07/05/2026
Okay this was written on my phone-on the fly and is not being submitted to Mr. Hiss, my English teacher who owned a red pen and knew how to use it…… Happy 4th! 🇺🇸🌟🚒🚨
I am enjoying the role of Fire Chief wife this weekend. The store closed for the first time on July 4th so I am tagging along. Many years HSMF was held in Quincy, since it is no longer here and large crowds tend to gather in all surrounding areas of our county it made sense to close. It was great to see the pool had a good response for Pool Paolooza and the music was great! We need the pool-support it. Speaking of support, we started our 4th of July adventure at Bucks Lake Firehouse Pancake Breakfast. Wowza! The amount of people was a bit overwhelming!!! I wonder how many pancakes all of those volunteers made?!? It was heartwarming to see the support! They have not called to say I won any of the raffles. Off to Meadow Valley parade next. I have never been, I saw a class mate that lives there and had never been before either!!! I told her that was weird and I won’t call her out on Facebook. Of course it was the grandkids that got her in the mood! I learned how to operate and annoy people with the siren choices! I learned after, maybe I should have not been so excited! 🤔🚨📣Lots of waving from the spectators, I felt I was going through the parade of people! The hot dog feed/potluck after all the waving and noise is clearly very organized and was fabulous. Although allergic to many things, I found a delicious salad! I need the recipe! This was small town charm and there were boots to fill at the end of each table. Off to Graeagle Fireworks next and a different fire apparatus that was much easier to climb in and descend from. This is a big deal, people arrive from all over, we were stationed right at the Graeagle Fire Station so that GFPD was able to be much closer to the action. There were many staging areas from other districts as well. It was well covered and prepared in the event of a disaster. I sat on the bench most of the night, many kids played on the grass in front of me. One was quite talkative and told one our firefighters he was from Reno, but don’t tell anyone! 😳😂Another asked if I had nails🧐what? Like fingernails well yes, promptly told (obviously I misunderstood)no, long nails. Her mom did not have time to do her own nails so they had to get some at the store. 🤪hmmmm, thanks for that information. The fireworks lasted about 30 minutes, the highlight for me-listening to the group of young girls each topping one another with excitement. The ooos, the ahhhhs, that was the best, no that was the best! Then we quickly got back in the truck and headed home. You can’t have a conversation in the cab of the truck as it is too loud. You sit quite close to the window and thus the pavement. It’s kind of scary like a bad roller coaster fair ride scary. Of course I was being my typical self telling my husband how to drive but he could not hear me. I made it home at 10:20pm after the day started at 7:30am. 😴😴😴No problem sleeping, up early Sunday to attend Graeagle Fire Pancake Breakfast which, WOWZA AGAIN!!! So many people and boots to fill! The QVFD ladder truck was climbed in, out, and over by all ages! I didn’t even know my husband talked that much! I moved to the bench from the previous night and continued my people watching and even got asked to babysit for one of those labubu things. I told her the labubu was crying and needed to be picked up from daycare! Next the parade! Staging takes place among the beautiful neighborhoods and even more kids come to explore the truck and they want to hear the horn! Fire engines and trucks are pretty cool! 🚒 while staging, the fire chief responds to a text about a fairly significant road closure. Something he has never been told about. Kudos to the diligent community member! Anyway back to the staging, you wait and the excitement builds. We are number 8. That does not mean we are the 8th item. We are after a very long string of cars that are all the same number! This parade is serious, it’s going to last hours! Consume 💦 water 💦! Okay it wasn’t that long BUT there were so many people! So many that yelled thank you! It was very sincere and I am thankful our firefighters are appreciated! I know firsthand how hard QVFD works. So truly, if you made it this far in this read, fill the boot with as much as you possibly can at each department around our beautiful county. If you can’t fill the boot ask your neighbor. These departments need us. We need them more. When a response occurs at a neighboring department it may have prevented something catastrophic in your area. All of them need the boots filled. The QVFD pancake breakfast is July 25, Go, Fill the Boot and Encourage your neighbor to do so as well! My ride home from Graeagle was not as scary, in the ladder truck you are not right on the pavement and I didn’t suggest how to drive even one time. I won’t complain about going over a bump and nearly being catapulted out of my seat. Thank you to my sweet husband for letting me tag along, I mean forcing me to go! You thought this was the end, so did I , yet we arrive back in town and times go off , so I wonder, is he responding? Am I walking home? Calling someone for a ride? Waiting? I hate waiting. Then 8102 comes across and is responding! Yeah! We continue the original plan of parking the truck! This leads me to tell you…. this is why I am not shy about asking for a ride home from a restaurant or event or I will drive separately to start with. I never know when he has to leave. Upon arrival of parking the truck I realize my unopened can of sparkling water I had placed on the floor was empty, the rattle of the truck is serious it made a little puncture in it and no more water! I should be all “grounded” from the vibration, isn’t that a new super rad fad thing to do now?
