Bear Lake #1

This weekend was my wife's family reunion at Bear Lake. I have been to Bear Lake three times now if memory serves me correctly. We missed out when we lived in Alaska because airfare was pricey and the dates always seemed to coincide with the military exercises I couldn't get out of. Tara did take the kids down one year, that was a very lonely week. Remind me sometime and I will tell you my Denali Hitchhiker story, it was pretty interesting, especially looking back on it.

Anyway, I've digressed. Bear Lake has always been a lot of fun, even for me being an in-law, and this year was no different. Of course, as with most family events, there's always something that comes up that seems pretty bothersome at the time, but all things considered... we have enough fun to look forward to what the next year may have in store.

This year we were a bit too early for the Raspberry fields to be full of sweet berries waiting to fall into our hands at the slightest touch, but we did stop in town for shakes and crossed the Idaho border to buy a few stratchers and a couple random Power-ball numbers (Idaho lottery). I also got one of the worst headaches I've ever had. It set in while we were in town and in a matter of about 15 minutes it had developed into one hell of a monster. I've never been one to throw up when I get a headache, but this one had me dry heaving into a white trash bag. Our little one wasn't feeling very well either and was crying in the back. I opened my eyes and reached from the passenger seat and started rubbing her belly, hoping from the core of my being that she would calm down and stop crying. I looked ahead and the view of the road passing before us was enough to set my stomach wretching once again.

When we got back to camp I was able to go to sleep for a while and that helped immensely. I was so shocked, though, when I got up and wandered to the pavilion for our daughter's first birthday smash cake. So many people were genuinely worried about how I was doing. I hadn't expected them to miss me, let alone be concerned with my headache. But Tara had worked her magic while I had slept. She'd been a bit upset earlier in the day about a few things and making cobbler in the dutch ovens helped get her mind off her troubles. She definitely did an outstanding job. We had chocolate with raspberry cobbler, chocolate with blueberry, and spice cake with peach. Each of the cobblers was delicious in it's own right, and she had made all three simultaneously without any help. She's just amazing.

I'll have more to write about Bear Lake in the coming days and I got plenty of pictures. It's been a long day, so I'll leave it here for now. :)

Creative Writing Prompt:
(House on a Hill)

Free Money!

There they are, sitting politely in the junk bin of my email, patiently waiting for me to dump them out. You know what I'm talking about, those stupid emails that want to sucker people into believing that by some miracle of fortune a bank in some foreign country can't track down one of their deceased account holder's relatives, and a savvy manager wants to slip the money over to you on the sly. Of course, he or she will be wanting a share of the cash... and I'm assuming there will be fees upfront to switch the account details, procedure, really.

What a sham. Do people actually fall for these emails? I would imagine that there are at least a few poor bastards out there that forked out some cash, dreaming of the day the millions would be wired over to their accounts.

What if something like that did happen though? What if some random stranger walked up to you and handed you a briefcase with a cool million inside? Would you quit your job? Pay off your house? Start a business? Pay off your debt?

Would you have the first house in your neighborhood that is totally "off the grid"? Or would you buy the biggest gas guzzling truck you could find since you could pay for all the gas you could possibly use? Would you go on a vacation? Donate to charity? How far will a million dollars, pounds, or yen take you? Is it true what they say? ("A million dollars isn't worth what it used to be.")

Creative Writing Prompt:

Personal Embarrassment

Embarrassment, even the word is embarrassing to some people. Dissected, it comes from the Greek word meaning bare ass mention, which roughly translates into that time you went skinny dipping and your annoying friend couldn't help but mention it to people you would rather not have enlightened with such information.

My embarrassing story takes place when I was around 16 or 17 years old.

I was at a church camp-out up in the mountains with a bunch of friends. One particularly uneventful afternoon we decided to hop on the bikes and ride up towards Causey Reservoir. It was a couple of miles away and the mountain road was calm and quiet. We must have peddled our way about two or three miles before we stopped at a point one of the other guys was familiar with. We hopped off the bikes and walked them down the trail and into the bushes.

