For many years we were renters. We made that choice because we wanted a certain lifestyle for the kids. We could have bought a home in almost any residential tract (within reason of course) but we wanted to be where there were woods nearby, large fields for horses and other animals. So I was quite used to calling the homeowner when some major appliance stopped working.
The Saturday of Labor Day weekend I recieved a call from my wife while at work telling me there was no hot water. She had checked the HW tank and concluded it had died a natural death. The Saturday of Labor Day weekend is not a good time for a HW tank to die. I still had to work on Monday and then again on Wednesday for my debit day (see yesterdays post regarding that moment of fun in the sun). So it was back to primitive life for us. If you wanted a bath, heat the water on the stove. If you needed clean dishes heat the water for a sinkfull and wash them by hand. It was getting old for my wife and daughter (I showered at work each of the affected days!) but we wanted to take the time to purchase the right tank for our home.
On Tuesday the purchase was made but we couldn't pick it up until Thursday due to the late hour of the purchase and my working on Wednesday. So Thursday afternoon we get it home. My wife and I wrestled it into the house and then slowly slid it down the stairs to the basement that would be it's home for many years to come. I took it out of the carton and moved it to the spot... it was over a foot taller than the old one! Now the water connections were right at the level of the top of the HW tank - no good.
So we called a plumber to come and move the connections up a bit. Once done (and a few $$ later) the electrical connection was made, the lines purged of air, the tank full of water and the hot water lines all full and running - my wife flipped the breakers and ...
Hot water!
I suspect there will be more of these events in the life of my home ownership. May they be solved with a similarly low amount of problems!
Friday, 7 September 2012
Thursday, 6 September 2012
Don't fall over. I know it has been a while (nearly two months!) but I have been busy...
Yesterday worked at our busiest station for my debit day. I used to work there in the 90's and it could get pretty hectic then. My regular station has an average of just over two calls a day, a pace I like and want at this point in my career. The station I worked at yesterday has an average of over 8 per day... so I was pretty sure it would be busy. Now I know that some of you may think boo-hoo, but we had 17 calls - 14 of which happened before dinner. Thankfully we had none between 6 p.m. and 1 a.m. and then finished the shift with 3 calls after mid-night. Still - I did get some sleep and I thought that was going to be a fantasy after the daytime we'd had. The best part of it all was that I was familiar with the location of every call... I still used the mapbook to be certain but I knew where we were headed right off the bat for each call. That is a good day no matter how many or few calls you have.
Perhaps this post will break the dam and I will 'blog' a little more often.
Yesterday worked at our busiest station for my debit day. I used to work there in the 90's and it could get pretty hectic then. My regular station has an average of just over two calls a day, a pace I like and want at this point in my career. The station I worked at yesterday has an average of over 8 per day... so I was pretty sure it would be busy. Now I know that some of you may think boo-hoo, but we had 17 calls - 14 of which happened before dinner. Thankfully we had none between 6 p.m. and 1 a.m. and then finished the shift with 3 calls after mid-night. Still - I did get some sleep and I thought that was going to be a fantasy after the daytime we'd had. The best part of it all was that I was familiar with the location of every call... I still used the mapbook to be certain but I knew where we were headed right off the bat for each call. That is a good day no matter how many or few calls you have.
Perhaps this post will break the dam and I will 'blog' a little more often.
Monday, 16 July 2012
Fire at a Distance
Every fire station is monitoring dispatch during the working day. There are several reasons for this. One, pagers have been known to fail and hearing your unit number on monitor is not something you want but it is better than missing a call! Two, you hear what is going on in the whole area. Three, you hear what is going on in the stations adjoining yours. Four, when the actions starts you get to hear it begin.
So our ears perked up last Sunday when we heard an apartment fire get toned out. Now you have to understand that I work at a station that is on the farther reaches east of our rather oddly shaped Fire District. It isn't unusual for our station to be left in quarters while others more centrally located are sent to the fire. This fire was almost dead center of our district. The report was smoke and flames seen, people knocking on doors and alerting residents to the fire. Then it got a little more ominous as it was reported there may be people in the apartment on fire.
