FIRE!!! Right? Hmm.

I was driving home after working at the sub, and as is often the case, I was driving right during rush hour.  I also have a small car.  I am not picking on anyone, much... However, I have noticed that large vehicles seem to think my car is fun to be right against.  I guess I also create road rage- by driving the speed limit... Meh.

Anywho, while turning the corner to get on the road to my house, I cross train tracks.  While worrying about a dingbat passing me on a double yellow line, I happen to look down the tracks.  It's a reflex, you know, avoiding even BIGGER vehicles... And I see smoke.  White smoke, which is usually lawn type grass, (this is Oregon, I specify), or wood.  The glimpse I got was the grass was on fire.  But it's not impossible that someone was burning slash wood.

But it bugged me.  I don't really have a logical process when I see things, but the mental gears kicked in.  It wasn't near a house... It WAS by train tracks...  That, in and of itself was odd, unless there are Railroad workers near, they don't just set a fire and leave.  In fact, there wasn't a person around.  Sadly, that can be not so unusual, but it was near the center of a field.  Most farmers would at least have someone watching it...  It just bugged me, the whole way home. 

So, I called it in.  The info was taken, and I figured it was probably a fluff on my part, probably getting the emergency guys out for no reason...

The next day I receive a Flash Alert.*  It said that a fire had been called in.  Yeah...

And it turned out it was not one, but 2 fires were burning, and they had to have 2 engines called out, as it was in a bad area to fight fire in.  (The railroad goes over and by a swampy area.  Oddly, the grass can be tinder on top, with the soil the consistency of a wet sponge below.)  They were able to put out both fires, and I gather since I'd called it in fairly early, the damage was minimal.  They didn't know how it started, though.  That bothers me a bit, but I guess, they will hopefully figure it out later.


*Flash Alert is a notice that fire, police, schools, etc., use to tell people about 'news' and events.  I am signed up for several of them.  It was originally for a job I had, now it's just because it's interesting, and I am nosy... :)

D is for dime phone call.

My Dad worked at the local telephone company as a repairman.  He would go out and work on the pay phones.  I would see the phones around town, and chirp, "my Dad put that phone booth in."  I would think it really cool to be riding around at night, and see the glow from the overhead light in the booth, making a friendly light in otherwise dark areas.

He also collected the coin boxes.  You wouldn't think a box full of dimes (and later quarters) would be that big of a deal, but I picked one up, and they are HEAVY.  Dad had to take several of the boxes to the bank.  Most of the time the bank tellers would just open the door, and lead him to the back, where he would lift up the boxes for them to take care of.  He knew when there was a new person, because they would stop him at the desk, and they would take care of it.

Once.

Then the next time, he would be led to the back, where he would do the heavy lifting again...

I liked to watch Dad work on the different parts of the equipment, from the "peds" outside, to climbing poles, to digging about inside the phones themselves.  Once in a while, after I learned to drive, I would see him, and I would stop, and we'd chat, usually he working, while I would hand him tools.  Once or twice, if it was at a person's house, they might come out and ask how long I'd been working.  Feeling mischievous one time, I looked at my watch, and said, "Oh, about ten minutes..."  Laughing, Dad then introduced me.

It's somewhat sad to me, there are no phone booths that I know of in the area.  I wish there were.  While it isn't the regular need that it used to be with cell phones.  But batteries die, phones are not with the person, and there are even those who still don't have a phone.

So there times when they could use a phone... Attached to the ground, or not.