Tragedy

I'm sure many of you have by now heard about the helicopter crash in Two Harbors. Here is our story of it, which is peripheral. Saturday mornings I usually sleep in until 8am and then make scrambled eggs and bacon for breakfast, but this morning was different. For one, we were out of both eggs and bacon. In addition, we had plans to take the 2pm ferry to the mainland, so we couldn't laze about like we normally do. To help matters along, I also wasn't feeling well - something I ate, no doubt. So I was dragging myself around, trying to figure out what we would eat, when I turned on the radio to the local NPR station. I was half listening as I puttered around the kitchen until "helicopter crash...Catalina island..." filtered it's way into my ears. And just as I was assuming it happened near Avalon, I also heard "west end...Two Harbors." I immediately tried to call our friends who live on the WMSC campus because there's a helipad there and I thought it might have happened while someone was trying to land there. I couldn't reach them, and then heard a large helicopter fly over our house, so I poked my head our our front door to see a Sheriff's Department helicopter landing in the large field behind the Isthmus Yacht Club. Walking down to the end of our housing cluster, I could see the the pumper truck, the Baywatch rescue vehicles, another rescue helicopter and a black scar across the field. This happened less than half a mile from our house! I think the pilot did a heroic job of not crashing in town. I don't know if he was one of the survivors, but God bless him, either way.

Here is a picture of the scene. The building up on the hill is the Banning House Lodge (the hotel in town). Fortunately it has been wet (of all things - it's late in the season for rain) recently. It rained Friday, and was damp that day, otherwise the field fire could have been worse. At this point at least one victim had been airlifted out. The others were being cared for behind the yellow rescue truck.


There were six people on the helicopter - the pilot and five passengers. Three survived. I found out today that a good friend of ours was one of the first on the scene and helped pull the survivors out of the wreckage. I like to think that I'd be brave enough to do the same, but you don't know until you face that test, and I'd rather not be in that situation. Below is a closer picture of the wreckage. It's hard to believe anyone survived. I've been on one of these helicopters once. There really isn't much to them, which is clear from the remains.



It was a tragedy, and it was very close to us physically, but it was distant emotionally; we had no connections to any of the people on the helicopter (other than I might have flown on that helicopter at one point, or with that pilot), so to us and many of the other Memorial Day weekend visitors, it felt like a spectator event, like watching one of the 24-hour news channels.

There was no reason for us to postpone our trip, so the Things and I boarded the ferry and headed over to LA. This was mostly a trip for fun, so we saw Speed Racer that night (which was better than I expected; Thing1 was so excited during the climactic race that he was bouncing in his seat and clapping). The next day we did some shopping, including a trip to the Toys R Us so the Things could spend some allowance money, and also went to the Cabrillo Marine Aquarium, which had great exhibits, a ton of educational material, sea creature costumes for the little ones, and had free admittance (although they ask for a donation). After that exhausting day, we saw Prince Caspian (pretty much what I expected - very good, but not great). We also had a bit of a junk food binge: little chocolate donuts (sorry for the add, but it's worth it for the higher video quality) for breakfast, McDonald's for lunch and pizza for dinner. This morning it was a quick trip to the grocery store and then back to the ferry. Both boys fell asleep on the ferry within 20 minutes of our arrival. Thing2 actually fell asleep as we passed Bird Rock (which is at the entrance to the harbor).

With all the fun we had over town, I guess this post could have been titles Joy and Sadness, too. Speaking of which, we'll probably be picking Kevin up tomorrow. Oh, and Sweetie called me from Miami yesterday, so she got that far okay. This morning she was scheduled to fly to San Salvador. I've survived the first week of her absence. Two more to go...

Joy and sadness

So first, take a look at the video below (if you've got broadband).



Meet Happy and Kevin, littermates from a feral cat that lives near the Del Rey Yacht Club. The caretaker traps young kittens each year and turns them in to the animal shelter in Avalon. He gave us two on Mother's Day. We took them home and gave them baths because they didn't smell so good and were filthy. Then the Things started terrorizing them.

Kevin had a gooey eye, which the next day turned into two gooey eyes and a runny nose, which the next day turned into a wheezy breathing, with eyes that didn't really open. We were really worried about this, and so tried to get a vet appointment for Wednesday. Now there is a vet in Avalon, but it just so happened that he was out of town because of a death in the family, and wouldn't be back until Saturday, which we feared would be too late. So Wednesday morning the kittens we popped into a carrier, and I drove across the island to catch a ferry for a mainland emergency run. This may seem like an awful amount of effort for an easily replaceable kitten, but Thing 1 had grown attached to Kevin (this was 'his' cat), so parental love overrules logic. The vet looks at Kevin, prescribes 3 antibiotics (one for eyes, one for nose and one oral) and back we go to the ferry terminal for the return trip. That night Kevin seemed a little better.

But the next day, Kevin stopped eating and slept all day, sounding no better and maybe worse. We talked to Thing 1 about there being no guarantee that Kevin would get better despite our best efforts, and his response was suitably sorrowful. We went to bed that night with the awful feeling that little Kevin would no be with us the next morning.

But when we awoke, Kevin was still wheezing away. He seemed no worse than the day before, which was hopeful. Still not eating though, so I retrieved a dropper from work and we force fed him some milk. I managed to arrange for a visit to the local vet Saturday afternoon.

Now some of you may be asking why all this fell on my shoulders, why Sweetie didn't take Kevin to the vet. Well, she has just left to teach a three week course on tropical marine ecology at her former place of empolyment. She has been going crazy the last few weeks trying to get lectures prepared, gear assembled and packed, and make sure there's food and clean clothes for us for at least the first week she's gone. We had planned to all go over to the mainland with her on Friday and spend a night and a day playing before she had to leave, but Kevin's condition forced us to cancel that. (How's that old joke go? We'd call up the cat-sitter and she'd say "Uh, your cat climbed up on the roof...")

So yesterday we had a send-off picnic for Sweetie (down at the rope swings) and put her on the 2pm ferry, and then the Things and I jumped in the car to head to Avalon. This was an interesting trip. It started with me removing the muffler, which had broken loose from the catalytic converter, and throwing it in the back. Then I realized we had forgotten some paperwork, so we had to turn around. And then the truck started making a funny buzzing noise under the hood, which I initially thought was related to removing the muffler. When I stopped and raised the hood, I saw that the bracket that holds the stick that holds the hood up (STHTHU) (is there a technical term for that?) had broken, and the STHTHU had jostled down onto the radiator fan. One piece of rope later, we were back on the road. It was one of those days, too, when all the bison seem to want to stand in the middle of the road.

So we finally get to Avalon and manage to find the vet's office (not too difficult, but also not obvious). Dr Denney takes a look, gets that concerned look on his face, and makes the bad 'hmmm' sound. To him it looks like a calicivirus or maybe a herpesvirus (which would be why the antibiotics weren't helping), and a very bad infection, but one he thought Kevin would survive (although there may be damage to his eyes). So he's keeping Kevin for the week so he can give him intravenous fluids and some antivirals. I'm sure this will end up being more expensive than the ~$200 I spent on Wednesday taking the silly cats to the mainland vet, but again, love > logic.

So we got ice cream and came home.

Happy seems like she may have a much less severe case of the same thing (a barely runny eye, and a sniffle). We'll keep and eye on her.

So the boys have learned quite a bit this week about the joy and sadness associated with having pets. Okay, Thing 1 has. Thing 2 is still a little too young to really get it and not say things like "Kevin's going to die, but Happy is okay" at the dinner table.