The motorcycle accident of 2007

Warning! This is a very long blog!

It will be 2 years this April that Cam got in his motorcycle accident. Cam and I started talking about it a couple of nights ago and decided the story needs to be written down. It’s not enough that he got in a motorcycle accident and pretty much broke the entire left side of his body from his collar bone to his waist, it’s everything that happened after the accident! We were laughing pretty hard the other night, and I imagine down the road, some of the details will start fading, so I have to write this down.

It was Easter weekend 2007, and a bunch of us went camping at Jeff and Missy’s property. They own 5 acres out in the middle of nowhere. The property is a few exits past Wendover. Once you get off the freeway, you go about 25 miles on a dirt road, look for the abandoned AirStream RV and that is the property. We love going there. No one is around you for miles. It is a great place to ride dirt bikes and 4-wheelers, and just relax and read, play cards etc. We go every Easter weekend to kick off the camping season.

So, it was Easter Sunday afternoon. Most of the other couples left that morning, because they had to work Monday. Cam, Jeff, Missy, their son’s Nick and Mike, and our friend’s 19 year old son, Matt, and I stayed because we were all lucky enough to have Monday off. We decided it would be fun if we all jumped on some form of ATV and go on a leisurely ride. There were just enough machines for all of us. Missy and I were on 4-wheelers, Jeff, Nick, Mike and Matt all had their own dirt bikes. Cam used a dirt bike that our friend Anthony’s brother had built out of used motorcycle parts. Not the nicest bike in the world, but it would do.

Missy and I packed some waters and snacks and we took off. It was just a mellow ride. We stuck to dirt roads and avoided the mountains that were to the West. After about 45 minutes we came to a place where over the years, some of the older kids have built some jumps and so we stopped there. Cam did not have a helmet (I know! Shame on us!), so he mostly just watched everyone. There is one spot that has a pretty small jump, it’s actually more of a bump, and then a few yards ahead of that is a much bigger jump. Cam decided to go over the little jump. I was just sitting on my 4-wheeler watching everyone and I watched Cam go over the little jump. Suddenly his motorcycle just took off! Cam hit the big jump at full speed and went flying! He landed face down and the back end of the dirt bike landed on him, the back tire still spinning and giving Cam a pretty nasty tire burn on his back.

We all went running to Cam. Jeff threw the bike off him and turned Cam over onto his back, Cam just flopped over like a rag doll. Cam was out cold, there was blood smeared across his face, and blood was coming out of his ear. I thought I was going to throw up. Missy grabbed me and told me that she and I needed to take the 4-wheelers back to camp and get their truck so we could come back and get Cam. Jeff assured me that Cam was alive, he was just unconscious. Jeff has done some emergency training, so I felt okay leaving him with Cam. So Missy and I rode the ATV’s back to camp. I was in a total daze. When you see your husband, or anyone you love for that matter, unconscious with blood coming out of their ear, it is incredibly disturbing to say the least.

Missy and I made it back to camp after what seemed like the longest ride ever! Missy grabbed the keys to their truck and we headed back. I was still in a total daze. I didn’t cry, I couldn’t really talk, I was just mostly shaking and I felt really hot, like I was burning on the inside. So at this point you are probably wondering why we didn’t call 911. We didn’t because the property is so far out there, there is no cellular service. You have to go about 15 miles down the dirt road to get service.

Missy and I finally made it back to the scene. Cam was standing up! I don’t think I can put in words the relief I felt. Jeff had tried to clean up some of the blood around Cam’s ear. Ends up his sunglasses cut him just above his ear and it was blood from that cut that was going into his ear, then running back out. Cam could hardly move. He was in shock, I looked in his eyes, his pupils looked normal, but his eyes were just glazed over. And to answer why the motorcycle took off over the jump like that? Turns out the throttle stuck and the dirt bike hit what’s called a “power band” which I guess is like turbo kicking in. Cam couldn’t control it and didn’t have enough time to react.

We helped Cam into the truck as carefully as we could and drove him to camp. Poor guy, the slightest bump made him moan. For those who may be reading this and don’t know Cam, he is a pretty tough guy. He’s been a construction worker for about 20 years. He is the type of guy who can put a drill bit through his leg, wrap some duct tape around it, and work the rest of the day. (Yes, that has happened) I could tell he was in some serious pain. We got back to camp and helped him into our camper. I got out the first aid kit and tried to clean up his face. He was filthy! He had blood and dirt all over his face. And it’s not regular dirt out there. It’s like baby powder, and Cam was covered in it! He let me clean him up a little, but then he made me stop. He couldn’t sit for very long, he just wanted to get out of the camper and go outside. Missy had left us and took the truck back to the crash site, so they could put the dirt bike in the back and bring it back to camp. They were all just getting to camp when Cam and I were getting out of the camper.

Cam was still in shock, and was pretty incoherent. He kept wanting to sit down, but we made him stand up and stay awake while we made the game plan. Clearly I had to get him to an emergency room. Wendover is about an hour and half away, and we discussed whether or not they had an emergency room. We had only been to the casinos there. None of us had ever bothered checking out the rest of the town. We decided there had to be an Instacare there at least. We didn’t think there was a full hospital, but there had to be something. Women have babies, and people get in accidents and have heart attacks etc, there had to be some sort of an emergency room. We couldn’t take our truck. We have one of those campers that fit in the bed of the truck and goes up and over the top. The jacks were down it would be way too much trouble and time to get our truck ready to go. Matt offered us his truck.

