Friday 13th December 13th, 2019

               Well, the day has come, and my favorite granddaughter Gabi, is now a teenager! Teenager, I don’t think I need to say anything more.

 

            For some reason an old memory came to mind the other day about an incident when I was a volunteer fireman. Before I share that memory let me say, just because it is a volunteer fire department, that does not mean they are not trained and as efficient as a paid department.

            Now let me share the memory from days of ole.

            It was a summer night when we received an alert of a grass fire. This fire was in Waco’s area but the person reporting the fire called Hewitt, we were dispatched. Waco fire was also called and dispatched. This grass fire was near houses. The Hewitt truck pulled up and we pulled a red line (red line is a small hose used mostly on small fires) and started spraying water. The Waco truck arrived and they also pulled a red line, their firemen move the red line to the fire. The Waco firemen were not getting any water to spray, and they were looking back at the firetruck.

            Each truck operator not only drives, they also are in control of the truck during the fire. The operator of the Waco truck had not opened the valve that supplied water to the red line. One of our volunteer firemen ran over to their truck and pulled the valve sending water to the red line.

            Wow, who would have thought, a volunteer fireman was more on the ball than a paid fireman!

 

            Different subject.

            I received a thank you card from a person I use to work with. On the card was written, “Hi Don, Just wanted to say thank you for all the support and encouragement you gave and provided to me early in my career. I would not be where I am today without it!”

            It is very nice to receive a card with that type comment on it, although I haven’t seen him since we worked together and I have been retired for 8 years.

            Maybe he watched what I did and said, and learned what not to do and say!

            Always remember, we are always influencing others! 

            What will your influence be?

 

            Another subject:

 

            My spouse of half a century has canceled the newspaper delivery as of the end of this month. What will Tres do without a newspaper to pick up each morning? Will we still need to go outside each morning? Did my first wife even consider her puppy dog Tres, when she canceled the newspaper? How will this influence the Tres?

 

Positive or negative, we/they are being influenced!

 

Senior influencer both positive and negative; Don Ford