It’s quarter past one in the morning, in the middle of a big, windy snowstorm, and there is a fire about half a block away with huge billowing clouds of smelly, smelly smoke blowing right at my apartment. And seeping in, obviously, otherwise I would not know it was smelly. Lots of fire apparatus up and down the street, but no people in sight at all. I’m pretty sure it’s apartments above shops where the fire is, so am hoping everyone got out okay. What a horrible night for this. It is one degree farenheit. Too cold to be out fighting fires, or being driven out of your home by one. So now I am wide awake, and concerned for people, at the same time happy it is not MY building. We have been driven out in bad weather before. Not this bad, and only small fire, but not fun at all on a dark and stormy night. That’s it.
Update. 2:30 am I”ve been taking videos with my Nexus 7. Kindle Fire/Nexus 7. No contest. Nexus 7 for the win. Wish I’d bought it first. Anyway, the smoke briefly cleared enough that I could see a very tall ladder, much taller than the four-story building with the fire, and up at the very top is….a fireman. Up in the sky, not against a building, just up in the sky. He starts to climb down, smoke appears, clears, he is going back up again. I hope he is wearing a respirator. And really warm gloves, because frostbite. Temp is now below zero. I am so proud of our firemen. They are always here like a shot whenever there is an alarm (we seem to get our fair share of falst ones), always polite and friendly and professional, and good grief! Risking their lives on a little ladder sticking up into the sky.
I threw everthing I could think of into my purse, meds, chargers, cell, etc. and got out my own hat and gloves just in case, because I did see a burning ember fall down right in front of my window. Half a block isn’t that far away. Best be prepared.
Another update: Almost 4am, and there is still so much smoke it’s hard to see what’s going on. I think I saw some flames a bit ago, but not sure. Dug out my binocs and the smoke cleared enough to see the top of that ladder, which is coated with ice and icecicles. I forget how to spell icecicles. Oh, lord. Brain dean. Some of the firemen seem to have headed back to the firehouse, which is about a block down the street right under my windows. I really hope no one has gotten frostbite from this. It is freezing just sitting in front of my windows. Also, never get central heating with vents above the windows. Stupid, stupid, stupid. Whoever thought this was a good idea when they built this place was an idiot. The only good thing I can come up with about having a fire on a freezing cold windy night is the lack of spectators getting in the way. There have been people here and there, but they usually get right back in their cars as leave.
More: It was flames. Got a good luck for a few secs with the binocs. The fire was reported at midnight, so it’s been over four hours for those guys figthting it. The flames are on the top floor, and they’ve been pouring water down on them from that ladder, but it doesn’t seem to be doing much. Kind of scary. It’s like any disaster, it’s exciting if it’s not you in the middle of it, but it is freaking cold, that I can’t get past the frostbite issue. You can’t help but feel for those guys. Kind of makes me wonder yet again why guys playing games like baseball and football get paid bazillions of dollars, and firemen and teachers and other people who do work that really matters barely make enough to get by. Priorities, people. Priorities. Wow, this is my first ongoing post. Is that a good thing? IDEK.
Later still: a bit after 5 am. Tedeschi’s semi-opened some time ago, just enough lights to see to make coffee and serve the steady stream of firemen who’ve been in and out since word got out. I think they normally open at 6, but I’m not sure. Smoke is still billowing, but not as much as it was, or maybe it’s just being blown away faster since the wind has picked up considerably. Don’t know why I’m blogging this, just there’s no one to discuss it with, I guess. The cat could care less that there’s a fire down the street. I am getting tired, and may have to crash soon, but I’m hoping to make it til daylight so I can better see what is happening. I was in Tedeschi’s a couple of weeks ago. They sell hard-boiled eggs in little two-egg plastic cartons. The guy said they are a huge seller in the mornings. Every time I go out, I learn something new.
Oh, my. (Thank you, George Takai) I didn’t realize that evey vid I’ve taken tonight has been automatically uploaded to my Dropbox. I love you Dropbox. I was wondering how I was going to get them from the Nexus to the PC, and Dropbox did it for me. I must have set it up sometime or other, unless there really is magic in the world. Harry Potter, anyone? LOL Woo Hoo. Can I post them on here, I wonder? Apparently not. Drat!
OMG. 6:38 am Smoke still billowing. It is 55 degrees in here. I am freezing. Seriously. The heat cannot keep up with the cold air seeing off the glass of the windows. And the wind. Even though the windows have been caulked, cold air is stil coming in. Unless it’s blowing in from the heat vent. I suppose that’s possible. I don’t know. I am just darn cold, and not happy about it. Sheesh!
Well, it’s nearly noon, and they are still spraying water into the building, but most truck are gone, and actually started leaving soon after my last update. Turns out my heat was wonky, which is why I was/am freezing, but I think I got it sorted. I hope. Storm is over, fire is almost out, and it’s warmed up to ten degrees outside. End of the oddest post I’ve ever done.
After pondering this awhile, I think I feel that focusing too much on what is wrong makes what is wrong your life. I want my life to be about what is right, what is fun, what is enjoyable, what makes me laugh. I fight for that attitude every day, and usually, I win. Not always, but mostly. I lose more often if the pain is bad for any real length of time, so I’ve noticed. If I write about the bad stuff too much, well….’you are what you think’ is a philosophy I believe in. Or ‘Your thoughts create your world’. That one. I have an old, tired example I always use to explain this. It is raining. I can choose to be miserable and think of it as a lousy day, I hate rain, it’s a gray day, bah, humbug. OR I can choose to be happy and think Oh, rain! I love rain. Flowers, rainbows, yay, rain. The rain is exactly the same either way. It’s me who decides what kind of day it creates for me. MY thoughts. I choose the happy ones when ever I can. So maybe blogging too much about what is wrong is NOT the way I want to go. It’s not the world I want to create for myself. Your thoughts in the replies helped with this, so I am appreciative of them. Nice to have readers who participate. I kind of like that. 🙂
is me. 
On another note, I had a couple of good days where I went out, and had company, and had fun, and then I crashed. Don’t want to get out of bed, don’t want to do anything, feel blah and angry and what’s the point-ish. This sucks. I hope tomorrow is better, because I’d rather feel great than miserable. Maybe it’s like the after-Christmas let down thing. Maybe. Bah! Also, Humbug!
strangely peculiar 