Thoughts and Notions

We live right down the road from the firestation and hear the sirens easily from our place. On Saturday we visited the Delta Township Fire Department and got a full tour from one of Karl’s co-workers who is also a fireman.  It was fun to see all of the trucks up close. We got to see all the cool high tech stuff fireman get to use to save lives. It was a neat experience and one Chesley will talk about for a while.

(Addendum by Karl)

Fun facts learned on the tour:

1) Our local fire department has infrared imaging devices that they can use to find people in burning buildings. The images can be instantly transmitted to the “central command” firetruck.

2) The newest engine (a Fire/Rescue) in the station can produce it’s own power, carry it’s own water, do basic life support operations, and has tons of compartments for everything imagineable. It also has cameras mounted all over the outside of the vehicle that help the firefighters see what is around them as they drive.

3) Laptops abound in this station. I think every one of the vehicles had computers in them… and they connect at the station through a wireless router perched up towards the ceiling. I hear they may use cellular internet while on the road.

4) Firefighters live in the building. I didn’t really grasp this until shown. They have sleeping quarters, locker rooms (both men and women), an exercise room, a library, entertainment and cooking areas. The cooking area even had a “big red button” that would be pressed if a fire was called into the station. Any gas going to the stoves used for cooking would be immediately turned off so that the firefighters wouldn’t have to worry about their food burning up, as they go save lives and buildings from… burning up.

We learned all of this and more during our time at the station. It was fun and eye opening… and would recommend getting a tour of your local fire department to see what an important role these people play in our lives.

Just wanted you to know that we’re sorry to anyone who tried to visit our site in the last two or three days only to find it non-existent, or display a lot of errors. Unfortunately, there wasn’t a whole lot we could do about it, other than switching it to entirely different servers. It was all due to our host’s problems. We will tell you more about that soon. Also, we are aware that our site is still experiencing some technical difficulty and hope to have everything working like a charm soon. But for now I just want you to know we’re back and the Herricks are all alive and well!

On Saturday we went to Binder Park Zoo for Karl’s work picnic. We had a great time and spent the afternoon touring “Wild Africa” with Karl’s boss and family. The kids really had fun feeding the giraffes some biscuits. The zoo was selling them for $1 each or 6 for $5. Karl started making jokes about bringing his own next time and selling them for 75 cents each. He could make big bucks. Somehow, I don’t think they’d like that too much.

Today Kaden turned one year old. He has changed so much in this last year, as all babies do. It’s just more real to you when you watch it happen right before your eyes day after day. This little guy is a happy kid! He’s got 5 teeth, has mastered the technique of crawling, and waves with both hands when he gets really excited. We love him so much. Happy Birthday Kaden!

Ever wonder where the end of the rainbow is? Well, it’s right outside our window! Yesterday we peaked out our window to see if it was raining only to find a giant, vibrant rainbow ending right down in the valley behind our place! It turned into a perfect opportunity to review with Chesley the promise God made when He first put the rainbow in the sky.