Walter Update

The last time Walter was at our house was on July 28^th when he escaped through the downed back fence.  This is the post I did about it 

http://terlinguadreams.blogspot.com/2012/07/little-john-walter-deere-has-been-bad.html 

After that incident he disappeared for about two weeks.  When I inquired about his whereabouts the owners kid told me Walter had been sent to their cousin’s house.  They brought him back two days before I left for Houston thus had not had a chance to see him.

The day I returned from Houston I saw there was a new bale of hay outside of his corral.  Two days later mother and I walked over to see him and I noticed how thin he was and how sad his eyes looked.  There were flies around his eyes, his sores and practically everywhere.  His owner does not get rid of his poop instead he dries it out in the sun and then lays it as ground dirt inside his corral.  Is this an acceptable practice?

I try to make sure no trees grow close to the cinder block fence that divides our properties but two years ago I let some mesquite grow in that area to provide some shade for the corral.  At the time his owner had four horses and they had no shade to speak of.  Walter looked desperate and as I got closer I could see a barrel of water was downed and when I asked him if the other barrel had water…it was like he understood…he went over and knocked it down to let me see that there was none.

I came back with a hose, a five gallon bucket as well as my pruning shears and chopped down the mesquite limbs so I could hold the bucket to his face…of course I only put 2 gallons as that is all my back will let me lift.  I filled that bucket 6 or 7 times until he was full.  It made me wonder how long he had been without water and why.  Came back that afternoon and this time he drank about 10 gallons.

What really alarmed me was seeing that he had not been fed in two days and yesterday I saw him eating his own feces!  That is when I called Deputy Mendez but did not get a call back until this afternoon from Sergeant Lopez who informed me that Deputy Mendez was on leave so I had to go into detail once more with him.

This morning I walked over there and saw that they had given him some hay…a small portion I might add for a horse his size.  Noticed that his owner is either on vacation or he no longer works out of town.  This makes me even madder that being in town he does not give a hoot about his horse’s welfare.  People like him should not be allowed to own any kind of animals.

Oh yeah…that bale of hay…well it looks like it is still new.  Think it is just there to fool the sheriff’s that drive-by.  It is a shame that they cannot give animal abuse cases continuity in Val Verde County and offenders go unpunished to continue abusing their animals.  This particular individual has been doing it for years.

Good night.  May there be justice for Walter as well as other animals in the same circumstances as him.

Truncated Plans

Woke up on my own before the yapping Chihuahuas had a chance to do it for me.  In Del Rio we only have trash pick-up one day a week and as much as they charge (more than the water) I try to make sure it is full, even if it involves having to rake mesquite pods.

The phone rang around 8:30 a.m. it was one of mother’s friends who asked if they could come by at noon.  As most people she likes for her house to look decent when she has company over.  On my last trip to Houston I brought down even more boxes to her house...well those boxes had to be relocated.  So no early trip to the Cricket store front.  Decided I would go after they left.

I have yet to decide what is worst…people that show up at your doorstep unannounced or those who call but show up hours after the accorded time.  Mother was about to take her nap when they finally showed up.  These people have cell phones, would it have killed them to take 30 seconds to call and tell her they were running late?  Like three and half-hours late!

Maybe if they had offered an apology it would not have ticked me off so bad…but nothing…no excuse offered not even a mention of it.  At least the new mechanic called to tell me he was sick and would not be able to make it.  Guess my plans are on hold for tomorrow as well!

Hope your day was much better than mine.  I have been on pins and needles about Walter.  Called Deputy Mendez but he never called back.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.

Help is on its way for Walter

I went to the Val Verde County Sheriffs office in person because I wanted to handle this face to face with the deputy that is in charge of animal abuse cases for the county.  He was not there but I waited an hour and a half for him to arrive.  It did not matter, as I was willing to wait as long as it took. I was fortunate to be in an air-conditioned building while poor Walter was out in the elements with very green and slimy water.

This is the first time in my life that I have gone inside this building, as I never had a reason to come before.  It is an old building and the waiting area is to one side making the receptionist who is behind a glass partition forget about you real fast as she did in my case. The whole time I was there no other people came in except officers.

I was surprised Deputy Mendez was so young but he seemed knowledgeable and was willing to help Walter and that is all that matters.  I showed him pictures of the deplorable corral, the slimy water and of the sores on his body.

He said he had to go take pictures of his own when he comes to speak to the horse’s owner.  Said it is not going to be resolved over night, as he has to give the owner ten days to correct all the things he finds wrong.  He then has to make another visit and give him another ten days and if at the end of 30 days he has not done enough to correct the situation then he can file felony charges against him.  I am so happy for Walter!

The other day I drove by the library and thought I saw a sign about computer classes so went by today and sure enough they are going to start classes for beginners in August. Asked Mom if she would like to sign up and to my surprise she said YES!

I wanted to publicly thank Leilani for the special interest she has shown in trying to reunite Chewy the lost Chihuahua with her owners.  It takes a very special kind person to see a little doggie on a blog picture and do all the detective work and research she has done out of the kindness of her heart to reunite a little girl with her dog.  Thank you!

Guess gas prices could not keep going down forever.  I filled up at $3.13 on Wednesday and today it had gone up to $3.19.  Oh well, you can’t win them all.

Good night.  May you all have Terlingua Dreams.