Report From Ladder Company 40 Day 78

Hi Team!

Wow time has gone by fast. Day 78? Already?

Let's see, boring stuff first. I slept well last night, although I still did NOT want to get up this morning. I have had very close to 2 quarts to drink today, that isn't as good as usual, but it will do. My steps, according to Pete, were 5,584. Not great but not bad. I say that gives me a 3 for three today. YAY ME!

Now the fun stuff. Today was the first day of four that the annual fire department Minimum this year. Cat and Bob, our fire buff president and husband, introduced me to a lot of officials today and several of them spoke to me briefly after our initial introductions making me feel very welcome. You can really feel the love if you are a member of the Fire Buff Battalion. The firefighters and the brass both really like having us around. I am proud to be a part of it. The Fire Buffs were presenting one of the awards, the "pan on the stove" award. We gave it out in response to a contest we had between the shifts to submit recipe's for a cookbook we are trying to make. I learned quite a bit too.



I learned more about budget woes than I care to have. I also learned that our fire department has just gone through a special accreditation process and is now an accredited department. (Sadly I could not tell you in detail what all this entails, but I can tell you that the department is very proud of its accomplishments. And they showed pictures of some of the new rigs our department has purchased.

Here is Engine 3 Front view


Engine 3 Front/side angle view


They also fed us very well. Chicken Marsala, some sort of baked pasta dish (not lasagna but similar) salad, fruit salad, rolls, soda, coffee, cookies, mandarin oranges.

THe best part of the day was when I got to meet Joe Stiles between programs. Leiutenant Joe Stiles. Joe was a paramedic at the fire station I grew up near. He was one of the friendlier firefighters I got to know during that time. I introduced myself to him and was surprised that he did indeed remember me, and that I had a brother, whose name he struggled with but then came up with on his own, except he said the third and that is my dad, my brother is the fourth, FJB. We had a good chat and he was very pleased that my brother became a firefighter. Lt. Stiles just joined the fire prevention management team so his job is ever changing.

It was a great day. I cannot go tomorrow but I am planning on going on Thursday for part of the ceremonies and on Friday for most of them.

Well, now that I am learning to post pictures, you will see more soon. Like pics from my Washougal trips!

I must be trotting off to bed now!

Stay safe!

Hotflash out.

Report From Ladder Company 40 Day 77

Hi Team!

Today was a good day. Kathy, one of the fire buffs, asked if she could join us on our walk so we happily had her meet us at the mall today. We had a good walk and talked up a storm as we usually do!

I drank about 2 1/2 quarts today between water, juice and tea. I slept well last night and Pete recorded 11,993 steps today! Yay me! That makes me 3 for three today. =)

Then I did something that really made my day, maybe the month! On a whim I stopped in to a thrift store. Now, usually it is unheard of to find anything related to any fire department, but without looking for that, I found three items! THREE! The first is my favorite. I found a Firefighter's jacket, the fancy warm kind with the patches on the arms, the inside pockets, etc. THe patch was McChord Fire Department. I tried it on. It was a bit snug but not uncomfortable and I could zip it closed. The price tag said it was only 5.99. And then I heard the most beautiful words. The lady at the register said over the loud speaker that the entire stock was half off today. Then I was looking through sweatshirts and found a Kent Fire Department sweatshirt, my size! And in T-shirts I found a University Place Fire Department shirt! It is a size smaller than me, currently, but I'm getting there. Add to that another shirt and two books, one by Earl Emerson, a Seattle author who writes fire novels and I paid less than TEN DOLLARS!!!

Now, I don't want to masquerade as something I am not. I collect FD stuff and I will wear the stuff I got today, just as when it rains I wear either of the two fire department caps that I own but 1) I am quick to point out that I am indeed NOT a ff (YET) and 2)I make sure I am very careful to mind ALL my p's and q's when I do have on anything with FD logos even if they are clearly marked as Fire Buff and not a specific department. The last thing I want to do is bring shame or ill will to the fire service. 3) I intend to remove the McChord FD patch on the coat and have a custom patch made with the maltese cross and the words "Fire Buff" embroidered in. At some point I will have several items with the FD maltese cross logo which I can buy through the Fire Buff Battalion. What I am really looking forward to is when I can respond for rehab and eventually have my own bunker pants, boots and an orange coat issued. Our fire department has been happy to supply them for us because they appreciate the service we provide and want to keep us protected and warm and dry.

