Don't Fool With Mother Nature!

I was concerned by TV news reports yesterday that two NFL football players along with two friends who played in Florida were missing after failing to return from a fishing trip in the seas of the Florida gulf. One of the men, Marquis Cooper, was owner of the boat. Marquis was a former San Francisco 49er linebacker and currently plays for the Oakland Raiders. The other pro-player is Corey Smith, a defensive end for the Detroit Lions. The men left Saturday morning, Feb. 28th on a fishing trip in a 21 foot vessel and failed to return to the dock where they left a vehicle and boat trailer. Shortly after their departure a storm system moved into the gulf, producing high waves and strong winds. The U.S. Coast Guard has begun a search.

Through the years I have had occasions to be acquainted with the dangers provided by nature’s force in storm, flood, fire and earthquake.. They taught me to have a healthy and definite respect for such threats. As a child I once found myself adrift in the river on an inflated automobile inner tube. While family members enjoyed a picnic on the beach I sailed downriver lying on my back across this rubber raft. The problem was that no one missed me and I was too far away to cry for help. I somehow managed to slip inside the tube’s circle and support myself while trying to touch bottom. Eventually the slow current let me paddle towards shore and my toes to touch the river’s silt bottom. I was a lucky 7 year old. Flirting with the American River seemed to be a habit for me. It was there I learned to swim in one day - - when my cousins from the Fair Oaks area tossed me from an embankment into the river to swim or sink. That was their loving way to teach me how to survive in water. It worked. Desperate people achieve amazing results. I was about 9 at the time and later in my teen age years I pulled a few frantic vacationers from peril at the same location. I had enhanced my skills as a swimmer by then.

An experience with the ocean’s fury came during the war years when I made a crossing in a Liberty troop ship from New York to Great Britain. We limped into port with a 30 degree list after being battered by an Atlantic storm. What I mostly remember is how I was able to enjoy the voyage without sea-sickness. Most everyone I knew aboard became deathly ill. But I, as one who suffered car sickness after every trip longer than 5 miles, was completely unaffected. I was happy to lie on top deck and watch the horizon rise and fall with each wave. I must assume that my early problems with auto travel were due to the fumes from the exhaust systems in those vehicles as I spent the time in the back seat. I have fished in small lakes when the water was rough and found my discomfort was not from sickness but from the cold and wet of the sport - - trying to catch fish I would never eat. What will we not suffer for friendship? Other annoying encounters with the ocean include being slammed to the bottom by the legendary 9th wave. If you come up you are coughing and gasping for air, trying to rid yourself of the salt water you swallowed. My son and grandson cannot get enough of this. They enjoy testing their survival instincts every weekend by surfing the big waves off the Pacific coast. During this enjoyment, my son has rubbed shoulders with passing whales, helped rescue other surfers from serious encounters with Great White sharks; and, suffered concussions from flying surf boards as he fought to emerge from heavy wave battering. Yet yesterday eve he returned to his Sacramento home, bubbling with the excitement of a perfect surf that accompanied the current storm system that has reached us. Go figure.

Fire has also furnished a few thrills. The most serious was a grass fire started by two little boys playing with matches. My family and I were camping with friends at Hogan’s Dam in central California when I noticed smoke rising from the wild wheat fields that surrounded our campsite. I and a friend raced to the spot and started beating at the flames with blankets, trying to smother the spreading fire. It was nip and tuck for several minutes but we finally gained control as a forest service truck arrived to help. These arid fields were also dotted with old oak trees and the entire campground would have been destroyed in only a short time had we failed. I have put out fires in kitchen ovens often. Once my mother opened an oven door on a gas stove to check on baking food and the pilot light had failed. The resultant accumulation of gas was ignited by the stove top burners and exploded, tossing mother across the room and burning her face and arms. Fortunately the blast put out its own flames and only caused minor injury. She did lose her eyebrows for a while.

Beautiful snow can also be hazardous to your health. Frostbite, snow blindness, loss of direction, avalanche and hidden dangers buried in drifts can change your life. I spent too many hours in snow country. I did not like it. It was also in the High Sierras that I learned to endure that elevator stomach feeling when most every day brought an earthquake because of looming Mt. Lassen, our close neighboring volcano. I have watched as the ground swell, like an ocean wave, raced to and under us with a low moan.

We are all held in awe by nature’s wonder and beauty. The crashing waves and surf along our coastlines; the glistening snow that brings a catch to your breath as you view it; the thrilling sports that beckon and enthrall us, the wonder of a natural fire as nature tries to cleanse itself, and the beckoning of our great oceans that offer food and adventure have become the joys of our experience in life; but also, have too often brought tragedy and grief to others and their families. We pray for the missing fishermen and send positive thoughts to their families. This earth is a jewel to be explored and enjoyed, so please do participate and be active in discovering all its riches - - but I am - - -
Just sayin’