My Sojourn in the ER

I made a fool of myself in the ER recently.   Here's what happened:  I was at the gym, climbing onto the treadmill.   I punched in  the settings: weight-170, time - 45 minutes, speed - 2.8 mph, and elevation - 7.5%. Somehow the speed and elevation got interchanged and I suddenly found the treadmill going 7.5 mph, way faster than I can manage.I called out a feeble "help" and crashed hard onto my right side bounced around unceremoniously and eventually fell off the end.

My son, Thabie, and a trainer quickly came to my side and lifted me up.   My shoulder felt very sore, so Thabie drove me to the ER where I was quickly admitted.  The doctor ordered an X-ray which showed I had dislocated my shoulder.  The friendly and excellent doctor said he's heard of a new method of resetting the joint without anesthesia and hadn't tried it out yet.

He grabbed my shoulder firmly and started to push, whereupon I disgraced myself by screaming in pain and begging him to stop.  There followed a lot of movement (I think he must have given me a shot), much fussing around and then the triumphant announcement that my shoulder had been reset.  I was fitted with a sling and sent on my way with instructions to see my orthopedist soon.

Here's what I looked like (appropriately sad) for three weeks.  A lot of things were suddenly difficult, eating, brushing my teeth, scratching my back, and so forth.   A visit to my orthopedist, three sessions of physical therapy, and  here's what I looked like:

  

My shoulder still hurts a lot but I'm on my way to recovery.   This experience is not recommended for someone my age or anyone else for that matter.

Winter in the White Mountains - Take 2

Over the past few weeks, I had two very welcome surprises: first Fran Ansley, celebrating her 50th Putney School reunion contacted by phone and email, reminiscing fondly about camping trips we had taken.   I posted Fran's redirection  of our fall 63 trip up Mt. Adams.  Then a woman, who has lived in Australia for the past 45 years, and was a camper at the Putney Summer work Camp 60 years ago (when I was a counselor) managed to get in touch with  me via email.   She too reminisced about our camping trips.   I confess it's heartwarming to hear from these people with warm memories.

When I wrote "Winter in the White Mountains, an Adventure Story," I was recalling events v from 49 years  back.   In today;s post, here's Fran recalling the trip two weeks after the fact and in rich detail.

Winter Climb 1964 -- Mt. Adams and Crag Camp

Dear Mama and Daddy,

Bill Melvin is taking a group up Mt. Adams next weekend.  It looks like it will be a great trip.  Bob Mills will be co-leader.  (Normally Bill does not have a co-leader, but for a winter climb, this is really indispensable, and I think Bob will be a perfect person to have along.)

Last night we had a meeting in Bill’s apartment -- Boy, you wouldn’t believe the equipment.  Bear-paw (not tear-drop) snow shoes, long underwear, two pairs of wool pants, baggy ski pants, two sweaters, flannel shirt, hooded parka, gloves, mittens, four pairs of wool socks at least, boots, mukluks (canvas things that go over boots), one ski pole, face mask, down sleeping bag, etc., etc., etc.

Tomorrow another girl and I are going to make a fruit cake crammed with nuts, dates, fruit, raisins, honey, molasses, etc., for us to eat at night.  This is “survival bread,” as Bill says, “the  most amount of energy for the least amount of effort.”  On the trail, we’ll also have bags of GORP -- M&Ms, nuts, raisins, etc.  It scares but thrills me to think of all this. 

Yesterday, three of us girls who are going on the hike snowshoed up to Hepper Caldwell’s.  We went up a huge, steep hill that Bill told us to practice on for the trip.  It was fun and VERY cold and clear.  We were so clumsy with the huge things on our feet, slipping and sliding up the hill.  We wound up at Hepper’s and played with her four beautiful children until she got back from Brattleboro, then had tea and cinnamon toast like civilized people.  She drove us back down in time for dinner.  A very nice afternoon.

Today I’ve been racing around trying to dig up equipment.  I still need goggles and all kinds of things …

After the trip:

Well, where to start?  I want to tell you everything, but I just can’t.  The trip was a wonderful, wonderful thing, just as I knew it would be.

We left Friday after fourth period, the Greenbrier jammed with our packs, nine pairs of snow shoes, crampons, and food.  It takes about four hours to get to Bill Melvin’s cabin down below Crawford Notch.  It took us five, because the car was acting up.  Wonderful ride, everybody singing and teaching each other new rounds.  Bill telling off-color stories, etc. 