We got Cam into Matt’s truck and he and I headed for Wendover. Cam was more awake by this time. He kept asking what happened. To this day he doesn’t remember the accident or the hour or so we spent at camp after. His first memory is he and I in Matt’s truck. I made Cam talk to me so he could stay awake. Finally when I knew we had cell service I handed him my phone and suggested he call someone. I needed Cam to stay awake and keep talking, so I thought calling someone was a good idea. So Cam calls our friend Andy, or what I thought was Andy. I heard him ask if Andy was there, so I figured his wife Brenna had answered the phone. It sounded like Andy wasn’t there, so I thought Cam was just talking to Brenna. He just made small talk, didn’t say anything about the accident. He talked for about 5 minutes then hung up and said “your sister Amy says hi”. He called Amy! Andy is the first person listed on Cam’s phone, but he’s second on mine, because Amy is first! I had no idea what Amy must of thought of that call. She and Cam get along fine, but it’s not like they call each other to chat. I called Amy a couple of days later to explain that she got the concussion call. She and I had a good laugh about it.

We finally made it to Wendover. There is a convenience store right off the exit. I figured the person working there could direct me to the emergency room. I told Cam to stay in the truck, I’d be right back. I ran into the store, there was an employee and 2 customers; one was an older lady like in her 70’s and the other a guy about my age. I asked the employee if there was an emergency room. The old lady asked me what happened, I told her my husband was in a motorcycle accident and I need to get him checked out. They asked if he was okay, I said yes, but he may have a couple of broken bones and probably a concussion. Just then, the door opens and in comes Cam. The old lady let out a little scream. You have to picture this. Cam is 6’2”, weighs 230 pounds, and keeps his head completely shaved bald. He was covered in dirt and still had dried blood all over his face. He seriously looked like Frankenstein’s monster. He was even walking like the monster. I assured everyone he was okay, and again asked where the emergency room is. I was told they don’t have one! They suggested we go to the fire station because there are paramedics there. That was good enough for me!

The fire station is right on the main road, we found it very easily. I pulled up, jumped out of the truck and ran to the door. It was locked. I knocked and knocked and looked in windows. There was not a soul there. I ran around to the back, no one. I was so disappointed I didn’t know what to do. I just wanted someone to help my husband! The sun was starting to go down. I went back to the truck and Cam and I discussed what to do next. He was clear headed by then, he was just in a lot of pain. We had 2 options. We go all the way to Salt Lake and get him to a hospital, or we go back to camp and leave in the morning. We were in Matt’s truck. We were all so sure there was an emergency room in Wendover, that we hadn’t even discussed the plan if there wasn’t. We couldn’t call them and let them know what was going on. I told Cam I could take him to Salt Lake, get him taken care of, take him home, and then drive back to the camp site. Even if it was 5am, I didn’t care. I let Cam make the call. He wanted to just go back to camp and leave in the morning.

It was dark by the time we made it back to camp. Jeff had made a nice fire and Missy was working on dinner. We told them what happened in Wendover. Cam sat by the fire for about an hour, ate some dinner and wanted to go to bed. There was no way he was going to be able to climb up into the bed we usually sleep in. Luckily the kitchen table area turns into a second bed, so I made that up for him. I asked him to try and stay awake as long as he can. I put in a Lord of the Rings movie for him, and watched about the first hour of it with him. He fell asleep about 10 minutes into the movie.

I went back to the fire where everyone else was. I wanted to make sure Mike, who was about 10 at the time was okay. He witnessed the whole thing. Cam’s always been a part of his life and I imagine it would be pretty traumatic to see something like that so young. He was doing okay. He was just really worried about his Uncle Cam. Jeff, Missy, Matt and I stayed up by the fire until about 1am talking. I checked on Cam about every 10 minutes. I finally went to lie down, but didn’t really sleep. I was just so worried and freaked out and every time Cam moved in his sleep he would wake up in pain. I probably got about an hour and a half of sleep in 20 minute intervals.

As soon as the slightest bit of daylight appeared, I got up and put my shoes on. Cam was awake too. I started up the truck and turned the heater on and helped Cam in. It was up to me to get the truck and camper ready to go. I got 3 of the jacks up with some struggle, but the 4th one would not budge. I tried and tried and it wouldn’t budge. Then suddenly this strength came to me that I’ve never felt before. I’ve heard that adrenaline can do some strange things like it gives people super human strength and they can lift cars off of people etc. That is exactly what happened to me. I got the jack up! Then I realized I hadn’t drained the water from our cooler. We have a huge cooler and it still had some ice, a lot of water and food, drinks etc. It usually takes 2 guys to lift it out of our camper. I didn’t have time to drain the water which would only lighten it by a few pounds anyway. Somehow I was able to just pick it up and slide it into the camper. I thought I was going to faint afterward. Jeff still wonders why I didn’t wake him up to help me, I didn’t even think about it that morning. I just wanted to go.

Cam and I hit the road. I actually felt really good knowing my husband was going to be at a hospital in a couple of hours. Cam was still in so much pain and the pain was starting to really wear on him. He was miserable. We couldn’t get to Salt Lake fast enough. We got near Wendover and I checked the gas. We had just over a half a tank. I told Cam we should stop for gas. He said we’d be fine. We’ve done the trip before on one tank. Besides, we got down there on less than half a tank, so we’ll be okay. About 45 minutes out of Wendover I happened to look at the gas gage and it was on less than a quarter of a tank! I couldn’t believe it! We were going to run out of gas! If you’ve done the drive, then you know how screwed we were. I wanted to kick myself for not going with my gut and filling up in Wendover.

