Knit & Play with Fire

Lack of Brains

Okay, I have actually been knitting but the proof of that will have to wait until tomorrow. Right now I would like to complain about my county government.

I just got back from a fire call that I should not have had to go out on if the county checked for brains when they issued burn permits. You can do controlled burns here in Frederick County so long as you go into the proper county office and have the right forms filled out and pay the county treasurer. But for some reason, they do not do a check for brains when they issue these permits!!!!

My boss, aka, my father, is not always so understanding about the fact that his local fire company is 100% volunteer and that I am one of the few people who runs during the day. I do try to limit the types of calls that I run to certain types. But lately we have been running quite a few brush fires.

But back to this particular call. I drove 20 miles an hour to the fire house. (The speed limit in town is 25 mph.) The chief and the driver were waiting in the brush truck waiting to see if the neighboring engine took care of the brush fire. (The neighboring company has paid personnel during the day and it was technically their area.) Well, they did get on air and but they did not place themselves on scene.

When we were coming up on scene, here is what we saw, large amounts of smoke blowing across the highway. My chief turned around to me and told me to finish gearing up. I was prepared for the worst including having to get out an air bottle given how much smoke there was blowing around. Thankfully, I didn't have to do that.

We got out of the truck and the chief was told that the farmer had a burn permit. Now this is a farm that runs along the main 2 lane highway that gets a fair amount of truck traffic going to Hanover, Pennsylvania. And the field the guy is burning is right next to the highway.

Oh, the weather today is nice and overcast and some rain showers. Well, to be more precise, we have had the rain spitting. But the wind has been kicking up all day. And that is why we got the call. And we will probably be getting more calls back to the same address since this guy has more fields he wants to burn.

The only I can say about it is that the other guys in the department need to get their butts down and start running calls. It is pretty bad when you know can show up to the station in a sports bra and sweats in the middle of the night and the guys you normally run with won't blink. I have come out of the house wearing a sports bra and sweats but I have a t-shirt on by the time I walk into the station.

Knitting and photos tomorrow. I do feel better now although I do wish they would check for brains before issuing those permits....

The Next Hurricane?

While New Orleans, the rest of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama continue to recover, the hurricane season continues.  Tropical storm Lee formed a day or so ago and has already become history. The next tropical depression has become Tropical Storm Maria.

The Weather Channel has stated that they do not believe that this storm will attain hurricane status. But I would like to say to them, never underestimate hurricanes and Mother Nature. The guys at the station have already been picking on me about the fact that there is a chance for a Hurricane Maria but now that it has become an actual tropical storm, they will have even more fun. Not that they don't always find a way to have fun.

I am off to do some stuff at the fire house and than I will be spending part of the weekend shopping and out in nature. Enjoy yourselves!!!

Gas Prices

Okay, I seriously doubt it is just here in the mid-Atlantic but what is it with gas prices? When it costs me alost $40 to fill up my little pick-up something is wrong. And I am lucky in that my work commute involves walking so a tank of gas can last me almost two weeks depending on how much driving I do. But I am curious now, what is the acerage price of gas in other parts of the country? Just leave a comment saying the average price in your part of the country. And have you noticed the the price jumps up right before the weekend?

The Martha Poncho Craze

Okay, I honestly don't understand what the big infatuation is with the poncho that Martha wore on her release from Camp Cupcake. Come on, it is ugly!

yes, it was a gift made for her by a fellow inmate but please do you really want to copy what a convicted felon wears? Even if she is a billionaire?

From all accounts the original was made out of of Homespun. It was crocheted. And why yes, Lion has a pattern up on their website for it. wait a minute, let me go and check it out since I haven't looked at their pattern. ... Okay, I'm back. Yep, it is still ugly. I wouldn't wear it, would you?

No to be left out, Interweave had published a Freedom Poncho pattern designed by Lily Chin on their site. This one is knitted. This one is made of some Red Heart yarns instead of the Homespun used by the other brand.

Based on looks alone, the Lily Chi design is the nicer looking one of the two. It just seems to have a more feminine and lacy look to it. But I still would not wear either one.

Now, I am not against ponchos. I knitted one for myself this past fall. I had planned to wear on those days when walking the 2 blocks to the post office required something warm. I found a pattern called the Mia Poncho at Y2Knit that I liked. (I had no choice but to make it since it is named after me.) I made mine out of a purple variegated Manos so mine looks quite different. Plus I changed the pattern a bit but the basic poncho looks the same.

