Well, Patti and I met up at about 2:45 p.m. today just south of Alexandria, LA. She had her 5 with her in her car...all in crates except Ping, the big boy. I had come through very heavy rain and thunderstorms from about Tyler, TX over to south of Shreveport, LA...so was nervous about having anybody ride in the back of the truck going home...even though that had been the plan for the 2 big dogs (in their crates, but in the back of the truck). So we got busy and stuffed 4 of them stacked in their crates behind the front seats...in the extended cab part of the truck...and then we turned and looked at Mr. Ping, the loveable sharpei/malaumute giant dog...OH! the 85-lb loveable sharpei/malamute giant dog. Didn't mean to not mention THAT! :)

You know, last night my husband said to me..."You do understand that the big dog will be TWICE THE SIZE of our Jack, don't you?" Jack is our 45-lb border collie. I nodded yes. hahahahahaha Well...no, guess I didn't QUITE understand that this would be like putting a lead on a small bull...nope, didn't quite understand that! (grin) But there was NO WAY I would risk him in his crate in the open bed of the truck because we might run into that severe rain again, so we harnessed him to the seatbelt in the passenger seat of my truck. He was anxious as he watched Patti go get in her car. You could tell that he didn't understand why he couldn't go with her. But he couldn't.

Ping begins by smelling my arm. Then licking my arm. Then comes across the middle divider quite a ways to smell the side of my head and lick the side of my head. LOL! oh my! So I "helped" him understand with the use of "No, Ping!" and my forearm that I needed him to stay in his passenger seat, please. So he settled there for a while. He is a gentle giant of a dog, very mild-mannered, just big. It turned out that I would soon be indebted to his good nature and calming manner. After a short while, the dogs in back, especially Buddy whom Patti had said was very upset over the transition, began to bark and carry on. They didn't like being taken away from Patti either.

At this point, Ping stood up in his seat and turned and put his head through the middle of the two front seats and looked into each crate in the back. (They were all facing the middle of the car to get air conditioning through their doors while we drove.) As he looked into each crate, that little one would stop barking...obviously reassured by their big friend's calm manner and familiar face. When they stopped, he turned back to the front and sat in his seat facing front. After a while, he curled up and snoozed a bit. Whenever they would start again for any reason, he would repeat the same procedure and get them calmed down. What a sweetie!

We got home about an hour ago and have everyone settled into the gym area, now known as "Casa Medina", to sleep. They were tired, thirsty, a bit bewildered about where they are, but settling in now. I'll get to know them better tomorrow morning after a good night's sleep for everyone (said hopefully!). :)

P.S. It was hard for Patti to hand them over. She got emotional. To each one, as she placed them in my car, she said, "NEVER FORGET that Mommy loves you and that you're coming back." Made me teary too...but I hope they know that she's doing this because she loves them...so that she can make their home safe for them again in New Orleans. The risk of them putting something toxic in their mouth if they go back to her home too soon is high...so we are avoiding that by bringing them here.

Now...let's hope tonight will be vewy, vewy peaceful !!! (grin) And then tomorrow is a new day and they can get their bearings better...

Good night,
Judy in Texas

Starting with Patti's Mr. Ping...the gentle giant. :)
When I told Patti last night how Ping had calmed the other kids, she said proudly, "He's their leader! They all look up to him." He sure did a good job of leading them yesterday. If I had to imagine what he was telepathing to them, it would be this:

"Okay, you guys, calm down and cool your jets. Mom wants us to go with this Driver Woman for some reason. She's okay. I've inspected her. Let's see where she's taking us before we get all freaked out."

He's a standard schnauzer mix, after all. :) He does love Ping though, and absorbs some of that calm whenever he's around him.

This is Miss Angelle...Patti's former foster dog for CP. She is a VERY beautiful little girl AND very accomplished. Patti wrote this about her: "Angelle is well-trained. She sits up to beg if she wants anything like "out" or "treat". Her coat is coming in better. It was very dry and brittle at intake. Angelle is a very good girl and never a housebreaking problem at all."

Here, she has proved self-confident, playful and happy. David has built and put wooden dog houses in 5 of the pens. They are a triangle formation and one side lifts completely in case I have a scaredy cat I need to get out of one. Angelle has three times today (that I've seen...who knows how many times I haven't seen this) climbed the triangle side to sit on the peak of the thing. Happy as a lark! Sits up there and surveys the hay meadow as far as she can see...jumping down to run up to the exercise pen door when she sees me coming.

