Kevin was due to get discharged this afternoon so I took the dogs out to Hunter Canyon for a quick romp. A small shooting party had gathered near our usual turn-around place so I went toward the old silver mine to get out of the way. I always find a few goodies there without breaking any rocks open. I made sure I kept within cell phone reception the entire time.
Weather was warm and calm. Hard to believe a Monster of a Storm is due later tonight, a storm that could bring potential damage to coastal California and floodings here. It's actually a combination of storms, a 1-2-3 combo that will keep us wet the rest of the week. Some of the nearby dirt roads may get flooded and some trees uprooted, but our immediate area should be OK. It's the driving to and fro I won't like much.
I joined Kevin at the hospital after the short walk. His Mexican roommate, Juantel, is so severely dehydrated with internal injuries that the agent told us he would spend another night in bed. A new agent was standing guard when I came by, a young blond man from California who loves to hike.
"If I hadn't been called in today I would have been hiking around Parker Canyon Lake" he told us. He's been at the Sonoita station for seven months and has lost 15 pounds hiking the back roads chasing after hikers, he added, and Parker Canyon lake is a new through-area for smugglers and trespassers. He hikes the mountains everyday.
We exchanged a few good California hikes. We both have bagged Half Dome in Yosemite, with its 500' vertical climb. "That hike to this day was the most butt-kicking hike I've ever done!" I admitted. It was one of my last California hikes before leaving California in 2000. The elevation and terrain alone took ten hours to complete, and wore me out so much that on the way down I found me a warm boulder and napped near the stream for a few hours before resuming my hike back to my pick-up. Big Sur was my stomping ground during my California days. Talking to him made me want to add Mount Tam (north of San Francisco) during my Oregon venture this summer.
Sitting in the hospital guarding Juantel was therefore agony for him. "I don't know how the other agents like sitting here all day!" The only magazine he had to read was an old Vogue magazine, something that even I don't read.
At one point Kevin used the bathroom and stunk up the place so badly that the agent got up to close the bathroom door. The smell wouldn't disipate, so the agent politely left for a while. "Must be the vitamin pills" said Kevin with a sarcastic smile. Fifteen minutes later the bathroom still smelled badly, and the agent made sure the bathroom door remained closed. The poor guy at least had a good sense of humor about the silent gas attack, and so did Kevin. The agent used that opportunity to walk around the hospital ward.
But what about Juantel? "He's unconscious again!" I retorted. Indeed the poor guy didn't look much better than he did yesterday when he was brought in. He lay in a fetal position in bed the entire time we were there.
By 2pm we were finally out of the hospital. Our first stop was at the medical supply place to get Kevin's glucometer. We were home an hour later as the wind began to pick up. Once home, I felt fatigue overtake me, after three days of sleepless nights.
We are now under severe thunderstorm watch although for right now the sky looks OK; it's evenly grey across the sky.
It's back to work for me tomorrow. Heavy rain is due here by then, and if driving conditions get too bad, I'll just stay in town until my second class is over. For now, I'm glad I have Kevin back, who's taking his new health care quite seriously. He made a low-salt soup for dinner. Since I've never liked salty dinners anyway (sometimes his soups were too salty for me) I had to tell him that this soup was much better than the soups he had made before.
He's even talking about joining me on a few hikes soon. He may join me for that 30 January hike around Parker Canyon Lake. It's an easy 5-mile loop hike. My interest would be in looking for nesting bald eagles; a few nest there ever winter on the north shore.
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