Evergreen Fair part deux (Speed Posting)

Jon Showing Peanut, his calf.

Gabe found the mini-tractors.

Tony

Run Away, The Fair is in town!

The Evergreen Fair starts tomorrow. It is a blessing and a curse for Monroe. There are those who do indeed run away on vacation this week every year to avoid the hassle and traffic. There are those, a majority of the locals, who embrace the Fair because of the economic boost it brings to the city and because they are involved in the event. And then there are those of us who complain a lot but don't leave, in fact we go at least for a day and eat sauteed onions, deep-fried snickers bars, elephant ears and (my favorite) scones with strawberry jam. We have a HUGE farming community in our area that come from the Snoqualmie, Skykomish and Snohomish valleys to converge on grounds this time every year for displays and competitions. There are many such stickers in the area.It is quite the event and there is a ton of stuff to see and do. Jonathan has taken on the task of showing "his" calf Peanut this year for the second year in a row. Last year was his first experience with 4-H showing, it went well and was a great experience. We are affiliated with the Bicycle Tree 4-H out of Snohomish. It is the same club the boys are involved with when they give the tours at the Wallace River Salmon Hatchery in the fall. It is a great group of caring folks. Preparations for showing Peanut began a few months ago when Jon began practicing leading Peanut out in the fields at the farm. Now they are buddies and very comfortable with each other.He has been improving bit by bit, and Peanut is responding well to him. They spend a lot of time together and it shows. Here he is with brother having his calf inspected by the official vet. prior to being allowed to enter the barn.He has even been doing his studies of cows to know all the body parts, a few breeds, and a ton of general knowledge. Preparations for showing and for general display to the public include decorating the barn, washing and grooming the animals, and finally bringing them in to rest on the fresh pine wood chips. Jonathan will also compete in a "Start to Finish" tomorrow where he will be paired up with and older 4-H member and they will take a calf and prepare the animal for showing from start to finish in just a couple hours. He will be showing his beast on Saturday. Tony

World records!!

View day 2 and day 6 afternoon video footage. Lets hope he tests clean as he has in the past.

http://berlin.iaaf.org/video/index.html The other footage is great too, for those of us addicted to T and F.

In other news:The Fair is coming to Monroe as it does every year. This year Jonathan will be competing in the Dairy classification, showing with his calf "Peanut". Gabe will be the supporting brother with sugary goop smeared on his face screaming for his brother.

Cheryl is prepping a collection of photos for a showing at a local business.

I am busy memorizing maps of Edmonds and all the gear on Aid and Engine 16. Day 1 was Wednesday; it went well.

Gabe is chugging along being the little brother. He will be a supporting cast member for the fair next week. He was the most messy volunteer last week during Servefest as we spread bark and painted a fence at the Fairgrounds. Oh yeah and we spent a day with friends at Jetty Island in Everett, it was great.

Tony

Fire Academy is done!

Friday I graduated for the Washington State Fire Academy receiving international certifications for Fire Fighter I and II, Hazmat Awareness and Hazmat Operations. (Honey let's move to Germany and fight fire.) I was voted by my peers as the most inspirational recruit. I also received awards for the Bulldog and for leading the class. Capt. Baker gave the commencement address with a charge to continue our adventure to strive to always continue to become better firefighters.

As Jonathan snapped photos I stood to speak. I opened with a quote from him, "Daddy are you going away to fire camp again?" My address to the 300 gathered friends, family and brass was one of thankfullness to all on behalf of WSFTA class 09-02. It was an honor I will never forget. The class plaque seen above was a project of love made from recycled fence wood and an antique extinguisher.

The last week of class was a blast. We completed a lot of fun training and a few not quite so fun hours of lecture on PAPERWORK. Below area few training shots of stadium raises on a regular 24' and a 50' Bangor ladder and a shot of Shannon, Tony (the other one) and Me on top of Mailbox peak.

Thanks to all of you who supported me and Cheryl with prayers and support. And a specail "Thanks" to all of you who came to see the cerimony. It was a pretty specail day for all of us.

Love you all,

Tony

FFI, FFII, Hazmat Ops, "Dork"

Fire Camp Week 11 pictures

This week was liquid fuel week. We dealt with fuel spill fires and pressurized LPG tanks. Cheryl and Gabe came up for family day and had a great time.That's me on the left nozzle with the yellow helmet

An effective tool for liquid fuel fires is a special foam the smothers and cools the fuel to extinguish the fire. It's fun to apply.

Week 12, the final week, starts next Monday. Graduation is on the 31st of July!!!!

