While The Hummingbird Man's Away—The Bulldog Will Play!

Saturday was a busy day for us. We had many visitors in the morning—wanting a tour of the rescue ranch. In fact, the last visitors, fell in love with Ringo, and they are coming back to adopt him next week!

Around one o’clock, right on time, our dear friends from Austin, Denise and Mark Stevens arrived with their / our dog—Hank! It was so great to see them!

Hank, aka Hankie, The Hankster was rescued five or six years ago by Kinky. Kinky had just finished doing a radio show at KVET, in Austin, with Sammy Allred and Bob Cole. Upon leaving the radio station, some people were coming in the front door—carrying Hank!

When Kinky saw the little red-headed stranger—his heart melted. He stopped to ask them about their dog, and when he found out that they were from a rescue organization, getting ready to do an interview with Bob and Sammy, and their little dog was up for adoption—Kinky adopted the little dog, right there, inside the lobby of KVET!

As soon as Kinky was inside his car, he called to tell me his exciting news! “Nance, this little dog is adorable, and I am going to keep him! I’ve already named him Hank, Sr., and I can’t wait for you and Tony to meet him! I’ll be back at the ranch, in a couple of hours.”

A few hours later, “Nance, this is Kinky. I am sick. Mr. Magoo hates Hank! He’s jealous of Hank, and keeps growling at him, and I’m afraid for Hank’s safety. Could y’all take Hank?”

We took Hank, and we fell in love with him, but we did have to change his name from Senior to Hank, Jr. because we already had a little black and white dog named Hank, Sr.

Hank was a great little dog, and he fit in well with our other dogs. He was so cute, that I even created, with the help of Adobe Photoshop, a rescue ranch—July 4th card, and mailed it out to all of our supporters—and we got a great response from it! Everyone loved the card and suggested that we ought to consider printing some Hank T-shirts.

A few years later, our good friend, Brian Alstott, came down to visit us, and brought along his friend, Denise Stevens, from Austin, because she loved dogs and also wanted to see the rescue ranch. We had a great visit, and during that time, Denise fell in love with—The Hankster!

Denise kept telling us that she wanted to adopt Hank, and take him home with her. By the end of their visit, I asked Tony to go outside with me for a few minutes before they left. We talked about letting Hank go, and agreed to let Denise adopt Hank, but first we needed to check with Kinky about it. I called Kinky with the details, and later, on that afternoon, November 28, 2003—Hank left the ranch!

Since that time, we have kept in touch with Denise and her husband, Mark. Hank had become the love of their life and they had spoiled him—rotten! And we loved it—especially Kinky!

The next time that Kinky and I ran into Hank was at our book signing, in Austin, at a Barnes & Noble, for Kinky’s book, ‘The Christmas Pig’ and my book, ‘The Road to Utopia: How Kinky, Tony and I Saved More Animals Than Noah.’ That was back in December 2006.

Denise and Mark had showed up at the book signing and surprised us with a Hank visit! Fortunately, the crowd was patient with us, as Kinky and I stopped signing our books, so we could hold and pet our little buddy. That was a great book signing!

And yesterday, when Denise and Mark showed up with Hank—that was a great day! When they arrived, they unleashed Hank, Jr. and with his tail wagging, he ran to me and jumped up into my arms! And, when Hank saw Tony, he jumped out of my arms and ran to Tony’s arms!

After the greetings were done, we came inside the trailer for coffee. Hank obviously remembered our trailer, because he quickly ran around the living room and jumped up on the coffee table that he used to take naps on.

After a short, but fun visit, Tony took Denise, Hank and Mark for a drive on Kermit, while I returned a few phone calls.

After I had reached out and touched a few some ones—I left the trailer to go find Tony and our friends. When I found the party of four, we decided to shoot some pool over at the Lodge! Because of Mr. Magoo’s past history with Hank, Jr., it was decided to take Hank to our trailer, for safety sakes, before playing pool.

At Kinky’s Lodge, Denise and I confessed that we didn’t want to play pool, because of our lack of skill, so The Medina Bulldog challenged Mark! Let the games begin!

While Denise and I visited, and made frequent comments on our men’s pool shots, the guys seemed evenly matched! Mark would win one game, and then The Medina Bulldog would win one, etc.

This went on for six games! The Medina Bulldog—three! And Mark, aka Beano, who I named because of a hilarious story they had told, was three, too! They were tied!

The seventh game, the final match to break the tie—The Medina Bulldog won, but it was close! Tony and Beano shook hands, and agreed to another future match—which next time would include: The Hummingbird Man and Brian Alstott!

When it was time for Denise and Beano to leave, Tony and I hugged them both, but we kissed Hank. We had a great time and are looking forward to the next visit and tournament!

And lastly, I want to thank Brian for introducing us! We miss you, Brian! Get well soon!