Boomer and I spent more than four hours at Chatfield State Park today.
We hiked through massive cottonwood stands, were serenaded by nearly 100 crows, walked out onto the frozen reservoir, and climbed over dead trees and logs to see where Plum Creek enters the man-made lake.
Here are two of my favorite pictures of our day.
(Click on image to enlarge.)
Story time, boys and girls. Put another log on the fire, grab a cup of coffee, and pull up a chair.
This Thursday past was pretty eventful. It started with an assassination attempt, and ended with my beloved Sooners unable to achieve their goal.
As per my normal routine, I went to the local 24HR Fitness gym at 4:45am, got changed, and went into the indoor pool area.
I should have noticed something was amiss when I saw that the doors from both the men and women locker rooms were propped open with kick boards.
As I was walking to the opposite end of the pool, I noticed my eyes stinging a bit. That happens from time to time. I attributed this to maybe some high chlorine content.
So I jump in the pool, put my earplugs in (hate getting water in my ears,) put my goggles on, and started on my way to what was supposed to be a 1750 yard workout.
During the second or third 25 yard length, I started coughing. After 125 yards, it was getting ridiculous – I was coughing with every stroke. I was starting to feel bad, kind of like was getting a winter cold or something. Breathing was a chore. I stopped at the end of 175 yards, hung on the side of the pool, and coughed, spit and hacked. What in the world was going on? I swam back to the other end of the pool, pulled off my goggles and though, great, I’m not going to finish this workout, and I’m going to have a stupid cold for days.
I got out of the pool and staggered over to the bench where I’d left my towel. I got a big drink of water and noticed I was still having a real difficult time breathing. I was still coughing too. What the @!$#.
I’m not about to let this sudden onset of respiratory trauma keep me from my second favorite gym activity – sitting in the steam room. So I go in, and struggle just to sit there and wheeze for 10 minutes. I can’t stop thinking that it is a real drag to be sick, and that I just have to feel better.
I had a double-length shower, just letting the water fall over me.
When I get into the locker area, one of the guys that I’ve noticed swimming on other days takes a look at me and asks, did you swim? I told him I could only do 200 yards and couldn’t stop coughing. He said that there was a serious problem, that he could only do 25 yards, and went and told the staff that they should shut down the pool until someone could see what was going on.
Aha! It wasn’t a cold. That’s good. But even worse, it was some form of chemical poisoning – chlorine or other. What do I do about that? At that point I figured it would just go away as I drank lots of water and breathed fresh air.
I went to work and got there at about 6:00 – earlier than normal because of the shortened swim – and looked up “chlorine poisoning” on-line. The search returned this link. From this information, I determined that this was a likely case for me, and that I wasn’t in the severe category, but definitely serious.
I went to a meeting at 6:45. At 7:00 I was back in my office and I was still struggling to breath deeply, and any attempt to talk triggered another coughing fit.
I’d seen the phone number for the National Poison Control Center on the previously reference website, looked at my watch and decided to give them a call. Patrice, the RN who answered the call and listened to my story, gave me strong advice to leave work, take a 15 minute, extremely hot and steamy shower, followed by being outside to breath fresh air for at least 45 minutes. She took my number and said she’d call back in a couple of hours. I called Tami, let my boss know what was going on, and left work at about 7:30. By now, I had a wicked headache too.
I followed Patrice’s instructions. Meanwhile, I’d given the gym a call and let them know that they had a serious problem. The person on the other end of the line didn’t give me any confidence that they would take care of the problem. I told Tami this and boy, did she spring into action.
Tami called the Littleton Fire Department’s Hazmat Chief, and the Tri-County Health Department. Both agencies swooped down upon the gym with full vengeance.
In three to four hours time – about 11:00 – I started to feel better, but still shallow breathing. Patrice called back. She thought I was out of danger, and told me it would be a week to 10 days before I was back to normal. She said if I developed wheezing symptoms, or tightness in my chest, to go the the Emergency Room straight away.
I’m glad that Tami worked over Littleton Hazmat, Tri-County Health Dept., and 24Hr fitness. Due to her persistence, she discovered that a weeks worth of muriatic acid (pretty interesting history; pickling steel?) was released into the pool by a faulty monitor / regulator (Facilities Risk Management, anyone?)
The authorities made 24 HR drain the pool, and will enforce a requirement that it must be monitored by a human for about a month once it is restored to its proper pH levels.
I spend the rest of the day in and out of the backyard trying to breathe as much fresh air as possible. I was still having bouts of coughing fits, and talking was still a chore.
24Hour is very sorry that this happened and is taking the appropriate actions to correct the problem. I’m sort of worried that they might have red-flagged my membership, and all their associates are on the look out for the guy who narc’d on them and got them fined.
I told Tami that I’d like to go swimming tomorrow (Friday.) Tami said NO! She says that if anyone sees me swimming before his week of healing is up, to call her immediately. Guess I’ll have a whole new set of problems to deal with.
My Thursday really didn’t get any better. It was the BCS Championship game that evening, and Oklahoma was facing Florida. I think you all might know the outcome. I hope this day isn’t an indication of how 2009 will be for me.
Some good did occur Thursday.
I talked to Dad several times – which is always great.
We had a pre-game meal from Wingman. I love buffalo wings.
I learned to make and enjoy the James Bond Vesper Martini (for future reference, please limit intake to one.)
And we had a full house of Sooner fans – Me, Tami, Brit, Daner, Manda, Howie (he had my OU key chain in his pocket) Becca, Andrew and Boomer.
Today, Saturday the 10th, I’m still not 100% and it seems that Patrice was right – it will be a week to 10 days before I’m back to normal. I’m skipping the exercise routines for a few days – breathing and coughing would make this somewhat prohibitive anyway. Plus, I’m still a little sore from all the coughing on Thursday.
I’m alive, and that’s what’s important.
You might know that I have a particularly strong dislike for LSU football. If you didn’t know, here’s your introduction: I hate LSU football.
They recently displayed yet another example of just exactly why I don’t like them in the Chick-fil-A Bowl. LSU (8-5) was playing Georgia Tech (9-4.)
The following incidents occurred in the 4th quarter.
Leading 38-3, with 9:37 left in the game, LSU ran a fake punt.
Still leading 38-3 and less than 8 minutes left, LSU’s STARTING QB was throwing deep.
Still leading 38-3 and less than a minute left in the game, LSU’s STARTING QB was still in the game.
You’re a real class act, LSU.
Oh, and Happy New Year everyone.