As the foliage parted before us, we saw the magnificent contraption, our mouths open with wonder and delight. It was beautiful. The metallic cord stretched across the expanse above the river coming out of the reservoir, and hanging on the cord was a metal cart. To a teenager, something like this could only mean one thing, ADVENTURE!

Two at a time we crossed above the river, one pulling the cable and rolling their way back across the gap to pick up another person, leaving one on the other side. We did this until we were all sitting on the other side of the river, enjoying the view and reveling in our adventure. That's when we discovered we were in a spot of trouble. The last person to cross on the cart had let go upon reaching the other side. The metal cart had rolled back to the center of the cable, the weight of it forcing the wheels that ran on top of the metal rope to roll backwards. We were trapped.

Being the daring sort I volunteered to recover the wayward cart. I gripped the cable and swung out over the water. One hand after the other I made my way further into the grand expanse, the water raged beneath me, my friends urged me onward and advised I be careful. It was about the time that I yelled back, "I'm fine!" that I realized the grand mistake I had made. It was too late to change my course and I stared, wide eyed, as the horrible seconds ticked by and my fate was sealed.

As I had traveled further across the river my weight had slowly shifted the drag on the cable from the middle, where the metal cart was, to the new heavy object moving towards the center. As that weight balance had moved to where the cable was loosest, I became the new low point. When that happened the cart had no choice but to roll down the slope of the cable as it had when someone had let go of it on the other side of the river. The edge of it slammed into my chest and nearly knocked the wind out of me. Had I not had that second or two of warning I wouldn't have been able to tense up and brace for the blow.

A few things at that point entered my mind as I groped for possible solutions to my newfound dilemma. My first instinct was to let go and allow myself to fall into the river below. It was a sizable drop and the water was moving somewhat faster than I would have liked, I opted to think of another solution. The next thought to enter my mind was that I should let go of the cable and grab the edge of the cart and pull myself up. If I could do this without accidentally opting for option 1, I could pull myself back to the other side of the river and we would have the cart, mission more or less accomplished.

"Are you okay?"

I didn't answer.

Alright, let go of the cable and grab the cart. Let go of the cable and grab the cart.

Uh, let go of the cable. LET GO OF THE CABLE!!! But I couldn't. The large metal wheels that rolled on top of the cable had rolled right on top of my hands. I had the entire weight of the cart resting on my fingers, the grooves of the wheels threatening to sever my digits for me, thus opting option 1, minus a few fingers.

"Are you okay?"

I didn't answer. Instead, I pulled myself upward and leaned toward the cart, freeing one on my hands. Then I grabbed the edge of the cart and pushed it backward off my other hand and slipped downward. The cart teetered precariously and I discovered that lifting myself up wouldn't be an option. Still not liking option 1 I shouted, "I'm stuck, wade out into the water and grab my feet and pull me back!"

I was facing away from them but the silence behind me indicated they were all probably all looking at one another, sure that they weren't going to volunteer, fulling expecting someone else to jump up to bat.

"Fall into the river!"

"If I do, who's going to get the cart?!" I retorted.

Silence.

"Fine! I'll do it!" Felicia shouted, more at them than me.

Felicia was the only girl in the group, and by far the shortest.

I asked, "Are you sure you can reach my feet?"

"I think so."

She slowly stepped into the water, careful to get good, solid grips with each step, lest one slimy stone send her down with the current. The water came to her belly button.

"I can just drop, Felicia, go back."

"Who will get the cart?" She asked. I couldn't refute the logic.

After a few minutes she reached out and grabbed my dangling feet and pulled me back towards the rocks where the rest of our friends were standing, watching. My fingers burned with pain and I struggled to hold onto the edge of the cart, half expecting to slip and fall into the water, taking Felicia with me as the current swept us away.

But we made it. We reached the other side.

"I'll go get the cart," one of the guys mocked.

"Shut up." I replied, rubbing my bruised fingers.


Creative Writing Prompt: