First Call

Even before the late night call last night, it's been a busy week.  We had a fire drill Tuesday night that involved me holding the hose with real pressure and real flow!  It's so exciting.  I got to bed late, late that night, and last night we got a call at 11 pm for downed wires after a thunderstorm.  So off I went to my first real fire call!  Except it was a dud altogether.  No fire.  No downed wires.  Nothing at all.  I got to experience the excitement of going to the station, suiting up and riding in the jump seat, though.  It's pretty heady stuff.  I don't even mind that I didn't get to bed until 1am and can't see straight this morning from a growing sleep deficit.  I don't mind it at all.

After the goats went exploring the other day, I realized that I need to set up their next forage area.  Unfortunately, this week has been so busy that the only time available was this morning.  Right after waking up and a shot of hot tea, I put on the bramble gear and set up a new area for the goats.  I saw a bit of beladonna [correction: bittersweet nightshade] and pulled it.  Hopefully I didn't miss any.  I think this area will keep them busy for a few days at least.

I met Mr Far East yesterday after work at an ice cream stand about halfway between us, near the Massachusetts state line.  We'd been emailing for a few weeks, which is about as long as I can stand without meeting.  I had been pretty clear with him before we met that I was enjoying our email conversations, but didn't anticipate anything in our future because of the distance, but he's more interesting than I expected.  Maybe that's because he's a full-time firefighter and I've got firefighting on the brain right now.

Someone new emailed out of the blue yesterday, invited me for a drink and I accepted.  I like the idea of getting to know someone the old fashioned way, face to face.  I don't have enough brain cells right now to invent a name for him, but if the meeting this evening goes well, I'll make up a name tomorrow.  He works in the small town next to my small town, so we'll be meeting at a watering hole in my 'hood.  It's going to have to be a short meeting because I need to stop at the firehouse tonight to help them get ready for a rummage sale tomorrow.

And, Oh Crap, I'm not going to get any blueberries picked for tomorrow's farmer's market!  Who wants to sell berries from an unreliable farmer?  Yikes!  Maybe I should be rearranging some priorities here.

Meeting three guys in one week is the upper limit of what I ever want to handle, and I don't think I can handle it more than once or twice.  I've been honest with everyone about my expectations (or lack thereof), so I'm not being bad, but it still doesn't feel quite right.  I'm looking forward to a little down time this weekend (this week is going 100 miles an hour!), so I can think about who, if any of these guys I would look forward to seeing again on any level.  Then I want to simplify that whole thing.

Then I want to take a break and focus on the mound of zucchini taking over my yard.