Thoughts and Notions

It's a warm day here in Michigan getting up to 62° F. We all put on our sunglasses and made a trip to the park. What a beautiful day!

Chesley enjoyed the huge icicles, Kaden enjoyed splashing in the pool, and we all had a good time. The joke is that we will remember this last weekend at Shanty Creek as the “weekend we did nothing.” That's because we went to a ski resort and never once ventured out for some snow sports. But the truth is we had a ton of fun just hanging out! Thanks Mom and Dad for inviting us to come!

We went raspberry picking on Saturday. Had a great time getting out together, picking them, and taste testing them!

Have you ever been raspberry picking this time of the year? For some reason, I never knew this was raspberry season. I always thought it was earlier in the summer, like when the wild ones are ripe. (I believe that was in July.) Ok, what about this… Have you ever heard of golden raspberries? I haven't! But they had some, and they were a bit milder… tasted good!

Thought you might like to see some pictures we took over labor day weekend. We took a trip up to Houghton Lake and got to take Karl's Grandma Irish out for lunch. Then we got to go out on the boat with Dad Fred and Cathy. Erick, Karl's brother, showed up later in the day and we got to spend time time with him too.

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.