This part of being the wife is the hard part.Its hard for the kids too. Expectations run high at home.Wait until they make captain and they are very used to bossing people ! Your husband has been up all night on a big fire.He comes home to an empty house the kids are at school ,you are at work. Count your blessings ! he is now the most onry person on the planet.Up all day, Up all night .It is cold and ice was everywhere they walked or moved, it formed on their helmets,the hoses, the turnouts and the trucks .It was a major pain in the butt to clean it all up and now he brought that attitude home. Pray that he goes to sleep and gets it all out of his system by the time the kids get out of school and you get home.Alternative , you could go to your mothers ! If your mother is or was like mine thats a hard choice. He is grumpy and doesn't really want to talk about it so you think its something you did ,its not.The kids are coming in and telling you that Dad's in a bad mood and doesn't he have to go back to work ?Your household is now taking on his whole mood.You love them and want to spend quality time with them.How quality is grumpy??? They are not really very snuggly right now either. You want to snuggle but ... do you want to get that close??? What to do ???? I will tell you that its best to leave them alone.Take up knitting , go to the store ,call your best friend and chat .Talk to anyone but him! When he's ready he will come and find you.Try really hard not to be moody cause you will get no where fast and if you want sex you better grab him when you can .Don't ignore that urge when he has it .There are those little groupie creatures out there .They come from all walks of life.Dispatchers,nurses,their calls they go on, you never know. They lurk at 7-11 and Circle K even at Mc Donalds and Arby's. The grocery store is another good place for them to find women. Fireman go there alot.I really enjoyed the schedule at the Fire Department from the wifes stand point.My husband would travel from job to job(full time to Part time) and I would see him when I would deliver the uniforms to the station or meet him at the ER at the trauma Center.One day when he stayed gone I ripped the carpet out of the bedroom,went back to wood floors.Painted the walls( I picked the color)never even asked him. I then bought new stuff for the bedroom ( I picked it again,never asked him). I figure that what he gets for being gone for 3 days straight.Did I tell you the new fling came from the trauma center ? I got the new bedroom and well he was getting new stuff too without even asking me either.