Weekend Mayhem

Just when you think life at the lake is supposed to be peaceful and relaxing...wham! You take a couple of hits and you're left wondering how did this happen?

I was enjoying a rather uneventful weekend until a friend of mine called to see if I wanted to go wakeboarding. Of course, I'm generally up for that so I quickly said "Sure!" So I drove from Grand Lake where I was just about to put in my Seadoo, take a ride around, and stop off at one of my favorite establishments on the water, The Decks, for a club sandwich. But hey! Wakeboard? I'm all over it...

So, I pulled up and away from the boat ramp and headed back to Lake Hudson. Now, I'm no X Games wakeboarder, catching air still makes me a little uneasy but that night, I was in my groove...doin' my thing. I was even attributing my new found confidence to my recent snowboarding experience this winter, and was feeling pretty good about my abilities. The wind which had been blowing a constant 20 knots or so during the day had died down and the lake was getting about as close to glass as you can imagine. It was a beautiful evening at the lake.

I boarded for awhile, no real wipe outs, the ones that cause you to remember for the next week that water when you're traveling fast enough, can feel just like concrete on your skin. So, I left well enough alone and signaled to Ryan that I thought it was his turn to give it a go. And he did, a much more accomplished wakeboarder than me, jumping the wake the majority of the time, and skidding the board across the surface, something a little too nutty, even for me. And true to any kiddie sport, you take turns, and soon it was mine again. I'd done well for the first go around; I was even considering trying a few moves myself before I actually got up. I decided to play it safe though and just stuck to my normal routine.

But as they say, all good things must come to an end and after taking a pretty good tumble the first time back up, due to placing too much weight on my back leg, I was setting myself up for a nice crash. I got up, crossed the wake a few times, then cut back to the starboard side with a little too much weight on my front leg and toe pick! Just like they say in ice skating, and every one knows the consequences of that mistake...a face plant. The face plant isn't what hurt. As Ryan put it, "I didn't realize you were that flexible." Well, neither did I. The back of the board came up and caught me in the back of the head, just behind my ear. Fortunately, I wasn't knocked unconscious, I just knew that my head hurt and I could feel a divot. I was just about to get up and go again when I put my hand up to the point of contact to check one more time, to find blood on my fingers. So that was the end of wakeboarding on a beautiful, calm night on Lake Hudson.

Needless to say, it's going to leave a mark, a permanent one, although my dad, accompanied by Ryan, did a fine job of stitching me up. My poor dad, this is the second time in my life he's had to stitch me up. The first being a draw knife accident two years ago, which just like the traumatic events of Saturday night, could have left me in much worse shape. Just remember, like taking a picture of the Grand Canyon, my camera doesn't do my injury justice. It looks much worse in person. Of course, I wouldn't know that, as it's covered up with a band aid and behind my ear!

And if that wasn't enough excitement for one weekend, on Sunday morning, after a wonderful breakfast at Lake Hudson Inn, while I was sitting outside enjoying a fine conversation with a friend, my neighbor's dog and my foster child got into one of the biggest dog fights I've ever witnessed or participated. Now I've been around my fair share of dog fights, and I've been in the middle of more than I can count on one hand but to see two so very large dogs go at it was absolutely horrifying.

Boomer is a stout, young golden retriever, who weighs in at about 90 lbs and Hank, a yellow lab, who was given the nickname "Hank the Tank" by my friend Patrick, weighs in at a hefty 120 lbs (at least). I'm still not sure what the fight was about but neither one of them was about to concede to the other. Not that I gave them much of a choice because the minute I heard the conversation get out of control, I was there, leaving the phone "on hold" on a nearby table. As soon as I got there, they were in full swing, duking it out like real fighters. Soon, it was all three of us rolling around. As soon as I could get a good hold on one and pull him off, the other would come back with a vengeance. It's sad to say that I think I came out in worse shape than the two of them. Of course, they have much thicker skin and a lot more hair but I wasn't about to let them keep fighting. I finally got them separated but not before I took a couple of bites myself, one that took some skin off my arm, causing me once again to drive into Pryor to seek my father's help.

You can only imagine the look I got when I showed up with bloody clothes and presented my arm for inspection. Unlike the wakeboarding accident, there was no lecture, perhaps because he would have done the same. This time, steri strips in place of stitches, which at this point, appear to be doing the job. Although I'd like to say that I'm quite the body builder, I'm not, although my arm at least from my elbow down looks the part.

Just as a side note and as a reminder to me in the future, as frightened as I was, I can only imagine how my friend Trevor felt, as he was the one who had been put on hold only to listen to my screams and the dogs' growling and yelping. Not knowing what was really taking place as I just said "I'll be back" thinking it was just a little tiff that could easily be settled as in the past. So in the future, I will hang up the phone, so at least someone doesn't have to sit on the other end and listen in terror to unknown events.

I've been thinking about my upcoming adventures and hoping that my friends Ben and Angelique pack some suture kits along with the other medical necessities I know they'll have in tow. If not, I'm bringing my own because if this is what happens at Lake Hudson, I can't imagine the trouble I could get into hanging off a cliff.