Well, it sure has been a while since I last posted anything. I just got back home to Germany yesterday, and finally have a high speed connection again. Frankly, its the only thing still going right at the moment.

Naw... I shouldn't go all doom and gloom, but it has been a tough three months and it isn't getting any better. People who get easily depressed should just skip to the next thread, since I haven't got much good news.

Before anyone here panics, the SVX is fine. Probably because I haven't driven it yet. Everything else I touch is going kablooey.

Mom had a hip replacement beginning December, just after I arrived. That was planned so I could help out when she got home afterwards. Well, they had her in the hospital 3 days, then 6 days in re-hab, then they sent her home. I wasn't happy, wanted her to get more re-hab and physiotherapy, but we coped. At least, we were coping fairly well until she fell, broke that same leg in two places (femur, a.k.a. thigh bone) and demolished her knee. And that was just as she was learning to climb stairs with a cane. I had been hoping to get rid of the walker before I left, and instead I prolonged my trip to deal with the new situation. She's still in hospital, waiting for a long-term re-hab spot to open up. No weight allowed on that leg for three months. It has plates and screws and wire which should later prove amusing at airports (along with the new hip). Meanwhile, most re-hab centres don't take patients who can't even stand on both legs, so we're waiting for a bed to free up at a semi-private institution where they do water therapy.

I'll skip all the stories about incompetent and lazy nurses I had to deal with throughout, though I must applaud the small minority who really tried hard to do the right thing and even go beyond. Big kudos to the paramedics who were wonderful! I suppose it didn't help that Mom fell during a freezing rain storm, so hospital emergency depts were overcrowded and so of course we ended up at a different hospital. But Mom fell in her bedroom at 3:30 am while going to the bathroom, so it didn't have anything to do with the storm. Just a real flukey accident.

So we waited with that broken leg for 4 days before she got transferred and had the leg operation. Not sure why, but everyone was insisting that she should have the same surgeon at the same hospital where her hip was done in December. Of course, we hit a small snag: that surgeon was on holidays, so she ended up with another one anyway, although at her original "hip" hospital.

All during the waiting time, and even after the leg surgery, they somehow totally missed the broken knee. Everyone was so worried about her new hip (no damage done) that they ignored her complaints that her knee was hurting, NOT her hip. The broken knee finally showed up during follow-up X-rays 3 days later, with Sunday night emergency surgery to fix the knee. What fun!

Now, just in case that wasn't enough fun, my brother landed in hospital for a short stay in middle January, and I got into a fight with my sister-in-law. Long story, short summary: I think that situation is now under control somewhat, though I have a severe disagreement with my brother's doctor about long-term treatment. Can't do anything about that though. Grrr....enough said about that one.

So... after many more trials and tribulations, I'm finally going to the airport. I'm tired and stressed out and frankly worn out both emotionally and physically. Hubby had called the night before to warn that I might get cancelled. Frankfurt airport had a major blizzard and 400 flights were cancelled the day before, including the ones from Toronto. So I get to the airport early, already expecting trouble about my changed departure date on top of the threatened cancellation.

Oh....right.... didn't mention that minor irritation. You see, I flew using Swiss airmiles, on a Lufthansa flight. But the awards programs won't be officially joined and on the same computer system until April 1. So even though I was holding a Lufthansa ticket, it had been issued by Swiss, and only Swiss could change it for me. But Swiss no longer has an office in Toronto. At least, that's what the Swiss phone rep in Australia explained to me. Yeah.. I couldn't even go through their Montreal office, because I wasn't a normal ticket but an award ticket which is handled by a different department. Finally a very nice man named Bruno in Australia got me straightened out. I ended up having no trouble with my ticket at the airport, but did end up with a middle seat which I really really hate. I suppose I should be glad for small mercies, since the flight was way overbooked and I did at least get a seat.

So, I'm finally at Stuttgart airport, and Hubby is waiting for me along with our puppy, who is now an 8-month old gangly teen-ager. No probs with customs, all my bags arrive, the weather is beautiful, the roads are clear, and I'm finally starting to relax on the drive home.

We get home, and Leo the black Lab is waiting to greet me quite effusively and with great joy. Wow! Things seem finally back on track. ... Nope

We leave the dogs outside playing in the nice afternoon sunshine and trundle my bags into the apartment. We hear dogs barking and kids laughing outside, while I start unpacking gifts for my husband and we get reaquainted. Then we realise that things seem very quiet outside.

Anyone care to guess what happened? Our dog was nowhere to be seen. It was around 5:30pm, so maybe another hour or so of good daylight. We got warmly dressed and spent the next few hours wandering around the countryside, yelling and whistling, hoping desperately for a reply but got nothing.

We spent a sleepless night worrying, Hubby took Monday off and we spent all morning scouring the countryside with no luck. We've called the police and reported our missing dog, and also the local animal shelter. Unfortunately, each shelter in Germany acts independently of the others, so we'll have to sit down with a map and figure out possible distances that a dog could travel in a day or two, and call all the other shelters ourselves. Our ad will be running in the paper on Wednesday and I've already put together info sheets with colour photos that I'll be posting at major bus stops and grocery stores around the area in a 10 mile radius to start.

And the icing on the cake..... today was my husband's birthday, and we'd been joking for months that his gift was going to be finally having his two girls back home and his family together again.

Welcome home....