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Can you believe that there are blogs about firefighting? Yes, just like knitting blogs there are blogs about firefighting!! I found this one by accident when I was checking the stats for my blog. And remember the firefighting game I mentioned last week? Well, I must have hit the big time because I was mentioned in this post!!!
Regular bloggin should resume tomorrow.
Okay, last night, I actually had nothing to do other then study. So what did I do? I baked instead of seriously studying. Okay, I did get some studying done and I managed to get some knitting in as well.
For some reason, I have been on a kick and making No Bake Cookies like every other day. And no, I have had not had more then 2 cookies total out of 4 batches!!! My next door neighbor loves them
so I have just been taking him over some of the cookies. I take the rest of them down to the fire house. This batch is what I am taking to sit and stitch tonight.
I also baked a batch of Down Maine East Pumpkin Bread. I know that I linked to this recipe off some else's blog. But I can not
remember whose blog it was that had the link. The recipe makes 3 loaves and smells pumpkin-y. I made two slightly smaller loaves and one larger loaf. How does it taste? Good question. I will let you know tomorrow after I get a report on it. I took the larger loaf to the post office this morning. The ladies down there are always willing to be taste testers for me. They were going to have some at lunch time and save the rest for tomorrow morning's breakfast. And they are always totally honest with me about the recipes. I am taking the two smaller loaves with me tonight as well as the cookies. What doesn't get eaten tonight will get eaten at Sunday's sit and stitch. (The only changes I made to the recipe were to add walnuts and sub pumpkin pie spice for all of the spices. I didn't measure the amount of the pumpkin pie spice that I used. I just eyeballed it.)
I did get some progress made on two pairs of socks that are on my needles. I did not make any progress on the third pair that I just started. The first two pairs are being made out of Super Sock Tess' Designer Yarn that I picked up at Maryland Sheep and Wool. One problem that I am finding with this yarn is that it appears to be crocking slightly. Both my fingers and my needles are picking up the excess dye. Has anyone else had this problem with this yarn? I am hoping that the excess dye will wash out when I am done. I have 3 more skeins of this yarn in my stash for socks and I really like this yarn.
The other sock is being made out of Trekking. I have discovered that I really do not like Trekking. But my mother likes the color so I guess I need to make her a pair of socks for her Christmas order. The colors in the skein that I have are red and purple. And I think she likes the colors because she is in the Red Hat Society. And their colors are red and purple. Luckily her foot is the same size as mine so I can fit the socks to me.
And I have found a really cool game that will test your skills. And it will kill time. I have spent way too much time playing this game and I normally do not like computer games. This link will take you to the page where there is a link to the pop-up window for the game. And yes, it is a fire fighter game. You get to play nozzle man and put out the fires.
Okay, time to play catchup.
Friday
The whole day was rainy and deary. So I went to sit and stitch at Eleganza Yarns. (This is one of my two LYS.) I spent about an hour there. I really wanted to go to bed early. Sometimes I get a feeling about the need to go to bed early because I think I am going to be getting up in the middle of the night.
And sure enough, I had just gone to bed about 10:30 when we got a call for an automatic alarm at a commercial building. There are better ways to spend a Friday evening then wandering around a big warehouse looking for a sensor that is malfunctioning. But I did go home and knit some after wards. There were no more calls Friday night.
Saturday
I had promised a friend that I would go down and ride the medic unit with her depending on how my Friday night went. Well, while I was sitting around early Saturday morning knitting, my fire company received a call for a barn fire. And yes, I made up my mind to go to the barn fire instead.
It actually turned out to be a silo fire and because we were the truck on the call, we did all of the work. We actually had to dig before we could set up the truck. Do you have any idea of how hard it is to dig in packed rock and clay? We had to do quite a bit of digging before we could do any work. Believe it or not, there is actually a fire company that specializes in silo fires in our area!!
By the time we finally got home from that call and got everything cleaned up it was well after 1 in the afternoon. So I went home and finally got a shower. After wards, I headed out to both of my local yarn shops. I mean what else are you going to do on a drizzly Saturday but go and play with a yarn?
