Helping Ham

I just love this picture of Ham. He is such a magnificent looking dog. He is only six but has gone blind. He is young and strong and used to run and jump like a rabbit. This video was taken just a couple of years ago in our back yard as he tried to pull the broken limb of a tree from six feet off the ground.

We rescued him as a young pup and knew his father had gone blind at a young age but took him anyway. My sister owns his father and when Boss (his father) went blind they had lens implants put in costing over $3000.00 but he could see perfectly again. He is almost fourteen now and getting old but still has his sight.

Ham tends to live within his comfort zone of the house or back yard. He no longer catches like Andruw Jones or jumps like Michael Jordan but at least he is healthy and happy to be loved.

The other two dogs got out a couple of nights ago and for some reason Ham followed them. The neighbor brought back Ziggy and we found Charlie sitting by the garage but Ham was long gone. It took me over thirty minutes but I finally found him a half mile from our house wandering down  the middle of a busy road. I can't believe he didn't get hit by a car and had to pick him up to get him in my car, but at least he made it home.

I've had close to 52,000 hits on my blog and hope maybe one of them may be someone who loves dogs as much as I do. I took twenty dollars out of the tips I made that night and set it aside, thus starting "The Ham Fund."  Lens implants are totally out of the question for us, we're barely getting by but if I could scrape together several hundred dollars we could have his cataracts removed and although it would be fuzzy, he would have some type of vision. He's healthy as an ox...and almost as big as one. He has many more years to live and I just can't bear them all being spent in total darkness.

If he had gone blind before Tim and I both lost our jobs , we wouldn't have hesitated to take out a loan and have lens implants put in. We have battled back from our lowest point of being on welfare, food stamps and generosity of family and friends. We managed to keep our house and have made great strides. The thing is when you are knocked out of the game for two years it takes at least ten to recover...not to mention we had three kids who came first.

I am calling the specialist on Monday who put in Hams father's implants and ask if he could just look at Ham and give us the best and most frugal way of giving my pup back some semblance of sight.

It's kinda like when the transmission went out on Tim's car when were broke as a joke. We hauled it over to a guy we trusted and several times a week I went by and gave him twenty sometimes forty or if we had been busy at  work fifty dollars and told him to let me know when I had given him enough to start working on the car. It took me almost two months two yard sales and a trip to the pawn shop with jewelry Tim had given me from our early years of marriage but we got Tim's car fixed.

We are making our comeback slowly but surely and will most certainly survive but coming up with money to fix Ham is far down the list of "Musts."

Massey emailed the guy with the dog with arthritis who's video went viral and has been flooded with donations. As of today she hasn't heard back from him.

Why should be Ham be any different? I'm thinking about making Ham his own FB page. Put his story out there along with pictures and videos.

Once we talk with the vet who specializes in this field I think I may ask him if we can set up a fund for Ham and just see what happens?

Can't hurt and might help.

This blog has been a blessing to me. It has let me vent, lament and put my life out here for every one to see... why be embarrassed about things you  can't control? I have had many comments from people across the world when one blog or another feels like it relates to them or sometimes when they relate to what I write.

Right now I just want to help our dog...but he's not just a dog. He is a member of our family and it hurts me that I am unable to help him.

My brother in law told me to put Ham and his plight on my blog and just see what happens so that is what I am doing.

He is a gentle giant, he is big and strong but has totally lost his sight. My other two dogs seemed  to realize something is wrong and lay in the floor behind me night after night as I type this blog licking and grooming him as if to say "It'll be alright buddy, WE love you."

If  you don't love dogs you will think I am an idiot and you are right . I AM an idiot, but besides that I am one who loves her pups and can't give up without trying every thing I can.

Ham has been an awesome addition to our family. How can I not try and give back to him all he has given us?

Calling the vet on Monday and setting Ham up on Face book!

Some people may think "If you don't have a lot of money why do you have three dogs?"

When we got Ham we were making well over six figures a year and thought we had made it. Then my oldest son moved back home and brought Charlie. He moved out but forgot to take his dog. Then  we both lost our jobs and almost lost our house. By the Grace of God and the help of many, we survived and regrouped...both with new jobs. Then after my female boxer died a good friend of mine had a hard time getting rid of her AKC registered boxer puppies. They had a six month old baby and not only the mother and father boxer but seven pups driving her crazy. When she asked if we would take one I couldn't resist. Heck I already had two, used to have three and would rather know the pup was going into a loving home.

