The Story of a Lifetime: Picking Up Buddy

Meet the newest addition to our ever expanding family. Alright....so his name could've been a little more original but he came by it due to our great love of Buddy the Elf and his buddy-like antics. It didn't help that this was the ONLY name he responds to. Originally Ezra, when we called him by his given name he did nothing but ignore the call. Once we figured out that he responded incredibly well to "puppy" and "buddy" everybody started calling him by those names. I figured we couldn't just leave his name as "puppy" so seeing as how our choices were so vast he quickly became just good ole "buddy". His Buddy the Elf antics didn't help his cause out any. Upon his arrival he went to adore and love on Violet, one of our cats, and was met by utter hatred on her behalf. With tail swaying in a low unobtrusive wag and ears lowered flat, poised and ready to play, he was of the opinion that someone needed a hug. With arms outstretched his raccoon like "friend" launched into all out assault mode and unloaded both barrels. With back arched and hair standing on end she chased him fearlessly back into the house, hot on his heels hissing and snarling all the way. Had we not rescued him and shut the door in her face she would've chased him right into the house and cornered him to have it out. Poor buddy, with tail tucked between legs and butt tucked under, went into high speed mode and raced to safety and away from his vicious attacker. So, Buddy he became. That pretty much solidified it. Despite its unoriginality he just seems to be a buddy type of dog anyway. Trailing at the children's' feet, never leaving his "pack" and following them around like their shadows. Shadow would've been a fitful name too....if he'd responded to it.

Getting to know him

Mother holding Gavin, Evye and Aubrey loving on Breezy, the big fat alpha dog of the entire rescue, and Grayson with Buddy

We have searched off and on for a year now for a new family dog and a much needed companion for Athena. Our dear and trusted Shepherd rescue friend notified us of a 9 month old puppy becoming available for adoption again due to family circumstances not allowing him to remain in the placement home. Since we have been so picky due to the large number of young children around here and the menagerie of different animals it has taken awhile to find a perfect match. She knows of our family dynamics and what we require in a dog so once she made the match we were excited since we knew this was probably going to work. She sent the final email saying she had the dog in hand. She mentioned that the puppy was having a hard time making sense of this new transition so to pick him up sooner rather than later was probably better. Instead of waiting as we had planned the call was made to make a spontaneous overnight trip to Fort Worth. Brad was on shift, and being flexible and spontaneous, I decided we'd just take off. I gathered the children around and assigned tasks and gave the command to have all done and be loaded in 3 hrs. They got the baskets of clothes folded, kitchen done, Evye packed up suitcases of the younger ones, Grayson gathered the needed on-the-road items and Aubrey instructed the younger pack in picking up the house and tidying up. Everyone was loaded and the van pulled off 3 hrs later for a fun unexpected overnight trip to "see Granny and pick up the new puppy!!!!". It seemed a bit ironic and an odd sort of blessing for the children that Valentine's Day marked the 1 year anniversary of putting Tigger down and this very day exactly 12 months later we were headed east to bring home our new puppy.

Loving on the donkey.....the children were amazed that this tiny donkey was not a baby

Being boys

He is easily 1/4 of Fletch and Pearl's size

Along the way we stopped to admire the zebras that are always so far off in the distance every time we pass. On this cool day they were up by the fences grazing so we stopped to get a good look. We all stood along the fence line as an SUV pulled over and revealed an older man clothed in a leather jacket and topped with a huge cowboy hat that completed his overall, down home nature. I came to realize the more he talked that he was indeed the owner of the great T Bone Ranch in which we stood admiring. We had a great educational lesson on the zebras, donkeys and deer that roamed his massive, sprawling ranch and were rewarded with an invitation to come back and visit so that we could see the rest of his place. It was an unexpected highlight to an already fun day spent on the go.

4 of the 10 or so that were out there...they mingled with donkeys and wild deer....as opposed to tamed and raised on the ranch deer. The owner also informed us that they had bred a donkey to a zebra and just discovered they were expecting a zonkey.....or maybe a debra????

More zebras and donkeys

After a great visit with him we continued on our way and met Mother for dinner. Once hungry tummies were filled we went on back to her house to chill out and let everybody run and play before bedtime. Most of them piled up on the couch for a movie before Aubrey on down were put to bed. Once the younger ones were bedded down Mother, Grayson, Evye and I made a 1am trip to Wal Mart, in which we were the 1st to arrive on the 50% mark down for all of the Valentine's stuff since Valentine's Day was officially over an hour before we arrived. It brought back memories of years past when Grayson was just a baby and we spent our late night hours cleaning the clinic and then heading up to shop the empty isles of Wal Mart and laughing until we cried. We did our fair share of laughing on this particular night. The late night funnies definitely kicked in.

Piled up watching a movie with Granny (my mom)

What the missing awake 2 were doing.....having a highest kick competition

We awoke in time to wind our way down I-20 all the way to Lancaster where the Shepherd rescue lady lives and runs the foster home for these dogs. The children always love going out there. We are met at the gate by an army of black and tan saddled greeters each and every time we go and it was no different this time around. After a good visit, talking with the children and her catching up on the newest additions that had arrived in our family since the last time we visited her we had our new puppy. Having almost forgotten what it is to battle long afternoon traffic and an hour spent in the van just getting from Dallas back to Fort Worth we dropped Mother back off and set off into the late afternoon sun already sinking low onto the western horizon....the same western horizon our front windshield was directed into. One of these days I'll figure out that heading west during sunset should be avoided.

Hanging out with the shepherds...there's about a thousand on the other side of the fence that you can't see...well, more like 20 but it's pretty fun

Buddy tolerated the ride well and was greeted by an excited albeit stinky and reserved Athena. Despite the fact we had taken her into town with us last Friday to have her cleaned up for her surgery she managed to get skunked Sat night while Brad was on shift and the children and I were gone. She absolutely wreaked. Brad, all of the children and I spent yesterday afternoon deskunking her with a homemade miracle potion the vet had given us to mix up to combat the odorific horror we all faced every time we got near her....and every time the wind blew from the north. With gloved hands we set to work sudsing her down. Amazingly...it pretty much worked. Faint whiffs of skunk still come and go but overall it worked wonders and you can actually get near her and love on her.

Stinky Thena with her pitiful ear

She had surgery on Tuesday to fix her blood filled, ballooned up ear where the children had accidentally jumped on her while she was underneath the trampoline last week. It broke a blood vessel and created a painful swelling that blew up her ear to unimaginable proportions. Once feeling better from finally having her ear and hearing back she was able to finally play and get to know her knew buddy....literally. After taking mountains of trash last night and doing the trash run Brad fired up the bus and everybody......including the dogs......piled up and set off for a late afternoon bus ride. I wish I'd thought to take pictures. Even with all 10 of us and both dogs aboard Fletch and Pearl could've joined in too along with all 45 chickens had we had the notion to load them. To say that room to spread out still remains is quite the understatement. I told Brad even if we add another 5 or 10 kids to the mix over the next few years we still wouldn't make a dent in the 66 seats that are available for our personal use.

Puppy antics...meeting the preacher's pointer