Sure enough, we ran out of gas. The truck finally ran out right at the exit sign for The Delles. There is a Sinclair station there. I could see it! It was exactly a mile away. It really sucked that we ran out of gas, but it could have been worse. At least I could actually see a gas station! I told Cam I was going to walk to the station, get some gas and come back. He insisted on coming with me! I told him that was ridiculous! But he insisted. So we started walking. About a quarter mile into the walk a guy pulled over in a very small truck. He asked if we needed help. We asked if he could take us to that Sinclair so we could get some gas. So we squeezed into his little truck cab. For some reason, Cam didn’t want this guy to know he was so injured, so this guy had no idea Cam’s condition. We get to the Sinclair, I borrow a gas can from the store and fill it up. There is a frontage road that runs parallel with the freeway, and the guy said he’d just drive down that until we got to the truck. All we had to do was climb the lovely rusty barbed wire fence between the road and the freeway! He didn’t realize Cam was very injured, and for some, I can only guess not wanting to show any kind of weakness reason, Cam didn’t want him to know. Cam said that was a great idea. The guy did us a big favor and showed an act of kindness by picking us up anyway. So, he drove us down the frontage road and dropped us off where our truck was parked. I helped Cam over the fence the best I possibly could, but it almost killed him to climb over it. He hardly said a word the rest of the way home. The pain was just too much.

We had to stop at home before we went to the hospital. We had our dog, Tosh, with us and had to drop him off. I had to check my insurance papers and make sure we went to a hospital that even accepted our insurance. We were home long enough to drop off Tosh, check on the cats, check insurance information and get Cam out of his jeans and into a pair of shorts. We were there about 15 minutes. I didn’t bother changing I didn’t care what I looked like. (I’ll be sorry for that later I think) Luckily, a hospital just a couple of miles away accepted our insurance. We hopped in my truck, with no camper on it thank God, and went to the hospital.

I got us checked in and luckily there wasn’t much of a wait. We were given a hospital bed in the middle of the hallway, and a nurse took some scissors and cut off Cam’s hoodie and shirt he was wearing and put a hospital gown on him. Then another nurse gave him an IV with Morphine in it. The Morphine barely did a thing. After about an hour, a doctor finally checked on him. And what an ASS this doctor was. When he found out that Cam’s accident happened the day before, he treated us like we were some druggies that waited to come down or something before going to the hospital. He basically accused us of that. It was useless to try to explain why it had taken us so long to get him to a hospital. He didn’t want to hear any of it. I realize we looked like crap. I hadn’t showered in 3 days, we were both dirty, and well, we were people who had been camping for 3 days! But that is no excuse for treating us the way he did. He was angry that he couldn’t put stitches in the cut above Cam’s ear because too much time had passed. In his words, “If you would have gotten him here yesterday like you should have, I could have done stitches. Now all I can do is liquid stitches, and there will be a terrible scar!” (Well Dr. ASS, there is hardly a scar at all!) They discovered a little fluid in Cam’s lung and he was angry about that too. He told me Cam’s lung could have collapsed while we were waiting to get to the hospital. That kind of freaked me out. The doctor actually warmed up to me fairly quickly, and ended up being okay with me. But he treated Cam like some druggie and treated me with the “what are you doing with this type of guy” attitude. That really pissed me off. I can barely get Cam to take an Ibuprofen when he is in pain, and here this doctor is treating him like he is there for the Morphine.

We were at the hospital for about 3 ½ hours. Towards the end, the doctor was nicer to both of us. I think after he saw the x-rays and saw that Cam broke his collar bone, 4 ribs and compressed 3 vertebrae in his back, he realized Cam wasn’t faking anything. They had also taken some blood, which I’m sure they did a toxicology test on. And maybe he saw that results showed that there wasn’t any kind of drug in Cam’s system, legal or illegal. I would love to see the look of surprise and/or humility on the doctor’s face when he saw those results! He wrote a prescription for some Percocet, put a sling on Cam and sent us on our way.

They had cut off the shirts Cam was wearing, so I had to take him home wearing the hospital gown and his shorts. The hospital is on a pretty busy road and I was helping Cam to my truck. I started laughing at how funny we must look. I’m helping this big, bald guy in a hospital gown through the parking lot. It probably looked like I was trying to help some mental patient break out. We both started laughing. The Morphine had finally kicked in and Cam was feeling pretty good. The pharmacy was on the way home, so I dropped it off, took Cam home, then went back and picked up his prescription.

Cam took a shower while I was gone, and was still wearing just a towel when I got home. He didn’t know what to wear. Cam’s a construction worker, he wears t-shirts and long sleeved t-shirts. There was no way he was going to try to get one of those on. (Cam does own some other, nice things to wear for special occasions, but they are all over the head things like sweaters). I suddenly remembered that I had bought him an obnoxious Hawaiian shirt to wear to a golf tournament we had played in the year before. It was button up! I found it and he put it on.

While we were at the hospital I had asked the doctor what Cam should do about sitting and sleep. He couldn’t sit for very long and he couldn’t lie down for very long. The doctor recommended a Lazy-Boy. Well, we didn’t have one of those! I remembered Jeff and Missy had one in their basement that they weren’t using. I called Missy; they were home from the camping trip and were going to come to our house anyway to check on Cam. I asked if we could borrow their Lazy-Boy, of course we could! So they brought that over and we set it up in the living room. As soon as Cam got in the chair, he fell asleep. What a relief! It had been about 36 hours since his accident, and he was finally able to sleep. He looked so cute too. I had purposely bought him a really obnoxious Hawaiian shirt it had pineapples and Ukulele’s on it. Jeff, Missy and I couldn’t help but giggle. I was really so happy my husband was alive, I couldn't stop smiling.

