November 25, 2003

The Big ol' Turtle

Really a tortoise, but you know, whatever. Friday afternoon, the doorbell rings, and I work from the house, I am like, great another distraction, what can it be now. The mail lady, mail person, mail carrier-lady is at the door asking me if I know anyone that owns a big old turtle and points to the middle of the street where lo and behold a gigantic tortoise is just cruising along. the mail lady, carrier person stopped at my house, well, because the tortoise was right in front of my house and also noticed the dog crate that came with Mack and thought that we could put the turtle/tortoise in there while we found out who owned him. well, this thing was huge and I figured that I would just put him in the back yard. I cautiously picked him up and he seemed nonplussed by my doing so. I know that a lot of reptiles will relieve themselves as a defense mechanism if they feel threatened, but this old boy was good to go. He weighed 50 pounds and I took him to the back yard where the pugs were going crazy. they didn't know if he was friend of foe, they weren't sure if they would be sharing sleeping and eating with this big ol feller. anyhow, put him back there and he cruised and cruised with the pugs close at hand. I was thinking, what am I going to feed this guy. I looked on the internet for info on big ol' tortoises in texas and none were quite that big. when school let out, some kid was running around the neighborhood obviously looking for this sucker. I popped my head out and asked if he was looking for a turtle he said yes and I told him I had him. he was very pleased as he just bought him the day before for $200. he was an African spiny tortoise and was about 10 years old and weighed 50 pounds. they get up to 150 pounds. Dang. anyhow it was a neat little diversion to break up my Friday and Eric from across the street got his tortoise back.

— pjl

November 23, 2003

Seismic Wall

Not morning rain or a really chilly cold front could keep us from enjoying the last two beautiful hours of daylight at Seismic. Can't remember the last time I climbed there. I cleaned the two routes that needed cleaning and got a little tiny taste of that fear of being up high. And having everything so jammed around my ATC that I couldn't get the rope in the biner and thinking I'm not going to be able to rap and what if these bolts just pop out of the rock while I stare at them or what if my old locking biners just break. They are pretty old. And what about these daisy chains. All frayed and tattered from years of climbing, Could they just break? All irrational thought while Paul's down there telling Retta, "look at Mama!"

— sbj

November 18, 2003

Trip on Bees

Am I the only one who didn't know Trip was the local bee expert. Boy did I get an earful last night. My dreams of honey from my acre were shot to bits when I heard the word Africanized. Yikes-o-rama! I guess they turn agro and attack and the neighbors get pissed off. Just seemed like a romatic idea after the end of another Kingsolver novel. She said it was easy. But that was in Appalacia. Maybe the African meanies don't go there.

— sbj

November 16, 2003

Trail Project

So much for my call to help. No one showed but the FOER themselves. And that group was even missing the Miss President. Of course, i didn't help either ... but I brought the manpower of Paul and Grant, more than she did.
We met in town for a fancy dinner where spouses were not invited, but I swear she brought a date in the guise of a man to take over the website.

controversy

I'm so glad not to be on the CTCC. What a headache. It seems a very prominent, local-hero climber put up an illegal route at e-rock last month. Instead of a confrontation or a phone call, the CTCC has decided to remove the bolts and send a letter. Christ.

— sbj

November 15, 2003

Dane Bass

Our friend Dane (and former TopRope.com cover model) was recently in a terrible mototcycle accident. Here's the initial report sent out by his friend Todd on Nov. 11, 2003:

I just got a call from Dane Bass who is okay but lucky to be alive.
Last Thursday Dane was riding a BMW motorcycle with a defective throttle. The throttle stuck open causing an abnormal acceleration and the back tire to spin out. Rather than lay the bike down Dane rectified the situation but had to ride the bike into the opposite lane of traffic where he collided head on with another vehicle. He said he was projected over 100 feet into the air and landed on his buttocks on the pavement and was conscious the entire time. His back (L1) is broken; tailbone is broken; sacrum is broken; pelvis is broken in two places; and hand is broken. One lung is bruised and a laceration on his leg took 12 stitches. Tomorrow they are doing an MRI because he is having severe pains in his leg down into his feet and the cause is yet unknown. Whether his back will heal is still an issue, however, the doctors agree that the break in his back occurred without causing nerve damage. He expects to be in a full body cast from his neck to below his pelvis for 10-12 weeks. He did say that a full recovery is possible.
Dane is in Morristown, New Jersey Memorial Hospital in the Trauma Unit. When I talked to him he sounded pretty good considering... Initially his was on morphine but now he said the pain is not too bad unless he coughs which has become a problem resulting from the bruised lung. Coughing causes severe pain. He couldn't talk too long because he thought the phlegm was beginning to cause a coughing sensation. He is among friends there and said he was being shown a lot of love. His room number is 241 and the telephone number there is 973-971-8279.

When I talked to Dane he sounded amazing, all things considered. Our prayers are with him. He plans to climb with us in March ... everyone should have should such a good attitude! I just can't wait to cook him a hot meal. Dane says hospital food in Jersey sucks!

November 1, 2003

Trick or treaters

In my neighborhood we don't get a lot of trick-or-treaters. Last night we migh have gotten. Half of them were teenaged boys who were not dressed in costumes, holding out their baseball caps for candy. And were demanding of more when I only dropped one little bag of m&m's in their hats. 'Scram,' I said. 'I don't have much left,' I added. I didn't want to piss anyone off and end up spending my Saturday pulling tp out of the tree. But the best/worst was the family who pulled up after 9pm in a little car with 6 kids and their mom. I handed each of the kids their candy and said 'Happy Halloween!' The whole time trying to ignore the mom, who was not in Halloween costume, but was holding out her HEB plastic bag to me. Again I said 'Happy Halloween!' As in, 'Ok, that's it. Go!' But she just kept smiling at me. Shit. I gave her the m&m's and waved them off. Stepped out and blew out Pumpkin's candle. No more trick-or treaters. And a word about this lady. I didn't want to be rude or make a fuss b/c her kids were there and they were sooooo happy and excited, but how freakin' obnoxious. It's not like I was handing out canned goods or trying to withhold nourishment from her kids. With Circle C right behind us I'm sure these people had a trunk full of candy by 9 o'clock. What was she thinking!

— sbj

More blogs: 08/03 | 09/03 | 10/03 | 11/03 | 12/03

Hurray! WebCounter shows that you are visitor number