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April 30, 2006

Where Was Jon On Saturday April 29th, 2006?

If you think you've seen the title of this entry before, let me confirm the feelings of deja vu you are having right now...You've seen it before. The dates may have changed, but the title is still pretty much the same. Last year, I attended a live burn of a structure we acquired in our district. This year, I did the very same thing, but with one noted exception: I made the pictures much bigger, so you can actually see stuff. (Thanks Keir!) This year, someone donated a house they were no longer interested in. It looked like this:

Okay, so you'll have to imagine what it looked like without firefighters climbing on it. Sorry. Firefighters Jim and Dale are preparing to cut a vent hole in the roof, to allow hot gases and smoke to escape, as we train inside the building...

Here's Mike, hard at work...

We're ready to go! Almost...

Before we begin training, we have to talk about what our objectives are, how we are going to accomplish them, remind ourselves to keep safe, and have fun!

These are our instructors, who start the small fires for us inside the building, then get out of the way while we do the hard work!

This is Chief Don. He is in overall command of the training exercise.

Before we begin the training exercise(s), there are a few things we need.

First and foremost, we need water. That came from Engines 251 and 122, staffed by Marc and Jon respectively...

They provided water for us using a water shuttle, since there are no close hydrants around. 122 was the source engine, while 251 was the pumping engine.

Our fire department also has an air truck, Truck 125, which makes air for our air bottles. 125 was driven and operated by Firefighter Bob. His job is to make sure that all of our air bottles are filled, so we can continue to train without having to breathe in all that nasty smoke. Thanks Bob!

Then we need to do a walk through of the structure, so we all have a general knowledge of where the exits are (in case something goes awry) where windows are (for the very same purpose) and where we need to be to fight the fire...

Here, one of our instructors, Jason, gives us a layout of the room, and explains how the burns are going to go...

Then, we need fuel...

Diesel fuel. The instructors soak down hay bales and wood pallets with it, then light them on fire, so we can train under live fire conditons. Speaking of which, let the training begin!

Here are a couple of teams preparing to go "put wet stuff on the red stuff", as we like to say!

If you are a keen observer of detail, you would have noticed that I am not in any of these pictures. Several reasons for this exist:

1. I hate having my picture taken.

2. I hate having my picture taken.

3. I hate having my picture taken.

4. I was very, very busy, and was unable to take a whole lot of pictures.

5. 1. I hate having my picture taken.

Besides, seriously, would you rather have me put out the fire, or take pictures of myself? I thought so.

Alright, fine. Here's one of me from our last live burn...

During these training exercises, we encourage neighborhood residents, family members of firefighters and other folks to drop by and see what we do. Here is Grace, the daughter of firefighter John who stopped by to play with Daddy's mask and helmet as he took a breather...

Sadly, Jonah and Megan could not make this one, as Jonah was asleep. So here is a picture of the boy, just so you can see a picture of the boy. Hopefully he can watch us work at the next one...

Hey! How did that picture get in there? Oh, did I mention that the New Jersey Devils have already taken care of the New York Rangers in a four game sweep in the Stanley Cup Quarterfinals? WHO'S NEXT?

Ahem...Back to the live burn...

And after lunch, we decided to have one more "evolution" as it's called, and then, burn the house to the ground!

The lunch was provided by the WOLF Club, or Widows Of Living Firefighters. It was fantastic, as always!

So after training one last time, we begin to prepare for the burndown, or when we let the house burn to the ground. When firefighters get on scene at a house fire, they do everything within their power to save that house. There is a certain feeling of guilt when we can't accomplish that goal, but we do our best, nonetheless. However, during the burndown, that guilt feeling isn't there, because we actually set out to burn the house down. It sort of like a reward for a job well done. The rest of the pictures are of the burndown. I hope you enjoy them as much as we did watching it burn down!

And here are two more, before, and after...

Posted by Jon at 12:06 PM | Comments (1)

April 26, 2006

Cuteness...

So here it is, Wednesday, middle of the week, and I am tired already. I ran a few calls over the last few nights with my Volunteer Fire Department, and I am beat. But I know I can always re-energize myself looking at (and taking) really, really, seriously cute pictures. So here are a few random super cute pics taken over the last few weeks.

