Well, life is full, sometimes pleasantly so and others not so pleasant.

The 21st of May 2016 saw us beginning the drive to what we had longingly anticipated – our vacation to the Jersey Shore to visit my granddaughter Miranda.  Unfortunately the first day proved to test all of our patience.

We left our RAV4 and Cadillac at home and decided to take our older Sienna Toyota Van because it is Bailey’s car, also known as the Kat Granny Ship, and we were taking our Bailey with us on vacation.  As we made our drive through Wisconsin, a transporting truck driving in front of us, lost its plexiglass top, which toppled and flattened on its end and smashed into the front of our van exploding into hundreds of pieces, spewing the pieces in all directions including many sliding over the top of our van, hitting the tractor-trailer in the outside lane and the cars following ours in the inside lane.  I think the tractor trailer was forced off the road.  I only remember Dean screaming “HANG ON!!!” at almost the same time as the plexiglass hit our van.   The van was still moving and seemed all right, we were shaken up.  We got off at the next exit to check the van.

The front edge of each of the two side front fenders were snapped/bent out; Dean was able to snap them back into position.  Our Toyota symbol was gone, probably snapped off and slide with the pieces of plexiglass over the van as it was driving.  The front end of the van was marked and bruised up with skid marks across the front with a large bruise on the front fender of the passenger side.  We were grateful the damage was so small and most of all that the plexiglass was not parallel to the ground when it hit our van.  Had it been horizontal and if it had hit the windshield, it would have exploded and broken the windshield and probably taken us out, injured or dead.  Thank you God for letting it hit the van in a vertical position.

The van seemed drivable with only cosmetic damage so we decided to continue the journey.  A big mistake.

We arrived at the first hotel booked for us by AAA, very tired about 8 PM.  We ordered food in and Dean took Bailey out for a last walk about 9 PM.  I heard screaming in the hall a little later as Dean screamed “GET YOUR DOGS AWAY NOW.”  I ran out into the hall and saw my poor Bailey being dragged by his shoulder/neck down the hall by a large black pit bull and I saw my husband on the floor of the hall with his arms wrapped around the neck from behind of another black pit bull.  I saw two largely built African-American women.  I threw myself on the floor, grabbed Bailey from behind and tried to push the pit bull’s mouth away from Bailey’s neck.  Only when I did this did the women start screaming “RELEASE, RELEASE, RELEASE.”  Her dog released my Bailey.  I was shaking, Bailey was shaking, and I tried to go into our room which of course I had left without a key and the door had slammed shut.  I was terrified.  Bailey buried his head in my leg.  Another man who had come out to help Dean when he heard the shouting, said he would run down to the manager and get a key.  The woman with the dogs was gone.  The front desk manager came and we asked her to call the police.  She did of course, the police came and we are still dealing with the fallout.

Bailey’s ear was badly ripped, I found out later he had many, many puncture wounds and probably was pretty badly beaten up.  Dean slept about four hours, Bailey and I huddled and watched the door.  We got up and started driving home arriving back at home the following afternoon.  Our vet came in with a technician and they did a lot of work with Bailey.  They gave him a strong shot of antibiotic and sent us home with antibiotics.  The following few days were not good.  Bailey was having difficulty walking and the following Sunday he just laid on his side all day in the garage.  He developed a small lump on his side where the ear was chewed and by the middle of the week it was a huge lump on his side.  Back to the vet.  Now here I want to tell you that we have a wonderful, the best in the world, Veterinarian.  Dr. Glenn Nielsen is his name and he is located in Waite Park located in St. Cloud, MN.  He is wonderful!

So Bailey is now healed – it took about 6 weeks.  We did not make it to the Jersey Shore.  But we have our Bailey back and healed.

And the beginning of June my son Bill lost his sitter for his son for the summer… So I am watching my grandson Billy over the summer during the  weekdays.

Now with all that said… I am planning on getting back to my studio this week.  Bailey is healed, Billy has settled into a routine and I am almost at the end of my physical therapy sessions for this year.  I face knee replacement this year, probably this fall, as I have been told the one knee issue is beginning to affect that hip and the other knee.  One joint replacement over three seems a bit smarter so guess I will need to bite the bullet and get it done.

Life doesn’t stop when these things happen.  You just need to fit it all in and work around the issues.  I thank God that so much has been good since I’ve written.