1st day back for C-shift

Feels like fall now. Cloudy cold day and a belly full of Lt. Bugg's 500 bean chili. Bet the bunk room will be right tonight! I never knew there were so many different kinds of beans. Anyway, it's been a so so return for the misfits of C-shift. A bad run for the Medics (Coon and Tyrone)and the guys over at Lucky L-13 that I'm not sure how to tell about and keep everyones privacy so I'm not gonna. On a brighter note, I didn't post last day but we did have some pretty comical runs. I'll add a few pics of one and let you decide the caption / title... check it out.


LOL I can't wait to see what kind of response those get. Moving on, Wheezy has been gone all day working as an evaluator for our regional CPAT (ok, I know we are not in Ca. but it's the same test.. google CPAT here and look for yourself). Sounds like we had several candidates competing for a shot at working for a Department here in the valley. The good news is that we heard some of the part time guys we work with here on Medic 101 did very well and will advance to the next step. Good luck to Alex, John, Josh and all the other candidates who have chosen to make ours their profession. With Wheezy gone and Tyrone all jacked up on Ritalin, it turned out to be Opie's day in the "hot seat". It seems as though each day, someone has the privilege of being the one everybody else pokes at. Today, it was Opie's turn. Seems as though he had a bad experience hunting yesterday. He's looked, searched, photographed, mapped, documented, you name it, he's done it in preparations of killing this ONE deer. Now this is not just "ANY" deer mind you, he seen this monster way back in the summer and called "DIBS". Well apparently, he forgot to tell his neighbor or maybe he's just not doing something right. Either way, the neighbor got the kill.We've gone over it a thousand times today, retracing every step and we can't pin point exactly where he went wrong. It couldn't have been his stand placement..that was perfect

Even his secondary stand was in a good location... a great view of the near by soybean fields..

Maybe this deer was just smarter than Opie?


Could have been that Opie is a little behind in today's hunting technology

I guess it really doesn't matter at this point because the deer is dead and that's that. How do we know for sure you ask??? With all the EMS training we've had lately, as soon as Opie heard the deer had been shot, he sent the Stewartsville Medical Examiner out for verification..

DRT...Poor Opie, he did everything right for the hunt... everything except the part where you shoot the deer (which I thought was the most important). He's been heart broke.. HEART BROKE!! I tell ya. I've told the boys to lay off, but between us, I think they've still been fretting a little. I even offered to let him hunt over around my place but he said he was after a "wall hanger", a"trophy" deer, some "antler stew" something he could be proud of... not those thin, small, mountain farm, garden eaters like we have over in Catawba

**(NOTE: not my kill. Shot by Chuck Hartman 2008 / 2009 season)**
Anyway, the good news for all you PETA members out there is that Opies has sworn off hunting. It's the Kroger meat Dept. from this point on, well, Kroger and what he's eligible for from Hunters for the Hungry.

I'll close with a reminder of the upcoming meeting on October 20th for our newly formed football team. Plans are well underway and it looks as if it's going to be a BLAST. We have been accepted into the National Public Safety Football League and need to get to work ASAP in order to be ready for our 1st season. Capt. Stone and Chris Price have been hard at work on our behalf. They have created a web site found here and will be able to address any questions at the October meeting. Make plans to attend and PLAY! See ya there... until next day (Tuesday) be safe and stay in the house. Capt. Wines

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALEX !

Ok folks, by now everyone knows I'm long....errrr...winded yes, long winded and today's post may be a record setter. So, If you want to know what the C-shift Misfits have been up to today, go get a drink and snack, sit back and continue to follow along. If you could care less and / or don't have the time, check out these sites for a shorter, less entertaining read ... here here or here. Ok, today was kinda all about one of our beloved part-timers, Alex Helms. Today is Alex's birthday and he decided to pull a tour and spend it with us ( ain't that special??) He even brought T-bone steaks in for dinner. He brought em and wouldn't let us pay for em (his other job is as a meat cutter). All he wanted was for someone to fix em...and that we did! T-bones, baked potatos, corn on the cob and a salad. We waited, slowed things down, then sped em up trying to get everyone here between calls and, have all the food done at the same time... it worked. Everything done to perfection, on our plates, the blessing said, forks in the air and.... you guessed it "ding ding ding". Out the door they went. Poor fella. The good news is that we're keeping it warm for him and we didn't cut the "special" cake the boys made for him. Until he made it back that is...Here's a few pics (the cake blurred out...ask him about it LOL) Just like all of our part timers, Alex does a great job and we are proud to have him run out of this house. He currently has his application for full time and should take the C-PAT in a week or so. Good luck and HAPPY BIRTHDAY Alex, I hope you enjoyed the day. Well, I say I "hope" he did but actually know he did. You see, being it was a sunny and beautiful day (despite or wonderful local weathermen's forcast) we had a little pump drill. We had Medic 101 tag along and Alex and John both got a little nozzle time. Soaking wet (accidental of course) but grinning from ear to ear. Here's the pics and a short video of the boys laying in..
That's Alex in the 2nd pic from the top.. bet that's the biggest thing he'll have in his hands tonight, birthday or not LOL. I guess I should have started out with the happenings from this morning rather than jump straight into the afternoon events. We had a couple visitors first thing. Roy Layne from the Shriners stopped in (as he often does) bearing gifts. A whole box of candy bars donated from our local shriners. We've posted on Roy and the Shriners before ( a must see post here) and have a really great relationship with their fire unit. If you are not involved with or don't know what the Shriner's do for our children's burn hospitals, take the time to look it up or contact your local Shriners unit. Here's Roy and the boys We also had another nursing student. OK today was more like a ride-a-long rather than a student. And just when we thought we were on to something here... they sent a guy! Yep' the exact oppisite of last day's students. Of Course Kaylor didn't mind, he jumped in the pic just like with the gals..here or here. OK, so we're having a litle fun today. This ride along (John) was from one our local hospitals (LGH). They send their new hire nurses out for ride alongs with Fire/ EMS so that they can see the other side of the incident or where their patients come from and what we have to do to get them to the ER. John was a good sport today and Im certin he'll be an asset for all our local medic units when he begins work in the ER. Speaking of fun.... well you know us misfits, we try to squeeze in a little anywhere we can and today was no exception. Even while training, we sometimes break the tension. Today, I was able to combine the two. I've been talking alot about the development of a local FULL CONTACT football team and at least here at #9 we take these things serious. So, our training has already started, and we're working our way towards 2-a-days. We managed to toss the ol pig skin a little and Bugg even shot some video (sneaky bastard) of yours truly. They thought it was funny that I was wearing a helmet and a pink one at that, but I explained...hey, make due with what you have and practice like you play ..LMAO.. Just look at them boys...ATHELETES!


Now I've tried to explain that I will be a running back and NOT a receiver but they still don't seem to understand. They laugh, giggle, mumble something about me in a hospital bed and things like that. The most recient jokes are because I've found some of my old High School equipment. Like they've never seen high top Puma cleats! They snicker and mumble something about a leather helmet and even made a new screen saver for our computer...
I still don't see what's so funny and look damn good with that head of hair. Wait till we hit the field next year...THEN we'll see who's laughing ;-) OK, to wind it up here..and oh yea, thanks for hanging in. We check our blog stats fairly often (click "view my stats" at the very bottom of the page, just below the stat counter) and have noticed several regular out of town, state and even country readers. Now, the out of country comes from Iraq and we figure that to be one of our previous firefighters Gary "Fish" Fisher or my soon to be son in law "Little Dave". The others, we're not sure who they are but are glad they're reading. Anyways, we wanted to say THANKS to ALL of you and ask if you have any requests or if there is something you'd like us to post about. You know, a loyal reader pic, a link for your personal or dept. blog, a practical joke video that we'd need to top, if there's something about the station, our department or members in particular you'd like to know about or see. I guess in short I'd say, give us some imput and feedback.
To close (I know...make it quick) we posted here on Charlie "Chuck" Fotchmans retirment and although he's WAYYYY behind, Rhett has added something on his "feel good" site here. We wanted to update you on Palmer in that he made it through some more surgery but is still not able to receive visitors. Keep Dave, BJ and the kids in your thoughts and prayers. And, it's with regret that we'll add the passing of William G. "Stick" Walters. Rhett also has a post on Sticks death here. Please keep his family in your thoughts and prayers as well.
I would think that's enough for tonight, thanks again for looking in on us. Stay safe and in the house. Capt. Wines

C-shift returns for Mon, Wed, Fri cycle.

Ah Mondays! Gotta love em. Been a so so day thus far. Opie made it home from the beach but was farmed out to Lucky #13 today. Opie returns and Wheezy heads for sand. Popping tops and drowning worms no doubt. He traded some time so he could be off and somehow tricked little Sweeney into working. Both of the Sweeney boys work in the Department following their father's footsteps ( John Sweeney, now retired ). Ben has worked with the Melrose Misfits before and did a fine job other than darn near eating us out of house and home. Brad on the other hand has been a mess. I assigned him 1 task today...ONE and well..he failed! All he had to do was keep an eye on Tyrone. Keep and eye on him and keep him out of trouble and / or harm. I had no more than assigned the order than Tyrone was up to shenanigans. The good news was that Brad didn't eat us into the poor house. I'm not sure if it was because he just doesn't eat like his brother or due to the meatloaf fiasco that yours truly ruined. It was bad. All kidding aside, Brad did a fine job today and is welcome back. Here's his mug shot

We've kept him semi-busy today, wires down over an occupied vehicle, an MVA, a few fire alarms, a dumpster fire and stabbing (with a fork). Here are a few pics from today's action