Here is a picture of me modeling my new jacket.



Well, until next time, Stay safe!

Hotflash out.

Report From Ladder Company 40 Day 76

Hi Team!

I forgot to employ Pete again today. I guess everyone deserves a weekend off once in a while. Being Sunday, I know I didn'g get that much walking in anyway.

I did have plenty to drink but I kinda sorta forgot to go to sleep last night, putting me only 1 for three! I didn't do it on purpose. I was reading a manuscript that an online fiction writer asked me to read as a favor. The main characters are career fd paramedics and some volunteer ff's. HOw could I resist? I really have had a hard time putting it down. When I started to realize that I was dozing between sentences, I looked at the clock and it was 3 am. I had to get up at 7 to get ready for church. OOPS! I haven't even picked it up today, and I am having withdrawals!

I was gone most of the day but I took a break from the quiz team because my ff brother was in town visiting his in-laws and I spent the afternoon at a get-together potluck bbq there. He just put me on his cell phone plan so that I could get rid of my pay as you go phone. It is a lot cheaper for me to pay him the difference from what his family was paying to what he will be paying by adding me, than it is for me to get my own plan. Now I am on the verizon network which is the best coverage available here. Most emergency service providers use Verizon here too. THe fire buff battalion has verizon and all of our calls will now be unlimited and not cost us minutes. I also got unlimited texting which is good because Coach Alex is a text-a-holic! LOL And I can take, send and receive pictures -also unlimited. I love my new toy. My brother made sure that as soon as I got my phone he sent me the sound of the Klaxons to use as a ringtone. I set my alarm clock to it. =) It really doesn't take much to make me happy!

On a sad note: This morning in the next door town to us, Lakewood, 4 police officers were ambushed and executed in a coffee shop. The only information known is that there were two men involved, a caucasian man and an African-American man and that they did not say anything, that there were baristas and customers in the coffee shop that they did not point their weapons at or shoot at and that the drove away, no description of the car. That is all I have heard of it so far anyway. I don't know if more details have been released or not. I am only adding this in my blog to say, please... pray for the families, friends, co-workers and other loved ones of these officers and for the other victims -the baristas and patrons of the coffee shop, for comfort and peace. Pray for those involved to be caught and brought to justice. Please pray for this to take place quickly. And especially pray that no other people are harmed by these criminals. I am saddened beyond words at this tragedy.

It's just about a quarter after 10 so...

Stay safe!

Hotflash out.

Report From Ladder Company 40 Day 75

Hi Team!

I fell asleep and forgot to post day 75 so here it is a day late.

Saturday: I slept very well last night. I forgot to employ Pete for the day, but I can tell you my walking was not remarkable. Probably a little below average for a Saturday. I did however, get plenty of fluids in me today.

My mother-in-law treated us, (her sister, my son, his girlfriend and her mother, and myself) to Christmas Tea at the Secret Garden, a Victorian Tea House in Sumner, WA. This is a tradition we started as a family several years ago and it is an absolutely delightful experience. I was especially good and ordered an Orchard Peach Roobius tea (red tea) which is naturally decaf and had at least 4 pots of tea over our 4 hour visit there. While engaged in conversation I discovered that my son's girlfriend's mom was a huge fan of Emergency! in the 70's! Cool! I promised to loan her the series a season at a time. She was almost as thrilled as I always am when I watch it. Her daugher and my son just rolled their eyes at us. LOL

Well, 2/3 isn't too bad. Nobody's perfect!

Until next time, Stay Safe!

Hotflash out!

Flashpointz -Johnny Rocket's

While my friends, Coach Alex and her hubby John and I were out and about in Seattle today one of our missions was to find gluten free restaurant food for Coach Alex. She is higly intolerant of glutens. THey make her hurt and make her feel very aggressive and make her want to kill the people she loves. Not such a good thing.

