Knit & Play with Fire

T is for Tired

Okay, last night I met a friend from my knit group at the local Starbucks because she needed some help. Actually, her step-sister is taking a class and is having a few problems getting started. And she is being taught to knit continental and I am a continental knitter.

After leaving there around 7:30, I ran to the bank and I decided to stop at the fire house. No big surprise there. But the big surprise would be that it was not my fire house. Yet.

I have been given the opportunity to ride at a specialty house in Frederick and I have become friends with one of the guys there. (He is a career firefighter and this house has only a few volunteers who actually show up on a regular basis.)

I stopped by to pick up a membership application. Yeah, like I have time to join another fire house! But I am going to do it anyway. This station is known locally as the truck house. Yes, it has two trucks, a air and light unit, and a duty vehicle. And that is all. There is no ambulance! And the trucks are tiller trucks which mean they bend in the middle. Technically they are known as tractor driven aerials. And I am discovering that I like truck work.

Truck work means no hose line. Trucks go in and ventilate the building, perform search and rescue, and handle overhaul. There is no hose to help you find your way back out of a fire room. But still I enjoy it.

While I was there talking to my friend, they got a call. And since I had my gear, I ran and grabbed it and got dressed in the back of the cab. We were put back into service when we were almost to the location. My friend and I talked until almost 11 when I finally left.

I was just going to bed after knitting for awhile when my pager went of at 12:30 for an automatic alarm. Run back down to the station and jump on the truck and pray that we get placed back in service before we get there. No such luck. We did not get back until a little after 1:30 am. So I am dragging this morning.

But I should be able to finish up a sock tonight provided things stay quiet. I have about 1/2-inch of ribbing left to go on one sock. Of course, I still need to start the mate but it still counts as actually knitting progress.

Photos tomorrow of the singleton and the beginnings of my toe-up Jaywalker.

Fatal PI - 1/25/2006

Yesterday morning, my pager went off right before my alarm clock at 7 am. I was already at the door on my way and tones were still dropping. All I heard was that it was an accident with 1 pinned and 1 trapped. I was just passing the rescue company when the first ambulance pulled out.

The traffic was already backed up to the high school when we pulled out onto the main highway. We went down (south) the highway on the wrong side but that was the only way to back it down the road. To give you an idea of distance, the fire house is located right next to the high school and it was about 4 miles down the road to the scene. Since I was facing forward, I was able to see the scene as pulled up on it. I saw an SUV up on the passenger side, a red Saturn in the ditch, and a red Mustang on the side of the road (all of them were in the southbound side.) A little bit further down there were two cars on the northbound side off on the shoulder.

Because there were other units on the way from Frederick City, we pulled up in front the 3 vehicles in the southbound lane. I immediately pulled the step chokes out their compartment on the engine and went to the Saturn in the ditch. After placing the blocks in front of the rear tires and letting my captain deal with the patient who was pinned in the vehicle, I headed to the squad to get some cribbing.

On my way there, I was told to see what condition the patient in the SUV was in. Two of the guys were already stabilizing the vehicle. Being on the short side, I was only able to reach in and verify that the patient was conscious and get a brief medical history. By that point one of the medics showed up and was figuring out how to gain access to the patient. Access was through the rear of the SUV and we ended up bringing her out that way. By the time our patient was out of her vehicle, Trooper 3 was on the ground.

It was not until after Trooper 3 had taken off with 2 patients, that any of realized that one of the patients in the 2 vehicles in the northbound lane was a fatal.

It was not until this morning that I found out that the patient I dealt with was the person responsible for the accident.

All in all, there were 5 fire and rescue companies on the scene. They were Walkersville Volunteer Fire Company #11, Walkersville Volunteer Rescue Company #24, Juniors Fire Company #2, United Hose Company #3, and Fort Detrick Fire Company #50. The staffing was a combination of volunteers and career firefighters who work as one team in this county.

I forgot to grab my camera on my way out the door yesterday morning, so the photos in this post are courtesy of the Frederick News Post. And here is a link to the story.

 

Wearing Knitting in Public

Okay, here are few photos of me wearing my Clapotis in public as a shawl. My halter top was a little low cut and my seat at the head table was right next to the door, so wearing a shawl was a must.

And I at least was wearing that particular halter top. One of the ones I tried one was white and there was no way that you could wear a strapless bra with it. And although I loved it, I did not buy that one. I did get a great deal on the one that I am wearing in the photos. It was originally over $100 (Calvin Klein, what do you expect?). I got it for $32 with tax on clearance.

