Stitch my Hero

Monday is still replaying in my head.

I had gone to town, done my chores and noticed how pleasant the temps were especially with no rain. I thought as soon as I get the groceries put away I would surprised the dogs with a walk. Pretty much all winter has been too cold or rainy, so they haven't been for a walk in some time. I quietly got their leases only to realize they weren't wearing their collars. It kinda took away the surprise part but boy oh boy they were excited. Stitch was so excited he started to cough and Chaquita was spinning in circles. Taco on the other hand didn't really want to go for a walk but no way was he going to be left out.

I always wait till we get to the gate to put their leases on. As soon as I cleared the end of the trailer I saw the neighbors pull in their driveway but didn't think much of it. I put their leases on and out the gate we went. They immediately went on a sniffing spree, pulling and twisting up the leases basically good walking fun. The mailboxes are across the street and positioned directly in front of the neighbors gate. That is as far as we got.

The neighbors acquired a very large female Mastiff some weeks ago. This dog saw it's opportunity to assert her authority on my dogs and took it. The gate had been left wide open and she was coming. With her big long strides it only took her maybe 3 seconds (if that) to get to us.

I was thinking that she would come and they would all sniff and that was that. No, she didn't even take time to sniff. She engulfed her mouth over Chaquita's body and picked her up of the ground and proceeded to shake. By the second shake Stitch jumped in and drew the attention to himself. The mastiff dropped Chaquita and went nose to nose with Stitch. She opened her mouth and engulfed Stitches whole head, shook him back and forth two or three times before the neighbors boyfriend grabbed her by the collar and dragged her away.

What was I doing in this 10 second assault? I was on my hands and knees trying to get my dogs under my body and screaming my lungs out the whole time. Chaquita was in so much pain and shock she was biting me for touching her. Stitch was screaming in pain and Taco was hiding behind me. They were all still right there cause the leashes were still attached to my wrist.

Stitch ended up with two lacerations, one on both sides of his neck and a fat lip. BUT all I saw was that my dog was bleeding and Chaquita was still screaming but I couldn't see her injury. I was still screaming and crying, so much so that the neighbors thought it was me that had gotten hurt. They immediately tended to Stitches wounds while trying to calm me down and see what was wrong with Chaquita. I calmed and Chaquita calmed. She had a really large bulge on her tummy, but no blood anywhere.

They helped me get them back inside the gate of my yard, where I finally came to my senses and said I need to call the vet. I remember hearing one of the ladies saying "Internal damage" and the other lady saying "It doesn't look that bad" But really I wasn't listening at that point, I just knew I had to get to the vet ASAP.

Flying down the road and breaking some speeding laws on the way, just barely missing getting stuck by a train, we made it there in record time. I had called hubby just moments after we left the house to tell him what happened and where I was going to be at. I'm not even sure he understood my blubbering...vet, dogs, Mastiff, attack...I guess those were all the word that came out. I'm still wondering how I managed to get us there safely through teary eyes.

The vet looked over Stitch first since he was the one that was bleeding. I couldn't believe my ears when he said that it was just a superficial wound and just cleaned him up and gave him a pain shot. He did say that it was amazing that he was walking because attacks like I described to him usually result in death from a broken neck or end up paralyzed. His words not mine...He is one lucky dog!

I am still blubbering the story out to the doc as he is examining Chaquita. He says..Herniated and surgery all in one breathe. My mouth stopped and my heart sank. They quickly started taping up her belly, I let out a little laugh cause Chaquita refused to use her legs after that.

Stitch came home pretty much the same as he went but with antibiotics and pain meds. Chaquita had to be left at the vets for observation and preparation for surgery in the morning. Heart wrenching to leave her there, I didn't even get to say goodbye or give her any soothing words, they just whisked her out of the room.

