Bookish Thursday - Noel!

One of the newer features WOW-Women on Writing have introduced along with their book blog tours and guest posts by the author is responding to a prompt based on the theme or topic of the book being reviewed. In this case, in conjunction with What Comes Next by Caitlin Forbes, is my own dog rescue story. And it is a fitting tribute to Noel to start her story at the same time of the year when she first entered our lives. 

Let the story begin...

Since Savvy didn't drive (and still doesn't to this day), I was sitting in the parking lot at 10:30 at night, waiting to pick her up from her part-time job at Qdoba's Mexican Eats. It was cold outside as it was between Thanksgiving and Christmas. But I had been doing it for weeks now, so I was toasty in my car, biding my time until clean-up was done and we could head home.

One of the cooks came out the door and walked over to my car. I was a bit concerned, as this was definitely not something which had happened in the past. 

Rolling down my window, he bent over and stated it was 'too cold' for me to sit out here - why don't I come inside and wait for her to finish up. At first I declined, but he insisted and now I was curious as to what was going on. Once inside the restaurant, he asked me to sit and immediately brought me some chips, queso and a drink. 

I think to say my 'mother antenna' was up is putting it mildly. Even coming in to order a meal I had never gotten anything 'extra', so even knowing this was end-of-the-day leftovers, I was on high alert. But I could see Savvy sweeping and mopping, so she was fine.

Eating my chips and queso (can't let good food go to waste), about 15-20 minutes later they were finished and we all walked out the door.

Then the truth came out...

They walked me over to a van which was owned by one of the cooks. Sliding the side door back, there on a pile of blankets, was the skinniest dog I have ever seen. Weakly wagging her tail, dark brown eyes framed by a dark brindle coat, was a dog which was literally nothing but skin and bones. 

It turns out one of the regular customers came to the store earlier that evening. They remarked they had found a dog by the side of the road. However, they already had several rescued dogs and couldn't take another one. They figured she was a whippet mix, probably with some pit bull, and had been used for breeding as her nipples were distended. Could someone adopt her?

The cook, whose van she was in, had stated he would take her. Problem was, when he informed his wife, who had just given birth a few weeks earlier, about the dog, her response was 'one of you can come home, not both'.

No one else could take her. And while they knew we had a couple of cats, they knew we were renting a house and Savvy, with her big, brown eyes, was begging for us to take her. Picking up the dog, which weighed next to nothing despite being a medium sized dog, she was placed in the back of my car.

Now let me pause and explain something - thank goodness there are not elephants running loose in North Carolina or I would be taking in elephants. I am a sucker for rescuing animals.

On the drive home, where Savvy kept turning around to check on the dog, we decided since we were in the period between Thanksgiving and Christmas, she would be called Noel.

And thus started our love affair with Noel.

Yes, she was a whippet/pitbull mix. Yes, she had the speed of a whippet. We figured she was a couple of years old when we got her. 

She didn't really care for little dogs. Same size or bigger dogs didn't bother her. Cats - no problem. However, while she won't start a fight, she will definitely weigh in if you mess with her 'friend' or family. In fact, we had a rescued yellow lab who was twice her size. But was a total marshmallow and attacked by other dogs twice in her life. Noel flew in to the rescue and kicked butt!

All Noel wanted was to cuddle up with her human family. Zoomies were a blast to watch as she raced around the yard. She had zero issue with being trekked from North Carolina to Montana to Arizona, back to Montana, then back to North Carolina and then back to Arizona. She was with family, so she didn't care. 

Unfortunately, we lost Noel two years ago in May. Her head was completely white and she had turned white down onto her should. She had trouble standing and moving around and eating. The decision was made to release her spirit. 

Based on the fact Savvy was 16 when she was adopted, we calculated she was probably close to 18 or 19 years old. The vet was amazed she had lived that long. My feeling was she was hanging on to her family as long as she could.

Right now I have two big dogs. One of which I got as a puppy and if something happens to me, they will have to put him in the ground with me. The other one, a much older pit who I got as a companion to the puppy, will never die. She is probably 13 at the present time and lives for food, laying on my bed and barking at Foxy. 

But I will end here. I need to go wipe away the tears.