Yo quiero Taco bell!!

Hello FRIEND'S OF DHARMA!
Don't you just love a
   HAPPY ENDING!!


My Mama was out the other day visiting someone
 over in Greenville New Hampshire,

HEADING DOWN THE HIGHWAY
LOOKING FOR ADVENTURE.

So she is coming over the crest of a hill
getting ready to
GO DOWN THIS
SIGNIFICANTLY
STEEP HILL
and
OH MY GOODNESS,
THERE IS A FOX
IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ROAD.
And, it is
WALKING UP THE HILL RIGHT TOWARD HER.
So of course our Mama slows down in her truck
BEING
THE LOVER OF ALL ANIMALS THAT SHE IS
and slows to a crawl toward this fox.

Here is the hill
and here is
what Mama saw,
or
to be clear,
what Mama
thought
she saw.

The closer Mama got
the slower she went.

STEP BY STEP.
INCH BY INCH.
IT'S LIKE A SCENE FROM
THE THREE STOOGES.
HA,HA,HA!

OH MY GOODNESS
MAMA TELLS ME NEXT.

IT'S NOT A FOX

IT IS A
Chihuahua!!
WHAT?
ARE YOU KIDDING ME?


Now Mama knows instinctively that
THIS IS NOT RIGHT.
This little guy,
IS NOT GOING TO MAKE IT!
It is almost
ZERO DEGREES OUT!! YIKES!!
SHE IMMEDIATELY FEELS VERY SAD.

And so Mama slows the truck down,
and quietly
OPENS THE TRUCK DOOR,
and says
"HEY LITTLE GUY,
YOU WANT A RIDE HOME".

Which of course his response is
NO WAY JOSE!
MY MAMA ALWAYS TAUGHT ME
TO
NEVER
TALK TO STRANGERS.

And so he continues to walk up the hill.
HIS TEETH ARE CHATTERING
and
 HIS WHOLE BODY IS SHAKING.

BUT OFF HE GOES
WALKING RIGHT TO
THE TOP OF THAT HILL.

Mama knows,
he is not going to survive,
AND IT MAKES HER VERY SAD.
It reminds her of Duchess.
Her cousin's dog who lived next door when she was a child.

Here is Duchess.
Duchess was Glenda's dog
BUT MAMA LOVED HER AS HER VERY OWN.
One very bad winter,
WHEN THE SNOWBANKS WERE SIX FEET TALL, Duchess went out to go to the bathroom
in a snowstorm,
AND SHE NEVER RETURNED.
SHE NEVER RETURNED!!
Mama still remembers how
HER HEART BROKE
when this happened.
Don't we JUST LOVE OUR DOGS?

Our dear Merlie Boy once got lost in a snowstorm.
Mama and Papa went out to their woodland fire pit to cover the
wood because a big storm was coming and sometimes,
THE OLD FOLKS, HA HA, like to sit out and have a fire in the winter.
So our Merlin followed them out into the woods, the snowflakes just starting as they started out. So they are out there a while, and they look up and Merlin is gone, I MEAN HE IS JUST GONE. HE DECIDED TO GO OUT ON AN ADVENTURE OF HIS OWN. You can see his paw prints in the snow which is now starting to be a blizzard.  So Mama goes and gets her snowshoes and poles and starts tracking him up through the forest, WANDERING HERE AND WANDERING THERE for about an hour and then the paw prints disappear. It was HEART WRENCHING she said. For, SHE REMEMBERED, SHE REMEMBERED DUCHESS!! All she could do was cry. And so she went back into the house and called Auntie Kelly who suggested that she drive around with me, Dharma, and to call his name because dogs can smell or sense when another dog they know is around. So Mama says, LET'S GO DHARMA, and we get into the truck and start driving house to house calling his name. The first house, no we have not see him, we will watch out for him. The second house, no we have not seen him, we will watch out for him. The third house, Mama gets out of the truck. I am in the truck looking out the window and wagging my tail. Mama who is calling Merlin starts to go up the stairs to another neighbor and she feels me bump her from behind. Dharma how did you get out of the truck? She says as she is turning. And there he is. Our Merlie Boy. Totally covered with four inches of snow on his back standing behind her. He had heard her call and came. In gratitude she knelt down, soft tears flowing.
Merlie, Merlie, thank you for coming home.

---

 Mama she
KNOWS
about LOST DOGS.

AND THE DESPAIR
THAT HITS YOU IN A WAY,
THAT YOU
NEVER
FORGET
WHEN THEY DON'T COME HOME.

