Brittle Bones

Friday night I decided to surprise Brian and take him to a skatepark. After being in CA, it seemed he was missing the skateboarding. I did my research, I found all the parks in the valley and then narrowed it down. I wanted an open, lit, free, no helmet kinda place. Jackpot, there were several and I chose the one in Scottsdale. I told Brian I had a surprise for him, told him to dress comfy, and off we went.


It turned out to be a really nice park. It wasn't too crowded and it was really big and open. Brian was happy, I handed him his board and off he went. He skated around a bit getting his skate legs back in order.


I had a seat and watched the guys skate and bike around. Some were good, some were not, and some were on scooters. After about a half hour I noticed Brian sitting below where I was. He said he fell while skating in the bowl and I totally missed it. He said his arm hurt, that he landed on it. Oh man. I gave him a hard time about it, but it was obvious it did hurt and we sat and watched a while.

We had decided to see a movie, Science of Sleep, to be exact. He said he was still up for it so after a while we left for the movie. When we got out of the movie (it was really good), he was cradling his arm and said it hurt a lot. He wasn't able to move it much and it felt a little swollen. "Do you want to go to the hospital" I asked. At first he said no, but as we drove home he changed his mind and we were off to the ER. It was nearly 1 am at the point in which we entered the ER waiting room. It was freezing in there and really uncomfortable, but there weren't many waiting, hopefully this will be quick. We waited a while and finally he was called back, and I was left out in the freezing cold room to watch some bad movie on TV. He was gone forever and finally a doctor came out and said I could hang with him back in the exam room. He still hadn't had the x-ray yet and it was freezing in there too. Finally, fed up with the cold, I snooped a little and found the stash of blankets, my mom would have been proud.
To make this story go faster than the experience itself, Brian finally got x-rayed, they found no broken bones and stuck a sling on him.

It was 4 am when we left that place. Mom, why oh why does it take so friggin long to get things done in the ER. I thought of you, just sitting at the nurses station laughing about how miserable everyone was and that you had all the power to make it better.

Anyway, I had a class this morning at 9 am, which meant I had to wake up at 7 am. Yes I got 2 hours of sleep before rising and driving 45 minutes to Liberty to learn how to hold a bird. I was surprisingly awake for the event and I am glad I didn't miss it.

Today I stood next to a Red Tailed Hawk and asked it to step up onto my heavy thick gloved hand. Acoma gladly did and there I was, arm out with a red tail on my fist and wrist. It weighs only a few pounds, 3 maybe, but it felt like a small child sitting up there. I then had to hold onto the straps on its legs and walk down the long pathway and place him in the traveling cage. Holy shit! So there I was, talking to Acoma, walking down the path hoping he didn't decide to try to fly. When they do they don't go much off the hand and then head down. You have to help them back up if they do this. We made it safely to the box and I got him all nice and happy. Then I had to take him back, my arm muscles were on fire and this time he did try to go. I handled it well and got him back on the glove in a jiff. I wish I had photos of me doing this. I was walking with a red tailed hawk inches from my face. I did it, it was so freakin awesome, and now I get to practice with more birds like a great horned owl, a kestrel, a burrowing owl, and a harris hawk.

I crashed around 2 pm this afternoon and napped for a couple hours. Its Octoberfest in Tempe tonight, so I must be rested and ready to guzzle some beer.

-Nina-