By the time we got there, of course, it was dark.  We piled out and walked the three quarters of a mile from the highway over the railroad tracks, into the woods, and on to the cabin.  Meanwhile one of the boys (the “tall one” I told you about before) was getting more and more excited.  He is such a good and funny person (and he must get so tired of being described as the tall guy).  He loves Bill’s cabin so much, and was the only one on the trip who’d been there before.  So as we were slogging along, he kept saying “Oh man, almost there.  Oh my god, I can’t stand it.”  We found, unbelievably, it was as great as he had said.  Here is a diagram of the floor plan …

We crammed in and started a fire in the fireplace and in the wood stove -- everyone ravenous (about 9:30 by now) --  Bill began making trips for water with whoever wanted to help.  I went with him once, and it was quite an expedition.  You walk about a quarter of a mile down to a brook.  Even in winter there’s liquid water there, because of the 75-foot cascade that tumbles down and keeps it from freezing solid.  You walk out on the ice to the hole that the rushing water makes, and throw a bucket on a rope into the water -- Bill said this was the first year he hasn’t fallen in.

There were steaks and vegetable soup and fruit cocktail for supper.  Everyone began to really relax and form an easy group.  We got the rolling, hysterical giggles about something inane, and finally all piled into bed.  The girls got the bunks (four bunks fold down from the wall on chains), and the boys got the floor.  Four hours later, at 4:30, we were waked up by Bill.  Time to get started.  We had breakfast, got dressed, and headed back to the car.  It was an hour’s drive from there to the place where we started climbing. 

Bill went into the people’s house who live at the base of the trail and registered us.  We all strapped crampons onto our packs, put on our snowshoes, and started off.  The first two miles were easy climbing … hard because of the steadiness of the gradual ascent, but really, as Bill said, “just a stroll through the woods.”  We took turns breaking trail -- the boys sticking it out for long stretches, the girls lasting fewer steps, but we worked at it too.  It was a wonderful feeling to be first in line, tracking the untouched snow, but it was terribly hard on the legs.  When you’d had enough, you dropped to the back of the line where it was easy going.  (When you are in the back of the line, eight people have been ahead of you and packed out the trail.)

Anyway, after about four hours, we reached a junction, stopped and had lunch, and then went on.  It was only about a mile to the camp from there, but that mile was straight up.  It took us three hours just to do that one mile. 

I had quite a hard time because my snowshoes didn't fit right.  To go up hill, you have to flip the snowshoe up into a horizontal position, and dig the toe of it into the snow.  The snowshoe needs to be horizontal, or you just slide backward on it.  (See diagram.)  Well there were times when I really didn't think I’d make it, because the toe of my mukluk-covered boot wouldn't stick in the hole right (perhaps because they were too big, and kind of floppy out there on the toe), so it was very hard to flip up the snowshoe and keep it aligned right.  Hard to explain, but it was very wearing, let me put it that way. Anyway, we finally did get to Crag Camp.

It is an incredible place.  Bunks, porch, sofas in front of a fireplace, a snug woodshed, stove, sink and an actual real live PUMP ORGAN.  It is also about 20 feet from a precipice that drops 1500 feet straight down.  Funny rickety rustic furniture, Bach chorale books, two bedrooms.  When we came in, everything inside was sifted over with fine snow.  It had come down the chimney, seeped under the door, blown in the windows, etc.  On the sofa there were tiny, tiny mouse tracks all in the snow.  So there was snow dusting to do.

But first we put on some snow in a pot to melt, and then we started for the summit right away while we still had daylight.  Because we were so high up, there were fewer trees, and the snow was not so deep due to getting blown about by the wind.  So we shed our snowshoes (hallelujah) and put on our crampons, which are spiky things that punch into the crust and help you keep your footing.  SO much nicer than snowshoes!   With the change of footwear, and shedding of packs, you felt light as a feather, and nimble too.  It was bliss.  As soon as we got above timberline, we put on face masks …  But as I told you on the phone, we had to give up before we even reached the col, because of the clouds.  The decision was that it wasn’t safe, and also wouldn’t be particularly rewarding if we were totally socked in.

So we hurtled back down to Crag Camp (practically running down -- it took us a third of the time it took to go up), had supper, sang, got back rubs from Bill, and collapsed into bed.

The first thing I heard next morning was Bill’s mellifluous voice telling us it was 25 degrees below zero.  Brother, was it ever hard to get out of my nice warm arctic sleeping bag.

Breakfast was really funny, with everyone trying to thaw out their boots, socks shirts, gloves, etc.  Socks had frozen hard in the shape of whatever they were draped over.

