WIP Update A Writer's Life #WritersLife #suspense

puppy exuberance

If I keep on schedule, which I have not been doing of late, today's post should update you on the progress of my current manuscript. I've missed posting two Thursdays in a row, one of which should have been some rambling on what's happening in this writer's life.

first new tooth

But what's happening in this writer's life is exactly why I didn't have time to post. Between the new puppy and a couple of trips to the valley to help out my DIL, we've had medical things. FDW had rotator cuff surgery. This was a complicated surgery for him because it was the same shoulder he had the same operation on eighteen years ago. His chances were 50/50 on fixing it. I'm happy to say, he was in the right half of that 50/50 deal. Now comes the very painful recovery. He is unable to take anything stronger than ibuprofen. He's miserable. He has no use of the arm for weeks so I'm on call. This I-hate-to-cook wife is cooking every meal plus all the other stuff my wonderful other half usually does. Busy.

My medical issues were dental. I had the final steps of getting an implant tooth for the one I knocked out doing a face plant on the sidewalk seven months ago. Four days after
getting it in, it fell out. No kidding. Yesterday, I got another tooth. Let's hope he used Gorilla Glue this time!

Now...the reason I should be blogging today is where I'm at with my new book, working title Magpie MacKenzie, a Joshua, Arizona Novel.

At fifteen chapters in, I realized the book was not on track. Something was off. Magpie had taken a backseat to Zack. She also didn't have near enough angst. Where was her conflict? Why had she drifted off? I did a little ripping of my plot. I gave Magpie and Zack a good talking to. The sparks flew and ideas burned. I went back to the first ten chapters, added scenes, rearranged, and rewrote them. It was a bit of a nightmare. At one point a scene disappeared. I had timeline issues. But I finally wrangled it into shape. The ten chapters are now twelve. I'm happier with where the plot is and the trouble I've dumped on Magpie.

Time to get back to writing.

The Story of a Special Friend, Amigo #rescuedog

Over three years ago, we lost Rusty. Our beloved friend had been a rescue dog from the Navajo Reservation in Arizona. We didn’t think we’d ever get another dog. Rusty was a friend, fishing buddy, household helpmate, and our soulmate dog. He was dubbed “the smartest dog in the world.” He helped me carry in groceries, picked dirty clothes off the floor and took them to the laundry, and reprimanded FDW when he couldn’t land a fish. We loved him as part of our family.

Amigo in his culvert home

Then a month or so ago, we decided it might be time. We knew we wanted a rescue dog, and I made the rounds of Internet sites. While checking on one dog, the foster mom told me about another dog we might consider. Amigo wasn’t even listed on the site yet. When we heard his story, saw his photos, and watched a video of him, we knew we’d found our next friend. And he was even named Amigo!

Here’s his amazing story:

A Blackhat Humane Society (serving the Navajo Nation) volunteer

Wiley and Amigo

noticed a blind dog on her commute to work in Gallup, NM for several months. He was living in an arroyo, in the wild. At some point, she also saw a younger dog living in a small culvert pipe who was the blind dog's loyal friend. She found out the homeless people in the area were feeding the dogs. She named the blind dog, who was three or four years old, Wiley. Perfect, huh? The younger dog, who was gauged to be between nine months and a year, became Amigo.

Amigo is rescued

After receiving permission from Blackhat, she set a trap to bring them in for rescue. Amigo was taken first. It took a bit longer to capture Wiley. Wiley was taken to a blind dog rescue site in Albuquerque. Amigo was taken to Colorado and the foster home of Linda.

In the beginning, he stayed in his makeshift cave for comfort. After 24 hours, foster Mom, Linda, had to carry him out to relieve himself. Three weeks of care readied him for a family. We met her in Gallup, NM to bring him home.

We were a bit nervous making a 3 ½ hour drive to get him. What if he didn’t like us? What if we

Love at first sight

didn’t feel the bond? In spite of his story and photos, we knew if we didn’t all click, we’d leave without him. Luckily, and happily, that didn’t happen. He was all over us, and we loved him immediately.

He started out timid, but never aggressive. His reaction to every human he came in contact with was totally friendly. Dogs were

Sadi reading to Amigo

another story. Although, not aggressive, he was very scared. The second day we had him, our granddaughter, Sadi, came to spend the weekend. They fast became friends. She suggested we take him to the dog park. Greatest suggestion ever. After about an hour of tucked tailed and bared teeth, he was running and playing. He's quickly come out of his cautious, feral ways.

Amigo is sweet and lovable. I think he has a funny face. FDW

Warming up to the dog park

thinks he's cute and does not like me saying that. We’re still working on the come command, but he’s mastered sit and no. I think we made a good choice. I’m pretty sure if Amigo could speak, he’d agree.

For more information on the Blackhat Humane Society, CLICK HERE.

For the complete story of the rescue of Wiley as told by the Blackhat volunteer, CLICK HERE. Be advised, you'll see the first page of the story, then need to download the newsletter to read the rest.

Amigo knows how to relax

Hard to get mad at that face!

A Fur Baby Saga #puppy #furBaby #rescueDog

Baby Rusty

Three years ago, we lost Rusty, a rescue dog from the Navajo Nation in Arizona. He was Red Heeler mix from a working cattle dog momma, which is all we knew for sure about him. We called him “the smartest dog in the world” and we loved him dearly for eleven years. Until recently, we hadn’t even considered getting another dog. He’d been just too special.

A few weeks back, we were in one of those puppy mill pet stores because our granddaughter is a dog loving little girl. She has two of her own, but loves to visit pet stores. One of the puppies took a

Old Rusty

strong liking to FDW. I saw a light in his eyes…FDW that is. We left the store and the $3,000 puppy behind, but it got me thinking that the time might have come for us to consider another dog adoption.

We both played around on some Internet rescue sites. I even applied for one puppy, but was told because we didn’t have a doggie door, we couldn’t adopt from them. Another puppy looked like a possibility, but the price was high, and he wouldn’t be ready for a few weeks. I honestly can’t remember how I came upon Black Hat Humane Society. When I did, our search looked up. They didn’t have any silly rules about doggie doors, and they were more reasonably priced. The kicker is they are the main rescue site for the Navajo Nation. It served us well once. Why not again?

Amigo

Cut to the next chapter. We found Amigo. I’m not going to relate Amigo’s whole story today. That will be another blog post, if this all works out. We have to travel 3 ½ hours to meet him. The foster mom will have to travel nearly three hours to meet us, sort of in the middle. The first day we had scheduled fell through. Then we were supposed to get him today, but her schedule changed again. We are now set to pick him up tomorrow. Snow is in the forecast for the Mogollon Rim. We can’t get to Gallup, NM without a trip along the rim. Hopefully, the snow will be light like the weatherman is predicting or this adoption will be postponed yet again.

All of this postponing and the wait now has my stomach and my head in turmoil. Second thoughts are setting in. If we get there and he doesn’t respond to us, we’ll have made a wasted trip. Is all this trouble a sign we should forget it and find another dog? Or maybe not get a dog at all?

Amigo

To be continued…