Oak Village Animal Hospital

Happy New Year! We hope that your holidays were blessed. We would like to take a moment to thank you for entrusting us to care for your pet family. The greatest compliment of all are your referrals. Thank you very much.

As a few of you already know, the Bowen residence was destroyed by a fire on Memorial Day weekend. Debbi and I were out of town on a trail ride in Tennesse. We received a frantic phone call from Angie (our nurse at Oak Village who was housesitting for us) stating that our house was on fire. Angie, her sister Jessica and their friend Sean called the fire department and evacuated the house along with three dogs. Thankfully, no one was injured. The fire started in the wood stove chimney. The fire department thought it was an electrical fire, so 2000 gallons of water went into the ceilings. Then that water went into the basement. Fortunately, there was more smoke and water damage then fire damage. But, we still had to replace everything in the house. It was an exhausting task to inventory all of our belongings. Everything had to be accounted for in order to settle with the insurance company. If you have not already done so, videotape the contents of your home and keep it in a secure area in case of fire or other damage to your home.

Debbi and I arrived home the next day and were shocked to see that the house had been completely destroyed. Our insurance agent offered to make arrangements for us to stay at a hotel. But with five dogs, five horses, two cats and fourteen chickens, we needed to stay on our property. For the first two weeks, Debbi and I and five frenchies resided in our horse trailer with living quarters. For those of you who do not know what that is, it is a trailer for hauling horses that has a small living quarters in the front. It is equipped with a bed over the gooseneck, a small sitting area, a tiny shower and a porta potty. It has electric, including air conditioning. The living area of this trailer is 7×15feet. This set up is designed for weekend travel, not long term.

The first mission of sanity was for our insurnace company to provide a 12×50 foot house trailer because it would be 6 to 9 months for house repairs. No problem, except that Will County required a land survey which would take 3 more weeks. We were able to negotiate with our insurance company to purchase a used 8×31 foot camping trailer which we got in 3 days. Now we stepped up to a running water flush toilet and twice the room. The kitchen was larger with a table and benches and a couch. It’s a wonderful life started with a sewer line hook up for the trailer. For the first three weeks, I was emptying the sewage tanks manually twice weekly. The next step of luxury was a wood deck, then a metal awning to block out the sun and installing a dog run. For laundry purposes, we purchased a 8×12 wooden shed. It also housed a full sized refrigerator (the refrigerator that came with the trailer was very small). Also, we had a bit more space for clothes. Trailer living became a real challenge when old man winter arrived.

The first three months of this ordeal was frustrating because no progress was being made. Our contractor, David Post of E.I.S.Group did a superb job of analyzing the extent of the damage, negotiating with the insurance company and coordinating the house construction. Another major hold up was that our house was 45 years old and to rebuild it required strict 2008 building codes. Construction finally started September 12, 2008. We hoped that by Christmas we would be back home.

As the summer passed and winter came, our challenges increased. It was now difficult to do laundry in the shed with no heat, so temporary heaters were installed to prevent the pipes and refrigerator from freezing. However, as it got colder the discharge hose from the washer froze. The plumbers temporarily hooked up the washer in the house. But now Debbi had to bring clothes in the house to wash, carry wet clothes to the shed to dry and then carry them to the trailer to fold. Whew!

The next challenge single digit temperatures. The trailer we were living in was for vacationing and not designed for Chicago’s winters. Ice would form on the windows and doors. The temperature was either 45 degrees or 85 degrees, the furnace would heat but the thin metal walls could not retain the heat. We left the water faucets trickling to prevent freezing. Heat tapes were on the holding tanks, but we had to pour hot water in the toilet to keep the tank from freezing. To hook up the new plumbing in the house the plumbers needed to turn off the water for 6 hours. TaDa! Frozen water pipes in the trailer and it was back to the porta potty at night and into the house for showering, water and bathroon privileges during the day. Thankfully, that only lasted two weeks.

Due to the diligent persistence of our general contractor, Davis Post of E.I.S Group, we were able to move in on December 19, 2008!!! Thank you David for all your hard work and determination. Great job!

Is it a wonderful life? As I look back at this, it was an adventure to go from using a porta potty in the horse trailer to using a flush toilet in the camper. Although, 1/3 of the world population has no indoor plumbing. As I poured hot water in the camper toilet, I thanked God that we had hot water to use. An American on welfare is rich as compared to many third world countries around the world. Yes, we are having some economic problems. Maybe it is a challenge for us to rise to the occasion and show the world that we are still the greatest nation on earth. As in the movie “It’s a Wonderful Life” George Bailey starts to live again. He realized all the many blessings he had all along. No other country has had the prosperity that we Americans enjoy. I believe we will recover. Our forefathers took on the strongest country in the world having had no money or government and won. Surely, we can all deal with our economic situation.

Thank you all who patiently waited at times when I arrived late. When major construction occurs there always seemed to be unforseen issues that happen at the last minute. This Christmas, the best gift was being back in our home. I, along with my wife Debbi, and the staff of Oak Village would like to wish all of you a healthy and prosperous 2009.

Ronald C. Bowen DVM