Under the Sea (Part 2)...

   After the little episode the first time in the pool, I did great.  No more problems in the water ....  Until we went to a 16 foot deep diving pool to practice swimming to our scuba gear and putting it on underwater.
   On this occasion my partner was a friend of mine, who had been a diver for quite a while.  He was helping the staff out in this training session and partnered with me.  The purpose of the exercise was to  swim down and put on your scuba gear underwater.  Also to exchange your scuba tank for a new tank underwater.  This could come in handy if you have to stay underwater to decompress from a deep dive.

    So into the pool the equipment goes.  Then in I go with my buddy.  I swim down grab the scuba regulator turn on the tank and breath.  Okay that part done, I now have air.  I place my arms into the BCD jacket with the scuba tank attached, swing it up and over and Wa La,  I'm done.  This is going to be a breeze.  Next up buddy breathing to the surface.  He takes a breath hands me the scuba regulator and I take a breath and so on.  Piece of cake.  Only thing now is taking off one pack and exchanging it for another one.  I'm batting a thousand here.  What could go wrong.
   My partner is what could go wrong.  I take off my tank and switch out regulators.  He helps me put my arms into the other tank and swings it up over my head.  Ah, I can't get it on.  My arms are twisted and the regulator is being pulled out of my mouth while the tank is pushing me down.  Okay, okay don't panic.  Your not alone here. Your buddy will see the problem and fix it ... But he doesn't.  He thinks its on right and I am the problem.
   I try to tell him its twisted. Which is really hard to signal when your arms are twisted above your head.  He insists its okay and keeps try to push it on.

  Meanwhile, I can't breath.  He on the other hand has his tank on and is having no such problem.  I finally kick the crap out of him, ditch the tank and head for the surface.  He comes up fighting mad, insisting that I was in the wrong.  That the pack was on right and I just panicked.  Duh, not breathing can cause that you know.
   Then the head teacher came running up pulled me out of the pool.  Asking if I was okay.  He saw the whole thing and said I would have never been able to get that pack on as twisted as the straps where, and what took me so long getting to the surface.  I shot my partner a look that said, "HA ... I told you it wasn't me."  The teacher jumped in the pool and completed the exercise with me.  Piece of cake.  I passed.
   I completed the course and took my open water check out in Cozumel during Texas Dive Week.   And that my friends is another story.

            

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Under the Sea (Part 1).

    I have always wanted to scuba dive.  Once I saw “The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau” I was lost.  Ariel dreamed of being where the people are, I dreamed of being where the fish are.

from Wikimedia Commons

    I took swimming classes as a child, I didn't do very well in class.  But that didn't stop me I taught myself to swim ... underwater of course.
   It was so quite and peaceful under the water, unless my brothers were around and decided to ride my back to side of the pool.  Then it was still quite but the peace thing was gone.  I was too concerned with getting back to where the people are so I could breath.  Did I mention I am terrified of drowning.
   I tried snorkeling at the beach, but the waves kept sending water down the snorkel.  That would trigger that whole terrified of drowning thing again.
   So I knew I would have to wait until I could learn how to scuba dive.  That way you take the air with you so you can breath.  That would solve that terrified of drowning problem.  Yeah right...
   So after I was out on my own with my own money I signed up for scuba diving classes.  I listened to all the things that could go wrong and how to correct them.  I learned all about the scuba equipment.  I bought a real scuba mask, a real snorkel, and real fins.  Not those cheap things from the pool department at Walmart. I got a dive knife, dive log, compass and a dive bag to put it all in.
   I was so proud of these purchases that walked around the living room trying them out.  And I only tripped on the fins a couple of times.  I never really liked that vase anyway.  I was so excited about our classes first day in the pool in full gear, that I felt like a kid on Christmas Eve.
   The big day dawned bright and sunny.  We got to the store and went straight into the pool room.  Suited up in all the equipment and hopped into the pool.  Now I have to say at this point we were in the shallow end of the pool in about 4 feet of water.  We were to go underwater sit on the bottom and practice purging water from our masks.  Okay great, here we go.
   Down I went, and promptly forgot to breath through my mouth.  I am trying desperately to breath through my nose that is blocked by the mask.  Uh oh, my brain goes into panic mode ... can't breath, no air, going to die on the bottom of the pool.  Then my legs remember I am only in 4 feet of water and I am 5' 8”, and stand up.  I immediately jerk the mask off and come face to face with a classmate who is more terrified than I am.
   This is a good thing.  My teacher mood kicks in.
   I start talking to her and calming her down.  I remind her that we can breath underwater.  We have these freaking heavy tanks full of air on our backs.  I told her to practice breathing with me through the scuba regulator and then we would go down together.  It worked.
She kept her eyes glued to me and we completed that exercise and all the others for the day.  I was so concerned with her I forgot about myself. Jacques Cousteau  would have been proud.

Image via Wikipedia

   After that I had no problem.  Until my friend (???) tried to drown me toward the end of the course.
   But that my friends is another blog.

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Help I don't know what to write about...

