Lighthouse Update 10-11-13

WOOOF Everybody!!!

We know it's been a while since we updated our blog but it's been a little crazy around here, (as usual,) and Mom has been kinda sick....so we'll let her get by with it this time.

All of us are doing great. Miss Mercy is now in her new home. She is TOTALLY loved and spoiled and she loves her new mom!! 
When she saw Mom she just could not stop hugging her with her head. She'd run back to "New" mom and jump up on her as if to say, "I really really love you!! But this is my other mother and I just gotta go hug her some more." Then she'd run back and hug Mom some more.
If you don't remember Mercy, she is the one that was so terribly near death when Mom got her. Mom was up with her all night the first night giving her supplements and drops of water and electrolytes to get her through the night. She was too weak to even raise her head. Mom had to give her everything one drop at a time because she wasn't conscious enough to swallow.
She really turned into a BEAUTY!!!!!!!!

Mr Fox is doing GREAT!!! He's the one with three fractures in his legs and pelvic. He could barely get around when he arrived 'cause his back end parts didn't work very well. Now he's running and playing and enjoying life. He still drags that right rear leg but not enough to keep him from running with us other Lighthouse kids. And of course he still loves Larry....the first friend he made here at Lighthouse.

Benny is now in a foster home and is doing great!! Mom got him all healed up and he was lookin' good and feelin' good so he went back to Animales Atenas and they found a foster home for him.

Gracie got adopted by our vet!!!! She was supposed to get adopted by our volunteer Kristie but those plans fell through. So our vet said he wanted her for his own!!! 

The other day some people came to visit from Colorado!! They run a wolf sanctuary there called Colorado Wolf and Wildlife Center!! www.wolfeducation.org

They brought us all kinds of donated medicines, flea & tick preventative, skin medications and all kinds of stuff!! Mom was THRILLED!!!

And some people we pup sit for brought their furkids for us to pup sit and when they found out Mom had been sick they told her they had hired their groomer to come this Sunday and give us all baths and stuff!!!! Is that the nicest thing you ever heard of!!! Mom says that's such a sweet thing to do!!! .....wait a minute.....did I say baths? uh oh.

We're adding a few pics in memory of BudBud. He was such a special furkid. Mom can't get him off her mind today. She just keeps sniffling and stuff. 

Here's our BudBud over the years. He is very very missed.

Y'all have a great day and we'll try to keep our blog more updated. 

TAILWAGS!!!!!!!!!!!

The Lighthouse Crew

Apartment Robbery

Tailwags Y'all!!

OK. Mom is finally awake and able to make something other than blubbering sounds. 
She woke Dad up at 1:00 AM night before last and they LEFT!!!!!! 

Us furkids figured they were going after another "emergency" furkid 'cause that's usually the only reason they would wake up and leave the house at that time of night.

We waited for them to come home but then the sun came up and we were still waiting!!!! We all got kinda worried. We were hungry too!!! And poor Gracie and Dama, who sleep in their crates, were REALLY needing to go potty and none of us other furkids knew how to operate the latch on the crate door!!

When Mom and Dad finally got home they looked TERRIBLE!!! They took care of all of us first and kissed and hugged us and apologized for us having to be alone for so long. That took a while 'cause there are 22 of us right now to hug and kiss. 
We sure were glad they were home!!!

They were SOOOO proud of Gracie and Dama!!! They actually held it and didn't mess up their crates!! SUPER DOGS!!!!!!!!!!! 

Anyway, today Mom doesn't look quite so much like those horror movie zombies..... 

and she's actually beginning to pick her feet up off the floor when she walks.

She was pretty scary lookin' when she first got home!! 

Anyway....We're gonna let her tell what happened 'cause, of course, us furkids weren't there.

Here goes.

Hello friends,

I promised to tell you all the details of what had happened Tuesday night.

I have FINALLY slept and, although my eyes are still not focusing correctly my brain is about a half step further along and is managing to form somewhat understandable thoughts......I hope.

I had just sat down on the side of my bed on Tuesday night when the phone rang. I answered it expecting it to be, as usual, someone calling me about an injured animal.

My brother owns some apartments in Grecia, a town about 40 minutes away, and since he lives in the states,  we take care of the apartments for him. (Hubby Bruce actually does all the work)

The lady on the phone (a police officer) said the apartments had been broken into and robbed. She said they took TVs', microwaves and kitchen articles. (She was mistaken about the microwaves)

Then she told me they had our property AND the robbers there at the police station and asked if we could come there and identify the property.

