One, two, three . . . . (posted by Ann)

You always hear that bad things come in threes, and I've never been much of one for superstitions but I think there may be something to it. Or at least I hope there is something to it, because then we're done around this joint.

Let's see, around the house - 1) washer & dryer, 2) hot water heater, 3) dishwasher. We've replaced the first two within the last two months, and haven't replaced the last one yet so I'm hand washing. With a fabulous MDK Ball-Band dishrag, none-the-less, but handwashing.

And in other areas, 1) airplane crash, 2) hernia, and now I have the third one on the list. Before I get to that, hernia update. Don's surgery was successful, but he had a negative reaction to the anesthesia so we were at the hospital all day. All. Day. Long. He is better today, and is definitely on the road to recovery. I know that because he's complaining a lot.

And here's #3. This morning, I left the house for 30 minutes to drop Steve off for his cross-country meet. I made the fateful decision to take the dogs with me, since they just love a "go-with". I dropped Steve off, and was driving home, maybe a quarter mile from the house, and a squirrel went across the road in front of the car carrying an apple that was bigger than his head. I laughed at the sight, and then I heard a loud banging noise.

I looked in the rear view mirror and saw Tater tumbling head over heels down the center of the road. He JUMPED out of the window of the Explorer GOING 45 MILES PER HOUR to get the squirrel. Miraculously, there was no on-coming traffic, and he picked himself up and ran to the other side of the road. The landscaping truck that was following me was far enough back they missed him. I screeched on the brakes, and left the car running with Pumpkin in it by the side of the road and went after Tater. He was so scared he wouldn't even come to me - he was shaking all over, and he'd come toward me but then he'd see or hear a car and turn and run. He ran all the way home with me behind him, so I let him in and then ran back hoping I would still find my car with my OTHER dog still in it. Both were there, so about ten minutes after that I had Tater in the car again headed for the vets office. X-Rays, exams, stitches, and he's at home with no broken bones and hopefully no lasting damage, though they've warned me he could still have internal injuries that won't show up for up to 24 hours. Steve will be sleeping on the futon on the ground floor next to him, because he's really sore and stiff, and not moving around much. He looks really pitiful with a bandage on his left front leg, and shaved spots all over where they cleaned up his road rash.

I can't believe he jumped. And then I can't believe he lived through it.

Maybe some of those old sayings are true. Certainly, God does protect a fool, or I'd have a dead dog, and I'm sure hoping about the threes. No more, please, we've had our fill around here!