I was worried about the fluid in the lung, so I took Cam to a doctor a couple days later for a follow up. He checked Cam out, and everything was fine. I had brought the Percocet prescription with us, and the doctor couldn’t believe that the hospital doctor had prescribed such a low dosage! Cam was complaining that the pills weren’t doing much. I know nothing about prescription drugs, so I didn’t realize it was a low dosage. He said considering the injuries Cam had, he should have been prescribed 3 times the strength. (Thanks Dr. ASS!) He wrote a new prescription and that worked much better. Cam’s sister’s came to visit the day after we got home and brought a bunch of their dad’s button up shirts for Cam to wear. I took the week off work, (thank you FMLA.) And Cam actually went back to work the next Monday. He couldn’t do much, but he went.

Cam finished the second prescription of pain killers and hasn’t had any since. For a long time certain things still hurt him like sneezing and tying his shoes. But for the most part, he is as good as ever! The funniest thing is a few weeks ago he slipped and fell on some ice at work and he heard a loud crunch! He says he got up and he felt better than he has since the accident! Seems like that fall popped some things in place that should have been popped in place a long time ago!

Sorry if this was the longest most boring blog ever, but I had to do it.

2008 In Memoriam

Cam and I watched a TV show tonight which reminded me that someone whom I had the upmost respect for died this year. And I got to thinking, "I should do a blog remembering the people who died in 2008 that kind of meant something to me." So, here it is. Quite a few people died that I liked, but I narrowed it down to the top 7. Why 7? I don't know, it seems everyone else I just kind of had the same reaction of "Eh, that's too bad". But these seven are the ones that really hit me. And I am listing them from didn't hit me that hard, to hit me the hardest. Here we go:


Paul Newman: I remember watching Cool Hand Luke, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and The Sting with my Dad when I was quite young. I love his crazy blue eyes and the fact that he was married to Joanne Woodward for like 60 years. What a great, rare, Hollywood romance! The Verdict is also one of my favorite movies he's been in. I am also a huge fan of some of his salad dressings and marinades. "I can eat fifty eggs".

Heath Ledger: I first saw him in The Patriot and thought he was really good. Then I saw A Knight's Tale, and thought the movie was lame, but he was pretty good. Then I saw The Brother's Grimm and absolutely loved him and Matt Damon. Then I saw Brokeback Mountain and was totally blown away. I think his portrayal of Ennis in Brokeback was some of the best acting I've ever seen. Then I saw Dark Knight, and was even more blown away. I don't know what else to say. I want to compare his death to James Dean or something, but I think Heath was a better actor. Maybe the comparison is because they both died so young. I'll just end it by saying I think Heath could have had one of those really long Hollywood careers like Newman.
Harvey Korman: What can I say? I grew up with Harvey Korman. I am lucky enough to have grown up with The Carol Burnett Show and got to see first hand the genious of Harvey Korman. Thank you Mom and Dad for being fans of that show and letting your kids watch it too. I will never forget him and Tim Conway making each other laugh on that show. Watching the Carol Burnett Show are some of my favorite childhood memories, and Harvey Korman is such a huge part of that time.

Richard Wright: The original keyboard player of Pink Floyd. Dark Side of the Moon would not exist without him. I remember being like 11 or 12 and seeing his name on my brother Dave's albums, and really hoping he was like a cousin of ours or something. Roger Waters has described him as the backbone of Pink Floyd, so thank you Richard Wright. Pink Floyd wouldn't be who they are without you, and I wouldn't be who I am without Pink Floyd.

George Carlin: Genious. Absolute genious. George Carlin is the funniest standup comedian I've ever heard. In fact, I dislike most standup comedy because it just doesn't compare to Carlin. Over the years I've collected old Carlin LP's. When Cam and I were driving to Vegas once, Cam bought a couple Carlin casettes at that truckstop in Beaver to listen to. I love George Carlin! His comedy is timeless, the stuff he did in the 70's is just as funny now as it ever was. The stuff he did up until he died was as good as it ever was! He is the most serious, funniest man that ever lived!

David Foster Wallace: This is still a hard one for me. I did an entire post on this blog about his death. I think I titled it "Infinite Loss". I am so thankful I was introduced to his writing, because it really changed the way I read. I owe a lot to him and am so thankful he became a part of my life. I will always miss you DFW. You have a place in my heart along with John Lennon, and anyone who knows me knows what that means.

Tim Russert: Yes, out of everyone who died last year, this is the one I miss the most. It was a toss up between him and David Foster Wallace, but I realized Tim Russert is the one I'm the most upset about. I have watched his show "Meet The Press" every Sunday morning for the last 12 years or so. I like to keep up on current events and Tim Russert's Meet the Press has always been the most fair and balanced news/interview shows there is. He actually lets his guest's speak unlike Rush Limbaugh, Bill O'Reilly or Sean Hannity who will actually turn off the microphone when their guest is saying something they disagree with. He was a true journalist who treated everyone the same no matter what side they were on.

I found out Tim Russert died while I was driving home from work. I was listening to NPR and they did a whole segment on him, and his sudden death. I cried the whole way home. Sunday mornings were not going to be the same without him. It was a few months before the election, and I relied so much on his show on having the best information on the candidates. Cam and our friend Andy were at our house when I got home that day. They could both tell I had been crying and they asked what was wrong. I told them "Tim Russert died!" They could both sympothise with me; Andy watched the show most Sunday's himself, and Cam knew I woke up extra early on Sunday's to watch Russert's show.

