Saved by exercise
Art Auwaerter, 77, of Moore Haven, Florida lives a mostly peaceful life on the banks of the Caloosahatchee River, along with his wife, Terry, and his dog Rodger, a fierce-looking 100-lb. black Italian mastiff. “He loves the water,” Auwaerter said. “When we go outside, he goes right for the river. And most of the time, I’d go in with him.” A competitive Olympic weightlifter since he was 16, “I’ve been doing it for a long time, and I think it makes you as strong as you can possibly be,” Art said.
“I sat down in the middle of the backyard in the lawn chair, instead of walking over to the river bank with him. He went over the bank, which is about six or seven feet above the water level. So when you go down the bank, you lose sight of whoever’s going down there.” A few seconds later, Art said he heard a big splash. “I knew immediately what was going on because there’s only one thing that could cause that big, big splash – and that’s a big alligator attacking him,” he said. “So, I ran over to the bank and sure enough, it’s a big alligator.” “I couldn’t watch that creature kill my dog, I had no choice. I had to do something.” “I jumped on his back, right behind his head, and I grabbed his upper jaws and pulled up to get him to let Rodger go,” Art said.
Art grabbed onto the jaws a 7-foot alligator — and tried to stun him into letting go of his dog. “And he did immediately,” Auwaerter said. “I’m sure the alligator never had anybody do that before, so he let Rodger go immediately.” But then the gator turned his attention to Auwaerter. “I had my hands in his mouth and as far as he knows, I’m attacking him,” he said. “I remember my fingers fit perfectly in the gaps between his teeth. I could feel his teeth and suddenly he shook really violently and rolled, and he threw me off into the water, which was about two feet deep,” Auwaerter recalled. Auwaerter said he got up as fast as he could and grabbed Rodger to get him to safety, but then the alligator grabbed Auwaerter. “He chomped down on my left thigh.” “So I reached down to try to get him off my leg, and he let me go. I said, ‘Wow, I’m free.’ I grabbed Rodger, I threw him over the bank and I climbed up the bank and we both got away.” “He got Rodger pretty good,” Auwaerter said. “He cut him up pretty bad and I had a big gash in my leg, which was wide open. It looked terrible, but it wasn’t bleeding.” “Weightlifting gives you confidence that you can do things and that you can do anything,” Auwaerter said. “And, you know, I would’ve done the same thing probably anyway, but I may not have been successful if I didn’t do weightlifting. And for my age, I’m strong and fit.”
Weightlifting Success
I tried working out by lifting dictionaries…
I’ve been told that’s how you get definition.
Recently, I decided to quit my job at the construction place because i couldn’t deal with the heavy lifting.
I gave them my too weak notice yesterday.
“My bank just called me about suspicious activity on my account. They didn’t believe I bought a gym membership.”
“I forgot to post on Facebook I was going to the gym.
Now this whole workout was a waste of time.”
April 8th Birthdays
1990 – Gabriella Wilde, 1987 – Milana Aleksandrovna, 1992 – Shelby Young, 1984 – Kirsten Storms
1976 – Heinz Ward, 1996 – Kyle Allen, 1976 – Freddie Prinze Jr, 1973 – Sung Kang/spa