Be Safe - Not Stupid

I've lived in the same apartment for 9 full years now.  My neighbors change with great frequency, mainly because we're a college town, and this place is across the street from the University of Colorado campus.  Lewis, who lives three doors down, has rented his place for 15 years, Beatrice (my friend on the second floor) has rented for 5 years, and my current neighbor Rodney has been in his place for 3 years.  But, on the west side of the hallway, most of the tenants change every 3 to 9 months.  I know them mostly by sight.  Benjamin, who spends all of his cash on marijuana, is in 101; two guys share 102, a man in his early 20s and a friend in his mid-30s.  We greet each other, say, "Hi.  How's it going?" - but don't really know each other.
   Boulder Creek has been rising with the past ten days of rain and snow.  The Creek is flowing at 440 cubic feet per second, which is high, but authorities don't close the use of the Creek until the flow rate is 700 cfs or higher.  Chris, the mid-30s man in 102, injured his back last week.  He's a day laborer and couldn't work due to the injury.  He was given pain pills and told to relax and let his injury heal.  Over the weekend, he told his mother, who lives in Connecticut, that the back pain was "excruciating."  Monday afternoon, two days ago, he and and his roommate smoked some marijuana (which is legal, if consumed inside our home) and drank some beer and hard liquor - after Chris had taken his opiate pain pill prescription.  Chris decided to go tubing on Boulder Creek, at the south end of or apartment building.  His friend decided he'd follow along the Boulder Creek Footpath on his skateboard, and not try to ride the water.  Chris jumped into Boulder Creek just east of Folsom Street, which is equivalent to 26th Street.  His friend said that Chris was struggling to get centered in the tube (his backside) and didn't appear to have any control.  The Creek immediately took Chris and the tube downstream, to the east.  Somewhere near 48th Street, Chris appeared to be in trouble, and his friend tried to grab his arm and pull him out of the Creek.  Chris slipped away from him.  His friend called 911 and reported Chris missing in the Creek.
   The Boulder Fire and Rescue teams have been looking for Chris since 6 p.m. on Monday; at 7 p.m. last night, his mother and roommate were informed that the Search and Rescue had been officially changed to a Search and Recover scenario.  This is May in Colorado - with the snow melt-off feeding the creeks and streams, the current water temperature is 40 degrees.  It was sheer stupidity to go into Boulder Creek in a pair of shorts and a T-shirt, in a rubber inner tube, in 40 degree (F) water.  Both of the men should have known better.
   Please, do NOT undertake anything while you are mentally impaired - the mixture of medication, marijuana, and alcohol killed Chris.  It can easily happen to anyone who doesn't think things through.  Please be alert to your surroundings and use common sense - don't try anything that could possibly be life threatening in a impaired condition.
   As of 9:30 a.m. Wednesday, Chris has not been found.  One inner tube was found floating on the Creek, but it's not known if that was the tube Chris used.  He is now missing, assumed dead.

A Few Stray Thoughts...

Fifty Years Ago Today...

I honestly have no immediate memories of this Friday, 50 years ago today.  I was seven years old, a student in second grade in Mrs. Baxter's class at Lake Forest Elementary School in Gainesville, Florida.  I don't have a class photo from that year, but I think that Carolyn Davis, Jane Bergadine, Bonnie Hall, Richard Shuler, Alan Rogers, and Riley Dean were in my class.  The school was seven blocks from the house I grew up in, and my Mother usually met me after school and walked home with me from the playground until I was in fourth grade.
   The only things that I can definitely say about my memories of the assassination of President John Fitzgerald Kennedy are that they revolve around my family.  It was the first time I saw my Father cry - and that made a huge impression, since I was a "Daddy's girl."  I can remember watching the TV with Walter Cronkite broadcasting, and seeing him wipe away a few tears - and seeing Mom, Dad, and Kathy doing frequent group hugs and crying.  I was too young to grasp what had happened - to the President, or to the country.
  Embarrassingly, I do remember being angry about the television coverage of the President's funeral; I wanted to see my usual programs - Sky King, Fury of Broken Wheel Ranch and Hopalong Cassidy.  I was very upset when we had hours of coverage of people I didn't know in uniforms and civilian clothes - it was boring.  I remember that Dad tried to get me interested in the black cavalry horse with boots reversed in the stirrups - but I wanted my cowboys and adventure.
  I do remember a sob coming from the other three members of my family when the cameras showed the little boy saluting the horse-drawn casket.  I was amazed, and, at the same time, frightened.  My parents and my elder sister were upset, crying and frightened.  My world seemed to be coming apart - nothing was right.
   Looking back, I feel as if I was living under a balanced rock for the next five years - between LBJ and the Viet Nam War and the Cuban Missile Crisis (which was, I admit a bit earlier) and the antagonism against the Civil Rights Movement - I don't think that I ever really felt safe.  I know I was shocked and grieved when the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr was assassinated in April of 1968.  I was watching the news when Robert Kennedy was assassinated in June of 1968.  I remember my sister, then 18, hugging me and crying, and saying, rather wildly, "Oh, my God, Betty - They are killing all of the good men!"
   Who were "they?" People we held in esteem were being murdered and we, the American people, were helpless.  I think that I lost my innocence fifty years ago today.  I lost my trust in my fellow humans, I lost my trust in society, and I lost someone who might have changed history, had he not been killed...

Pet Safety

Yeah, I know... It's ironic that I'm writing about pet safety after my cat died from poisoning. The idea here, though, is to remind you that critters can get into things without you knowing, or even thinking, about it. What set me off today was the news report from Sydney, Australia about a four-month old Persian kitten who miraculously survived being washed and spinned at high speed in a washing machine. The kittens' eyes were damaged by the detergent; but to what extent, the veterinarians do not yet know. Otherwise, the kitten seems to be OK. - The owners left their front-loading washing machine door open. Apparently the kitten found the dirty clothes to be a nice nest for sleeping - my cats and dogs always have, but not inside the washer. The owners tossed in more dirty clothes, closed the door and started the washer. Luckily, Kimba somehow survived.
My number one rule when I am at home or pet-sitting is: Know where your pet is. Before I start any machine, either at home, or where I am currently employed, I am certain that I know where the pet(s) is(are) located. No washing machine, no dryer, no vehicle, no oven - anything - I will not press a start button, or turn a key until I am absolutely certain that no pet is inside of a machine or an engine or any compartment... I do not leave doors to machines open, unless it is a given in that specific household - and I always check inside before I start anything. Kittens, cats, puppies, small to medium size dogs, ferrets, bunnies, gerbils, rats, guinea pigs... they are all critters that like to investigate their environments. Please be certain that you do not harm them. You, as the owner or guardian, are totally responsible for your pet's actions. Take care.