Little Day

Here, a security guard at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway is interviewed 

by a representative from a local TV station. It's been quite a while 

since I've seen this style of galluses worn, but maybe I just haven't been

paying sufficient attention. After all, most young men seem

to prefer "sagging", so efforts to keep one's trousers at one's waist

would be lost on them.

A crew from the Speedway Fire Department took time from their shift 

to visit the Speedway. Yes, they were on duty, but maintain

radio contact with the dispatcher through communications in the

truck, as well as on their persons. On occasion, I've been at the grocery

when a crew was shopping for their meal, or at a restaurant 

when they've gotten a run. The crews dropped whatever they were

doing and headed out to their vehicle to go to the scene.

With the advent of fire-retardant building materials, building practices

and uniform fire codes, most fire department runs (about 85%)

now are actually medical emergencies, for which most personnel 

are cross-trained. The fire runs that do occur, though, 

can be anything from a trash fire to a conflagration 

in an apartment complex. We'd be lost without these 

men and women; theirs is a special calling. 

Before we went to the track Wednesday morning, 

my friend Bessie and I went to Lino's Coffee in the Dallara

IndyCar factory building on Main Street.

We took our coffee and wonderful breakfast sandwiches

outside to enjoy the beautiful morning --

and to watch a crew of men at work installing

a new gas line. Personally, I prefer to watch men in

harness, but the time spent watching these guys bore a hole 

through the ground to run a new gas line into the

building was educational, too.

(That gray device being used by the man on

the left allows him to "see" the progress

of the boring below the surface.)