And just in case you are wondering exactly how many times I wore the thing - once. Yeah, once. Don't get me wrong, I love the thing but it just isn't practical. I am more of a fleece kind of girl even though I love makeup and earrings.

Now I do think ponchos look great on little girls. My niece loves her Harlot poncho in purple. She has asked to if she can have my poncho but considering that it is Manos and she is still shorter than me, the answer is no for right now.My neice will be getting a new poncho in the future made out of some Rowan R2 paper yarn that I have. I have a poncho pattern that I bought for that particular yarn but I don't like it. So I need to find a pattern that I like and is age appropiate for a little girl for her new poncho.

So unless you are just getting out of Camp Cupcake or a little girl, think twice before making yourself a Freedom Poncho.

Time To Be Afraid

There is an article in today's Washington Post about blogging called Free Expression Can Bo Costly When Bloggers Bad-Mouth Jobs.  Basically it boils down to employers trying to dictate what we can do in our private lives. Now there have been other articles about this issue before and this is the most current.

From my perspective, some employers are trying to suspend the Bill of Rights and personal freedom. There are some jobs where an employer can make rules that dictate what you can do in your private times because of public safety issues. One such example are airline pilots who are prohibited from drinking within 24 hours of flying. Actually that is not an airline rule but a rule created by the FAA. That is a public safety safety issue.

Since I am familiar with the fire service, there are several similar issues about your employer dictating what you can do in your off time. There are several departments that are now requiring new hires to sign a contract stating that they can not smoke either at the fire house or on your own time. If the new hire is already a smoker, they must agree to quit smoking. And the departments do offer smoking cessation programs. Now this may sound strange to those outside of the fire service but there are several good reasons for prohibit smoking period by fire fighters.

A very common thing to see after a fire is extinguished is a fire fighter take off his BA (breathing apparatus) and light up a cigarette and go back in start salvage. (Salvage is when you go back in with the shovels and pike poles to make sure the fire is out out.) Studies have shown that the air in a burned building after the fire is out is just as dangerous as it is during the actually fire if not more dangerous. The air during ac actual fire is dangerous and we do not go in with out BA but we take it off after the fire is out and go back in that same air. Kind of doesn't make sense does it?

Firefighters are at a higher risk for different types of cancers including brain cancer and lung cancer. The reason for this higher risk is that we are exposed to more risk. And fire fighters still lit up.

Now I know that I can talk about my fire department negatively if I want to on my personal blog. Not that I would since I like 99% of the members. But I also know that I would not get in trouble for this action. But there are people out who could get fired for expressing their personal opinion.

I promise to post later today about the fun stuff like knitting. But please take the time to read the article in the Post and think about the mini health lecture included in this post.

Bad, Bad, Blogger

I know. I owe several posts. I have been a bad, bad blogger. Actually I have been busy with work and fire company stuff. Why is it that when you give over 300 people a drop dead date, they seem to think that it does not apply to them? I have been trying to get all of my paperwork for last year, including tax stuff finished, up and I have people still trying to turn in data. For some reason, certain people just seem to not either listen or don't care or maybe it is a combination of both. Whatever. And on top of all of that, I have people calling me looking for their fire company tax forms because they have scheduled meetings with their accountants before the end of January. Legally, according to the state, I have until February 15 to get these forms out. I think I am going to be pissing some people off again. I am not called "Trouble" for no specific reason. And the funny thing is that the people calling me asking for their forms are the very ones who were late turning in their stuff. I sense some changes coming.

As soon as I finish filling out these forms, I am going to go back to knitting my Clapotis out of Cheery Tree silk and merino DK. I am just starting the straight rows.

Look for normal posts and photos to resume by Tuesday. If I don't post, please email me telling me to get in gear. On Wednesday, I will post about the composition of my fire fighter class. It shall be interesting to see how some of the males react to having a female instructor who takes no prisoners. And I am not the instructor just a student.

War Has Not Changed

One of my favorite poems was written by the Irish poet William Butler Yeats about the Irish servings in His Majesty's military during the War to End All Wars aka the First World War. The meaning of the poem still stands true today.

An Irish Airman Forsees His Death

I know that I shall meet my fate
Somewhere among the clouds above,
Those that I fight I do not hate,
Those that I guard I do not love;
My country is Kiltartarn Cross,
My countrymen Kiltartarn's poor,
No likely end could bring them loss
Or leave them happier than before.
Nor law, nor duty bade me fight,
Nor public menm nor cheering crowds,
A lonely impulse of delight
Drove to this tumlet in the clouds;
I balanced all,, brought all to mind,
The years to come seemed waste of breath,
A waste of breath the years behind
In balance with this life, this death.