The first due engine, Engine 21, arrived and reported fire showing from a 2nd floor of a three story, wood frame apartment building, they were taking their own supply, establishing Millwood Command and doing a 360 walkaround. He wanted all units to base on the street outside the complex and staging would be behind engine 21. Shortly after this he reported that they were going into 'fast attack' mode (our way of saying... I've got immediate life rescue to do!!) and that the next in apparatus should take command.
All the while this is going on we are following closely. I was training one of my crew to be an Acting Captain. So I quizzed her on what she thought her first actions would be, what assignments she might make and all that goes with being first in on a fire. It was a great teaching moment and we took full advantage of it. Later in the day, when the BC visited our station (and he was Incident Command on the fire) we asked a lot of questions and my Acting Capt candidate learned a lot.
It occurs to me now that 10 years ago I would have been really frustrated that we didn't get to go and "play". Yesterday it never bothered me for a second that I was on the outside listening in. Fire at a distance is just fine with me. My chances to fight fire are still good and I'm sure there will be more opportunities. I guess I must be changing.
Part of the flow of a career.
So our ears perked up last Sunday when we heard an apartment fire get toned out. Now you have to understand that I work at a station that is on the farther reaches east of our rather oddly shaped Fire District. It isn't unusual for our station to be left in quarters while others more centrally located are sent to the fire. This fire was almost dead center of our district. The report was smoke and flames seen, people knocking on doors and alerting residents to the fire. Then it got a little more ominous as it was reported there may be people in the apartment on fire.
The first due engine, Engine 21, arrived and reported fire showing from a 2nd floor of a three story, wood frame apartment building, they were taking their own supply, establishing Millwood Command and doing a 360 walkaround. He wanted all units to base on the street outside the complex and staging would be behind engine 21. Shortly after this he reported that they were going into 'fast attack' mode (our way of saying... I've got immediate life rescue to do!!) and that the next in apparatus should take command.
All the while this is going on we are following closely. I was training one of my crew to be an Acting Captain. So I quizzed her on what she thought her first actions would be, what assignments she might make and all that goes with being first in on a fire. It was a great teaching moment and we took full advantage of it. Later in the day, when the BC visited our station (and he was Incident Command on the fire) we asked a lot of questions and my Acting Capt candidate learned a lot.
It occurs to me now that 10 years ago I would have been really frustrated that we didn't get to go and "play". Yesterday it never bothered me for a second that I was on the outside listening in. Fire at a distance is just fine with me. My chances to fight fire are still good and I'm sure there will be more opportunities. I guess I must be changing.
Part of the flow of a career.
Tuesday, 10 July 2012
Weird with a Capital "We"
So yesterday at work we had a couple of transports to the ER involving young teens who had either threatened suicide or had acted it out somehow. This always results in a transport to the ER for an evaluation. Both teens just wanted to go back to their room and forget about the whole thing. Both were pretty unhappy when they found out their choices were limited to going with us or going with the cops.
Anyway... the second such transport was for a young man almost 15 years old. As we were waiting for the officer to complete his paperwork and as we were starting to get the young man ready for the fact that he was going to the ER his mother showed up at the back of the ambulance. I went out to speak with her to see if she had any further information. As we were talking she informed me that things had been hard for this young man since his father had died just a couple of years before. That's when I recognized her. Our crew had been the one called to their home and had done CPR on her husband! That shed a little more light on things. So after I explained that her son would be going with us to the ER for a physical evaluation I went back into the ambulance to explain it to her son. (He wasn't happy as I said before).
It gets weirder...
As we were transporting the crew was trying to explain to the young man that he still had some control on how his evening would go. If he was polite, cooperative and reasonable he would get home sooner than if he was an idiot, carrying on and cussing everyone out. One of the crew shared how he had lost a friend in the last couple of years as well. Then our young man said, "Yeah, I had a friend die in a sand box." Believe it or not, our crew had been on that call too and had done CPR on the 10 year old all the way to the hospital (a 15 minute transport at least even going code. I was the one doing compressions that whole trip)!
Talk about a weird co-incidence! Weird with a Capital "We". (Thanks to Red Dwarf for that quote...)
