Thank you all for returning to this blog, I really appreciate your support. Today we study life on a gold mining claim; talk about Bruce' killing his father-in-law; Ann faces down a mother Mountain Lion; and a Bobcat is loose in the kitchen...
THE GOD GAMES: Heaven & Hell...Chapter 28...HELL
Some people hated Bruce because he got away with so much, but he did have a lot of friends in the proper places and sometime I wondered how he got away with so much. Bruce had killed (shot with a gun) his first father-in-law many decades before; it had been in self-defense. His father-in-law snuck up on him and fired a gun at him, but Bruce was such a fast-draw that he got a shot off first. He was forced to fire a gun in court (dry fire with a machine that timed him) to see if he was really such a quick draw. He was, and the charges were dropped against him. That is all very well and good, but I have to admit that I was afraid of what Bruce was capable of. One thing I didn't need anyone to tell me, was that he was emotionally abusive and controlling. When I worked at Starnet and went to college, I had not seen too much of the violent, irrational Bruce. I had my own transportation then and did things pretty much as I wanted to do them, but shortly after we moved to the mountains I gave up my little car to Debby because it couldn't stand up to the roughness of the roads up to the mine. Bruce would not let me go off of the mountain alone. He refused to let me go to see my children and grandchildren, although we went to visit his family often. He refused to let me go to Julian by myself, even refusing to let me go to the library or the grocery store alone. When we did go anywhere in the truck, he refused to let me get out of the truck and socialize. He kept me waiting in the truck for hours at a time while he visited with his friends. Peaches became my confidant and I love her so much for listening to me while I hurried to get the few items of groceries that we needed.
Living in the mountains was a great adventure. It was so beautiful all around us, and there was such peace and stillness, only broken by the shriek of a hawk or the sound of the stream rushing over the boulders of its creek bed. Jared and I ran a weather station for the BLM to keep track of the temperatures, rainfall, snowfall, and the wind speed. The animals in the canyon were not wary of our presence as they had seen few human beings over the years and so were not afraid of us. Bats and huge moths would get in the cabin at night because the lights in our house attracted them. Really, I should say that the huge (and little) moths would coat the outside of the house at night because we had the only light in the canyon, and the bats would come to the house to catch the moths and sometimes accidentally get trapped in the house. They would scare the heck out of me as they flew so desperately around the cabin, but Bruce would finally catch them in a coat of his and then let them loose outside.
One early morning I got up to go to the outhouse. When I got outside I found myself face to face with a mother mountain lion. She was beautiful and I just stood there and didn't move and stared into her eyes with love and calmness. She looked into my eyes for several moments, and then she turned around and quietly stalked away. The strength for that came from ONE, if I would have had to think by myself at the moment I would probably have screamed and that could have been fatal. Another time, Bruce had left the back door open at night (he insisted on this every night) so that his kittens and cats-there were 13, all inbred-could go out or come in as they so desired. We heard a loud banging in the kitchen and we got up with our flashlights to see what was going on. As we approached the kitchen, a large bobcat ran right past us and out the back door; he had been eating the cat's food. Once we were sitting in our living room and we opened the front door for some air and then we heard all of this banging in the covered barbecue. Bruce took a stick and opened up the lid of the barbecue and out flew a huge raccoon that must have gotten trapped in the barbecue when the lid was closed down the night before. Many times we were sprayed by the skunks as they got really close to the house looking for food, and once there was a huge rattlesnake that got trapped under the floor of the living room. The rattlesnake started rattling and it took us a while to realize that it was a snake making all that noise, it sounded more like the sound of propane escaping from a leaking tank. After washing all the valves of the propane tanks with soap-water and not finding any leaks, Bruce got down on his hands and knees and a flashlight and saw the big rattler under the living room floor. Of course, Bruce got out a rifle and shot the snake on his first try. Then he dragged it out from under the floorboards with a large plank, cut off its head and threw that away, then turned the snake upside down and put rocks on it, hoping that would bring on a thunderstorm. I wasn't too happy that he chose to leave the snake right where I would have to pass it every time I went to the outhouse.
As wonderful as the mountains themselves were to live in, I began to lose my sanity in a very real way; bit by bit, day by day. If I may tell you of these times I would sure appreciate it. Maybe my tale will help to make you stronger one day and that would be a blessing to me.
