Underdog!

Today has been a great day, even though it is F.M.T. (Full moon time) again. The first thing I did this morning when I got up at 7:00, was to give Kinky a wake up call, as he asked me to yesterday, in case he overslept, because he had an early interview to do.

"Good morning, Nance," he said, when he picked up the phone. "Thanks for calling. I've been up for over an hour.

"Good. I just got up."

"What time are y'all coming over to pick up The Friedmans?

"We'll try to be over there before nine."

"Good. Last night I told them that they are going to camp, while I'm doing my Southern Discomfort Tour and they seemed to be fine about it..."

At 8:55, Tony and I pulled up to the Lodge and were greeted as we jumped out of Buttermilk by Sophie, Winston Churchill and Kinky. "They seem excited about going to Camp Okay Corral," I said, as Sophie jumped into the backseat, followed by Winston.

"I know," Kink said, as we walked inside the Lodge to go wake up Chumley Friedman, who was snoring loudly, in the middle of Kinky's bed." After Chum had done his morning stretches, he followed us outside to go on his two-week camp out adventure.

After Kinky had picked up old Chum and put him in the front seat with me he said, "Thank y'all for baby sitting The Friedmans for me. I really do appreciate it." Then he climbed inside and kissed all three of The Friedmans.

When we had gone over the river and through the woods we drove Kinky's precious cargo to the front yard gate, of my pink colored writing cabin. "Welcome, to Camp Okay Corral," I said, as Tony unloaded The Friedmans, one by one and put them inside the cabin, so they wouldn't get out of the yard.

Once all of The Friedmans were inside the cabin and the gate was closed, Tony opened the door and all of Kinky's dogs ran outside to check out their "new digs" for the next two weeks. "They seem happy," Tony said. So, we left them to go into The Cabin, so they could go play and sniff around.

"Kinky, I just wanted to let you know that The Friedmans seem to like Camp Okay Corral," I said.

"That's great, Nance."

"But, Sophie told me to tell you that she does not appreciate having to live next door to pigs for two weeks. Chumley has already picked out the doghouse that he wants and Winston is running around the yard, peeing on every rock that he can find."

"Tell them I love them. In just a minute, I've got another short interview to do, Nance and then Dylan and I are taking off for Houston to kick-off The Southern Discomfort Tour..."

Early this afternoon, around 12:30,  I received a long awaited phone call from Mr. W., the homeless man in San Antonio, that needed to be admitted into a hospital on Christmas Eve morning, but couldn't be admitted and treated, because of Underdog, his loyal Shih-Tzu companion, that we have been boarding for him at Dr. Thompson's clinic—La Cantar Animal Hospital, in San Antonio.

"Hello, Nancy. This is Mr. W.," he said, "I am still a patient at the wound care rehabilitation center, but I have good news. I am ready to take Underdog back!"

"That is great news Mr. W.," I said. "Are they releasing you today?"

"No, I'm still not ready to be released, but the center is allowing me to have Underdog stay here with me. When can you or Paul deliver Underdog to me? I can't wait to see him."

"Let me call Paul, our super volunteer, to see when he can pick up Underdog. I will call you right back."

Then I punched in Paul's phone number and told him all about what was going on with Underdog and Mr. W., while he tried to eat his lunch in a San Antone restaurant.

"As soon as I finish lunch I'll go straight to La Cantar Animal Hospital to pick up Underdog and then take him to the rehab center. That little dog is going to be so happy to be finally reunited with his best friend."

"I know. Thank you so much, Paul," I said. "I'll call Gabby at the vet clinic to tell her what is going on and then I will call Mr. W. back to tell him. I wish I could be there when you deliver Underdog to him..."

Late this afternoon I called Paul to see how it went. "When I took Underdog into Mr. W.'s room Underdog went wild with excitement when he saw his best friend in bed. Because Underdog is so short, I had to lift him up to Mr. W.'s bed and they could not quit kissing and hugging each other. Then Mr. W. handed Underdog one of his old toys and Underdog flew off of the bed to fetch it and play with it. Thank you so much for letting me be the one to deliver Underdog to Mr. W. because for me, it's all about dogs and this has really made my day."

As I finish writing this tonight, I'm betting that Underdog and Mr. W. are the happiest that they have ever been in a long time and I want to thank the kind people who have helped us pull this off; Rita, at the Christus Santa Rosa hospital, Randy at the wound rehab center, Gabby and Dr. Thompson at La Cantar Animal Hospital and Paul Emerson for all of their help. We did it!

Y'all have a great evening!