Goings On In The "Quiet Corner"

I took and passed my annual fire department "Interior Firefighter" physical yesterday, meaning another year of cheating death with interior attack firefighting inside burning buildings. The last one I was in occurred on February 16th. Nothing visible from the outside, we had to go in and look for it. First guy on scene did a 360 (walk around to see all sides of a building) and told us the fire was to the right. Unfortunately it was when he was looking at the back of the house, not the front where we went in. The house was filled with smoke, and we went down the hallway searching the bedrooms for the fire. The sound of the over the range microwave crashing to the floor in the kitchen behind us said to go the other way to check. Sure enough the fire was in the kitchen and the adjoining room. We knocked it down quick with a single hose line. Being in my 60's I am good for one cylinder of SCBA air for initial knock down and then I'm done. I am more than happy to let others go in to pull ceilings and do overhaul while staying outside to roll hose or run the pump.

With temps in the mid 50's and partly sunny yesterday afternoon, I got out on "The Beast" for an inaugural spring ride. Last time I was out was New Years Day. I pulled off the cover, disconnected the Battery Tender, topped off the tire air pressure, took it off the stands, and punched the starter button. It fired right up as I expected. I backed it out of the garage to let it get up to temperature, and took the opportunity to re-position the snowblower at the front of the bike. I won't move it down to the barn until its time to get the lawnmower and lawn furniture out. I don't need to have it put away for a surprise heavy spring snowstorm and get caught unprepared. I did a simple 20 mile loop around through my town and the next one over. Of course, since it was Friday, my normal shift partner was on duty, so I had to stop at the firehouse to torment him. I do circles in front of the Day Room window with the music blaring and honking the horn. I got the expected two hand middle finger salute out the window. I went around back and parked so he came out to B.S. for a bit. After that it was back home to put the bike away because today was predicted to be wet and crappy out. They were right for a change.