Siftings
Feb
25
Slipping?
So I had this idea to make the stairs into the basement open on one side because, um, architecture is cool. Building Inspector Ken put the kibosh on such coolness because, um, building code. Or some such thing. So I went with a dazzlingly beautiful hand-crafted handrail instead.
Drive to up to...
Feb
14
Swoonage
sideways Renaults, tossable Toyotas, flying Puegots, (cheating) Audi Quattros and unspeakably sexy Lancia 037s ...
with some sultry 80s Blondie (Rest in Rhythm Clem Burke)
the greatest four minutes of video I have ever seen - or you will ever see
Feb
11
Seaside In The Rearview
Week before last, I’m at Poynette Village Hall after dinner, doing some work. The fire pager goes off and the run begins. The old Public Works pickup truck which sits in the Village Hall parking lot for just this purpose awaits my arrival. It is below zero so the summertime tearing the work...
Dec
20
Part II
“Is that illegal?”, my newest friend asks. “No”, I reply, “it’s just ridiculous and unprecedented”. My newest friend is several rows ahead of me at the moment as we bounce along at 500+ knots over the Rockies, on our way to SJC. I’ll never see my newest friend again, but he was standing next to...
Dec
06
Part I
Wisdom creeps up on you. Or, more likely, it’s apparent to everyone but me. We (Troy, Jason, James and me) are heading back to the station in Engine 33 from a nighttime Med Flight LZ. Troy’s at the wheel, Jason’s in the officer seat and me and James are in back. It’s dark and cold and Troy and...
Nov
14
The Things We Carry
with homage to Tim O’Brien
“Anybody see anything they didn’t want to see?”, Captain 2 asks on the cold ride back to the station. It’s an opening for discussion, but there’s not much offered. A dozen or so firefighters, EMTs, paramedics, doctors and a helo pilot did all we could for a man...
Oct
31
Leeward
Why is everything so orange and warm? Whilst most of Poynette is pondering breakfast choices, I have a new and more immediate interest. Well, I should say me and Lexi have a new and more immediate interest.
Probie Lexi is behind me, helping with pre-dawn hose management at a fuly involved...
Sep
29
Beds Made
The alarm goes off at the LZ at 2:30 AM. Time to head back to Wisconsin. Out the door into the nighttime chill, as the marine layer slithers into Carmel Valley. Up and down the Laureles Grade, through Salinas and north on the 101 to SJC. I’ve taken to parking the cars in the same general area...
Sep
25
Learning Not to fly
Shorts are on backwards. But at least I have shoes. Pager goes off at four something AM and the day alarmingly begins. It is (ever glorious) early Fall in the Midwest. The perfect time of year, with shorts and a light jacket the ideal garb. The day will end in Seaside twenty-threeish hours...
Sep
14
Times Like This
Slim took over for Bob. “Slim” Dunlap, that is, took over guitar duties for Bob Stinson when Bob got fired as the founding guitarist of The Replacements. Bit of a bummer getting fired by your younger brother, and Bob never recovered. Slim did good work, but the band was never the same. The end...
