well and truly hung.
If you've ever heard a beagle start caterwalling, you know what we were up against. Luckily she quit as long as someone was there with her. We tried to dig her out, but that didn't work, there was a strategically placed tree root blocking our efforts. You'd think that if she could get in there, she could get out, but I think that she had turned herself sideways to get in, and then wedged further trying to move. The poor lady that owned her was in her nightgown, and said that she had let the dog out to potty. Did I mention that we had one heck of a thunderstorm going on?
To make a long story short, we were unsuccessful in prying the bars apart, we couldn't dig her out, and we could not cut the bars that were holding her because her little beagle body was wrapped around them, so the only option was to use the hydraulic cutters (like you'd use on a car wreck) to remove a section of the fence. It took longer to set up than to cut, and we soon had a wiggly, licky beagle giving us grateful slobbery kisses before running over to her owner.
It's things like this that make it all worthwhile haha.
On another note, I'll be doing something at the end of the month that I thought I'd throw out and see if anyone here was interested. It's short notice and would be a bit of travelling, but if I don't ask you'll never know. I am going to something up in Clarksville, TN (where I went to college). It's an archery competition, but they have a special group that you can participate in. They provide you with a chunk of wood, all the tools and instruction that you need, and help you make a bow. Then on the last day you get to participate in a special shoot just for the people that made their own bows. I believe it starts on a Thursday and runs through Sunday. It's at the end of this month and first of May. I'm really looking forward to it.
See ya later.
Saturday, April 11, 2009
Thursday, April 9, 2009
Missed it by THAT --> <-- much
I missed it by 8 seconds. Now, to this guy
8 seconds is an eternity, but for me it is nothing. I coulda, shoulda, woulda, but in the end I missed it by 8 seconds.
Sorry, I'm talking about our twice a year combat test at work. That's the one I've talked about before where we climb the stairs, raise the ladder, hit the sled with the sledgehammer, drag the hose and then drag the dummy. My time this go round was 3:08, and under 3 minutes is considered perfect. Ok, so I guess technically I missed it by 9 seconds which equates to
--> <-- that much (as opposed to --> <-- that much as previously stated), but I hope you'll forgive me.
What really made it worse is that the whole time I was doing it, I was walking, and I knew I should be running. I knew I had enough gas in the tank to step it up, but I just didn't do it. I wasn't tired, my legs were fine (90% of this is leg power and endurance, if you can come off the stairs feeling good you are golden), but in the back of my mind I knew we had a new, heavier dummy who was very stiff, and I was afraid of running out of gas dragging him or struggling to get him positioned to pick up.
It was silly of me. The other day I picked him up and threw him over my shoulder just to have my picture taken doing it, to prove I could. I know I can manhandle him. When we tested applicants last time I spent a good portion of the day moving him around to get him reset for the next guy.
I got to the end and was still feeling so good that I knew I should have run. I could have made up that 8 seconds easily.
So here it is, a line in the sand, if you will. In 6 months, I'll be sub 3:00, which will put me in some fast company. At least in my department. This guy does it in about 90 seconds: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ECTh4KRTfg0 . Of course, he trains specifically for this event and has special gear for it, etc. He also does the hose hoist instead of the ladder raise, which is tougher. I'm not worried about being that fast, I just want to be one of the fastest ones in my dept (which means I need to ultimately be about 2:00 flat, and in this game a minute is an eternity!) I think I can do it.
Ahhh, and before I forget to mention it, April was nice enough to bring dinner to us tonight at work before she goes on her trip. She made lasagna and a chocolate chip cheesecake and ate with us. It was greatly appreciated and delicious!
Sunday, April 5, 2009
See, it hasn't been a month yet!
This time anyway.
April told you that I put a small roof on our outdoor swing, and I figured I'd post some pictures of it.
Not much to it. I had to do a little engineering to get them stable, the trusses were just a little too flimsy to do much more than hold them up there. They had a pretty good amount of swing to them. Luckily I had some leftover 2X10 scraps from when I redid some step treads, and I was able to make them work as bracing.
For the roofing material I used some 'sun screen' material. It blocks the sun but still lets some light in. It makes a nice little shady spot, but the real purpose of the whole thing was to keep the birds from making a mess on the seats themselves.
I even had some left over 2X4's from when I put in the fence, and they worked perfectly on this. You can see one of them is partially stained already, so that will save me some work! Actually, that is from when I was staining the swing and managed to knock over the jar of stain. I had been using that 2X4 as part of a saw horse. My ladder matches it haha. All told I had to spend about $20 to get this done, and I think it was worth it.
Anyhow, that's about it for now. We've been dodging bad weather. They say it might snow tomorrow, and it was 75 today! How do you like that? Take care all.
Chris
April told you that I put a small roof on our outdoor swing, and I figured I'd post some pictures of it.
Not much to it. I had to do a little engineering to get them stable, the trusses were just a little too flimsy to do much more than hold them up there. They had a pretty good amount of swing to them. Luckily I had some leftover 2X10 scraps from when I redid some step treads, and I was able to make them work as bracing.
For the roofing material I used some 'sun screen' material. It blocks the sun but still lets some light in. It makes a nice little shady spot, but the real purpose of the whole thing was to keep the birds from making a mess on the seats themselves.
I even had some left over 2X4's from when I put in the fence, and they worked perfectly on this. You can see one of them is partially stained already, so that will save me some work! Actually, that is from when I was staining the swing and managed to knock over the jar of stain. I had been using that 2X4 as part of a saw horse. My ladder matches it haha. All told I had to spend about $20 to get this done, and I think it was worth it.
