Adventures with Spike | by Linda Brendle

Earlier this summer, I wrote about our adventures while house sitting for the Larsons. They have a beautiful home, a few cows, and a Great Pyrenees fur baby named Spike who doesn’t like to be left home alone. When the Larsons recently hit the road, we took up temporary residence again. As any parent knows, children are on their best behavior the first time they meet new people, but once they are comfortable, they tend to show off a bit. Dogs are apparently no exception, and Spike provided lots of writing material this time.

He was really easy to care for. He has a 65-acre yard, so there was no walking involved, and as long as there was a bowl of food and a bucket of fresh water on the patio, he was a happy dog. There were a few restrictions, though. When we left, we tethered him on a twenty-foot lead that allowed him access to both the covered patio and plenty of grass in case of potty emergencies. This arrangement also ensured that he wouldn’t follow us down the driveway and out the gate. The problem came when he didn’t want to be tethered.

The Truck Stop Crawl | by Linda Brendle

Parenting is never easy, especially on the road. When the objects of said parenting are not cute little rug rats but rather sweet octogenarians with Alzheimer’s, traveling can be even more challenging.

“I have to go NOW!” Dad said on a trip from Tampa to Dallas.

The Church Kitchen | by Linda Brendle

The SISTAs group held its monthly meeting Sunday evening, and as frequently happens, the meeting took place in and around the church kitchen. SISTAs, or Sisters in Spirit and Truth Always, is the name of the women’s ministry group at Believers’ Baptist, and a lot of our ministry projects involve food in some way.

Fat and Happy | by Linda Brendle

When I wrote this Sunday night, I had just returned from four days at the F & H Goat Ranch, so named because of the fat and happy goats that populate the front pasture of the five-acre spread about twenty miles north of Kerrville. The owner, Julee White, retired from the Dallas rat race and social scene fifteen years ago so she could move closer to family and devote herself, in part, to making the dreams of her two nephews come true. When those dreams included goats for an FFA project, Aunt Julee provided both the goats and living space for them. I don’t think the project was very successful, but the goats didn’t mind. They stayed on at the ranch, invited some friends, and became – well – fat and happy.