Slightly Off the Mark

A Fire Department Block Party, and the Block Isn't Even On Fire

Music. Beer. Buff firemen. Well, some are buff, and we'd prefer to be called firefighters, 'cause it's the 21st Century.

Yes, the Albion Volunteer Fire Department is hosting its first block party, an event which, typically, involves having a party on a block. In this case it's the Noble County Courthouse Square, which is indeed a block. If you want to be specific, it's around the area of Main and York Streets, which--come to think of it--I can see from my part time job.

But I can't have beer on my part time job. Still, I'm betting there will be other beverages there, and besides, most of the people reading this don' t have my job. This is on a Saturday (September 12th), so there'll be plenty of parking in the courthouse square area, too. But if you plan to visit the beer tent, bring a designated parker.

This is where I usually post a link to the Facebook event page, but I can't get it to work properly because FB is dumb. Okay, I probably pushed the wrong button, but the AFD's page is here:

https://www.facebook.com/albionfd

The money raised goes toward, among other things, tools, fitness equipment, and training props. The fitness equipment part is pretty self-explanatory. Let me explain: When we started out in 1888, most members of the department had physical work that kept them in shape. There were butchers, bakers, candlestick makers ...

Well, our first fire chief was among other things a baker, and butchers would make sense--I don't know if we had any candlestick makers. Here is what I eventually determined is the first known photo of the Albion Volunteer Fire Department:

I had this photo for a few years before I realized the little frame building under construction on the right is, in fact, Albion's first firehouse. It took me awhile after that to figure out that the men marching in the white belts are some of the town's first volunteer firefighters, which dates this photo to late 1887. The women behind them? Probably the Ladies Auxiliary, or whatever it was called back then. Their job was to follow along and, if one of the men chickened out and tried to run from the fire, shame them into going on.

It's possible I'm making that last part up.

Back then I would probably have been a candlestick maker, working on my feet all day, walking from place to place, drilling with the fire guys to hand pump the engine, and having earwax problems. I don't know. Wouldn't candlestick makers have wax issues?

Now we need fitness equipment. These are the days of typing on keyboards, riding trucks instead of pulling engines, and drinking beer instead of well water. (We can't actually go to a fire if we've been drinking, which is the main reason why I never took up drinking.)

But when those fires break out, we still have to put on a zillion pounds of equipment and go running toward the flames.

Speaking of beer, there are also those training props we need to pay for. We used to find buildings due to be demolished, and train there on every aspect of firefighting, until it was time to let the place burn down completely. These days it's a lot harder to find a building we can legally beat up for training. The State of Indiana does help out on training resources, but there's the need for us to build our own doors and windows to force, roofs to ventilate, and 150 pound mannequins to haul around.

Should various government entities pay for our training needs? Sure, but in some cases they can't, and in others they won't. Besides, now we can have a block party.

So come over, have a beer, listen to music by Sweetwater All Stars Band, and bring the kids! Not for the beer. For them there'll be a "touch a truck", the fire prevention trailer, and no beer. Enjoy the local cuisine, which is a Greece word that originated in Turkey, meaning food. Oh, and if you wander over to the AFD's booth (let's fill that boot! With money. Duh.), you can buy a beverage Koozie to remember us buy. That might not seem like a big deal to you, but my dispatcher Koozies are getting ragged.

You can find our books, and my alleged humor, all over the interwebs:

· Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B0058CL6OO

· Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/search?attributes.contributorId=13727646

· Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4898846.Mark_R_Hunter

· Blog: https://markrhunter.blogspot.com/

· Website: http://www.markrhunter.com/

· Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ozma914/

· Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MarkRHunter914

· Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markrhunter/

· Twitter: https://twitter.com/MarkRHunter

· Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@MarkRHunter

· Substack: https://substack.com/@markrhunter

· Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/ozma914

· Audible: https://www.audible.com/search?searchAuthor=Mark+R.+Hunter&ref_pageloadid=4C1TS2KZGoOjloaJ&pf

Remember: The one thing we’ll never let burn is books.