Anyhow, that's about it for now. We've been dodging bad weather. They say it might snow tomorrow, and it was 75 today! How do you like that? Take care all.
Chris
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
In the spirit of the day
I'll go ahead and post about a little prank we pulled yesterday at the firehouse. It almost got us in hot, well, water. You'll see what I mean.
We had our main engine in the shop, and it got brought back to us while we were working out. We went down to the bay (we have a 2 story firehouse) and swapped our equipment back to it. As we were about to go back inside, one of the guys suggested we climb the firepole back upstairs instead of walking. The first guy climbed, then the second guy. There was me and one other person downstairs. I wasn't sure I could do it, so I let the other guy go first. He got a few feet up but kept sliding back down. The pole has a trap door at the top that opens when you put weight on the pole. The theory is that if a child were to step on it, it would hold the child up, but an adult on the pole weighs enough to open the trap. I think it holds like 60 lbs or so. Anyhow, I realized that I could only see one guy through the opening, and I got a funny feeling about where the other guy had gone, so I just took the stairs.
About 3/4 of the way up I could still hear the conversation between the guys upstairs and the guy downstairs. Both guys upstairs were back, and were feverishly trying to convince him to 'give it one more chance'. Then the began clammering for me to try and climb. I turned the corner and saw what they were upu to: they had set a bucket of water on the trap door!
Luckily my gut (both instinct and size!) had led me away from danger. The guy downstairs had given up and was going to just take the stairs. But it dawned on me that we had a new guy who had just started on Monday, and he was downstairs in the Training Officer's office, and it was about time for him to go home. In other words, a perfect opportunity. In a flash the original prankster went downstairs and started trying to talk the new guy into climbing the pole.
Being that he was so new and would be working on our shift, he was eager to give it a try. He came out into the bay to size up the pole before his attempt. He asked how the trap door worked. To our horror, the Training Captain, who had come with him to see what the new guy had in him, said 'It's easy, your weight opens the trap, watch'.
It's amazing how time seems to slow down sometimes. I remember looking at the guy standing at the top of the pole with me. We both had the same 'Oh No' look on our faces. I had a thought to grab the bucket, then replace it when the new guy tried to climb up. It seemed like about 10 minutes. In reality it was about 3 seconds. I saw him through a crack in the trap, then it was all over. As soon as he grabbed the pole and pulled, he knew his mistake. He had a shocked look on his face, as the bucket overturned. I swear I could see individual water droplets falling. And here we were, the 4 of us, the new guy, and the man third from the top of the department, who was now thoroughly and truly soaked.
Luckily for us he knew that it was not intended for him, and though you could tell he was furious, he laughed it off pretty well. I thought we were cooked, but so far he has let it go pretty well. From what I can tell he's the type that will wait a while and then get back at us. I'll let you know when that happens. I suspect it will be Monday, when we have to do our bi-annual combat test. It won't surprise me to find a dumbbell in the hose back or a 45lb weight strapped to the dummy.
We had our main engine in the shop, and it got brought back to us while we were working out. We went down to the bay (we have a 2 story firehouse) and swapped our equipment back to it. As we were about to go back inside, one of the guys suggested we climb the firepole back upstairs instead of walking. The first guy climbed, then the second guy. There was me and one other person downstairs. I wasn't sure I could do it, so I let the other guy go first. He got a few feet up but kept sliding back down. The pole has a trap door at the top that opens when you put weight on the pole. The theory is that if a child were to step on it, it would hold the child up, but an adult on the pole weighs enough to open the trap. I think it holds like 60 lbs or so. Anyhow, I realized that I could only see one guy through the opening, and I got a funny feeling about where the other guy had gone, so I just took the stairs.
About 3/4 of the way up I could still hear the conversation between the guys upstairs and the guy downstairs. Both guys upstairs were back, and were feverishly trying to convince him to 'give it one more chance'. Then the began clammering for me to try and climb. I turned the corner and saw what they were upu to: they had set a bucket of water on the trap door!
Luckily my gut (both instinct and size!) had led me away from danger. The guy downstairs had given up and was going to just take the stairs. But it dawned on me that we had a new guy who had just started on Monday, and he was downstairs in the Training Officer's office, and it was about time for him to go home. In other words, a perfect opportunity. In a flash the original prankster went downstairs and started trying to talk the new guy into climbing the pole.
Being that he was so new and would be working on our shift, he was eager to give it a try. He came out into the bay to size up the pole before his attempt. He asked how the trap door worked. To our horror, the Training Captain, who had come with him to see what the new guy had in him, said 'It's easy, your weight opens the trap, watch'.
It's amazing how time seems to slow down sometimes. I remember looking at the guy standing at the top of the pole with me. We both had the same 'Oh No' look on our faces. I had a thought to grab the bucket, then replace it when the new guy tried to climb up. It seemed like about 10 minutes. In reality it was about 3 seconds. I saw him through a crack in the trap, then it was all over. As soon as he grabbed the pole and pulled, he knew his mistake. He had a shocked look on his face, as the bucket overturned. I swear I could see individual water droplets falling. And here we were, the 4 of us, the new guy, and the man third from the top of the department, who was now thoroughly and truly soaked.
Luckily for us he knew that it was not intended for him, and though you could tell he was furious, he laughed it off pretty well. I thought we were cooked, but so far he has let it go pretty well. From what I can tell he's the type that will wait a while and then get back at us. I'll let you know when that happens. I suspect it will be Monday, when we have to do our bi-annual combat test. It won't surprise me to find a dumbbell in the hose back or a 45lb weight strapped to the dummy.
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