Ever Wish You Could Erase Time?

Yesterday was an absolutely exhausting day for Dwayne and me – which kinda put the icing on the cake for what turned out to be a fairly horrible week of events taking place. It had to be one of those – “If it’s not one thing it’s another…” without a doubt. We’ve been saddened – along with so many other folks all across this country – by the declining health of a dear friend – Monica. Even in the middle of all the other heartbreaking events we’ve experienced in our lives over the past week – emotions and worries have held fast at the forefront of our minds and hearts with constant prayers for Monica and Heidi. This world will never find two sisters as bonded and loving toward each other. They have been the truest sense of the word ‘Family’ and lived as such a wonderful example for so many of us caught in the net of all the antics in this crazy world. My life-long wonderful friend – Debbie – ended up missing a milestone reached by her son’s surprise 30th Birthday party – due to coming down with the flu. As if that weren’t enough – she and Bud lost their beloved dog Tasha the day following. They had eleven years of pure enjoyment with her as a part of their family. After bending over backwards to help our now 22 year old daughter, Jennifer, – having not even given second thought – our dear friends – Wayne and Charlotte – were handed the most disrespecting and hurtful blow from pure lack of appreciation and consideration. It was enough that it became necessary for them to leave her no option but to find another place to live. The incident played the heaviest role in Charlotte having to leave work the day after the incident and come home to Wayne – for the first time ever. The entire family remained at home the next day – following an evening at the Emergency Room at Blount Memorial Hospital. This remains a heated issue in our household at this time – enough that it’s impossible for me to even talk about or share while maintaining control over my anger. If I had to find one word to describe how I feel about the choices my daughter has made – that word is – Betrayed. Yesterday was planned to be a day for getting more work done on the house and – grocery shopping – laundry – as well as a few other extra side jobs we wanted to tend to. Just wasn’t in the cards. We spent almost five hours helping three officers with Loudon County Animal Control load a shocking surprise from our hay pasture. One of the officers was under the impression she had finally found the mare – colt – and donkey that others had called in three weeks prior. They had been seen all the way up near Hwy. 72. The officers had not been able to find them and gave up after several hours. The shock came when we all discovered the mare was no mare. It was a Stallion. And he was good-natured so much it would blow your mind. But all the trouble came from obvious signs he had never been loaded onto a trailer. Since February of this year we have noticed some discouraging issues going on pertaining to ten horses and a donkey in the pasture owned by neighbors next to our property. Apparently – there was a relationship that split up. The children were taken. But neither party ever made the effort to make sure the animals were properly cared for. And there have been some really strange things going on over there – to say the very least. Zucker woke up yesterday morning and jumped into full alert without stopping until Dwayne got out of bed to look out the windows. We had three of the neighbor’s animals on our property near the barn – where there is no secure fencing. Fortunately – Terry had left the gate to the hay field open. Eventually – all three headed for the hay field and I was able to get the gate closed before going through the remaining tasks of helping these animals. These animals had received no Vet care. What continues to worry me is – we can’t figure out what happened to the other eight animals. There has never been activity measuring up to any of the animals being carried out by trailer. The only access to the pasture is a dirt road on the other side of the gully of trees between the two properties. The pot-holes on that road provide a great alarm to anything accessing. This guy and his wife had been hiding vehicles back there – obviously for avoiding repossession – since before Christmas. Water was being carried up to the animals in a tank loaded on the back of his pickup. Not only has the tank been missing from his pickup for quite a while – he has rarely even gone up to the pasture anymore – and usually at night. The sounds we’ve heard were as if he was dumping scrap metal. I managed to get a photo taken before the officers showed up. Fonts- Edmonds Fenice BT