Heart Condition Part X

Heart Condition Part X

6/12/12

By the time Bonnie and I’s short conversation in the van and our even shorter walk inside the house was completed we entered into the house and noticed a string of clothes leading towards the girls’ room.  Screams of excitement rang out from the back of the house which at that time we noticed Bear slowly making his way down the hall towards the back door. He gave us his famous disgusted look, the one where he was asleep and was rudely awakened by little feet, as he passed us jumping down the one step as he left the house.

Now, Bear was a very good dog and was a wonderful companion to me for many years.  He was mine when Bonnie and I got married and he loved Tatem as well.  The girls liked to dress Bear up on occasion, putting him in dolls clothing, hats, shoes and other girly outfits.  Bear was patient and kind and allowed this sort of activity to take place without any complaining whatsoever.  However, when Tigger arrived and the girls shifted their dressing up sessions to him, Bear had found peace on earth at last.

Bear was a typical pet in the fact that you could not say certain words or phrases or get food out, etc without causing his heart rate to jump ten-fold and the word mountains was one of those words that once you said it you had better make a trip to them or it was pouting city for the next few hours.  And when he was passing us by in the hall, that time proved not to be the right moment since we had a bit before we left.  WE closed the back door and began to make our way towards our bedroom so that we could change, picking up clothes as we got closer to the room.  The girls came out of their room already to go even with shoes on the correct feet; however, as you know there has to be an inspection of them before any outside trip or activity is allowed.  So, since Tatem was the first one ready of the “older” people she had the first inspection of the girls.

After a few squabbles of attire checking Tatem yelled through the door that the girls looked fine and that she was headed to the back bathroom for a bit.  Bonnie returned the voice by telling Tatem to make sure that the girls went too, if she got out before we finished changing.  Bonnie then stopped and took a hard look at me for a few moments.  I was bending over to take off my pants and did not notice her until I stood back up.  She told me that I still did not look right and that I should make an appointment with the doctor.  I responded with my promise to her and reassured her that if at any time I had any problems that I would go into the emergency room without argument.  I could tell this did not satisfy her but she was stuck with that answer for now.

Bonnie finished changing first and left the room.  The door closed behind her and I took the opportunity to perform a quick self evaluation before she returned.  I heard the main bathroom door close which said I had a bit more time to complete the chore.  Everything that I tried on myself proved that I had no pain.  Jumping jacks and a few quick high knees did not provide me with any pain, dizziness or shortness of breath, I continued to feel fine.  I then put on my tennis shoes, tied them and walked over to the door to leave the bedroom.  I opened the door and turned off the light and walked into the living room.

I asked Tatem where Bear was at and luckily he was still outside enjoying the fresh air.  I then asked Tatem to find Bear’s collar and chain and place it on the table before he came back inside.  As Tatem was getting his chain Rachel and Rebekkah opened the back screen door and Bear came jogging inside, just as Tatem placed his chain on the table.  The cat was out of the bag now since Bear knew something was up with the movement of his chain.  As Bonnie came out of the bathroom and saw everyone standing around, she looked down to see Bear shaking with excitement so she asked him the famous question “Bear mountains?”

Bear went nuts by turning around in circles, shaking like he had just seen the physical image of God and the whining topped off the dancing.  Bear loved going to the mountains and when he heard that word he would go bananas.  It was so bad that we could not even watch a program on television that would use the word mountain in the dialogue; he would have the same reaction.  It was always a joy to see all of the kids get excited about taking a drive into the mountains and since we have mountain ranges on three sides of our valley, the choices were abundant.

We had picked the Grand Mesa for this afternoon trip. It is the closest of the ranges around the area and you could actually be on its summit in about thirty minutes from Delta.  It is a pretty mountain range and is the world’s largest flat top mountain.  There are hundreds of lakes and literally thousands of trails that a person can take.  The mountain is used for all sorts of recreation activities which include both summer and winter events.  The most popular time of the year is around the end of September when, if the weather conditions hold to true form, the different colors of the various types of tree leaves on the sides and top of the Mesa are in full form.  This proves to be a great attraction for many people in and out of the local area.  There would not be too many colors remaining on this afternoon trip but we might see some while we were hiking about.

