Pandora's Box

C and I went camping this weekend, which once again kept me cyberfree for more than a 24-hour stretch. It takes something that major - being in a rural area with barely a cellphone signal - to keep me offline. My cell phone is suppose to have internet access, but after having the phone for almost a year now, I still haven't figured out how to get it up and running. That is probably a good thing. I need the occasional vacation from the world wide web.

When C and I got home this evening, we sat on the couch to eat a late dinner.


ME: It is so quiet.

C (stopping chewing for a minute): You're right. Well, except for the whir of the aquarium.

C pointed to the aquarium with her fork.

ME: I mean, isn't it odd? It's quieter here at home than it was at that campground. What with the loudly gabbing people and their raucous children in the campsite next door plus their car stereo blasting.

C: Yeah, and the birds were making quite a ruckus this morning as well. Not to mention, the constant sound of the ocean.

ME: And at home, it's so quiet. Just that mechanical whir and the occasional clank of our radiator.


C and I had gone camping on the Sonoma Coast. The beaches there are stunningly beautiful. Of course, I forgot my camera, so you'll just have to check out other people's professional photos on the websites that are out there:

California State Parks site
Sonoma County site

Their photos will have to be like cyber-postcards showing where we were.

It wasn't until we got home from our trip that we got news of the "nice, young, Christian couple" that got shot on the Sonoma Coast last week. Just randomly assassinated with execution style gunshots to the head while they were camping out on the beach. I couldn't find the article that C read to me this evening after we arrived home, but found a similar article online.

Of course, we were creaped out. What a horrible, random act of violence! Their valuables were not taken and the woman was not raped, so there appears to be no motive for their murders. And the evidence suggests that they were shot in their sleep. I wondered, what if the perpetrator is still up there? The woman in the couple was from Ohio, too. What if we'd been shot? I wondered out loud - with so much emphasis in some of these articles on what good Christians these two were - would our deaths have gotten the same coverage? I try not to think so negatively of the world. But sometimes I just can't help but wonder. Violent deaths are horrendous no matter whom the victim. I just hope their souls rest in peace. If there is no other good out of this, I guess they at least were able to say "goodbye" to this life from as close to a heaven-on-earth kind of place as this world has to offer - the Sonoma Coast is truly something. And I'm really glad I got to enjoy the scenery before learning of all that sadness. The trip would have been very different had we gotten that news beforehand or on the way there.

Of course, C-dog had the best time of all. Oblivious to human concerns such as bad news, she got to excitedly yank at her leash as she watched a skunk spray in our direction (thankfully out of reach), chase sticks along the beach, snuggle up in the warm tent (finally my humans are sleeping on the ground with me!), go for a midnight walk in the wilderness (because her human, ME, was still on night-shift schedule), eat all sorts of yummy unidentified objects found at the campground and on the beach, and nap in the car the entire ride home.

And yes! I finally peed on top of C-dog's pee! Only after she'd peed on mine yet again, of course. Fortunately, C saw her sniffing and warned me to save some up for the battle. :-) And I won!