Busy last day of the cycle….

Don’t you love it when plans fall to pieces?? The fact that I’m here and posting means I am NOT going to get to see The Worx tonight. The good news is that the tickets didn’t go to waste and the farm “manager” (she got a field promotion from farm “hand”) is in for a good time tonight. Me…. I’m stuck here but if I make it another 12 hours or so, I’ll be on the bike and headed for the beach in the morning…OBX bound baby! The day here (heck..the week for that matter) has been somewhat hectic. I NEED this 4 day break! To begin with…. I might have jumped the gun last day. You see…well… ummm.. the honest answer is that it’s all Jimmy’s fault ( Jimmy Jennings aka Support truck driver). You see, he kinda tricked me last day with the new lawn mower. Having retired from here once already and worked with the likes of my dad, Jimbo knows how to fret. Anyway, I was thinking those South East Thugs over at #6 got OUR new mower and we were hung out to dry. Before I even looked inside our new out building, I had decided that we needed a goat and …and… well I’m not going to say if I brought him or not nor will I post his pics (IF…IF we had any). I mean come on!!!! A goat inside the city limits? At a firehouse?? Do you know the trouble that could cause?? Who would do such a thing?? Can you imagine what would happen??…..

LMAO…I aint saying either way but I should have checked the building first… Yep..Ol Vinnie came through with a brand spanking new Simplicity…and it was there the WHOLE TIME! LMAO.. aint she a BEAUT! Never mind the poor goat just may starve now.. whatdaya gonna do? So, we started off the day with me eating a little lawn mower “crow”. We had Pee-Wee and Opie off to Doctor school and a Medic student riding here. I guess Fran had enough because today we got a brother from Salem Fire Department. B. Hollins is out of station #2 I believe and got a small taste of the city today. Heres a shot of Hollins… We had our Medic out of service a while this morning for repairs so I sent him and Joe down to run out of “The Deuce” for a bit. They caught a few down there and then made it home to run several more from Medic #3. Nice job and good work today brother..come on back anytime. We stayed pretty steady on the Engine as well. Fire, EMS and a MVA with a tractor trailer and a secondary accident. Our brothers from “Lucky #13″ rolled in to assist as well as Medic Units 101 and 5. All totaled, we had 1 minor injury and a few “Allstate injuries”. After we had everyone packaged and shipped off to the ER, we had to hang around until we could get the roads opened back up. That put Coon and Pee-Wee on “traffic Duty”…

Yea.. we actually had a 4 man Engine for a short while…very short. Anyways..don’t Coon fill out that safety vest nicely??? LOL. It seemed like afterwards, we were catching one run after another.. I’ve been trying different views with my helmet cam and camera and got a little short video of us on a run today. Here’s the veiw from my seat…buckle up!

http://www.youtube.com/get_player

Eventually, we made it home and went to filling out reports and getting the grub going. Oh yea, after a week like this.. nothing else but T-bone steaks prepared by none other than “Grill Master” Coon

We even had another visitor today.. and a special one at that. Tyrone dropped in for a visit… yea.. he misses me! He was working in the area and couldn’t pass up the chance to stop in…
Check out that fuzzy stuff around his mouth and chin… mustache envy??? Hummm looks more like a shock absorber for a high speed butt kisser if you ask me..LOL..and the glasses?? guess he thinks his future’s so bright he has to wear shades…LOL I tell ya what.. all kidding aside, just his presence changes the entire mood of a room. You can’t help but to be happy and laugh around Tyrone. He says he’s happy with the change / decision he made and that he is doing well… for that, I’m proud; but I sure do miss the little fella. I know that w
e are not the only Department in the Country that is faced with big turn overs and losing young members but still, something needs to happen. Rumor is, we had another young member turn in his papers yesterday. I dont understand it… I mean I can see their side for wanting to leave but also think we could work harder to keep our members here. It has to cost the city to loose em so soon. We have numbers / statictics for everything else, why can’t we figure out how to hire and retain members. When I came (and well before) you had to wait to get on. Then, if you were lucky enough to get the nod, you knew you were here till retirement and hoped that it would be 30 years or more until you got to that point. Again, I don’t know but it just doesn’t set well when you have so many young guys throwing in the towel. Was it more than they expected? More than they could handle? I know it’s not our call volume. Is it how they are treated? I know most of the newer members look at this as a “job” but for me, it’s so much more. For me, it’s a life..a “way of life”. It’s all I know and it hurts to see guys leaving it with a bad taste in their mouths. Just my opinion but who cares what I think anyway right?
Ok, I’m getting off the soap box and heading to bed.. Thanks for reading and following along. We start 4 day in the morning and come back Wednesday the 11th. I may get a post in before then but I’m not real sure about packing the lap top. Either way, until the next one.. stay safe and in house.
Captain Wines

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