Everyone was ready to go and the appropriate attire was donned on the girls, who were really not happy about wearing so much clothing but us old folks knew that they would not last ten minutes without the heavy wear.  The girls headed outside towards the van and Bear continued his dancing around our feet begging us to get a move on so that he could see the mountains once again.  I picked up Bear and with this motion he knew that the trip was on and that nothing could stop us from leaving.  Bonnie took one final look around the kitchen and made sure all of the appliances were turned off and that the appropriate lighting was on for our time away.

I was the last one out of the house so I handed Bear to Bonnie while I locked the back door.  I turned around and Bonnie gave me the exact same and redundant question once again and I honestly responded to her that I was feeling fine.  I asked her how I was looking and she said that I looked better then than when I woke up that morning or even just an hour before.  She turned away and walked to the van which I opened her door after I had secured the back gate.  I walked around and took a glimpse of the Grand Mesa, which was a beautiful site from our front yard.  I opened my door and proceeded to fight Bear for my seat he was so excited.  The girls had occupied their spaces and were almost buckled in which at this time we heard no complaints about them having to be buckled into the car seat, some of the times past had been hairy and threats were made, some of them from us old people. J

I placed Bear into Bonnie’s lap and fastened my seat belt.  As usual the van started without any trouble and I put the gear in reverse and backed out of the curved dirt driveway.  We headed into town with no problems or hindrances.  The trip to the Grand Mesa would take only about thirty minutes tops from the time we left the house till we were at the location of our hike.  The place we had chosen was a popular spot especially in the winter when the snow was piled up high enough to slide down the small slope in inner tubes, sleds, flatten out boxes or whatever else we humans could think of that would serve the fun purpose of getting back down the bumpy hill, but in the summer the hill would serve as a great starting point of a nice moderate hike into the mountain side.

The way to get out of town would take approximately ten minutes since we lived on one end of town and had to cross the entire town before we could reach the initial highway to get to the Mesa.  Highway 92 was a straight shot to the Grand Mesa turnoff which had many fields of corn that lined both sides.  An occasional fruit and vegetable stand was perched on a corner of the road but by then the majority of these products were already off the shelves and into jars.  The straight and wide road would eventually give way to the uphill and windy road to the top of the mountain.

The ascent to the grand Mesa begins after we take highway 65 turn off towards a small community known as Cedaredge.  Cedaredge is about fifteen miles from Delta and all uphill from the highway turnoff.  It is a nice community which holds an annual festival which was ongoing this weekend but we had decided not to attend this festival this particular year.  Cedaredge is locally famous for its apples and rightly so, they area produces some of the finest apples in the entire western part of the country.  As we approached Cedaredge we could see that the turnout for the festival was heavy and when we rolled down the windows we immediately could smell the food stands and the band that was currently playing on the main stage.  It did not take us too long to get through the festivities and continue our trek to suicide hill as it is locally known as.

As we climbed up the mountain side we had to be continually aware of deer, elk and other creatures that liked to cross the road as you were approaching their domain.  Plus a person really did not want to drive too fast since all of the scenery was just gorgeous to witness and one could not help but stop and get out for a moment to breathe the clean crisp air and to admire the creation that was all around you.  After a few quick stops we all decided that it was time to get going since the daylight hours were shorter now and if we did not get up there soon our time would be limited.  The remaining portion of the trip was great and the trees and ground were noticeably preparing themselves for winter.  The majority of the leaves on the aspen trees were on the ground and the oak had already lost their red glow and gave way to the brown colors of winter.  At 9,600 feet in altitude winter temperatures come a bit early in the mountains whereas the valleys could still approach eighty degrees.

