Day 33: Safe on second

Day 33 miles to/from work: 26.8
Total miles for S4S: 875.6

Saving the life of one animal may not change the world, but the world will surely change for that one animal.

This is how my morning started—a gorgeous sunrise over the lake and cleaning the kitty litter box. I have spared you pictorial evidence of the latter. When Silver Beauty and I set out, it was 37 degrees and mostly clear skies.

For those of you who are regular readers here, you know that every Tuesday is "Last-chance Tuesday", when some of my Texas friends and I are wildly networking the Carrollton, Texas shelter animals that haven't been adopted or tagged by a rescue and face Wednesday morning euthanasia. This morning at 12:30 am, I was emailing a rescue (Casa de Perro or CDP) about Miss Piggy, a pitbull in need of rescuing. And she was heartworm-positive. And had kennel cough. (Just how sweet a deal is that, huh?) She also had $200 in pledges from networkers, plus a sponsor who said she would cover the heartworm treatment. Miss Piggy had her fan club. The fact that she was a dog was good enough for me; and with a name like Miss Piggy ("Never eat anything heavier than you can lift"), in my book that was a mandate to save her.

When I got up even before the sunrise and checked my email, there was no response to determine the Divine Miss P's future. I texted my buddies about the lack of rescue response with, "So what's wrong with this guy? He's not up after 12:30 and before 6?"

Silver Beauty and I were sailing along when my cell phone rang. I pulled off the path onto the edge of a field. It was Mike from CDP, saying he would take Miss Piggy as long as the person sponsoring the heartworm treatment would let him use his own veterinarian. In addition, he would take Knight, a black lab and also a Carrollton inmate. Woot! Double score! I called Joe at Carrollton animal shelter to let him know, then called my friend Leticia so she could get the heartworm sponsor in touch with Mike. Then I just laughed. I was on my way to work, standing off the bike path in a field in Wisconsin, shivering in 37 degree temps, spending 20 minutes talking to people in Texas I've never met about a dog I've never seen except in pictures.... I was thinking "This is both so funny and so cool! And we're saving lives!" All in all, a fantastic start to Last-Chance Tuesday.

It was a ride with a cold headwind, and I didn't care. Miss Piggy was safe. Knight got into the bonus round. Life is good. Life is life.

There is something about 50 degrees at the end of October that does not equal 50 degrees in early October. When I left work the temperature was in the mid-50s. It didn't matter. It was cold and raw. The harbinger of winter. But winter with a tailwind. That made for a quick and reasonably pleasant ride home, despite the rawness.

The rest of the evening was entirely predictable—I got sucked into the rescue operation. And it was a success. Five cats and one more dog, tagged by rescues. Once again, Wednesday morning the Carrollton Animal Services executioner will be sharing office space with the Maytag repairman.

Winning!