The RV is in the Shop

We were finally able to drop off the RV to the truck repair center this past Sunday afternoon.  We were having mechanical problems with it and just needed to wait to repair it until we could stay with friends.  Bless these friends.  They are angels!  When an RV has to go in for repairs you are at the mercy of the repair shops and truck centers and it could be days or weeks before it is done.  So not having to incur the enormous costs of hotels (especially with dogs) is an incredible blessing.  It's so nice that we can give back to this couple by house and pet sitting for them when they are away.  They have 3 dogs, 3 cats and a bird so lots to take care of. 

On the way to the repair shop the problems were horrible and I was a bit concerned we wouldn't make it, but God answered prayer and we were able to drive the entire distance without the help of a tow truck, although it lurched, sputtered, quit running once and wouldn't restart for a bit.  We are being told they think it is a bad fuel pump so they are starting with that.  We pray that it's that simple but the symptoms definitely fit.  Just hard to imagine that a fuel pump would go bad on a brand new RV in the first 7 months.  Maybe we had some bad gas or something.

We are enjoying our time at our friend's home as are the girls.  Lots of animals for them to play with.  As you probably saw in my last post, Bailey had been attacked by a dog and gave us the scare of our life over Labor Day weekend.  She is finally back to her old self but it took a while.  Half way through the week after the attack she started to drink tons of water and was peeing everywhere, including on herself in her sleep.  She had also become very lethargic.  So back to the doggy ER for a slew of blood tests, urinalysis and ultrasound to see if there was more going on then we thought.  Thankfully, nothing showed up so we went with the easy and most obvious thing and that was to stop the steroid ointment I was rubbing on her belly.  Between it being rubbed onto her skin and her licking it, that was the most likely culprit.  So she got a good bath and sure enough, slowly but surely she started to improve and she is finally back to normal with some abdominal scars to show for it. 

We are hoping to get our house back on Friday so we can maybe get back down to our lake lot the following weekend.  We love our weekends there and miss them as we haven't been down there in a month.  Since putting in the tornado shelter we have been tossing around ideas of what to do with the yard to make it more attractive and cover up the large cement shelter in the middle of it.  We have come up with some ideas but until we can get back down there to measure some things it's really hard figure out what we can do.  I think one tends to think there is more space then there really is when all you can do is visualize it in your mind.  So I see a new project on the horizon.

While we have been staying with our friends I have had a chance to really dig into my large and tedious job of scanning all our photo albums as well as my Mother's albums.  They have been stored in these people's garage for two years and I have been very slow to get through this project.  So we hauled our printer/scanner with us and I have spent many hours this week scanning and enjoying the pictures.  In fact I've set some albums aside to look through with my sisters when they visit next spring.  It will be fun to reminisce.  We had several large boxes of albums stored and I had gotten through some of them prior to this visit but today I am now down to one box!!  Amazing.  We will be spending 1 1/2 weeks here in October house and pet sitting for them while they are away so I hope to bring an end to this project during that time.  We'll see.  The albums are too heavy and take up too much space in the RV to keep them so digitizing them makes the most sense.  Then we can burn them to discs to share with the family if they want any of them.  After all how many times does one really get out all the family photo albums to look at them.  Not very often!  Aren't computers awesome. 

Signing off for now.  Have a great week.

Labor Day Weekend 2013

Labor Day Weekend is coming to an end and overall we had a nice weekend.  We took in a movie on Friday and saw The Butler.  It was a good movie and the time passed quicker than I expected.  We left the theater experiencing a lot of emotions though.  Both of us grew up in the time period the movie covers but didn't personally experience the horrors that black people experienced.  I was raised in Minnesota and don't recall having any black people in our city so all I knew was what I saw on TV and at my age I wasn't much interested in watching the news.  We also didn't have to deal with integration at our schools or anywhere else that I recall - including the counters at Woolworths!  I recommend seeing the movie.

