Vehicles and Accidents

I arranged to have today off, so I could sleep in this morning.  Then I received a phone call at 9:30 yesterday evening, asking if I could take a client to the Denver International Airport, leaving at 5:30 this morning.  Since said client would let me use their car through 14 December, I said yes.  So I was up at 5 this morning, downstairs at 5:28, waiting for the 5:30 pick-up, which occurred at 5:52.  The client then drove like mad to DIA  on the tolled Parkway.  I was back home by 7:30 and back in bed.  But my cell phone rang at 9, and it was the client who just wanted me to know that they had left a suitcase at their house....  Hunh?  They didn't want it sent to them, they would get another suitcase where they were - but they just wanted me to know....  I'm still not certain why they called and told me this.
     The same client lost a car Sunday night.  The "children" (male and female in their mid- to late-20s) were home for Thanksgiving, and had left the house together, with both dogs, to go visit friends.  A huge mule deer doe bounded onto the road in front of them, while they were driving at 50 mph - this was at 6 p.m. and it was completely dark; no street lights.  The doe was killed; the car, a Toyota Prius, made a full double roll-over, and luckily came to rest on it's wheels.  The Prius is a total loss - all the windows shattered, and the roof crushed.  The worst thing was that beside the two people and two dogs in the car, they were transporting 24 quart Mason jars fir canning (which, of course, are glass).  The kids were bumped and bruised, and the young man had a small glass cut in the middle of his forehead.  The dog who had been in the rear compartment with the Mason jars, was bounced into the back seat, and bruised.  The younger puppy was in the daughter's arms - and she had  a cut and three very sore legs.  The daughter, while receiving no cuts, was stiff and bracing to protect the puppy, and she has a lot of pain and stiffness, but no broken bones.  What seems crazy is that most of the broken glass ended in the daughter's seat, under her bottom, but she wasn't cut at all....

Finn

I begin taking care of Finn today, and I'm eager to see what's happening with the boy.  He's a "Golden-Doodle", being a cross between a Golden Retriever and a standard Poodle.  I've taken care of him since he was four months old, and I've watched him grow and mature over the years.  His owners think of him as a clown - and he can be very funny.  I guess I'm weird in that I give him choices of toys and things to do, and it's interesting to watch him think things over and make a decision.  But, now I have a "new" Finn to deal with.
   His owners called me, very upset, because he was involved in an accident.  The vet had to remove five vertebrae from the end of Finn's tail after the accident.  Finn has a food allergy, but otherwise, he's never been ill, sick, or hurt (I'm pretty sure he doesn't remember his neuter).  Finn has always been very out-going and personable, eager to go on walks and out for a drive in the car.  He does patrol his yard, though, and barks ferociously at squirrels and deer on the other side of the fence.   This morning, I was told that, since his accident, his personality has changed.  He doesn't want to go out into the yard without company, and, on walks, once he has relieved himself, he wants to go back home.
   The vet doesn't want him to over-do it, physically, and I can understand why.  I'll take Finn to a follow-up check-up on Thursday at 1:30, and will then relay all information to his owners.  With his tail not yet healed, I can't take him to visit Tessa, because he loves/loved to jump into the koi pond.  Maybe I can take him to visit Rosie and also go over to Kathy and Jim's back yard with him.  Poor boy!  I want to help him regain confidence, and his swagger, again!

45 Degrees This Morning! - Stupid Accident

It's the second day of September; I'm dressed in shorts and a T-shirt and leather walking shoes.  I couldn't figure out why I felt so chilly when I switched the water systems for the irrigation ditch this morning - then I found out it was 45 degrees outside.  Gee, no wonder I felt chilly!  We are supposed to quickly reach the mid-80s today and then have a high in the low 90s tomorrow.  But fall is definitely in the air - and if one travels up to the higher elevations, you can see the leaves are beginning to change colors.  I think we'll have an early fall foliage season this time around...
  My kits are very clingy this morning.  I wish I could make them understand that I'll be home, sleeping in my bed tonight, with them,  and for the next several nights.  The sun is shining brightly, and I still have some removal stuff to perform at Lynn's, but, other than walking Rosie this morning, packing up my stuff and getting it back home, all I have to do otherwise is pick Lynn up from DIA this evening.  Then almost two weeks at home in  my own bed, with my kits.  It will be heavenly.  Then I'm back at Lynn's and over with the ABC's before I'm back home again...  And I'll only spend 10 nights away before I'm back home.  Yea!  Summer crazy-busy is slowing down at last!
   I was intrigued by a sign up in Russell Gulch on Saturday that stated they had "horses for rent" and an arrow pointing up a trail to the west.  I'll have to check them out next summer - see the outfit, look at the horses, find out the charges and see about the riding opportunities.  It might be a new place to ride up in the mountains.
   Back to common sense....  A woman was picking up her daughter at school.  She was driving and texting at the same time, in front of the school.  There was a guard rail made of pipes alongside the school sidewalk to protect the students.  The mother was so involved with her texting that she drove her SUV into the pipe guardrail; she was going so fast that the pipe rail entered the front of her car through the headlight - and proceeded to pass through the engine, and ended up in the driver's thigh and piercing her butt cheek, pinning her in the car.  The pipe had to be cut off and her car was cut open with the Jaws of Life in order to extract the woman (impaled to the car seat) and get her into an ambulance for transport to a hospital for the removal of the pipe.  The woman is alive; the car is totaled; no students were hurt.
  Please do NOT drive and text - or drive and talk on the phone - it's simply too dangerous for everyone in the area, including you, the driver.