Hydrant Maintenance

Today is Martin Luther King Day. I have always loved this Holiday. When I look back through our history, our country has a terrible history of violence and discrimination towards minorities. Each year on MLK day, I ponder the events of the last year, marveling at how far we have come, and frustrated that we still have so far to go. I love Bob's school because of its diverse student body. If only their parents would get along with each other as well as their children get along with their classmates.

We have a plot in the local community garden and I promised Bob and his friends that we would plant it today. Yesterday, we prepared the soil by adding lots of compost. Today we have some seedling and seeds to plant.

Just as we were getting started, a fire truck stopped in front of us, let off a firefighter, and drove off. The firefighter opened the hydrant, which immediately caught the attention of the little ones, who were full of questions. He explained that they were doing routine maintenance on the fire hydrants. He let the kids each try to tighten the bolt to cover the hydrant. Bob put his entire body on it and it barely moved. Jackie did pretty well. The kind and strong firefighter finished the job.

After that excitement, it was hard to get the boys interested in planting seeds. Jackie and I did the work, while Bob and Eddie ran around like crazy boys, as usual.