Rude Awakening

Last night my wife and I were sleeping peacefully when we were suddenly awaken.  My mind immediately flashed back several years to another shocking moment.  My previous experience had come as I was helping my dad work on old blue.  We had the front tire off and were attempting to redesign a part of the front end with the use of primitive tool (we were beating on it with a hammer-just wanted to feel smart).  I was sitting on the floor with my legs underneath the vehicle when there was a deafening bang, which of course scared the daylights out of me.  All I could think was that the pickup had fallen off the blocks and onto my legs, but when I looked down, my legs were fine and the pickup was still on blocks.  Lightning had struck a tree just outside of the shop.  This memory flashed through my mind last night as we were awaken by lightning striking which seemed to be knocking on the door of our house.  The light from the lightning was still illuminating the room when we opened our eyes from the sound of the thunder.  I didn't get up to check on things in the house, it was after all, 3:00 in the morning and I was scared to leave the bed.  Moments later, an even louder crack of thunder shook our nerves.  This time I was sure it was right on top of us.  I managed to pretend not to be too frightened and got out of bed to check on things.  Partly to check on things and partly because my heart was beating a mile a minute and walking around could ease my nerves.  I felt like a nervous dog that wanted to just hide under the bed.  I did a quick survey of the house to make sure there were no fires or trees about to fall on the house (it's dark outside that early in the morning so I don't know that I was the best judge of the tree sitution).  I took a few minutes to unplug all/most of the electronic devises before I returned to bed to wait for the next big bang.  There were no more major strikes as near to us as the two described here and eventually we faded back into neverland.  This morning when I had a few more wits about me I did a better job of surveying the results.  I was a little drowsy most of the morning, I'm guessing I may not have slept well last night.

Flu Shots

Everyone where I work is required to get a flu shot. To make it convenient, several needle stickers set up shop in a conference room somewhere in our building. Today was the day for us all to get shot (or sprayed if that is the prefered method). After standing in life for a much shorted time than I had expected, I got my turn. The lady with the needles was very nice and did what she could to distract me as she stuck me with the needle. (I am not afraid of needles, when you are accident prone you get used to a little pain on a regular basis). The needle went in with no problem, but when she pushed the syringe to inject the fluid, the whole thing blew apart. This left the needle sticking out of my arm looking much like if I had shot myself with a nailgun. It seems, although it may not look it, the muscles in my arm are hard as rocks. What other explanation could there be for the syringe busting. I'm like superman with a layer of fat on the outside.
Using a second needle on the other arm (so I got stuck twice for one flu shot), she had no issues.
I guess there is a little more fat covering my rock hard body on that side.

Great Ideas

My parents have told me that when my brother and I were young, we did some stupid things. I still do stupid things on a regular basis, but now try to limit those occurances. They say that Gary was great at coming up with ideas of things to try and I was pretty much fearless (or stupid depending on how you think about it). As I understand it now, Gary would come up with the plan, I would try to execute it. If the plan worked, it looked like fun, I didn't get hurt, or get into trouble, then Gary would take part as well. I don't know how many times this actually happened and how many adventures led to me being hurt or in trouble, but I would assume there were at least a couple. As I have gotten older, I have lost much of the fearlessness that I possessed as a youth (maybe I got smarter too). However, Gary can still come up with intriguing ideas. And now, I don't really have to worry about getting in trouble (at least by my parents). On the way down the mountain from fishing at Corona, Gary got an idea! I was eager to give it a try and see what happened, so hopped on without hesitation. I came out with only a couple minor scratches, so Gary gave it a try too. Caleb was willing to document the adventure, but was uninterested in participating. Mary wouldn't have anything to do with it (remaining in the pick-up), almost like she thought it was dangerous.

Corona Fishing

Our trip to Colorado to go camping with my family was a great time. We got to see family, do a little camping, hiking, fishing, make new friends, and have a little extra fun. Gary, Caleb, Mary, and I went hiking into Corona, a lake on the top of the Continental Divide. It took a while to hike into the lake, since we had to find a place to cross the creek (which was high due to snow melt), avoid the standing water, and stay out of the snow. Although we started slow, after a while Gary figured out what the fish would bite on and we were successful catching our limit. Before we started out journey, Caleb asked Gary how long he planned to fish at the lake. Gary told him an hour or so (he should know better than believe such a thing). Gary and I fished for about 3 hours. Caleb and Mary were thrilled when we pulled in the fish that gave us our limit. On the way out of the lake it looked like rain was imminent, so we had to move at a pretty good pace. When I was younger that was not a problem, but over the years I have begun to get out of shape and the thin air didn't help any either. We made it out before the rain (which never really did amount to much). The fish tasted great.