It was nice that my Tom Brokaw took over Tim Russert's place until the end of the year. For those of you that don't know, I LOVE Tom Brokaw! He is the person that if you were to ask me "what living celebrity would you have dinner with?", my answer would be Tom Brokaw.

And the TV show that reminded me of all this was Jon Stewart's Daily Show. He had David Gregory, the new host of "Meet the Press" as his first guest of 2009. I'm not sure what to think of Mr. Gregory. I hope he has the integrity that Tim Russert had. I doubt it, no one has that kind of integrity.

My husband is such a good sport

This is something we did last year, but I just now got a disc of the pictures. Cam's sister, Kristin, is a photographer. And the first time she came to our house she fell in love with the fireplace we have downstairs. It's a pretty big fireplace and you can actually stand up in it. And for some reason, there is a shelf thing inside it about where the mantle is that comes out about a foot or so.

Every year Kristin makes her own Christmas cards. I love her Christmas cards. She usually has a niece or nephew in them and I'm always excited every year when I open my mailbox and Kristin's card is in there. That day she was at our house she mentioned our fireplace would make a great back drop for that year's Christmas card. Then it was eventually decided that we would have Cam wear their Grandpa's santa suit and she would take pictures of him in the fireplace as if santa had just come down the chimney. I thought the idea was brilliant, but it was July so we weren't going to do anything about it right away.

Cam and I have a woodburning stove that we were planning on hooking up in that fireplace. When it started to get cold we decided it was time to hook up the woodburner. Then I remembered Kristin's Christmas card idea. I called her and told her that we were going to be putting in the woodburner, and if she still wanted to do the card she better do it quick. Once that thing is in the fireplace, it ain't going nowhere. It weighs like 1,000 pounds and takes 4 guys to move it. She was kind of like "I don't know", and I told her she better do it. It was a great idea and it was now or never. She agreed and below are some of the pictures. Cam was so funny! He would hang off the shelf and well, you'll see. If they look kind of plain it's because we decided not to do a bunch of decorations and stuff around it, she could photoshop those in.



This is Cam having fun hanging from the shelf.

We decided to add a bag of toys in some of them. I can't remember what's in the bag. Probably shoeboxes or something.

Cam was a great sport and did all sorts of poses while hanging from the shelf.

This is one of my favorites. It looks like Santa would fall right on his butt when he lands.

I like this one a lot too. Too bad we didn't think of getting some white Santa gloves for Cam to wear. And that is a pillow in the suit, Cam isn't fat.

We added a big old log that was left at the house for more effect.

We decided that Tosh would make a good addition to some of the pictures. He is so cute!

Of course Pedro had to get in on the action. I really like this one, it looks like the animals are excited to see Santa too.

Kristin did some photoshop magic and added some garland and did some cool lighting things with this one. Don't be surprised if this is my Christmas card one of these years.

This is what ended up being Kristin's Christmas card last year.


Thanks for taking these pictures Kris! I'm going to take you up on your offer and have you photoshop some stuff into a few more so I can print and frame them and use them as Christmas decorations!

Did I sleepwalk, or is it just a strange coincidence?

Last night I had a dream that I didn't think of much until about an hour ago. I dreamt that Cam and I were in the South. I think it was Atlanta, and we were staying at a friend's house. I don't know who they are, because we don't have friends in Atlanta. Anyway, they made us stay in their basement. We spent a couple of nights with no problems, then we discovered there were snakes in their basement. At first there were just a couple of small garden type snakes that we picked up and put out the window. We told the couple about them and they just said something like "yeah, welcome to the South, there are snakes everywhere." I didn't mind so much, because snakes don't bother me at all. (spiders on the other hand would have sent me running as far away as I could go).

After a couple of nights dealing with the small, cute snakes, a Black Mamba suddenly came out from under the stairs. Black Mambas are a very deadly snake. Then there were 3 Black Mambas. Cam and I were standing on the bed throwing things at them, then I grabbed a golf club and starting beating them. Cam found some hedge clippers and cut their heads off. Then we left the house and got a hotel room. Then the dream was over. No big deal, just a weird dream about me and Cam killing snakes.

When we woke up, Cam complained he didn't sleep very well because he kept dreaming about work. Cam hates work dreams. I told him I dreamt about me and him killing snakes, and we laughed.

So enough about the dream. In October Cam and I were at our friends Tonie and Anthony's for a barbecue. They have an 18 year old son named Josh who owns a few snakes. He was just about to acquire a couple of pythons that he was planning on breeding. He asked me and Cam if we could "foster" one of his snakes. It is about a 5 foot albino Burmese Python named Big Al. He needed to make some room for his 2 new snakes. All we had to do is provide a space for the snake and make sure he had water. Josh would come over every couple of weeks to feed him. We said that was fine. Josh brought Big Al over a couple of days later.

You probably know where this is heading. So all morning Cam and I have noticed a faint unpleasant smell in our house. We went through the fridge, nothing in there. We emptied the kitchen garbage, that wasn't it. We couldn't figure out what it was. Cam opened the guest room door, the room we keep Al in, and said "I found the smell". Big Al had died. We don't know what happened. I was in there yesterday around noon to make sure he had water, and he was alive and seemed fine! Josh was just here on Wednesday to feed him. He was fine! He wasn't interested in the rat, because his eyes were a bit cloudy, which means he was in the process of shedding. Snakes don't eat when they are shedding. Josh just told me to call him when Al was done shedding and he would bring over another rat.

So Big Al suddenly died sometime between about noon yesterday and 2pm today. And I just happened to have a dream last night that I was killing snakes. Weird!

