Then the rains came! (Or What a Difference a Day Makes!)

Den of the Beastly Bear

Hi Folks!

So there we were in Vegas, our first "out of town" vacation since we got married.

Our first night we saw Siegfried & Roy, thanks to Paige and Pat. The next day was the big wedding day. Thursday we had all to ourselves to explore Vegas before flying out on Friday.

We didn't have a lot we wanted to do. Walk the strip, watch the fountains....and because I am a Star Trek geek I wanted to do "The Star Trek Experience" at the Vegas Hilton.

We got an early start, bopped down to the lobby and asked the concierge about times and travel. She gave us the rundown, suggesting the free shuttle to the strip and catching a cab later to the Hilton.

"But you really shouldn't leave the hotel..." She said.

"Why not?" I asked perplexed.

"Well there's a flash flood advisory today!"

"Flash flood? We're in the desert!" I told her assuredly "Besides we get flash flood advisories at home all the time..."

She looked at me quizzically "Where are you from?!?"

"Michigan" I replied as we waved goodbye and set off on our adventure.

Per her instructions we hopped the free shuttle to the strip downtown. 

As we stood getting our bearings and deciding how we were going to attack Vegas in such a way as to see as much as possible, when the first raindrops began to fall.

Just a few drops, certainly nothing to prevent us walking the strip.

As we were standing in front of a souvenir shop, I popped in and bought a $3 sun visor to keep the rain off my glasses.

So we set off...

We had gone no more than a block when the sky opened up! Not a torrential downpour mind you, but a good hard Midwest summer rain shower.

Laughing at our luck we dashed into the lobby of some little hotel on the strip, it's name escapes me now.
We decided that we'd flip our plans, and go see the Star Trek Experience first. Let the rain run it's course and then come back and walk the strip, I mean how long could it last? It's Vegas BABY!!!

We called for a cab, and sat down to wait.

As we were waiting we couldn't help but notice how people were acting. Locals would come to the doors, look up at the sky in wonder, shake their heads and walk away with an "end of days" look on their faces.

Finally curiosity got the better of me...

"What's up? You guys act like you've never seen rain before!"

"Not like this!" the counter man said.

"Rains like this about once a week in Michigan." I told him.

"Well take it back to Michigan with you," he said "we're not used to it!"

Took about 40 mins. for our cab to arrive as they had suddenly became VERY busy!

We got to the Hilton and made our way to the Star Trek Experience. This took a couple hours to go through...then drinks at Quark's bar, even got the souvenir glasses from our Romulan Ale! Lol



So, all told about 3 hours since it had started to rain.
What we had no way of knowing was that while we immersed ourselves in intergalactic space travel, a full 4 inches of rain had fallen.

That in itself would be bad enough, but as was later explained to us Las Vegas sits at the bottom of a big rock bowl! Therefore everything that falls in the mountains around Vegas, flows downhill INTO Vegas! Hours after the initial rainfall, the waters continue to raise. This combined with the lack of storm drains meant that flash floods are serious business in Vegas!

The Hilton had sandbags set up at the front doors. At the time this seemed excessive seeing that it set up on a about a 10 foot high raised plateau.

When our cab arrived, our cabbie informed us we were lucky to get a cab. Dispatch had just stopped taking runs and was advising all their cabs to seek high ground!
HOLY CRAP!

On our way back to the Rió we couldn't believe how bad the flooding was already! At certain points the water was 3-4 foot deep!!! Our cabbie told us he'd lived in Vegas for 35 yrs. and had NEVER seen anything like this!!!

The Rió Suites Hotel just happened to be high ground, so our cabbie was more than happy to take us there!

Once back in our room we turned on the TV and watched the mayhem unfold, happy to be safe and dry. Paige and Pat had made it back much earlier than us so we were glad they too were safe.

At one point the waters were so high, there was an overpass near the hotel marked 14' 8" with 3 foot concrete barriers along the top. Water was flowing OVER those barriers!!!

We watched transfixed, as the waters overflowed the flood canals. Eroded the banks and sent hapless mobile homes downstream to be torn apart by the fury of the rapids.

We didn't realize we were making National news until Kathy's Boss Bob and his wife Cheryl called us from home. They were watching Princess Bear for us, and were hoping it wouldn't become a full time thing!!! Lol

Clip from the Today show the next day.


  So we remained trapped at our hotel until we headed to the airport the next day! The strip? Shut down, every casino flooded. By luck the airport was completely spared.

And people wonder why we don't travel much! 

You know you have bad luck when the place you visit experiences a "100 year" event as the News called it. We couldn't even say "It was hot, but it was a dry heat!" Lol

Only we could cause it to rain in the desert!!!