I woke Bruce up. He had had about three hours sleep and I really hated waking him but I didn't really want to go that far so late by myself.

We dressed and made the 40 minute drive to the Grecia Police Station. 

When we walked in they had four young men handcuffed to the hard, flat, wooden benches in the entrance way. Each had one hand free.

All of them were wearing hoodies and had their heads lowered so we could not see their faces. If they had to look up they pulled their shirt front up to cover the lower half of their faces. They mumbled among themselves and twisted and turned on the benches. (I gotta tell you right now folks those are extremely uncomfortable benches.)

I also have to say I personally think hoodies should be banned. 

The police showed us the TVs' and we identified them as being from the apartments. Then they told us that two of the young men were minors and two were adults. One was already on probation for the exact same crime. 

I asked how they caught the men and they told me a neighbor had heard the shattering of the doors and called police. NOW comes the only "funny" part of this story. 

The police responded to the call and they see four young men, strolling down the road at nearly 1:00 AM....two of them with TVs' on their shoulders. 

(Now we're not talking small tvs'. These are BIG...OLD TVs' ...you know...the kind that are about three feet from front to back and weigh about the same as a small pony.)

They just stood there as the police approached as if nothing about them should be at all suspicious! 

(Uh...no officer...we're not doing anything wrong. Just taking our TVs' for a stroll. Why yes!! Of course they're ours!!)

or 

(Hi Officer!! What? NO! These aren't TVs'! They're our new boom boxes. These things get bigger every year y'know.)

Did I mention it was raining?

They finally took the handcuffed young men, (notice...up until now I have referred to these four as "young men." That's going to change so be warned.) back to the holding cell. I can only hope they had those same benches in there.

Injecting a note here: I'm one of those HORRIBLE people who smoke cigarettes. When we left home I only had two cigarettes in my pack. Expecting to be there and back home in a couple of hours I was not real concerned. When I realized this was not going to be the case I asked one of the officers, who also smoked, where I could buy cigarettes. At 2:00 AM he told me the only place would be a bar. Not knowing where any bars were in Grecia there seemed no way I was going to be able to get a new pack.

We signed some papers, verifying that the TVs' were from the apartments and they said we could sit down.....on those benches.

They worked on paperwork and we sat...and sat....and sat.

Then some other officers arrived and the arresting officers (the ones we had been dealing with) told us to follow them to the apartments.

We got into our car and followed the police car. He kept making turns we were unfamiliar with and we knew they were not heading toward the apartments. 

The officer finally pulls up in front of a business, gets out and comes back to my car. I rolled my window down and he said "Give me money."  (?????) He then said, "I'll buy you cigarettes."

WHOOOOOO HOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They didn't have my brand but at that point I could have cared less.

What a sweet thing for the policeman to do!! 

SO!!! We leave there and go to the apartments. (This is where calling them "young men" changes")

Apartment # 4

 TV stand

Apartment # 3

Apartment #1

They accidentally dropped two of the 8 knives they stole from the kitchens on their way out. The police covered them with a mat and put crime scene tape above them to wait for the investigators to get there. 

These four tick brained, gutter scum, vermin infested, drug sucking, lazy, shiftless, worthless waste of human tissue, poster boys for birth control, too sorry to get a real job maggot turds (See. I told you that was all gonna change.) had used crow bars and their feet to pry the locks and kick through the doors of three of the apartments, DESTROYING THE DOORS and causing a few hundred dollars worth of damage for two OLD TVs and the remotes (I'm amazed they had enough intelligence to remember the remotes) and eight kitchen knives. 

They MIGHT have been able to sell the TVs for $20.00 each and God only knows what they planned to do with the knives.

Do I need to mention we were "upset" when we saw what they had done?

At that point I was EXTREMELY tempted to ask the police to PLEASE just tear up the paperwork and turn over the maggot turds to me. 

We went back to the police station where we spent the rest of the night, SITTING ON THOSE SAME BENCHES, waiting for the rest of the paperwork to be completed. As the sun rose in the sky they realized the paperwork ALL had to be redone because there were minors involved. 

Did I mention that the police had called the "parents" of the minors before they called us and the "parents" basically just said "uh-huh" and went back to sleep. 

So......we sat....... (the only way I can actually describe how uncomfortable those benches are is to say these are exact replicas of the benches in the waiting room for hell) Some of them were made out of wooden slats placed about three inches apart. (remember I have a skinny, bony butt so you can imagine the discomfort.)

THEN!!! The TV crew and newspaper crew showed up!! From what we can gather this was a major "bust" for the Grecia police. The little turd who was on parole has, evidently, been doing a lot of this kind of thing and teaching the younger turds the ropes.

They are ALL repeat offenders, drug addicts, etc.

After the reporters were done we had to go to the "Fiscalia" to sign the warrants against the maggot turds...then back to the apartments to try to deal with the OIJ (investigators) and then try to secure the apartments until the doors and door frames could be replaced and find a neighbor to stay in one of them overnight to guard them.

Our son, bless his heart, had left his work and gone to the apartments and met with OIJ so that part was already done and over with when we arrived.

We got a neighbor to stay in the apartments overnight and headed home.

By now it's almost 2 PM and we are both FRANTIC to get back to the dogs!! KNOWING that poor Gracie and Dama are still in their crates and that all the others are probably starving to death. (They did miss breakfast after all)

We got home and let the two out of their crates whereupon they actually took a moment to greet us, tails wagging, before making a beeline for the door to get outside. They had not even soiled their crates. POOR BABIES!!!!!!!! What great furkids they are!!!

We had both been up all night and day. Bruce had, at least, had three hours sleep but he was ready to drop. I, on the other hand had been without sleep for 32 hours.

I don't guess I need to tell you I felt and looked like something the dogs had dug up in the yard from a very deep hole.

I must say......as bad and as exhausting as the experience was, it would have been a whole lot worse if the Grecia police had not been SOOOO gracious in their treatment of us!!! They were WONDERFUL and extremely thoughtful. God BLESS 'em!!

We don't speak enough spanish to communicate well. Yes, we should have learned more by now but the animals don't really demand it and I don't hang out with a lot of humans so the process has been slow.

They didn't fault us for that and were so VERY patient with us!!

They offered us coffee all night, were very understanding, and I just cannot praise them enough!!

At shift change, 7:00 AM, they make breakfast for the officers coming on duty. They offered us gallo pinto (beans and rice) and coffee and when we refused (we were really too tired to eat) they brought us four bananas and coffee. 

What a WONDERFUL group of people they are!!!

I've now had some sleep and am able to function rationally. Bruce, after a good nights sleep, has gone to the apartments with our good friend Rick, Peggys hubby, to repair the damage. It's so good to have GENUINE friends who will help out in a situation like this.

THANK YOU RICK AND PEGGY!!!!

THANK YOU SON!!

THANK YOU NEIGHBOR WHO CALLED THE POLICE!!!

THANK YOU GRECIA POLICE DEPARTMENT!!!

And to the little tick brained, gutter scum, vermin infested, drug sucking, lazy, shiftless, worthless waste of human tissue, poster boys for birth control, too sorry to get a real job maggot turds who caused all of this....Get off the drugs, get a job, act like human beings instead of toilet scum, ditch the hoodies and at least TRY to look respectable, and never forget.........I'm watching you. 

Benny Meets The Crew!! 9-3-2013

Howdy Y'all!!

Benny when he first arrived at Lighthouse

Benny now

Little Benny passed his check-up today and the vet said it was ok to let him join the Lighthouse crew!! He's doubled his weight, his infections are cleared up and his hair is starting to come back in!!! 
He's a cute kid!! Sprinkles really likes him!! 
Here's the video Mom did today when she introduced him to us!!

http://youtu.be/I1aRTFrZrRY


TAILWAGS!!!
From the Lighthouse Crew!!!

Mom says "DANG DAWGS!!!!"

WOOF Y'all!!!

Two of the furkids dug under the fence and disappeared!!! Mom  and Dad searched all day and into the night for them. They yelled themselves hoarse calling the two little demons!! Climbing up and down steep mountain terrain searching. Our place is surrounded by coffee fields so they could easily be lost. No road to actually follow back home.
Mom was posting, throughout the day, on Facebook, to Kristi, (the lady who is planning to adopt Gracie) 
Ya gotta remember when you read this that Mom was NOT in a good mood after climbing up and down mountains all day. (giggle)  Here is that exchange:

3:44pm

Gracie and Clem have disappeared. Gracie has begun digging under the wall out back and has escaped with Clem and Sprinkles in tow about three times. We fixed the area where they were digging out but they found a new place. We have searched everywhere and yelled ourselves hoarse. Have distributed flyers in the area with photos and a reward. Have gone on the ATV all the way down the back road with no luck. Say some prayers that we find them. We are extremely worried.

