Shadow and Flame

The past two days were by far the two most dangerous days in Kentucky thus far. Aside from the narrow roads, crazy drivers, bears, and general work site danger, there remains one danger which has plagued me above any other...wild dogs. So, in my training for the Louisville half marathon in about a month, I have been running this 1.5 mile stretch near our house back and forth...which is the flattest part of Kentucky I have found yet. We always say, don't run past the tire on the mailbox, or you will surely be attacked by dogs. Well, while you are assured to be attacked by dogs beyond the tire mailbox, you are only more than likely to be attacked by dogs anywhere else on the road. Yesterday, I was running, breathing loudly as usual and huffing as fast as my short legs would go, and I heard these two dogs start barking and take off down the driveway toward my general direction. At this point, I strategically retreated in the form of a brisk walk in the opposite direction, muttering, "nice doggie...eh...". Usually, the dogs will stop at the driveway, but this time, they continued their pursuit beyond the driveway and continued toward me, with a general...angry disposition. They advanced all the way up to about 5 feet away when a voice from a porch nearby yelled "GIIIITT NAW". The dogs stopped in their tracks and trotted back to the source of the saving voice. I'm not quite sure what I would've done if the voice wasn't there. More likely than not, I would've assumed the fetal position and promptly soiled myself, or, attempted some ill-favored escape involving a short sprint, the dogs catching me and then me soiling myself in the fetal position.
This was not the only instance I escaped bodily harm in the last couple days. Today, I was doing some demolition on the side of the house we were working on, tearing down old aluminum siding and framing out windows. Well, I ripped off a piece of siding to reveal a random live wire that was uncovered and had many burn marks in the insulation around it. I though..."huh"... So I called Ross, local hero and work crew leader, he lightly tapped the wire with a hammer and sparks flew out. That's when we were sure it was live. So I thought, "huh". Now, we had hired some local guys to help us run some electrical wire in the addition of the house. One of them who went by the name of Red came out, grabbed the wire with a pair of insulated pliers, causing more sparks to fly out, while he remarked, "Shoot dang!". So we shut the power off, capped the wire, and cleaned up the situation. Forget about it.
But, despite the dangers, if you could really consider them such, it all seemed ok when we went to Ross' house (our crew leader and hero) for a bar-b-que. All of us housing folks went over there; me, Don, Laura, Monica, Ross the kid (not our leader), David, David, Nate, Ann, and Jesse. Joe was the only one not present, and he was greatly missed, I assure you. We ate some fish fry, hush puppies, burgers, hot dogs, and all sorts of fix'ns. We also got to enjoy a beer each. See, we abstain from all sorts of alcohol at the volunteer house, much to my beer snob dismay. But it comes with the territory, and we are all very sure to respect the rules. BUT, when we are able to have a cold beer, it is heavenly. In my opinion, there is no better way to relax after a long day of manual labor than enjoying a couple cold beverages with the ones you love, call me crazy. You should really try it some day, if you never have. Go mow the grass and then sit on your porch, stoop, or armchair, pop open a lager, and try to tell me that you aren't at peace. We sat there, sipping the cold beer, slowly enjoying the burgers and fish and knew there was no finer conclusion to a hard day of work. We watched the sun sink below the hills, savoring the twilight and the company. It was all together peaceful and fulfilling.

Cheers mates.

Quote of the day, By David (Frank): "Girl, my feelings for you are like diarrhea, I just can't hold them in."