We reached our destination and the girls instinctively screamed at the same time.  A fair amount of cars were present in the area normally due to people that had the same idea that we did and others who went fishing at the beautiful reservoir just down a few feet from the highway.  Bathrooms were present in the area and that was the first order of business for the girls and me to be honest but first I had to prepare Bear for the walk.  Bear usually did not wear a collar but when he did he automatically understood that he was going somewhere he also know that he had to wear a chain.  He was always so anxious to get out of the van when he saw the trees and lakes and it was so hard for him to sit still long enough to hook the chain to the back of his collar, oh the shaking and whining that went on during this time.  It was great to watch him arrive to a place where he loved to be.  In fact, I cannot think of any reason why another human would not enjoy seeing another human reacting to being in a situation in which they loved to be in, even if you did not know that person.

I finally got the chain on Bear’s collar and sat there for a second to see what his reaction would be, Bonnie came around the front of the van and peered in the window, Bear went nuts and jumped towards the window.  I grabbed him by the chest and placed him back into my lap and then slowly opened the door.  He began his descent into Bonnie’s arms and then to the ground as she put him on the ground all the while taking the chain from my hand.  He immediately began to head over to the grassy area and of course marked his territory and then gave his ceremonial scratching dance, he was a happy boy who now was ready to conquer the hills.

All of our family have loved going into the mountains.  My family camped in the “mountains” in the south when I was a kid and I continued the trend when I was in the USAF in Utah.  The Promontory Mountain range and the Wasatch Mountain range served as my outdoor abodes on occasion.  I do have to admit once again that we do not get up in our local mountain ranges very often which is a shame because there is so much beauty to see.  Every time I do get into the mountains, and it does not matter which mountain range it is I am overwhelmed with the majesty that they portray and this visit to one of our more frequented spots was no exception. 

I then turned around and closed the van door and inhaled my first breath of the clean cool air.  It was great to smell fresh air even though the air quality in Delta is not that bad I guess a change in settings is a psychological concept more than reality in this situation.  I then walked around to the front of the van and caught a glimpse of the front end of the reservoir.  The water was deep blue coming from the feeding stream and as I made my way towards the water I could tell that the blue color continued even out to the center of the reservoir.  I stood in that spot for a few minutes and continued to gaze at the shoreline of the reservoir which was filled with people of all ages fishing.  I have never fished the reservoir but I have heard that there are some good sized fish that are to be caught if the conditions are right and by the looks of the amount of people around the entire shoreline, it was a good time.

I began to walk away from the edge of the pavement leading down to the reservoir and realized that I was the only one left on the reservoir side of the highway.  All of the others had already crossed the road and was starting up the base of the hill.  At this point I had completely forgotten that I was having any previous pain in my chest and was anxious to get on the top of the hill and find a trail to follow.  After looking both ways on the highway for vehicles I casually crossed the road and reached the dirt.  I looked up and saw that Bear and Bonnie were already a ways up the hill and all three girls were close behind them.  I knew Bear’s age would soon catch up with his enthusiasm shortly.  See, Bear would start out “guns a blazin” but his stamina would slow him down to reality in a few minutes, he was out of shape and old like us old folks were J

I took a deep breath and moved from the pavement to the dirt and began my way up to the base of the hill.  I noticed coming out of the trees to my left a family and their large dog which soon spotted Bear and his furry short legs dragging Bonnie up the hill.  Bear stopped and turned towards the dog and gave out a typical Pomeranian bark and then turned back around and continued up the hill.  The family passed without canine incident and cordially said hello as they passed.  I continued up the hill a bit further and then stopped and turned around towards the reservoir again.  I was only about seventy feet higher than the highway but even this slight change in altitude provided another spectacular view of the reservoir and now the view included a part of the hill on the opposite side.  This is why I love the mountains so much because you take travel just a few hundred yards on a road and get a completely different scene to be in awe over and the same goes when you are hiking a trail the change in scenery is mind boggling.

God loves to see his creations surprise humans and also it gives Him great joy to witness the true feelings of the heart.  Even the ones that have no clue about Him or the ones who curse him on a daily basis, it still gives Him great joy because it is a method that might one day open their hearts to His glory.  God does not care one ounce how you accept Him, He just desires your continual presence on a one on one basis.

DLB

Part XI to follow….