Hay in the barn. Firewood piled up. Plenty of coffee or tea in the cupboard. What makes you feel secure going into winter?
Chocolate, plenty of chocolate
Author: Kay
Enjoy the view
Who needs a fancy setup to enjoy a good view? This house is across the road from Jamestown Beach. And there may be some sort of mountain view in the other direction, too.
Rain or shine?
The front of this unit reads “AgWeatherNet.” It looks like a dandy unit.
Weather forecasting has come a long way from The Old Farmer’s Almanac.
Dahlias
We’re headed to the end of our growing season. My garden went in late and now shows the pathetic signs of inattention on my part.
These are someone else’s dahlias. Sometimes I think those are the best gardens of all: someone else’s.
Moving into autumn
Rain. Clouds. Blue skies. Clouds with blue skies. September is like that this year.
Oh, crib!
We had eight separate workshops at last Saturday’s Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) training event. We trained with our walkie talkie radios, learned about helicopter ambulance services, discussed squad tactics and much more. And then there was a cribbing exercise that tested technical skills and squad organization dynamics. This included a several hundred pound propane tank partly filled with water that had rolled onto our dummy victim. We had to use blocks and pry bars — cribbing — to raise the tank sufficiently to safely pull our 200 pound victim out.
Cribbing is a means of creating a strong temporary structure to stabilize and raise a heavy object. Click the link above to get a better visual idea of how it works.
We managed to crib, raise the tank, and pull out our victim. But I’m really glad it was just a drill. I won’t admit everything I did wrong but it didn’t support domestic harmony with my DH coworker who also caught himself out. I think we need more drills.
Remembering a big disaster this day, September 11, 2001, that wasn’t a drill and claimed the lives of so many, including the emergency workers who ran directly into harm’s way.
Getting to know a fire truck
We didn’t get to ride on a fire truck at last Saturday’s Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) training but we did get the next best thing: a chance to get up close and personal. We were introduced to this truck and its role fire emergencies. It is a pumper truck. It carries water to fires and has the ability to suck up and pump water from other water sources. Although some parts of central Sequim are served by traditional water hydrants, most of our outlying community — my home included — relies on this sort of “imported” water to fight fires.
Our squad members also had a chance to get the feel of a fire hose. Ester here demonstrates technique with backup from a pro.
Clallam County Fire District 3, the umbrella organization for our CERT teams, has their own maintenance department to keep equipment in good shape, money well spent. This unit new costs about $500,000 out the door.