Pacaderm Preview

The circus is officially in town. Here is a shot from the short parade of animals from the circus train to the Civic Center Arena.

RB&BB Circus Train

The RB&BB circus train arrived in Charleston today. If you want to catch a peek of the train, it is broken into several pieces. The animal cars are located behind Dohm Cycle in Charleston. The personnel cars are located at the Dickinson rail yard, just in front of Riverside High School.

Cleaveland Metropark Zoo

We went to the Cleaveland Metropark Zoo this weekend. It was perfect cool weather and not many visitors to fight with, it made for a great experience (even though the elephants weren't there due to a remodel).

I don't feel lucky.....

...even though I stayed at a Holiday Inn Express this weekend while in the Akron/Cleaveland area.

Coming Soon...

Ladies and Gentelmen, Boys and Girls of all ages.....Coming Soon...The Greatest Show On Earth!

Men of Station 7

On Thursday March 26, 2009, Boomer Volunteer Fire Department in Fayette County lost a great leader, March A. Tucker, Sr. He dedicated his entire life to the Fire and EMS field. He was a fire chief for over 15 years. He was my first fire chief and also a friend of mine. He was given a much earned firefighters funeral and final farewell. He will be always be remembered and missed.

Chief 1001 - Firefighter Funeral

David Wesley "Hog" Thomas passed away on March 20, 2009. He was the active fire chief of the Montgomery Fire Department in Montgomery, WV. He was a leader, a mentor and a friend of many. He is survived by his wife Kathy and son Brian "Piglet". "Hog" you will be missed and forever remembered.

Morisson's Drive-In

I'm not a huge hotdog fan. There are only two types of hotdogs that I like. First being those that Matt makes at the fire station. Second, would be those at Morisson's Drive-In in Stollings, WV. Thats located in Logan County, just outside of the city of Logan.

Yesterday my father in law and I was out and about and decided to go down to Logan County to have lunch. What a treat that was. If you ever in the area, stop and see what i'm talking about. (the onion rings werent fresh, so you may want to pass on those)

Happy St. Patty's Day

This very tall and obese version of a leprechaun was spotted in downtown Charleston today. Happy St. Patricks Day!

Canned

Someone at my work has a huge crate of empty soda cans that they recycle on occasion. Of course the price of alluminum is down, so they are really starting to pile up.

Marble King

The WV Division of Culture and History currently has on display an exhibit from Marble King located in Paden City, WV. One of the displays is the Marble King logo which is a 6 foot by 16 foot exhibit of 47,232 marbles and weighs nearly 400 pounds. Definetly something worth taking a look at if you are at WV State Cultural Center in Charleston, WV.

Fish Out Of Water

If you ever have the chance to go to Stonewall Jackson Resort State Park, be sure to take some extra time out of your schedule to visit the marina. I took this photo at the marina last summer while visiting my aunt on a house boat they rented for the weekend. If you go to the marina, you can purchase bags of dogfood to feed the carp for only $1.00.

Fallen Firefighters Memorial

The WV State Fallen Firefighters Memorial is located on the north side of the Cultural Center at the WV State Capitol Complex in Charleston, WV. The monument has the names of all of the WV firefighters that have died in the line of duty. An interesting fact is that the guy that posed for this statue is a volunteer firefighter from a Boone County fire department. A very fitting tribute to those who have fallen.

Ink Cabinet

I titled this blog Paper n' Ink, so I think I should justify it by showing a picture of one of our ink cabinets. This cabinet plays host to a variety of types of ink and even more colors. The top three colors: Black, Reflex Blue and PMS Gold 871. Of course these are the traditional colors to print state letterheads and envelopes.

Kanawha Terrace Crash

There was a crash with minor damage this morning on Kanawha Terrace in the area of Joe's Mart. I stopped by to take a few photos before I went to work.

AB Dick 360

I took these photos yesterday from the uncovered operator's side of an AB Dick 360 printing press. This press is from the early 1970's and is still used in our shop every day to print letterhead and NCR forms.

Grave Digger - St. Albans

Imagine this.... Your driving down the street in hopes to get some food at Pizza Hut and you look up to see a car crushing monster truck sitting in the road. Thats what happened to me last month. The world famous Grave Digger Monster Truck was parked in front of Advance Auto for everyone to take a look at. The driver was inside the store answering questions and signing autographs. Since I couldn't take it for a spin, I left to go eat my pizza.

We Got The Weenies

We went to dinner last summer with one of Jennifer's work buddies and her husband. Our destination was quite unusual. We went to Hillbilly Hotdog's in LeSage, WV. Unfortunately that location was closed that day (due to a family illness) so we went on the the Hillbilly Hotdogs on 3rd Avenue in Huntington. The food was great and it had a very unique atmosphere. I think everyone should try it out, you are in for a treat.

Butt Drugs

I recently had a work trip to Louisville, Kentucky. We ended up in a little town called Corydon, Indiana. It was the home of the first capitol of Indiana. While eating lunch I glanced over and saw this intersting place of business....Butt Drugs.

Fallen Brothers - CBC VFD

I snapped a few photos while at the funerals of two CBC (Craigsville, Beaver, Cottle) Firefighters that died in the line of duty. The first photo is the engine that I drove (BVFD E-72 the lime green one). The second photo is the CBC engine carrying the casket of Firefighter Timothy "Little Tim" Nicholas.