What a nut! A happy little nut... :)

Scott and Kyle are the brave young people who survived the hurricane itself IN New Orleans...then monitored the water level after the levee broke...and eventually swam, boated, and airlifted their way out to a shelter west of New Orleans. When I met them on Sept 1st when Saint Joan drove them and their canine charges up to Alexandria, LA, I hugged them both and told Scott that I was MORE THAN IMPRESSED with his ability to manage a very difficult situation! I think it's incredible that they made it out with all 7 of their family dogs and 2 cats, too.

The two larger dogs here of Deirdre's 7 total belong to Scott and Kyle. Here is a picture of Miss Tulip.

We...Deirdre's family's 7 dogs and I...got home about 8:15 p.m. from our Louisiana meeting with Joanie, Scott and Kyle (Deirdre's son and daughter-in-law) today. What a wonderful thing to see them all today and to know that Scott and Kyle are well and truly safe now! I hugged them several times and told them we had all been very worried about them and that I was SO GLAD! to see them alive and well in person. :)

After we all visited a while, Scott got everyone's canine loaded into my truck very efficiently and we took off for our different destinations...they back to St. Joan's and me back to Camp Lone Star. Scott and Kyle opted to keep the 2 cats with them. They are going to rent a car and drive to family in Iowa in the next day or so.

On the way over, I had figured out a place to keep the cats here...(smile)...I'm not used to cats, so it had taken me a while to figure this one out....but I WAS greatly relieved to hear that my plan was not needed. :)

The "kids" rode fine all the way back to Texas...about 5 hours. They mostly slept...except every once in a while, Tia would have an anxiety attack and so I would reach my hand back to her and tell her everything was all right. She's kind of an "in charge" personality and Scott and Kyle had told me that this whole experience had upset her badly. After about the 10th time of doing that repetitive pattern with her, it seemed to sink in...as she fussed much less toward the end of the trip and would quiet when I started to talk softly to her about her being okay and on the way to her Texas adventure. :) The little shih-tzu (whose name I forget at the moment but who is very cute and quite self-confident...AND pint-sized!) felt called upon to chastise any 18-wheeler we passed. But after a while, all the "kids" fell asleep and slept quite soundly for a couple hours at least. Like little kids, lulled to sleep by the motion of the truck.

We got here, got everyone pottied and watered...and now everyone is sleeping...snuggled into the hotel for the night. I hope they have a good night and aren't too worried in the morning as to where they are when they wake up. They sure are cute!

Tomorrow's agenda is baths for everyone...as Scott reminded me that they were all swimming in the flood waters and then wading/walking in them up until his rescue by Miss Joan of New Iberia yesterday evening. :)

So...all safe and sound here at the Camp...a very worthwhile day....it made my heart sing!

Our CP rescue ship is full to the brim with something like 100 regular fosters and then 19 hurricane survivor guests...and what precious cargo each one is.

Corderoy is a very large dog. He's also a fun-loving clown who is usually carrying a toy around, just hoping that Tulip or I will engage him. :) Corderoy likes people! He's fond of standing on his back legs and giving me bear hugs suddenly. This puts his face into my face. Kind of like being up close and personal with ChewieBacca from Star Wars all of a sudden! (grin)

At first, he got more of a reaction out of me on that as I was truly startled. Little "oh my!'s", "Oh my goodness!'s", etc. Now he hears, "Hello to you, too, Mr. Clown!" (grin) "Get down and let's go do ______ (whatever the next event is with them)."

Corderoy is a happy-go-lucky boy and very glad to be Scott's dog...because Scott got him out alive!

After Hurricane Katrina ravaged the Gulf Coast, Monika rented a van and made a plan. We had to help Karen and Bill by sending supplies and rescuing the 7 dogs she had. 4 of her own and 3 fosters.

Vickie W started collecting money from all the CRM members and everyone who knew Karen and Bill. We raised enough money to start buying supplies. So Monika took off from Columbia, SC and picked up Vickie, and her generator, in Atlanta. They stopped in Georgia to fill the van up with supplies. They bought tons of water, batteries, food, kitty litter, kitty food, trash bags, battery powered lamps, fans, gas cans, more food, more water, personal hygiene items, paper towels, toilet tissue, plastic to cover the windows, tarps, nails to nail it all up, a chain saw, and more. Then they drove to Montgomery, AL and spent the night.

