Scared little girl

I know it's been a little while since I posted anything, but believe it or not, I've been a little busy. Here is a little story and I won't give away the ending until the end.
A week ago this last Wednesday was my late day at work, and that is the day Dr. Batlan comes and does his pain clinic. Usually about 12- 15 patients starting at 2 in the afternoon for injections that require sedation (he oversedates them, but that's another thing). I was the sedation nurse and of course I had to be at work at 6 that morning and I knew I wouldn't be getting done until sometime after 6 that day cause Batlan always seems to be late.

Well low and behold, he came at 2:15 which is very early for him so we got things going rather early, but still didn't get done till 5:45. By that time it was getting dark and it had stormed and the wind was blowing. By the time I finished with all the paper work etc. I didn't get home till around 6:30. I was exhausted and I knew the dogs would be hungry and so was I so I stopped and got some Long John Silver. Well, the line took forever and now it's 7 and I'm finally pulling into the drive. I hear Marty barking, like usual and walk into the dark house to find only him.
No Kiki. I searched every room in the house and got a flashlight and went to check the back fence and found a very small place that she had escaped from during the storm. Well, now forget the fish dinner, I had to go looking for her. It wasn't raining anymore but the temp was beginning to drop, like into low 60's high 50's and I didn't want her out in the rain and coolness shivering and scared, after all she is 14 and a very old lady even if she misbehaves and panics during storms.
I got geared up and began searching the neighborhood to no avail. I knew we were in trouble this time. It has been a long time since she attempted any break outs, but this was a bad storm with flooding and such around the city. We are in an area near the foot of the mountains and flash floods do occur. No luck. Couldn't find her.
LeRoy got home around 8:45 and he started searching and I had made some fliers to post on the mail boxes. Still no luck.
He got up Thursday and searched, found out the construction guys at the end of the block had seen her. They said she hung out with them for a couple of hours and when they were getting ready to leave they tried to catch her to find out where she belonged. Just as they got close, and I know this is true, she bolted. But the idiot bolted out the gate onto the main road and that's the last they saw her.
Well Thursday, the mail man took all the fliers off the stands and we had no way to find her. The only thing on her collar was her rabies info. The weather cleared and I got home from work and started searching again. We were both coming to the conclusion that this time she was gone forever. The main road is very busy with nothing but desert beyond, the housing complexes are up the street a way and a dangerous trek for a panicked old lady.
Still no luck, so I came back to the house and got on the puter and put some info into the shelters and called the vet and gave them info. Called Dale and told her, and the whole time I told myself not to cry, she's only a dog! I couldn't help it, she was cold and wet and hungry and I just wanted her to not suffer.
Friday came and I was holding back tears all day, 2 nites outside, no food, no water, bobcats and coyotes, not to mention the traffic. I went to work knowing that LeRoy was going to post more fliers outside our complex, since that was where she had last been seen, going out the gate.
I don't know why, but for some reason I checked my phone for messages, I guess thinking maybe someone had turned her in at the vet or had some information. LeRoy had been near tears and he doesn't get too emotional about much, but he was upset with himself for not putting her "fence" collar on before he left for work.
Anyway, back to checking my phone, there was a message from Leroy and I was sure it wasn't going to be good. It was my lunch time so I listened in the lounge, mistake! He was all choked up and I could hardly understand him, except for : I FOUND KIKI AND SHE'S FINE, NO WORSE FOR WEAR! Well I started crying right there in the lounge and people thought it was bad news. I had to give a quick explanation that it was good news.

So here is what happened. When I called Dale about Kiki's missingness, she went to work on Friday and told a friend who said "we are getting on Craig's list right now" Dale called Leroy to get phone and address info at about 9am. By 11 am there was a hit on the description and the location was right, so Dale called LeRoy and gave him the number to call. He did. He was just ready to leave for work, but went anyway to the next gated community about 1/4 mile up the road and across the busy street, got the gate code from the woman on the phone and she met him just around the corner in the community. She was the HOA manager and knew where he was headed so she went with him. He knocked on the door and the woman who answered was holding this black and white shi-tzu with a goofy eye and 3 teeth that stick out the front of her mouth. The woman said they had found her on Wednesday night sitting in the rain in the middle of the road in their complex, so they took her in knowing someone would be looking for her. LeRoy loaded her into the car with many thanks and near tears and headed home. Kiki wouldn't leave his lap and whined all the way home.
Needless to say, he put her "fence" collar on her and left for work.
I cannot believe the generosity of the people out here. Just when you think people are distant and uncaring something like this happens and prooves you all wrong. We have been unbelievably fortunate when it comes to this dog. She sgone missing 4-5 time since we moved into this house a year and a half ago. Not in the last few months, it's been about six months since it happened the last time and we were sure that this time was the last time, because of 2 days gone.
Then on Saturday we left for an overnight trip to Laughlin with some friends. Kiki had the collar and Marty had his food/water and friend back. He had been a little nutso for the 2 days she was gone. When we got home Sunday, all was well. Safe and sound. We took a drive to the PetSmart and bought 2 leather collars, 2 tags (the riveted kind) labeled with names and numbers and now the pooches have some form of ID, should this happen again.
We have not left home without putting her collar on, and of course the digout place at the base of the fence has been adjusted again so maybe the old lady will not be able to get close enough, the fence charger is set on "fry", should it happen to storm anytime in thenear future. She has been very content and for a couple of days we could not get out of her sight (what little she has) and her aloofness turned into "pet me please"
Now she is back to normal and all is well with our little world.
In other news, well, there isn't much. I actually got most of my scheduled work hours in this pay period. Only lacks 1.5 hours instead of what has been 15-25 hours. That will help a lot. Oh, and by the way Laughling was fun, didn't win much, but had a great time. Thank-you Shiela and Aaron for inviting us.
That's about it for now, Sorry there are no pictures. Love you all.

