Thursday, August 25, 2011

Two Angels And A Dog

I feel the earth move, under my feet, I feel the sky tumbling down, I feel my heart start to trembling...


     Carole King, lyrics to "I Feel The Earth Move"


Carole King played fabulous piano. I once got a hold of her music to try to play it on the piano myself, but I believe she had 14 fingers, as I could never play all the notes.  On the other hand, I once tried to play music written by Barbara Streison, but she has very long fingers. Where I can only reach an octave (8 keys) on the piano, she can reach 12 keys, so you need very long fingers to play her music.  I had to pencil in my changes to her music, just so I could play it. I sure miss having a piano. 


Ah, those were the days. 


I sure felt that earthquake on the East coast. At the time, I wasn't sure what had hit me.  I was in a parking lot.  I had just had some emergency repairs made.  It had been a long wait, so now that I was back in my motorhome, I had chosen not to drive off right away.  Instead I was piddling around, making lunch for me and the dog.  All of a sudden, it felt like the motorhome jumped over a foot. Harley started barking, racing from window to window while I followed him, thinking maybe we had been hit by a car pretty hard.


Not a soul nor vehicle was moving anywhere around us. Matter of fact the place was practically deserted because the employees of the business we were parked at, had all gone to lunch themselves. 


My second thought was maybe we were hit by a 100mph gust of wind. But the nearby flag on a pole, was hanging limply, the sky was clear.  It truly puzzled me.  I had checked the clock, out of habit, whenever someting weird happens.


In the Virgin Islands, I could feel any earthquake above a 3 on the Richter scale. I always noted the time, because I was the local weather reporter. Matter of fact, that is how I got the "Dear Miss Mermaid" moniker.  Also, I reported earthquakes I felt to the  US Geological Survey office in Puerto Rico.  For some bizarre reason, I could feel earthquakes that my neighbors didn't feel. But they were always the tiny ones in the 3+ range.   


However, it didn't occur to me, that while sitting in a parking lot in northeast Georgia, I would feel an earthquake!  So the thought briefly entered and exited my head. 


Later the news hit me, the east coast, had an earthquake at the same time I felt the  jolt. Since then, I've felt a few tremors.  Nothing serious, just the motorhome shake ever so subtly for a nanosecond while puppy and I are not doing a thing. 


Actually, maybe I've been feeling tremors since April. No idea. But I did ask the  park ranger, what was under my camp spot? I told him how several times a week, the motorhome would shutter.  Have I been feeling weak tremors all along?
This little beggar has been living with me 
15 months now in the wheel estate. 
I guess I'll just have to let him stay forever. 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Angels to the rescue!


Today two angels stepped into my life ever so briefly, but I am VERY grateful. When I came back from the motorhome repairs yesterday, there was a large black dog waiting at my camp spot. She seemed like a big puppy who was very lost. The problem with being in a remote location, is where to post notices of a "FOUND DOG"?


I tried going on Craigslist but for some reason, it wouldn't post my ad.  Nobody was advertising a lost dog to fit her description. I searched for animal control, shelters and rescues in northeast Georgia. I found all one of them.  Since it was past closing I emailed them with my dilemma. Found dog, but I had no car, already had a puppy of my own. Not sure it would be safe for me to try to stuff another dog in the motorhome, to go  in search of the animal shelter, yet I wanted to help this poor lost soul either get back to her owners or get a home. I thought maybe I would call around, to see if a friend would come visit, and ride with us to the animal shelter. I was just worried I would be driving, and the dog might be going nuts in the motorhome while I was driving. Having an extra human along would help. 


Some pets love traveling, others have to get used to it. When I rescued Harley, I took a friend with me so she could hold and comfort him while I drove. Then when I helped my friend adopt a sad depressed cat, we went together so I could put the soft-sided cat carrier on my lap, to make the cat feel secure while I gently petted him through the soft woven screen mesh as my friend drove.  Amazingly, the cat fell asleep for most of the ride. He is now a gorgeous happy cat, smitten with his new pet parent. But I digress...


I had the sneaky suspicion this BIG puppy had been dumped here purposely at the park where I workamp. People can be so cruel. 


She had no collar, she seemed timid, scared and uncertain.  She apparently had made herself a temporary home outside the fenced-in dumpster in the park. They keep the jumbo garbage dumpster here locked up behind a fence, since the rest of the park has numerous garbage cans. It's huge, nearly 9-10 feet tall. There was no way she could get into that or any of the garbage, so she was pretty hungry. The fact she had made her little home there, made me wonder if that is where they dumped her out. The park I volunteer at, has no campground, just me here. 


Whenever I walked Harley, she was there, curled up at the dump. She would run out and play with Harley.  She even   jumped up on me, rather gently, her eyes staring deep into mine, as if to say "Help me!" 


I promised her, I would somehow make it all better. 


Well today, two ladies on bicycles came up to my motorhome, asking if the dog was mine. I explained that I was trying to make arrangements to find the owners, or  to get the dog to the shelter, since I couldn't adopt her.  They were of the opinion too, that she appeared to have been abandoned here. They said they had a car about a mile away at their lake home, they would go get the car, then take the dog to the shelter or adopt her.  


The dog seemed more than happy to go with them, they had gained her trust.  I had a tear in my eye, such generosity, that these two angels were willing to help this poor castaway. 


It's amazing they appeared when they did, as I asked them if they had heard from the shelter about my email, or read the Craigslist ad I posted (which I found later never posted.) They had heard of neither. 


Angels!  Real angels! 


Later I took Harley for a walk. We went by the dumpster. I burst out laughing. There was one of Harley's outdoor toys!  I guess at some point when the lost doggy was sniffing around our place, she took a toy back to her temporary lair. That makes me think, she had indeed had a home and a toy,  at one point. 


But someone sent us two angels today.  How wonderful!  So tonight the dog is either adopted by the two ladies or safe at the shelter, either way she probably has a full belly and better prospects for her future. 


Bless those angels that just magically appear! 


Life is good. 



Hurricanes and Hangovers and Other Tall Tales and Loose Lies from the Coconut Telegraph by Dear Miss Mermaid

1 comment:


Life is goof!