There have been lots of woodland critters around our property lately. When driving around New Paltz, I'm always careful to stay on the lookout for a deer that might suddenly dart in front of my car. My little Smart Car would probably take a huge hit if I struck a deer, and my windshield is relatively close to the front of the car and quite 'flat,' so a deer strike would be bad for me, too.
Less dangerous but far more numerous are the rabbits. They dart in front of the car all the time as they run away from their nibbles. You'd think they'd have ravaged our garden, but happily they seem quite content with the plants that we consider weeds. I once came across a flattened rabbit on our road, but I'm pretty sure that it was accidentally mowed down by our neighbor's truck, and thus far, I'm unaware of having killed any wildlife larger than one unfortunate toad.
Yesterday while driving into Manhattan, a police car zoomed by me, and then a few minutes later, I came around a turn and found the cop car protecting drivers from crashing into the carcass of an adolescent black bear that had obviously wandered onto the roadway and been hit by some passing auto. I'd heard about them in the area, and bears have occasionally been spotted in New Paltz, so we're careful not to leave food (and garbage) out for the bears, but this was the first time I'd ever seen a bear, live or dead. Poor thing.
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Monday, June 01, 2009
Controlled Burn
The fire department was up early today: We had a controlled burn at 8am, and we had to be at the station an hour beforehand.
A controlled burn happens when a homeowner volunteers a house to be razed so that we can hone our skills. I'm not sure whether it benefits the homeowner financially, but my impression is that it doesn't. Maybe it's just a relatively inexpensive way to take down a house that was already falling apart so that you can eventually build a new one. My hope is that we can one day offer our house up for the fire department. We love the land our house is situated on, but the house itself is uninteresting and on the small side for a family of 5. When the kids all head off to college, it might be time to move back to the stone cottage down the hill and give the current house up to the elements (specifically: the fire and water elements).
I was stationed at the water hole. It's not normally an exciting designation, but it was important for me to learn how to draft water from a standing water source, like a pond, and now I can handle that duty pretty much on my own. We ended up getting a bit more practice than anticipated -- you never know how much water you're going to need until you need it. Initially we filled the tanker truck twice with water, and as the burn proceeded, we filled it up 3 or 4 more times. The truck we were on (43-14) is used for drafting water from a hydrant or natural water source and flowing that water into a tanker truck that transports 2200 gallons to the scene, where it can be put onto another truck or, as in today's case, flowed into a pool from which the trucks can suck up the water for their own use when needed (as in, right away). Then the tanker comes back to us for more water.
The burn went extremely well. No one was injured, and we kept the burn away from the neighboring trees and homes. Controlled burns can quickly turn into uncontrolled disasters if they aren't handled well, but we have an awesome little fire department, and I'm happy with how it all turned out today. Driving past the charred remains, it was hard to imagine that a cute little blue house had been standing there just a few hours earlier.
A controlled burn happens when a homeowner volunteers a house to be razed so that we can hone our skills. I'm not sure whether it benefits the homeowner financially, but my impression is that it doesn't. Maybe it's just a relatively inexpensive way to take down a house that was already falling apart so that you can eventually build a new one. My hope is that we can one day offer our house up for the fire department. We love the land our house is situated on, but the house itself is uninteresting and on the small side for a family of 5. When the kids all head off to college, it might be time to move back to the stone cottage down the hill and give the current house up to the elements (specifically: the fire and water elements).
I was stationed at the water hole. It's not normally an exciting designation, but it was important for me to learn how to draft water from a standing water source, like a pond, and now I can handle that duty pretty much on my own. We ended up getting a bit more practice than anticipated -- you never know how much water you're going to need until you need it. Initially we filled the tanker truck twice with water, and as the burn proceeded, we filled it up 3 or 4 more times. The truck we were on (43-14) is used for drafting water from a hydrant or natural water source and flowing that water into a tanker truck that transports 2200 gallons to the scene, where it can be put onto another truck or, as in today's case, flowed into a pool from which the trucks can suck up the water for their own use when needed (as in, right away). Then the tanker comes back to us for more water.
The burn went extremely well. No one was injured, and we kept the burn away from the neighboring trees and homes. Controlled burns can quickly turn into uncontrolled disasters if they aren't handled well, but we have an awesome little fire department, and I'm happy with how it all turned out today. Driving past the charred remains, it was hard to imagine that a cute little blue house had been standing there just a few hours earlier.
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