   What do write about when you can't think what to write about.  Do you just throw yourself into it and hope for the best.  Or do you give up and hope tomorrow will be better.
  What if its not?  Is this a test of the universe to see if you actually can write under pressure?  Are the blog gods laughing at us?  Showing us they are in control of our writing life, not us.
   Okay, Uncle...Help...SOS....PLEASE.  Give me an idea.  I check all the usual places. The newspapers, other blogs, wiki,  the comics...Hey don't laugh you can get some great ideas there.  Nothing.  Not one little thing comes to mind.
   Now I am getting desperate.  I love keeping this blog up.  It helps me to de-stress.  It is my happy place .... Until I can't think of something to write about.

   Et tu, blogger?  

   Why have you turned on me?  What did I do to you?  I am sorry.  I don't know what for, but I am truly sorry.  Please forgive me.

    Nothing.  I still have no idea what I am going to write about.  I will have a blank screen staring back at me, laughing.  AAGGHHH.

   Wait.  What is this?  There are words on here.  There is a blog post.  Wow, how did that happen?

   THANK YOU,  BLOG GODS.   I will never take you for granted again.


   Wait did I just hear someone laughing!!!!

Image via Wikipedia

                          Dante Alighieri, in Canto II of The Inferno:

                               O Muses, O high genius, aid me now!
                               O memory that engraved the things I saw,
                               Here shall your worth be manifest to all!
                               (Anthony Esolen translation, 2002)






                         







    

My editor....Miss Foxy....

                     I would like you all to meet my Editor.  Miss Foxy. 

                             
                            She is always watching everything I type.
 

   In the mornings, she gets out of bed and leads me to the computer and waits for me to sit down and get started.  If I take too long she will come and get me.
   She is a slave driver.  I am not allowed to leave the computer for long than 5 minutes or she starts yelling loudly for me to get back to work. 
   While helping me work on the blog on Dogs the other day, she feel asleep.  I published it before she okay-ed the pictures and the final copy.
   Believe me she was not happy when she looked on line and found out that not only did I not give her editorial credit, I did not include her picture.  She is still giving me the cold shoulder.
    You have never really been snubbed until you have been snubbed by a dog.  They follow you around and sit right in front of your feet with their back turned to remind you just how wrong you are.  I was tired of tripping over her, so I gave in.
   To make up for that faux pas I had to promise her her own blog with pictures.  Hopefully I will be forgiven soon.

                  She takes her job seriously.... She even edits my dreams.




Edited by Miss Foxy....okay, am I forgiven yet!!!!

Dogs are NOT people... their better than that...

   I am a dog person... no I am a animal person.  We just have dogs right now,  because our dogs are not cat friendly.  All of the dogs we have had we found or I should say they found us.
   I have only had three purebred dogs that I know of in my life.  None of which I paid for from a breeder.   The first was a poodle named Coco that my family got from an Aunt and Uncle who were moving and couldn't take him with them.  The second one was a white shepherd named Polo that I got when I got my first home.  The couple who owned his mom and dad where not going to bred them when ... surprise, they were a little too late getting the male fixed.  And now we have Foxy a Pomeranian.   I first saw her from my office running along a feeder street of a busy freeway.  When I left the building she was trying her best to get past the security guard and into the building.  She was scared and wouldn't go to anyone.  I had just bought some dog food so I got a small bowl and put it down for her.  She ate it then sat on my foot and refused to leave me.  She followed me to my car and jumped in before I could say anything.  So even though we already had 5 dogs, Foxy moved onto the farm.  You give her 5 minutes and she will have any man wrapped around her little paw.  I have seen her do it over and over again.  The little hussy.
   I have lived with numerous dogs through out my life.  I can tell you one thing for sure, purebred or mutt every dog I have meet is more honest, loyal and loving than most people.  They worry about us when we don't feel good.  They are always there to greet us when we get home.  The love us even when we don't seem to deserve it, like the times we get mad over something and blame them.  They protect us from harm without thought to themselves, even when we don't want them too.  They know better than we do just ask them.  And yes they can communicate if you learn to listen and read them.
   Some people just don't get it.  They will tell you dogs can't dream.  So have they ever even seen a dog sleeping.  I guess the wagging tale, running feet, muffled barks and whines are gas right.  They say dogs can't smile.  Wrong, I have seen my dogs and others change expressions when someone they like enters the room.  They say dogs don't have feeling like we do, okay maybe on this one they are right a dog's feelings go deeper.  You will never feel more loved, excepted and protected like you will with a dog.
   Then there are the people who will tell you a dog is dangerous.  A dog will fight when cornered, yes.  But then all living things will do that, even some plants.  I have yet to see a whole breed of dog no matter what, that is all bad.  Every generation has their so called mean breads.  You know the ones that will turn on their owners.  First I heard it was German Shepherds, then Doberman Pinschers, then Chow Chows, then Rottweilers, and now its Pit Bulls.  Yes, there are some bad dogs, I'm not naïve.  But most of them are made that way by being mistreated, or in breed for aggressiveness.  In other words made that way by people, not nature.  The in breeding part does the same thing with people, look at the history of some of this worlds royal and high society families.
   So next time you come across one of those people, you know the ones who look down their noses and inform you that a dog is an animal not a person.  Look them straight in the eye and tell them your right they would never lower themselves to be a person.  They are better than that.

This is our boy Chance...We miss you...

A dog or cat is the only time you can ever really buy love.  Check out your local pet adoption agency or pound and find your own special little lover.
Don't know where to look click here.

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