It isn't always that way at work but sometimes it can be.
Anyway... the second such transport was for a young man almost 15 years old. As we were waiting for the officer to complete his paperwork and as we were starting to get the young man ready for the fact that he was going to the ER his mother showed up at the back of the ambulance. I went out to speak with her to see if she had any further information. As we were talking she informed me that things had been hard for this young man since his father had died just a couple of years before. That's when I recognized her. Our crew had been the one called to their home and had done CPR on her husband! That shed a little more light on things. So after I explained that her son would be going with us to the ER for a physical evaluation I went back into the ambulance to explain it to her son. (He wasn't happy as I said before).
It gets weirder...
As we were transporting the crew was trying to explain to the young man that he still had some control on how his evening would go. If he was polite, cooperative and reasonable he would get home sooner than if he was an idiot, carrying on and cussing everyone out. One of the crew shared how he had lost a friend in the last couple of years as well. Then our young man said, "Yeah, I had a friend die in a sand box." Believe it or not, our crew had been on that call too and had done CPR on the 10 year old all the way to the hospital (a 15 minute transport at least even going code. I was the one doing compressions that whole trip)!
Talk about a weird co-incidence! Weird with a Capital "We". (Thanks to Red Dwarf for that quote...)
It isn't always that way at work but sometimes it can be.
Wednesday, 27 June 2012
This is harder than it looks
I notice that the last time I posted anything on this blog was mid-May! I'm finding this is harder than it looks to keep adding things of interest. Maybe that is why I have a hard time in that I don't think of things to post. I will have to work on that!
Last Sunday was the wedding of my niece and I was the officiant. It went very well. During the wedding she chose to have a song played. It is by Christina Perri, an artist I had never heard of. The song was called, "A Thousand Years". When I got home I decided to go to youtube and look her up. The song was there. It had been 'posted' in October 2011 and already had over 37 MILLION hits. Then I noticed that it was a song used in the Twilight series and the movie was Breaking Dawn. My daughter told me that the movie sucked big time, but it explained why the song had already received over 37 mil ... I won't hold that against the song... I like it!
Been spending lots of quality time on the yard... de-thatched it twice in the past month so there has been all kinds of dead grass and moss that has needed picking up. Hope all the hard work results in a great looking lawn.
So. I am telling myself I need to post at least once a week. I will make an effort to do so.
Last Sunday was the wedding of my niece and I was the officiant. It went very well. During the wedding she chose to have a song played. It is by Christina Perri, an artist I had never heard of. The song was called, "A Thousand Years". When I got home I decided to go to youtube and look her up. The song was there. It had been 'posted' in October 2011 and already had over 37 MILLION hits. Then I noticed that it was a song used in the Twilight series and the movie was Breaking Dawn. My daughter told me that the movie sucked big time, but it explained why the song had already received over 37 mil ... I won't hold that against the song... I like it!
Been spending lots of quality time on the yard... de-thatched it twice in the past month so there has been all kinds of dead grass and moss that has needed picking up. Hope all the hard work results in a great looking lawn.
So. I am telling myself I need to post at least once a week. I will make an effort to do so.
Thursday, 17 May 2012
Once or twice in a career
The other night my crew and I were invited to take part in a ceremony at work honoring the garbageman who performed CPR on a man in cardiac arrest. (I wrote about it in a previous blog.) By the time we had transported the man to the ER he had pulses back so it was what we call a "code save". Over 90% of the time that means that we deliver them 'alive' but they die in hospital from the initial event or the many complications that arise from suffering cardiac arrest. However, once or twice in a career you get the chance to meet someone on whom you have performed CPR. The first time this happened for me was about 10 years ago. We had been called to a local YMCA gymnasium. Someone had collapsed playing basketball. My crew was second in on that one. We helped package and transport. A year later the man came by with his family to say thank you. Let me tell you it is quite a moment when you are looking the family in the eye and they are so grateful at their second chance in life!
