[Cleo]

Plumbing service called this morning and said that my plumber had cut his hand off and was in the hospital so a different plumber would put my neighbor's sink in tomorrow. |shocking|

And out of the weird news…
Jogger missing four days found stuck waist-deep in Central Fla. swamp

Eddie Meadows, 62, left to run at lunchtime Thursday and did not return to his workplace at the nearby university research park.

His disappearance sparked daily searches through the Labor Day holiday weekend and pleas from his family and friends.

Meadows, a contract employee with the U.S. Army Program Executive Office for Simulation, Training and Instrumentation, was described as thirsty after his ordeal.

"He had great spirits, and he was very adamant about getting a drink of water," said Sgt. Woody Furnas of the university police department.

Furnas used his police dog, a German shepherd named Buddy, to get to Meadows after Ron Eaglin, a UCF computer-engineering professor, called 911 to report their location.

Meadows, who had bug bites all over his body, was hospitalized at Florida Hospital East and reunited with his wife, Ardis, and two adult sons.

Because he survived in part by drinking swamp water, he underwent extra blood tests for possible infections.

The remote marshy area where Eaglin found Meadows is thick with brush, trees and other vegetation that is home to deer, fox, raccoons and other species.

Rescuers and authorities surmise that Meadows got lost while jogging off a trail and ventured into sticky muck, where he got stuck until Eaglin discovered him about 10 a.m. Monday.

Furnas said some of the wooded area near the UCF astronomy observatory has thick silt and muck that can act as "glue."

A hospital spokeswoman would not discuss Meadows' hospitalization but said his "condition is being assessed." The family, in a statement, expressed "gratitude to everyone for their involvement."

Members of University Carillon United Methodist Church, where Meadows is a member, were ecstatic.

Several rushed to the wooded area off Neptune Drive where Meadows was found when they heard about the rescue.

"That's all I can say: Thank God," said Tammy Voodre, who sings in the church choir with Meadows and noticed his absence from practice Thursday night.

On Monday morning, Eaglin said he was searching for Meadows when he heard a sloshing sound and found the lost jogger about 430 yards inside a canopied marsh, thick with brush, palmettos and pine trees.

When he got closer to investigate, he called out, "Hello." Meadows replied and upon seeing Eaglin summoned enough strength to pull himself out.

"He's a strong guy. He's in good shape. He's a marathoner," Eaglin said. "He said he slept a lot and stayed down in the water. And he's been having to drink the swamp water."

About 50 volunteers, some with the Florida Orienteering Club and armed with maps of the campus, trekked through wooded areas looking for a sign of Meadows.

"I really thought we were looking for a body," Eaglin said. "I was very happy when it wasn't a body we found."

Bob Putnam, a Florida Orienteering coordinator, said Meadows may have survived by avoiding sun exposure and drinking swamp water.

"He had a couple of things going for him," Putnam said. "He was able to immerse himself in water, and that kept him from becoming dehydrated. And the fact that the bayhead [canopy] he was in was quite shady."

It's another hellacious storm outside this morning. I'm planning on doing the gym since I'm not doing the plumbing thing but after morning news like this I'm thinking I probably really should just go back to bed and try again this wake up thing tomorrow.