And we DID get to the summit that next day.  The very top is something I simply cannot express to you.  It was as if you had been dissolved into the elements and ceased to exist.  The wind was so strong (110 mph the filling station man said that night when we told him where we had been that morning) you couldn’t think, you couldn't see, you couldn't hear, you could only hang on for dear life.  It if hadn’t been for the crampons we would have been blown away.  I’m sure this was the stretch during which several of us got a bit of frost bite -- and G., with his long legs that have a tendency to be too long for any reasonable pant-leg, got more than a bit.

I want you all to SEE it … up near the top is like fairyland.  Little tiny trees completely covered in frozen-over snow.  Sometimes you step through the crust and see that you have been walking over the tops of little trees all along.

Anyway, down we came, following our flagged ski poles back.  Also red dye marks that Bob Mills, bless his heart, made on the snow as we went up.  We picked up our packs at the camp, switched (groan) back to snowshoes, and started down. 

“Bahoomyhoomy” is the word for what we did next.  One of the boys on the trip coined it his freshman year, and it means simply sitting down on your snowshoes and sliding.  Bill starts off, and everyone follows, careening and rolling and whooping -- like a toboggan ride -- back down that steep section of the trail.  We hit the junction soon (couldn’t believe what a short time it had been), and then stood up once more and hiked the rest of the way back down to the trailhead.  Supper at a Howard Johnson’s with everyone laughing at our decrepit state, and the boys ordering huge mounds of food.

Now I’m practically recovered.  The frostbite on my chin itches a little, and my feet are still swollen, but that’s all.  I had a sore throat today, but I slept, and it’s going away.  I must go now and get ready for supper.  I love you all.  Please know how much I thank you for letting me have experiences like this one …

Mt. Adams, Take 2 by Fran

A few days ago I received a  most welcome phone call from someone I last talked to 50 years ago.   It was Fran Ansley who had been a student at Putney School, class of 1964.  She and her classmates were getting ready for their 50th reunion and she recalled the winter ascent of Mt. Adams (see my post of July 8, 1913, "Winter in the White Mountains") as well as a trip I took with Putney students in Fall, 1963.   Fran is a terrific writer who regularly wrote detailed descriptions to her family just after the trips were completed.   With Fran's permission I am posting her description of that fall trip.

Jun 19 at 10:00 AM

Long Fall 1963 -- Presidential Range -- Mt. Jefferson and Mt. Adams

Dear Family,

The Long Fall trip was really wonderful.  We left on Friday morning in a truck with one other tripful of people, who we dropped off on the way.  It was a good truck ride … lots of singing and joke telling, and not too cold.  We had lunch on the way.  People were crammed in.  It seemed like everyone must have had four feet.  Boots were jabbing everywhere.

Finally (that is, seven hours later), we got to Bowman, New Hampshire, where our trail started.  It is in the northern end of the Presidential Range.  We all piled out, put on our packs and started off with a chill in our bones because there was snow on the ridge.

The climb was pretty stiff, but I never reached that horrible point of not believing I could go on.  It was lovely to hike this time of year, because the path (which frustratingly consumes so much of one’s attention) is starred with leaves -- curly red and yellow. 

By sunset, we were just below timberline and reached our shelter -- three-sided plus a fireplace -- “The Perch” -- It is literally perched on the side of a ravine on the shoulders of Jefferson and Adams.

We had “gloosh,” that Bill Melvin specialty.  And we SANG.  Bill is the best tenor in madrigals, has perfect pitch and a really fine voice.  So he always has lots of singing.  We learned many new rounds, and several people brought madrigal books, so we sang those too.

Then we all jammed into the shelter.  The guidebook said the Perch holds eight.  We fit in 14.  Everyone had to lie on his side, and when anyone laughed, the whole line of diaphragms jiggled, from one end of the girls’ section, through Bill (the Mason-Dixon line), and on through the boys.  There was no alternative, though, because it was quite cold.  We had already hit some snow, and every tree was covered in a thin coat of lovely ice.  (One bit of trip-bragging:  we put a can of water on the fire to heat.  It had been on a little while, and somebody put in his finger to test it.   “Uh-oh, some sticks have fallen in.”  So we shone a flashlight into the can so we could fish out these sticks, and it turned out to be ICE!)  Anyway, the crowded conditions kept us warm.