Sunday
Kristie, the owner of Eleganza Yarns, had told me that she was going to be at the DC Knit Out. And that meant that her fiance was in charge of the store. It is never a good thing to leave a non-knitter in charge of the store. I had volunteered to go in for the Sunday sit and stitch as the Knit Diva just in case anyone came in needing help.
Basically everyone of the regulars of the Sunday group was at the Knit Out except for me so Kristie was not really expecting too many people to show up. I ended up helping a few beginners get started and helped sell more yarn and books to those who came in for help. I am a very good sales person. You may come in looking for one thing until you talk to me and you will find our self walking out with more items. And I have not pushed or pressured you into buying the extra items.
And I managed to get one front side of the Sherpa cardi almost finished while I was at the shop.
This Week
I have completed two of the three fire prevention details for this week. I had the kindergardeners today while some one else had the first graders at the same time. For some reason, the morning class was easier to do than the afternoon class. And this morning, I had twice the number of kids.
I will get some photos as soon as the sun cooperates. It seems like all we have had lately is rain and gray skies.
Okay, I just have to give a big shout out to the wonderful people at Brittany needles. Now I have used all brands of needles in my earch for the perfect sock needle. But the best needles for me have been Brittany 5 inch dpns in size 0.
Well, I was just working on a sock and I realized that something was wrong with one of the needles. Yeah, it was broken. I called Brittany up per their instructions on their website and they are mailing me out a replacement needle. Actually I am being sent a few extra replacement needles. The lady I spoke with was surprisesd to hear that this is the first time that I have ever broken a size 0. I guess that I have been lucky. But I knew there was a reason I liked these needles. (Photos of the broken needle to show up soon.)
This week has been pretty busy. The amount of time that I have had to knit is very small. Between work, class, studying, a fire prevention detail, preparing for next week's fire prevention details, and running calls, I am surprised that I have had time to sleep!
But I have been slowly working on some knitting UFOs this week but there is not much progress. I have just been too busy.
But just because I have been busy does not mean that I have not been having fun. I did my first fire prevention detail on Monday. This was my first one all by myself. I talked about fire prevention to 8 high school special education students. I had to tailor the presentation to their level. Their teacher has been working with them on this for a few weeks so about the only thing I had to do was show them the engine. One of the boys wanted to see all of the tools so I showed them what we carry on one side only including the brooms. And, of course, almost everyone wanted to sit in the back of the engine. Everyone had their pictures taken when they sat back there.
One very important component of fire prevention that we always make a point to show the younger children is what we look like when we are geared up. I made sure that I geared up totally with this group. I have seen others gear up so fast that they scare the kids. I carefully explained each step as I did and the end result was that no one was afraid.
I have also been running calls this week as usual. We did have a working fire the other day. We managed to get the fire out before damage was done to the nearby houses. But the house were the fire occurred will need work done on it before it is livable again.
One thing that I did learn how to do this week is try a variety of knots. MJ, tying a prusik is easy. And so is tying the grapevine or double fisherman's or the barrel knot is really easy. I can make my own prusiks now!!
And it was funny last night in class when we were all playing with knots before class and I am showing the guys who have been doing this stuff awhile how to tie some of the basic knots. They had forgotten how to tie them. And the really funny thing is that some of the knots that they were having problems with were the same exact ones that I had problems with last spring. Knots are like anything else - practice makes perfect!
I have been buying knitting books the past few weeks so I will try and get some reviews and photos of them up next week.
Next week is going to be super busy. Between working a full time job and running calls, I have class two nights next week, a fire prevention detail, a company drill, and a meeting that I have to attend. Oh, I also need to get my readings done for class and work on knitting.
My class schedule is working around the instructor's work schedule. And while the class was scheduled for Wednesday nights only, the truth is that some weeks we have 3 times in one week. The third day of class is an all day Saturday class. And the reading schedule is pretty heavy for this class. The class is a college level class so that will give you an idea as the level of the reading materials.
I have a fire prevention detail Monday morning at the high school. And I still have 3 details the following week. Monday's will be the first one I have ever done all by myself. This should prove to be interesting.
