Drastic change from last day

Today has been extremely pleasant compared to last day. Beautiful weather and everything at a good pace. Not too much to blog about thus far tonight but I'll see what I can pull together. First I wanted to follow up on something I posted last day. Talk about a class act, this evening I received a phone call from Greg Doss. If you read last day's post, you'll remember that Gregg had family here in the Roanoke Fire Dept. and is now working himself on the job in Franklin Tenn. I also mentioned that he is their Union President and wrote about him because of his offer to help with anything I may need while I was down in Nashville. Well, he read the post and thought enough to call up here to speak with me personally and thank me for the posting.... TO THANK ME! Hell, he was the one offering help. Anyway, we had a great conversation. He grew up around Vinton and even volunteered there in the old days with a lot of guys who are now on the job or recently retired from here. The Obenchains, Tommy Overstreet, Mike Armstrong, and Chris Trussler. He grew up visiting old station #6 ( Peanuts was assigned there )just as I did as a child and shared memories etc of all of the men we both remembered so fondly. Capt. Swanson, Lawrence Breeding, M.H. Poindexter and more. He also told me that he is also kin to Tommy Hogan (now retired.. Tommy is Greg's mother's brother). So anyway, the fact that he took the time to call was fantastic and it reminded me of one of the slogans on our stations 2009 St. Patty's shirt. The slogan is Gaelic and reads "Braithreachas Thar Gach Ni" meaning "Brotherhood above all else". Here's a pic of the shirt. you can also view both the front and back (without the slogans) here. I was browsing through Rhetts site over at VaFirenews.com and found what looks like is going to be a great gathering for Firefighters up in Richmond on the 26th of this month. The event is hosted by the Halligan Bar and Grill. Check out the link here . The good news is that it's close to us here in Roanoke. The bad news is that it is scheduled on the weekend of our 2nd annual Officer's seminar. Anyway, it looks like something I'd like to attend, check it out if you can. I also found a pretty cool pic over at Firegeezer . Check this out... Talk about a "Deck gun"...boy if we could get one of those!!! Read the related article here. We had a few visitors today as well. The Buckaroo brought my wife and oldest daughter by for a Popsicle. It's probably a bad idea to post a pic of one of my girls cause I know how firemen think. So, give her a break....here's the pic (left to right, wife Donna, the Buckaroo, and oldest daughter Randi-jo). We had another visitor but I don't think he had as good of a time as the Buckaroo or the girls. We posted once in the past about the rats around here. Oh the stories we could tell. Here's the past post and here's a shots of his cousin...RIP. I guess I should also add here that technically, neither of the two should be considered rats. These are more like little field mice compared to the rats we have. This one was even too small to grill and had not nearly enough hide to make it worth while to skin him. Guess we need to wait till they get their winter coats on LOL. I'll end for now with a short video. One of our part-timers was in the back of the bay this evening praying. I know he was praying because tomorrow is Sunday and all of the members here on C-shift know I don't like the boys sleeping in chairs (in plain view of the public) when we have 18 beds and 2 couches upstairs. Anyway, he was praying and two of our neighborhood kids found him.

Gonna wrap it up here..it's GAME DAY! Va. Tech is playing Alabama and we hope to catch a little of it. The entire day has been planned to end with the game. Even the meals. One of our favorite bars...errrrr cafe even delivered some GREAT hot wings. If you have never been to All Sports, you're missing not only a great time, but great food as well. OUTSTANDING ribs, wings, burgers, wraps you name it. Affordable and ice cold beer...ahhh I meant milk, tea or cool-aid. We hit the Salem location mostly but there's one on Grandon Rd in Roanoke as well. Check out the link here and stop in for a glass or twenty with us some day. That's it for now, stay safe and quiet tonight. GO HOKIES!!!
Capt. Wines