Notes from Mosquito Hill » family

Fire and ice, and a dog. (Project 366)

mack505 — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 18:36:47 +0000

January 21 – Home alone for the evening, lounging in front of the pellet stove.

January 22 – Cold day at work. This grew throughout the day. I kept waiting for the rig to hit it on the way out the door.

January 23 – My family says the dog is a good luck charm and she has to wear the shirt through the Superbowl. Cricket is not impressed.

January 24 – The Howe is finally safe at home. The trip was much longer and more expensive than planned. Details to follow.

That’s her older sister, Engine 2, in the background.

I sure wish I had those ladders.

Eight years (P366 – 1/10/12)

mack505 — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 03:17:56 +0000

Eight years ago. . .

The fog of life

mack505 — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 04:47:48 +0000

Slightly less than a year ago, I departed for my first shift of 2011 through thick fog. It broke dramatically that morning, signifying hope and promise.

If I try to be objective it was a decent year. 362 days later I’m still working a good job with a good employer, my family and I are healthy, and our finances are in better shape than they were a year ago. Second grade is going fabulously!

Emotionally it’s been rough though. Mrs. Mack505 suffered the loss of two family members. My Public Safety family has been rocked with multiple losses, both on duty and off.

I was not there personally, but I was on duty and listened live as a firefighter lost his life. I’ve held my breath with each subsequent radio transmission and felt the ice in my gut as it became apparent what was happening. I’ve looked into the eyes of the crew who worked to save him, and of the good friend he relieved at shift change that morning. I can happily go the rest of my life without ever repeating that experience, thank you.

The fog returned this morning, bookending the year in gray. Goodbye, 2011. It’s a new day tomorrow, and I’m on duty at the best job in the world.

Stay tuned.

Light a candle

mack505 — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 00:55:23 +0000

So the shortest day came
And the year died,
And everywhere down the centuries
Of the snow-white world
Came people singing, dancing,
To drive the dark away.

They lighted candles in the winter trees;
They hung their homes with evergreen;
They burned beseeching fires all night long
To keep the year alive.
And when the New Year’s sunshine blazed awake
They shouted, revelling.

Through all the frosty ages you can hear them
Echoing, behind us – listen!
All the long echoes sing the same delight,
This shortest day,
As promise weakens in the sleeping land;
They carol, feast, give thanks,
And dearly love their friends,
And hope for peace.
–Susan Cooper

It’s been a rough year and a rough month for my little corner of the public safety world. I count 6 deaths and 3 serious injuries this month alone. Things are feeling pretty dark around here today with the news of Peabody firefighter Jim Rice killed in the line of duty.

Carpe diem. Cherish the time with your families. Say those “I love you’s” and “I’m sorry’s.” Read the NIOSH reports and learn from them. Work out, eat better, watch your partner’s back. Wear your PPE, stop at stop signs, and don’t drive like an idiot.

Light those candles, shout, sing, and live for the day.

Rest in peace Patti, Sarah, Jon, Jim, Frank, Robert, Tim, and Kristen.

And thank you, Phil, for forwarding the poem when I needed it. Serendipity. . .

Worcester, again

mack505 — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 01:04:52 +0000

A little over a week ago it began as just another day at work.

Yesterday it ended with thousands of firefighters, a hundred bagpipes, and the obligatory television cameras.

(turn your speakers all the way up)

Career or volunteer, big city or small town, FDNY or Oquossoc, ME; when the tones drop we all accept the same risks. We all feel the same pain when one of us doesn’t make it home.

I met a few old friends and missed meeting a lot more. I rubbed shoulders with the Chief of Fire from Syracuse, NY and with jakes from the ‘hood in DC. We were the proverbial Sea of Blue in support of our brothers and their families in Worcester. I hope we did them proud.

Rest in peace, FF Davies.

Make it stop!

mack505 — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 03:33:59 +0000

Sunday night we were in a Christmas mood at work. We dug the tree out of storage, hung the lights, and took a few embarrassing photos for Facebook. Then we started to notice the updates.

A Fallon ambulance was struck head-on on the other side of our metropolitan area. We followed live on FB, Twitter, and the Internet radio stream as the events unfolded. I listened as the crew was airlifted to Big City hospitals.

Overnight a NH State Trooper crashed his cruiser and was seriously injured along with his K9. I saw the crash site in my travels before I knew what happened.

Monday morning, a police sergeant in one of our cities was struck on the highway. He was seriously injured but is recovering in Big City Trauma Center.

