We had a small bit of drama here on the beach yesterday. As you might know, we live next to a beach access which is normally used just for foot traffic from the small parking lot to the beach. But it is wide enough for an emergency vehicle to get down onto the beach from.
And yesterday they did. We heard the sirens and then they were right outside our front door, so to speak, and so I went to take a look. Once I saw that they were unloading their jet ski, I went back in and got my camera. There wasn't a thing I could do to help them and I was certainly not in their way so I thought I'd grab myself a couple of pictures.
What happened was a 14-year old boy had been wading in the surf when he was pulled out by the rip tide. He was safely rescued so the story has a happy ending, but what he said afterwards was sobering. He claimed he still had his feet on the ground when the rip tide pulled him out to sea. I hadn't thought a rip tide could be strong enough to pull someone that close to the beach out to sea.
That's scary. I have a great respect for the ocean beaches here in Oregon. They aren't like the surf I played in as a kid on the Los Angeles beaches.
The drama opened with the first vehicle getting mired down in the sand well back from the surf. They quickly unloaded a cart from the top of the truck and loaded the jet ski onto it.
Meanwhile, the second vehicle to respond sped quickly around the first and moved down to the beach and then headed north, up the beach, to where the boy was still in the surf and getting weaker.
Once they loaded the jet ski on the cart, it was a simple matter of pushing it out towards the surf. Evidently, some of the men who had been on the beach joined in and helped the Emergency Responders.
The fellow behind was toting the orange boogie board that hooked onto the back of the jet ski. They used this to load the victim onto.
They got the jet ski into the water and the driver turned around to pick up the other rescuer.
And once he was on, they were off. I don't know why they came to our access, as it was one access down from where the boy was, rather than the one nearest him. Regardless, they didn't waste any time getting to him.
They evidently knew the general area to look for the boy because there wasn't any hesitation once he got his partner on board.
It's about a half mile up the coast to where the casino is and where the boy had been pulled out by the rip tide. At one point, they'd had two in the water. A 22-year old family friend had swum out to the boy to help him but wasn't able to get him back to shore and so he gave up and came back alone.
Once they'd secured him onto the boogie board, they headed straight to the beach where the Emergency Vehicle was waiting.
The pictures look a little drained because of the spray/mist in the air from the surf.
They got the boy up on the beach and gave him a quick going over and then loaded him into the emergency vehicle.
And then headed off the beach at the access near the Casino.
And, thank goodness, the boy was alright. He was released after a couple hours at the hospital.
Whew!! Great drama on the beach. Oh, I learned this was the first water rescue of this summer season.
Please, don't think too badly of me. Once I had the pictures and was back in the ol' front room, I thought they might be of interest to the local newspaper.
I don't care for the ghouls that haunt wrecks or tragedies and do nothing but take pictures without helping if they could. And so, even while I was taking the pictures, I was feeling a bit guilty. But, honest, there wasn't a thing I could do to help. The men that unloaded the jet ski handled that job easily. And, really, that's the only place where I could have helped.
Anyway, I did take the pictures over to the local fish wrap and they did use one of the pictures I took. The News Guard is published once-a-week and so they put the picture, along with the ones their staff photographer took, on their web page. He arrived at the scene after the boy had been pulled from the water.
Ok, I did feel a little bit ghoulish, but, still, it was fun getting a picture in the local rag. And, thank goodness, the boy was alright.
A quick segue from the beach rescue yesterday to a walk through the neighborhood today.
I had a boat load of pictures of the North Lincoln Fire & Rescue Water Rescue Team and thought that they might like to have a couple of them. I think everyone likes to have pictures of themselves in action on the job. So Carol and I decided to walk over to the Fire Station, it's a bit over half a mile away, and see if they'd like to have any of the pictures I took of them in action.
And we were off. Stopping, of course, for any interesting sights along the way. Like these unusual looking, to me at least, weeds alongside the road.
We both get a kick out of the old beach cottages all over Lincoln City. Like this one.
Each one is unique and individual. Some are taken care of, like this one. Some, unfortunately, are being allowed to rot, like the one behind our house.
And this one...with an Irish-looking door. Pretty cool, eh?
We made it to the Fire Station but they were out on a call and no one was home. Ratz. I left a card with a visiting fireman from Portland in case they might want to get some of the pictures from me.
And, after a quick stop at the IGA (a grocery store) to ascertain that, yes, indeed, the Mega-Millions ticket I had was quite certainly a loser, we headed toward home.
And ran into these....
....Passion Vines. Popular with butterflies and Smilin' Jack, too.
What a kick in the pants!! Mother Nature must have been smokin' something when she made these!!
Uh, WOW!!
And the yard decor. That won't last for too many more years in this beach air with all its salt.
And, finally, on 33rd Street, we came across this....display. We've been by this house before and, while they have a neat looking yard with a nice play set on it, there wasn't much else to catch your attention.
Until today. They had a plastic flamingo attack.
Hahaha, we talked with the Man of the House and he told us that they'd bought these birds on-line and would, at Christmas, put them out with blue lights underneath them so they'd look like they were on a lake.
Then, a day or two ago, his Missus got the idea she'd put them out now. And she did. All 12 of them are present even though they couldn't find the legs for one of them. She just thought they'd add a little to the house.
And there it is. A couple days spent living life.
Some drama with a good ending and a good walk through the 'Hood.
Life is about being involved, isn't it? Well, maybe standing on the sidelines (getting a couple pictures) and rooting on the good guys is a form of being involved.
Definitely walking through the 'Hood and seeing things is also a form of being involved. You do what you can, y'know.
And tomorrow we're heading down to the Hatfield Marine Science Center near Newport for a guided bird walk. Afterwards, we'll stop by Freddy Meyers and pick up our new recliner. Finally, some shopping at Walmart. Hahahaha, gotta get some more goodies to eat, y'all.
Oh, Ob-la-di, ob-la-da, life goes on, Bra!!
And life is good.
Hooah!!
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