Last week, Sam and I blogged about smells of summer that made us nostalgic. This week we feel obligated to point out that summer can also be hazardous to your health. While this is a great time to get outdoors and limber up those winter-stiffened limbs, one must use caution. Lack of caution is already getting people killed and summer has barely started. Of course, sometimes you do use caution and you die anyway, like the 19 fire fighters in Arizona. Did you read or hear about that? What a tragedy.
Despite wildfires, summer generally is a great time to engage in activities like swimming, bicycling, hiking, going out for a walk or picnicking. Just be careful.
When temps hit the triple digits, many of us head for the water. The 90’s are enough to make us North Westerners die to get wet. The news this week includes several stories about inner-tubers or rafters missing and people drowning in lakes and rivers. Rivers are running high and fast because of recent rains and glacial melt in the mountains. And rivers and lakes are COLD.
It’s so easy to do something stupid in or around the water. When Kathleen and I had only been married a few months we rented a house on Pend d’Oreille Lake in Idaho for the Labor Day holiday. When my new bride and I walked out onto a dock on the lake I suddenly was seized with the insane urge to jump in the lake and show off for my bride. Big Mistake! I almost couldn’t get back out of the lake and I confess I momentarily wondered what a watery grave would feel like. Luckily, I could swim - my aunt Jan had shamed me into learning how when I was nine - but it had been a long time since I’d actually done any swimming. Whew! Speaking of swimming, Kathleen and I used to know this old couple in Lynden who swam 25 laps every day at the local YMCA. They were in their 80’s. I could barely make two laps!
Biking can be treacherous too. I’ve already fallen off my new bike three times - all in the attempt to get healthy. I also took a couple bad spills on my old bike. In addition, I nearly got nailed by an inattentive driver once. Several stories have appeared in the news this month about bicycle riders being killed by inattentive drivers. But bicycle accidents aren’t always the other guy’s fault. A few years ago in Bellingham a guy accidentally rode off a mountain biking trail and skewered himself on the pointy branch of a fallen log. Sheesh Kabob! Lucky for him, he lived through that accident.
Just taking a walk can end in tragedy. A few months ago some doofus drove his car into an entire family and nearly wiped them all out. He did kill the grandpa and grandma along on the walk. And just this past week a young girl out walking with friends was shot in the neck and died. Another young girl up in Ferndale, attending a family barbecue, recently was killed by a stray bullet from some guy target shooting not too far away.
And every year, the news carries reports of hikers lost in the mountains. Sometimes they survive; too often they don’t. If the elements themselves don’t kill the hikers, avalanches can.
Last of all, how about death by rock concert? Apparently, a bunch of fans attending a recent rock concert here in WA., State overdosed on drugs and wound up in the hospital. One guy died.
Three bags of poop on dying while enjoying our summer weather. Sam and I can’t help wondering though if overdosing at a rock concert would be all that terrible. Bury us in our tie-died T-shirts Kathleen!
Despite wildfires, summer generally is a great time to engage in activities like swimming, bicycling, hiking, going out for a walk or picnicking. Just be careful.
When temps hit the triple digits, many of us head for the water. The 90’s are enough to make us North Westerners die to get wet. The news this week includes several stories about inner-tubers or rafters missing and people drowning in lakes and rivers. Rivers are running high and fast because of recent rains and glacial melt in the mountains. And rivers and lakes are COLD.
It’s so easy to do something stupid in or around the water. When Kathleen and I had only been married a few months we rented a house on Pend d’Oreille Lake in Idaho for the Labor Day holiday. When my new bride and I walked out onto a dock on the lake I suddenly was seized with the insane urge to jump in the lake and show off for my bride. Big Mistake! I almost couldn’t get back out of the lake and I confess I momentarily wondered what a watery grave would feel like. Luckily, I could swim - my aunt Jan had shamed me into learning how when I was nine - but it had been a long time since I’d actually done any swimming. Whew! Speaking of swimming, Kathleen and I used to know this old couple in Lynden who swam 25 laps every day at the local YMCA. They were in their 80’s. I could barely make two laps!
Biking can be treacherous too. I’ve already fallen off my new bike three times - all in the attempt to get healthy. I also took a couple bad spills on my old bike. In addition, I nearly got nailed by an inattentive driver once. Several stories have appeared in the news this month about bicycle riders being killed by inattentive drivers. But bicycle accidents aren’t always the other guy’s fault. A few years ago in Bellingham a guy accidentally rode off a mountain biking trail and skewered himself on the pointy branch of a fallen log. Sheesh Kabob! Lucky for him, he lived through that accident.
Just taking a walk can end in tragedy. A few months ago some doofus drove his car into an entire family and nearly wiped them all out. He did kill the grandpa and grandma along on the walk. And just this past week a young girl out walking with friends was shot in the neck and died. Another young girl up in Ferndale, attending a family barbecue, recently was killed by a stray bullet from some guy target shooting not too far away.
And every year, the news carries reports of hikers lost in the mountains. Sometimes they survive; too often they don’t. If the elements themselves don’t kill the hikers, avalanches can.
Last of all, how about death by rock concert? Apparently, a bunch of fans attending a recent rock concert here in WA., State overdosed on drugs and wound up in the hospital. One guy died.
Three bags of poop on dying while enjoying our summer weather. Sam and I can’t help wondering though if overdosing at a rock concert would be all that terrible. Bury us in our tie-died T-shirts Kathleen!
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