Next morning we got up for breakfast (hot Wheatena and bacon), and leaving our packs at the shelter, we walked up to the top of the ridge to Edwards Col (a little dip in a ridge).  It was just incredibly beautiful.  We hit first an evergreeny section just below timberline -- with mossy floor, and dead trunks.  This was virgin forest.  They were all covered with fairyland snow and rime.  Then we got above timberline.  All the rocks had icicles coming horizontally from the off-wind side, and each blade of grass was sheathed in brilliant, glowing ice.  But the most amazing thing was looking through winter on the top into fall blazing below us in the valley.

After a rest and some singing at the col, we went on up Mt. Jefferson, took a close look at Mt. Washington and the southern peaks, decided against continuing on to Mt. Washington because of its commercialization, and came on back to the col for lunch.  Then we walked up Mt. Adams, the second highest peak in the White Mountains, and on the other side of Edwards Col -- the wind there was terrific.  (Estimates non-exaggerated at forty mph.)  You could lean against it with all your weight.

We sang there too, for almost half an hour, met another Putney trip that was going from the Great Gulf to Crag Camp (such alliteration!), then headed back down to the Perch.  With no packs, it was great.  I felt I could have walked all day with no strain at all.

That night was more singing, recorder playing, Bill shaggy-dog stories, secret birthday-cake fixings, etc.  It was much warmer.  (The peanut butter would spread, our boots didn’t freeze during the night, the hamburger was soft, etc.), so several people slept a les belles étoiles, and we had more room.

Sunday morning then we had the legendary Melvin apple dumplings and were on our way -- down the Israel Ridge Trail -- very rocky and steep and fun and murder on the knees.  That ran into the Castle Ravine Trail which follows a wonderful N.H. stream down into the valley.  Finally about 10:00, we were all hot and tired and sweaty, and Bill said, “OK.  Boys on this side of the bend, girls on that.  You’ve got five minutes for a skinny dip.”  Ohhhh man.  It was so cold and so good and a perfect thing to happen.

An hour after that, we were back at the truck and ready to start back to school.

I loved the trip as much as you can see I did … because of the physical things, but more important because of the spirit of it.  Bill Melvin simply has a gift for leading trips. Of course, it was the people on it too.  Bill never picks a clique for his trips, but manages to make wonderful and weird combinations.  You all end up loving each other. Anyway, obviously it was great. 

Existing vs. Living: The Senior Challenge

When I retired in 2005, I was keenly aware of the warnings I had heard: plan ahead, know what you will do with your time. So I took a short course in teaching ESL, formed a group with some of my classmates ("ESL Volunteers of Northern Virginia") and started teaching.  I taught Mondays and Wednesdays at the Herndon Workers Center (since closed) and Saturdays at the Herndon Neighborhood Resource Center.  On Tuesdays I volunteered at the Embry Ruckler shelter for homeless people. For seven years I felt fulfilled, thankful that I was getting to know so many wonderful people, many of whom (though we never asked) were probably so-called "undocumented immigrants."  By chance, three of our students lived right next door. Sometimes when I met some of the homeless people at the library, I was the grateful recipient of generous bear hugs.   These people were great!

In 2012 I finally had to acknowledge that I physically couldn't continue.   For one things, I was the front desk person at Embry Rucker, whose duties were answering the phone and interacting with the residents.  My hearing was such that I sometimes couldn't understand what people were saying on the phone.   People would say, "Put somebody on the line who can hear!"  So I regretfully resigned from Embry Rucker and ESL Teaching. I settled into a routine: wake up at 6:30, read the paper in bed and have coffee until 7:30, go to the gym for an hour, return home, shower, dress, have breakfast and take a nap.  The remainder of the day I spent checking email, my bank account and Facebook, and reading.   Not a very inspiring schedule. When Qenehelo, my wife, came home from work at 5:45, I'd  complain, "I'm just existing!"

So what to do?  I remembered a sermon my friend and pastor, Rob Merola, gave during Lent.   Rob recalled that Jesus had been in the wilderness and had not eaten for 40 days when Satan came and tempted him: "If you be the son of God, command that these stones be turned into loaves of bread."   The reply was important: Man does not live by bread alone."   In terms of this post: we are not here just to exist.

So I joined the Herndon Senior Center with daily activities and lots of very old members.  (I exempt from this challenge, by the way, people suffering from dementia.   We need to comfort and  love these people who through no fault of their own can no longer carry on the daily activities of life.)  For the rest of us: consider Rob's answer to the question of meaning: "Love and be loved."  It's something all of us can do.  None of us exists in a vacuum.   In my case, I have my immediate family: my dear wife Qenehelo with whom I have been together for 33 years, my son, Thabie, a wonderful piano teacher, and my kind and caring daughter Palesa who sometimes frets over all the preparations of her forthcoming wedding.   Then there are my friends at the gym where I go every morning, my friends at the senior center, many of whom are physically diminished, and my fellow parishioners at church..As I reflect on this truism, "Love and be loved," I realize that the senior dilemma is everybody's existential question: How can I make my life meaningful?

