Too Cool!!

Wow! I wasn’t sure that anyone other than Jean still checked in here anymore. Imagine my surprise at seeing all of you. Thanks to all of you for your kind and clever words. Jean and Kdzu…..thanks a ton. Almost Candy (love the name) and Goatman (not too sure about that one yet!)…very nice to “meet” you both and thanks.

Now that I think I’ve figured out how to sit at this laptop comfortably for more than a minute or so at a time, I may be able to get back to writing a bit.

Thanksgiving was spent doing the family thing at my eldest sister Colleen’s home. It was really strange not having Michelle there. It’s funny but even though I have a very vocal and loving family, Michelle really wasn’t discussed much at all. I think we’ve all pretty much come to terms with her loss and it’s just too damned painful to talk about it. She’s like the little adorable little elf in the room. (She was too tiny to be the ‘elephant in the room’).

I don’t know when I’ll be able to talk about her without going into a depression but…I have a feeling that it may take a while.

God this sucks.

Well….anyway, we all got through the day, had a pretty good time and ate too much. I went home, watched football and went to bed! Woohoo….party animal huh?

Saturday my beloved University of South Carolina Gamecocks kicked the crap out of our arch enemy, the Clemson Tigers!

The very next day, I ended up back at the ER!

This heart thing is getting to be a pain in the…..well…chest.

Seriously though, nothing short of a heart transplant is going to cure it so…I just have to try and deal with it. My family thinks I’m an idiot but I don’t want a heart transplant and don’t think I’d accept one if I was offered one. It’s probably a moot point anyway due to a few additional health factors.

Between the horror stories I’ve heard about living as a transplant recipient…there is the fact that I honestly can’t stand the way the future is looking. Not for me but for the world. Dear lord it’s looking bleak out there folks. I truly feel sorry for kids who are growing up to face what’s coming in the next few decades. I honestly believe that it’s going to make the Great Depression look like a few months of summer camp in comparison. But…that’s another topic altogether.

I have decided to one thing however….I’m going to live what’s left of my life to the fullest and use this blog to tell a few stories that only a dying man could get away with. I’m serious.

I’ve looked into ways to make money from it but I don’t know if I’m going to be able to swing it so…why the hell not just tell them anyway?

One of them is the story of how I took my revenge on a guy who deserved it if anyone ever did. I’m not proud of it now and have even asked forgiveness from my God for what I did but…that’s the “spiritual” Ron….the “human” Ron still feels satisfied about what I did to that sorry piece of crap. Yep....as a Christian, I have 'issues'.

So….if you feel the urge, check by from time to time and hopefully you will catch a few strange tales from yours truly. I hate typing and haven’t found a voice recognition software program that works for me but…..I’ll give it a shot. My first story however will be a pretty funny one based on a conversation I had just the other day.

Absolutely out of the blue I was reminded of a thing my brother, his best friend Billy and of course, I did to a group of Christian kids called the R.A.’s almost 27 years ago. For those of you who have the misfortune of being born and raised outside the Southern Baptist church….the R.A.’s are the Royal Ambassadors of Christ. Wow….twenty seven years ago….ain’t that a hoot?

I know, I know….sounds like this is leading to something weird but it’s more along the lines of an old time southern ‘rite of passage’ deal. Looking back however, I realize that it could have turned out very different than it actually did but still….it was a pretty wild experience for all of those who were there.

As anyone knows, one of the most notorious southern traditions is called the Snipe Hunt. Hell, I don’t know…..maybe Yankee boys endure a northern version of the snipe hunt but I’m not certain of it.

Anyway, I’m going to write about that incident because not only is it an absolutely true story, it’s somewhat exciting, dangerous and funny at the same time. So….you be the judge.

Truth is that in this day and sensitive climate, we might have ended up as headline news and in jail! Who knows?

It may take awhile but…what the hell?

I’ll be back soon to begin the tale. Good Lord willing and my heart holds out!

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It's Been A Very Long Time...

Yep, it's been a very long time since I've blogged.

I just spoke with my old blog friend Jean in sunny Florida a couple of days ago. As a result, I decided to try logging on and I swear it took me over a half hour of jumping through I-hoops to get to the point where I could make this entry. Not much seems to have changed in the inner workings of it however so....that's a good thing for me. I'm not much of a "change" kind of guy. I was really dreading getting back in to blogger so...that wasn't so bad.

For now, I guess I'm going to try and get back in the blog saddle soon. It's a pretty good way to kill time or vent a little bit. Lord knows it sure has been an incredibly tough couple of years for me. But...I don't know if I want to write about it.

I guess I could write about some of what has taken place but for the most part...I'm still trying to figure it out.

Stuff like the fact that my precious little wife Michelle passed away July 3rd of this year.

I can't begin to tell you how tough it's been living without her. Somehow I simply wasn't prepared for her to be GONE. Man...She’s actually gone. FOREVER. I know, I know....it sounds stupid as hell but I just wasn't ready for it. She fought a ten year battle against an almost invincible cancer and still I wasn't ready for it.

What a dumb ass.

What I do know for sure is that losing her damn near killed me. No exaggeration....I've spent the past few months in and out of hospitals including almost two weeks in intensive care! Dear Lord am I a wuss or what? I lose one little pain in the ass woman and I go all to hell! Who would've thunk it?

My heart almost literally quit on me the week after she passed away. Sounds like a bunch of soap opera meets Oprah/touchy feely horse manure but it's true! It was too overwhelming to believe.

Well, I'm still here and actually seem to be getting much better so....I suppose it's time that I get busy trying to do something besides go to the office and coming back to an empty house. Man....sounds like a line out of a W channel movie of the week don't it?

Anyway......