The company drill is Tuesday and it is the same night as the meeting that I have to attend. The chief told me last night that I need to be at the drill because he has scheduled the meeting at the same time. I was already planning on going to the company drill. The meeting is so I can be fitted for new turn-out gear. We received our federal grant and part of the money is to be spent on new turn-out gear. The chief has selected 25 or 30 of us to receive the new gear. I knew that I would be on the list simply because my county issued does not fit me properly. (Think short girl in a jacket that could double as a dress!)
And this is all on top of running calls plus working. And somehow, I need to get in my daily fix of knitting. And that does not mean just holding the yarn but I actually need to knit something.
So if blogging is sparse next week, well, you can understand. I do have the back of the Sherpa sweater finished and I have cast on for the front. And that will be my knitting tonight at sit and knit night at my LYS. I do need a night off.
Okay, another quiz to kill some time at work. And yes, the results are pretty accurate. I saw this quiz over at Diamonds & Purls.
| Your Hair Should Be Orange |
 You pull off "weird" well - hardly anyone notices. |
Just a quick note to tell everyone about a nice phone call I received this morning. My nephew called me at work to tell me that he saw me riding the quint up his street on the way to a fire call near his house. Of course, I didn't personally get to talk to him since I was on the call. But he called his grandfather to tell him that he saw me.
The fire call was about a mile up the street from his bus stop. He lives in a different fire district but we run up there all the time. I will be calling my nephew later this afternoon when he gets home from school to talk to him. He is only 11 but he can't wait until he is old enough to join my fire company. He will tell you that blue fire trucks are his favorite.
There was very little damage to the store where the fire was located. And it was a chance to learn how to use some of the more specialized tools on the quint. But it really makes me happy to know that he is looking for me whenever he sees blue fire trucks.
Okay, is it just me or is this plain silly? I mentioned to my boss, read my father, that we needed to clean out the gutters on the office building. I volunteered to do it but he just needed to bring the 35 foot ladder from his house over to the office.
He finally brings the 35 foot ladder over to the office yesterday. So I told him this morning that I would go up and clean out the gutters. All of a sudden, my father decides that I can't climb up a 35 foot ladder but that he has to do the job!
Now, the fact that I am perfectly happy to climb up to a third story window on a ladder wearing 45 some odd pounds of gear and carrying a tool probably never crossed his mind. All that he had to say on the matter was that it is not safe for me to climb that high?!?!
I should point out that my father is not afraid of heights but I am much younger. I am also a highly trained professional in the matter of climbing ladders and for that matter in carrying. Although the guys won't let me carry anything but the short ones. And that has something to do with the fact that I am short.
I wonder what he will do when he finds out that I plan on climbing up the back roof to gain access to the dryer vent so that I can clean it out? And I am planning on using the short step ladder to gain access to the back roof and walk up the roof probably will not help matters.
(And no that is no me in the photo but another county fire fighter but we all pretty much look alike from the rear regardless of wheterh or not you are male or female.)
It rained basically all weekend. And the rain set the perfect mood for the Fallen Firefighters Memorial. Well that is unless you were the one standing outside in the rain. The crew that went up Saturday had the joy of being out in the rain. I was on the Sunday crew and while the weather was cold and overcast, it had finally stopped raining.
But I will be honest and admit that I spend a huge portion of Saturday out in the rain. There was a problem with our quint and there was a group of us standing out in the rain with the mechanic to see how sick the baby really was. Luckily, the quint wasn't too sick. But since I was able to stay around the station until he came back with the part, I was 'volunteered' to stay at the station all day. Luckily, I had my books for class with me and I was able to get most of my reading completed. And since I can't stand not having anything to do, I did some of the cleaning that needed to be done out in the engine bay. Simple things like sweeping, cleaning windows on big toys, and laundry.
I did manage to get to both yarn stores in town on Saturday as well. I picked up a few patterns and two new books. But I behaved and did not buy any yarn.
Sunday morning, I had to be up bright and early to be at the station before 6:30. And to give you a clue
how early I had to be at the station, I had to drive past the station and go to Starbucks and pick up coffee for both myself and the chief.
The ride up was fun. I can honestly say that really do like the guys I run with because they are not afraid to be themselves around me. We were going to something that is technically a very somber occasion.