Now, as I said, the ceremony was for the young garbageman who performed CPR. I had not seen his face because when we switched over and I took over doing compressions for him I only saw his back. From that point on I was 'a little busy' and so only learned who he was much later. Well, the man who had suffered cardiac arrest not only lived to get to the ER - he walked out of the hospital on his own! From what Eric, (the garbageman) told me, there had been one cardiac artery that was 98% occluded and another that was 90% occluded. Now he was home recuperating with a good chance at living a normal life. One of my crew told me that the family had come by the station to say thanks (though I was not at my station that day as I was Acting BC so assigned to a different station). There is a real satisfaction at experiencing this kind of outcome even though it is so rare. Now my second time in nearly 28 years of involvement with the Fire service...and a lot of CPR done in that time. It is all down to how quickly someone starts effective compressions after the arrest occurs. Do you know CPR? You could save a life if you do.
Now, as I said, the ceremony was for the young garbageman who performed CPR. I had not seen his face because when we switched over and I took over doing compressions for him I only saw his back. From that point on I was 'a little busy' and so only learned who he was much later. Well, the man who had suffered cardiac arrest not only lived to get to the ER - he walked out of the hospital on his own! From what Eric, (the garbageman) told me, there had been one cardiac artery that was 98% occluded and another that was 90% occluded. Now he was home recuperating with a good chance at living a normal life. One of my crew told me that the family had come by the station to say thanks (though I was not at my station that day as I was Acting BC so assigned to a different station). There is a real satisfaction at experiencing this kind of outcome even though it is so rare. Now my second time in nearly 28 years of involvement with the Fire service...and a lot of CPR done in that time. It is all down to how quickly someone starts effective compressions after the arrest occurs. Do you know CPR? You could save a life if you do.
Monday, 7 May 2012
I see dead people...
Yesterday I pulled a shift at a station different than my own. I am a Hazardous Materials Technician and the station that houses our techs was one short. So I was 'detailed' to fill that spot. It was a beautiful warm, sunny day; quite a bit different from the cloudy rainy patch through which we in the NW were slogging. After a call around 2 p.m. we discovered that we were going to have to go to the station in which I usually work to conduct a tour. After the tour we returned to the Haz-Mat station via a circuitous route. It was while we were returning that we were called to a MVC involving a motorcycle and a car. The initial report was that CPR was being performed on the motorcyclist. We were not first on scene but we made the scene and supported the first in crews in their CPR efforts. Sadly the cyclist was DRT (dead right there) and all resuscitation efforts were stopped. Now, every FF will tell you they see lots of death. I always find it a bit sad when someone who was enjoying the same sunny day as me suddenly, and before they could say "Oh No!", was now dead. A great way to die but it sucks for your family and friends as no chance for goodbyes exists. Guess it's one reason to keep short accounts!
Later in the day we were called to a local AFH (Adult Family Home - the fireservice is chock full of acronyms!) to confirm a death. When someone passes away outside the hospital we are called to confirm asystole (flat line - no heart action at all). Then the Sherriff's officer has to come to do a basic investigation and then contact the medical examiner so the body can be realeased. In this case, a sad one to boot, the deceased had been living in the AFH for some time. No family, no relatives apparently alone in the world... he had been hospitalized with kidney failure and had begged the Dr. to be allowed to 'come home' to the AFH to die. Someone paid to care for him would be the last person he would see in this world. It was kind of the owner of the AFH to allow him back - a kindness not often seen - and it was a bit sad that he died without anyone to mourn him.
Glad to be home now for 5 days so I can go back again. Now I will see live people...
Later in the day we were called to a local AFH (Adult Family Home - the fireservice is chock full of acronyms!) to confirm a death. When someone passes away outside the hospital we are called to confirm asystole (flat line - no heart action at all). Then the Sherriff's officer has to come to do a basic investigation and then contact the medical examiner so the body can be realeased. In this case, a sad one to boot, the deceased had been living in the AFH for some time. No family, no relatives apparently alone in the world... he had been hospitalized with kidney failure and had begged the Dr. to be allowed to 'come home' to the AFH to die. Someone paid to care for him would be the last person he would see in this world. It was kind of the owner of the AFH to allow him back - a kindness not often seen - and it was a bit sad that he died without anyone to mourn him.
Glad to be home now for 5 days so I can go back again. Now I will see live people...
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