That is where they picked me up and we took off on Sunday September 4th to the Biloxi area. (there were only two seats in the van, so I brought my lawn chair and we bungee strapped it in for safety)! We stopped and filled 12 gas cans full of gas before leaving Montgomery since there was no gas south of there.

Unfortunately, the gas fumes were something horrible and we ended up driving 3 hours down there with the windows open. As the day progressed, the gas fumes were more intense, it was very hot outside. (we looked worse than the hurricane survivors once we arrived!!!).....and definitely smelled worse!

When we arrived our destination spot in a shopping area near Biloxi, we found a shady spot by a building. We waited anxiously for Karen and Bill to arrive. It was an emotional meeting. Karen was so happy to see water and supplies, and we were so happy to see her and Bill alive. All the dogs jumped out of their car and we walked them around. It was a mad house for sure! Imagine 7 cairn terriers running around on leashes!

After talking for a bit and hugging and crying, we loaded up Karen and Bill's truck they borrowed from a friend with all the supplies, and we loaded up our van with the dog crates and dogs. The visit was too short, but they needed to go to the laundry mat close by to wash clothes and we needed to get back on the road.

Thank goodness we could ride with the windows up this time and air conditioning on! Once back home in Montgomery, we unloaded all the cairns in my fenced in yard and let them run free in clean grass for as long as they wanted. It had been a while since they had been able to do this. In Biloxi, the ground was covered in water and trash and Karen's fence was no longer standing, so they could not run around outside. They were all very happy!

Monika and Vickie went back to their homes the next day with two of the fosters, Kaiser and Too. I met an adoptive family with Carey, the other foster, the next day as well. The four cairns of Karen are still at my home being spoiled by my family. They are doing great, but I know they miss their mom and dad. They will be home in a few weeks.

Gayle lived in Lake Charles, LA. Yes, THAT Lake Charles, Ground Zero for Rita. Thankfully Gayle evacuated in advance, but once Rita was done with her town, she knew it would be a while before she could get back home. Once again, Judy and Camp Lone Star rode to the rescue.

Gayle and Judy met up to transfer all but one of her dogs to Judy. Gayle is going to keep Babs with her due to Babs being 17+ years old right and very bonded to Gayle. The following is Judy's update:

A relative of Gayle's who is still in Lake Charles due to his job had promised to go by her house last night after work and see what he could see. He didn't get out of his car, but from the road looking at it was able to report:

• It is still STANDING! (huge smile)
• Sections of vinyl siding have been ripped off of it and the insulation material is exposed. He advised her that needs to get covered up before the next rain or a.s.a.p.
• Her fence is completely down
• Roof may have some damage (shingles missing etc)

He didn't go around the back and it's possible that Gayle's fenced deck and back porch is also destroyed, but that can be information learned another day. Just the news that her house is still standing was good enough for us to whoop and holler and do some high-fiving. (Yes, I realize I'm an old fogie to mention that last thing...lol!)

The mayor of Lake Charles has asked people not to return for 30 days...no power, no phones, no sewer system, no running water...so it's all just a mess and in limbo for a while still.

On the way over to Louisiana, near the statelines, I saw something that made me catch my breath with pride! Big, I mean BIG convoys of TXU electric utility trucks (10 in one and about 20 in the other) heading over into Louisiana to go help. I also saw a church van from Colorado loaded with people and pulling big U-Haul trailer just zipping along across the Texas line into Louisiana. I hope and believe those people were going down to help the damaged area, too. It had that look anyway. :)

I asked her if she needed anything and Gayle said we were all very sweet people and more prayers would be appreciated. She and her family went to Wal-Mart in Hot Springs and and outfitted themselves in tee-shirts and jeans after the big exodus, so they don't need clothes right now. But she thanked us from her heart for wanting to help her.

Gayle is hoping that she will only need her dogs to be here at Camp Lone Star for 2 weeks, 3 maximum. Some of this was spoken with emotion and she was on the edge of tears a lot, especially at our parting. It was very, very hard for her to put them in my car and watch me drive away with them. However, if she can't get into Lake Charles for 30 days, I think the dogs might need to be here a month...but we'll see. One day at a time is the best way in emergency situations. The best laid plans under this circumstances can and do fall apart...when it's right to move them back, she and I will both know it. :)