Stewart Creek Somethings

Normally I don’t talk about my paying job on the blog as I try to keep them separate and for the most part it is manageable. Unfortunately, today that was not possible. I volunteered to help out the Sheriff’s department yesterday in training officers how to recognize and test impaired drivers. I learned about this from the hospital as we were sponsoring this learning opportunity. I volunteered and set aside seven hours, to assist, what this really meant was I started day drinking around 1300 and had to keep it up for four straight hours. I really did not understand how much alcohol one has to consume to keep your blood alcohol level sustained. It is a lot! I failed every single sobriety test they could think to test on me. When I got home I just kept drinking water and could not fall asleep. So this morning I really needed a lot more sleep. I had a hangover. Nope, no sleep for self induced misery at our house.

I ended up going to town, getting a bunch of stuff to fix the driveway fence, ground anchors for the greenhouse and food for the dogs. So when I got home I threw some more fencing tools in the back of the pickup and went out to work on the driveway fence. I was hand driving eight foot T-posts into the ground but they are so tall I had to back the pickup up to the spot and stand on the tailgate so I could drive them in. I am installing seven feet of woven wire where we have wild rose bushes. The birds and bunnies love to hang out in the wild bushes. But the alpaca love to eat those same wild rose bushes. So they are constantly eating them down as far as they can reach. The plan was to install tall T-posts and add an upper section of woven wire so the alpaca cannot lean over the lower section and eat the tops out of the bushes.

I had been fencing for a few hours and just did not feel well. Finally around 1530 I decided that a nap was needed. Trouble was if I went back to the house the wife would tell me to suck it up! So instead I set an alarm on my phone and laid down in the driveway on the little hill. It had some grass and honestly I was beat and needed the sleep. The pickup was still parked crooked in the driveway as I had just driven a post in prior to the nap. I got my nap in and woke up about three minutes before my alarm went off. I jumped in the pickup and headed toward the road. I had started at the cattle guard on the road and was working my way toward the houses as I improved the fence. As I approached the road I saw the ambulance and fire truck come roaring up the road. They slowed down and asked if I had seen some guy “down” on the road near a blue and white pickup. I said no and they went on down the road. About 30 seconds later it occurred to me that I was the person “down” and the blue pickup was our green pickup. I called the ambulance driver on her cell phone and told her I was just hungover and needed a nap! They had to cancel Pendleton Fire Department ambulance, the Lifeflight helicopter and the police came out also!

I am glad one of the neighbors called for assistance. As I used to volunteer for the fire dept they all got a laugh out of it. I will strive to ensure that my future naps are out of sight of the road.