08 june 2011

I probably give Ryan too much authority in this house. But it makes more easier living. At least that is what I keep telling myself. Every morning he bounces back into bed at 6:30 in order to wake me up, kick me out and watch tv. And most mornings I ask him what we are doing today. His typical answer is "stay home." Today he surprised me. He said he would tell me in 10 minutes. He left the bedroom, went out into the garage and intro the van to get his atlas. After a few minutes, he came back and said Alafia River State Park. OK. We have never been there. It is south of Plant City. I just looked it up and it is mostly for off-road biking. It should be interesting.

2006 is done. I had some trouble with LR crashing every time I tried I tried to look at two specific images. They weren't great so I deleted them. Everything worked fine after that. I have key-worded and organized over 1800 photos. I threw away a lot. I think this is enough for now.

I did some Lego shots then we got ready to go. The park is about an hour away. It is mostly a park for off road bike trails. Ryan wandered a bit and took photos. Then he complained that there weren't any trails to walk. I explained that there is a multi-use trail but he wouldn't go on it. He said he wanted to just go to the playground. Then he saw a sign and went off to read it.

The following is from my notes that I typed while all of it went on. I am nerdy that way. And it kept me from showing how upset I was to Andy.

12:05 I am so angry right now. Ryan took off on his own. I do not know which direction he went. I do not know if he is OK. For someone who must obey the rules, he disobeyed a big one. He has no map. No water. No ID. I do not know how long the trail is. I do not know if it is safe. There is no park ranger here. I want to beat him for making me feel like this. (I say I want to beat home a lot. I never do. I am all talk.)

It has been about 20 minutes. I hate waiting. Not knowing.

There are two picnic pavilions. They are nice. Their roofs are metal and they have ceilings. So as the metal heats up, he expands and makes a sound like thunder.

There are 3 horse riders going on the trail. They are going to freak Ryan out.

I hate this!

Just saw one ranger who couldn't get off the phone to help. Another ranger came up and said the trail would "take a bit." What the f*** does that mean? She finally said about 45 minutes. She and the guy on the phone finally went driving down the trail.

Ack. I couldn't even remember what Ryan was wearing but I looked at the photos I had and saw the striped shirt. I showed Catherine. Signals are weak here. Hope the phones will work.

I have a headache.

11:43. Rangers came back without him. They have gone off on foot this time. Biker has also gone back. This really sucks.

11:49. A third ranger showed up. He showed more urgency. He took off in his truck on the trail.

11:58 Third ranger came back alone. He seems like an ass. He is standing at the trail head.

Wish I had someone to call. I have to be calm for Andy though he knows I am upset.

12:01. Two rangers. No Ryan. I want to cry.

12:15 Finally went to the car to get something to drink. Catherine said not to worry. Easy for her to say. The trails are marked in the trees with red. I didn't know and I doubt Ryan does. They say it is easy to jump from one trail to another. Catherine also said we should stick with country parks which have paved trails. (D'uh!)

12:25 Ranger 3 came back, his name is Coy. They are trying two other ways. If no luck then they call EMS. Awful dread... They found him.



Actually he came back on his own. He got mixed up and was on the bike trail (the trails are NOT marked well). He saw some bikers who said they were looking for him. Then he saw the ranger as he neared the trail head.

I tried to stay angry and calm at the same time. I needed Ryan to know how wrong he was. But I couldn't yell or it would get Andy upset. All Ryan cared about was his iPod. I said he could have it back after I calmed down. He kept asking about which made my ire continue. We went to get lunch in Brandon.

I finally gave Ryan his iPod when we stopped at Chick Fil A. I couldn't stand to listen to him complain. I wanted to yell but knew it wouldn't help. A few (dozen) deep breaths and I did feel better.

I came home and uploaded photos. There were less than 100 and only about a dozen I wanted to keep. I did the first half of a layout and also a card for my nephew.