And, Now… for Something Completely Stupid…

 

August 2nd…Bored pilot looking to find trouble.

August 2nd, the smoke was getting bad, so much so that even Mike seemed resigned that the day had very little to offer so we were up for something different to do. Jorge for this visit had brought is fishing/ski boat along, so with beverages, snacks, fishing rods and a wake board we were off to Banks Lake to go do what regular folks do.

Well… how shall I put this, the only experience I have with any sort of water sport (other then swimming) was water skiing (when I was 7 or 8 years old). All I can remember about the experience was there was an awful lot of water involved…. most of it trying to shove through any orifice that you could shove water through. With this history of (un)successful water sport experience … I found my self floating in Banks Lake, Jorge hammering his 90 hp up to speed netting pretty much the same success as my previous attempts, lots of water, all of it through me, with very little of it passing under me! Oh well, after getting my arms stretched and multiple attempts it was back in the boat for a beverage.

There was some discussion that perhaps speed was a problem for us newbies, Mia gave it a go (with Jorge providing a much softer start). After only a few attempts, she was up like a pro! (look at that style!)

Mike, competitive as always, got dragged a few more times then Mia, but he to, got up… and down… success non the less! So… that left stupid (me). Not satisfied with having failed at this little endeavour I just had to give it one more go.

First try, close…. but no cigar. I should have quit…. Nope, one more stab and…..hmmmm, the human body should not be making noises while attempting any sort of sport? On this second attempt, I swear I heard a loud “pop” in my left leg… followed immediately by sharp pain (also not a good thing while attempting any sort of athletic adventure). The short of the story, I pulled my hamstring, (and probably a few other neighbouring posterior muscles). Several days after the “incident” I was towelling off from a shower and noticed for the first time that the back of my injured leg had turned all black, blue, green and yellow.

Yikes… so after a consult with Dr. Internet the bruising is the result of blood from the torn or damaged tendon finding its way out of the muscle, pretty typical for a medium level of damage. It looks like all that can be done is something called “RICE” (Rest/Ice/Compression/Elevate). After a week of keeping things light, Sitting on a couple bags of Ice and gradually putting the leg back to work, things were improving. At the two week mark, I decided that PG flight off good old Woodside could not hurt…. or could it? First pull up pretty clearly proved there was more rehab still to go, still, I committed to another pull up and a tentative run and I made it into the air for some local airtime.

Looks like its going to be another week or two of this RICE thing. Toss in a bunch of free advice from the cheap seats suggested  suggesting the addition of some stretching? Ah, but stretching is an awful lot like Yoga… Real men don’t do yoga! I substitute stretching with Scotch and Ibuprofen (just kidding)

Oh well the last several weeks, my employer has been happy to have me back, the flying has sucked with Chelan and all of the Pacific NW is going up in flames, so its looking like my season has come to and end. Still hoping to get Mia a couple more OLC flights but in all likelihood is going to be up God’s of Fire.

As far as  any more water sports?… I’m going to drive the boat!