Season's Greetings

As the year comes to a close, I'm thankful for the the gifts in my life; my family & friends, my health, a job, and enough interests to keep me constantly amazed at the world around me. I'm excited that my Dad is coming out to spend the Holiday's with us, but sad that my Mom wasn't able to win her fight against cancer and be here as well. Perhaps her gift was to see us become involved in each others lives again. I wish everyone a warm, safe Holiday Season and best wishes for a better 2010.

Out and About in Paradise

I went for a hike this morning. Tami was down the hill shopping and Kyle was in school, so I took advantage of the weather and headed down into Deep Creek gorge. Beautiful colors and nice temps in the high 40's.

At one point, I was rock scrambling and fell, full force, on my left thigh. There is a nano-second before the pain hits when time slows down to allow you a brief vision of clarity. You feel the impact and before the pain arrives, you ponder how bad it's going to be. You think about what you might have done to prevent it. You wonder if it's going to be so serious that you may spend the night in the wilderness. And, most of all, you wonder if the butt-chewing your wife is going to give you will be as bad as the immediate pain.

Then, POW! It hits! Cuss words flow liberally with the F-word being used as a noun, verb, adjective, and so on. It was as if Mark McQuire or Sammy Sosa let loose with a home run impact on my leg. No time, to worry. Got to keep hiking out before it knots up too badly.

Well, obviously I made it home. Took some Motrin and thanked the stars it wasn't worse. And, best of all, I got some beautiful photo's while I was there!