Sliding on Ice - Again!

Well, I'm at Mike and Kelly's house, taking care of 3 dogs and 5 cats, and assisting Kelly when she needs it. Mike has Kohlbi (Suki's grandson), Nikki (the German Short-haired Pointer), Shadow, Abbie, Boris and Natasha. Kelly brought Charlie, a 13-year-old charcoal grey toy poodle into the family; and the first night I was here, Mike and Kelly adopted (from PetSmart) a 3-year-old spayed cat named Honeybun. Nikki misses her Daddy terribly; Kohlbi wanders around looking for him; the cats grab as much love from me as they can get; and I'm helping integrate Honeybun into this large mixed family. Honeybun is a DSH, basic color silver grey, but she's also a dilute tortoiseshell with orange splashes and blobs in her coat. She seems to be doing well.

I was heading back to Boulder on Monday morning to care for my kits and to walk the Rs. I never made it out of the yard... The last bit of drive goes uphill to the street level, and I was backing out, and I hit ice under snow. The car, while in reverse, started sliding forward, and to the right. I cut the wheels to the left, and put the car out of reverse and into drive, hoping to steer away from the edge of the ditch, and not have the front passenger wheel of the Prius go over the edge. It didn't happen. The car, with no traction on two inches of slick ice, slid, and the weight of the engine pulled the front passenger wheel right over the 3-foot drop. Since the Prius is a front-wheel drive, I was out of luck. Had to call the Emergency Towing Service to pull me out of the ditch; and since there was no real accident involved, I was stuck at the end of the waiting list due to all of the other accidents that were actually blocking traffic. I slid off the drive at 8:40 in the morning; the tow truck arrived at 5:50 in the evening. Luckily, the car slid off at just the right place and the right angle, so that absolutely NO damage was done to the car. I was certainly worried about it... but Mike was real cool and said it didn't bother him, and that accidents do happen... I still felt as if 15 tons of pressure had been removed when the mechanic checked the under carriage and the engine and told me it was all A-OK....

I had my follow-up visit with Dr. Repine about my knee yesterday - I've made such excellent progress that he's released me from further care (unless I fall and damage the same knee again). He was amazed at how flexible I was, and said that people shouldn't be able to place the bottom of their foot under their chin. While our snow and ice continue, I'll keep wearing the knee brace when I walk dogs and/or am out hiking. He was very happy with the progress I've made, and just told me to keep on walking, and to swim when I can. I'll be following his advice.

Lovey and Banichi have missed me dreadfully, as I am missing them. I came over to Brighton Saturday night, and have been home to love, feed, clean potties, and play with them on Tuesday and Wednesday. I'll see them again tomorrow and return home on Saturday. Yeah!!! Sleeping in my own bed with my own kitties... I can hardly wait!