Serious fun tying knots...especially with my crowd

Can you get into trouble when you are learning to tie knots? Apparently so... at least with my fellow fire fighter members. You want to know what I mean right? Ok, here's what happened at practice.

All fun in the hall, but it was serious fun including lots of practice, practice, practice. You know that saying "Practice makes perfect"? Well, it's actually more accurate to say "Perfect practice makes perfect."

I had been away for the introduction to knot tying and so I took the rope home for a couple weeks with handout and book on tying certain knots. Knowing me, you realize I would practice my little heart out to make sure I had it down pat.

You guessed it! I practiced really hard and made sure I knew what knots where what and what each one was used for. Such as Clove Hitch, Bowline, Butterfly Knot, Figure Eight and the double Figure Eight, just to name a few I learned...

Now, when I get to the hall Wednesday night, I bring my tools for learning, quite confident that I had them down pat...test time... Start panicking anytime now!

Instructor: "I want to see a Double Fisherman's knot. Go!"
Me: "A what?" Grab book and start looking through the pages. I'm sure I don't remember that page! Sweating. Not really, but the drama keeps you reading...

Instuctor: "Tammie, you having a problem?"
Me: "I must have missed that page in my book."
Instructor: "Here let me show you."
Sweet! Whew!

Oh that one's easy!!!

Practiced that one a few times. Next the Instructor says, "Show me your Figure 8 Double Loop."
Me (mumbling): "Uhhhhh right, no problem. I know the Figure 8, how much more difficult is the double?"

Sneaking up on me the Instructor bends down and says, "How's it going Tammie?" Hmmmm now do I panic or do I look at him and stick my tongue out? Hee hee  Yes, I chose to cross my eyes at him and stick my tongue out...So far he isn't asking for knots that I was told to study at home! I'm sure it's a conspiracy!!!

Nice! He showed me the knot... easy peasy...

Then he says, "Ok everyone show me your Clove Hitch with a couple half Clove Hitch."

Ok this should be easy because I remember the clove hitch. By this time the Deputy Chief sitting beside me is getting bored and quickly did his knots, got up and went to do something else. Can't look at his stuff anymore :(

Someone piped up as to why I was getting so much help? Hee hee Instructor mentioned I hadn't been there for the introduction to knots and needed to catch up. But it wasn't really hard to learn and being a fast study, he didn't spend much time with me.

Then we have to proceed to put two of the knots together. The Double Fisherman with the Clove Hitch and half Clove Hitch. Combining? Really? Uhmmm ok, it's 8:30 PM and my brain shuts off at about 5! I'm suppose to remember and combine at this hour? hee hee

All in all the knots were easy and fun. Until one member came over to me and said, "Here's a knot you can use on your significant other. Put out your hands." This isn't looking too good, for me...should I be worried? Have no idea what it's called, but it was fun to learn and made lots of people laugh. Comments from the peanut gallery not included. Use your imagination :D Let's just say it's kinda like the handcuff knot only more wraps involved...hee hee

We then went out and practiced our knots on the equipment. Talk about a laugh-athon! I learned lots and of course my usual 100 questions in the evening didn't all go unanswered. I was even able to make a couple members laugh. Curiosity killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back :)

Well, that's it for this week,s practice.

A couple fun...for me...call outs

Since being back from my trip to Bella Coola, we've had a few call-outs.  A couple of them were what I would call, routine. If a first responder call can be called routine. hee hee

Though I must say I was pretty excited, not over-the-moon-with-joy excited but excited none the less about getting the chance to attend an MVA. I got to do the paperwork at the scene. It was very minor compared to what could have been. Not sure exactly because...well... let's just say that the guy driving the ambulance decided to overtake us and pass us on the highway. The ambulance got there first and we pulled in a couple seconds behind him.

No we don't know why the driver felt he had to or what the point of it was. We still had to deal with the car and helping getting the accident victim into the ambulance. I've never had so little information to put on my paperwork since joining the fire hall...hee hee Command on duty said he's had less. I did however ask the RCMP officer, who attended the accident, for a name, address and he even gave me the victim's age. I was glad for that at least. 

Another new experience for me was just the other day we had a call-out for a bush fire. Weeee!!! something I haven't dealt with yet. On with the bunker gear, in the truck I go...wait, which address is it? We are given two. Ok, Engine 171 is going one way, Rescue 171 is heading the other way, let's see if we can head the fire off at the pass...ughhh... NOT!

We can see the smoke up in the hills across the river from us. The Captain in our truck, R171, calls to Command and informs them where we can see the fire. Yes, Command was on scene and sees it. He's already sent one man, Mikey, up the hill to inspect. Doesn't look like much, but we can't get the trucks up there, we'll have to hook up a couple miles of hoses if we have a situation that needs attending.

Finally R171 heads to join E171 at the correct location. Command informs Dispatch of the situation.it' It's just a smouldering burn pile a guy is actually watching. No permit, the guy gets a warning...not the first time this has happened apparently. We're not needed.

What can I say? It was was still pretty cool! I didn't get out of the truck once. But had time to sit with my fire partner while we took pictures with our cell phones of each other and of the goings on around us. Here are a couple fun pictures for you guys. Have a great week! More to come as always.