Cherish Each Day

Cherish each day. You never know when it is going to be your last. Worse yet, you never know when it is going to be the last day on earth for a loved one.

Late this morning, I was making homemade soup for lunch. My wife Nikki works close by in Shasta Lake City, and she comes home to have lunch with me. As she stepped out the door at her work at noon, she paused to say good-bye to her co-workers. It was just a split second of her time.

She started the car and began her seven minute drive home. Turning down our street, Lassen Street, she proceeded as usual toward our home when she caught something out of her peripheral vision above, a shadow falling. She looked and reacted, no time for thought, just slam on the brakes. Crash! A huge tree fell across the road. The trunk was two feet in diameter, big enough to have crushed the cab of our little Camry, and of course it would have killed my wife instantly. The tree trunk broke the street. It landed two or three feet in front of her car.

What if she had not turned to say good-by to her co-workers? What if she had been glancing in another direction and not applied the brakes? If she had not applied the brakes, the extra distance would have place the roof of the car directly underneath the tree.

I am a lucky man today. My wife is alive. The tree hit directly in front of the car, some of the limbs scratching the hood and front grill, and that is with the breaks fully applied.

Another thing to be thankful for: anti-lock brakes.

Pink Panther

This morning began with a jog around the block. I didn’t jog. Nikki did. I followed her on my mountain bike. When you have had knee replacement surgery, jogging is forever a thing of the past. We encountered several dogs, Pepper being the first one, and Jake being the second. Jake is a large friendly dog, a short haired German shepard looking dog, but colored like a Border collie. He has two blazing blue eyes. Then, there was one final stray, a large dog that appeared to be frightened at our approach. He ran away.

This afternoon, we went to a movie and saw Pink Panther II, starring Steve Martin of course. That guy can crack me up with just his looks. His French accent is atrocious, which makes it all the more funny. If you are looking for some light hearted entertainment, some sight gags, and a lot of slap stick humor, and most importantly, if you like Steve Martin, this movie will be worth what you pay for it. I felt like I had been doing “ab” work at the gym by the time the movie was over.

The rest of the afternoon was spent running a few errands, and returning home at around 3:30 PM. We spent the rest of the day and evening just enjoying an early dinner and the quiet of our home. We talked about how we still miss our dog Hurk.

 

Today was a sad day for my entire family. Hurk, our thirteen year old male border collie, a truly special dog, had to be put to sleep. He was struggling from cancer. The cancer was between his heart and his lungs. The tumor was pressing on his tracia. Lately, because of the cancer, he had developed congestive heart failure.

We took him to U.C. Davis about five months ago. When we left Davis, we pretty much knew the prognosis. They felt he had a matter of weeks to live. He lasted five months. We had him on medication to keep him comfortable, and for a while he seemed fairly normal. Over the past two weeks though, he began a serious decline.

Today, seeing him struggle on my living room floor for breath, I just could not allow him to suffer so much, gasping for air. Our vet met us after hours. She was so caring and kind. I held Hurk's muzzle in the palm of my hand as he struggled to breath. My wife Nikki was with me, helping me to get through the ordeal. Tina wanted to be there too, and she would have been if I had not had my cell phone turned off (stupidly). I feel so bad that my phone was off. Hurk was barely able to walk into the veterinary office. He was completely physically spent. All of his energy was being conserved for his next breath. He was looking into my eyes when his body went limp. I told him repeatedly, before and after he died, "good boy - good boy - good boy."

Hurk was a wonderful dog, full of spirit, a real pistol at times. He was very competitive, loved chasing frisbees, but really loved patrolling our back yard swiming pool. In his younger days, he would patrol the pool for hours. He was part of the family. Between my other border collie and him, he was the alpha male.

Hurk was my ex-wife Tina's dog after our divorce. But, my wife Nikki really loved him too. So did my kids. They spent part of their life growing up with him. We all loved him. I feel better now, knowing that we did the right thing. My whole family knows we did the right thing. And Tina forgives me for missing her phone call. But, she also felt that maybe it would have been too sad for her to be there.

Good bye Hurk! We will always love you. We will never forget you. Promise.