They've been gone for about four hours now.

Saturday 4:56pm

4:56 Just got back from another trip down the mountain on the ATV. It's about to get dark. I don't know what to do.

I have all the neighbors watching for them and have told the neighborhood kids.

Oh god. Hopefully they will get hungry and come home. I'm praying they don't get out on the road and are just playing in the bushes! I'm praying for them and I think miss Gracie needs to be grounded when she gets home!

They are still not here. Cannot find them. I too hope they will come home. We are leaving the gate partially open so they can get back in the front. When Gracie DOES return she's going on a cable run. I'm too damn old to be running up and down this mountain and worrying about this kind of crap.

I hear u! Cable run for sure, rotten damn kid! Wish me luck tomorrow, going to catch a stray male pup. His sister got run over and died yesterday so really want to get him before he gets hit looking for her.

Saturday 8:16pm

They are back. I hate BOTH of them!!!! I had made one last trip down and back up the mountain calling and yelling. No luck. Then I thought I heard dogs barking when I took the others out to pee. Bruce and I climbed down the steep, east bank again, in our night clothes, to call and look with flashlights. We could hear dogs barking on the other side of the valley but were not sure if it was them. Stayed there and called and called. They'd bark back but still could not tell if it was them. We were down there for about an hour calling but they didn't seem to be coming nearer. We climbed back up the hill with me pushing Bruce from behind because his knee was killing him from all the climbing. Mr Fox, an hour later, in the bedroom with Bruce, kept barking. Bruce finally got up and took him out. Mr Fox stopped in the grass to pee and Bruce heard something on the other side of the gate and then saw a paw reach under the wooden gate. That bitch Gracie. He let her in and came out front and called up to me. I went out with my flashlight and down the banks we went again to try to find Clem. After about 30 minutes of calling and listening I heard a whine down at the bottom end of the property. We trekked down there, still barefoot and muddy, and found Clem trying to come back in one of the holes Gracie had dug the first time. Had to pull the boulder out of it we had blocked it with. They are each now in crates. Don't trust them overnight not to dig again and disappear. Son is coming down tomorrow to try to help me fix the wall so they can't dig under. I ought to just shoot the two of them damnit!!! Good luck catching the little guy. Please hurry here and get this damn dog!!!

So glad they are home and safe. Tell Gracie she is on my s--t list and she's on restriction until I can get her brought to Arizona. Get some sleep girlfriend! Love you!

Can't tell her anything. I'm not speaking to her.

WMFWB!!!! Mom was pretty mad at them for escaping. Of course Gracie is still running with us on the property, getting plenty of lovin' and is not on a cable run....and Bro came down today to help Mom and Dad figure out a way to fix it so they can't dig out anymore.

We just did a new video of our new furkid, Benny. HE WAGGED HIS TAIL TODAY AND ACTUALLY CAME TO MOM INSTEAD OF RUNNING AWAY!!! We're all doin' the happy dance!!!
You can see the video here.

http://youtu.be/YM0FQr8iwxs

TAILWAGS from the Lighthouse Crew.

RESCUED!!!! Thanks to good people.

8-16-13
Mom had seen a story about a dog in Limon Costa Rica who had been attacked with a machete. He had two horrendous wounds on his shoulders.
Of course Mom offered to take the dog in and try to save it as the woman who had originally found the injured dog has no money for vets and for care.
Someone volunteered to drive the dog here to Atenas to our shelter.
The dog was to arrive here yesterday but Mom never heard from any of the parties involved. She was getting pretty worried because she knew the woman had gotten a neighbor to sew the wound closed and Mom knew that infection would be starting quickly. 
Also, from the original photos she had gotten it looked like the spinal column might have been severed or at least damaged.

We got information today that the womans' neighbors all chipped in and got the dog to a vet. He opened the wound and had to do surgery on some sliced muscles and arteries. He put 42 stitches in. Half inside and half outside. The vet feels pretty sure that the dog will survive but may walk with a limp due to the muscle damage.
The woman has decided to keep the dog for now and a rescue group near her has offered to help her with meds and after care for the dog!!
YAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thank GOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We are attaching the two before surgery photos and the after surgery photo. They are VERY graphic so if you have a weak stomach maybe don't click on them.

We're just glad this dog got the help it needed and that there were actually enough people who cared!!!
Thank you!!!!!
Tailwags!!!!!!!!!