We had a few other visitors today as well...well kind of. Battalion Chief Dave Bishop came out to ride on our part time Medic Unit #101. Back before gold badges and take home vehicles, Dave was once assigned here at #9. He's got a little age on him now, but he handled himself very well today and fit right back into the mix. Kaylor was his partner and they had the task of precepting 2 nursing students for the tour. I didn't get a pic of the Chief, but we did catch one of Kaylor and the students

Other news for the C-shift Mis-fits is that Coon sold his house. Now starts the task of buying land and building a new home...WooHoooo. The bad news is that he needs somewhere to live until he can build. Well, all you loyal readers know that all of us here at #9 are givers SO, the boys have been hard at it searching for the perfect temporary nest for Coon and the family. I think they found some pretty good options, here's our 2nd and 3rd choices..


BUT...as good as these two choices are, we found one even better. The only problem here is that the previous owner is included in the sale... they could always put him on the fold out sofa LMAO!

We can't wait to be invited over for our annual fall cookout,cornhole and horseshoe tournament..

OK OK that's enough for tonight. I'll end on a serious note. We have several Brother's out on sick leave and at least one in very critical condition. We want Dave and his family to know that they are in our thoughts and prayers. Rhett has a short post listing most of the men off (add Capt. Mutter from #6-C), check it out here
Here's to hopes for a quiet night, be safe and stay in da house. Captain Wines

Emotional roller coaster for C-shift

I wasn't sure if I was even going to mention this first topic or not. Then I remembered the intent of this blog. We wanted to share a little of "fire house" life with our readers. Now, alot of what you see and read here is firehouse pranks, practical joking etc. but you also get a small glimps of some of the incidents we run. When I say small, I mean small and you folks out there on the job know what I mean. In no way can a few pictures or short narritives begin to explain what we see or the emotions we feel when responding to these incidents. I once wrote in a much earlier post of how while on the job we have to see and do things that most people never even think about. Well, today was another one of those days and sadly, it involved Medic 101. We have been fortunate here at #9 to have a part-time medic unit staffed Mon-Sat from 9am-9pm (in addition to our Medic 9). We are also fortunate that our part-time staff is a great bunch of Medics and EMT's (both personally and professionally). Today, 101 was staffed with probably the 2 youngest part-timers we have. Neither one looks old enough to drive, much less be working here. These 2 are also really good kids. Quiet, polite, eager to help and learn, too young to shave or to have picked up any bad habbits yet..you know the type. Never the less, despite their innocence; they caught the call (along with E5, RS-1 and later E9). You hope you'll never have to, but if you stay in this profession long enough, odds are you'll catch one too. You never get use to it, but after you've been on the job a while, you learn ways to cope. The point I want to make here is how upset I am that it was these two that had to see it and that they had to see it so early in their careers. But more than that, I want to say how PROUD I am of the job these two young men did today. They handled themselves as professionals both during and after the incident and we are proud here at station #9 to have them with us. They know they have the support of each and every member here in our house and our thoughts and prayers go out to the family as well.
OK, with that little vent behind me, I'll move on to some happier news and events of the day.
It's Friday so, Wheezy was off to EMT-I school getting his learn on. With him learning and Tyrone off to the beach, we needed a body. Short staffed as always, they had to pull someone from the "South Side". Not just any ol station either, we got a body from THE BIG SHOW! Meet "Pookie" aka Rebecca Smith.

I don't think they feed her too well down at the Big Show... notice she's digging for groceries while still in the rig. We hadn't even made it home yet LOL. Just kidding Pookie, Thanks for hanging out with us today, you're welcome back anytime. Speaking of Tyrone being off to the beach and being the caring Captain that I am; I can't help but wonder what he's into. Playing and teaching Jackson and Noah how to build sand castles I hope but odds are he's showing them shark wrangling or something.

Capt. Bedwell from B-shift acquired us a new Officer's tool and A-shift took the time to mount it for us yesterday.... can't wait to try this baby out. I can't believe they would, but in an attempt to fret; my boys moved the tool to the bucket (where it will get used) and put some medical thing-a-ma-jig in it's place.


Needless to say, the tool is back in it's home! We stopped by to check on the Measure of Progress..aka our new station.

She's comming along pretty good. The Buckaroo stopped by for a vist and took the time to give Lt. Bugg a few pointers on wheeling the War Wagon.

Alex, our "full time part timer" brought in steaks today and DAMN were they good! That gave Coon the chance to break out what he brought us back from his most recent vacation... HELL IN A BOTTLE!



Now, all anyone has to do is read the label to know not to put this stuff on a perfectly cut and trimmed ribeye much less put it in your mouth. Well, anyone except for a Melrose Misfit that is...

Yea...they cried. We finished out the evening with a game or twenty of corn hole (we are Champions you know).


That about wraps it up for now. Hope tonight is quieter than the last. Everyone stay safe and keep em in the house. We're heading into a 4 day break! Captain Wines.