"I had to use my dog as bait"

I'm learning all about required annual car inspections for Texas residents.  Yesterday Ava and I went to get my car inspected so we could register it in state of Texas.  When we arrived home I noticed the dogs were tied up outside.  I thought to myself, "Why did Ben tie the dogs up if he wasn't at the camper?  He knows if one's dogs are outside, the owners have to be present."  


Then I saw a note on the door that read:

"Your dogs came through your screen.  I got your neighbor across the street from you.  I came from behind and used Patches (my dog) as bait.  Your dogs are tied up and watered."  -C.L.

As I opened the storm door, I could reach my entire torso through the screen door.  Part of me thought, "Great.  Now, we have to pack/tie down our belongings in our home, hook it up to a truck and take our home into town to get the door repaired."  Part of me thought, "How scary would it be to be walking by with your dog and have two dogs (60lbs and 75lbs) lunge through a screen toward you?"  And part of me was just embarrassed by thought of our dogs running around the RV park while our neighbors chased them down and used their dog as bait to catch our dogs.  THEN they were kind enough to make sure the dogs had water.  How do you thank someone for doing that?!


We've had our camper for just under 3 weeks and so far all of the "oopses" that have occurred are: 

1. A partially drank bottle of wine came uncorked in the fridge, spilled all over, leaked through the fridge seal and dripped onto the floor.  By day two, our home smelled like we were alcoholics.
2. I'm surprised it was day three before Ava spilled milk on the dining room bench.
3. I'm struggling to learn how to cook with a gas stove/oven so at least once a day the smoke alarm notifies the neighbors dinner is almost ready...or maybe TOO ready!
4. The dogs make their own doggie door through the screen on day 17.

Oye!

Shaken Baby Syndrome

I've heard a couple of radio commercials recently about Texas that led me to do a little research. The first commercial included the fact that Texas ranks fourth highest in the nation for teen pregnancy.  I found the following statics at the Texas Department of State Health Services (http://www.dshs.state.tx.us/famplan/tpp.shtm) site rather interesting:

How Often Does a Teenager in Texas Get Pregnant?Every 10 minutes, a teen in Texas gets pregnant. 

Every 10 hours, a 14-year-old teen gets pregnant. 

Every 3 hours, a 15-year-old teen gets pregnant. 

Every 1.5 hours, a 16-year-old teen gets pregnant.  

Every 52 minutes, a 17-year-old-teen gets pregnant.  

Every 35 minutes, an 18-year-old teen gets pregnant. 

Every 28 minutes, a 19-year-old teen gets pregnant. 
What are the Outcomes? 

Every 48 minutes a teen has an abortion.

The other radio fact I heard regarded Shaken Baby Syndrome.  Texas has the highest mortality rate of infants as a result of shaking.  According to the National Shaken Baby Coalition a baby can fall 3 stories and not get as seriously injured as a shaken baby!!

Ben and I were hypothesizing correlations between the two facts (Teen Pregnancy and Shaken Baby Syndrome) then started talking about our own daughter.  We started discussing how many times Ava has tripped or ran into something or fell off of something.  

Just as Ben started to say, "...and Ava's still okay'" we looked down the hall of our camper towards Ava.  Ava was playing independently, sitting on the floor in her bedroom, putting a puzzle together...wearing her bicycle helmet.  

...Maybe I SHOULD get her checked out.