nd Graham enjoyed the Tex Platter, an extremely delicious combination of an enchilada, a taco and a chalupa. Overall, I would give the meal an 8/10. Not bad for the first day. After our tummies were satisfied, we returned to the Fire House and spent our afternoon helping Susan out by organizing her supplies closet and cleaning the copy room. It was oddly satisfying to see the final, organized closet (color sorted, of course).
Day Two of our adventure came on a Tuesday, which for Fire House No. 25 means maintenance day! We spent the morning dusting some offices and vacuuming the rooms in which the firefighters sleep. Working hours for firefighters at the Brentwood Fire Department are a little unique. There are three shifts of firefighters (creatively named A Shift, B Shift, and C Shift), who each work for 48 straight hours and then have 96 hour off. So, after making sure that even the most allergy-prone firefighter would have a comfortable night of sleep during their overnight shifts in their now dust-free room, we broke for our lunch break. Today's choice: Carl's! I ordered a double cheeseburger with french fries and a large rootbeer and Graham ordered the same items as me, except much to my chagrin, minus the rootbeer. What's the point of going to Carl's if you're not going to get the rootbeer? Anyways, the food was delicious as always (scoring an unprecedented 9/10 on my scale), and we headed back to the firehouse. Since it was such a beautiful day, the firefighters decided it would be a good day for a car wash. With big brushes in our hands, a bucket of soapy water at our feet, and Sham-Wows in our back pockets, we approached the two, dirty Ford Explorers that the Chief's drive. As you may expect, finding a hose was not an issue, and with the grace of a 16 year old summer employee of Waterway, we scrubbed the two cars squeaky clean. As day two came to an end, we said goodbye to the crew of Shift B, as their 48 hours were coming to an end. Graham and I drove home that day with great excitement and anticipation to meet the new firefighters of Shift C the next day.
Wednesday morning, Graham and I were assigned with making a database with every street in Brentwood using, wait for it, a REAL map! We didn't even get Google Maps! This rather tedious task took us a few hours, but Susan insisted that this task was important, so we complied with little complaint. For lunch today, Graham and I decided to head out of comfort zone and turn left on Manchester. After a long debate between Sonic and Fort Taco, we decided upon the home of St. Louis's only puff-shell tacos. We ordered two chicken puff tacos, two beef puff tacos and one enche (Graham insisted). The puff shells were a nice change over a regular hard shell, but unfortunately the beef was not up to par, leaving Fort Taco with a 6.5/10. Having our labor for two weeks, Susan and the crew decided to use our unusual, immense strength to move file cabinets and create a new filing room. So, for the afternoon, Graham and I, with some help from our friend Dolly, moved lots and lots of furniture. Dolly was really such a help this afternoon, that I've decided to include a picture of her below so you can all see this everyday hero:
Day four brought even more manual lifting. In the morning we went to the old fire house across the street with the two Chiefs. The old fire house now serves essentially as a warehouse, and in potpourri fashion the Chiefs went through and picked up various pieces of furniture and equipment that they wanted. After a tour of the old firehouse/police station (including a visit to the old prison cell!), Graham and I were then tasked with bringing these pieces back to the new firehouse. The cabinets were rather heavy, and again without our friend Dolly we would have never made it. Similar to many potpourri items, the cabinets were extremely dirty, so Graham and I again broke out the hoses, soap and Sham-Wows. At this point, it was about 11:30, and with the furniture still needing to dry, the crew decided it would be a good time for lunch. Today, we decided upon the new Lions Choice that had just opened on Manchester. Just a heads up, they're still hiring for $9.00 an hour. Graham and I both ordered two roast beef sandwiches with cheddar cheese and french fries, later finishing up the meal with a creamy 50 cent ice cream cone. Really a deal you can't beat. Overall, the food hit the spot, scoring a 7.5/10, but the service at this new establishment was extraordinary. From the cashiers to the lady who cleaned up Graham's spilled pomegranate lemonade, the staff members were courteous and personable, scoring an 11/10! When we returned to the firehouse, the cabinets were dry and Graham and I then moved the cabinets into the closet in the copy room that we had recently cleaned out to make space for these pieces. After they were securely in place, we then reorganized the closet, returning all of the items that we had cleared out. If anyone needs help organizing a closet, feel free to contact Graham or me because we've gotten a lot of experience with that this week. Unfortunately, Graham and I still had not gone on a "call" yet, and to be honest, the experience of working at a firehouse is very different than what one might think after binge watching Chicago Fire. A lot less exciting :(. But nonetheless, it has been a fulfilling experience so far to help make the lives of these firefighters a little easier. Of course firefighters are usually regarded highly in society, but their selflessness is pretty amazing. In fact, they're probably even more of every day heroes than Dolly.
On our final day of week one (Friday, if you couldn't figure that out), Susan was gone at meetings all day, so our supervisor for the day was Lieutenant Matt Stovernick. Fortunately for us, the Lieutenant did not have any filing for us to do, so instead asked us to wash the fire truck in the morning. After a rainy, muddy Thursday, the truck was rather dirty and in need of a clean. Using big brooms, we lathered the truck with soap, rinsed it off with big fire hoses, and with big squeegees we squeegeed it dry. As fire trucks are very big (and expensive), washing the truck took all morning. But think about it, we washed an $800,000 truck 😳😳😳😳😳😳!!! Fortunately there was no damage. Again 11:30 came, and as today was the big lacrosse game against MIDCS (lol), we had to carefully pick lunch today. A big, Five Guys cheeseburger would not suit well for us later in the day, so after careful deliberation, we decided upon Bread Co. I ordered the "Pick Two" with a bowl of creamy chicken and wild rice soup and a turkey and avocado BLT. Healthy, filling, and delicious. Graham went for a large chicken caesar salad which he thoroughly enjoyed as well. To finish off the lunch date, us two lovebirds split a big chocolate chip cookie. Even though it was game day, it's impossible to pass up on Bread Co chocolate chip cookie. When we returned to the firehouse, Lieutenant Stovernick assigned us the ambulance to clean. The crew must be pleased with our car washing skills, for they were having us clean a vehicle for the fourth time! Some may call us car washing protégés. Others may not. That's ok too. Nonetheless, as the final task for week one, we cleaned the ambulance squeaky and streaky-less clean (I rhymed!).
Truly appreciate the detail of your writing! I know it may be challenging to write about washing vehicles and filing from day to day; however these simple tasks are just one way you are giving back to your community. It is the little things that can mean the most to a person!
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