Well folks, there you have my final post of 2014.
Number 153!
I started with high hopes of doing a daily blog, over optimistic to be sure as I notice it's been 2 months since my last post. More like every OTHER day...on average.

To those of you that have read these, and maybe shared them with your friends I say a heartfelt "Thank you"!!!

I hope I've made you laugh a time or two, or at least entertained/informed you! 

Be Well Folks, and Best Wishes for 2015!!!

As Always,

Your Beastly Bear

For Sam...

Den of the Beastly Bear

Hi Folks!

Still with me...?
Well, that's what I get for not posting a new blog in almost a week....last post received only ⅓ of normal page views!

So those of you that have hung in there with me, thank you!

It's gonna be a hot and muggy one today...and tomorrow it's the first of July.

I have a thousand great memories surrounding the first week of July. From the annual 2 week shutdown at work as an adult (not getting one this year, launch of our new truck is going too well!). To picnics and Birthdays of friends and family. Vacations taken as a child.

But they are always tempered with sadness...

My parents divorced when I was 9, and Mom quickly remarried. The guy she married was a journeyman welder for General Motors, and an ordained Baptist Minister (more about him at a later date). He had a dog named Sam.

Sam was half beagle, half basset hound. Sam was, like all our dogs an "inside" dog. He did however have a doghouse my stepfather had built for him. It was a very nice doghouse. Shingled and insulated, fresh straw on the floor. He had even taken a Maxwell house coffee can, drilled some holes in it and used tin snips to cut petals on the upper lip so he could attach it over a 100 watt incandescent light bulb to provide heat in the winter. It had 50-60 ft. chain to attach to his collar. Strategically placed in the middle of the yard so that he could enjoy the shade of the trees but not get his chain caught on one.

Sam was my buddy! We did everything together, you know "a boy and his dog". I taught him new tricks, and we'd walk the fields near our house and run rabbits...and flush pheasants!
Though he would give me a disapproving look for not shooting them!

We had a fenced in yard, and if we were home Sam was fine. But Sam was a fence climber! Hence the reason for the doghouse...
If, as a family we were going to be gone more than 8 hrs. Sam was put outside and chained to his doghouse with a big bowl of fresh water.

One fourth of July we took a day trip to a drive through safari park in Canada. Step Dad had busied himself doing chores the first few days of vacation. Cleaning the pool, mowing the lawn, trimming the hedges...so the rest of the week was rest and relax.

We were going to be gone around 14 hrs., so we fed Sam before we left....put out two big bowls of water close to the doghouse so he wouldn't knock them over, and clipped Sam to his chain.

We had a great day!!! Loved seeing all the animals!
But it had been a long hot July day.

We got home after dark, first thing I did was run out back to let my buddy in.

As I ran outside, excited to see Sam and give him a hug...I anticipated the tongue bath I was about to receive. Normally Sam would be straining against his chain in an effort to get to me...he wasn't.

He was laying on his side next to a tree...when I called him he didn't move. I ran out to him, and that's when I saw it. 

We didn't have "weed whips" back then, so rather than get out the scissor shears to cut the grass around the doghouse, step Dad would move it to mow the grass then put it back. Except this time he didn't.

When I got to Sam I saw that his chain was wrapped around the trunk of the tree...holding him there.
He didn' even raise his head when I got to him, not a wag of the tail, no recognition at all.
All he did was stare into space and pant...

The water bowls were full, he must have got tangled up shortly after we left.

I unhooked his chain, but he was too big for me to carry. 

"DAD," I yelled "COME QUICK...SOMETHINGS WRONG WITH SAM!!!!"

He ran out of the house, took in the scene and scooped Sam up in his arms...

"Get all the ice cube trays and bring them up to the tub," he told me. "we have to cool him down!"

I was fast on his heels as he carried Sam upstairs, my sisters didn't know what was going on...but knew it was something bad, and started to cry. Mom joined us in the bathroom as we filled the tub with cool water and ice cubes.

We held his head up as the water rose, still senseless...instinct kicked in and his paws weakly moved trying to swim, as we laddled the cool water over him.

At that point Sam lost control of his bowels...and horror of horrors, part of his intestines came out as well.

"Call the Vet," he told my Mom. "Have him meet us, it's an Emergency!"

I stayed with Sam, pouring water on him until Mom came back.

"He can be there in 10 mins." Mom reported.

Step Dad picked Sam up out of the tub.

"You stay with your sisters..." he said to me.

"I wanna come," I whined "he's my dog..."

"I need you to stay here, and be the man of the house while we get Sam some help!" He told me.

"He's gonna be OK, right?!?" I asked hopefully.

"I don't know..." And then they were gone.

