Knit & Play with Fire

Fire Fighting Blogs

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.

What To Do When You Have Free Time

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.

Fun Ways to Spend a Weekend

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.

Wonderful Service

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.)

Too Busy to Do Anything

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.
 

Real Busy Week Ahead

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.

 

Quiz Time

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

Expressive, deep, and one of a kind. You pull off "weird" well - hardly anyone notices.

What's Your Funky Inner Hair Color?

Quick Note

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.

Silly Men

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.)

Rainy Weekend

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.