Wednesday, July 05, 2006
Wednesday Whatever - July 5 edition
I can't believe I almost forgot to do this today. On Saturday afternoon, I went to a parade that had only fire trucks and emergency equipment in it. Our department sent our newest truck, our EMS unit, and an old Model A truck that happens to be the first truck manufactured by Toyne, Inc., a fire truck builder in Breda, Iowa. The Model A wasn't even scheduled to go, but after a conversation between me and another department member, it was decided that it was stupid for that truck not to go, and he made arrangements to trailer it to the parade and drive it through. This paid off, as we received a trophy for the oldest truck entered in the parade.
On Monday, there was going to be another parade in the same town, 15 miles from my hometown. My dad was going to be in this parade with his girlfriend's daughter's red Mustang with campaign signs (he's running for County Supervisor) and the grandkids that he calls his as well. It was sunny and dry when we each left town (I was only going to watch, the Mustang headed down a little earlier, and Dad was coming down shortly after I left. 6 miles out of the town I live in, there is a curve that turns almost 90 degrees, and I started getting rain drops on my windshield right at this curve. About 300 yards later, it starts raining cats, dogs, and any other critters you can think of. So I got on the phone to alert the others of the rain, not knowing that the Mustang was already in the parade lineup, and basically told them what they already knew. It was still early, so when I got to town, I found myself a nice parking spot where I could watch the parade from and turned the local radio station on, as well as kept on monitoring my Fire Radio. Uptown, the sky starts clearing and the rain slows almost to a stop, but right at that time, the radio announcer that was uptown announced that the parade was cancelled. About 30 seconds later, the Fire Chief from the town I was in got on the Fire Radio and announced that the parade was cancelled.
So, I tried to call the mustang owner, but apparently, she was on the phone to somebody else, so I decided to drive to the High School (the place the parade was lining up) to see if I could find them. I did and they told me right away that we were heading to a local bar for a while, as the Fireworks show was still scheduled for that night, even though in one of the Fire Radio transmissions I heard that the fairgrounds parking lot was under water. So we have a few drinks and wait to see what's going to happen. A little while later my radio comes to life with an all-call page stating that the fireworks were postponed until Tuesday night. We then decided to come back to my hometown for supper and a couple more drinks. About 8:00, Dad and girlfriend went home, and the parents of their grandkids decided to go to a bar that is in a basement. I don't do steps well, so I passed and decided to go to a friend's place in another adjacent town for a few beers on his patio.
Tuesday morning (my birthday, also the Fourth of July) Dad wakes me up to let me know he's heading to a parade about 40 miles away, and then to another that's about 30 miles away. I told him to let me know what time the second one started since I wasn't ready to get outta bed yet for the first one. I watched TV until noon, then pretty much slept in my chair since I couldn't find anything to watch on TV, until about 3:30 when I figured any parades were over and called Dad's girlfriend's house to see if they were back yet. They were, so I asked what the deal was and they said they didn't have time between parades to let me know when the second one was.
About 5:30, I decided to go get a pizza and find a good parking spot at the fairgrounds for the fireworks show. I ate what I was going to of the pizza and was just about ready to take a quick snooze in my truck, when another pickup pulls up beside me in the spot I was saving for Dad. When this guy got out of his truck, I finally recognized him as one of my second cousins. We had a nice talk while waiting for Dad's carload of people and the fireworks to start.
The fireworks show was AWESOME, it rivaled the best show I've ever seen (1999 after a Wichita Wranglers baseball game in Wichita KS). I was unofficially on duty watching for spot fires and/or injuries, since I had my radio with me. Fortunately, I didn't have to report anything, and it was pretty interesting listening to what goes on behind the scenes at a fireworks show.
On Monday, there was going to be another parade in the same town, 15 miles from my hometown. My dad was going to be in this parade with his girlfriend's daughter's red Mustang with campaign signs (he's running for County Supervisor) and the grandkids that he calls his as well. It was sunny and dry when we each left town (I was only going to watch, the Mustang headed down a little earlier, and Dad was coming down shortly after I left. 6 miles out of the town I live in, there is a curve that turns almost 90 degrees, and I started getting rain drops on my windshield right at this curve. About 300 yards later, it starts raining cats, dogs, and any other critters you can think of. So I got on the phone to alert the others of the rain, not knowing that the Mustang was already in the parade lineup, and basically told them what they already knew. It was still early, so when I got to town, I found myself a nice parking spot where I could watch the parade from and turned the local radio station on, as well as kept on monitoring my Fire Radio. Uptown, the sky starts clearing and the rain slows almost to a stop, but right at that time, the radio announcer that was uptown announced that the parade was cancelled. About 30 seconds later, the Fire Chief from the town I was in got on the Fire Radio and announced that the parade was cancelled.
So, I tried to call the mustang owner, but apparently, she was on the phone to somebody else, so I decided to drive to the High School (the place the parade was lining up) to see if I could find them. I did and they told me right away that we were heading to a local bar for a while, as the Fireworks show was still scheduled for that night, even though in one of the Fire Radio transmissions I heard that the fairgrounds parking lot was under water. So we have a few drinks and wait to see what's going to happen. A little while later my radio comes to life with an all-call page stating that the fireworks were postponed until Tuesday night. We then decided to come back to my hometown for supper and a couple more drinks. About 8:00, Dad and girlfriend went home, and the parents of their grandkids decided to go to a bar that is in a basement. I don't do steps well, so I passed and decided to go to a friend's place in another adjacent town for a few beers on his patio.
Tuesday morning (my birthday, also the Fourth of July) Dad wakes me up to let me know he's heading to a parade about 40 miles away, and then to another that's about 30 miles away. I told him to let me know what time the second one started since I wasn't ready to get outta bed yet for the first one. I watched TV until noon, then pretty much slept in my chair since I couldn't find anything to watch on TV, until about 3:30 when I figured any parades were over and called Dad's girlfriend's house to see if they were back yet. They were, so I asked what the deal was and they said they didn't have time between parades to let me know when the second one was.
About 5:30, I decided to go get a pizza and find a good parking spot at the fairgrounds for the fireworks show. I ate what I was going to of the pizza and was just about ready to take a quick snooze in my truck, when another pickup pulls up beside me in the spot I was saving for Dad. When this guy got out of his truck, I finally recognized him as one of my second cousins. We had a nice talk while waiting for Dad's carload of people and the fireworks to start.
The fireworks show was AWESOME, it rivaled the best show I've ever seen (1999 after a Wichita Wranglers baseball game in Wichita KS). I was unofficially on duty watching for spot fires and/or injuries, since I had my radio with me. Fortunately, I didn't have to report anything, and it was pretty interesting listening to what goes on behind the scenes at a fireworks show.
# posted by Tiny @ 2:06 PM 
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Tim, reading your post sure brought back memories of my years as a Volunteer Fireman. Community service of this type is awesome! Keep up the good work!
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