Saturday, September 8, was a Saturday like most others on our farm. Lots of chores! With Rudy, we are busy in our attempt to potty train. He is staying in our kitchen as we go about that mission. Around 4 that afternoon, we brought his mother, Wilma, in for a visit with him. She and Molly, the separation anxiety surrender, usually stay together outside. With Wilma in, we put Molly in the pen with Patches and Sammi. Somehow, Molly was able to unlatch and open the chained gate. She stayed home, but Patches and Sammi ran off to explore the woods. We were upset, because we don’t let the dogs run where we can’t see them, but we figured they would come back soon. As night turned into day, neither of them was with us. Our frustration with them leaving quickly turned into anxiety and fear, as there are many coyotes and men with guns near us who would not make conditions too favorable for a stray dog.
Sunday we searched where we could, by Gator in the woods and by car on the roads nearby, to no avail. Things were not looking good. Around 6 Sunday evening, I was sitting on the front porch and heard the jingle of dog tags outside. Patches was walking down the front walk, alone. Our hearts were filled both elation and despair-so relieved to see Patches was safe and unharmed and so heartbroken Sammi was not with him. We did notice rather quickly that Patches seemed traumatized, so we began to fear the worst. What had he seen? What did he know that he could not tell us? Where was his best friend?
Monday, Glenn had to attend to business in Atlanta. It was a rainy day, but I took Charlie and Vivian at separate times as I walked through the woods, hoping to find something, anything. Nothing. Same for Tuesday.
Tuesday evening, I received a call from Shirley in San Diego, the lady who was born in our house and from whom we purchased it. “Did you call me?”, she asked. I had not. She had a missed call on her phone from Judy, whom I later found out to be her cousin with the same name. We have become friends, so I was telling her about Sammi. She knows about everything and everyone in our town, and she told us to go talk to one particular man. He lives about a mile down the road from us and another mile up at the end of a gravel road. She said he owned a good bit of property and might be able to give us some suggestions about where to look.
Early Wednesday afternoon, Glenn drove to the man’s house and found him home. He and Wendell talked a while, he gave Glenn some search suggestions, and Glenn left him one of our business cards. Glenn, still recovering from his knee replacement surgery, walked through the woods and along creek beds for several hours, thinking Sammi might be close to water. Nothing. As a side note, on August 27th, we posted Sammi’s story on Facebook. She and Glenn share a very special relationship. He loves her so much, and it was breaking my heart to see him grieve. We kept saying we were holding out hope that we would find her alive, but the week dragged on with no sign of her. We, with the help of our friends, Bridget, Chloe, and Janet, posted on lost pet websites, put up flyers, talked with everyone we could think of, and we prayed.
Saturday morning, at 6:15, a week after she had disappeared, the phone rang. “Have you found your dog?” It was Wendell, the man Shirley had suggested we talk to. He was on his way to work and saw a black dog with a collar and tags sitting on the porch of an abandoned trailer. Glenn was outside feeding the other dogs. I grabbed the keys, went out and told him about the call, and said we had to go. We drove up the same road Glenn had been on and searched 3 days prior When we came to the trailer, there was Sammi, lying on the porch!!! Through tears and cries of joy, we thanked God, put her in the car, and brought her home.
Sammi is very thin and tired, and her back legs look as if they have been through a meat grinder. After seeing pictures, Shirley says she was caught in a small animal trap. We are easing her stomach back into shape, medicating her wounds, and letting her sleep on any sofa she desires! Patches is smiling again!
If Shirley had not mistaken her cousin’s call for mine, if she had not specifically told us to go see Wendell, if Glenn had not found him home in the middle of the day and struck up a conversation and followed up by giving him our card, if Wendell hadn’t cared enough to keep the card, who knows? One of Glenn’s expressions is, “Happenstance or Holy moment, who’s to say.” Well, in this case, we both agree we experienced a Miracle on Freedom Farm!
Thank you to everyone who supports our mission at Maringa Animal Sanctuary. All our dogs and cats are ones who need us. The events of this past week have made it clear that we need them just as much!
