Dot`sThoughts

Sent: Monday, September 01, 2008 1:37 PM
Subject: Sister Carol`s Birthday- August 31st, 08

First an update on the fire detector. No more beeping, so think I have corrected that. Then today the carbon monoxide detector (in the kitchen near my gas stove) started beeping and I replaced the battery in it, and finally had to plug it into another plug in and no more beeping so far. While I was at it yesterday I also replaced the batteries in the smoke detector in the dining room and the one in the cellar. Hope that cures all the beeping for a while, but there is also one more smoke detector upstairs ( near where the fireplace pipeing goes thru the attic and on through the roof) and another carbon monoxide one in the bathroom over the cellar furnace register- this is the closest register over the heating furnace. We could have died back in 1994 when we had carbon monoxide poisioning and Walt was so bad he went into a coma for days before we knew what was making us so terribly sick. We had thought we had the Flu. Thanks to God, he lived and we both got better, but I never took chances after that. We might have been wiser at the time , but I had just lost my younger brother and we were attending his Funeral and still trying not to get close to anyone. But, there is no odor to carbon monoxide and that is why they add an odor to the gas used for cooking kitchen stove gas. We never even smelled any smoke from the furnace becomming clogged up. We had no smoke detectors or carbon monoxide detectors at that time, but you can be sure i bought some as soon as i was well enough to drive to the stores. Have since replaced them with newer ones.

Now back to todays topic- What Happened on my younger sister`s birthday:


Yesterday started out like any nice day. I drove up to see my youngest sister as it was her birthday. We were expecting our oldest sister to be arriving about an hour after I got their. She lives about 6 hours drive from us and was coming out for our birthdays. When time kept going by and she hadn`t arrived we were beginning to wonder what was holding her up. She had called my sister about 2 hours before saying she would be their in about an hour. Finally she did call us back to tell us she was in a car accident, but wasn`t hurt and to meet her at our other sisters place. So, my youngest sister and I both headed off to our other sisters which was about a half hours drive from where we were then. My sister later told us she decided to have the people drop her off there as it was closer. The people wouldn`t even allow her to give them any money for the gas used in driving the 50-60 miles. No One was hurt, but her car was destroyed, neither door on the drivers side will open and the drivers side front wheel was bent, or maybe the axle or frame was bent causing the wheel to turn in wrong. Thanks goodness she wasn`t hurt and neither were the people in the other vehicle. I better explain who the helpful strangers were.
There was another car with 2 people and 2 of their grandkids in it who witnessed the accident. After they checked to be sure no one was hurt in either car, they offered to let my sister leave her vehicle on their property and they offered to bring my sister the about 60 miles further to our other sisters home. What a wonderful thing for someone to do for a stranger they had never seen before. Just goes to show there are still wonderful people who will go out of their way to help even a stranger. I got to meet them when they dropped my sister off and they were very nice people. I heard they own and run a Religious Book Store- looks like they are one who doesn`t just believe, they practice what they believe.
I felt sorry for my sister- there I was with my brand new car and here she was with no car. She was the one who was always driving the 6 hours to come out and see the rest of the family, so she did need her car to be able to see all of us. The rest of us all live within a half hours drive apart.
So, my sister`s Birthday was celebrated at my other younger sister and her husbands place with a chicken BBQ -outside cook out- with all the family present. Even our brother pushed his wheel chair over from across the road to join us for supper. Was nice having the family all together again, just sad why it happened. My older sister told us that she had intended on taking the youngest sister and I out for lunch to celebrate our birthdays. It was on my sister`s birthday and a few days before mine. The other younger sister told me she was sorry she didn`t have my Birthday card yet, but she hadn`t expected on seeing me early. She provided the chicken cook out meal which meant even more to me than a card.
They even made a cake and wrote both my sisters name and mine on it and sang Happy Birthday to us. Except for feeling sorry for our sister losing her car, the rest of the day was nice with one other exception. One of my nieces daughters called her mom to say her little dog had been hit by a car, but lucky to end up with just scraped up legs. At least we hope that is all. They might know more today as the dog owners live in another state. My sister said her Birthday was a jinx since our older sister was making the trip that day for her birthday. Of course I told her I don`t believe in jinxes.

I am still listening to the updates on the Hurricane Gustav. Always scarry and thankful we live up nearer the eastern coast -both inland and a lot further up north- where we might have lots of snow and lose power from bad storms, but still safer here than in the Gulf States, or even Florida and other coastal states and the awful powerful storms they often get. As a friend said to me earlier this afternoon, as much as she hates our cold winters with all the snow, she prefers living here to living in the fear in the gulf states with the damaging scarry storms they get. I wholeheartedly agree with her.
May God Bless and protect all who live in the Hurricane`s path. These storms cause so much destruction and lives are often lost. Such a sad time for everyone, especially those who live in it`s path and all their loved ones.