Tomorrow we take a look at the story of Ann's mental illness...
THE GOD GAMES: Heaven & Hell...Chapter 28...HELL
Some people hated Bruce because he got away with so much, but he did have a lot of friends in the proper places and sometime I wondered how he got away with so much. Bruce had killed (shot with a gun) his first father-in-law many decades before; it had been in self-defense. His father-in-law snuck up on him and fired a gun at him, but Bruce was such a fast-draw that he got a shot off first. He was forced to fire a gun in court (dry fire with a machine that timed him) to see if he was really such a quick draw. He was, and the charges were dropped against him. That is all very well and good, but I have to admit that I was afraid of what Bruce was capable of. One thing I didn't need anyone to tell me, was that he was emotionally abusive and controlling. When I worked at Starnet and went to college, I had not seen too much of the violent, irrational Bruce. I had my own transportation then and did things pretty much as I wanted to do them, but shortly after we moved to the mountains I gave up my little car to Debby because it couldn't stand up to the roughness of the roads up to the mine. Bruce would not let me go off of the mountain alone. He refused to let me go to see my children and grandchildren, although we went to visit his family often. He refused to let me go to Julian by myself, even refusing to let me go to the library or the grocery store alone. When we did go anywhere in the truck, he refused to let me get out of the truck and socialize. He kept me waiting in the truck for hours at a time while he visited with his friends. Peaches became my confidant and I love her so much for listening to me while I hurried to get the few items of groceries that we needed.
Living in the mountains was a great adventure. It was so beautiful all around us, and there was such peace and stillness, only broken by the shriek of a hawk or the sound of the stream rushing over the boulders of its creek bed. Jared and I ran a weather station for the BLM to keep track of the temperatures, rainfall, snowfall, and the wind speed. The animals in the canyon were not wary of our presence as they had seen few human beings over the years and so were not afraid of us. Bats and huge moths would get in the cabin at night because the lights in our house attracted them. Really, I should say that the huge (and little) moths would coat the outside of the house at night because we had the only light in the canyon, and the bats would come to the house to catch the moths and sometimes accidentally get trapped in the house. They would scare the heck out of me as they flew so desperately around the cabin, but Bruce would finally catch them in a coat of his and then let them loose outside.
One early morning I got up to go to the outhouse. When I got outside I found myself face to face with a mother mountain lion. She was beautiful and I just stood there and didn't move and stared into her eyes with love and calmness. She looked into my eyes for several moments, and then she turned around and quietly stalked away. The strength for that came from ONE, if I would have had to think by myself at the moment I would probably have screamed and that could have been fatal. Another time, Bruce had left the back door open at night (he insisted on this every night) so that his kittens and cats-there were 13, all inbred-could go out or come in as they so desired. We heard a loud banging in the kitchen and we got up with our flashlights to see what was going on. As we approached the kitchen, a large bobcat ran right past us and out the back door; he had been eating the cat's food. Once we were sitting in our living room and we opened the front door for some air and then we heard all of this banging in the covered barbecue. Bruce took a stick and opened up the lid of the barbecue and out flew a huge raccoon that must have gotten trapped in the barbecue when the lid was closed down the night before. Many times we were sprayed by the skunks as they got really close to the house looking for food, and once there was a huge rattlesnake that got trapped under the floor of the living room. The rattlesnake started rattling and it took us a while to realize that it was a snake making all that noise, it sounded more like the sound of propane escaping from a leaking tank. After washing all the valves of the propane tanks with soap-water and not finding any leaks, Bruce got down on his hands and knees and a flashlight and saw the big rattler under the living room floor. Of course, Bruce got out a rifle and shot the snake on his first try. Then he dragged it out from under the floorboards with a large plank, cut off its head and threw that away, then turned the snake upside down and put rocks on it, hoping that would bring on a thunderstorm. I wasn't too happy that he chose to leave the snake right where I would have to pass it every time I went to the outhouse.
As wonderful as the mountains themselves were to live in, I began to lose my sanity in a very real way; bit by bit, day by day. If I may tell you of these times I would sure appreciate it. Maybe my tale will help to make you stronger one day and that would be a blessing to me.
Tomorrow we take a look at the story of Ann's mental illness...
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