Needing Attention

I have always been somewhat accident prone, but rarely did it lead to injuries. However, when I was young, I went through a period of time where I had to visit the doctor every couple weeks for something. I imagine my parents were not too thrilled with me at that stage of my life. Well, I don't have kids that need to be fixed up at the doctor, but my pickup seemed to be going through a phase where it needs attention.
Today I was headed out the door on my way to work when I noticed my pickup had a flat tire - not just low, completely flat. Just what I wanted to see this morning; made my day you know. After lugging the air compressor up to the front of my house, a few well chosen words, and a good kick (which hurt my foot a little), I finally got the tire to take air so I could get it down to my garage. Here I started removing the lug nuts. Four of the six came of easily (like they should), one got stuck halfway off, and the last wouldn't budge. After applying a little extra muscle to the stuck lugs, the tire came off. However, this was only possible because the force applied was greater than the strength of the studs, which snapped in two. After all that work to get the tire off, it had a nail in the sidewall, which was not fixable.
In the future, maybe I will give my pickup a little more attention on a regular basis so it doesn't feel the need to get my attention by acting out.

Payback

A few years ago my sister discovered mice in her house a month or so before Christmas. After some discussion and planning with my father, we developed a plan to deposit several fake mice throughout her kitchen for our Christmas amusement. It worked great. My sister found the first one sitting in the cupboard as she was putting the clean dishes away. We were all there to see her jump and scream. The exact outcome we were going for. I know the payback will come at some point, but since she lives so far away, she will miss this opportunity.
Last night as I was cleaning out the basement when I discovered some mouse droppings. I didn't see any other evidence of the mice, nothing seemed to have been chewed up and no visible nests. I dismissed the idea that the mouse/mice were still in the house. They may have come in when the weather got cold this winter, but without easy access to food, went back outdoors to find nourishment. I was nearly done with the cleaning (shifting of stuff from one place to another), when I was ambushed. Maybe that's a little strong of a word since there was no physical attack, but the surprise and shock was still present. I apparently frightened the mouse into motion and I can't say that I was a solid rock of courage that would drive fear into any living creature. It jumped out of the corner in my direction and as I displayed my fear of the little critter (screaming like a girl and running in the opposite direction), it made a quick u-turn into another, currently (until tonight) more protected hiding place. As I went to bed last night (only an hour after the experience) I was a ball of nerves thinking about a mouse crawling up into bed with me. It is said that turnabout is fair play, so a couple traps are now ready to return the shock, fear, and surprise to the little creature.

snow and ice

It is winter here and we have snow and ice to prove it. As most kids do, I enjoy a little sledding and other snow activities. I do not have a sled at my house, but I did have an icy driveway. On Tuesday morning, when I went out to start my pickup so I could go to work, I noticed the icy hill and enjoyed a few moments of skiing. Only problem, there were spots of thin (or nonexistant) ice which would catch my feet as I skied the driveway. A quick little hop and I was back to sliding. Thursday night after I got home from work, I noticed there was just a little of the ice left (about 12 feet) and I figured I should take advantage of it before it was all gone. So back to skiing I went. There were now more spots where the ice is melted and the concrete which shows through is not nearly as slick. I had a few moments of joy once again, but it was chilly outside so I had to put my hands in my pockets to keep them warm. Then, on what I decided was an encore run (because the time before I told myself was the last run), I hit a small spot where there was no ice. My hands are stuck in my pockets as I am plummeting to the concrete. (Now, who reading this did not expect this to happen eventually?) I apparently managed to free my hands just before contact, because they had a couple rocks in them that weren't there before. My biggest concern however, was the thought that I had torn my jacket when I bounced on my side. On inspection, I was relieved to see no hole, then my arm started to hurt a little. After a few minutes I was able to go inside, face Mary, and explain to her why my arm hurt (I tried to hide it but she caught me rubbing it and questioned me). For some reason, she seems to think that I am prone to injury.