I know it has been a week since I've written anything, and I apologize for not staying in touch, but my family was in town for a few days, and, as many of you know, if you have a family, it is a full time job keep tabs on them.
Additionally, Linda was out of town, dog sitting a friends two dogs, while they spent some down time in Hawaii. This left me alone with two medically impaired dogs and her 93 year old mother, with several doctor appointments, to add to my family hosting duties. Did I mention I was alone?
Anyway, on with our story.
I don't do a lot of nighttime driving anymore, in fact it is rare that I'm even out after lunch unless we have a doctor's appointment. However, with mia familia in town, I had a few chances to be out, either early before the sun came up, or in the evening after it set, and I noticed that there were a significant number of people driving cars in the dark with no headlights turned on.
I tried to give them the universal, flicking my lights on and off to let them know, but apparently this is a Chicago only code and people out here have no clue what I was doing. Several of them gave me the "you're number one" finger salute in return for my trying to keep them alive.
I wondered how anyone could be driving around at night, with no headlights on, and not realize this. Then I looked at my dashboard and the lightbulb, if you will, went off for me. I realized that most all new cars now have the dashboard lights on every time you start up the car, day or night. You do not need to turn them on to see how fast you are driving, or getting the A/C set just right.
I am surprised that some state, or person, has not sued the auto manufacturers yet because of this. I believe it is the single most dangerous thing that they have changed on cars. It is especially dangerous here in retirement land where the average age is, almost dead. It is bad enough that we have a significant number of people driving, that should not be behind the wheel anymore, on streets that have average speed limits of 50 MPH, and these are the side streets, in cars that you don't have to turn on the headlights to see the dashboard.
What could possibly go wrong?
How many of us have seen someone who can barely walk, or stand up, or shuffle along, get out of the driver seat of a car? Add to that the inability to see how to use the pin pad for paying at the grocery store, then you have the auto makers lighting up the dash to make sure everyone can see how to turn on the oldies station on the radio, but not the headlights to see the road, or be seen on the road, and you have a recipe for multiple deaths.
I would like to see the government force auto makers to return to the old days of turning the headlights on to see the dash in order for the rest of us to stay alive a little bit longer.
Many of you have asked for an update on Tallahassee since our original story a few weeks ago. I reached out to my cousin, and his wife and Vickie was kind enough to send me an update which I am very happy to share with you all.
She is doing amazing. She’s still the sweetest girl ever! She has gained weight in the last month, which is good. She started at 40 lbs. when they found her, and then reached 54 lbs. while she was at the foster family in Korea. She weighed in this week at 61 lbs. Her vet was very pleased. She is a super easy dog and still just wants to please us and get love.
Due to her lumbar spinal issues and weak hind legs, we are starting her on a course of physical therapy. We start next week and will have 7 sessions to follow. Her sessions will consist of a combination of walking on a hydro therapy treadmill to build strength in her hind legs, a cold laser treatment to reduce swelling in her lumbar area, and acupuncture to relieve any pain.
We are also going to have a trainer come next week and do a bit of basic training with Tallie. She is definitely a pleaser, but I think she’s still getting used to hearing the commands in English. We need to work on her heeling when we walk around the lake, and also not trying to greet and play with EVERY dog that she sees. She gets very excited and anxious when she sees dogs approaching. She whimpers and barks at them and wants to run and play.
Banjo is adjusting pretty well to not being the center of attention in the home. I secretly think he was hoping that we were just babysitting a neighbors dog, and that she would be gone after a few days. Haha! At first he was a bit scared of Tallahassee’s size and playfulness. Tallahassee is still learning that she can’t swipe at Banjo or pounce on him like she can with bigger dogs. It’s pretty cute watching her trying to get his attention. At the foster home in Korea, they had another golden that she probably got used to playing with daily.
She loves her walks around the lake, car rides anywhere, and is glued to one of us at all times. Now that the weather is getting warmer, we want to take her to the beach and see how she likes it. She loves to eat. She gets so excited when we get her food out. She does like a little tippy tap dance in circles from the excitement. She literally inhales her food like she thinks she’s never going to get any again. It is so great to see her so happy about her meals, but it breaks my heart that she ever had to experience pure hunger and being starved.
Bringing her into our family has seriously been one of the best things that we have ever done. We just want to show her all of the love that she’s never had, and to restore her faith in humans.
It sounds like Tally and the Miscevichs' all were winners in this deal.
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