Daisy, Sweet Pea, and Fluffy

Today I should like to introduce three new animal friends: Daisy, Sweet Pea, and Fluffy.

There is an interesting story leading to our introduction to these new friends. A few days ago we received a telephone call from our regular dog sitter, Melinda. She had received a distress call from one of our neighbors, Bill. (Bill is not a "next-door" neighbor. His place is a bit over two miles from our place. But since most of that distance is open desert, he qualifies as a neighbor.)

Bill's wife is in the hospital and will be for some time. The details of why she is in the hospital are interesting but unimportant to this tale. Bill is a truck driver for Walmart. He had been away from work for several weeks and had to return. He needed someone to look after his two dogs on a daily basis, but could not afford Malinda's regular fees. Melinda knows us as dog lovers and that we lived relatively close to Bill. Thus her call to us.

We met with Bill and discovered that he also had a cat in addition to the two dogs. We learned all about his wife's medical issues and his idea of what looking after his dogs entailed. Our idea was much more extensive than was Bill's.

Bill's working schedule involves going to Apple Valley and living in his RV for six days and returning home for two days, for an eight-day cycle.

We impressed upon Bill that this was obviously a long-term situation and urged him to line up a number of volunteers. We agreed to take the first six-day shift and could not commit beyond that other than to be on call for emergency back up, other commitments permitting. Today is the last day of this first shift. Bill expects to arrive home about 10:00 tonight.

Evelyn has fallen in love with Daisy and Sweet Pea. I need to be careful that we do not end up with two more dogs to add to the four we already have!