The BEAR Encounter!

Last year on September 28th Hank took me for a hike. When we finally reached the top, of what we now call "Ring Ridge" he asked me to marry him. This year we decided to celebrate this anniversary by retracing our footsteps from the previous year. We stopped in all the same places, took pictures and video footage in all the same places. However, there was one big difference. As we turned a corner about three fourths of the way to the top Hank stopped dead in his tracks, swung his 7MM off his shoulder into shooting position and said "Holy **** there's a bear. I'm not even kidding there is a bear!" I was just rounding the corner and sure enough right in front of us at about 50 yards was a black bear starring straight at us. I imagine that in the next few moments Hank and I and the bear were all experiencing similar thoughts. We were wondering do we shoot him, or do we turn around and run. The bear seemed to be thinking...do I try to eat them, or do I turn around and run.


About a minute into our standoff the bear began growling, grunting and clacking his teeth at us. Hank was ready to shoot if the bear made one wrong move, but we weren't entirely sure if the bear was legal. We could tell it was a young smaller bear but we didn't know if it was a cub or a sow with cubs (both of which are illegal too shoot). Even though it wasn't a massive bear and Hank could have killed it at any moment... I was scared. Big or small a bear is a bear and where there is one bear there could be two, or three, or a whole colony of bears. (This resulted in the somewhat blurry pictures...I was shaking).

After about two minutes, the bear chose to run and we chose not to shoot. Hank battled with his choice the rest of the day, wondering if he just should of shot the dang thing. I really hope the bear did not spend the rest of his day contemplating if he should have come after us! I guess we were all lucky to make it out in one piece!

The life and death of Sanchez...the mustache

This picture documents about day 2 of little Sanchez's life. Who is Sanchez? Well, it's Hank's mustache. Why...I'm not quite sure, but Hank proudly informed me that he was naming his mustache Sanchez. I am not the biggest fan of facial hair, but he is my husband and to keep the peace I chose not to veto the mustache... or Sanchez I mean.

About a month into Sanchez's life, I was not a very happy camper. I'm not sure why, but I am a woman and retain the right to be moody every once and a while, right? I CHOSE to feel neglected, unappreciated, and unnoticed. (This is not even remotely true. Hank makes me feel the exact opposite, but I was in one of those moods where I just wanted to be mad.) So like any mature woman, in order to make my point, I decided to avoid my husband. After a couple of days, my hormones must have shut off, and I realized I was being ridiculous.

So...back to Sanchez. After my grumpy episode, Hank finally broke down and asked me if I noticed that he had shaved his mustache. I hadn't. He had waited two days to see if I'd notice. I didn't. Sanchez was gone. I was too busy being wrapped up in the idea that he didn't pay attention to me that I forgot to pay attention to him.

So it seems, that next time I find myself in a negative funk all I need to do is remember little Sanchez, and realize that even though life can be a little stressful at times it is beautiful and wonderful. The story of Sanchez reminded me that life is what we make of it, so instead of looking for (or even making up) things to make us miserable, we should look for and appreciate all of our fortunes and blessings!

When my charity attempt BACKFIRED!

So it all began in the wal-mart parking lot. Low and behold as I drove past the wal mart parking lot, a skinny, little, old, dirty, sad lookin man stood holding a cardboard sign that merely said "PLEASE HELP ME." Needless to say I knew that if I did not do something for him I would not be able to stop thinking about what I could have done for him. So I decided to buy him some food. I hurried about...well as fast as you can in wal-mart...and left the store complete with enough groceries for the sidewalk stander to last a couple of days. As I was unloading my groceries, I noticed a woman standing behind me. I turned around to see a women who was probably in her mid forties. It didn't take me long to realize that she wasn't all there, or as some may say she was a few cards short of a full deck.. or maybe missing about half. She asked if she could get a ride to the other side of town. She then began ranting about something and everything. I tried to see if there was anyone I could call for her. This began another rant filled answer. The entire time I was trying to figure out what I should do. I knew that I wanted to help her, but I also knew it could be a potentially scarry situation. After about five minutes, I told her I was so sorry but I was on my to class and couldn't take her home. I got in my car still asking myself if I had made the right desicion. It gets worse, by the time I got back to where the man was...he was gone. I made a couple loops but could not find him. So while trying to help someone out, I ended up turning someone away, not helping the man, and feeling worse than if I would have kept driving. That's about my luck I guess. Did I do the right thing, should I have taken the "crazy" lady home? I don't know, what do ya'll think?