Sent:    Tue, 7/01/03 8:45 AM

Subject: There is a Black Cloud Over the Davis' 

Hey Everyone, As the title notes, we are having a bit of bad luck or bad mojo in our little family, ya know I guess this includes Anna with her broken hand and teeth problems. The first thing is that we got the phone fixed.  So you can call now.  I will call you mom tonight, if I get a chance. 

So you want to know how the phone got broke, well to make a long story short.  Jerry is putting in a new gas cook top for me and taking out the electric one.  As Jerry says, "piece of cake." So Jerry calls his dad to come over to help dig the ditch to replace the gas line.  Jerry has figured that when they installed the pool heater (which is broke and needs replacing), they undersized the gas line and the line that was there was not best quality line.  So to get the correct amount of gas to the cook top and the heater (which we will replace sometime) he had to put in a bigger line.  So, they cut the phone line 3 times while diggins.  Not too bad, you kinda expect that to happen.  Well, Jerry's dad started yelling when he was digging and he had hit his pinky finger on the cement slab that the air conditioner sets on.  Blood is flowing fast and hard from his finger and upon closer examination, he had popped off his pinky fingernail all the way back to the white part near the bed...............OUCH!! 

That was Sunday. To back up a day, Jerry went to fix a backflow preventor (a $75.00 job) at a local hospital and his truck was broken into and they stole ALL his power tools and a bunch of other tools.  We guess about $3000.00 worth of stuff was stolen. Then, Jerry went to turn on the computer last night and the damn thing wont do anything.  No power to the main box at all.  The computer is relatively new, about a year and a half.  The monitor gets power, but not the computer it self. 

Then, the new dog, Harley is going nuts.  We went to Denver for a week and she stayed home with Anna and the other pets, and she was fine.  On Thursday (two days after we got back), we notice she is wandering back and forth in front of the front door and back to the dining room.  Each day her pacing has gotten worse.  I thought that there was some scent on the dining room floor (which is where her big attraction is), so on Sunday I mopped with Mr. Clean, then I went over that with some vinegar, then I sprayed on odor eliminator in the room.  She still continued do it more and more.  On sunday evening, we got her distracted with a pig ear.  Anna and I sat down sunday evening and discovered she was chasing her shadow.  On monday, I looked up on the internet, shadow chasing and found it to be a obsessive compulsive disorder.  They suggested going to get a check up at the vet to make sure that there is not a physical problem. 

So off we went to the vet last night and the vet(s) were amazed.  Harley was doing exactly what their vet books said would happen with this disorder. The vets had never actually seen this happen, mostly they are told what happens and wont do it at the vet office.  She was going nuts chasing her shadow and she even started like jumping in the air to bite imaginary flies oh, and now and then she barks at it.  The vet thinks she freaked out because we were gone for a week.  I said GREAT! we have a weeks vacation planned in 3 weeks..........so I am not sure what we are going to do with her during the vacation.  I have a place secured at the training place as of now.  The vet has put her on an anti-depressant (Clomicalm 20mg) to see if that helps.  Of course, it takes 3-4 weeks to see any improvement.  Harley won't even play with Lucky anymore. 

Oh, the black cloud can pass us now.  We have had enough!!! Don't know about the tools.  If we file it on the business insurance, it will go up a lot and if we claim it on the homeowners, they may drop us.  That is the new thing in Texas; if you make any claim on the homeowners they are dropping you like a hot potato.  A lot of companies have totally stopped writing homeowner's policies in Texas.  All this is due to the flood of 2001 and the huge mold case outside of Austin where the mold took over the home of some family and they got like 20 million awarded to them.  And of course, the flood is causing more mold problems. 

Well, enough whining from me.  I hope all of you are fine.  Mom, I got the shoes back. Sorry they didn't fit.  I would try taking her to a shoe store and trying on the men's high tops, there are more of them out there then women's. Hope all of you have a great week.  

Love,  Mary and the rest of the black cloud gang