Darwin Awards, Puppies, China, And Long Lost Daughters...

Life is still happening to me, and I am still happening to it. This morning I almost made it on to the Darwin Awards simply because I like my coffee. I was heading into work in the wee hours and as I started to leave in my two-doored Saturn, I realized that I had left my cup of coffee on the roof. Rather than get out and grab it, I tried to open the door and lean out and feel around above my head for the metal cup.

The Saturn has automatic seatbelts that “THWAP” close around you when you get in and close the door. When you open the door, the seatbelt slides along its track toward the front of the car and out of your way.

SO THERE I WAS, my head and one arm sticking out of the open door, and the seatbelt slid forward and trapped my one arm and my head forward, as well. I couldn’t make it let go of me unless I closed the door, but to do that, I had to get my head and arm out of the way.

“And this is how the world ends”, I thought. “Not with a bang, but a whimper.”

My sister first owned this car and I remember the first ride I ever took in it. She kept talking about how the car had a “man catcher” and I kept wondering what the bejesus she was talking about. I got in the car and “THWAP!” the seatbelt snapped around me.

“See! A man catcher!!”

And this morning I was really, truly caught.



Yesterday morning on my way to work, in the middle of a true “back-road”, there was this little puppy sitting in the middle of the road all full of burrs and wet fur from running around in the wet grass. He was nowhere near any houses, and he was very young without a collar. I pulled up and scooped him out of the road and took him to work with me and brought him home and let him pee on my carpet and sleep in my bed, and both this morning and this afternoon I looked for any signs out there in the world that someone ws missing him.

I fear he was “dumped”, and can’t believe anybody is that ugly.

I call him “Waldo” and he comes to “Where’s Waldo?” already. He has a thing for my fuzzy Oregonian boots. He doesn’t care for me, but he follows my boots around like they were his Momma and his Poppa.

My first name for him was “Notmydog!” and I still think I need to find his parents or a home for him. He is very smart for a puppy and well-behaved and happy and friendly. Anybody want a little spotted boy dog?

*****SIGH***** I’m not ready to take on a puppy and all the responsibility of teaching him what not to chew up and where not to poop and pee…

Some days I think Carpentry is beneath me. I mean, I think I could be doing more with my brain. Then I have a “Doh!” moment and realize the incredible diversity and sophistication of the people I encounter while working.

The guy we are building a radio shack for is a helicopter pilot. He flies during fires and does some logging operations and construction projects, as well. He just got back from China where his company is being asked to provide choppers and pilots to teach the Chinese how to operate without killing themselves. I spent lunch today feeding Waldo meat scraps and chatting about our various experiences in mainland China.

The guy who hires me got a phone call the other night that woke him up.

“Hello.”

“Is this Bruce D.?”
“Yes.”

“This may sound really strange and out of the blue, but I think you are my father.”

“No shit…??”

And so it went. Bruce had a daughter when he was in college with a young hippy girl in LA. The baby was born at home and so there never was any birth certificate issued. The mother and the girl left Bruce (Mum was flaky) and now, 31 years later, Bruce has a daughter and a son-in-law and grandkids.

He was very happy about the whole thing.

20 years ago, he had tried and failed to find her himself.

This was a google moment, to be sure.