UNEXPECTED; Castle Rock-WA

September 2nd: Woke up to chilling rain & a bit of wind ☔️💨 this morning - it fell pretty steadily through the night.

I was anticipating a lazy day at home, with the only activity being the lifting of my coffee mug & the turning of book pages ☕️🍩📖, quiet sounds of relaxed domesticity, and occasional sporadic physical activity:

Wet & breezy here, this morning.

Cussler-Fargo  Adventure Novel, following the trail of Attila The Hun treasure.

Today, the Fargos are following a lead from Berlin to Szeged, Hungary.

Gaining an Hungarian partner.

The heavens opened with a vengeance.

Remi gets a faithful companion.

With the help of Zoltan, the Professor was freed & the tomb's mystery, is still the end game.

Lore has it that the river was rerouted to cover the tomb; it has since been rerouted numerous times by man & Mother Nature.

{{The Fearsome Attila the Hun Died of a Nosebleed on His Wedding Night

~Cecilia Bogaard, for Ancient Origins

While Attila was expected to die in battle, in the end it was his wedding night that did him in.

Little is truly known about the life and death of Attila the Hun, as the only written records were created by his enemies. Amongst these ancient chroniclers was Priscus, a Roman diplomat and historian, who left behind the only eyewitness account of Attila, leader of the Huns, Eurasian nomads who migrated into Europe in the 4th century AD.

In what must have been one of the worst honeymoons in history, Attila the Hun, the brutal nomadic warrior of the 5th century AD, was found dead in his nuptial bed, drenched in blood the morning after his marriage. Whether in the arms, or by the hands, of his beautiful new bride Ildico, his unexpected death has been the subject of conjecture for centuries.

Trying to figure out exactly how Attila the Hun died isn’t the only mystery to have been generated by his death. Legend has it that his body was buried in a triple coffin, made of iron, silver, and an inner layer of gold, filled with treasure. Stories claim that the servants charged with his burial were then murdered to ensure its whereabouts remained secret. In one account, the course of the River Tisza was temporarily rerouted in order to bury Attila in the riverbed. Even today, treasure hunters continue to hunt for the legendary tomb.

https://www.ancient-origins.net/weird-facts/attila-hun-0017391 }}

Periodically, I did put the fantasy aside at times, to take care of reality …

The weather since we've been back in WA State has not been kind to my Fishbone Cactus (I was not expecting to be here through the cold season, when I bought this tropical plant last Fall); it is barely hanging on. A plant that started out so prettily fleshy - has dwindled down to 2 meager skinny shoots.

Trying a last-ditch-salvage-repotting, with my Fishbone Cactus; with a hope & a prayer … my Coalinga-CA keepsake, has whittled itself down to 2 sprigs in a year's time~THIS YEAR

Trying a last-ditch-salvage-repotting, with my Fishbone Cactus; with a hope & a prayer … my Coalinga-CA keepsake, has whittled itself down to 2 sprigs in a year's time~LAST YEAR

Changed out the Summer afghan, for the Winter …

And then - the unexpected happened: in more ways than 1.

Holland needed to go into Longview, to the hospital 😕

I grabbed our phones, my Tablet, and my book. I put out an S.O.S. post to my FB Prayer Warrior Friends 💻👭🙏 - then, we drove off 🚘⚕️🩺

He was struggling with his COPD, but according to the skeleton staff 🩺 at Peace Health, there's absolutely nothing wrong with him.

They basically held him hostage for 8 hours 🤨 because they could - as long as he had that port in his arm, he had to stay (1 of the admitting talking heads was quick to inform us that "the police will be called if you walk out with the port in your arm"). We were there for 8 hours … but he was only seen (when he was eventually seen) for a total of 20 minutes. After 8 hours of nothingness, he walked to the zombies in the nurses station and said he was in too much pain to sit any longer in a lit room at the end of a long dark corridor (seriously NO LIGHTS at all except in the cubby they dumped him in), he couldn't wait any longer for a doctor, and he was walking out the door. THAT activated some life in that dreary dungeon that calls itself a hospital.

I read 📖 while Holland, worn out from fitful coughing & strained breathing, tried to snatch a couple zzz's 🥱 

Sorry to sound so bitchy, but the whole experience was ridiculous. We arrived at 8 PM - wasn't seen by anyone for 6 hours - except for the admitting talking head parrot hospital protocol (and the steady stream of people walking in off the street - and walking back out, an hour later; also not seen by anyone but the admitting talking heads); then he was dumped into a cubby for another 2 hours ⏰; until he said he was leaving. The port was then removed at 4 AM … we came home & crashed.

The Fargos & associates, were buried alive by a mobster thief's hired thugs, in Kiskunhalas, Hungary; a murder attempt that failed.

The treasure hunt continued from Kiskunhalas, Hungary to the Po River region, in Italy.

Chapter 14~A portion of Attila's Treasure is unearthed in a field;  at the convergence of 2 rivers.

In so much pain from his disability injury, no back support, & no doctor's presence. After 8 hrs. of being ignored, he's ready to leave.

He NEVER WAS examined for WHAT he went IN, FOR. That was unexpected.

The staff basically updated his File: when he walked in they saw (1) an elderly man (2) someone who had not been to the hospital in years (3) a guinea pig = legal hostage (4) $$$$$$ for the seriously depleted hospital coffers.

Being completely ignored by people who are supposed to be your [help] between life & death, was unexpected. Being 100% gaslighted was unexpected.

And God willing, being covered in prayer, we did not bring anything contagious home with us 😉