I don't know how long they were gone, it seemed like forever to my young mind.

When they got home, the girls were already asleep...I couldn't, I had to know.

They were both in tears when they came in, with Sam's collar in their hand...and I knew he was gone.

He died while the Veterinarian was examining him...extreme heat stroke. The Vet marveled that he had lasted as long as he had, like he waited for us to come home before he left.

The tears still fall as I write this...a cautionary tale!

Please, please, please do not leave your animals outside in this heat!!! Their safety is our responsibility!

Never again did we chain a pet, Step Dad sold the dog house...lesson learned too late for Sam, let it not be so for you.

I hope he forgives us, for we can not forgive ourselves!

Be Well Folks!

Beastly Bear

Surprise...

Den of the Beastly Bear

Hi Folks!

Back in '86 Kathy and I had been dating for months.

I got it in my head that we should go on a vacation together. Now I hadn't been on a lot of vacations in my life...it was work, work, work!

One memorable trip from my childhood involved my family driving to Florida when I was 5. 

A big part of what I remembered was stopping at Rock City/Lookout Mountain in Georgia. I had also wanted to see Mammoth Caves in Kentucky.

So I asked her if she'd like to take about a 7-10 day trip down south with me? She said she'd never been and would love to!

So a date was set, put in for the time off...and off we went! We didn't stay more than a day anywhere...seeing one attraction, driving to the next getting a hotel room near our next stop, and repeat.

In retrospect, we tried to do too much. We should have just picked a destination, driven there and enjoyed!

But we were both new to this vacationing as grownups thing, so what did we know?

We saw Nashville, and some of the museums there. Chattanooga, Mammoth Caves, Rock City, Lookout Mountain, the Blue Ridge Mountains...you name it!!!

One of the ways that we saved money was we took a big cooler and put it in the back seat of Kathy's Sunbird, and kept it full of ice, Pepsi, cold cuts, cheese, fruits anything that traveled easy. So during the day we snacked out of our cooler, at night we went out for dinner.

By the end of our trip, we were about out of cash so we made one last trip to the store to grab some stuff for the 14 hr. drive home. Including a favorite of both of ours, good old Ding Dongs!!! Now depending where you live in the country you may know them as King Dons, Big Wheels or Ding Dongs.

Anyway who didn't love those foil wrapped, cream filled, chocolate covered, chocolate cakes?!?

And COLD??? Get out!!!

So we stocked up, fueled up and headed home.
Being Sept.,it was WARM...even in the car with the air on. We left around 5 in the afternoon, planning to drive all night to get home and have a day off before going back to work.

I did all the driving...as I drove for a living, I didn't mind. Kathy tried to stay awake, but about 1:30-2am she nodded off.

I was driving along, jamming to a Billy Joel cassette when I thought "I'll grab a pop" reaching back into the cooler, the first thing my hand hit was a Ding Dong.
"Oooh, cold Ding Dong! I'll grab one of those too!"

So I opened my Pepsi took a big sip...ahhh refreshing.

I unwrapped the foil from my Ding Dong....man I couldn't wait. I took a big bite and....OH MY GOD, WHAT THE HELL?!? When I broke through the chocolate shell, my mouth was filled with ice cold chocolate mud!!! The chocolate shell did not cover the cake 100%, and the foil was not waterproof so when the ice melted to water, the Ding Dong absorbed it turning the cake to ice cold goo, while making the cream filling rock hard!!!

Folks, I've got a strong stomach...but the sudden and unexpected splash of goo into my mouth....I almost lost it!!! Gagging I rolled down the window and chucked the nasty thing out.

Around about 3:30 Kathy woke up, asked what state we were in, and turned to grab herself a Pepsi. As she settled back in her seat I noticed she had grabbed a Ding Dong as well....

"You get a Ding Dong?" I asked
"Yeah, they're good and cold!!!" She said "You want one?"
"Naw, I had one earlier..."

Yes, I should have warned her...I know it...but there was a chance the one she grabbed had not been sitting in water like mine. HEY, it' possible!!!

She unwrapped half the foil...being a dainty girl, and took a big bite!

Her eyes widened to the size of saucers, a look of horror covered her face, and the gagging began.

I of course found this just hilariously funny, and was laughing my ass off as she spit what was in her mouth back into the foil and pitched the whole thing out the window...geez I had at least swallowed mine!

"Why...UGH...didn't you...UGH...warn me???"

In between laughs I tried to answer...
"Haha...Surprise...bwahaha...!"

"God...UGH...you're such...UGH...an asshole!"

To this day, all I have to say is "Cold Ding Dong!" and she'll gag again!

Hope your surprises are better than that one!

Be Well!

Beastly Bear