Month: October 2018

The Storm Drain Adventure

Published on by Ann Marie BryantLeave a comment

If we could find one of the few survivors of this Halloween prank and get them to talk about it, they might say something like;

“It was my first Halloween night without a parent.  Mom had finally agreed to letting me go out with my friend Chris.  We were best friends in 3rd grade.  We were only going a few blocks from home and it was just dark enough that we knew things were supposed to get scary – but it was only Halloween and being really scared was only for the little kids.  The first 4 houses had been really nice and we were walking up Mountain View to the next neighborhood when I heard something strange from the street – only there wasn’t anything in the street.  It was quiet and empty.  “How could that be?” I wondered.

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The Legacy of Susan B. Anthony

Published on by Ann Marie Bryant4 Comments

Teacher. Abolitionist. Educational Reformer. Labor Organizer. Suffragist. Women’s Rights Pioneer. Temperance Worker. Civil Rights Leader. Author.

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One of the most influential female advocates for Civil Rights was Susan B. Anthony.  Through her tireless efforts, she championed for social justice, women’s rights, and the emancipation of slaves. This remarkable woman left a lasting legacy as a heroine for justice for all people of this nation, and her historical accounts have continued to inspire people in our country.

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Adventures in the Ship’s Tanks

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Every muscle in my body hurt but I still had over an hour on my shift. The past 7 hours of awkwardly squirming and banging my body against the cold steel of a tank not designed for people was taking its toll.

This tank was long and profoundly awkward, ill-designed for a humanoid. It must have stretched 100 or more feet along the side of the ship. One wall was the hull. It curved downward from the ceiling until it hit the narrow floor. There was a wide I-beam hull stiffener, wide enough for a man to lie down in. The design made good use of the triangular shape of the ship’s hull after cutting out nice rectangular rooms and walk ways for the crew. Wave suppressing baffles were everywhere and no where was it tall enough to stand.

This tank was freshly painted with epoxy but not yet fully cured, so the air was saturated with epoxy fumes – deadly toxic.

I was stiff, wet, cold, sore, snot-nosed beneath all my safety gear, nearly deaf, partially blind, stuck inside of wet clothes that I could not take off. So yea – long day at the office.

I had worked my way almost to the tank end when suddenly the lights failed and complete and total darkness swallowed me whole. You have to be kidding me! Continue reading “Adventures in the Ship’s Tanks” →

The Piggy Bank

Published on by Ann Marie BryantLeave a comment

Screen Shot 2018-10-15 at 11.59.22 AMWhen I was a little girl, I lived in my mama’s hometown, Hotchkiss, Colorado.  On my first birthday, I celebrated the day at my grandparent’s house, a small cabin situated on Roger’s Mesa.  One of my gifts from my grandparents was a little piggy bank.  It was a pig in a barrel.  I still have that little bank, and it means the world to me.  According to my mom, my grandparents fussed over this gift before they decided on this little guy.  Sweet memories. Continue reading “The Piggy Bank” →

Learning to Scuba

Published on by Ann Marie BryantLeave a comment

It was one of the most relaxing feelings imaginable. Floating like a buoyant cork, drifting up and down with the warm ocean waves, sliding playful down into the troth between wave crests and up to the top of the next as each wave passed my position. I took a deep cleansing breath and let my mind slow to a meditative pace and watched, straight above me as my view of soft white clouds shifted with each rise and fall, letting time pass without a care – until, suddenly the whole ocean disappeared out from beneath me and I was suddenly falling with nothing but misty air to support me. I was too surprised to even scream as the clouds stopped shifting and then disappeared altogether behind the giant wall of angry white water. This was going to be really – really unpleasant.

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