Another happy goodbye

This seems to be the week for parting. Again, it's a good thing:

These nice people welcomed Crystal the Foster Dog to her forever home this evening.


Early developments indicate that she's a daddy's girl.



She shows appropriate respect for/lack of interest in the toddler, too.


Everything I see and hear tells me that these are People Who Get It. The kind of people who understand that a dog can become a valuable part of the family, if you will only let her. And they are going to let her.

Thus far, The Boy and The Tueser seem to be enjoying getting back to a two-dog household. Just wait until this weekend, when I rock their world yet again by taking them to live with another family -- temporarily, while we put this house on the market. I'm going to miss them something fierce these next few weeks.

Dang goodbyes.

Another who's being missed this week.

Sweet Amie, who came to visit us this spring, has gone on to claim her golden tail. She was a darling girl, and I had the privilege of spending time with her on two occasions. Please keep Zorra and The Scientist in your prayers as they grieve.

Yeah, this pretty much covers it.

Thanks to Mary Beth for sharing this on her blog!

A Dog's Tale

It's been entirely too long since my last blog entry. But lots of stuff has been happening. Most blogworthy is the story of Bo the Rescue Dog.

It all started when I got a message from a fellow church member and animal person, on Thursday the 6th. There were several photos attached, including this one:


The message made it clear that this was Bo, a stray who had been picked up by Sulphur Springs Animal Control, and he was scheduled to be... well... gone, one way or another, on Friday the 7th.

Something about him got my attention. So I posted him on my profile in the social networking platform referred to herein as Tracelook and asked if anyone could help. I got several comments. Enough that the next morning, I called the animal control officer's number listed in the email, and sure enough, Bo was still there.

But, there was good news: There was someone who wanted to adopt him! In Houston. With a schedule that didn't permit her driving to Sulphur Springs to get him (a 300-mile trip, one-way). I told the animal control officer, who had totally fallen in love with Bo, that I'd see what I could do... and went back to Tracelook.

Several people (including RevGals from several different states) offered up prayer, and I'm pretty sure it worked... It couldn't have been much longer than 15 minutes before I had offers of a possible ride for Bo to the DFW area, someone willing to keep him for a few days if nobody else surfaced to fill that need, and a ride from the DFW area to Houston the following Thursday from a friend who was headed there anyway.

Within a few hours, each of those elements worked themselves into place. A former boyfriend of Susie's lives in Sulphur Springs and is as much of a sucker for animals as we are. He filled out Bo's adoption forms after work that day and drove him to Dallas. He and Susie made arrangements to meet Liz and Ken for a foster-family handoff. Liz kept him from Friday night until Thursday morning, quickly becoming attached and deciding that this fostering thing wasn't something she could do all the time (I don't blame her!).

Here's Bo in his temporary home, sitting with Ken and Angel (he's the little blurry one on the right):


...and here cuddling with Liz while Angel watches:


The following Monday I got to go meet sweet Bo at Liz and Ken's house. What a doll...


And on Thursday, Mary Brooke and Clayton picked him up and took him to his new home in Houston. Here MB (on the right) is leaves him with Vickie, his new mama (left):

Bo now has his own page on Tracelook and many people involved in his trip to Houston are keeping up with him. We're glad Vickie is sharing him with us in that small way.

Yes, social media's uses are limited. It's not the same as face-to-face relationships. But I'm mighty glad that in this case, it provided the framework for our impromptu Underpup Railroad, and we know one little dog has a happy home because of it.

Investigation, and prayers

When I unpacked from my business trip late Friday night, some investigation was necessary:


After a thorough forensic examination of my dirty laundry -- er, the evidence -- The Boy concluded that I had consorted with two other canines while across state lines. I assured him they were good girls, and that he'd sniffed one of their people before, and after a while he calmed down about it.

I'm always glad when I get some dog time during my relatively rare business travels. Having a nose nudge aside my laptop to demand ear-scritchings really makes me feel at home (as did my wonderful bipedal hosts, as well). And I'm very happy to be back with my own pack now, too.

