Waking the Dead

Well, I've decided to give this geocaching a second try. Taking the GPS to work I called up EMS for the coordinates to the helicopter landing pad and they were pretty close, but not as specific as the GPS. So, a friend of mine said he has gone before and he would show me exactly what it was I was to be looking for. We decided to do this after working 12 hours so we figured we should find some place fairly close. So, we choose to go to the cemetery. In the dark. With flashlights. You should have seen how many cars were slowing down to watch three people in scrubs run around the cemetery being very disrespectful to the dead trying to find this little hidden whatever. Sometimes, when I was close to the graves near the road, I would pretend like I was praying when the cars would pass. Anyways, after searching for over a hour we decide to call one of the paramedics who is huge into this stuff. It just so happens that she was working that day and that she was the one who had hidden this cache. She said she would come over to help us out. It was the first time and probably the last time that I'll see an ambulance in a cemetery. It really made people stop and slow down to figure out what the hell was going on. So the end result was that we were quite a distance from the grave where it was hidden in a bush. What did I find? A tiny little tube with a piece of rolled up paper to write your name on. But just the fact that we had the experience to walk around in the cemetery in the dark with flashlights and have an ambulance show up, made my day. Even possibly my week, we'll see how the rest of it goes. It was something that will probably never happen again. And that is probably a good thing. It still cracks me up.

Update on my life list

I was super close to being able to cross off a task on my list of things to do before I die. I had gone to the grocery store and wasn't in a terrible hurry to go anywhere when I left. Not far from my parking space was this older gentleman changing a flat tire. First I just walked by, but than my list popped into my head. So I approached him and offered to help. He smiled and said no thanks and said his daughter was on her way to help him. I even asked him twice, knowing how close I was to finishing this task. But again he declined and said I was the only one who had offered to help him. I smiled and went upon my way. Apparently he didn't know how important it was to me to change his tire. So, it is still on the list.

A mixture of events

Well, I haven't posted anything in awhile. But I've been rather busy. I have had a steady stream of company up for the past two weeks. Living up in the great north a lot of family vacation up here. Besides that, my family and I are awesome people and they are lucky enough to hang out with us sometimes. Little modest? You bet!

We had a family reunion of sorts a week or so ago. It is always fun to watch the family dynamics come out. Especially when it comes to the end of the day. I entertained a ton of little kids for most of the day in the water. You throw one kid across the lake, they all want to partake. It was fun though.

I've tried geocaching for the past two days. It isn't working out too well for me. I've spent hours in the woods looking for two of them and came up empty handed. Two of them led me to peoples yards, definitely in the wrong spot. Later checking the coordinates in a small, but accurate area, shows that they are way off. So now I have to sit down with the GPS and figure out how to correct that. But no, I couldn't even find it in the small area. What the hell.....

Other than that I have been hounded every day that I have been off to come into work because they are shorthanded. Tomorrow is the only day I have absolutely nothing to do so I plan on sleeping in and seeing how nice I feel like being. It is supposed to be cold and rainy and I could use the extra money. We'll see.

Ever wonder what $83 dollars could buy you?

After sleeping on my problem last night, I decided I better get up early and take the cat to the vet to have the fish hook removed. After calling them and telling them my current situation, they told me to bring her right in. And of course in the first couple minutes of the 20 minute trip, she takes a dump in the little carrier I had her in. There goes the new car smell. She did not like the car ride one bit, she made noises I've never heard a cat make. Anyways, once I got there I stressed to them several times that she isn't a very domestic cat and that I've never picked her up, etc. So once I'm in the back with the vet and her assistant, they open the door and the cat leaped out of the box and goes nuts. Jumping on the windowsill, bouncing off the chairs and the tables. There is shit flying off of her from the accident in the car, artificial plants are being knocked around, magazines and other papers are flying everywhere, it was a mess. She freaked, and so did the vet assistant. Two comments I remember them saying were "maybe we should have suited up in case she hurts us" and "we are probably going to have to sedate her for this." It was at that point I told them to call me when they were done. So after a couple of hours, I paid the $83 to take her home. She was still pretty groggy when I got her home so I left her in the cat cage for about a hour until I had to leave. When I opened the cage, she was seriously dragging her rear half around the floor with her front paws in an attempt to get the hell away from me. I kept the garage closed and let her be until I came back a few hours later. When I did come back, she ran as fast as she could to get out of the garage. She didn't come back for most of the night and I was actually getting a little concerned that something would have her for dinner when she was so defenseless. But after a good short rain, she showed back up in the garage soaking wet. It has been a bad day to be a cat.

You're not going to believe this.....

Last fall I had two little kittens show up at my house. I housed and fed them over the winter and I named them Ruff and Tuff. Tuff for the most part is gone, but Ruff is pretty much around all the time and has won the tittle of my "garage cat." I've pretty much adopted her. Anyways, coming home late tonight I was in a hurry to take the trash out and start to head toward bed. As I'm petting her, she has this black thing hanging out of her mouth, which I thought was dirt or something. She kept trying to rub up against me which she normally doesn't do. So as I look closer, she has a fish hook stuck in her mouth with a piece of fishing string attached to it. Of course several things pop into my head all at once. First being, how in the hell am I going to get this out. I've never picked her up and I am unable to think of any safe way of doing this. We do it for people all the time at work when people come in with hooks in various places. It is actually quite simple. But to do it on a cat, a wild cat at that (good rhyme there), I don't think I could do it. Second the cost of a vet bill popped into my head. Who knows how much something like that would run, I'm sure they would have to knock her out somehow. And I have no idea how I would be able to trap this cat to be able to take it to the vet. What a hassle that will be. Third, the thought of how this whole situation happened. Obviously she has been hanging around someone else's garage or something. Could you imagine the sight of someone going outside to find a cat dragging their fishing pole through the yard in an attempt to get away. Somehow they were able to get close enough to cut the line. Probably by reeling her in and thus pushing the hook deeper into her skin. So after some thought, I decided I would go out in the garage and dress in some type of protective clothing and try to take it out myself. I figured I would put on my snow pants (good and thick) and my big heavy winter gloves and see what I could do. Mind you it is in the 60s tonight (I know, thats nothing compared to out west and the south), but it didn't sound appealing to me at all. So I decided to peak into the garage and get a better look before I put my armor on. Ruff wasn't there. I checked a while later and she still wasn't there. Great, now what. So after thinking about it longer, I decided, what could it hurt to leave it in for a day or so. I have a bunch of little cousins coming over tomorrow, I'm sure they would get a kick out of it. I really don't have much time to run to the vet anyways. And maybe, just maybe, somehow it will come out on its own. I actually feel sorry for the little cat. I bet that is painful. Or maybe its not, hard telling. But if I were to leave it in for a day, is that some type of animal cruelty or is it just optimism that it will come out somehow? Ugh.