Fire Ball

There was a terrific thunder storm outside, with lightening and thunder.  I knelt on the couch with the kids and watched through the picture window. Suddenly, a huge ball of fire leapt through the window, across the room and out the back patio doors.  How could anyone ever film this?  It was a phenomenon recorded in books, but I don’t think it was ever photographed.  Amazing! A good reason not to sit next to a window in a thunder storm.

Lights Out

It was dusk, a time that necessitated turning on the lights.  Well, none of the lights worked.   It wasn’t unusual to have a power failure in Pointe Claire.  We thought it was just another power outage in the area.  We got wood in for the wood burner, got the kerosene lamps ready and extra blankets for everyone’s bed for the cold night ahead. We tentatively expected the neighbors to come to huddle around our wood stove. As it got darker and darker, we noticed the neighbours in the back still had their power. I went out on the street to investigate who lost their power and noticed everyone but us had power.  This was a mystery.  We had paid our hydro bill?

Slowly the recollections of the day came back to me.  I was working in the garage and rolling up the garden hose. I recklessly threw it over the hook on the wall, and went on my  business.  It turned out that ‘hook’ on the wall was the main power lever for the house and by throwing the hose over it, I inadvertently switched it off.  Power problem solv-ed.

"Where's My Bugs?"

One of my endearing memories of Brandon!

I was buzzing around the kitchen finishing up making crunchy granola.  I hurriedly filled three bowls and gave them to the boys who were playing in the back yard.  I continued with my business until dinner time when I summoned the boys in with their empty bowls.  Brandon still had quite a bit of his granola left.  I placed his bowl on the counter and absentmindedly nibbled on it as I prepared dinner. I hadn’t had a taste and this was my opportunity to sample the results of my cuisine.  

Dinner ready, I call the boys. Brandon takes one look at his bowl and yells, “Where’s my bugs?” I scrutinized the bowl only to see ants on their backs, beetles without legs, flies wing and legless.  Allch!  Just the thought I’d eaten them made me retch.  I yelled back, “What are you mad at …?  … I’m the one that ate them!”

Choking

Brandon was about 14 months old and still learning to chew on a hard diet. This day he was having difficulty swallowing on an apple. He always managed to succeed; but this was different. He was choking. I grabbed him and put him over the sink. No matter how I tried, I couldn’t do the Hiemlick method hard enough to clear the apple out of his throat.  

A few days previously, Don had rented a video from the library for our 16 mm projector about the services of the Fire Department.  Much to our surprise, they did First Responder calls.  Don put their phone number on all the phones. When time was running out, I grabbed the phone to call them. It was only for the fact that the number was on the phone that I was able to call them.  I could never have looked up the number in the phone book in this state of panic.

I called the Fire Department, explaining the situation and I swear they were in the front door before I hung up the phone.  Fireman Tottle, [which I understood as his name Firemantottle] snatched Brandon up, now blue, over his knee, hit him on the back and stuck  his little finger in his mouth. Out popped the obstructive piece of apple.  Brandon immediately turned pink.  They took him into their fireman truck and transported him to the hospital for an Xray.  He was just fine. Every year after we would go and thank Fireman Tottle for saving my son.  One year we went and heard the sad news that he had passed away.  I had a plaque made for him, acknowledging his heroic deed, and presented it to the Fire Department. That was the end of our connection with Firemantottle.