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

I finished this book over a month ago and am now finally posting about it. I don't know why it has taken me so long, laziness is my best guess. I've decided to finally post it because it's 5am on the day after Thanksgiving, I've come down with a wicked flu and have run out of nighttime flu medicine. So I can't sleep and I want Cam to sleep, and I decided this would be a good time to do this post. Can I just say it blows my mind to think that people are actually out shopping right now?

Sweet! There is a planet of the apes movie on! That makes me feel a little better about being awake at 5am on a day off. It's the one where the mutant ape tries to control the others telepathically. There are some awesomely terrible scenes in this one.


Anyway, I liked this one much more than the first 2 books. I liked the story itself quite a bit. The first two were a bit predictable, so this third one was a nice surprise. This posting will be kind of short because I gave the book back to Emily the day I finished it, so I don't have much of a reference. And Em, I can't find that website you suggested. I think you suggested it on some random comment on the family blog. So I'm strictly going by memory with a little help from wikipedia.

Likes:

Again I really like how awful the Dursley's are. I liked the introduction of Aunt Marge. She was just horrible and obnoxious, I thought she was great. I really liked when she shared her tea with her dog. And I didn't think anyone could be meaner to Harry than his aunt and uncle, but Marge was. I liked it when he inflated her.

I really liked professor Lupin. He was a really likeable character and I liked his character development through the end. I liked finding out that he was a friend of Harry's father and a werewolf.

The Marauder's Map. I thought it was a really cool concept. I liked the scene where Snape grabs it and the map insults him. Lupin says something kind of funny in that scene, but I don't remember what it was. I didn't take very good notes while reading this one. (yes, I take notes).

Hogsmeade. I really like these little secret places that exist, like Daigon Alley. I especially liked the scene when Harry sneaks there in his "invisibility cloak" and messes with Draco Malfroy at the haunted house. Draco deserved it, he's a little jerk.

The flobberworms. I thought it was really funny that after the Hippogriff fiasco, Hagrid made them learn about the boring, lettuce eating flobberworms the rest of the semester. Don't ask me why, it just cracked me up.

And my memory is pretty vague about this one, but there is a character in one of the paintings at Hogsworth that really cracked me up. I think it was a knight on horseback that helps Harry and Ron find a classroom I think. He runs through painting after painting trying to be gallant, and I thought he was pretty funny. Kind of a Monty Python type of character.

I liked Professor Lupin's class when they were learning about the Boggarts. I thought it was pretty funny when one of them, Neville? Imagines Snape in a dress.

And the thing I liked best...The Monster Book of Monsters! I loved it! The idea of a book about monsters being a monster was great. And the idea that all they had to do was scratch the books head or something like that to calm him down cracked me up.

Dislikes:

The Grim. I just thought it was dumb. I hated the name (I'll get to that later), and frankly, it just didn't make that much sense to me. Emily, correct me if I'm wrong. But I just didn't quite grasp the significance of the Grim. I know it was a bad omen when you saw it, that it pretty much meant you were going to die. I think what bothered me the most, was they made such a big deal out of it, but it never seemed that significant to me. Did I miss something?

Professor Trelawney. She bugged the hell out of me. I found her very annoying and overly dramatic. Which I realize she was supposed to be dramatic, but that doesn't mean I have to like it. I liked how Professor McGonagall didn't like her much either.

Hermione is starting to get on my nerves. I liked at first how she was a bit smarter than the boys, but now she is over doing it. I find her to be just an overachieving know it all. She needs to just calm down and be a kid.

Hagrid is also starting to get on my nerves. I'm glad he finally became a professor, but he really needs to get his motions under control.

And the thing I'm disliking most....the names JK Rowling comes up with for things. Sorry Em, I know you have a love for her names, but I pretty much feel the opposite. They've kind of bugged me all along (refer to my posting of the first book and the "put outer"). But Hippogriff was the last straw. It really pissed me off. Tolkien is far superior to coming up with names.

So that's it for the dislikes. Not bad eh? I really did enjoy the book and so far it is my favorite story of the HP series. I guess I should have included this under likes, but I really enjoyed the whole scene in the Shrieking Shack (stupid name). The way the story of Sirius Black and Lupin came out and learning they were friends of Harry's dad. I loved that Ron's pet rat Scabbers (name!), was Pettigrew. It was good to find out why Snape hated Harry so much. I thought the book ended really well and the author did a good job making a lot of little pieces of the book come together.

I'm trying to start the 4th one! I've read the first 2 chapters a couple of times. I'll get on it. And if anyone is new to reading this blog and are wondering why I do these Harry Potter posts. You can totally blame my sister Emily.

The best concert I've ever been to

I'm not exaggerating! Last night's David Byrne concert was the best concert I've ever been to. David Byrne was the lead singer of the Talking Heads in case you didn't know. I've been to a lot of concerts, but last night was absolutely amazing. And we almost missed it! Here's what happened:

A couple of Friday's ago our friend Andy was listening to NPR (National Public Radio), and they were holding their fall drive (asking people to donate). For a $200 donation you could get 2 tickets to the "sold out" David Byrne concert. Andy called Cam immediately and asked if he knew Byrne was coming in concert. Cam had no idea. So Cam came home that day exhausted from the week of work, and a little upset about something. I asked him what was going on and he told me that David Byrne was coming in concert and it was already sold out, unless we donate $200 to NPR.

Cam has been a fan of the Talking Heads since the early 80's, and is still a huge fan. I've always liked them, but since being with Cam I have learned to love them almost as much as he does. We mostly listen to music at night while we are cooking and stuff, and 2 or 3 times a week we put in one of their CD's or watch the DVD Stop Making Sense. We even have a lot of David Byrne's solo stuff that we listen to. So, in my mind if David Byrne was going to be in Utah, my husband was going no matter what it took. Cam has been working so hard this past month or so, his last 2 paychecks each had over 20 hours of overtime, and his next one will too. He was going to that concert!