As soon as I got home the neighbor was there wanting to know what happened. I really didn't want to talk to her at that moment cause I had created this anger at their carelessness of not keeping that dog more secure. Then come to find out while talking with her that this dog had just done the same exact thing to my other neighbors dog a few weeks ago. I told her that my hubby was on his way home and she had better have that dog gone before he gets here and walked away to tend to my dogs.

Hubby did NOT shot the dog, even though he wanted to super bad. If it hadn't have been for the fact that her kids were home and standing right there with her while talking to him, I am positive of what would've gone down. But my hubby the softie when it comes to kids, calmed down and left the situation gracefully as a grumpy teddy bear instead of a fierce grizzly bear.

We talked about our worries and fears for Chaquita and hubbies final words before going to bed were...She doesn't even have her blankie! We tried to sleep, but to no avail. I even resorted to taking a sleeping pill but even it only worked for a few hours. The replay was constant and kept me on the verge of tears all night.

The long awaited call from the vet came at 11 am. Her surgery went wonderful! She had no other internal damage and the quick thinking on my part and theirs had all her parts back in place as they should be before her surgery ever got started. AMAZING!

I am thoroughly convinced that Stitch's quick thinking, heroic actions and selfless sacrifice saved his sisters life and possibly all of ours. He is my hero!

There are so many different scenarios that have run through my mind as to how bad it could have been. "If" they hadn't been on their leashes, she would've picked up Chaquita and ran off with her. "If" Stitch hadn't jumped in when he did, Chaquita would be dead. "If" the neighbors hadn't have been there to pull the dog away, Stitch would be dead. Soo many "If's".

I am just grateful everyone is still alive and are on the mend. Now if I could just get the replay to stop and let me sleep.

P.s. The Mastiff is gone! I don't know where or how, just happy that it is gone.

Avocado stabbing

Well now that I can type at some sort of speed instead of one handing it, I will tell ya what happened.

Sunday was just like any other day, I had things to do that I didn't what to do so I was putting it off and trying to ignore it. The "It" was grocery shopping! I instead got myself involved with loading pics from the Daddy Daughter Dessert that I went to with my father and sisters onto facebook, this was taking hours cause I could only load 2 pics at a time (stupid dialup). I was 3/4 of the way done and hubby comes in the kitchen to get some sprite. "When ya going to the store?" That is code words for.. get your butt off facebook and get it going to the store...I'm outta sprite!!

So off I go..with a slight twinge in my back. By time I got home that twinge had turned into "Pop my back right now before I bust out in tears" kinda pain. We unloaded the car, he popped my back and all was right in my world again. I put the groceries away, went to sit down and hubby asks.. What's for lunch? Another set of code words that mean...I'm getting pretty hungry, are ya gonna feed me today?

Hoagie sandwiches sounds good and I just bought some avocados too. Hoagies and sliced avocados it is then!

I get all the ingredients out, slice open the hoagie bread, slice open the avocado, went to stab the seed (as I have done hundreds of times before), the seed spun and the knife went through the avocado and into the palm of my hand!

I'm sure I made some kind of noise but I can't remember what it was. My eyes were focused on pulling the knife out, dropping it to the floor (avocado still attached) and surveying the damage before rushing my hand to the sink. All in a instant but felt like forever!

I heard the hubby yell "Are you alright?" but my breathe was caught in my throat with a scream attached to it. By time he rushed into the kitchen I was already running water over the gaping hole in my hand. Hubby messed with it and messed with it till he was satisfied that it didn't require stitches. Just good old fashioned pressure till the bleeding stopped and a large gauze bandage will do.

Poor boy had to make his own lunch and supper and do the dishes too!

I have been stuck on light duty for the last few days and feel really bad about him having to do so much for me. It is amazing how much you need two hands for! Laundry, dishes, cooking, sweeping (now that is just funny)...

Hopefully I can get back to normal in the next few days but for now the itching is driving me insane!

Grrrr.....

So as most of you know I am a crafter. I love to crochet and make things. Here lately I have been looking at stuff in the stores with the mentality of "Oh that's cute, maybe I can do that". So naturally I hone in on things..design, cut, stitching..ect.

