Day two with the Grand Daughters.

Here it is, past day two with the grand daughters and all is well (to put their parents at ease).

Yesterday morning, Sandy noticed that she had a bloody right eye and that it ached some. So we decided to visit the emergency room in Mason City, even thou we try desperately to avoid getting near a hospital for fear of germs! So it was a standard breakfast and off to the big city.

The real problem was finding the emergency entry at the hospital. The marked entry was on the left side of the street, with a protective barrier so that we couldn't turn left. Taking the next turn led us to the main entry and once on the grounds, there were no other signs for the emergency entry. It took us a while to finally locate the entry on the far back side, then parking and checking in. It didn't take long for them to log us in, answer a few questions and then wait. Then another nurse called Sandy and some more questions to be answered and more waiting. Finally a third nurse called her, asked more questions and finally took her to a waiting room deep in the bowels of the emergency services wing. Then a short wait before the doctor came in.

Thankfully, the diagnoses was that she had neglected to use her eye drops (for dry eyes) while we were enjoying ourselves with the family at the campout and with aging weaker blood vessels, one broke. He also recommended that she not take the "recommended aspirin a day for heart protection for a week or two."

Then it was "check out". We had both wondered while waiting in the doctor's office why they hadn't asked for her insurance card. Okay, another clerk asks for that info upon checkout. And then we were on our way back to the park to pick up our potluck food and head for the family reunion.

It was a usual reunion where the older get older (and fewer) and the younger get older. But a good time was had by all. The grand daughters were able to meet up again with the two daughters of Sandy's nephew that were at the campout. So they seemed happy enough.

But all good things must come to an end and so it was that we also departed the grounds. It was off to the motorhome where we packed up (or stowed for travel) everything scattered about. We headed for a state park near Hampton where Gene's brother's children reside. We had alerted them to our coming and while not wanting another dinner, we scheduled a desert over the fire for everyone. All of them made it out Sunday evening and we really enjoyed meeting the young ones and visiting with the children. They are roughly the same age as our daughters and their children are the same age as our grand daughters. So it seemed that every one clicked together.

Our nephew is doing a lot of clean up in a nearby town of Eldora that was hit by a massive hail storm just a week ago. In a nutshell, every vehicle parked outside was "totaled with sever dents in the fenders and usually all windows knocked out". To handle the volume of vehicles, they setup a vehicle line on the fairgrounds. The owner drove in with his car and his insurance slip, they read the VIN from the vehicle, then they drove it on threw the line where various panels were checked. When the car exited the building, they were given a summary of damage and the payout amount, Totalled!. Many of the houses didn't just have roof damage, but they had holes punched in the roof leading to sever water damage. Also, the west side of the houses was often stripped of the siding and the windows knocked out. In summary, the town was devastated.

And so ended our day. We've again met many of the relatives, too numerous to count. But isn't that what reunions are for!

Gene