"Did I ever tell you about the time that Lucy saved my life?"
When Lucy showed up at the Rustic Palace, she was starving and had recently whelped. "You could see every bone in her system," says Dad. "We didn't think she was going to make it." They fed her milk sops that she could barely lift her head to eat. But she lived and thrived, and became a very devoted protector.
One day not so long ago, with Lucy running alongside, Dad drove the "Mule," an ATV, down to the creek. And I do mean down, it's a long, very steep hill. Well, once at the bottom, it started to rain. And as Dad tried to get back up the hill, the gears stuck and the mule slipped back. Finally, he gave up and left it and started toiling up the hill on foot. It was very slippery and steep, and he fell in the mud several times (a dangerous thing when you're on blood thinners).
He started crawling up the hill. "Lucy stayed right by me, touching my side at all times," he says. "If I slipped back, she'd wait for me to catch up, and then we would go again." The two inched forward until rescue arrived. And even then, Lucy wouldn't leave Dad's side for quite a while.
The rescue was completed in two tiers. The lower operation from discovery point, near the water (Jan and Larry) to uphill meeting point(Daron and Carol)... from meeting point up steep hillside to Rustic Palace respite(His fav Adirondack chair). Lucy never left his side at any stage. Did he mention his insistence to go on with dinner plans for the evening?? ...and we DID! When the Snake Dr. speaks, we listen. He was amazing that day, and so was Lucy.
ReplyDeleteIt's good to have another angle on the story!
ReplyDeleteI love Lucy!
ReplyDeleteNow here are other views of the event:
ReplyDelete1. The Mule would not climb the hill because it only was running on one cylinder and because it was slick and because Snake Doctor had not put it into low gear.
2. The trail was slick because Snake Doctor had run up it, and had slipped back five times. (Now think of sliding back the steep hill in the Mule on a narrow trail. Dunno about you, but it makes my heart pound a bit to think of it.)
3. When Larry and Jan found Snake Doctor he was sitting on the trail, bleeding from torn up knees and palms. Quite a bit of blood because he was wearing shorts and because of the forementioned Coumadin.
Now here is an important detail about Lucy: she not only stayed with Snake Doctor, but also she consistiently cleaned his wounds, licking away the blood. This went on for about 10 minutes before the Cavalry arrived. Because his balance is tricky, H had fallen and then had to crawl up the rough trail. Although he is a tough old Marine, his skin is delicate. Combine crawling over sharp rocks with that and you get the picture of the damage.
4. When she arrived it took LOTS of convincing to get Snake Doctor to let her stay -- convincing by The Biologist and by Lucy herself. After the rescue on the Mule trail, Lucy earned her place as Snake Doctor's favorite -- before that, he thought she was "Ugly". The Biologist always thought that Lucy was beautiful.
5. Lucy, Jan, Carol, Larry, and Daron banded together to be the Snake Doctor's rescue party. Jan and Larry got him up the really steep part of the hill and man, he is HEAVY! Then Carol and Daron supported him as he walked along the trail, clambering up and down and over fallen tree trunks. Back at the house, Carol's RN expertise came to the fore and she tended to his wounds. It took a while for the bleeding to stop -- maybe two glasses of wine. Dinner was Boeuf Bourginon (sp?). It had taken all day to prepare and there was no possible way that we were going to skip it!