Dog Tales

I read in the paper recently a story about a dog which had been away four years and returned home.    Where had he been all that time?  What had he eaten?   How did he find his way home?    Another story said, research shows a dog thinks like a person.   Amazing animals!

We have two dogs: Dakota, a Sheltie-Pekingese mix who is six and gentle, and Bailey, a beagle who is four, lovable, intelligent and mischievous.   Bailey likes to invade the kitchen trash and the bedroom laundry basket.   Given the chance he will scarf down a person's temporarily unattended dinner.   Dakota follows us around.  If someone is taking a shower, Dakota will lie on the bath mat;  if someone is on the the computer Dakota will lie a few feet away.

Bailey with the container of ice cream he stole from the kitchen trash and dragged outside to snack on.

Bailey peeing in the snow.

Dakota cuddling in my lap.

Dakota Christmas 2012

But this post is mainly about another dog, Doodle, a beagle I had while taught at Putney School in Vermont in the 1960's.  Putney is located on a heavily wooded hill top and dogs run free to roam the woods.   Doodle acquired his name because his predecessor, who was killed by a car, was named Yankee.  Doodle always knew where I was and often, when I was teaching, there would be an energetic scratching on the classroom door which a student would open and Doodle would come in and fall asleep under my desk

At Putney I was the trip director as well as an English teacher and in the summer of 1964 I decided to take six students to the Colorado Rockies for six weeks of hiking and camping.   Without giving it much thought, I opted to take Doodle with us.  Our first trip above Nederland (outside of Boulder) took us up through a glacier, over the continental divide down the west side and across a raging river over which I had to carry Doodle because he was trembling with fear.   Doodle was always running off chasing interesting smells.    On one such excursion he didn't return.  We called and searched but no Doodle.   Heartbroken at the loss of our dear dog we carried on.

Two more nights passed; we went up over the continental divide again at a more northerly spot and eventually down to a parking lot.   We were miles from our car, so we hitched a lift on the back of a pick up truck, the driver of which kindly offered to take us back to our car.  As we were driving up towards our original parking lot, there amazingly was Doodle staggering down the side of the road.  We stopped, Doodle leapt into the back of the truck, turned himself inside out with joy and quickly dropped asleep on my lap.

Doodle, realizing he was lost, followed our original path across the raging brook, over the continental divide, across the glacier and down.  He hadn't eaten (or slept) for two days but was determined to find us. What an incredible feat!   What a dog!

Doodle was also famous for his comical feats.  I lived with my son Don (who was with us on the Rockies trip) in a former barn, a corner of which had been converted into an apartment..  The main section was the school's theater.   One Christmas season I decided to put Doodle in my car (located across the street in a tractor shed), knowing that he would bark that unique beagle bark when the people came for the performance.  The production that year was Chekhov's "The Cherry Orchard," a somber, humorless look at Russian life.

I settled in with the parents to watch when, a few minutes into the production, Doodle entered stage left, flipped up his leg, relieved himself against a sofa, and then ate a biscuit which had been left out as a prop. The audience by then was roaring with laughter. Everyone except me and our hard-working drama teacher.   A parent took mercy, picked up Doodle and handed him to me.  I was mortified and apologized profusely to the drama teacher, and the play went on.

On another occasion it was town meeting day in the town of Putney, three miles down hill from the school.   I left Doodle at the school, hitched a ride with another teacher to the meeting where such local issues as stop signs and pot holes in the road were discussed   The selectmen and the lady town clerk sat importantly on the stage.  Again Doodle showed up on stage and stuck his snout under the dress on the town clerk.   This time I leapt into action and snatched Doodle away.   I have no idea how the dog knew I was there.

Finally a sad note:  Before I went to Paris in 1968 to teach at the American School, I gave Doodle to a doctor who lived in Brattleboro, eight miles down the road from Putney.   I learned that Doodle escaped! The doctor terrified that he had lost our dog, employed a variety of remedies to lure him back, the most interesting being acquiring several female dogs in heat! When Don and I returned, there Doodle was. He had walked the eight miles back to Putney School looking for Don and me.  What loyalty!

Bailey, Dakota, and Doodle, like so many dogs, exemplify that noblest of emotions: unconditional love.