Sights while pedaling home this morning...

For some reason, inflatable lawn decorations never seem right, or remotely interesting, until they are deflated. And when there's more than one or two, this rule seems more solid.

Did Santa hang this elf on the marquee of his workshop as a warning to other elves? I am not sure what this elf did to warrant this penalty. Did he not want to make toys? Maybe he wanted to be a dentist. Obviously a misfit.

Notice the plumes of smoke in the background? That's right - the entire city was on fire this morning. Well, at least that's what some folks thought yesterday - a lot. Imagine, steam coming from dryer vents, steam vents and even out of a laundromat/drycleaner/steam cleaning business.

How strange.

The river was also on fire - all day - yesterday, but we never had to respond to that. Maybe Dispatch filtered those calls out for us.

Maybe it's time for a public service announcement or something from the "news" media. I saw on the "news" this morning, that when it gets cold, water "freezes." This process actually firms water and you can see the process in lakes and ponds. So, maybe something from the media about steam being more visible when it's cold would not be so far-fetched.

Remembering the Sock Monkey...

We were doing some remembering of a fire we had on the east side of town, years ago. It was mostly in the attic above a garage. I got up into the scuttle hole and was crawling around, putting it out. Someone above me was cutting a hole inches above my head to ventilate. It was really hot, but became much hotter as burning pieces of freshly chainsawed roof were falling on the back of my turnout coat. Ouch.

But, I was the lucky one. This little fellow didn't have a chance. Imagine if there were feet in those socks.

For the rest of that summer, it seems like sock monkeys, as well as stuffed animals of the plush variety were turning up at almost every house fire.

Sock Monkey R.I.P. We'll always remember you with a smile on your face.