On Wednesday, it looks like rain.
But this is North Texas. So, it also looks like it might not rain.
Now, the rest of our report:
A GATHERING OF DANES: The organizers of the Seventh Annual DaneFest expect more than a hundred Great Danes to show up for Saturday's event.
More than a hundred Great Danes -- folks, that is a lot of dog.
We're partial to Great Danes at Readlarrypowell.com. Our granddogs are Danes -- the handsome Frog and Henry, Danes of our daughter-in-law Andrea Powell. They also, apparently, like our son, Bret.
So, here are the details on the Danefest: 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday at Dogs Unleashed, 2740 Keller Hicks Road in Keller. Admission is $10 a person or $30 for families of three or more.
Proceeds from the fundraiser go to cover vet bills and other needs of rescued Great Danes. You can see some of them at the rescue group's website HERE.
That young puppy in the photo with a smattering of bluebonnets? That's a little Dane named Hannah -- she came from the rescue website and I picked her because our oldest grandkid's name is Hannah. Yes, silly grandfather reason.
That big dog in the photo with the bluebonnets? That's our dog, Hambone Jack, the Great Dane/Lab mix who thinks sitting for a photo in a field of bluebonnets is an event that tries the patience of a dog who wants to stop and smell all the flowers.
A DOG WHO NEEDS HELP: Yesterday we mentioned that several animals were on death row at the Carrollton Animal Services shelter and that they needed immediate help -- people stepped up and saved six of seven, reports Nancy Underwood of Paws In The City.
Left behind so far is this personality-plus Lab named Lateshift.
It is true that the world has more big ol' black dawgs than shelters can hold.
But, good grief, look at the happiness on that dog's face. He's just elated to have someone with a camera paying attention to him.
You know, rescuers, it would be just swell if someone OUTSIDE of the rescue community got a chance to look at Lateshift. Maybe someone knows someone who needs a dog without having to go through a rescue group. It is those "civilians" who must be reached if the load on rescue is ever to lighten and the budget for euthanasia is ever to shrink.
If someone wants to adopt Lateshift, they should get in touch with Joe Skenesky at 972-466-3420 or e-mail Joe.Skenesky@cityofcarrollton.com.
WHERE PUPPIES COME FROM: In this case, they come from somewhere near Grand Saline.
We got this letter from Marilyn Brown about a pretty severe dog problem -- the two-person rescue group (can two people be a group?) TAILS is struggling to help these animals.
A woman, thanks to health problems, being out of work and a philosophical difference in her marriage, has far more dogs and puppies than she can handle.
Marilyn says TAILS "has been covering the costs for the 22 puppies medical needs" and it has worked through the Kaufman County Animal Awareness Project to get 14 of the woman's 26 adult dogs spayed or neutered.
So, the goal is to place these dogs, thus saving them from death in a shelter. And by placing them, it also takes some pressure off the woman who was trying to help them and met with too many obstacles.
The photos are of a couple of the puppies who are in this crowd of dogs on the edge of disaster.
To get in touch with Marilyn, e-mail TAILSWAGNTX@aol.com or call 903-292-8897 (cell), 903-962-6114 (home) or toll free 888-211-7334. Visit www.tailswag.petfinder.com to see more of these pups.
OUR OLD FRIEND LENNIE: On April 17 we told the story of Lennie, the Newfoundland mix that Jackie Reynolds of Longview had adopted. Jackie had decided it wasn't a good fit and was trying to help Lennie find a home in the area.
Now, however, with no takers, Lennie has been returned to the Houston city shelter, BARC (Bureau of Animal Regulation and Care).
Jackie says her Great Pyr's aggression "kept escalating. I couldn't keep both dogs in the house any longer. He is back there now and on borrowed time. I'm still actively looking for a rescue group or home that could take him."
And, on Friday, Jackie was laid off from her job (after 10 years, she says), so her new e-mail is jackie.reynolds@sbcglobal.net or you can call her at 903-746-6507 about saving Lennie, the big sweet dog.
ASSORTED NOTES: A number of mixed breed dogs are on death row at the City of Ferris Animal Control Shelter, reports our tipster Deborah Trevino. That shelter doesn't have a vibrant adoption program, she says, so it's up to just plain folks to get the word out about the small terrier mix, the white husky mix, the shepherd pups, and the "black and gray speckled pup with some brown." Yep, dogs. Just plain ol' loveable dogs. To see about adopting or rescuing these animals, call Shanna at the Shelter, 972-922-5978. ... Yesterday, a JP Court in Lindale awarded custody of 14 rescued dogs to the SPCA of Texas. The SPCA, working with the Smith County Pct. 5 Constable, confiscated the dogs on April 11 from an "extraordinarily filthy, small trailer" in Lindale on I-20 east of Dallas. ... Twelve big dogs, two small dogs -- all in need of some form of medical care. To help finance such rescue activities or to see about adopting a rescued animal, go to the SPCA website HERE.
NEEDING A FLIGHT: Krista McAnally of the Humane Society of Cedar Creek Lake reports that this 
dog Loralei, " a female black Lab with a litter of 8, who is also heartworm positive, has been accepted into a rescue in California."
So, facing all that, she also faces the expense of a flight to the Golden State.
The rescue group has agreed to treat Loralei for heartworms, Krista says, but "they have asked that we raise the $400 for her flight. Her pups will be weaned in about a week and she will be ready to go."
Loralei also needs a big traveling crate -- that'll be a donation, not a loaner.
To help, you can donate through PayPal on the Humane Society's website at www.hsccl.org or drop cash and checks off with Krista at the society's shelter in Tool. Or, call Krista at 903-432-3422 and she'll make arrangements to get the donations.
CONTEMPLATIONS: We saw Forgetting Sarah Marshall -- still don't know how the male star's full frontal nudity was necessary to the plot. Wasn't that funny. Or that dramatic. And there's not an Oscar for that category, whatever that category might be. ... Are the Dallas Mavericks doomed already? Geez, they're getting kicked around like they were the Texas Rangers. ... You'd think gas stations would put out free tissues at the pumps so we could wipe our tears while we filled our tanks.