My fire company banquet is a big deal on the local banquet circuit apparently. We invite everyone who is a member of the company and allow them to bring a guest free of charge and they do not need to RSVP. (Several of the other companies require you to pay for a guest and you have to RSVP.) So we have quite a few people attend the banquet who we would never see at any other time of the year.

But most people show up to see who will be receiving awards for being a top responder. And yes, that is me standing there as one of the top responders. Every year, the chief tries to give us something that we can use as part of our gear. This year, it was new safety glasses that have their own protective case that will fit in your gear and a baseball hat. The hat is one that he had made for himself and all of the guys were wanting one, so he had them ordered for the top responders only. It was the company name on it and the state flag. But the most important emblem on the hat is the Pierce emblem. We are a Pierce only fire company. All of our heavy engines and the quint are Pierce. If Pierce made a brush truck, I am sure that our brush truck would be a Pierce. (And no, I will probably not be wearing the hat. I rarely wear baseball hats, but I will be using the safety glasses. They will be going in my new gear. I will keep my other safety glasses in my old gear which will be in my truck.)

Our guest note speaker was Mr. Charlie Dickinson of the National Fire Academy which is conveniently located nearby in Emmitsburg, Maryland. He was supposed to be there to hand us the ceremonial check for our award in the Assistance to Firefighters Grants in Round  7. But after seeing our station and meeting us, he changed his speech slightly. He was impressed by how we have spent previous grants and the fact that we have won grants in 3 out of the 4 years that we have applied. And as a side note, Mr. Dickinson is a friend's boss.

I also have a FO to show off. I still need to weave in a little bit but the blanket is done. And yes, this was some stealth knitting. I do not think I ever mentioned this blanket before. My chief's wife is pregnant and I decided to knit her a baby blanket. They do not know the sex of this baby since the baby is not being co-operative at all. And yes, blue is okay as a color for either a boy or girl I already checked. I want to finish weaving in the ends and wash it and drop it off at their house this weekend.

Sockapalooza

I am going to be knitting socks again. I just signed up for Alison's Sockapoolza. I am ready to start. I will be adding the button as soon as I remember how to add buttons.

And I will be posting some photos of me wearing my Clapotis at my fire company banquet. I need to figure out how to get a program to work first. I am designing the PAT (personal accountability tags) for the fire company and I am having a few issues with the program. It will draw in every field but one. And I need to have this program up and running by the end of next week. So I am buried under right now.

Some Actually Knitting Contenttknitty

Yes, I finally have some photos of finished objects. I finished my Clapotis last week and it is wonderful. I have already started my next Clapotis.

I also have a pair of mittens and a pair of the Lace Up Fingerless Gloves. I have another pair of mittens on the needles in Virginia Tech colors for one of the kids at the fire hall. (I bought the yarn for me but decided that I didn't like the way it was knitting up. She wanted a pair of orange mittens and she likes this yarn.)

I am also finishing up a hat for one of the other girls who knits. And I am trying to finish up a baby blanket for my chief's wife. She is due in March. I will have one blanket done in the next two weeks. The other blanket pattern is going to take me a little bit longer to knit up.

And things are still a bit hectic at the fire hall. We are doing quite a bit of spring cleaning right now. There is quite a bit of painting and fixing going on down there. I have ended up with the responsibility of keeping the bunk room and the lounge clean.

If you think you have big dust bunnies under your favor tie knitting chair, you ought to see the ones under the bunks.  I am also washing all of the sheets and comforters in the bunk room. There is no telling when they were last washed.  Our banquet is this Saturday and I have to have all of the laundry done by Saturday afternoon. I do have some help lined up to help me keep the two rooms clean. Some of the younger kids who are not old enough to be full members are going to help me vacuum and clean once a month.

And yes, a woman has been assigned a housekeeping job but I was given the job because the man in charge of the house committee knew that the job would be taken care if I did it. And I did have the opportunity to say no. I honestly do not mind doing it. It gets me out of certain chores during our monthly equipment check.

I am also posting a few photos of the trailer fire we ran Monday around lunch time. There was not much to save there. Once a trailer catches fire, all you can do is protect any surrounding structures. And we were lucky that the winds had died down because there were two or three barns behind the trailer.

Things are Getting Better

I am still alive. I just finished up one of the projects that was delegated to me by the chief. I should have the other two major projects done this weekend.

The data entry is the worst part but I am over 2/3s of the way done with that project. The guy in charge of the mapping project will have to go back and double check some of the data. I have found mistakes that need to be checked and he can do that while is is at work. (He is a career fire fighter in another county.)

The other project is really simple. I just have to insert the new map pages in the book for the next district. I should be able to get that done tonight if I put in a really good movie in the DVD player.