Once we had set up both ladder trucks and had the American flag hanging, we were able to relax. And since we had another vehicle belonging to the fire company up there, 3 went up to a neighboring fire house in the utility truck. And I rode up with the other fire company. We took advantage of the indoor bathrooms and helped ourselves to breakfast up there. Yes, we were invited to help ourselves to the doughnut spread!!
Once we all got back, we did the usual hurry up and wait routine and waited for the family buses to arrive. When the first vehicles arrived with the families, you realized why you were there. The fire service takes care of it's own. In addition to the buses bringing the families if those who have died in the line of duty in the past year, several departments who were close by brought down pieces
of apparatus. Other local fire companies also brought up a piece or two.
After we were done, the chief picked the route back home. And he took the scenic route. In all honesty, I think he
was avoiding the honey-do list his wife had given him!
I spent the rest of the day trying to study for class while finishing off the house chores around the fire house that the junior members had not finished.
I did manage to get some knitting done this weekend as well. I only need another inch to complete the back of my purple Sherpa cardi. I think that I will work on the sleeves next so that I don't end up on Sleeve Island. But then I can be fickle on and start on one of the fronts. Stay tuned to see which course I choose.
Okay, Bron needs to stay away!!! I just updated the yard sale listings. I am still destashing and I have been lazy about taking photos of the yarn I decided that wants to find a new home.
Bron has already helped herself to some of it, so the rest is up for grabs. The only reason that I am destashing the Peruvian Highland is that it just doesn't look good with my skin coloring.
I do have more yarns to photgraph including sock yarns. If you are interesting in previews before I post the photos, email me and I will send you an advance notice.
Knitting
Why, yes, I still knit. I even have the pictures
to prove it. I have been doing some stealth knitting for myself. I am making myself a cardigan out of Ironstone Sherpa yarn in a nice rich plum color. I am almost finished with the back. It is amazing how fast things knit up when you are working on a large needle. I only have a few more inches to go on the back. I think I will do the sleeves next just so I don't get stuck on sleeve island.
I was tempted by the variegated color of this yarn that was in my LYS when I first saw it. But I decided that in the long run, I would get more use out of the plum
color. Although there is a nice bright pink that I also liked. But I really don't need two sweaters that are exactly the same.
And yes, this is the yarn I bought last Saturday after the fire that I fought right around the corner from the shop. I really need to start looking for buttons for this sweater now. I have two local yarn shops and neither one has a good button selection.
In the What in the World Category
I saw an article in this morning's Washington Post about a teenager who was arrested for setting up a moonshine distillery. The age of the teenager was not disclosed by law enforcement officials so that sort of says that the teenager is younger then 16. According to the article, the kid learned everything he needed to brew the moonshine off the inter-net. Isn't it amazing what we can learn off the inter-net? But I am not sure which punishment the teenager should be more afraid of - the court's or his parents;? After all his parents had no clue what he was up too at night.
Small Town Life
I walked up to the post office this morning like I normally do except that today it was in the rain. We are actually having rain fall from the sky in something other then showers for the first time in almost two months. Bron, I am sorry, I did not want your package to get wet, so I will mail it out on Monday.
But when I got to the post office, I ran into my old high school science teacher. Now you have to realize that I only went to the high school I graduated from for my senior year. But she also taught my brother and my SIL as well. I was talking to some friends who work at the post office when she came in and joined the conversation. And she just couldn't quite place me. So she finally asked me. When I told her that she had taught me but that she had taught both my brother and my SIL that is when she remembered my name. Her oldest son was in my graduating class and we used to hang out together back then. (All of the honor students had to hang out together for our own sanity! There were so few of us and we all were in the same classes. Yes, I was a nerd! And yes, my high school was that small!)
National Fallen Firefighters Weekend
As I mentioned earlier this week, this weekend is the National Fallen Firefighters Weekend at the National Fire Academy in Emmitsburg, Maryland. My fire company always takes out quint up to the ceremonies to assist in hanging the American flag. The chief tries to rotate the crews up go up each year.
This year, he has decided to pull the crews from the list of fire fighters who are actually responding to calls. Plus, if you were around the station when he announced the detail, you ended up on the list. I am not the type who tells the chief that I want to go on the detail. I will let him know that I interested in the detail and am available.
