Rogers, AR: Laundry Day

This is a picture of me about 100 feet in the air on a Ladder Fire Truck. Last year I was able to finagle a ride up on the ladder as a part of a safety check. The view from up there is incredible. The reason for the picture will make sense towards the end of this post.

With the weather still overcast and rainy in Rogers, Arkansas we decided to make today our 'Laundry Day'. Normally we do a little bit of laundry everyday. We have one of those combination washer/dryer units. It's a pretty good washing machine however it does use a fair amount of water that needs to be drained from the gray water tank. Since we do not have a septic connection to drain the gray water at this campground, we decided to use a laundry in town.

The dryer, BTW, does an OK job of drying however it leaves clothes pretty wrinkled. Normally I don't worry about the wrinkles unless the President is stopping by for a cookout. Usually not a problem.

Using the laundromat is not too bad especially if you go in the middle of the day; no one else was there most of the time we were there. They have lots of washing machines lined up; we used one for whites, one for darks, one for lights and one for sheets and towels so everything gets done concurrently.

Twenty minutes later you throw the various loads into a couple of huge dryers, wait awhile, fold awhile, and it's time to head home. Once home we spent a lot of time reading and/or working on the computer. Nothing to exciting. We did manage to get a nice walk in when the sun made a brief appearance. Always nice to get outside and roam around.

Tomorrow we move to another site within this campground down by the lake. We'll be there for the weekend and then end up moving back up here. It was the only way the campground folks could fit us in at the park for the two weeks we wanted.

Told us to call further in advance. Like that's going to happen. We would have to know where we'll be when for us to make reservations weeks in advance. Too restrictive for us now; may be possible when we stay in place for longer periods of time. But not now.

Christopher (our son) and Rachael (our soon-to-be daughter-in-law) will be here for dinner Saturday evening and then we'll be with them Sunday at the church Christopher is helping to get started. Looking forward to spending some time with the two of them.

Spoke with Scott (our other son) today. He's going through the firefighter application process (remember the picture?) again, this time with Anne Arundel County. He's also applied at Montgomery County and Frederick County. It amazes me how many applicants they have for so few openings. Several hundred applicants for only about 30 spots.

Scott passed the AA County written test awhile back and had his oral interviews Tuesday; he should find out later this month if he moves on to the next round, the CPAT test. That's pretty quick for local government. Frederick and Montgomery Counties took a lot longer to make their decisions.

The CPAT is a physical endurance test for firefighters. Each county does the hiring process a little differently. In Frederick County they have applicants do the CPAT first. He's already passed the CPAT once and has kept up his physical training so he should be ready for his next CPAT evaluation, whenever that occurs.

He's committed to becoming a firefighter. He's spoken to a lot of firefighters who tell him it typically takes a lot of applications to get on board.

Too bad for him nepotism is no longer an option. He has three Uncles and and an Aunt who are firefighters/EMT's. It used to be you had to know someone to get a job in the county. Nowadays State & Local governments are so concerned about being unbiased & fair in their hiring processes you don't dare mention you have a relative working for the government.

Not that I would be much of a reference; I can't start a campfire in the fire pit without burning my fingertips with those short matches. Thank goodness for those lighters with the long wand.....

See Ya!