Today was a very busy day for businesses in the area. Imagine that on Black Friday. We waited until late to look for food so that we wouldn't be trying to get special service during rush times. We went to Johnny Rocket's in Westlake Center for dinner. Coach Alex surveyed the menu and asked to speak to the manager when he had a few minutes. It took him a little while before he was able to get away, but he came over to us and Alex asked him about a bazillion questions about the menu, how the food was prepared, what was in it, etc. Johnny Rocket's does not have a gluten free menu but the manager on duty, Stephen, was amazing and willing to accommodate in any way he possibly could. Alex ordered a burger, sans bun, with chili on it. We were seated at the counter and could see the cooks preparing the food. They toasted the buns on the grill. That causes cross contamination for those who are gluten intolerant. They wear gloves to handle the food but they touch the buns which is a cross contamination route as well. They also use the same spatula to remove burgers and buns from the grill. They place buns directly on the work counter which can also be a route for cross contamination for glutens.

When Alex explained her health situation Stephen was SO acommodating. He promised to do all he could to make sure her food was gluten free. He make the cooks sanitize the counter, change their gloves, get cheese and tomatoes from the back that had not been touched by gloved hands that had touched buns, get a clean spatula, clean the grill and he gave them explicit instructions, in SPANISH to make sure Alex's food was safe for her. He did all this very cheerfully, with a constant smile, even when he had to direct his cooks to change gloves when they touched a bun from anothe order. He told Alex he was sorry she had to go through all that to get a good bite to eat, he showed compassion for her. He stood guard over the food preparation to ensure no mistakes were made. He then chatted with us willingly for over 10 minutes. He gave us his e-mail address and asked us to let him know how she felt tomorrow because he really wanted to know if the efforts he and his staff put forth had paid off.

When he wrote down his name for us he wrote "Steve" and Alex commented that it had a "V" when his name tag said Stephen. I said it was because
"S-T-E-P-H-E" looked a little funny and was harder to pronounce. He repeated it out loud "Stephe" with an "f" sound. He laughed and said that was really funny and he liked it. He said he would like to have a name tag made up that said Stephe!

In talking with Stephe we discovered that this wasn't even "his" store. He usually manages the store in University Village, right next to the UW. He encouraged us to come by his store and promised that he would always ensure Alex could have gluten free food.

I did NOT order gluten free food. I had the route 66 burger. All beef patty, REAL swiss cheese, and fried onions and mushrooms. It was absolutely amazing. All in all the food was delicious, the prices were very reasonable and the service was absolutely incredible. Please tell all your friends and have them tell their friends to tell their friends!!

Johnny Rocket's is worthy of your business and Stephe is an awesome manager.

When you try it out for yourself, drop me a line and let me know how it went. You'll be glad you went!

Hotflash

Report From Ladder Company 40 Day 74

Hi Team!

I am feeling great! While I did get very full at dinner for Thanksgiving, the first part of my meal was a huge salad, (a planned event to prevent more calorie filled eating) so I feel pretty good about my holiday eating. I did not have huge amounts of anything else. It was all very sensible. This is something my husband suggested last year and it worked so well that we have decided to make it a tradition to start the meal with a monster salad.

I slept very well last night, -thank you tryptophan (sp?)- and I drank more than enough fluids today. Even though I skipped walking in the mall this morning (cause I'm a chicken!) I went to Pike Place Market and Westlake shopping center with Coach Alex and her hubby, John today. We darted in and out of the crowds at the Market, exploring and having fun. I found a cool firefighter belt buckle for only 12.95 and bought it. Then we watched the Westlake tree lighting ceremony and fireworks before shopping around Westlake shopping center. I didn't know that one of the big shopping centers has snow at 6 pm every evening this time of year. Coach Alex brought me there to surprise me. It was really cool having theater snow falling all around. It is little sudsy snowflakes! It was beautiful. Anyway, all the walking we did from all of that according to Pete was 9,398 steps! YAY ME!! I'm 3 for 3 today.

Today was really an awesome day for me and a lot of fun.

I hope you all had an awesome, family filled thanksgiving.

Until next time, Stay safe!!

Hotflash out.

Report From Ladder Company 40 Day 73

Hi Team!!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

Pete and I took the day off! We think we deserve it.

Stay safe and THANK you for being there for me!!!

Hotflash out.