Patriot Paws to pets to petrol...

It was one of those enjoyable weekends. The Dallas Cowboys won, we saw not one but two movies and we got to participate in the Patriot Paws Dog Walk in the Park in Rockwall.

And, it wasn't so hot that your eyelashes curl back and your ears begin to droop like wilted plants. And, at Harry Myers Park in Rockwall, there was a coolish breeze blowing in across the big pond as we helped judge events at the Patriot Paws thing.

That's some of the well-behaved crowd nodding hello on the sidewalk in the park.

We're going to go through that before we get to our potpourri of assembled items.

SERVICE DOGS, FUN DOGS, FAKE DOGS: Now, at the heart of this event in Rockwall is the organization Patriot Paws Service Dogs -- it's a non-profit organization that trains dogs to help disabled veterans.

Here's an example. My funspouse Martha and I and a youngster from Lone Oak named Bailey are judging the pet trick contests. And among the constants is a young woman in a wheelchair, a schoolteacher from Weatherford named Kristen Daniels, who is demonstrating several things her service dog Luke can do. (That's Luke lounging next to her in the photo.)

If she drops stuff, which she says she often does, Luke will pick it up and hand it to her. She threw her keys on the ground. Luke picked them up and handed them to her.

Then she threw some cash on the ground and Luke picked up the currency and handed it to her. Someone among the judges wisecracked that he ought to try to bribe the judges. And, sure enough, she through cash on the ground and told Luke to take it to the judges and the rascal dropped the dollar on the table in front of us and smiled. Luke got a prize.

Now as you can see from these photos there were lots of people and lots of dogs. All kinds.

There's the tall man with the short dog and in the background, that's the country singing group Lantana entertaining the crowd.

There was Red Ruff, the canine mascot of PETCO, one of the event sponsors. You can see that little girl looking up admiringly at him.

Santa was there -- that's the right jolly ol' elf and some folks trying to persuade a dog that it's OK to have your photo taken with a guy dressed so oddly in a public park.

Oh, and there were bulldogs. One was dressed as a pig and actually snorted like one, one bulldog wore a poodle skirt -- they seemed comfortable in their attire. But this third bulldog was wearing a string bikini -- she didn't seem comfortable at all. However, a fashion photo is a fashion photo.

One of the visitors at the event is that big fluffy mostly white fluffy dog. At first glance I thought Maisa was a Great Pry, but nope. Her momma was an Australian Shepherd and her daddy was a wolf. She has feet the size of hubcaps and big tufts of hair grow from between the toes. But she's an older girl now, very patient with strangers and gentle. And her coat is as soft  as a lamb's.

You just never know what you'll see at an animal event.

The early portion of the event was emceed by Rockwall Mayor Bill Cecil, then PETCO regional executive and quick quipper Terri Stringer took over to emceed the dog contests -- costume, best trick, hot dog race and doggie bulldozer (that's where you try to get your dogs to knock over as many 2 litre bottles as you can -- they try to be nice, so it's kind of a challenge).

The hot dog race -- in the photos, that's the folks all contorted while trying to persuade their dogs to pick up a weenie off the ground -- was a hoot. Few hot dogs made it to the finish line. Leezel, a little weenie dog, filled up on hot dogs. Oddly, some dogs had to be encouraged to eat the hot dog -- that wouldn't happen at our house. I just typed "hot dog" and two of  'em just sat up out of a nap on the couch and barked "yes."

U.S. Rep. Ralph Hall of Rockwall stopped by to congratulate Patriot Paws on the good work it does helping veterans. Someone donated a big check to the cause. People applauded and marveled..

And Lori Stevens, the founder of Patriot Paws, must surely have felt the warmth from the appreciative crowd, particularly the veterans who have dogs she's trained. These dogs become partners in life's little efforts -- picking up dropped items, helping to do such simple things as removing socks, You can see the whole list of things they do and you can read about Patriot Paws' work by clicking HERE and going to the organization's website.

Just one more thing: The bulk of the dogs that Lori trains to help these veterans -- they're not store-bought. They come from local shelters. That's right. Rescued dogs helping veterans.

