Randy's Moma …

I haven’t met her yet but Im sure Randy’s moma is proud … if not, she should be.  Me? … I’m undecided as of yet.

Now, don’t get me wrong … I like him. He’s eager to learn. Open to new ideas and challenges. He has adapted well to change and is a genuine good person.

See previous posts on “Rookie Randy”  HERE     and  HERE

Cooking … Cleaning…. he’s had his fair share since being assigned to “Lucky #13” and I’m sure his moma would be amazed at just how well he preforms.

He’s done everything asked of him and more … well ALMOST. 

If you remember, or hit the link above to the earlier post “I had to pull the book” you’ll know that before I went off on vacation I assigned Randy 1 task….. 1 !

For reasons I wont get into, he was assigned to memorize paragraph 4 of page 121 from Effective Company Command. I knew he would. He had completed every other assigned task above expectations. I had even told my wife that I bet he would be waiting for me when I arrived back to work on Thursday. I went as far to tell her that if he wasn’t there early and waiting on me, that once he did arrive; he’d come straight to me and recite the paragraph.

Well, he wasn’t at the station at 06:30 am nor did he come straight to me once he arrived at 07:00. It was almost like he avoided me. I gave him a bit to settle in then I asked him . LMAO … you shoulda seen the look on his face! He stuttered and stammered. It was almost painful to watch. But then, as I helped him word for word it became funny … comical. It reminded me of an old Andy Griffith episode …

LMAO !!  That’s EXACTLY how his recital went … EXACTLY! Needless to say, I was disappointed but I can also assure you that Randy will have that paragraph DOWN PAT in no time!

Last day we worked on MAYDAY and today is SEARCH / RESCUE. I should have some good pics and an update for ya later tonight.

So, moving on; I have several things to update you on.

I got a comment / e-mail asking about our trip to Baltimore and Firehouse Expo 2011. Specifically, it related to the post  “Looking Back on Baltimore …”

The comment basically was asking why I had not posted any pictures of Chief Billy Goldfeder and myself … if we had even seen one another there.

Well yes, I did get to see Chief Billy at Expo. Regretfully, I didn’t have the chance to buy him a beer but we did get to speak. The Chief spotted me on the floor and took the time to stop and say hello. Having the “mustache envy” I do, I took the opportunity to grab a pic. Yea … he has me!

I also didn’t get to post on much of the “fun” side of the trip.

Yea … Rhett and I always manage to have a good time even when on “business”.

We found a new “favorite” hang out …. ok a new favorite bar.

The  PBR Baltimore !

This place was awesome!

I think we dropped in almost every night for cold refreshments and a good time.

For some reason or another, I was kinda popular in the joint …

I think it was my hat … everybody wanted to try it on..

Even “Fire Boy” had to try it on ….

I think he thought it made him look taller ..LOL

I hope they have one in Atlanta … we had a blast!

You can see in the pic with me and Rhett that they even have a mechanical bull!

Yea .. we rode it!

Well, some of us “rode it” … I rode it in STYLE … with a waitress!

 

 

And, While I’m back to Baltimore … I wanted to share a little more about one of our fellow climbers….Tommy Warshaw.

Rhett has known Tommy for sometime through Face and Twitter but they have never actually met.

I knew Tommy through the same means but not as well as Rhett.

Anyway, Tommy had contacted us to say that he would be at the climb and would love the chance to met us in person.

Obviously, we were thrilled and offered to buy him a beverage following the event. He made the climb so we bought the beer!

Tommy was one of the first ones up .. he climbed in group #3 (we were #19).

Tommy is “top notch” in my book … a GREAT guy!

He is the kind of brother who wears 2 hats for your safety and freedom. I say that meaning that he is also in the military. Tommy serves in the 34th Intelligence Squad out of Fort Mead, Md. while volunteering in the Fire Service. WOW !

Tommy thought enough of us (me and Rhett) to bring us a Challenge Coin from his unit.

 

Brought em and presented them to us before the climb!

Like I said … TOP NOTCH ! 

And like the coin says … “ONE TOUGH DUCK”!

It was and honor and privilege Tommy … THANKS!

Baltimore kinda followed me home. Well, it (or “the Climb” anyway) will stay with me forever. What I meant by following me home was the fact that we received a special package here at Station #13 on Thursday.

Most of you know by now that I worked the booth for Zach Green and MN8 / FoxFire Products while at Expo. 

 I posted on how grateful Zach was in the “Looking Back on Baltimore..” post.

The fancy dinner, Champagne, bottles of Wine etc.

Well, I get back to the firehouse and the box arrives from Cincinnati, OH.

It took me a minute but then I put two and two together … yea … SIX! LOL

No, Zach is from Cincinnati.

We were like kids at Christmas!

Tore the box to pieces! Randy thought is was his birthday or something.

We got out the Irons, had a forcible entry drill and just lookie what we found…

ICE CREAM !!!

Not just ANY ice cream mind you … GRAETER’S  ice cream!

OMG !  As Wheezy would say … “deleeeeshious” Thanks Zach..YOU ARE THE MAN!

So, that should about wrap up the Baltimore trip …. I know, I know … about time .. right? It’s been just as busy here around home. We’ve had 2 multiple alarm fires in as many days here in “The Noke”. If you missed them check out a previous post  HERE  .

We also had a retirement.

Our last day (Thursday July 28, 2011) was Firefighter / EMT Kenny Hurt’s last day in company.

Kenny was hired in the same group of 21 members that I was back in 1991. He was able to retire because we have what we call a “Rule of 70”. Although you will not draw your max pension, when your age and years of service add up to 70, you are eligible to retire.

 Congratulations and good luck to Kenny!

Ok.. I’m gonna wrap things up for now …I’ll check back in a little later on. Until then, Stay Safe and In House!

Captain Wines