Jessi's Birthday is this week!

Fire Duty

I went out on a fire call tonight. It was one of the extra sad ones. A single man with a little daughter. Their place was destroyed. She had two cats. One died, one might not make it. They lost all of their belongings, including the little girls hand knitted ‘blankie‘ that she sleeps with every night. One of the things I get to do is take them a little bag of much needed things like a toothbrush, soap, wash cloth and shampoo. We also give out blankets, especially nice for those fires that wake them up in the middle of the night and all they got out with was the pjs they were wearing, (if that much). But the best thing I get to give out to the kids is a little stuffed animal.

So tonight, there stood this man…without anything left except his daughter and a dying cat…telling me he didn’t even have a toothbrush left and then I got to hand him the little goodie bag of things that we don’t even think about not having until we don‘t have them. It just amazed him to open it and pull out a toothbrush! In addition to those things, I gave them the other normal things Red Cross helps with…temporary hotel, some money for food and a new set of clothing and a coat, but it was that knitted blanket and a little stuffed cat that made the biggest difference to that little girl whose cat died today. You will never believe that out of the whole box of animals that I have here, when I randomly grabbed one out before leaving for the fire, the one I happened to pick was a cute little tiger cat! The cat that died was a tiger! And that blanket I left with her…it was hand knitted! not the normal blankets we give, but the kind that was given to me last time I restocked my disaster box.

He didn’t want to take the assistance, but I convinced him that it was OK to let people help you once in a while. They both were so grateful. He had his daughter wrapped in her new blanket clinging to her new stuffed cat as they waved goodbye to me as I drove off. I feel so guilty when I leave a fire feeling like I took more than I left behind. Tonight was one of those nights.

Lunar Eclipse

I had the most spectacular view of the eclipse last night! I sat right there at my kitchen table eating dinner and watching it begin, then moved outside to the deck with the telescope after that. At one point, it looked like a side view of an eyeball...I was sure wishing I had film in my 35mm camera, the zoom and quality of my digital is just not what I wanted to capture at the moment.

Feeling GOOD!

Wow! I didn't know how yucky I was feeling until I got well. After a month and a half of one tiny cold moving to a tiny sore throat, then to a cough, and then back to runny nose, then... just something all the time, but nothing really bad...I finally went to the doctor to see what it was. I was given some antibiotics and I now realize how yucky I was feeling and how good it feels to feel good.

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

I made you cookies today...

...where are you?

Basketball

Today, I went to watch Joshua play basketball. I was in for a big surprise when I saw how amazing he is at basketball!

I was pretty impressed, it went in!
He is not the tallest
on the team, but he is really quick and stares them in the eyes when it is time to guard 'em.

So what do you do when you don't have anything new to add? Have a cappuccinno.