Okay, picture this.

6:30 a.m.

I’m dreaming about bluegrass and chickens and probably that cute farmer guy I saw last week at the Tractor Supply Store… when all the sudden eldest daughter is yelling at me…

“MOM! Something’s wrong!”

Huh? I wake up and think, what is that weird beeping noise?

She’s looking around, I grab my robe and I’m looking around and for the life of us, we can’t figure out what is beeping.

Needless to say, we come to the conclusion it’s in the basement and then as smart as we are, we realize it’s a SMOKE DETECTOR! Agh! Okay, now I am awake and getting a little freaked out. Don’t smell smoke, or anything too weird, but then, well, it’s a creepy basement and it smells a little off anyways. Start to worry, could it be a CO2 detector? Well, I make an executive decision and call 911.

I describe the situation and apologize a hundred times but they are super nice and tell me I did the right thing and they will send the village guys down to check it out. They want us out of the house immediately, in case it’s a gas leak. I feel a little funny, because there doesn’t seem to be anything apparently wrong, but the darn little thing is just blaring away and well, I guess we do pay taxes and it is a volunteer department and nothing much too exciting happens, so it will be a good drill at the very least?

Well, Maggie is up and she has her messenger bag with her precious things in it and her ferret in a carrier and is ready before Jess and I even find our shoes! I changed as quickly as I could as I was yelling at everyone because well, I’d rather be blown up then seen by firemen in my jammies and we manage to get the dogs out on the screen porch at least, and the cats are on their own.

It was raining as well, so that added to the delight of the situation. Oh yeah, did I mention it was like 6:30? In the morning? Shesh.

Well, within a few minutes the pride of the village volunteers arrive with the big engine. But without the sirens or lights. After all, nothing was really on fire, at least to the best of our knowledge. And it was just two of them, because I guess I wasn’t screaming or super upset on the phone, so they figured two of them would be enough.

Left the girls and the ferret in Blue and went in to show them what was going on. They had several cool looking pieces of equipment that made me think about the movie Ghost Busters. Or maybe like CSI. Really nice guys, we introduced ourselves and they were chatty and pleasant. First thing, they took the battery outta the blasted detector and that lowered the stress level considerably. Then they went downstairs and had a good look.

I just couldn’t stop wondering if I should ask them what instrument they play in the department… Haha… too much Green Acres TV for me… after all they were just wearing street clothes and all that. I mean, for gosh sakes, aside from the $150,000 fire engine they parked in the driveway, they could have been just anyone! Okay, the fire engine was pretty good proof that they were legit, but hey, I’m just saying.

Well, didn’t find anything. Nothing wrong. No fire, no smoke, no Co2… NOTHING! Hmmm. They said it was probably just a malfuntioning alarm, not to worry.

We got to talking about the house and that we just moved in and they liked my office, and how big the place was. Wow… and only 12 grand? Great deal… (My kids are beginning to hate me telling the story but hey, it’s a good one and worth at least a few more hundred retellings… hahaha… ) I asked them about the BIG FLOOD and funny thing, one of them was here when it happened! Oh yes, four years ago or so. Yeah, the county failed to keep the culvert drains open on the other side of the street and one spring it flooded something terrible and he was there, with the engine, helping to pump out the house! Said it was all fixed and that if I EVER see any water pooling up across the road to call them ASAP and they will be right out before it gets bad.

One of the fellows had driven his truck down and so he went back to the fire station (which is 1/2 mile from our house) and he came back with a brand new fancy smoke detector for us! A welcome to the village, thanks for letting us come and play with the equipment and drive the fire truck for a good reason and not just a parade or school thing, gift! How sweet! And they even installed it down there in a good place.

Let the girls back in and the ferret and dogs and then we stood around and said “hmmm…. what’s for breakfast?”

And as we went in the kitchen, to rustle up some grub, we realized that we had forgotten Ed. The guinea pig.

We felt bad, ate breakfast and went back to bed.

That is our story of meeting the fine volunteer firemen of our little village.

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