You've heard of the Boy In The Bubble? Well, let me introduce you to the Boy In The Bucket!

We store Jonah's Brio train set in the bucket. For legal reasons, my lawyers advised me to let you know that we do not store Jonah in there.

Here is Zoe in a relaxed mood. She sleeps a lot, but she also barks a lot. We cherish the few quiet moments when she isn't barking.

And when she isn't barking, she's licking, or at least attempting to. Sorry for the blurry pic, but this dog is fast!

Here is a nice picture of Father and Son...

Here are two of some of my most favorite things: My Boy, and my New Jersey Devils! (Who, by the way, at this very moment, at 8:51pm, on Wednesday April 26th, are beating the New York Rangers 3-0, (again), in Game Three of their best of seven Stanley Cup Quarterfinal series.) Go Devils!

And do we have the makings of a future dentist???

I was tired. I needed that burst of wonderful cuteness. I am no longer tired. I can now finish out the week, thanks to cuteness. I hope you enjoyed the cuteness, and I hope it re-energized you as well!

Oh, and one more...

After we took that picture, Jonah woke up from his afternoon nap and was NOT happy. At that point, he had been asleep for nearly three hours, so Megan and I felt that it was time for him to get up. He let us know about his dissapointment at being roused from sleep too early. He was cranky the rest of the day.

But as you can see, it was well worth it! As Megan and I like to say, "So cute!"

Stay tuned for more cute pics!

Posted by Jon at 08:42 PM | Comments (0)

April 15, 2006

Jonah's Second Passover Seder...

Someone much wiser than I once said, "The more things change, the more they stay the same." (Or something to that effect.) That may be true for some things, but for little boys, it most certainly is NOT true. Last year at this time, Jonah celebrated his first Passover Seder, and this year, at this time, he celebrated his second. Looking back, it seems that the more he has changed, the less he has stayed the same. (Except for that undeniable cuteness, of course!) Once again, we were invited over to our friends Marc and Sharon's home for the the Seder on the first night of Passover. Unfortunately, Megan was unable to join us as she was in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains, on a work trip. However, we pressed on, and tried to have fun without her. It was tough, let me tell you, for many, many different reasons.

Anyway, Sharon spent the day cooking and preparing, and, once again, hosted a wonderful Seder, with great food, good friends, and lots of memories...

Some of those memories included last year's Seder, when Jonah was just a few months old. Remember? The more things change...Yeah right!

Returning to this year's Seder...The table was set, the guests were all here, including a whole bunch of little ones!

(The sippy cup is proof of the little ones being here.)

Just getting in a little light reading before dinner...

Are these things Kosher for Passover? (Okay, seriously, it doesn't matter. When the boy screams he most likely needs to eat, so he gets whatever he wants, whenever he wants it.)

Jason, Sara and Samantha take part in the Seder...

Mr. "C" and Mr. "C"...

Jonah is getting his head start on his Hebrew schooling by reading the Haggadah...

And mini Mr. "C" (Noah) is carrying on a proud tradition started by his father at a Seder table many, many, many years and soup nuts ago...

Mmmm...Soup nuts...

Mrs. "C", another Mr. "C", and a mini Ms. "C"!

Sharon finally gets a moment to catch up on the service...

Still another mini Ms. "C" (Samantha), and yet another Mr. "C". (Five in total, if you're keeping count at home...)

Jonah's first ever piece of Matzoh! Now he's one of us!

Samantha playing...

One more mini Ms. "C", and Grandpa "C"!

At one point during the seder, Jonah took my yarmulke off my head, and put it on his. This is a picture I took of the moment, holding him, and trying my hardest not to drop him, or the camera! Not too shabby a picture, if I say so myself!

And as with all kids at a Seder dinner, boredom set in eventually, while the adults talked and noshed. Refrigerator magnets to the rescue!

Once again, Sharon did an outstanding job on her Seder. I was honored to be invited, and glad that Jonah and I were able to go. At the same time, we missed Megan terribly, and hope she can be there next year! At the end of a Seder, we are all supposed to say, "Next year in Israel!" Well, I've said that just about my whole life, and yet, keep finding myself far, far away from there. So instead, I'll say, "Next year in North Carolina!" (Or where ever we go!)

Posted by Jon at 09:49 PM | Comments (0)