Welcoming a New Grandkid Into the World

Yes, my photo post is late. It's been ... a week. One of those weeks; details are most likely forthcoming. I considered not doing one this week at all, but then I was sent some photos I was happy to share.

Meet Silas Noah. He seems confused. Welcome to reality, Silas.

He would be my sixth grandchild, and ninth if you count the step-grandkids, which I do. That means I have as many grandkids as my father had siblings down in Kentucky, at a time when that was much more common.

I know everyone thinks their offspring is born beautiful, but we all know most babies come out red and wrinkly, and look a little bit like those aliens your crazy old uncle used to go on about. The exception would be my grandkids, who were all born beautiful.

You can tell we're related, because we both like to sleep. A lot.

His big brother had to make a lot of trips down to Riley Children's Hospital (he's fine now), but Silas (or will we end up calling him Noah?) is perfectly healthy. Sure, he might grow up to love Heavy Death Rap Metal--and that might be a thing, by then--but for now he's doing okay.

Shhhhh......

When you need a naptime break, there are always books:

· Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B0058CL6OO

· Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/search?attributes.contributorId=13727646

· Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4898846.Mark_R_Hunter

· Blog: https://markrhunter.blogspot.com/

· Website: http://www.markrhunter.com/

· Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ozma914/

· Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MarkRHunter914

· Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markrhunter/

· Twitter: https://twitter.com/MarkRHunter

· Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@MarkRHunter

· Substack: https://substack.com/@markrhunter

· Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/ozma914

· Audible: https://www.audible.com/search?searchAuthor=Mark+R.+Hunter&ref_pageloadid=4C1TS2KZGoOjloaJ&pf

Remember: You never have to change a book.

Movie Review: Spider-Man: Brand New Day

It's a Brand New Day for Spider-Man, thus the name. And for Peter Parker, a new day always means new problems. Seriously, I'd just give it up and go to work as a dishwasher ... but then he'd get attacked by some kind of soap-sud monster.

Thanks to an ill-advised spell in the last movie, Peter is literally forgotten, by pretty much everybody. Now he's living alone, trying to be a superhero full time (which never works), and his only friend is a police detective who tells him it won't work.

The film opens with a slam-bang chase scene that really doesn't fit with the new Big Bad's methods, but it's oh, so much fun--especially when Spider-Man runs into (literally) Frank Castle, a.k.a. The Punisher. They have a fundamental difference in how hijacked armored cars should be dealt with, as anyone who's seen The Punisher TV show will know.

Meanwhile, Peter keeps running into his old life: specifically his girlfriend and best friend, who awkwardly have no memory of him. But his old life and new collide when they become targets of a mysterious enemy with the power to take over the minds of other people, then jump from one to another to stay one step ahead.

All that emotional stress causes the spider part of Peter's body to get more, um, spiderish. After injuring a cop, he seeks help to control the transformation from a famous scientist: Bruce Banner, who's using tech he invented to keep from turning into the Hulk.

Then, in keeping with any good Spider-Man story, things get worse.

And who does newcomer Sadie Sink play?

Darn good question. Anyone who cares probably knows, but I'll keep this spoiler-free as a tribute to how much fun she had hiding it from the press. Although I haven't watched her in Stranger Things (somebody send me a Netflix gift subscription!), Sink was remarkable here, and hopefully we'll be seeing a lot more of her in the MCU.

The movie's filled with remarkable performances, from the regulars and newcomers. Tom Holland is, as always, a treat as the hapless Peter Parker. Stories with this many moving pieces are hard to put together, but they managed it here. They also keep the humor while pouring on the drama, a difficult balance.

So. This is a great movie. Not just a great superhero movie: a great movie, period, with flaws few are far between. We even feel a bit of sympathy for the main villain, once motives are revealed. If the same movie could somehow be made without the costumes and superpowers, we'd be looking at an Oscar nominee. Any buzz you hear is justified.

My ratings:

Entertainment value: 5 out of 4 M&Ms, the good brown ones. My scoring system, my rules.

Oscar potential: 3 1/2 out of 4 M&Ms. Mind you, it probably won't get a lot of nominations (because, hey, superhero movie) ... but it should.