William Butler Yeats
1919

Foggy, Foggy Morning

I had to get up earlier than normal this morning to take my truck in to get the inside detailed. If you read the post that is over on Blogger, last weekend, the heater coil exploded and sent anti-freeze into the inside of the truck. Well, that is all fixed but I really didn't want to clean the carpeting and seats myself. So I decided to be really lazy and see what it would cost to get it done by someone else. I called around to a couple of different places and the price quotes ran anywhere from $60 to $100 for a complete detailing package when all I wanted was the inside done.

The last place I called, the guy was really nice and understanding. He realized exactly what I was after and quoted me $35 to do clean the carpet and the seats and get the greasy mess off the windows.  And Greta, no they did not give a gift certificate to my favorite LYS but they did clean up a lot of the mess.

When I got up this morning to take the truck in to get the insides cleaned, it was wall to wall fog. It was like pea soup. The visibility was nil. And yes, there were people driving without their lights on. It made for some interesting driving. I did manage to take a cool photo when I got back home after the fog had lifted some. 

I did manage to get a half-way decent pic of one pair of the wrist warmers that are done. The pattern is from Last Minute Gifts. The yarn is 1 skein of Kureyon from my stash. This pair will be going to a teenager I know through the fire company. She feel in love with them and I like her, so I will give them to her. But hold onto your seats, she wants to wear them when she works with her calves in the barn. Yes, you heard me right, the barn! Her family runs a dairy farm and she is in charge of the calves. You ought to see her face light up when she talks about her calves. I am planning on finding a nice acrylic that will work so that she can have a pair or two to keep in the barn.

And I would like to send out a hi to my god sister, Linda, who has just moved to the DC area from Honolulu. Yes, she moved in the middle of winter. But hey, she is a great god sister and I will hopefully see her this weekend.

Have You Donated?

I just made my donation to MSF - Canada as part of the Tricotueses San Frontieres. Even before Stephanie's brother-in-law made his post about donations, I preferred donating to groups such as Amnesty or MSF.

Before you stop in at your local S***bucks and shell out $4.83 for our venti soy drink, stop and think about what that money can mean in terms of helping out someone in a part of the world where one single US dollar can a person's daily or even weekly salary. In some parts of this world, including this hemisphere, five US dollars can go a long way.

So stop and think before you buy that drink or extra skein of yarn or that extra box of cereal at the grocery store. I know that I stop in at S***bucks 2 or 3 times a week for that fix. Yes, I keep my gift card charged. I stopped and added up how much I am spending there every month and it was more than I realized. So what I have decided to try and do is to not recharge my card until the end of February. I am also going to try and only go in once a week, which will be hard since there is a new store opening on Friday less than 2 miles from me. The money that I would have spent on that soy chai or soy which chocolate mocha will be put aside and donated to either Amnesty or MSF. Are you willing to take up the challenge and give up one small thing to make a difference in someone's life?

Sadness

Yesterday morning a medi-evac helicopter crashed into the Potomac River killing 2 (pilot and a paramedic) and injuring 1 (the flight nurse.) This is the second accident involving death in the last 3 months of EMS personnel in the Maryland area where I had to wait to hear names. I have friends and know several people who either fly in medi-evac helicopters and work on transport ambulances. For most people when they hear this sort of news, their immediate thought is for the patient. As an EMT, my first thought is for the EMS personnel who were on-board.

Although I did not personally know the people who were involved, my thoughts go out to them and their families.

When the average person dials 911, they do not stop and think about the people responding to their emergency. All you think is that the fire department, the ambulance, or the police are on their way and will be their within a matter of minutes, hopefully. Regardless of whether or not the emergency service personnel in your area are career, volunteer, or a mixed service, they will respond. It does not matter to us if it we are just sitting down to dinner, just about to go home, in church, or whatever. We will answer your call. The family life of cops, firefighters, and EMS is not normal; they are always on call. When you aren't responding to calls, you are spending time doing training, cleaning engines, cleaning the station, there is always something to do.

If you get a chance today, or any day really, stop by your local firehouse just to say thanks to the firefighters. Give your local EMTs a hug. Hug a cop! If you have the time, drop off some cookies to a firehouse or the local police station.

If you are going to drop off food, you might want to find out where the Communications Dispatch Center is located. Without dispatchers, we can not respond to your call! If you doubt that the dispatchers get left out of the glory, ask Rachael. I am sure that she will tell I am telling the truth.

Normal knit blogging will resume tomorrow or maybe later today.