Wednesday night, a Worcester firefighter was killed in the collapse of a burning three-decker. John Davies, a 17 year veteran, was searching for a missing civilian when he and his partner were trapped. His partner survived.

Services are next Thursday.

This evening I learned that FF Sarah Fox of Portsmouth, NH, lost her hard-fought battle with cancer this week. I’m not feeling much holiday spirit right now.

Tomorrow is a new day. . .

Reunion II

mack505 — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 17:15:37 +0000

This is part 2 of a multipart series. If you missed the beginning, you might want to check out part 1.

So it was off to northern NH to retrieve the Howe. The current owner said she’s been well maintained and should be ready for the long trip home, but antique trucks can be full of surprises. I loaded the pickup with every possible supply and tool I could conceive of needing: oil, coolant, brake fluid, jumper cables, spare charged battery, air compressor with hoses and chuck, extension cords, fuel stabilizer, lead substitute, Marvel Mystery Oil, and an assortment of basic tools.

Captain Murphy often rides with me. (I know he’s at least a captain because I’m a lieutenant, and Murphy outranks me.). Whatever breaks, it will be the one thing I didn’t consider. That’s why I also carry the number of a good heavy towing service.

The GPS says it’s a 3 1/2 hour trip up. It’s pretty accurate, but it translates to a 5 hour return trip at 1963 speeds. It’s gray, foggy, and threatening rain, but at least the weather is still unseasonably warm.

My first glimpse of her is in her owner’s driveway. We round a corner, and there she is at the top of a small rise. The last 18 years have not been kind to her, but I’ve aged a bit as well. Her body is not as good as I had hoped, but it’s much better than I had feared. If the mechanicals are intact, I can work with this.

They seem to be OK. She starts quickly and idles well. Her original siren is missing, but I know where it is. Her original seat has been replaced with buckets, but they seem comfortable. She’s lost her 35′ extension ladder, and her nicely matched set of chrome suction hoses has been replaced with a ratty mixed set. The brakes need bleeding. I hope that’s all; it may be a bad master cylinder. The tires are iffy, and I’ll need to find and repair that exhaust leak. And I’m sorry, East Haven, but the lettering job is ugly. It will have to go. Some of the original paint may yet survive under it, though.

In summary she needs a fair amount of work, but it’s not insurmountable. We take care of the formalities, and then I’m off.

It’s a blast from the past. Low revving, lots of torque, lots of noise; but she doesn’t seem as hard to drive as I remember. Perhaps I’ve grown up, or perhaps it’s the lack of a deputy chief watching me from the right seat.

It takes less than a mile for me to realize the first tool I’ve forgotten: duct tape. Fortunately there is a hardware store next to the gas station. With a full tank of gas/Stabil/lead substitute mixture, and with the headliner taped securely out of my field of vision, we begin the long hard climb south out of town on US 3.

Reunion I

The attic

mack505 — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 22:42:17 +0000

Cleaning the garage is easy. It can be heavy work, but there are only two questions to answer.

1. Is it useful?
2. Will it be useful in the quantifiable future?

If the answer is ‘no’ to both, then out it goes.

Attics are a lot tougher. Attics are full of memories and emotions. Childhood mementos, items saved for the future; dreams realized, postponed, or dashed; and a fair amount of good old junk all compete for space. It all had a purpose when it went up there.

I hate cleaning out the attic, but the physical and emotional weight of of stuff is reaching critical mass. It needs to go. Wish me luck.

Inspiration

mack505 — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 01:22:40 +0000

Today I attended the local Tour de Chooch with a friend. TDC is a free, annual, self-guided event where owners of some fabulous model railroads open them for visitation. I saw some simply wonderful things and was inspired.

The reality, however, is that I have neither the time nor the willpower to build a basement empire at this stage in my life. I’m thinking about a small shelf railroad, perhaps a Timesaver variant, to keep me busy over the winter and allow some of my old boyhood trains to come out and play again.

This is one of my most prized posessions. Deputy Dad had it custom painted for me at least 25 years ago now. At the time all I knew was that I wanted my own B&M engine. The guys at the local hobby shop delivered very nicely with an Athearn flywheel drive and Kadee couplers. This was state-of-the-mid-80′s art. It may not have Digital Command Control or ProtoSound, but it has memories.

Thanksgiving

mack505 — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 02:11:30 +0000

Over the river and through the woods, to Grandmother’s house we go.

I realized today that we literally go over the river and through the woods to get to my parents house. Of course the woods line the driveway, and the river is a brook, but still. . .

I’m thankful for the big stuff this year: family, work, health. Enough said.