Well, It would be nice to say
that all has been well in our world....which I suppose is basicaly true but no one will ever believe that after only a few
short weeks we have yet had to put another special dog to sleep.
Our Sweet Sammie (Picture Above)
that was supposed to live a long, relatively healthy life did a sudden about-face on us exactly a week ago today and with
much sadness we chose to end his suffering. We are still unsure of exactly what happened when his body seemingly started
to explode from the inside out... The closest out vet friends can get to what finally took him out was a blood clot.
It was very sudden and I'll spare you all the gory details.
We did particpate in a large
July 4th parade with Great Dane Rescue of N. TX (Hence the patriotic get-up) and I have to say that not only did we have a
great time but Sammie really enjoyed walking along the almost 2 mile route and letting the little children pat his soft head
and silky ears as he went by. He loved every minute of it and truly felt like a celebrity although due to factors with
his strength we had to quit a little early. Suffice it to say that he will be greatly missed and that he was dearly loved...not
just by us but his special "Care Team" of Vets, specialists and rescue folk.
We are glad that we were finally
his "Forever Family". With that said we hope to now be out of the "Sickly Dog Department" for awhile. Call it "Self-Protection"
mode! We're sure our other two dogs think they're next (Poor things!).
We are going to be foster parents
for Great Dane Rescue for awhile while we're looking for our next healthy, fawn colored Sammie-ammie-ampson. You can
see the sweet girl we're fostering now on The Doggie Page. We will wait for the right dog although we firmly believe that
the Original Sampson and Sweet Sammie were in no way mistakes.
Let's see....what else...
Oh yeah ~ Denver (The Horse)
and I rode in a parade with some local folk for the opening of the Cow Girl Hall Of Fame in Fort Worth. That was
fun and was an all-day event starting at 5:30 am. (Ugh!)
Still no news on our
pending adoption....
It's been a mild and wet summer for us here in Texas which
is fairly unusual.....I think there's only been one 100 degree day so far...even some days into the 60's at night. Hey!
I'm NOT complaining. Glad for you western folk to have the heat for awhile!!!
We now have several cows out
front in our pasture and our going to the sale tommorow to buy some Longhorns. That ought to be interesting!
We were both released from
our church callings as Stake Missionaries and have now both been called as the Joint Chair-people of the Ward Activities Committee.
I was surprised to find out that there is actually a fairly good budget so ladies and gentlemen I think we're about to break
the mold!
I have been busy caring for
the 30+ oak and pecan seedings we planted earlier this year (And a few assorted others) and so far they are doing well though
I am waging war constantly with the squirrells!!! I'm pretty impressed that I haven't killed more of them since I kill
everything!!!
I worked on a wedding for a
friend of mine and now that is over I can breathe a little easier.
I am getting ready to spend
a week in Utah July 31-Aug 5th, to attend a conference for Heart-t-Heart, an LDS 12-step recovery group (Patterned
after all of the many "Anonymous" groups...with LDS doctrine's inserted) in hopes of gathering more information as I
am about to undertake starting a group here locally. It will be the first one in our North Texas area ~
Exciting! It will be a group open to anyone who has a compulsive / addictive behavior that they're trying to overcome in
themselves or in their families. We have the support of local church leaders so far even though this isn't
a church group...it's a community resource....and that's encouraging. It means a lot of struggling people can be
reached.
Walter now seems to be taking his turn in the bad back department (Oh No!!!)
and is going through the motions of getting better a little bit at a time. He probably hasn't had this many Saturday's
off since we've been married!!! I'm beginning to think that he's now just a "Sympanthy Hound" and / or has gotten tired
of my never ending list.
It has nothing to do with his
back (Well, kind of....) but his Dr. took at abnormal "Cell" out of his back this week leaving a several inch scar and Walter
really stiff and grumpy. (Thanks Doc's!) I hope he gets better soon because I'm really bad with the weed eater!!! :O)
The big, local gas company
has decided to drill a well right across the street from us in the middle of a 5 acre tract just bought by a young couple
to build their dream house on....Common occurence in TX...and a 24-hr a day noisy one for several weeks if you have ever had
the pleasure (?). We'de scream at someone if we could but it's like Sean Penn taking on the whole US Army. You
never get anywhere so why try. Oh well, at least all our trees shield us (And them) from the view and the six or more
acres between us insulates us a little bit.
I enjoyed a visit from my LA friend
Carole at the spur of the moment when she laid over here at the DFW airport, where we had lunch, and then she got stuck with
the second leg of her trip being cancelled. I got to bring her out to the house for an hour or so and I had her back
to the curb 7 1/2 minutes before her flight. Fortunately she was already checked in!!!
She has been working on the
TV Show "American Idol" (She's an actress doing stand-in work) that for some reason our friends the Amos's and us are horribly
addicted to. We get the scoop from her and now she's addicted too...
The first episode when they
auditioned all of the horribly AWFUL people who thought they were the next great thing was actually the best. We had
to watch it multiple times!
If you happen to watch the show we're
betting on 1) Justin 2) Kelly 3) Ryan and 4) Tamyra to be the big winners! (If only we were betting folk!!!!)
Guess it makes me harken back to the old days...Yep, we are old huh?!
We are loading up a new computer
so if our email is sporatic (You'de have to get one occasionally to know, right?!) that will be why.
Well, let us know how you all are
and in the meantime try not to lose too much money in the stock market!!!
Love to all.....
Shari, Walter and Resident Doggies
