October 20, 2003 - 10:24 a.m.
You would think that after a marathon of weekends not at home, not getting enough sleep I would take the weekend that I had at home and well � spent it at home? Or sleeping? But no, I guess I am not wired like that. What I did wind up with for my weekend was good. And by virtue of being a different; relaxing in its own sort of not enough sleeping kind of way.
Friday night was nice and quiet. Ragnarr and I ordered a pizza and watched a movie. Then the evil sofa sucked me in and I fell asleep half way through the movie. Some Friday night date I am! ZZZZZzzzzz�� Really it was a good thing considering how Saturday turned out.
Sat morning started at, well it started earlier than I get up on weekdays. Off to pick up a friend, drop him at an airport, swing by the house to change, off to pick up donuts and head to the station by 0800. Yes I told you I was up too early for words. Check out the ambulance and curl up for a nap. But no, off on a call. Get back to the station and move my gear to the firetruck.
WAITAMINUTE � Kyna is not a fire-fighter (in spite of some good natured nagging by the FFs at my station I have no intension of becoming one. I will stay with my beautiful clean and wondrous ambulance thankyouverymuch). What the heck is she doing in a big red truck? A public service standby that is what. October is Fire Safety month, and many many of the schools around here have been having safety fairs this month. Come by have your child fingerprinted, and a current photo taken. Meet a real Police officer, see the bomb squad truck, meet the K-9 handlers, pet the firetruck and the ambulance. All good things, and we were short staffed for the event.
So here I am at the elementary school, with Eric and Scott passing out fire safety fliers and helping kids up to sit behind the wheel of the big shiny toy. �Hey fire-lady (*twitch*) what is that thing for?� �Um, that is er um � oh yeah that is a pole hook (think like a skinny polearm folks), used for tearing out burning ceilings � I think.� Actually it was all going really quite well until the Asst. principal/fair coordinator comes walking up to me. It seems that there have been complaints about the smell of possibly gas coming from around back of the school � could we please check that out? Dutifully I radio it in to the communications, Eric and Scott toss on some gear and begin to check things out. This leaves me with 1 firetruck, 100+ interested children and 0 clue. �yes ma�am, this is a fire pumper. It holds 1250 gallons of water and 2000 feet of hose. How long can it flow water you ask? Well � um, yes let me show you where we can hook to a hydrant so that question becomes irrelevant.� It was a standby damnit! Eric and Scott were supposed to be answering all these questions. I was just there for manpower to make the numbers right! But no, me all alone, them off playing with leaking gas tanks. This ladies and gentlemen � my first fire call.
On the way back from the standby we were diverted twice for smoke investigation and response to an alarm. I am now all the talk of the fire side station. 3 calls in 4 hours � no one gets that kind of call volume on the RESERVE engine!!! �Hey Kymber, come be on the engine again next weekend� I. think. not.
Sat night, back at the station, but once again on the ambulance as it should be. Things were relatively quiet which was a good thing as this was poker night. In an effort to disturb the men and their macho game, we set up a �ladies table� right next to them. Penny poker! (the boys play for quarters) We brought a tablecloth, floral arrangements, snack trays, desserts, linen napkins, and cards with naked men. They were disturbed � they were very disturbed. :) heh heh heh The ladies table closed about midnight and I decided to get in on their game. I entered with $3 and finally quit after 3am with over 20. Do you know how heavy $20 in quarters is in your pocket when you run a call?
Really I was going to sleep in Sunday, god knows at this point I needed it. But apparently that memo didn�t get out to a gentleman on the north side our first due at 0600, so awake I was. Ah well. Home by 9am.
I had 3 naps yesterday. I did some housecleaning, went to the movies with Narr (Intolerable Cruelty � very funny I recommend it!) and SCA phone call making in between them. Naps are good. My kittens seemed to agree with that concept and all piled on for the activity (or lack of activity as it might be more aptly described)
So in summary (like anyone has made it this far) � I am doomed to never sleep in, had fun at the station, apparently am the bringer of Fire calls, beat the boys in poker, got in some needed weekend EMS staffing hours, did some but not enough housework, went to the movies, took some naps, did some paperwork and am back here to start the cycle of the week all over again. Cool!.
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