ONE UPON A TIME ON A GYM PARKING LOT, WEATHERDOG STELLA FOUND HER HOME...

As if 2020 hasn’t had enough challenges, there was that darned Hurricane Laura that blasted its way into Texas and Louisiana back in late August —feels like months ago unless you were living there, I’m betting.
How — you may ask — can readlarrypowell.com connect a hurricane with our long-running weekend feature Let Sleeping Dogs Lie & Napping Cats Nap? Read on.
That is Stella on the couch at my longtime pal Bobbie Malsch’s home in the Greater Shreveportroplex. Bobbie posted the photo on Facebook on the morning of August 27 with this note: “Our weather barometer says everything is fine."

And that’s how Stella got the spotlight for Let Sleeping Dogs Lie & Napping Cats Nap. If you’ve had a weather-sensitive dog, you know that crawling up on the couch and snoozing is the “all clear” signal.
How’d Bobbie get this baby? Happened about a decade ago. “She’s a rescue who wandered up to my gym. I took her home to keep until we found her owners. LOL! Famous last words!”

Bobbie says, “My husband tells everyone that my idea of a stray is, “The gate’s not locked.”

That’s the hubby, Jim, and Stella doing a little nose-nuzzling at the end of the couch. Weather was clear, so Stella felt comfortable standing up to say ‘hey’ in a happy dog way.

Bobbie has a history of being knee-deep or even deeper in rescue work. [LARRY ASIDE: You veteran rescuers know how that happens. One day it’s one dog; the next day it’s two dogs and a litter of kittens…etc.]
Bobbie’s a longtime volunteer with the Humane Society of Northwest Louisiana (HSNWLA) in Shreveport.

Hence, she writes, “We’re also lucky to have Pixie and Marty who came in to HSNWLA as owner-surrenders. Needless to say they’re our children whom we love and adore.”

Stella’s a Lab mix, about 12 years old; Pixie is the 8-year-old Shih Tzu; and Marty is the 2-year-old Chihuahua mix.

Bobbie, like most rescuers, drops in a loving advertise- ment for the favorite non-profit, HSNWLA. Not sure how they pronounce it in northern Louisiana. (I’m just kidding!), Bobbie explains, “It’s a non-profit 501c3, a no-kill rescue established 28 years ago. They operate solely on donations and volunteers and find carefully screened, loving homes for more than 350 dogs a year.”
And the big heart of Bobbie and Jim is how Stella came to be the household barometer signaling when stormy weather is over — she just flops down on the “All Clear Couch.” It may be her favorite couch.

[DEAR READERS, please send photos of your slumbering household critters to dallrp@aol.com and we’ll spotlight them in our long-running weekend feature, Let Sleeping Dogs Lie & Napping Cats Nap. We’re proud to show them off and let you praise them and tell their stories. Remember, you may be helping someone decide to open their home to a dog or cat who needs a break. And, for sure, you’ll be inspiring insomniacs to believe that we, too, can get some sleep if we can just get a dog’s all-clear on the stormy weather! Oh, and yes, that's my personal editor The Senator -- he has just read one of my epic poems about my career in newspapers and he could not stifle the mighty MGM Lion-like yawn. The one that sent him over the edge is titled "Beat the Deadline Before the Deadline Beats You." Romance, breaking news and suddenly running out of hot coffee and learning that the java-fetching copy clerk has vanished, possibly the victim of space aliens. It may have actually happened. Anyway, those are the themes-- all pre-computer newsroom era except for romance, oh, and breaking news. As I recall.]
— Offer sage advice or iffy opinions by clicking on ‘comments’ below or by emailing dallrp@aol.com. —-