Tony

Goodbye Lee

Last night Lee Pearce Orr lost his battle with cancer. I had the privilege of being acquainted with Lee through mutual friends who just happen to live next door to Lee and his wife. I didn't meet Lee until a few years ago at a picnic where he kindly indulged me with a few historic Track and Field stories; Lee ran in the Berlin Olympics. I love Track and Field and any time I am blessed with meeting one of the sport's forefathers I am humbled. During the very few years I knew Lee he lived a quite rural-farm life just east of Monroe, Washington. He was highly esteemed and loved by many. His will be dearly missed. My heart aches not only for his family but for those who looked up to Lee, the Track and Field community and for the Skykomish Valley. It is hard, awkward and somewhat unfair to place a higher value on one individual but we still do. For me Lee was up there, high on the list, not only because of his accomplishments but because of the effect his life had on others; I saw it. Thank you Lee, goodbye. Tony Robinson Board Member CNW Assistant Track and Field Coach, Sultan High School

Night Opps

Well week 9 and 10 of "Fire Camp" are in the books and it was quite a stretch. We completed all the testing for FFI and HazMat, aka "Death By PowerPoint". Here Recruit Sandman (His real last name.) awaits his turn at the first practical station. There were 15 FFI and 7 HazMat practicals (stations where we had to perform tasks to prove our abilities). The exams went well. FFI was easy as we were well prepared. the HazMat exam was a two level final written exam. The exam covered the Awareness and Operational certification levels. It was a couple of long days of "hurry up and wait".When it was our group's turn to take the test we were stuffed into a windowless room, hot and sweaty from having just completed the practicals, and seated to wait some more while the testing process commenced. As you can tell it was not the most exciting time.

With FFI and HazMat completed we were now set free, so to speak, to burn off some energy at the local pub. FFI test day was also my 42nd birthday and it was interesting. The CO in charge thought it might be nice to allow me to be the first recruit to complete my practicals so I was first. I passed all the stations without a hitch, unfortunately that freed me up to assist the rest of the class at their stations. So I ended up hauling and reloading hose for 4 hour in the sun while the others completed their tasks. A nice gesture on his part, how could he have known. The evening out was a needed and well received break.

For the last 20 or so years recruits at the academy have been living in single wide hooches. That ended today. The old hooches have been removed (rolled away) and from now on recruits and guests will sleep in comfort in the new building. An era has ended and a new one has begun.

As we have moved along our firefighting journey our CO's have loosed the reigns a bit. Here is an example: Morning PT (physical training) this week provided a break from the norm with a little dodge ball. We did end up breaking a water pipe and spraining Cpt. Dressel's thumb but other than that it was a good time with little else of note.

As we enter the final stages of our training we are finding that our abilities are becoming refined. Our CO's wanted to give us a chance to display our new talents without instructors around constantly correcting and coaching. NIGHT OPPS were in order. The event was originally planned for Monday night but we backed it off a day due to the mental and physical fatigue of the testing process. So Tuesday night it would be. After a few discussions I volunteered to be IC (Incident Commander), for two reasons: no-one else wanted the responsibility and I needed the practice. 17:30 We were toned to a multi story single family residence with smoke and flames showing from the A and B sides. Reports were informing us of multiple possible victims. Engine 1 arrived followed closely by Ladder 1. A short report was radioed to dispatch prior to Battalion 1 arriving (that would be me) on scene and assuming "Academy Command". I arrived on scene in the "Red Rocket", a red golf cart with emergency light mounted on top, and was assisted by a CO as I took over and ran the show. (After the initial deluge of reports and assignments I was on my own to command the operation.) It was actually quite easy once things got rolling.

The event was not without its challenges as every fire is. Chainsaws wouldn't start, ladders were poorly placed, rigs were too close, gear malfunctioned....just like the real world. Except for us it was practice. But it was still nice to not have instructors screaming at you and criticizing your every move. A few students from the Truck Academy, who were spending the night, came down and sat in chairs to watch the festivities. After 2 hours the night was done, all victims were rescued and the rigs were back in service. Originally we were told that if we did Night Opps on Monday night we would have Tuesday morning PT off, a welcomed morning of sleep. But since we bumped it to Tuesday nigh we were informed that Wednesday morning PT would go off just like normal. "Just like normal" was the actually quote........I awoke at 05:00, my normal time to brew some Joe and study or go for a early morning walk. I was heading to the classroom when I noticed the red light flashing at the facility pump house; indicating the hydrants were charged and water was being pumped somewhere on the fire grounds. "Hmmm" I thought that's odd. I turned to view the fire tower and saw smoke, A LOT of smoke. Last night's fire must have rekindled due to poor overhaul and one of the COs is down there hitting it with water. I got myself down to the tower to help haul hose. All three COS were in full gear LOADING the tower. "Huh!?" I was greeted with a loud, "Robinson, get the #&*$ outta here, what the *&$% are you doing down here!" Apparently their morning started at 04:00 when they came down to reset the tower for a morning PT burn. I laughed and made my way back to the new dorm building to be greeted by three engines, light and sirens blazing, announcing a fully involved single family residence very similar to the house we fought fire at just 6 hours earlier. I had the distinct pleasure of running thorough the dorm slamming into bedrooms and waking my peers with yells and screams of "Fire, we got a fire!" (Welcome to the fire service!) We fought the small blaze for an hour right up to breakfast time. It was a blast (again all victims were rescued) and those of us who have served for awhile understood the significance of back to back fires and how taxing they can be. The newbies were just pissed. The lesson: if you can't handle this how will will you do when there are 5 aid calls in between fires. Because that is how the real world is. (The Chief was impressed and shared with the class how hard our COs had worked for us, and that this kind of event is unheard of. We will probably never have another chance to fight two fires back to back in a learning environment without instructors, ever.) It was a good week. I was awarded the Bulldog for my command of the Night Ops. The Bulldog is a rotating honor to be worn, all 6lbs of it, by the selected recruit as recognition of a job well done.

Tony