Happy Ending!

A very scared and wet yellow lab came to our window during this evening's thunder and lightning storm. He was persistently panting and pleading for shelter from the storm so, of course, I let him in. I knew right away he was not our resident yellow lab and the tag on his collar read "Samson". I left the owners a phone message and also Googled their last name. I came up with owners of Santa Fe Cafe. I called there to learn that the cafe is in South Carolina and the owners had just lost their dog! Different dog, but isn't that weird?

The storm blew in a scared, shaking Samson to be in our safe space with a terrified, trembling Tina. How misery indeed loves company! And lucky me, I had two panting, drooling, pacing, silly, scared dogs by my side, in my lap and like old friends together. It was such a gift, and felt to me like some kind of divine intervention.

The owner was beside herself when she called, telling me the dog was far from home, that the door blew open while she was away and that he took off in the storm. She was worried sick and immediately left to come pick up her baby of 13 years.

Funny how things work out and that this dog arrived to our doorstep, of all places. As many of you know, we used to have a yellow lab named Sparkey, our beloved boy, who grew up with Tina.

The moral of the story is...when opportunity knocks at your door, open the door and let it in!

Here is a fine reward for me doing so tonight:

"Dear Mary, Keith and Tina:

"Thank you, thank you, thank you. Samson and I are sending you a big hug and a lick for watching out for us during this very scary storm.  Please find me on Facebook and keep in touch so we can have you over to our place to properly thank you for saving Samson’s life.

"Much love and appreciation"




---Mary

New Mexican Barn Cats

Our "Grandcats"

Since true grandparenthood is a few years off, here are some photos of our "grandcats":

Nina, Addie and Jacques

Addie and Jacques at rest

Jacques looking handsome

Addie looking straight into the camera

Fifteen Weeks!

Today marks 15 weeks---three-and-a-half months---since we left Western Massachusetts. We write this post by candlelight, with the starry Texas night all around us. After what seems like weeks of clouds and rain, the sun broke through late this afternoon over Lake Buchanan here in Central Texas. We hear that the Dallas/Fort Worth area, where we recently spent a few days, just had seven inches of snow. Our son Rene said on the phone this evening that the New England winter has been chasing us since we left. Perhaps we've finally escaped its grasp.

There is so much nature around us, and maybe the return of the sun---to our delight---brought many of earth's creatures out into the open today. In the course of one day, we were fortunate to see a roadrunner crossing the road, a family of wild pigs running along a river bank, a large red fox (perhaps the largest we have ever seen), vultures, a large snake, and hundreds of robin redbreasts who seem to be wintering here at Lake Buchanan.

Here's a photo of a roadrunner pilfered from Google images ("Beep beep!"):

And here's a photo of the wild pigs shot by an excited Mary just this afternoon:

Keith, who has a real snake phobia, is happy to not mar this blog with a photo of a snake, but the one that he and Tina disturbed by the shore of the lake was about two inches in diameter, dark, and probably three feet long.

We're now back in our rig, parked in a lovely spot on the hill above Rainbow Hearth. This weekend, we'll be doing food prep, dishwashing, and otherwise helping our new friend Mariah care for an inn filled with guests escaping to enjoy a Valentine's weekend in the countryside.

With no electricity hook-up, we're using our solar-powered batteries, candles and battery-operated lanterns here in our cozy little home. Luckily, our fridge runs on propane and keeps our food nice and fresh without the use of electricity.

As we said earlier, the stars are bright tonight in the clear Texan sky. Tina, bless her heart, is exhausted by it all, and sleeps at our feet as we open mail before finishing watching the Wim Wenders film, "Paris, Texas".

Stay tuned for more tales from Mary and Keith's excellent adventure!

Turkey Vultures or Peace Eagles?

Here are some photos of Turkey Vultures taken with our new digital camera today. Mary says that Native Americans like to call them "Peace Eagles". Our new 10X optical zoom can actually go up to 40x, but you sure have to hold the camera still at that magnification!

Armadillo Attack!

This morning our dog Tina and I were meandering behind our campsite, just barely into the flora and fauna of the wild. As I stood at the edge of the landscape, I heard a rustling in the tall, dry grass. Deaf as she is, Tina probably smelled what I heard because we both stood very still, watching, listening and (her) sniffing.

At first I thought it was s snake but then I saw a shiny round back and exclaimed aloud, "Oh, it's a sea turtle"! But then it lifted its head toward us, stood up on its hind legs, and I saw immediately that it had a protruded snout and little arms with tiny hands that clasped together as we carefully checked each other out. It looked just like a baby kangaroo, but remembering that I was in Florida, not Australia, I knew it couldn't have been a kangaroo, so I spared myself the embarassment of yelling out, "Keith, it's a kangaroo! Come quick!" But I did manage to yell for him to grab the camera, which didn't seem to phase our little friend in the least.

By the time Keith got there, I had figured out that it was an armadillo, a smallish one at that, although it has prehistoric ancestors that were as big as elephants! I've wondered before how armadillos ever evolved, and this experience is very telling of this unique creature's audacious survival instincts!

It seems that as soon as Keith and the armadillo saw each other, she rushed at Keith with such fiestiness that I think Keith was a little scared for a moment there. Meanwhile, it was hilarious to me, and you can hear me laughing like a hyena--or a crazy lady--on the sidelines. This really tickled my funny bone, and I can't recall the last time I've seen such a comical site in nature! May it tickle yours too!

~Mary

One of Meike's Goats