Sorrows and Joys

The long week finally ended with a very long day on Friday.  I stayed home from work to be with Grant and drive him around.  Our first stop was the towing yard where we had to sign a release to have the car moved to our insurance company's preferred yard.  It was very sobering to see our Acura TL.

Thank goodness this well-made vehicle protected my precious DH!  The tow yard guy echoed our thoughts that this doesn't really look repairable and we might not want to drive it if repaired--it will never be the same.  We await the verdict from the insurance company, but the guy who took Grant's statement told him he probably should start looking for another car right away.  Meanwhile, Grant has a rental.

Following this sorrowful sight of the car we have only owned for six months, Grant had to be seen at the Workers' Comp clinic as arranged by the employer's insurance company.  We arrived shortly before noon and that was extremely poor timing on our part, as Grant did not get called back until the xray tech came back from lunch over an hour later.  They would not let me go back with him at that point so I sat another hour plus in the over-air conditioned room, until Grant texted me that he was done with xrays and was waiting for the doc before they could let me come in.  I left the clinic to grab a very late lunch at home and then returned.  The doc soon fetched me from the waiting room and let me know that there was "nothing bad" to report.  All told, Grant was there for five hours, and left with a bunch of "swag" including a cervical pillow, thumb splint, rib belt, ice pack, and medications.  Good thing we didn't have to pay for all of that!

Luckily our guests were able to delay their departure from town a bit so that we could say goodbye.

Here is darling Alica (pronounced Ah-Lisa) with her bow and arrow from Pixar's new Brave movie--which she got to see here in the U.S. for her 5th birthday in early July.  Earlier in the day she was wearing a red wig like the heroine, Merida, and admiring the curls coming down over her eyes.   

All energetic after her nap, Alica was ready to get on the road but consented to a photo in the car.  She blew lots of kisses from the window as they left our neighborhood, which I made sure to catch and return.  It was marvelous to have a charming 5 year old to be smitten with this past week, and wonderful to see our old friend Mike and his lovely wife Lara.  We were happy they felt comfortable in our home and were able to enjoy some family time before they returned to Arizona and then home again to Russia.  Safe trip, friends!

Some semblance of normalcy finally returned Saturday, though we did have an annual block party going on and then another overnight guest, as Erica's friend was in town to see her.  I did spend a bunch of time burying thread tails on the Caramel Blues I wanted to enter into the County Fair, but there was no way I could get the remaining quilting plus the binding done in time for the deadline today, so I switched to the mini quilt above.  I tied it with embroidery thread and bound it with the same fabric as the narrow border, finishing and heading out the door in the last hour they were accepting entries.  I entered four quilted projects in the Clothing and Textiles department and will be excited to see my quilts on display in early August.  

What A Week

We'd been having quite a week here at the Orts Compound, enjoying our guests and trying to keep up with the normal chores and work duties.  Yesterday morning I left the house early to pick up DD Erica at the airport.  Her plane came in early but so was I and we were soon on our way north toward home.  After a stop for breakfast and a visit to JoAnn's fabric store, we were back on the road and nearly home when my cellphone rang.  It was Grant, saying words I have dreaded hearing all our married lives, since he has always had a job where he is constantly on the road:  "I was in a car accident.  I'm in the ambulance."  Luckily he was mostly banged up and dazed from the seatbelt and the airbags going off in the impact, but it took four hours at the ER until he was finally released with some muscle relaxer and anti-inflammatory meds.  I played patient advocate a few times, trying to get us more attention, but it was a really busy Wednesday in that ER.  Meanwhile, Grant continued working--spreading out his laptop on the hospital bed and phone to his ear, taking customer orders.  Unbelievable--son Nick even took a photo of him and sent it to his sisters. 

Suffice it to say, the rest of the world faded into the background for the afternoon and evening.  Very, very thankful he was not badly hurt. The older lady who hit him suffered a broken leg and he is worried about her.  They were taken in the same ambulance to the ER but of course we don't know what happened to her after that.  Hope she is okay.  So now we are on to the exciting next round of insurance claims, workers' comp claims, car rentals, and finding out if the car we bought six months ago is salvageable.  But that is a much better list than doctor's office, surgeon, and physical therapy!

Gratuitous photo of DD Elaine's quilt.  Just because fabric helps soothe my worries!

Stationary Object?

Last Saturday night, we received a frantic call from DD Erica at about 9:40 pm, saying she had just been in an accident on the highway a few miles from home.  She was unhurt, as were her three passengers, but she was very upset about her car being wrecked.  She said she had hit a tree and that a bunch of other cars were also involved in the accident.  She was so upset that it was hard to get exactly what happened.  Grant and I jumped in my car and approached the site of the accident on Highway 126.  There were about a mile of flares set up and multiple Highway Patrol cars.  We were lucky to get through, as they closed the highway at the offramp behind us about five minutes after we passed it.  We slowly inched up to a long, wide curve in the highway.  Our headlights hit the tree--it was an enormous eucalyptus, probably 60-80 feet tall, that had fallen from the park on the side of the highway, across a drainage ditch, the shoulder, and both lanes of the highway.  You could not see it at all until your lights hit it as it is very dark there.  We were funneled off to the inside shoulder to go around all the branches.  The debris field was huge.  We passed several severely damaged vehicles and were directed by the patrolman to park on the shoulder in front of all the other cars.  There were at least 6 cars we saw, including an ambulance with a smashed windhield and front end damage that was in front of Erica's car.  Her windshield was almost completely smashed, there were dents in the fender and side panel, and both front blinkers were gone. Her passengers all told us that they were unhurt.  Erica told us that she was driving in the right lane behind someone, as her offramp was coming up.  That driver slowed down for an unknown reason and she changed lanes to go around him, while on the large curve on the dark highway.  Suddenly her lights hit the huge tree but it was far too late to stop, especially as the other driver was now behind her.  She hit through the tree and as she came out the other side, there were two vehicles on either side of her that had also driven through the tree; she had to negotiate through them, making her own lane, with inches to spare.  She did not hit any of the vehicles and pulled to the side of the road.  Only then did she lose her composure! 

Erica gave her statement to the Highway Patrolman and a tow truck loaded her car onto the bed and took it away.  As we exited the highway, we saw yet another vehicle parked and covered with tree debris.  We contacted our insurance company immediately and a rental car was approved.   The body shop did an estimate on the car repair which totaled more than $3800, which was also approved by the insurance company.  Yesterday, we got a letter from the insurance company about the accident.  It said that after initial investigation, "the driver of our car was 100% at fault for striking a stationary object".  WHAT THE H*LL!

Stationary object? Well, yeah, I guess, AFTER it fell across the highway!

This is the base of the huge tree, after city/state crews worked on it.

The ditch and guardrail and the two lanes of the freeway beyond--see all the trunk/huge branch sections in the ditch?  Those were once across the road!  These pics are taken from the park that the trees line, after the highway crews worked on removal for two days.  Yesterday there was a crane removing the rest of the huge trunk sections.

Of course we plan to call our insurance company and find out the meaning of their "initial investigation" rubbish!  We are so grateful that nobody in Erica's car was hurt.  She is now driving a snazzy rental car, a black 2010 Dodge Challenger.  Pretty hot-looking, much more than her little old Toyota Camry!  This story is to be continued....