Now, for the prayers: My fellow RevGalBlogPal Cheesehead is grieving the death of her sweet dog Tanner. He was a very good boy. Last spring when we bid farewell to Cub, Cheese wrote a lovely post about how Tanner made such a difference in her life. What a great dog, much loved and deeply missed, even by those like me who never met him face-to-face. Rest well, Tanner.

RevGals, DogPals meet up

Had a wonderful weekend with fellow RGBP Zorra and The Scientist, including a visit with The Vicar of Hogsmeade:


You can see Amie the Cattle Dog ambling in the background on that pic, but here's another one, in which we succeeded in getting all three DogPals to shoot their creepy-dog-laser-eyes at the camera:


Thanks to The Alpha and The Scientist for serving as our photographers. And thanks to Zorra, The Scientist, and Amie for making the long car trip to hang out with us! Amie's a good traveler, and was a polite guest after she finished explaining to Tuesday that 14-year-old dogs do not want to bounce around with big dogs named Tuesday. The ol' girl still has a spring in her step, though, and is very, very sweet.

In Memoriam: Molly

Her mama pretty much says it all.

Molly, a Canine Good Citizen, Certified Therapy Dog, and all-around wonderful girl, will be missed here at Dog and God.

More RevGalDogPal prayers

Last week at this blog, we prayed for Tanner and the rest of the Cheesehead family. We are still praying, and getting regular updates from Cheesehead.

This week we're adding Molly and her family. Here's Molly with her mama, Songbird:


Songbird has posted a Blessing of the Animals litany over on her blog, and asked for our prayers. Molly's arthritis symptoms have worsened quite a bit over the last few days. This is a difficult time for their family. Please be in prayer.

*Sigh.*

This is Tanner. He's a very sweet boy who is a valuable member of my friend's family.

Tanner's people got some discouraging news about Tanner today. And I quote:

When the first and last words out of the vet's mouth when you go back after the test are "Enjoy every minute you have with the little guy," it's not good.

So this blog entry is official notice to all who pray for dogs: Please pray for Tanner, and for his people.

In Memoriam: Twinkie, 19??-2009

Twinkie, my sister's dog, has gone on. We got the call just a few minutes ago.

She died under the corner of the bed, in the same spot where she liked to hang out when she first came to live with them.

Her arrival was really good timing: she showed up as a stray, not long after the death of my sister's youngest daughter. Her presence helped their household work through a lot of grief over the months and years.

Small as she was, Twinkie was a protector, a loving companion, a mini-me to our Cub girl, and a darn good squirrel hunter by all accounts (although I'm glad I never saw it first-hand).

Rest well, Twinkie. Frolic. Be able to see again. Run, hunt, dance on your hind legs, and know you're loved.

Sweet, sweet St. Casserole....

Love my St. Casserole. Mean it. I just recently got a reminder of how much and why.

When I returned from Church Nerd South Central (Jurisdiction, that is), what was waiting for me but an envelope from the Animal Adoption Society. The letter inside began:

Dear The Typist and The Alpha,
St. Casserole has made a memorial donation to the Animal Adoption Society, Inc. in memory of your dog Cub.

And, in the next paragraph, something special I didn't notice until re-reading it this evening:
"Each animal is prayed/neutered..."

They really are quite a lovely organization, aren't they? I mean, if I were being neutered, I'd want to be prayed, too.... sorry, couldn't resist (I am an English major after all, Rach).

Seriously, I do very much appreciate St. Cass and the volunteer organization to which she donated in my sweet girl's memory. We were out walking The Boy this evening and I noticed I felt out of place. The Alpha had the leash, which is normal, but I was on the wrong side of him. I walked half a block feeling funny until I realized and shifted my position to his left. At that point he said exactly what I was thinking: that I would've been in that spot all along if Cub had been there. She always, always walked to The Boy's left, with me holding her leash.

Three months, and we still miss her. There's a hole in our formation, and we aren't eager to fill it. We'd rather have the hole right now, thanks.

It helps very much to have friends like St. Casserole with us, acknowledging that yes, there's still a hole, and there's going to be one.

Books

We got some really nice books a few weeks ago, too.


This blue one is from Diane and Scout.

Flowers

Delivered to our door three weeks ago:

From Bandy and her mom...


...and from niece, sister, brother-in-law.