Yesterday I promised to write about the dogs that we helped rescue and a promise is a promise, so here goes.
Last Saturday was a dreary winter day. It wasn't real cold, but it was damp and foggy. Around 5:30 in the evening, Kinky called me to tell me that a couple was there and dropping off two dogs that they picked up along the side of Hwy.16, because the big dog was wearing a Utopia Animal Rescue Ranch tag and a Rabies dog tag that was dated 2011. "Nance, could you and Tony come over here and help us with this? I guess I could keep them, but I really don't have the room for them. Do y'all want to take them?...."
Ten minutes later Tony and I arrived at Kinky's Lodge. He and his sister Marcie were standing outside talking to the couple that had rescued the dogs and Kinky and Marcie had the two dogs on short leashes.
After brief introductions Tony took off the dog's collar that had the tags on it and the other dog had an old leather dog collar, but there were no tags on it.
"These dog tags don't make any sense to me," I said. "First off, these are two very young dogs—not 10 years old or older. And I know for a fact that this female Great Pyrenees we never rescued her, because if we had rescued her I would have adopted her instantly, because I have missed Mama ever since she died....Something is not right here."
"Maybe, someone put their old dog's collars on these?" Tony said.
"Yep, that could be true too, Tone," I said. "And these two dogs could also be "Rain Dogs." Then I looked at the couple and Kinky and Marcie and explained, "That's a term shelters use when dogs get lost after a rain, because their scent is washed away...."
Thirty minutes later, it was getting dark and the couple and us wanted to leave, so Marcie offered to take care of the two dogs for the night, until we could hopefully figure out who they belonged to. "Kink, I need to talk to Tony first, but I might adopt that sweet Pyrenees if we can't find the owners. But it won't be tonight, because we need to go home and see if we can figure out who these dogs belong to....Marcie please take pictures of these dogs, so I can print them out and put them in the Old Timer and around town tomorrow morning."
After Marcie took pictures of the dogs and promised to email them to me immediately, I said, "As soon as we get home we're going to call the Old Timer to tell them we rescued these dogs and bring pictures in the morning."
"I can call them right now for you," the woman said, as she pulled out her cell phone and punched in the number.
When Tony and I got back home, I luckily found the notebook that I used for fast-cross-reference for our dog tags. "Tony! I found the dog tag match, but it doesn't make any sense. My tag records show that a woman named Terry ***** adopted a dog from us named Gracie in April 2011. And that makes sense, why the Rabies tag is also dated 2011. I have Terry's phone number and her cell number."
"I remember Terry," Tony said, "But I think she moved away to Houston about 3 or 4 years ago. I also remember that she was Andy's neighbor...." Then Tony went into his man-cave.
I called Terry's Medina phone number and it had been disconnected and the cell phone number was a dead-end even though I called it twice to make sure.
Then I had an idea that might work. I looked up Andy's phone number and called him. "....Hi Andy, it is me, Nancy......I am sorry to bother you..." After filling Andy in on why I was calling he confirmed that Terry had moved several years ago and that he was sorry about not being able to help me with the dogs.
About five minutes after talking to Andy our phone rang and it was Andy. "Nancy, after talking to you I just remembered that Terry's daughter & husband still live across the street from where Terry lived....here's their phone number...."
After thanking Andy for his help I called Terry's daughter & son-in-law. When the answering machine picked up I began babbling about who I was. That I wasn't a crazy lady and why I was calling...and after about a minute the son-in-law picked up the phone, "Hello. Hello...."
I was disappointed after talking to the nice man, because he confirmed that Terry had moved, but he and his wife could not remember Terry ever having a dog and he was sorry they could not help.
After we got off of the phone—I drank a glass of my cheap boxed wine to calm my nerves and then I went into Tony's man-cave and before I could tell him about my unproductive phone calls, he said, "I just found the owner's and I'm talking to her right now on FaceBook, because when we got home I put it out on Facebook about the lost dogs!...."
After Tony talked to the woman, who was anxious to pick up their dogs, they had agreed to meet Tony Sunday morning, in front of the Medina Children's Home @ 9:00, so they could follow Tony over to Kinky's ranch to pick up there dogs.
When Tony told me this, I suggested that he call the woman back and suggest that they pick up their dogs that evening. Tony liked my idea and so did the happy couple, because they had told Tone that their dogs had gone missing sometime in the wee hours of the morning.
As Tony threw on his jacket, as he walked outside, I was on the phone telling Kinky that Tony and them would be over there within twenty minutes and Kinky was more than thrilled about it.
About an hour later, 9:00, Tony returned home and told me how happy the dogs were to be reunited with their two-legged family. Then he and I drank a glass of wine to celebrate.
Y'all have a great evening and keep on laughing!
