Size matters and yea….I have a big one!

Get your minds out of the gutter…. I’m talking about mustaches for Pete’s sake! Say what you will but, when it comes to mustaches, “SIZE” really does matter. Now, like I said (and I aint bragging) I have a big one.

That said, I don’t know many other fellas that even come close to being in the same catagory. As a matter of fact, I only know 2. The first that comes to mind is Chief Billy Goldfeder…

You GOTTA love that stache! Oh yea.. have I mentioned I know the Chief personally? Met him several times now and have even had a beer or two with him. 

There’s a lot of “mustache envy” going on right there, I’m just not sure which way it’s going (LOL). So, Chief Billy is just 1 of the 2 who may come close to being in or near my catagory when it comes to mustache size. The 2nd…… ???????? Well, that would now be the Buckaroo! Yea… the Buckaroo….Take a look..

LOL… now THAT’S a mustache! Aint it a beaut? He calls it his “moose”stache …LOL. I guess Goldfeder and I will have to fight for 2nd place in the battle for “best stache” now LOL. And, I guess the Buckaroo’s costume choice is  out of the bag now. He wanted to be a fireman just like his “Paw-Paw”. Here are a few more shots of the little fella in his turnout gear and mustache…

Does it get any better?? I love that little wave he gives when I get the  camera out. He’s a ham for the cam. Well, for cameras and pretty girls. I had him out picking up square bales yesterday and assigned him “loading supervisor”. Here’s a shot of him at his desk giving that signature wave…

Of course, deer season is now officially open and you never know when a monster buck may run right by the hay trailer so he kept his bow and arrow pretty handy..

Of course with 500 bales on the ground, he decided he had better save his energy for trick or treating and opted for rides on the 4-wheeler with the farm help..

Ok, moving on; I have several other items etc I’d like to mention. I have gotten several e-mails and comments etc on my post Counseling Session for better judgment … this is great judgment. Several, I did not post. It seems as though a lot of folks are jumping to defend me concerning this issue. First off, THANKS for both the comments and the support. Second, in this case; I don’t think I need / needed “defending”. As I mentioned in the above post, I do not think any of the pics I used crossed the boundary of inappropriate, embarrassing or damaging to me, this site, the Network or my department (I have never openly acknowledged the name of my Department on this site nor should one be considered connected to the other). I edited that and the following 2 posts multiple times and even  had a trusted and valued friend / fellow blogger edit behind me. Third, what I received was a “counseling session”… not a reprimand. I did not get “in trouble”. This was kinda like a “courtesy call”. A “hey… just in case you haven’t thought about it…”. Again, I’ll say YES.. I have thought about it (that’s why I used the pics I did in the manner I did) and THANKS to my Chiefs for the friendly reminder / heads up. So, again to my readers; thanks for the support but hold up on the lynch mob.. it’s all good.

A related thought is that the post in question was all B-shifts fault anyway. Yea… when I came in that morning, Captain Phil “Triple D” Dillon was all excited to pass along that his shift had a total of ZERO runs for his previous 2 tours! ZERO!  NILL !  ZIP ! NODDA ! Well, those of you in the Fire Service know what that means… yea …. the next shift takes a beating…. and we did! Thirteen or so runs that started with the worker and continued through the night. Well, when I got here this morning, Captain Dillion had that funny look on his face (no.. not his usual one.. the other one). You guessed it.. another tour for B-shift with no runs! Uggggggggggg!

As soon as he left, the City went NUTS. We had 2 working fires in the City before 9am. Lucky #13 lived up to her name once again and we were able to stay in house. Our brothers and sisters from the Southside caught what sounded like a fully involved detached garage. Soon after, The Deuce put the Northside to work on what appeared to be an attic fire but was quickly downgraded to a “can handle”. So, the curse of Dillon has avoided us thus far despite being Halloween. I hope our luck holds…

It wasn’t just the first day of last cycle that was busy for us, we were steady pretty much all cycle. I think I mentioned that Georgie was off on Vacation so Boots had the wheel while we received “fill ins” all cycle for the firefighter position. I posted the shot of Brady from day one but didn’t get one of the middle day where we had Shane Duncan and Brad Harris splitting the shift. On the 3rd day, we had Carlie Walshe from Station #5. Carlie graduated from the last Rookie School and has been doing really well out in the companies. For those of you that followed me from the “Melrose Misfit” blog, you may remember Carlie from a fire she was on before she was even hired. Check out that fire and her pic / story here. Anyway, we didn’t catch a fire with Carlie but did have a pretty good smoke condition due to burnt food… I know… WooooooHooooo. Bottom line is that Carlie did a good job taking care of me and Boots last day and we wanted to let her know and say thanks.. here’s her pic..

Ok, I’m gonna wrap it up for the night. Hope everyone had a fun and safe Halloween. I also hope to stays quiet for everyone pulling a tour tonight. We are back Tuesday and Thursday, until then stay safe and in house.

Captain Wines