Jake Spoon! or Are Y'all Dead!

We got over 4 inches of rain Thursday night and all of the creeks are full and the grass is already turning green! It is hard to believe that Thursday morning the grass was dead, the creeks and ponds were completely dried up and then twenty-four hours later it was the complete opposite.

Today has been great. At 6:15 this morning, Tony left The Cabin, so he could be in Johnson City by 8:15, for a Texas Master Naturalist field trip.

After drinking two cups of coffee, I went outside around 7:15 to do the morning chores. First, I fed the chickens, pigs and deer and then I fed all of our dogs and I really enjoyed it, because the dogs were frisky, because the temperature was in the low 60's.

By the time I had fed everyone, I was covered in mud, because many of our dogs greeted me by jumping up on me. When I was halfway through cleaning the dog pens, the dogs started barking wildly at something near the entrance gate, so I left Bob Dylan's and Rockette's pen, jumped into Kermit, to go find out who or what was here, even though I figured it was probably the donkeys and the horses.

Of course I was wrong, because when I saw it, I half-hollered, "Hi, buddy. How are you doing today?" It said nothing, because it was a large Catahoula dog, with one blue eye and one brown eye. The friendly dog, wearing a dog collar and tags, walked right up to me, wagging his tail, so I slipped a leash over his head and walked him over to Kermit. "Load up," I said. He looked at me and then he jumped into Kermit and sat down on the bench seat, next to me.

Because we are at capacity right now and we have no extra space, I drove him down to The Okay Corral and he thought it was okay, but he wasn't real happy when I left him, to go call the number on his tag.

I got an answering machine and left a message that we had their dog and two seconds after I had hung up the phone—it rang. "Rescue Ranch. Can I help you?"

"Yes, ma'am. You just called here. You've got my dog and his name is Jake Spoon."

"That's a great name for him," I said. "He is doing fine."

"He's a nice dog. I'll come get him within the hour..." After we had adios-ed each other, I went outside and told Jake that he would be leaving shortly and then I went back to Dylan's pen to pick up where I had left off. And ten minutes later Jake Spoon was picked up and taken home.

At 10:00, Gail arrived to adopt George Clooney and Annie Oakley and after she had filled out their adoption forms, she followed Kermit and me down to their dog pen, so we could load George and Annie into the back of her blue SUV, so she could take them to their new home. Before Gail left, I told her, "Annie can be a real handful, Gail and just remember, if she doesn't work out, we will gladly take her back..." As Gail drove away, with her future fur-family, I realized that I had forgotten to take a picture of her and the dogs, so I could show it to Tony and y'all.

Susanna arrived around 2:00 this afternoon, to adopt sweet, little iPod (aka Lola Falana) and iPod could not wait to leave the rescue ranch and go to her new home and I did remember to take their picture, before they drove away.

At 3:00, I jumped into Trigger and went to the library, in Medina, so I could be there to help celebrate the life of Randy Solis, the beloved Director of the Medina Community Library, who passed away last Tuesday morning, in a tragic bicycle accident. When I got to Medina, I finally found a place to park, down the block, because everyone in town was at the library, sharing their favorite stories about Randy, with his friends and his lovely family. 

I teared up three times, when I spoke to Randy's wife Liz and when I met Randy's 92 years-old father and when my friend Susan W. told me what Randy had recently said about his dad, "My father is my very best friend..." Even though it was a sad occasion, the library was totally filled with love and happiness and I am so glad that I went, because Randy was loved by so many and he will never be forgotten for all that he did for the Medina Community Library.

Tony and I both arrived back home around 4:30. He was tired from driving, but he really enjoyed his field trip and he did not quit talking about it, until forty minutes later, when we walked back inside The Cabin and heard our friend Sandy leaving this message on Carlton, "Hello, Tony and Nancy. Are y'all dead?"

When we had finally quit laughing, I punched in Sandy and Jon's home phone number and quickly apologized for forgetting to call them back on Friday, to give them a ranch-rain-report and then she and I had a fun conversation. And that is about it for tonight.

Y'all have a great evening!