VOCAB wars

[Tidus44]

Yard shepherd: a fire fighter standing on the front lawn with a pike pole admiring his/her work after ventilating - usually without direction. The usual result is the interior crews are about to experience an OS moment which has an effect on the pucker factor.

Edited March 20, 2014 by Tidus44

[Aurielius]

Deck Spotter- Derogatory term for an aviator that takes his eye off the ball to ascertain his relationship with the deck during launch.

[Tidus44]

two twenty: a person with 2 or less years on the job who acts like they have been doing it for 20. They are also usually doorway dancers and yard shepherds.

[Aurielius]

Puddle Pirates- Our lessor cousin.... The Coast Guard, mildly derogative but not an insult since they go out close to shore in weather we would stay in blue water. We tend to respect them but since they are not a combat arm there is degree of condescension to the term.

Brown Water Buzzard- A Coast Guard Rescue Helicopter...as above, respected but with the same caveat.

[Tidus44]

Blue Canary: police officer at a hazmat call. They tend to arrive first and go well into the "hot" zone because they "wannasee", but usually clue in when we stop 2000 feet upwind and uphill from the scene and use binoculars and won't respond to their waving for us to come closer.

 

Leads to the COPPS HazMat SizeUp indicators

Cop down/car running - toxic or poisonous material

Cop down/car not running - oxygen deficient

Cop down/car burning - flammable material

Cop down/car melting - corrosive material

[Aurielius]

Tweety Birds- Coast Guard F-16's, since they only ever go in pairs and have no air combat experience, if their patrol becomes a real CAP they serve the same function as a coalmine canary.

[Tidus44]

Clock: as in coo-coo - a joker.

 

Graduated 20 new fire fighters today. Right after their grad ceremony they pick up an envelope that tells them a bunch of things, such as how they did on the course, assignments during probation, what hall to report to and what officer and who their mentor is, etc.. The resident clock placed blank job applications for McDonalds or the local business that hires intellectually and physically challenged people in a few of the envelopes with a card that states to appeal the decision call such and such a phone number after 6 pm. The phone number is the Deputy Chief Operations cell.

 

Monday is going to be a fun day.

[Aurielius]

Heliocentric- Orientated to the moon, it comes to mind since the spring solstice is finally here and for the first time in months it's almost warm enough to have evening drinks on the veranda.

[Tidus44]

Spring (Canadian version); a place where water wells up from an underground source.

 

The vernal equinox (or spring equinox) was March 20 at 12:57 pm EDT or about 2:57 pm where I am. After almost two weeks of above zero daytime temperatures (between +2 and +5C), the morning of March 20 it was -10C and by 3 pm it was -17C with a full blown blizzard going on - but only 5cm snow fell. Today's high is only going to be -20C, but I know that it is spring because there are very few clouds and the sun is shining.

No surprise that one of the more patriotic songs about Canada begins, "Mon pays ce n'est pas un pays c'est l'hiver. Mon jardin ce n'est pas un jardin, c'est la plaine. Mon chemin ce n'est pas un chemin, c'est la neige. Mon pays ce n'est pas un pays, c'est l'hiver."

Can't wait for summer, it's the nicest day of the year here and if it falls on a weekend I may just have a BBQ.

[Aurielius]

illusory- A warm spring in Canada...yes I remember that afternoon well.