So I immediately went into action. If we have to donate $200 to NPR, fine! I donate $35 a year anyway to be a member, so what's a little more? Before I did that, I went onto Craig's list to the tickets section to see if anyone was selling them. No one was. Then I decided to find out where he was going to be and just see if, by some miracle, there were some tickets left. I googled it, saw it was at the Eccles theatre in Park City, and went onto their website. On their list of events it said "limited tickets available" next to David Byrnes name. I cliked on buy tickets, told them I wanted 2 and guess what? They came up for sale for $18 each! Eighteen dollars each!!!! I yelled to Cam, who was sulking in the kitchen, to bring me my purse. He came in the office and said "can we still donate the $200 to get the tickets?", I laughed and showed him the screen. He couldn't believe it. He told me Andy and Brenna are going to want to go. I told him I'm not letting go of these 2 tickets, I'll buy these and if they want to go, I'll see if I can get 2 more. So I bought them, Andy said to grab 2 more, so I did. I think we pretty much got the last 4 tickets. Out of curiosity I tried to buy 2 more and it wouldn't let me. It kept telling me there weren't 2 seats together. We decided NPR wasn't lying when they said it was sold out. We think they were giving away the sold out floor seats, our tickets were in the very last row of the balcony. Can I just say, the rest of the evening Cam was giddy as a school girl. He kept making me show him the printout of our ticket purchase. When it very first hit him that he was going to see David Byrne, his eyes actually got watery. I'm not kidding.

Last night was the concert. The Eccles theatre in Park City only holds 1,300 people. So even though we were in the back row of the balcony, it didn't matter! Any seat in that theatre is a good seat. And, get this! The Eccles theatre is attached to Park City High School, it is their auditorium. Park City High has an Eccles theatre as their auditorium! What the bip?

On the drive up we were talking about and anticipating how good the show was going to be. Is David Byrne still energetic and kind of eccentric? Or as he's gotten older has he toned it down a bit? Is he going to play any Talking Heads? We all agreed he probably wouldn't. There seems to be some bad blood with the ex-members of the band, and we weren't sure if he has just completely moved on and just does his solo stuff or what.

So the lights go down on the theatre, and the entire band walks on stage. David Byrne, 2 drummers, a keyboard player, a bass player, and 3 backup singers. All dressed from head to toe in white. I knew it was going to be good. I will just highlight a couple of points, or this will go on forever.

David Byrne has not changed at all. His voice is one of my favorite things about his music, and he sounds as good as ever. He can still belt out those lyrics when he wants to. And the way he moves! I've watched Stop Making Sense probably 100 times, and one thing I love is watching David Byrne move. There are ways he moves his hips and legs that pretty much define him. It was so cool to see him 25 years after SMS came out and see those familiar moves. After the first couple of songs, 3 dancers came out. 2 girls and a guy, all in white. They were great! Their dancing looked like it was not choreographed, but you knew it was! It wasn't that stupid Britney Spears robot dancing. All 3 of them would be doing something different, but then their arms would suddenly do the same thing, or they would all suddenly turn the other way. It's hard to explain.

And true to his style, David Byrne got the entire band in on the dancing, even himself! In one song, the dancers were doing their thing, suddenly Byrne lifts up one leg, and the male dancer dove between his legs and slid across the floor. And they did it so nonchalently. There was another song where the dancers were jumping over eachother once in a while. Kind of in a leap frog way. In the middle of the song, Byrne bent over a little, and one of the dancers leapt over him! And he just kept on singing. It was so cool! In another song, the dancers took the backup singers microphones and started walking slowly backwards. The singers followed them, still singing in the microphones. The dancers lined up the microphones, single file, behind Byrne and the singers sang behind him. Then, during a guitar solo, Byrne started winding his way between them. Then when he got back to singing, the dancers grabbed the microphones, and led each singer to a different part of the stage. Then the singers laid down and the dancers held there microphone stands in the air so they could sing into the microphone, so the rest of the song, the back up singers were on the floor singing! It was awesome! Sorry, this is the longest blog ever. I could go on and on, but I won't. Every song was a new adventure. They did 3 encores, and my husband had the best time of his life.

One more side note, sorry. I went to Wendover last weekend because some friends of mine had tickets to REO Speedwagon. I didn't go to the concert, but I went to Wendover with them for a girls weekend. Cam and I paid $18 for David Byrne tickets, how much were REO SPEEDWAGON tickets? $50 each! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Suckers!

Did he do some Talking Heads songs? Yes he did! Heaven, Slippery People, Once in a Lifetime, Take Me to the River and Burning Down the House! Here's a little playlist of what we experienced last night.

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

I finally finished it! I don't know why it took me so long! It's not that I didn't like it, I just had a hard time finding time to read this last month or so I guess. I'm already about 100 pages into the 3rd one, so that is coming along.

Anyway, I liked the book about as much as I liked the first one. I noticed it is pretty much the same book, just different circumstances (chamber of secrets instead of philosopher's stone). So does this mean all 7 books follow the same formula? I guess most kids books do. Nancy Drew for instance is the exact same book written 75 or so times. I'm not complaining, just wondering. Emily did tell me the series takes a turn in the 3rd book, so I'll just have to see.

Here are the things I liked:

The Dursley's again. I really enjoy how over the top awful the author makes them. Giving Harry a used pair of Uncle Vernon's socks for his birthday, and his cousin Dudley gets like 150 birthday gifts.