After these two projects are done, the only time I will have to touch them again is once a quarter for any maintenance.

And I have been working on several of my UFOs. I am almost finished with my Clapotis. I want to wear it as a shawl at my banquet next Saturday. I am hoping to have it finished no later than this Saturday. I need to wash it and slightly block it.

Next week will be filled with meetings and training. But I am going to try and finish off another UFO next week so I will have some photos coming up. And I will hopefully have a photo of the hat that one of the teenager girls down at the is working on. Her aunt taught her how to knit and she is hooked. I gave her a pattern for a Noro Kureyon roll brim hat, the yarn, and loaned her the needles on Sunday and she is going to show me her progress tomorrow.

Look for some photos really soon. (The skies need to co-operate so that I can get some decent natural light photos.)

Other Duties

I also forgot to mention that on top of everything else that I am now doing down at the fire hall. I am now responsible for ordering the kitchen supplies for bingo. So that shall be fun since all I was told where to call.

I am in the market for a new PDA. Does anyone have suggestions? I currently have a Treo that is about 3 years old. It sadly has been discontunued. I do not need something that has all of the bells and whistles but I must have a color screen and the ability to play games. Plus it needs to be easy to use. I am wanting to spend somewhere around $200 but I am willing to go a bit higher if necessary. Any and all suggestions are welcome.

Busy Busy

Okay, let me update everyone on what has been going on with me. In addition to trying to knit and run calls, I have been running for an elected position at my fire company. And let's just say that the big elections have nothing on a small town fire company election.  I was not part of the dirty campaigning. I will not play those types of games.

Last night was the election and to say that it was exciting is being polite. Like some one said last night 'where else can you have this much fun for only $5 a year!.' I heard some one I respect called several names that he did not deserve. And this was after the election results were announced.

The person I was running against was a sore loser to keep things polite. I bet her soundly and she did not like it. She demanded a re-vote which is not allowed. She than demanded a recount but no one was wiling to be an election judge for a recount. We voted on allowing the election results to stand after my opponent retracted her call for a recount. And that was when the fire works started. But I stayed calm as did the others on my team. Everyone that I was running with won.

Edited to Add - Out of the 15 elected psitions, 10 of us are active firefighters, 1 person is strictly EMS, and the remaining 4 were active firefighters with the company in years past.

I am now the assistant treasurer of my fire company. I am officially installed at our banquet later this month but the job is mine. And so this is going to be eating into my time. Because now I have to find time to do all of these things - knit, work, run calls, work out, knit, classes, study, attend meetings, work fund raisers, plus help with any of the committees I am assigned to.  And somewhere in between, I need to finish cleaning my apartment. I have finished my bedroom and I discovered jewelry that I forgot I owned.

I can knit during meetings at the fire company thankfully. In fact last night, I finished a hat for some one at the meeting. I will also be able to knit during one of my next classes. The instructor doesn't mind. (He is my chief.)

And I am also going to be teaching one of the teenagers how to take her knitting skills to the next level. She can knit and purl and has made scarves. She wants to learn to make hats and mittens.

I have also been asked to make a pair of mittens for one of the other teenagers and a hat for another one. These two teenagers are college students. The hat is for the brother of the one I will helping to expand her knitting skills. His sister has made him a scarf which he wears but he wants something nicer that he can wear all of the time like a hat. He has already picked out his pattern and I just need to pick up the yarn in the color that he wants - blue!

I already had the yarn for the mittens for the other person (female.) I call her grandmother 'Grandma' and she treats me like she treats her grand kids.  I had bought the yarn to make myself mittens in an orange variegated. but I think I want another color. The girl who asked for mittens wanted black, red, or orange mittens. Her grandmother told her that she would take whatever I made her. I had told her that I do not like to knit black for any reason. Grandma said that a variegated yarn would be better but that she had to take whatever color I made her. And yes, Grandma knits, Or rather she used to knit; she has the argyle socks to prove it.

So I have already started the mittens. I will pick up the yarn for the hat in the next few days. I want to try and have it done before he goes back to college.

So if I only post once a week sometimes, I hope you understand.

New Year's Eve

I hope your New Year's Eve was fun. I know I did. To illustrate how my New Year's Eve was spent I am just going to post the pictures.

The call is Box 10-1 Thurmont Farmer's Co-op. The call was dispatched at 10:37 pm December 31, 2005. The first unit on scene advised that this was a working fire. We were the second due truck on the call. The call quickly went to a second alarm which meant that we had another ladder truck showing up. The bulk of the fire was contained to the office area but there was plenty of smoke through out the building. We got home around 1:50 am.