I may be crazy...actually I know I am but we were beginning to get it together again and who could turn down this face?

So here I am with three dogs again. I've discovered  our county gives shots and medicine on Thursday's for free or for what you are able to pay.

My dogs are a part of our family. They don't contribute anything but love but sometimes "Love is all you need."

Will update you all On Monday when we speak with the  "Doggy Eye Doc."

Til next time...COTTON

Country Living At Its Finest...Seriously?

I spent the day selling and picking up ads for Massey's Winter guard program for the big competition at the high school this month. This is a huge fundraiser and a chance for us to make some much needed money to fund a program that has been left out of the county budget.

I have a personal obligation to do my part especially with all the kindness and latitude the Guard has shown our family. They have been there with Massey when I couldn't. They have hugged and kissed her when she was down and I was at work. They have picked her up for practice and brought her home again when I was at work. It is a TRUE family we are blessed to be part of and I like to think I do my part when I can.

This is something that I CAN do and don't mind at all.

I put my PHD in BS to use and get sponsors for this event and have been pretty successful.

My bosses bought an ad, a dear friend from high school bought one even my favorite mechanic bought one. I sold one to a Mother/Daughter team that owns a hair salon...it helped that the daughter is engaged to the son of the owner of the restaurant I work for and her Mom knew my cousin who recently passed away.

Gotta work those connections when you have them!

Last night at work I had a table that I knew from my Western Sizzler days...their family owns a local gardening nursery and after two bottles of Malbec they happily agreed to buy an ad as well. They would have done it anyway...they are wonderful people. They told me to come by any of their three locations the next day and pick up a check.

The location nearest to me is off a rural highway that leads to the interstate. It's a road you take if you are headed to the County Fair or Destin...otherwise I never travel that road.

I picked Massey up from school and told her we needed to go pick up an ad . We cruised down the county highway. It goes from rural to PO Dunk in no time. The only thing on this stretch of road is a gas station that is completely filled with Latinos every morning looking for day labor and a couple of rental places, face lifted by the recent addition of a Dollar General.

We were cruising down the road when we passed a small house...not really a house but a small trailer (wheels still attached) with a front yard the size of a large chicken coop. They had a chain link fence around the front yard with two dog kennels sitting in it.

Number one this yard was TOO small for two dogs much less for what we witnessed. As we passed by Massey said "Did you see that horse in that tiny front yard?"

I almost wrecked the car...in a front yard the size of a hen house stood a horse surrounded by a chain link fence. If the horse wanted to exercise he could take one step forward and one step back. I hope he knows how to "Repeat the Process."

I am sure the horse would jump the fence and run for freedom if it had enough room to get a running start...which it certainly didn't.

We went on to the garden store to pick up the check. I remarked to one of the men working there "Have you seen that horse up the road?" The first guy said "My wife brought me to work this morning and said she saw a horse in that yard and I looked in her purse for a liquor bottle...the yard was smaller than my pick up truck." The other man said he had seen it too.

What in Heaven's name are people doing having a large farm animal living in a fenced in area the size of a small garage?

I guess their little girl wakes up every morning and looks out the window of their small trailer and says "There's my Horsey, squeezed in by the dog kennels."

I told Massey I was going back tomorrow to take a picture. I think this beats Charlie Sheen's antics...at least he has a huge house to be an idiot in and has CHOSEN his option.

This poor huge creature is living in a space so small that it has no room to argue the point...literally!

I treat my three mutts like royalty. Granted they haven't had shots in two years but they are loved, fed and have an acre fenced in to roam and run.

I feel like bringing that horse home with me...and don't think Tim would even notice. The pups, not so much.

If it's still there tomorrow I am taking a picture; I thought WE had it rough but at least we are trying to do something about it.

Who's gonna help this horse?

I may just buy this horse an ad in Massey's program:

"Free horse to anybody that has a yard larger than a garage."

Til next time...

"Just Saying" COTTON