Norwegian Volunteer Fire Department

Norwegian Volunteer Fire Department
                 
One  dark night outside a small town near Everett , Washington , a fire
started inside the local chemical plant and in a blink of an eye it exploded into massive  flames.

The  alarm went out to all the fire departments for miles around. When the volunteer fire fighters appeared on the scene, the
 chemical company president rushed to the fire chief and said, "All our secret formulas are in the vault in the
 center of the plant. They must be saved. I will give $50,000  to the fire department that brings them out intact."
                 

But the roaring flames held the firefighters off. Soon more fire departments had to be
called in as the situation became desperate.
                 

As the firemen arrived, the president
shouted out that the offer was now $100,000 to the fire
department who could bring out the company's secret files.
                 

From the distance, a lone siren was heard as another fire truck came into sight... It was
the nearby Norwegian rural township, volunteer fire company from Stanwood, Washington composed mainly of Norwegians over the age of 65.

To everyone's amazement, that little run-down fire engine
roared right past all the newer sleek engines that were parked outside the plant. Without even slowing down it drove straight into the middle of the inferno.
                 

Outside, the other firemen watched as the
Norwegian old timers jumped off right in the middle of the
fire and fought it back on all sides.

It was a performance and effort never seen before. Within a short
time, the Norske old timers had extinguished the fire  and had saved the secret formulas.

The  grateful chemical company president announced that for such
a superhuman feat he was upping the reward to $200,000, and walked over to personally thank each of the brave fire fighters.

The local TV news reporter rushed in to capture the event on
film, asking their chief, "What are you going to do  with all that money?"
                 

"Vell,"  said Ole Larsen, the 70-year-old fire chief, "Da first thing
  ve's gonna do is fix da brakes on dat freaking  truck!"

I had The Craziest Dream Last Night

Warning, 2 Feet of Snow

 

  Giggle

Winter In Iowa

Rudolph

A man named Bob May, depressed and brokenhearted, stared out his drafty apartment window into the chilling December night.

His 4-year-old daughter Barbara sat on his lap quietly sobbing. Bob's wife, Evelyn, was dying of cancer Little Barbara couldn't understand why her mommy could never come home. Barbara looked up into her dad's eyes and asked, "Why isn't Mommy just like everybody else's Mommy?" Bob's jaw tightened and his eyes welled with tears. Her question brought waves of grief, but also of anger. It had been the story of Bob's life. Life always had to be different for Bob.

Small when he was a kid, Bob was often bullied by other boys. He was too little at the time to compete in sports. He was often called names he'd rather not remember. From childhood, Bob was different and never seemed to fit in. Bob did complete college, married his loving wife and was grateful to get his job as a copywriter at Montgomery Ward during the Great Depression. Then he was blessed with his little girl. But it was all short-lived. Evelyn's bout with cancer stripped them of all their savings and now Bob and his daughter were forced to live in a two-room apartment in the Chicago slums. Evelyn died just days before Christmas in 1938.

Bob struggled to give hope to his child, for whom he couldn't even afford to buy a Christmas gift. But if he couldn't buy a gift, he was determined to make one - a storybook! Bob had created an animal character in his own mind and told the animal's story to little Barbara to give her comfort and hope. Again and again Bob told the story, embellishing it more with each telling. Who was the character? What was the story all about? The story Bob May created was his own autobiography in fable form. The character he created was a misfit outcast like he was. The name of the character? A little reindeer named Rudolph, with a big shiny nose. Bob finished the book just in time to give it to his little girl on Christmas Day. But the story doesn't end there.

The general manager of Montgomery Ward caught wind of the little storybook and offered Bob May a nominal fee to purchase the rights to print the book. Wards went on to print,_ Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer_ and distribute it to children visiting Santa Claus in their stores. By 1946 Wards had printed and distributed more than six million copies of Rudolph. That same year, a major publisher wanted to purchase the rights from Wards to print an updated version of the book.

In an unprecedented gesture of kindness, the CEO of Wards returned all rights back to Bob May. The book became a best seller. Many toy and marketing deals followed and Bob May, now remarried with a growing family, became wealthy from the story he created to comfort his grieving daughter. But the story doesn't end there either.

Bob's brother-in-law, Johnny Marks, made a song adaptation to Rudolph. Though the song was turned down by such popular vocalists as Bing Crosby and Dinah Shore , it was recorded by the singing cowboy, Gene Autry.  "Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer" was released in 1949 and became a phenomenal success, selling more records than any other Christmas song, with the exception of "White Christmas." 

 

The gift of love that Bob May created for his daughter so long ago kept on returning back to bless him again and again. And Bob May learned the lesson, just like his dear friend Rudolph, that being different isn't so bad. In fact, being different can be a blessing.