Snakes, Snails, and Puppy Dog Tails...

Some of you may or may not know about the ongoing saga regarding Smiley, the yard and/or neighborhood dog. Smiley was abandoned by her owners a few years ago and our little country neighborhood took her in. One neighbor eventually moved, so Smiley shares her days going back and forth between our house and Mary Anne's across the way. One day Smiley was sleeping on the cool sand beneath Darrell's truck when... WHAM! To my dear husband's horror, he first heard and then saw his tire resting on Smiley's leg. He got back in the truck and rolled off her. To our surprise there were no broken bones, but the wounds were deep and terrible. After a trip to the vet, two days of IV's with high-powered antibiotics, four meds, and what we call her 'bonnet' to keep her from licking her wounds; she's on the mend. A free surprise pet has now become a very valuable dog to say the least. You know the wood shop we were planning in the near future? Well, that has become Smiley's new name instead. She made her third trip to the vet yesterday and though the deep wound where the bone was exposed is healing, they felt it wasn't closing fast enough, so they put her out and stitched 'er up... cha-ching... another 158 bucks. That puts her worth significantly over $1000. Good grief! We would NEVER pay half that much for a dog for Pete's sake, but what else could we do? ... I don't want to hear it... The vet wants us to bring her back in two weeks, but my wise husband says, and I agree, that if we can tell the wound is healing well, we'll forgo that trip and hope for the best. The vet also "gave" us some ointment to put on 'Woodshop' twice a day for a mere $38 more. ENOUGH IS ENOUGH! Yeah, 'Woodshop' is a good and fitting doggie name, isn't it?