Fall is in the air.

Well Fall weather is coming to the valley finally. A cool down predicted for next week will take the temps into the 70's for high and 50's for lows.. Guess a light jacket will be required and the AC will get turned off for a bit. A few weeks ago we went to Mt. Charleston and took the dogs with us for a hike. When we left home the temp was 95 and at the top it was 75. Nice change! The image above is one of the views we saw up there. We wanted to hike to a water fall but Kiki didn't take the hike too well. She fell about half way there 2 times and I said that was far enough. We turned around and came back down. I think Mary was disappointed, he seemed full of energy till on the way home. He slept all the way and most of the day after. He's pretty fat and more out of shape than he thinks.

On the way back down, we came around the backside of the mountain, we stopped at a viewing area and took a pic of a dry lake bed off in the distance, beautiful view and the pic doesn't do it justice. It's the one on the left at the top.

Since then life has been pretty much routine and LeRoy's lip has healed just fine. Not even a scar. Work has been slow and I have had at least one day a week off. We only do scheduled surgeries, nothing emergency, and with the economy the way it is elective surgeries have been put on the back burner for most people. It really hurts the pocket book.

I have been knitting, of course. Have knitted 7 shoulderettes and am working on #8. Most of them will be trying to find space in my suitcase for a trip to Ohio over the holidays. Shhhh! Don't tell anyone.

Two of those are mine. I wear them all the time. Nice for movies and casinos where it gets kinda cool.

I have plans to make a different kind of shawl for my boss for Christmas. I really like her and need to get started on that since it's something I have never tried before and mistakes will be forthcoming, I'm sure.

Dale (my aunt) and I spend every Saturday together. Knit club, then lunch with Mamie and then usually off to bingo somewhere in the valley. Sometimes we're lucky, sometimes we're not. Lots more fun when we are.

The other night LeRoy worked late and didn't get home till around 9. We were both so tired we went to bed around 10 and just as I was getting into that half sleep mode he jumped out of bed like his feet were on fire. Well, I thought someone was breaking into the house but he said "I left the water on at work filling the pool. I gotta go". Like a chicken with it's head cut off he was dressed and out the door. Two secondes later he was back (forgot his glasses) and out the door again. I heard the garage door come up, his car backed out and he was gone. Thirty minutes he was back and said the pool was definitely full, but not quite overflowing. He doesn't think his boss needs to know how long the water was on or what time it got turned off. Just that he was busy. Too funny, but I about peed when he jumped out of bed so fast.

Well, that's about it for this week. We found a really good steak house Saturday evening and will go there again, I'm sure. Montana Steakhouse. If you come to Vegas, be sure to give it a try. Talk to all soon. Thanks for following us. Love you. Kaye

Better late than never

Sorry it's been so long since I last updated everyone. Guess I'm just lazy.
Leroy's lip is just fine. He healed like a four year old. Everything took less than a week to disappear, including the road rash. Lucky him. Stitches came out (we took them out) and now there is the hoop jumping for Workers Comp to pay the bills. Ambulance ride was over $1000.

For me everything is just fine. I got a new bowling ball and am struggling getting used to it, but it is getting better. Work has been up and down. For example last Tuesday we had 44 surgeries scheduled and as the week progressed by Thursday we had 4. At least I got to work that day, and Friday they gave me the day off since there were only 12 cases. I surely hope things start getting better, feast famine health care is scary.

Yesterday Leroy had to work and as usual Dale and I spent the day together. We went to Boulder City to the Art in the Park fair. Lots and lots of local artists/craftsmen bring their works in. Some of it is very pricey, but the crafters stuff is reasonable priced and I bought a friend a tissue box cover with Baltimore Ravens emblams. She bleeds Raven purple. It got to look like rain as we were eating a pulled pork sandwich and the weather was very hot and oh so humid. Dale was wilting badly so we decided to leave and headed for the Gold Coast Casino to play bingo. She won, I didn't. After bingo she won $100 in the slots downstairs, I didn't. Anyway, we left there and decided to eat again, (it was after 5 by now) and went to the Sun Coast Casino for Chinese food and the 7pm bingo session. (I'm not obsessed with bingo, it just sounds that way). The line was too long so we went to the Oyster bar and I had a stuffed shrimp appetizer then upstairs for more bingo. Dale won again, but she had to share it so she only got 50. So being a good sport I decided it was my turn and the room was crowded, but I was willing to share if needed. I did win, but nobody bothered to bingo with me so I won $150. It was a good day. Ate out 3 times including a Starbucks coffee, spent the day at a craft show, went to bingo twice and only spent $16. What a good day.
Now I guess it will be back to life as usual. Work Monday at 6, but better get a few groceries so I'll have something to put in my lunch.

Haven't taken any pictures recently, but the sunrises and sunsets have been spectacular! We did get a sprinkle of ran yesterday, now at 7:51am on Sunday Oct.3 it is clear, and about 70. Perfect!
Thanks for taking time to share our lives. I'll try to do a better job of keeping everyone updated. Sorry Bethy. Love you.