I had a bit of an interesting day yesterday. It was not exciting - it was nothing really, like a Seinfeld episode without anything funny - just a little eventful, for a dude who spent most of it working.
I figured that any story that has Chuck Yeager in it has to be worth writing. For reading? Well may God bless you if you even try to get through this.
After a full day of work I decided to bar-b-que a steak so I opened it up and brought the dripping wrapper into the garbage out on the deck. A dog I am currently fostering (I volunteer for a dog rescue) is a little nuts at times, and he is pretty much an escape artist. Being a beagle - someone once told me if you dropped one at Belmont, he'd follow his nose and make it to Monmouth by sundown - when he goes, he goes. Well, he caught sight of something, and bolted right behind me. I proceeded to dive for him, landing on my now-getting-older bones (why is it when you fell on a basketball court or baseball field at 17 is it different at 40?). I skinned my leg, cut my knee, and knew I was gonna feel it the next day. I missed him, and off he went, nose to the ground at a hundred miles an hour. My other dog we adopted, who barely has two good legs (we think he was hit by a car a long time ago and he was never treated for it), was out after him, hobbling away.
After an hour or so he went behind a lighthouse and I lost sight of him. I gave up and came back for a drink and to make a new plan of attack. I was sure I had lost him.
After ten minutes, back out I went. For another hour I had zero luck - not even catching a glimpse or sound of him. I came back to the house to check messages, and to see if anyone was around to help. As I rounded the corner, there he was, sitting at my screen door, tongue on the floor of the deck. He got tired and needed a drink, so somehow he found his way back home. For a dog that has not been here long, I was really surprised. Even though he bolted each time he saw me, he knew where home was.
He drank about a gallon of water, and immediately passed out. Then, battered and bruised I relaxed for a bit. He wouldn't let me do that though - each twenty minutes he wanted out to relieve himself. A gallon of water in a 35 pound body does that I guess. I had to take him out - on a titanium leash this time - five times over a two or three hour period, which was the last thing I wanted to do after a long day.
After Niagara Falls was drained several times, I finally had some time to check on work and read a few twitter posts. The previous evening, Caroline (@socaltbrescue) and I were speaking about a garage sale she is having. She noted she had a used helicopter flying manual (!) and that most of her stuff was not worth much. I jokingly told her that she should put out some feelers that maybe the manual was once Chuck Yeager's (the first man to break the sound barrier in an aircraft) and that would juice the price!
Lo and behold I checked my twitter mentions after the doggie debacle, and General Chuck Yeager replies to the flying manual tweet.
Later that evening I head to bed - finally, because I am sore and feel like I got hit by a truck. At about 1:30AM, a piercing alarm goes off. It was the fire alarm and it's loud. After about three minutes and me hitting the button (and checking for fire of course), it stops. Thank goodness.
About an hour later - it goes off again. The dogs go nuts (I could not find the one with two good legs because he was hiding he was so scared). I head over to the alarm and try to make it stop, but it won't; I was thinking of naming it "Christine". I take it off and try and take out the battery, like i have all my life with these things. But there is no battery. The powers that be (I am finding that not only do my bones crack at this age, I am becoming more liberal/libertarian and am getting annoyed at the powers that be who do these things) have decided that to pass inspection all new construction's need a new-fangled smoke alarm system. It's wired on AC power, and all smoke detectors need to be wired together, so if one goes off, they all do. I have to - with a sound louder than a Who concert in my ears - dismantle this one, then find the other one to dismantle. I get tools and get the job done, but I cannot find the other one. The sound is muffled, but it's there. I think it's in the basement, which is a crawl space I need to move a carcass of everything to get to. Thankfully, after 15 minutes of ringing (just before I start clearing a pathway to the basement), it stops.
About 4AM (with an 8:30AM conference call on tap that I have to prepare for to boot), I get to bed.
Today I am tired, sore and a little cranky. But when I look back at it positively, I got some exercise, I will sleep well tonight, my dog is alive, and I got to chat with Chuck Yeager.
Life's good.
Notes:
See You at Peelers career might be in trouble. After a training session Thursday where she could only muster a 57 back half (in a training session she should be able to fire home in 26 if they want off easy fractions), she is scratched for Monday. I know a lot of you were probably skeptical she was even entered, but Takter or any other trainer can't speak horse. They can only get her checked out, and if something is amiss you fix it. If something is not, you enter her. The training session told the story and we are not sure we are even going to see her again.
This weekend, get ready for the Woodbine Mile, and the Canadian Trotting Classic. Say what you want about Woodbine from a customers perspective, but they drive cash back into the purses, and create and promote some wonderful events.
The Jugette only drew 11 this year. So much for figuring more fillies would take a shot with Peelers out.
The Jug this year has some guaranteed pools. The pick 4 will be worth a shot, in my opinion.
Enjoy your weekend everyone!
2 comments:
Anyone heard from Lou Pena lately?
Sorry to hear of your adventure, but the beagle part of the story made me laugh.
While not as colorful, my last dog, a border collie mix once got loose from me and took off. Now, I am far from in good shape so after about 1 minute, I knew I was in deep doo doo. The funny thing is five minutes later the dog found me because he was tired. I took him home and he just laid down and slept.
So who is the stupid one? The dog or the human?
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