John, Nikki, Tina, Sheila, Karen, Steve, and Kaylee
(The little ones, Layla and Tina Marie, may be too young to understand)

Friday The 13th

The day began at 5:30 AM with the alarm clock. Dark outside. Got up and built a good fire in the wood stove and started cooking some coffee. Nikki and I turned on the tube and found out about the Continental Connection crash in Buffalo, NY. Too bad, I thought to myself.

The information began to stream in. The news media is aggravating after a crash. The reporters don’t know what questions to ask. They have these so call experts, usually former airline pilots or corporate pilots who like to get paid to speculate about the cause of the crash. They are so called aviation experts, but they are anything but that. I find them to be irritating blood suckers who get paid to speculate about something they know nothing about.

For me, I wanted to know just a few basic things: the weather at the time of the crash. Nobody asked that question. The size of the debris or impact zone, whether it was small or large, and what the shape of the wreckage field looked like. Lots of fire meant that there was fuel on board. It turned out that the debris field was about the size of one house. The plane hit that house pretty much vertically.

My take on the cause of the accident: structural icing resulting in the loss of control of the aircraft low to the ground with insufficient time to recover. The aircraft probably impacted the ground nearly vertical. Later, as the voice recorder was analyzed, it was reported that the crew was discussing the large amount of ice on the windshield and the wings. Other aircraft in the vicinity were reporting ice.

Again, too bad for everyone on board. I feel very bad for the families. The crew and passengers are at peace now.

After getting my wife off to work, I went to the gym. I tried to avoid talking to people as much as possible. The old guys always want to talk instead of exercise, which increases the amount of time I am in the gym. On a morning of an airplane crash, they always want to talk to me even more. I tried to hide from the obvious conversationalists as much as possible. I got a full work-out in and left.

I picked up my dog Hurk from my ex-wife, Tina, and brought him to my house. We all feel bad about Hurk. He is going to die soon. He has cancer and he is not doing well. We will have to make a decision soon, I fear. I am not looking forward to putting another animal to sleep.

Today is a wet and rainy day in Redding. We have snow forecast for Shasta Lake, but I am not sure we will actually see any. The day is about over now. We are snug inside our house. Reflecting on the crash in New York, I am thankful for my fairly boring day.

We Went To The Movies Today

We saw Gran Torino today. I do not wish to give any of this movie away, other than to say that the movie trailers give away none of the show. It is an earthy story of a hardened, maybe even racist, old man, a veteran of the Korean War who ultimately finds his own version of salvation.

I won’t bother to rate the movie. The only thing I will say is that your money will not be wasted. If for nothing else, there is enough entertainment value in this film to warrant the price of admission.

Back To The Source

On Saturday, February 7th, my wife Nikki and I traveled to Southern California. Our destination was Torrance. The occasion? We were to attend a tribute to the late Grandmaster Helio Gracie, who passed on to the next life a week or so ago. 

Helio's son Rorion hosted the occasion that was well attended. I saw many old friends and acquaintances. There was a slide show presentation that was very interesting concerning the life story of Mr. Gracie. After the program was over, Rorion shouted "John!" There were several hundred people there so I didn't pay much attention. I figured John was a pretty common name. But no, he was calling me. From out of the crowd, he came running over and shook my hand with a big smile.

  

I introduced my wife to Kim Gracie. I had not seen her in many years. She still lives in Pacific Palisades while Rickson resides near Rio de Janeiro. James Boran and his wife Monica were there, as well as Rod Machado. Relson Gracie was there. All of Rorion's boys were there too. 

After the ceremony was over and most everyone went home, Rorion asked me if I would mind giving a short television interview, which of course I did not mind. Then, we stayed there for an hour or two talking about the "old days." Rorion gave Nikki and me, James and Monica, a tour of the museum which was very, very impressive. In fact, the entire new facility is impressive. 

Of course, Nikki wanted to know all about the Gracie diet, so Rorion gave her some tips on where she can go to get more information. 

It was really good to reconnect with my old Jiu Jitsu teacher, the man who first introduced me to this most wonderful martial art known as Gracie Jiu Jitsu. Rorion emphatically encouraged me to stay in touch, and I intend to.