And yes, my method of volunteering for details pays off. I have to be around town Saturday to run any calls we get but I will be at the memorial service on Sunday morning.
The memorial service is a very special event. The men and women who die in the fire service are our brothers and sisters no matter whether they are career or volunteer fire fighters. This year alone, according to the database, 81 fire fighters have lost their lives in the line of duty. The memorial service honors the memories of all who have given their lives so that others may live.
I will take my camera with me but I can not guarantee any pictures.
My fire classes started last night. I am driving to the north end of the county which is about 21 miles. It really isn't that far since I drive right below the town to go to church every other week or so.
The nice part about the drive is that I get to drive right past a really nice small state park. And 
I am going to try and make a point of stopping at the iron furnace every week and taking pictures so you 
can see what a dry autumn looks like in Maryland.
And the road I am taking follows the roads taken by some of the armies on the road to Gettysburg. So can you guess that I am stopping at nice historic place? My favorite place in the park besides the waterfall is the iron furnace. The fire pit in this shed is huge!!! There 
is a little trail that runs up along side the chimney that you really can't see but I took that last night just to get a quick hike in before class. I am going to have to make sure that I do that as often as I can. It is a short steep trail but fun. (You can kind of see the trail to the far right of the fire pit.)
Now the class I am taking is called Rescue Technician Site Operations, Vehicle and Machinery Rescue. And what does all of that translate into plain English? I will be learning more about ropes and knots, the basics of confined space rescue, and how to cut up cars. And before anyone says anything about confined space rescue, I will define what a confined space to the fire service. We consider a number of things a confined space such as a barn silo, a sewer, a boiler, a tanker, even a basement could be considered a confined space depending on how you have to enter it.
Of course, everyone wants to take it because you get to cut up cars. But the first half of the class is all about ropes. To bad you can't just knit your way out of a situation. And this is a class where I am not going to be able to knit. I need to take notes and pay attention. Let's just say that I will be trading knitting and crochet knowledge for help with knots at the local hiking store. I actually did that today when I went to get rope that I needed for class. A friend is the general manager and she was having problems with a baby pattern so I showed her how to get around her problem. I will be in there every chance I can get to practice knot skills. I want to pass this class!!!!
And the class makeup should prove interesting. There are about 32 of us in class and only 4 of us are females. And the fire house where the class is being held is fairly old. And they have run some unusual calls. You should really check out the unusual calls link on their website. It is funny!!!
And my favorite partnerr in yarn enhancement has enabled me to add to my stash today. She just took off my hands some yarn and I ordered yarn from elann. Now I need to get knitting! I swear Bron doesn't sleep because that is the only way she can get everything done.
If you thought my weekend was busy, wait until you see what my schedule for this week looks like and you will think I am nuts. Oh, wait, I am already crazy so that won't change things.
Tonight will be the only night that I will be at home for the evening. Last night, I had our monthly fire company meeting. I did get some exercise out of it by walking down to the station. Tonight, Tuesday, I will be getting all of my laundry done. I also need to bake a batch of cookies to take to a friend on Thursday at his firehouse. He has promised to do some sort of bodily harm to me if I don't deliver him some cookies soon. (He really won't do anything but I will deliver him his cookies.)
Wednesday is the first night of my next class. I will be learning how to cut up cars and extricate people from them. The class deals with much than cutting up cars but that is what everybody calls the class.
Thursday is my usual night in the kitchen at the fire hall working our weekly fund raiser of bingo. I have been working in the kitchen every Thursday for the past four years. Even when I have had class on Thursday, I have managed to put in at least an hour. I am in the process of cutting back to 2 Thursdays per month.
Friday night, I have to renew my CPR and AED certifications. I may not spend that much time on the band-aid wagon, aka the ambulance, but I do maintain my certifications. And even riding strictly as a fire fighter, we run quite a few fist responder calls and EMS assists, so keeping up EMS certifications is a very smart move. You never know when you may be pressed into service as an EMT.
And this weekend is the National Fallen Fire Fighters Weekend at the National Fire Academy. My fire company takes our quint up there along with another company's tower and we hang a large American flag between the two ladders. We have to take the quint up there both days. The chief is putting together the crews of people who are eligible to ride and available this weekend tonight. Several of the younger guys immediately volunteered to go on this detail. The chief wants to try and take a full crew both days. I am available to go both days and I let the chief know that I am willing to go which ever day he needed me. He will be calling me to let me know when I am going. (Sometimes I think it better to be flexible about things like this because you end up getting what you want in the long run, plus you are remembered for being willing to do what needs to be done.)
And all of this is on top of my full time job!!! And I am trying to fit knitting in this schedule too. Don't worry about the knitting too much. I have knitting sitting right next to my keyboard as I type this. There is a wash cloth on the needles right next to my bed. There are at least 2 projects on the couch. There is a knitted dish cloth on the needles in the kitchen even. I do draw the line at knitting in the bathroom though.
And I will at least try and get some pictures this week. My class Wednesday night is right near the National Fire Academy up in the mountains and the trees should be pretty. Plus the fire house that is hosting the class is right up the street from National Shrine from Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton. (I go to church right down the hill from the Shrine at Saint Anthony's Shrine so I am familiar with the area. And I do know that it is pretty in the autumn.)
Thanks, Bron!! according to a test that Bron had posted on her blog this morning, my Halloween costume should be a witch. I know plenty of people who already say I am a witch. I just hit them upside their heads when they say that or I give them something else like a spell. For some reason, if I say something in Spanish, they think I am swearing at them or placing a spell on them... I swear I am generlaly calling them either a drunk or a fool - nothing more.
Take the test and see what you should e dressing up as this Halloween.
You Are A....Witch!
-smart
-friendly
-trustworthy
What's Your Halloween Costume? .:with pics:.
brought to you by Quizilla
Okay, I swear to you, I really did try to knit this past weekend. I even actually was in my LYS three times. I was at the sit and knit on Friday night and worked on Clapotis. I actually even made progress on it. I even found a new cardigan pattern and some yarn to knit it with but I was good and did not buy it.
But my Friday night got even better, well that depends on your perspective. About 11:30, I was getting on the engine tanker for a run across town to a 3 alarm house fire. By the time we got there, the bulk of the fire was knocked down but there was still plenty to do. My crew went in and we started out tearing down walls on the second floor. The ceiling was already down. We worked up there until we had to come out. We took a break and went back in to work on the first floor for another hour or so. We finally got back home around 3:30 in the morning. And since I had to be back at the station again at 7 am, I decided against going to bed. I got cleaned up and baked some muffins instead.
After our monthly apparatus check on Saturday morning, we were testing some equipment out. We heard an alarm go out in town. We all looked up and saw the smoke and knew we were going in to play. We had enough time to gather our gear and go to the bathroom. (You never realize how bad you have to go to the bathroom until you are in full gear and are on the way to a fire.) So when we were dispatched, the four of us who were chosen to go by the chief were ready to go. We went in and got to play on the roof of an old house in town. This was my first time playing on the roof and I was very lucky to be in the company of some of the best guys in the county.
I am sad to say that 4 families have been displaced from their homes. But several firefighters were happy this weekend since we did get to go out and play.
And the funny thing about Saturday's fire is that is was right around the corner from the LYS that I was at Friday night and that I went into late Saturday afternoon. I decided after I got back to the station Saturday that I was not going to go home and take yet another shower. I just went into my LYS and bought the yarn I was after as I was - hot, dirty, and very tired.
I went in to my LYS and bought my yarn and of course they wanted to know what had happened since they had a front row seat. I finished all of my errands and finally came home to take a shower. I actually forced myself to stay up until 8:30 before going to bed.
Sunday was spent at the first Latino festival Frederick has ever had and I hope that we have another next year. I actually had my camera with me but I forgot to take pictures. But I did have fun and it was great being surrounded by people just like me. You have to understand that when most people meet me they have no clue that I am Latina because I am white as white can be. But I am Cuban-American with a dash of Filipino thrown in for good measure and sometimes the only place I feel totally comfortable is in the Latino culture.
I also managed to spend part of the afternoon at the LYS for the sit and knit group.
But I need to go and get some work done and figure out what I am going to be doing for some fire prevention details that I have coming up in the next few weeks.
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