The scene where Ron was throwing up slugs. I thought it was gross, but I liked it.

Tom Riddle's diary. I thought it was pretty cool how when Harry finally wrote in it, Tom wrote back. I didn't like so much Harry actually going into the diary and seeing things. I would have liked it better if the author just kept it to writing back.

I liked it when Fawkes, the Phoenix, just suddenly burst into flames in Dumbledore's office.

I'm liking the whole Weasley family more. Especially Mr. Weasley. I like his fascination with Muggle things. I like how they are a family of wizards and witches, but yet, they are so normal! The kids tease eachother, they have chores, they are poor, etc.

The "howler". That is the letter Mrs. Weasley sends Ron that when he opens it, it starts yelling at him. I wish those really existed.

And the thing I liked the most about the book--Gilderoy Lockhart! He is the Ted Baxter of wizards. I just loved him. I loved the colors of robes he wore and his silky hair. I love how much he loves himself and how he assumes everyone loves him and wants his picture and autograph (Ted Baxter). I love how he is really just an idiot who takes credit for things other people do (Ted Baxter). I love how his spells and wand tricks always go wrong and he always has some excuse. I liked how at the end, Harry and Ron find him packing and planning on sneaking away. I just really liked everything about Lockhart. His character alone makes me want to see the movie just so I can see him. I kept trying to come up with what actor I thought would do best in that part. I settled on Kelsey Grammer, but wasn' t exactly satisfied in the choice. I didn't want to know who it was while I was reading, I always like to picture things in my head. When I finished the book, I looked it up on IMDB, and saw it is Kenneth Branagh. I was kind of disappointed at first. He bugs the hell out of me. I really liked the Frankenstein movie he did, but hated, hated, hated the Hamlet he did. He added about an hour at the end that wasn't in the play! You don't mess with Shakespeare! (I better stop now before I really go off.) Anyway, after thinking about it, I do think he was a good choice. Even though I really don't like him, I do think he is a good actor, and I can see him doing good things with Lockhart's character. I was kind of sad at the end of the book when he loses his memory.

Now for the things I didn't really like:

Floo powder. This is the powder they use at the Weasley's to transport themselves to Daigon Alley. That just bugged me and I didn't like it.

Another minor dislike is Moaning Myrtle. I got tired of her sobbing all the time.

De-gnoming the garden. It really is a very minor scene in the book (1 page I think) with no relevance at all to the book as a whole, but nonetheless, I didn't like it.

The line in the book "celebrity is as celebrity does". I think Lockhart says it to Harry. When I read the line I almost threw the book across the room in disgust. The Forest Gump people should sue her.

All of them flying up the drain at the end holding onto the Phoenix's tail. I wish the author could have come up with a better way for them to get out of the chamber.

I didn't particularly like the idea of Ginny being taken over by Voldemort and doing all the attacking. I can see what she was trying to do. I mean it would be way to obvious if it was Draco Malfoy. But I thought using Ginny kind of disrupted the flow of the book. I think if the author wanted to use the last person you'd expect, than Percy would have been a better choice. I don't know, using Ginny just flopped with me. Like how it was Maggie that shot Mr. Burns in the Simpsons, just doesn't work.

And I know this has nothing to do with the book itself, but I hate the artwork on the front covers of these books! It is just terrible. I am not a fan of using a picture from the movie as a book cover, but in this case, I would much prefer a picture of Daniel Radcliff wearing a scarf of bravery rather than these Modigliani-esqe cartoons.

And the thing I disliked the most--The Mandrakes. These are the plants who's roots are little babies that scream and cry. They are used to reverse curses. I feel the whole thing was creepy and I didn't like it one bit. And correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think the author really described exactly how they are used to reverse curses. Anyway, I hated the Mandrakes, and I hope they aren't in the rest of the books. And I think they will scare me more in the movie than the girl in the closet in The Ring scared Catherine and Emily.

There is one thing in the book I'm undecided on whether I liked it or not. And that is Dobby. There were things I liked and things I didn't like about Dobby. At first I liked his self-punishing ways, but after awhile it started to annoy me. I didn't quite understand how he is the one who prevented Harry and Ron from reaching platform 9 and 3/4's. I found the author's explanation somewhat awkward and vague. And I thought it was pretty stupid that the only way to free him was to give him some clothes. So at the end Harry gives him a sock and he's free? Come on! That's just stupid, and doesn't make sense. Shouldn't it be that only his master can free him by giving him clothes? Still, I didn't totally dislike Dobby. I have a feeling he is going to appear in more of the books, I'll have to see if he grows on me more. He is a character that could get a lot stronger now that he is free, I hope the author does that to him.

I am also gaining more of an appreciation for JK Rowling's writing style. I have some criticisms here and there, but there are some aspects to her style I like. As a whole, she is good at creating characters. Snape, Dumbledore, the Weasley twins, the Dursley's, Lockhart and more are good characters. And she has a good way of adding funny, almost intentionally unnoticeable little things to the book. For example, I can't remember the exact scene, but they are in one of their classes. Something happens like someone runs in the classroom or something, and she writes that it happens while "Harry was trying to turn 2 rabbits into slippers". I really like how she just kind of mentions things like that as if it is a perfectly normal thing for Harry to do. It just gives a sense of realness or normalcy to this world she has created. Does that make sense?

Well Em, this time there are more things I disliked than liked. But only by 1. I hope you notice that again most of the things I disliked are pretty insignificant. Especially the cover art. Maybe we shouldn't count that, it has nothing to do with the book. So we will call it even. I did like the book all in all.