Ha!

I am finally poor enough to qualify for a local program.  Free smoke detectors! 

I filled out the form a week and a half ago.  Got a call within days. 

And tonight four very personable firemen showed up at my door.  They came in their firetrucks.  Hey, they were on duty.  What else would they bring?

Amazingly there was actually parking on my narrow half street.  Sure did make the neighbors wonder.

In they came, carrying a huge tote.  I signed a paper and off three of them went, clambering all over my house, installing detectors as they went while the fourth pleasantly answered all my questions.  The program began with channel 6 in Philadelphia.  Three years ago a WFMZ, a local TV station set a similar program in motion here.  They still do the advertising but the fire department has a grant to supply the detectors.

Not cheap detectors either.  These are long-lasting fancy detectors.  Ten years with no batteries to replace.  All in under fifteen minutes.  Some good has come from all those taxes I pay!

Call your local fire department and ask if they do the same.  If not, suggest they initiate a program.  Keep you safe, just like me.  Thank you, gentlemen!

The Good and the Bad

So how was your weekend? Do anything wondrous? Me? Nothing earth shattering.

I tried out the new SaladWorks. Do you have one? If not, you need one. Way too many choices, lots of specialty salads, all of which are interchangeable. They’ll also make all the salads into a wrap too. I ended up with an Autumn Harvest, with chickpeas instead of carrots. Love cooked carrots, prefer not to have them raw when I have a choice. Very yummy. I’ve been told by some that they think the place is pricey. Perhaps but for what I paid I ended up with two meals because they give you a lot. There are sandwiches too but I didn’t try one so I can’t comment other than to say some of them sound good and I’m likely to go again for one of them. Soup as well but it was too hot for me on Saturday.

Then, Saturday evening, someone, either purposefully or accidentally, set my neighbor’s garage on fire. It’s old and not in the best of shape so she really doesn’t keep much of anything in it but still, she could. Fortunately the fire didn’t spread much past the doors before the trucks got there. I can’t begin to imagine putting on all that heavy gear in this heat but I am ever so grateful that there are people who are willing. And who will risk their own lives to potentially save mine. Oh yeah, I was out there saying thank you before they left. The garage is less than 20 feet from the houses with a wooden fence on the far side connecting the two. It hadn’t rained for real since May so it very easily could have jumped. Scary to say the least.

It finally rained some today. Enough to wet the ground (and make it very, very muggy) though I doubt it was enough to bring the lawns back to life. They’ll probably crunch under foot by tomorrow again.

I’m going to watch the Ghost and Mrs. Muir now, if you’d like to join me. Please bring pizza. I have Reading Draft soda, the only stuff I drink, to go with it.

The Great Debate

The main branch of the Reading Public Library is violating the city fire code regulation. And it has been since the building was built back in 1910. Why? Because there is no street number on the front of the building.

Simple. Just add it, right? Wrong! The library is located in the city’s Callowhill Historic District which means the original structure can’t be altered. It was proposed to replace a grill above the doorway but research seems to indicate that the grill in question was there from the beginning so it can’t be done.

The fire marshal contends that it is a code requirement and therefore, must be enforced. His argument is we might have a new firefighter who is unfamiliar with the city and not immediately recognize the building as the library. Hm, okay. That makes the assumption that the fire department would send one lone fireman out to respond to an alarm at a huge, half block-sized building full of paper stuffs. Actually, with the changes Act 47 has forced on the city’s services that possibility is not quite as farfetched as it should be.

That aside, let me tell you what’s on all four corners at that particular intersection. A nail salon, a yard full of trees beside a church, an abandoned building that is boarded up, and a huge, granite structure with a double tiered set of steps, pillars and oh yeah, “Reading Public Library” chiseled into the granite all the way across the front of the building. Yes, it truly is. Seems to me that any new fireman who can locate the 100 block of south Fifth Street should be clever enough to identify which building is the city’s main library, with or without a number out front.

Catching Up

Hmm, let’s see what you’ve missed.

Went to visit my great aunt Friday. She’s back in her own place and very happy to be there. Doing well and as amazing as ever. We had a nice lunch and got everything she needed sorted out. On the downside, I went with the rest of my family. Um, yeah. Nuff said, right?

The girls are home for the holiday. I stopped in to say hi to them. I like doing that because I can always count on them to leave me smiling. It’s rumored there may be some cookie baking going on while they’re home. I may have to swing by again and check.

Last week there was a major fire in the city. The building that burned was an old factory, currently empty, where I worked for about 15 years. It took every firefighter in the city with all the apparatus there is to contain it. I was there, taking pictures a full day later when it flared up again. And the mayor’s plan still includes cutting a third of that department. Makes you wonder, doesn’t it? Anyway, it made me feel a bit melancholy wandering around. I have some good memories from that place of the various people I met there. I have stories, lots of them, some I could share, some I’ll never tell anyone. Yes, it was just the building that burned and one I left behind years ago but it still makes me sad.