So she turns the truck around
and at a far distance starts following this little guy.
At the top of the hill he decides that he is
GOING TO TAKE A RIGHT
into the Frost Mountain View Farm.
So Mama follows him
and down he goes
down the snow covered road
past the animal paddocks
and the barns
and all the farm equipment in the yard.

SUDDENLY OUT COMES
a pit bull.
He is following
the little guy around
licking him
SAYING HELLO IN THE FRIENDLIEST WAY.
YO QUIERO (I want) TACO BELL!!
And what is funny both dogs have the same coloring.
Like they are related some how.

 What a
SWEET HEART
THIS PIT BULL IS!
He has his own story to tell. 
His name is Bentley.
His Papa John told his story about how Bentley's Mama Becka was down in Mystic Seaport and that there was a lady pushing a baby carriage
FULL OF PUPPIES.
HOW FUN!!

Bentley's Papa said they are known as Stafford-shire Terriers. And so his Mama,

BEING THE WONDERFUL  HUMAN BEING THAT SHE WAS

picked out
THE RUNT
OF THE LITTER
which of course became
Bentley.

 Bentley lives with two siblings, Arman, a white long haired chihuahua and Tutu a raga muffin tiny brown little thing.
There are often discussions about dogs and how they behave.
Is it nature (genetic background, type of dog)
or
is it nurture (how they are raised) that is the most important factor in how they turn out?
 Something to think about huh?
WHAT A WONDERFUL DOG BENTLEY IS.

To finish our story.
And so our little
Taco Bell,
we don't know his name yet at this point
but he does remind of the
Yo Quiero (I Want) Taco Bell commercial
visited with Bentley for a while but still would not
COME IN FROM THE COLD.

So he started heading out the back parking lot of the farm
and Papa John told me that it went into a trailer park
and then
STRAIGHT DOWN
into the highway.
There is a tragedy ready to happen Mama thought.

So Mama turned around and went out the road,
and down the hill
and up the highway
and into the road into the trailer park
from the other end hoping to keep him off the highway.

Here was our little
TACO BELL, still shivering and chattering and
STILL
NOT
COMING IN FROM THE COLD
COMING DOWN THE BACK ROAD FROM THE FARM.

By this time it is almost a half of an hour that Mama has been  following him
and he clearly came from somewhere
and a
HOUR
IN THESE TEMPERATURES
FOR A LITTLE GUY LIKE THIS
IS WELL,
LIFE THREATENING.

Eventually the little Taco Bell
went into the yard of one of the trailers
and
Mama just moved to the side to watch.

A car starts to come by and the man says,
YES,
A LADY IS DRIVING AROUND
LOOKING FOR A
Chihuahua.

So Mama stays with the little guy and a car
coming from the farm starts to enter the trailer park,
and this is where we meet Katie, who says
OH MY GOD,
YES, HE IS MINE,
I THOUGHT SOMEONE
PICKED HIM UP
AND
CARRIED HIM AWAY!

She opens her car door and in he jumps
STILL CHATTERING AND SHIVERING.
Then she tells Mama her story.

Katie's story
is the story of
ALL DOG OWNERS.
Katie takes care of her elderly mother who is ill.
On this day,
our Taco was being especially idgie.
When Katie let him out for his "business"
it was exactly at
that moment
that her mama needed to be taken care of.
When Katie realized  her little guy
was still outside not very long after,

HE HAD ALREADY DECIDED
TO GO FOR AN ADVENTURE.

SO OFF HE WENT,
DOWN THE HILL,
OUT OF THE TRAILER PARK
 UP A MAJOR HIGHWAY
AND UP THE ROAD
WHERE OUR MAMA FOUND HIM.

Really, all you can do in a situation like this is have gratitude.
Which you can see our Katie and  her little guy have for each other.
AND GUESS WHAT?
HIS NAME IS
TACO!

How funny is that.
Taco is part Chihuahua and part Dachshund, so
he is known as a
Chiwinie!
Ha, isn't that funny.
I think doxies are related to EVERYBODY!

EVERYONE WAS SO HAPPY
FOR TACO'S HAPPY ENDING,
THAT REALLY,
WE COULD JUST CRY.

Thank you everyone for your contribution to this story!
DON'T WE JUST LOVE HAPPY ENDINGS.

                   Here is 56 seconds of BENTLEY FUN!!                Thanks for joining us. Dharma Hugs. Dharma Dharma