I missed an e-mail so did not deal with it BEFORE the big snowstorm. I am now hurrying to catch up.
A Girl Scout named Erin Casey has a Gold Award project which is a good one and a reminder to us all of something we should have been already doing. She wants us to remember to keep our neighborhood fire hydrants clear.
Last night there were a couple of fires in town. Both could be dealt with quickly because the fire hydrants were clear. Neighbors had already dug them out.
Think how cold it was out there last night (12 degrees above zero) and then think about how hard it will be for the firemen to have to dig out a hydrant should they need one. Whew! I just threw another log in the wood stove between shivers.
Anyway, I bet you all have fire hydrants in your neighborhood. So put down the Xbox and Wii for a few minutes, stop irritating the cat and your parents, put on your boots, hat, mittens, and coat, and go dig out your local fire hydrant.
I dug mine out four times last night because the plows kept burying it. The snow last night was pretty light, yet by the time the plows finished with it, it took me awhile to dig out that hydrant.
If you do dig out a hydrant, let me know about it by going to www.adoptahydrant.homestead.com and filling out the form you will find there. If you have trouble bringing it up or filling it out, let me know about it by writing to me at 160scoutmaster@troop160.com.
Yes, anybody can do it. You don’t have to be a Boy Scout. But fill out the form so we can figure out how many hydrants we have kept clean. If we really get our act together, I will start posting how many hydrants we have kept clear on the AdoptAHydrant page (without your names, of course).
Don’t just do it once. Adopt that hydrant and make it your project for the rest of the winter. Whenever this stuff melts, you might want to adopt a storm drain or two as well. They get covered up, then the meltwater has nowhere to go. The three in my neighborhood are marked with a paint stripe on the street so we can find them even when the plows have covered them up. The plows usually don’t go in right next to the curb so they can be pretty buried.
So adopt a hydrant and then let us know about your good turns by filling out the online form. If you take a picture of your hydrant, we might be able to post a few of them as well. And yes, I will award service hours for your work.
-The Scoutmaster