Harleys, Freckles and Ellis

My Mom has reached Detroit safely to visit with her old Michigan friends.

At the half-way point, on the Pennsylvania/Ohio border she settled into a dog-friendly Marriott with Noel after a quick bite to eat.

Around 9:30 p.m. the phone rang. It was the front desk.

"Mrs. Albert? This is detective soandso down in the lobby. Could you possibly come down to the lobby?"

My Mom ventured down to the lobby, met the detective, and learned that a motorcycle had crashed into the rear end of her parked car. She was parked right in front of the hotel.

The biker was there. His bike was in a couple pieces. He reported the accident. He had insurance. He continuously apoligized, according to my Mom.

He must have had one wheel up in the air because he completely missed the bumper but smushed in the tailgate. My Mom said the car was ok to drive. And she drove it the final six hours, through Detroit and arrived at her good friends the Plouff's.

It's like a movie, "Alice and Noele the three-legged dog travel across America."

Enjoy, relax, and return safe guys!

Freckles knew yesterday that something was up when I closed the door between the kitchen and the sunroom. He hid in the corner underneath the pub table. So I moved the pub table.

Yesterday was time for Freckles annual check-up with the veterinarian. Our vet and his staff are great. They didn't hesitate at our request for house calls for Freckles since he hates to travel.

Still...what a scene.

Barb donned long sleeves and picked up the beast. We set him on a card table covered with newspapers. The vet noticed a story about a musician coming to town on one of the newspapers. The vet is also a fiddle player we learned.

The nurse grabbed Freckles by the scruff of the neck, completely controlling him, very professionally. Freckles hissed and cried and showed his teeth as the vet sped through all of his checks.

Freckles has a spot on his back near his tail which he cannot reach to take care of. A large clump of hair always gathers here over time and he won't let us near it.

We took advantage of the situation to cut off the clump of hair. Freckles didn't seem happy about it at the time. But he did seem happy about it when everything was all over and that big clump of hair was gone.

After a little shot in the butt, Freckles was done. He took off as soon as the nurse left go. He stopped in the kitchen and looked over his shoulder to see if anyone was following him. I could just see him thinking, "What was that all about?" as we all stood there smiling at him.

This is also the Ellis birthday weekend celebration. Happy fifth birthday Ellis!