I hope to be back here real soon,

Ron

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Me And The Rabid Raccoon

We live in the mountains so, we often have to deal with wild animals hanging around our property but recently, I was confronted by a creature that basically 'called me out!'.

For the past few weeks, our little cocker spaniel 'Molly' has been terrified to venture off the deck. It has been a chore simply to make her go outside to relieve herself. She's been making herself miserable holding it as long as possible before she finally conceded to venture into the yard to...well GO.

We knew that a mountain lion had mauled a horse in the valley not three hundred yards from our place a month ago and that several bears had been spotted roaming around but....we had seen no sign of those critters anywhere near our house but....Molly was being spooked by SOMETHING.

We HAD noticed that our heavy duty outdoor trash cans had been disturbed a bit but pretty much unsuccessfully. We could see deep scratches on the lids and sides and once, a can had been toppled over. No small feat really as they are pretty heavy cans.

Well, a couple of nights ago, the little mystery was solved.

Michelle had gone to bed around ten o'clock and I was reading in the living room when Molly came over to my chair and proceeded to stare a hole in me.

Damn I wish we could teach her how to tell us what the hell she wants but....it ain't gonna happen.

So.....after finishing a paragraph, I asked her if she wanted to go outside and she damn near freaked!

She began growling, spinning in circles, whining....I mean...she was really acting weird.

I laughed, headed to the kitchen door as she led the way.

As soon as I touched the door knob, Molly froze and began growling.

Let me explain....Molly is a little wimp. She pees herself when strangers walk on the deck. She's completely house broken until a stranger shows up.

So, you can understand how unnerved I was that Molly The Wonder Wuss was acting like a demon dog from Hell.

Well, something told me to go to my bedroom closet and grab my .22 caliber nine shot revolver. The weather was mild, the moon was bright so I figured that pretty much ANYTHING might be wandering around the house that night. I put on a pair of flip flops....bad move....and went back to the kitchen/deck door. Molly had her nose pressed against the door as I slowly pulled it open. She damn near ran through the screen before I could stop her with a shout. She backed off and I was just about to slide the screen back when I decided to turn on the deck lights. Molly growled and whined....I know....a weird combination but....it's Molly The Wonder Wuss.

Just as I flipped the light switch, Molly went absolutely postal!! She began barking and jumping at the screen door frantically!

I leaned closer to the door and was met by the grin of the biggest frigging raccoon I have EVER seen!

This damned thing was HUGE!

It was bigger than Molly for sure.....she weighs about twenty five or thirty pounds I suppose and the raccoon dwarfed her. The raccoon was the size of a medium sized Labrador AND....it was PISSED!

The damned thing threw itself against the screen door with a low, throaty snarl and I would have sworn that it would rip through the screen. Instead, it bounced back a few feet as Molly went even crazier and regrouped for a second attack.

And attack it did!!

It came screaming toward the door and propelled it's weight into the door AGAIN!!

He bounced back and summoned his strength for ANOTHER attack.

Even though I was inside the house, the noise of Molly going nuts, the sight of this raccoon going all Animal Kingdom on me and the fact that Michelle come flying into roughtthe room was just TOO overwhelming so..........I shot the damned thing....through the closed screen door!

TWICE!!

Folks....I'm here to tell you that I hit that thing dead center....twice with hollow point long rifle pistol shots and all it did was sit back on its haunches and STARE AT ME!

Michelle looked at me and with her normal understated humor said.

“You missed him Matt Dillon.”

I shook my head and laughed.

“Hell no I didn't...I nailed him......I'll be right back. Shut the door.”

I went to my nightstand and grabbed my .357 Magnum.

As I came back into the kitchen, Molly was cowering in the corner and Michelle was looking outside.

“Ron....that thing is HUGE!” she gasped. “What's it doing now?”

I joined her at the door and saw the raccoon standing on its hind legs, pawing at the air and howling!

That's when Michelle noticed the frothy foam on the screen door.

“Honey....that poor thing has rabies!” she said.

Well damn!

“Look, I'm gonna go around the house, come up on the back deck and drill his ass. Keep his attention on this door....flash the light, knock on the glass but keep his attention okay?” I asked.

“Be careful!” she ordered.

I went out the front door and slowly (hell, that's the only speed I have these days!) and slowly made my was around the house until I was within forty feet of the back door area. I thought I was doing pretty good until my right foot sandal caught on a board and I stumbled (I stumble a lot these days). Well....when I stumbled, the giant raccoon turned, looked in my direction and began to creep my way. It moved very slowly like a cat stalking a mouse. I watched it come closer and to be honest....I was VERY nervous!

I had just begun to formulate a strategy when the damned critter started moving pretty fast....straight at me!

I barely had time to swing the large pistol into position.

My first shot from about twenty feet lit up the dark night and sounded like a cannon going off in the calm night. I later found out that the first shot actually blew off the left rear wheel of our BBQ grill!

I fired again.

This shot either grazed the raccoon or startled it because it whirled around in a couple of circles then it did the damnedest thing.

It sat on its haunched for a second, shook its head a couple of times, began making a howling noise and began to slowly walk toward me.

Dear LORD!!

This friggin' thing was possessed!

Robo-Raccoon!!

Well...the third shot was dead solid perfect.

I had never before actually shot a living thing with a .357 magnum before.

It practically RAINED raccoon on my deck.

Without getting TOO graphic....let's just say that it cost me $100.00 to get that raccoon and what was left of it off my back deck!

I didn't want to deal with it, didn't want Michelle messing with it (she would have) nor did I want Molly getting into it so, I hired our valley neighbor Jason to take care of it. Jason will do almost anything if the money is right!

Anyway...such is life in the mountains these days.

See ya'll again soon.

Ron

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