I was at HEB (Texas based grocery store), they have lots of bins filled with stuffed animals of all different sizes and shapes for the upcoming Valentines day. I didn't really have a whole lot of time to look at them but naturally i glanced on my way by.

The very first bear that I saw had a torn tail!! The stitches were coming out, one good yank from a child and wham there went your 10 bucks (I'm guessing, I didn't really look at the prices) down the drain. The next thing that caught my eye was a tiger hat, I noticed it had an unusual feature and went to check it out. As soon as I touched it, I noticed the piece I was touching was just barely holding on by a thread. All the stitching had come out and it was about to fall off.

Really?! This is what we spend our money on?! Poor workmanship and low quality. Just another piece of junk from China to end up in a USA landfill. These poorly made toys we buy, send our money out of country and for what? A temporary toy that will end up getting thrown away? To me it just clarifies what a wasteful society we have become accustomed or forced to be.

I am just as guilty as the next person...I spent two years in a row buying cheap toys for my grandsons to play with when they came to visit. At least half of those toys have been thrown out because they got broken. Heck even the first day of play one of the trucks broke a wheel!

I have tried to boycott buying anything from china but can't seem to be successful at it. Even the slippers I bought were from china and forget about trying to find a can opener! I am STILL using the old army can opener cause I refuse to break down and buy another one. I did finally break down and bought one a few months back only to have the handle fall off right in my hand!

My point is...Why do we continue to by this crappy stuff? This throw away stuff (you know you are going to eventually)?

Daddy and I were just talking about this this morning. He found a microwave and the only thing wrong with it was that the motor under the turn plate was froze up. Did you know you can't buy parts for those things? If it's broke, you fix it. Right? Nope not anymore...If it's broke you throw it into a landfill and buy a new one.

Am I ranting? You bet your butt I am! It is disgusting!

And how HEB can justify selling such crappy stuff, is beyond me. I guess cause folks continue to buy it. I like to buy things cheap just as much as the next fella but not if I'm just going to throw it away in the end.

Okay, I will step off the soapbox now. Sorry for the rant, thanks for listening.

Stomped by an Elephant

This 8 inch tall, 4 lb elephant candle holder was in a group of 5 other trinkets. I was in the process of moving these trinkets from their over crowded spots to a new location as soon as I found one. So they were sitting on the kitchen table waiting for me to figure out where to put them all, I needed the table so I again moved them to the counter top. Basically I have been shuffling them around searching for somewhere to permanently tuck them away AND out of the way. This still hasn't happened.

Yesterday evening while fixing supper (okay fine..It was corn dogs..don't judge!) I went to turn with the box of corn dogs to put back in the freezer and WHAM! I had knocked over this elephant and OF COURSE it just had to land right at the base of my big toe, right on my bunion!

I screamed, hollered, winced, cussed and repeated this process repeatedly in just a under a minute. I'm sure there were a few OMG's in there too! Hubby yells...Are you okay? I couldn't answer him, breath was being used for other things. Since I didn't answer he got up and came in the kitchen...Are you okay? What happened? I turn my head and point to the assailant laying on the floor.

He picks it up and says............ The Elephant stomped on your foot?! I couldn't help but let out a little laugh and say...Yeah and he shocked the piss out of me! Literally! (TMI? sorry) Hubby walked away laughing, yup he sure did! Left me there in the kitchen with my foot up in the air and my body hunched over the back of a kitchen chair, still wincing and well you know using my breath for other words.

Last night I soaked it, nursed it, baby'd it and still it swelled up to a nice youthful plump, too bad it was painful, I might have liked the new look. LOL! I was scared to go to bed and chance the dogs laying on it, bumping it or even me hurting it further with all the moving I do in my sleep. But I did anyway.

Now... most of the swelling is gone and I now have this lovely shade of purple going on and no it is not just veins!