I'm So Lucky!

I apologize for not posting a blog last night. The reason I didn't write one last night was because I was pretty depressed. Yesterday afternoon when we brought Lucky home I was sad, because I knew that his time left with us was precious and wasn't long. I love Luck-A-Luck so much and so does Tony, Kinky and our dogs. He's family.

Anyone who has ever been graced by the love of a cat knows what I am talking about. Seeing old Lucky so frail and knowing that he was fighting for everyday of his life was hard for me to take even though you would think I would be used to it by now, since we have been rescuing animals for over twelve years. But to tell the truth it is never easy losing a family member—no matter how many times that you've had to say goodbye to one.

Last night, early in the evening as I was reading Susan Wittig Albert's brilliant mystery novel Chile Death Lucky surprised me when he jumped up in my chair and wanted to snuggle with me. When I looked into his beautiful eyes I decided to stay put in the chair and spend time with my dear, old friend instead of writing a blog and I am glad that I did, because I had a long talk with him and told him how much I loved him and that I did not want him to suffer. And I told him not to stick around for me because he thought he needed to. I promised him that I would be okay, but would miss him.

I think Luck understood my words, because he purred softly for hours as he slept in my lap, as I turned the pages of Albert's entertaining "can't put it down" book. She is a great writer too, like Tom D. Wells.

This morning I overslept. When I woke up I realized that T. was already gone to Medina to drink coffee with his friends, and I was happy to find all of our fur family on the bed sleeping soundly and snuggling close to me. Lucky was right next to my head with his back turned next to me—purring away. I didn't want to get up, so I didn't—I just laid there with my best friends, because I love sleeping with my animals and I decided to enjoy it. Thirty minutes later I reluctantly I climbed out of bed.

After putting all of the dogs outside to take care of their personal business obligations, I decided to feed Lucky first. Instead of serving him his usual cat food I decided to make him a special breakfast. With Luck sitting on the drain board watching me as I began preparing his meal, I pulled some "people" frozen cocktail shrimp out of our freezer and that is when I noticed that he looked much better today than yesterday. "I love you so much, Lucky," I said, as I tossed the eight, frozen, already cooked, small shrimp without-tails into Jaws. Then I added a small amount of tap water and flipped the 'on' switch on my mighty Vita-Mix machine. Seconds later I turned Jaws off and scooped out the icy, shredded shrimp into Luck's dish. "Enjoy!" Lucky could not eat it fast enough. That's a good sign!

This morning after breakfast and doing my chores, I walked eight miles with Leslie Sansone and then I did some important arithmetic. After crunching the numbers I am proud to say that I have walked 878 miles with only 947 miles to go! Then I checked the Farmer's Almanac to find that today is the 174th day of the year. I then multiplied that number by 5 miles per day which equals 870 miles. I am finally caught up with my daily mileage and 8 miles ahead of the game! I love it and plan to walk eight miles tomorrow morning.

As I type this Lucky is sleeping on the kitchen table next to my laptop and peacefully purring away, as Paul McCartney is singing "Hey Jude," one of my favorite songs. In my book it doesn't get much better than that if you ask me. I'm counting my blessings—I'm so Lucky.

Y'all have a great evening.

Thanks!

Today has been full of nice surprises. This morning after I walked eight miles our great volunteers Matt, Meghann, Danika and a friend arrived to help Tony and walk our dogs.

During our visit I asked Matt if his cowboy hat was still working. "Yes, ma'm!" Matt said. "I love my cowboy hat and so do the women. In fact, I've got a girlfriend that I want you to meet. She's really sweet..." After Matt's hat update Meghann told us about her and Lisa's duplex that they have rented and how cool it was. Hearing their good news made me happy for them.

After lunch T. and I took Lucky to Hoegemeyers Animal Clinic because he wasn't feeling good. Lucky is our beloved three-legged cat and he is over fourteen years old. Our ride to Kerrville was not enjoyable because Lucky hates being crated so he screamed and made god awful sounds the entire twenty-two miles.

When we arrived at the clinic they were very busy with clients. After a quick examination by the vet he told us that he wanted to keep Lucky overnight so he could examine him more thoroughly. Our next stop was at the Post Office so I could mail out a copy of Tom D. Wells' book Drop-Ins to my sister Cindy. Then we went to another one of my favorite places in Kerrville—the Wild Birds Unlimited store.

When we got out of Buttermilk to go into the store the first thing I noticed was this beautiful, gigantic wind chime hanging out on the sidewalk. "Tony, I love this wind chime! I wonder how much it is?" Then I looked at the price tag and frowned knowing I couldn't afford it.

"How much is it?" Tone asked.

"Nearly four hundred dollars," I replied. "It is definitely worth that much money, but I ain't paying it. I'll bet you that I can make one like that for a lot less money." Then we walked inside the store and were greeted by the friendly owner. "I love your giant wind chime outside," I said as I walked over to the seed cake treats display. "And I love your store. The vibes in here are fantastic!" I grabbed two packages of Woodpecker Picnic seed cakes that Jon Wolfmueller had highly recommended we use and then we browsed around the store at all of their cool bird products before paying for the seed cakes. Then we headed home.

Before turning off Highway 16 we went to the mailboxes to get our mail and we had a lot of it. As Tony slowly drove the last two and a half miles to the rescue ranch I looked at our mail. Most of it was advertisements asking us to buy things that we didn't need or want. Then I opened up a package from my sister Cindy. She had sent me the cutest card and a mystery book that we had talked about, that she thought I would love to read because it takes place around the Texas Hill Country. The name of the book is Chile Death by Susan Wittig Albert and I can't wait to read it and I plan to start reading it tonight. 

Then I opened up a card sent to me from Will Hoover, my good writer friend who lives in Hawaii. A while back I had sent him a copy of my new book, because he is in one of the stories. The minute I opened up the card I laughed out loud when I saw Hoover's picture. I showed Tony the picture of Will that was taken at the Jimmie Rodgers Museum in Meridian, Mississippi on September 8, 2009 and he laughed, too. Then I read his sweet note out loud.

I spent the rest of the afternoon on the phone and taking care of ranch business. Early this evening I got a call from Dr. Rydberg about Lucky and it was not good news. He told me that we can pick Lucky up tomorrow and bring him home and that we should count every week that he is with us as a blessing. Kinky and Tony were both upset when I told them the news about Lucky.

I am feeling pretty sad about Lucky tonight, but before I end tonight's blog I want to thank my sweet sister Cindy and fellow Libra friend Will Hoover for making me smile and laugh today.

Y'all have a great evening.