We enjoyed an afternoon in the pool and eating pizza with friends on Saturday.  The girls were able to go with us and Bailey seemed to enjoy being carried in the pool since it was hot.  The two girls chased each other around the pool and had a good time as well.  We hadn't had any time in the last few months to just relax with our friends and enjoy each other's company so it was a nice way to end the day.

Sunday started out as a good day with Sunday School and church but it didn't end on such a good note.  After dinner I was walking the girls in the RV park on leashes when I came upon one of our neighbors out walking his dog as well.  His dog is about twice the size of ours but the three of them had interacted before and seemed to get along just fine.  The two of us visited for a bit while the dogs hung out.  The owner of the park came by on her golf cart to see our girls and while they were jumping up on her and she was egging them on this guy's dog suddenly grabbed Bailey by what appeared to be her ear and started hauling on her.  She started yelping and while his owner was trying to get her off Bailey she then grabbed her by the rear leg and abdomen.  Bailey was screaming at this point and I thought we were going to watch her die.  I was able to reach down and grab this dog's mouth and she let go and didn't attack me - thank goodness although I wouldn't have cared if it saved Bailey.  Poor Bailey was a bit bloody on her abdomen and vaginal area but it all appeared to be surface wounds.  Everybody felt horrible as this attack was totally unexpected.  The dog's owner thinks she went into protective mode when the girls were jumping on the park owner.  We went ahead and took her to the doggie ER as I was pretty sure we would need antibiotics at the very least.  Bailey never yelped or acted like she was in pain once away from the dog which was a relief.  After a thorough checking over they felt she was fine and gave her antibiotics, some pain meds and some ointment for her injuries.  The dog's owner also paid our vet bill which was nice of him. 

A lot of people who come into the park have dogs but we probably will not allow our girls to interact with them from this point on.  This was just too close for us and they have each other to play with as well as some other doggie friends they we see all the time. 

Today we started the day by making hotel reservations for when my sisters and their husbands plan to visit in March and April of next year.  Can't wait for them to come.  Should be fun.  My Aunt, who is 85, may also join us but that remains to be seen.  I'm hoping her health is such that she will come.  Then we took the girls to visit a nice lady that Bailey and I met at the hospital after the tornadoes.  She is now in a rehab center and doing well.  She was in a vehicle that got hit by one of the tornadoes and ended up a paraplegic.  She had a dog with her that was gone and she was unable to look for her.  To add to all this she isn't from this area.  My hats off to the Red Cross and FEMA as this sweet lady had no income and didn't live here and they were able to secure her hospital care and now rehab as her life has drastically changed.  They are also helping to get her disability.  Another feel good part to this story is one of her PT folks at the hospital went out and found her dog amazingly enough and is fostering it for her so she gets to see the dog about once a week.  We had a nice visit with her today and she is getting herself around in a wheelchair.  They are working with her to learn how to take care of herself as well as how to get around out in the community.  The Red Cross is also working with her to get her relocated to her home state with a family member when she is ready to be moved.  WOW is all I can say.  She had a big smile and has always had a great attitude throughout all of this.  She is a joy to visit.  I know she would like to go to a park or something so I hope we can take her out sometime to do that or maybe a movie or something.  I hope that she can put all this to use to help others who are paralyzed to learn how to cope.

After visiting with this lady we swung by my youngest son's house to see where he now lives and visit with him for a while.  It was so nice to see that he was getting along just fine and paying his own way.  He has rented a house and fixed it up a lot including putting in central air.  It was nice and clean and he had done well finding ways to furnish it.  He also has a couple of jobs.  One is with a demolition company that is obviously keeping very busy with all the places that were hit by the tornadoes and the other is a dozer company.  It seems like both of my sons have a knack for running heavy machinery and both have CDLs. 

We ended the day with the same friends we saw on Saturday and with some more of their family for a swim and cookout.  Since the party was at a family member's home that has dogs ours have not met we decided they needed to stay home where they are safe and sound. 

Back to work tomorrow and really looking forward to that colonoscopy I have to have on Thursday!  NOT!  Just routine but absolutely hate the prep.