For example, that odd looking fellow with the long ears and the bright eyes is West, a service dog. You can play guess-the-breed with him all day long and there won't be a winner. Nobody knows. He's a rescue from the Rowlett Animal Shelter and, as you may suspect, the rescues don't usually travel with their papers and family trees.

But he is friendly, he's smart and he's on a mission.

LOCAL SHELTERS: One word: "Full." That's the impression you get by monitoring my e-mail. From Carrollton to White Settlement to Irving to any place that has a paved road leading to it and some that don't.

Here are some assorted critters and their shelters.

There's Maui, a cream-colored domestic long hair in the Irving Animal Shelter, 100 N. Briery Road, just east of the Belt Line-Rock Island Line intersection south of 183 in Irving. (Call 972-721-2256.).

Maui, in addition to being in a place full of cats, also is enjoying the company of two rabbits -- no names for them, just numbers. There's a white one and there's a black-and white one. Both are available for adoption.  Be sure you know what you're doing before you adopt a rabbit. You can find that out by going to the North Texas Rabbit Sanctuary website here www.ntrs.org. or go to the House Rabbit Society HERE.

In the meantime, Carrollton Animal Services has a load of available animals, including this very handsome adult male Lab mix named Brownie. That's Brownie in his cage at the shelter. (Click HERE to read all about the shelter and how to get to it. Call 972-466-3420.)

And in White Settlement, nuzzling up to the northwest side of Fort Worth, the city shelter is teeming with animals. (Click here for directions, other info.)

Among the animals at White Settlement is Macintosh, a male Lynx Point Siamese, they say. He's described as a "one of the most beautiful big loveable kitties we've seen. Can be held like a baby. He's a huge cat and 'calendar gorgeous'."

He had a seizure in the animal services truck the day he arrived -- possibly from being "overstressed." but he's had no problems since.

Keep in mind, all of these animals are in city shelters -- that means they are at peril. If no one adopts them, they aren't kept alive. They have to be killed to make room for the next load of unwanted dogs and cats.

That's just the way it works until humans wise up and stop trying to solve animal problems in the traditional Texas method: "Let's kill it."

RIGLEY STILL NEEDS A HOME: Yep, this 6-month-old totally cute Sheltie mix, Rigley, still needs a home. We mentioned him before -- he's being fostered in Corsicana. You may recall he was the surviving pup from an episode when a few puppies got into a fellow's chicken yard and the guy shot all of the puppies to death except Rigley. Isn't that lovely?

Anne Burgess, who told us the story and who is fostering Rigley, says the little guy (23 pounds, probably 35 when grown), is "very intelligent and quick to learn. I've been working with him on obedience and he learns very fast." He also likes to hang out with people. He's good with other dogs and cats, too.

To ask about auditioning to adopt Rigley, call 903-654-0227 or e-mail lilypoo@airmail.net.

TRAVELING: Holy smoke, hand me the oxygen.  How about those gasoline prices. I saw a Texaco station over the weekend at I-30 and Sylvan in Dallas pricing regular at $3.07 a gallon. Took my breath away.

If you're going over the river and through the woods to grandmother's house for Thanksgiving, you'll need to take out a loan to buy gas.

(To people educated after the 1960s: That "over the river" line is a reference to a poem. I don't know if they still teach it in elementary school -- but you can Google it and find the words.)

You'd think gasoline companies, in the interest of bringing families together and supporting the American family values, would create a "holiday discount" from mid-November until after the Super Bowl. Talk about good publicity and warm feelings...well, maybe gasoline runs cold through the corporate heart..

I remember Texaco's old jingle: "You can trust your car to the man who wears the Star, the big, bright Texaco starrrrr." And, of course, nowadays, there is no man who wears the star as "service station attendants" have been replaced by self-service. So I don't know whom to trust.

Wait, I take that back. If my research is correct and Wikipedia holds up, you don't have to pump your own gas in Oregon and New Jersey. But that's because those states think civilians are dangerous pumpers.
I will say this, the only time I ever saw anybody arrested at a filling station was during the gasoline crises of the 1970s. A nice, sweet grandmotherly type lady got into an argument with another customer and an attendant when her pump shut off prematurely and the filling station wouldn't let her get her proper allotment of fuel.

They called the cops on angry Granny. Good times. Good times.