Been A Couple of Wild Weeks

I started composing this post on December 23rd, but have had so many interruptions between emergency calls, other things that have drawn my attention, and then the hustle and bustle of Christmas it is FINALLY finished.

 

I'm going to try to do this in chronological order of the photos. I know it has been a few weeks since I've put up a blog post, but don't worry... I have been trolling and shit-posting the hell out of #Libturds of all kinds on X (Twitter). Amazingly, I have not been suspended. Elon Musk has really reigned in the SJW censors they had on staff.

Over Thanksgiving weekend, I found out my cousin Christopher was here in New England visiting his mom, family, and friends. He served in the Navy on the west coast and left with full retirement, only to be immediately hired by the DoD because of his expertise. He still works for DoD but lives in South Carolina. I text poked him when I came across this photo at my brother's house. I am just a little older than he is. This photo is from Easter 1965 and was taken at my Memere's house. He and I are in the foreground, me on the left and him on the right. From left to right was my Memere, his mother, my mother, my aunt Terese, my maternal grandmother (Nana) with my sister on her lap, and in the back my uncle Donald. I have no idea who was in the high chair. My cousin and I tried to get together over Thanksgiving weekend, but it never happened because I had to work. I broke his balls for sneaking up here without telling me. We'll try again over the summer.

 

 

 

On November 28th, snow bands off of Lake Erie made their way across PA and NY/NJ to my neck of the woods. They call it "mood snow." This didn't amount to much more than what's in the video.

Next, this is yet another fine example of shitty Duracell batteries as documented by me a year ago with this post. I thought I had purged them from everything I own.... guess not. On December 2nd I went to put away my brush fire gear for the season and this EverReady headlamp wasn't working. This is what I found when I opened it up. The batteries are dated 2027. Into the garbage it all went. The other day, I discovered yet another device with Duracell batteries that was just starting to leak, my Midland clock radio that is our severe weather alert. What tipped me off that there was an issue was the battery indicator was not at full as it was supposed to be. I dumped the batteries and was able to clean the battery compartment and terminals to save the device.

The headlamp battery compartment

 

I was in WalMart the other day to buy some spare EverReady Energizer batteries for stock. As I approached the battery display, a woman ahead of me grabbed a package of Duracell AA's and accidentally knocked several to the floor. As I helped her pick them up, I told her of my problems with Duracell and how we at the fire department have swapped them all out. Plus the Energizer's were a couple of dollars cheaper. She put the Duracell's back, grabbed the Energizer's, and thanked me.

On December 4th, my chicken flock got one of their favorite seasonal treats, the large pumpkin we buy to set out with the mums for fall decorating. Using a large knife, I score the skin in several places and smash it open on a large rock in the chicken yard. They attack it immediately and get a few days enjoyment out of it. All that's left are paper thin pieces of the skin.

On December 7th, my shift partner and I did a transport to Hartford Hospital just before lunch time. The decision was made to save our lunches back at the firehouse for the following day and stop at one of our favorite places. I always get their "Burnt Ends" with two sides, cornbread, and a drink. We were so hungry we ate most of it driving back from Hartford. I was in a food coma later that afternoon.

We had a couple of heavy wind and rain storms. The first one was while I was on duty Sunday the 10th and Monday the 11th. The western part of the state got the worst of it but we were double staffed at the FD just in case. We made sure all the apparatus was fueled, and all the saws were running good. I found three saws with skunky old gas in them and replaced with fresh 2-stroke mix. We got several inches of rain and the local river was near the top of its banks. Only one call for tree/wires down.

 

For the past 40 years we have had a live tree, cutting our own at a tree farm. $85 again this year, but it is full, lush and green. My wife finished up with the it and did a fantastic job as usual. She weaves the lights in and out from the trunk so the entire tree is lit, not just the outside. 1500-1700 lights on the tree this year, she lost count. She also decorates an artificial tree in the corner of the dining room. That tree belonged to my parents and is pretty good for a fake. It is a themed tree, decorated with only Santa ornaments.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Exactly a week later Sunday the 17th into Monday the 18th we got another wind and rain storm, which hit the eastern part of the state worse this time. I was not scheduled to work and decided I wanted the time off right before Christmas. If it wasn't right before Christmas, I would have grabbed at least one extra shift. We lost power at the house just before 9 AM and with the storm howling there was no chance a power crew was coming out to fix it. I reported it to Eversource and went outside to set up my generator. I got fucking soaked but at least we had electricity again. Because of the wind and rain still occurring, I set up the collapsible shelter I fabricated to protect the generator from the elements. I listened to my scanner as my department and all the surrounding ones got hammered with calls. EMS calls, flooded basements, trees and wires down, etc. Once the storm went by, things calmed down big time. Just after sundown, power crews were on my road. Normally we don't get power back until all the main feeds are repaired, but this time the main feeds sustained no damage. I looked at my meter around 7 PM and the display was lit. I called my neighbor to let him know power was back on because after I shut mine down I heard his still running. I brought everything into the garage to cool down so I could re-fuel and stow the equipment. The rain gauge showed 5 5/8" total. I dumped it at 5 inches and we got another 5/8" as the storm wound down. The flooding was way worse this time with the local river in the parking lot of the firehouse only about 30' away from the building.

3 1/2" at 07:00, this was at 09:00

 

Below is my latest mortgage statement. I could not imagine trying to buy a house right now thanks mostly to the economic disaster we live in now. We pay less per month than what people are paying for a 1-bedroom apartment in a nice complex. My daughter is now living in a 3-bedroom apartment on the 3rd floor in a multifamily house in the city of New Britain with a roommate and is paying $1500 per month. We have anywhere from $200K to $230K of equity depending on which market analysis you look at. Our house was built for us, moving in April 2005, and we paid about $277K. As you can see, the biggest chunk of my monthly payment (and unfortunately the one that fluctuates) is the escrow for taxes and insurance. For whatever reason, the monthly payment dropped $40 per month with the latest escrow analysis. We re-financed in early 2021 to get the 3.125% rate because every month Chase was inviting us to refinance. Of course, they wanted us to cash out a ton of equity but we just re-financed the balance, leaving the equity alone.

Redacted (OF COURSE) mortgage statement

 

Finally, our Christmas celebration was nice and quiet at home with my wife's brother who lives in a group home and stayed with us for a few days and my daughter. My wife's other brother and his family went to Florida to spend Christmas with The Old Man so we got together with them before they left. My brother and his gang went to Vegas for Christmas. It was nice to be home since the FD schedule is different now meaning I do not work all 5 days M-F. I was off for Thanksgiving and will be off for New Years.