Crazy Owl Eyes Goes to Yosemite

My new nickname is "Crazy Owl Eyes" and I'll tell you why.





Yesterday, Sue, I, 47 fourth graders and an assortment of chaperones boarded the yellow school bus climbed the winding road to Yosemite.  It was a good trip up -- no one barfed (we were happy not to have the use the plastic bags we'd brought along just in case).

Ranger Chris met with us and gave the children an excellent presentation on the animals in the Valley as we sat and ate our lunches.  I like Ranger Chris.  She and I have gotten to know each other over the years I've been coming up.  For me, it's an honor having conversations with a Yosemite Park ranger.

After our big group separated into smaller groups to go exploring, Sue and I did a bit of walking and gawking ourselves.  I was surprised to see so much water cascading down Yosemite Falls.  Sue, who absolutely adores all the falls, was delighted by the sound, spray and movement of all that water.

We also visited the old cemetery and then the Ansel Adam's Art Gallery.  It was at this last place that I did my bit to keep the economy going.  I spotted and quickly fell in love with a series of vases.  I decided to buy the one with the fish, but it had a friend -- the one encircled by butterflies.  Then Sue gave her opinion that I really should add in the frog one to make it a group of three.  So, after three seconds of careful consideration,  I put prudence in the backseat, took out my credit card and bought them all.





A little later, as Sue and I were walking down the path, something very strange happened.  I blinked, and when I opened my eyes, my vision was clouded by an immense cloud of floaters swarming around in my right eye.  Making things worse, an immense spidery shape, repeatedly drifted across my line of sight.  To say I was distracted and concerned would be a vast understatement.


I called Bruce on my cell and he contacted Kaiser.  I soon was in a surreal three-way conference call with a doctor as I sat on a bench staring at Half Dome.  It shone magnificently through the cloud of floaters.


 I was scheduled to go in to see an ophthalmologist this afternoon.  Once in the office, the nurse dilated my eyes with three sets of drops and soon the ophthalmologist was peering in at my right eye with a bright light.  I was startled when she suddenly sprang up and told me not to worry, but there was blood in my right eye and she was going to go get the retina specialist before he left for the day.  When someone tells you not to worry with news like this and then quickly leaves the room, it is cause to worry in earnest.  Which I did.

However, I needn't have because the specialist was calm, reassuring and very competent at locating what needed fixing.  My right eye was dilated even more with additional drops and then he lasered the area where the bleeding was coming from.  It hurt (last time it didn't), but he was careful to zap all around the affected area to make sure everything was down nice and tight.

Afterwards, I donned cool blackout shades and Bruce and I went out for sushi.  Difficult times demand good food and there was nothing wrong with my appetite.


Now I'm home, and as I sit here, my eyes are still sore and blurry, but I should be fine by tomorrow.  Right now my eyes look like a crazy owl's.



Note the difference in the size of my pupils.  Crazy.