Early Saturday afternoon, my wife called me, excitedly saying “You’ve got to come over, I have a surprise!” So I dropped what I was doing and headed across town to see what it might be.
When I got there, my wife was nowhere to be seen. What?! I went and asked her mom, “Where is she?” to which she replied, “Oh, she just went out for a few minutes, she should be back shortly.” Well, okay. I went to pet Leelu, and to busy myself in the kitchen while I waited.
Soon she arrived, and said “Let’s go!” “Surprise?” “You’ll see.” So off we went, driving away in Scotty the Highlander. And we drove and drove, headed East on I-40, past Edgewood’s Pizza Barn, and on to Moriarty. What could we be doing here? Geocaching? Some cool new cemetery cache from Nodderbug?
No, it wasn’t those things. NMFireHorse kept giving me clues, like calling the lady we went to meet, so I began to suspect what it might be. “We’re looking for the park by the water tower.” What? “We’re meeting someone here, look for a white Escape.” Oh, okay…there it is.
I had pretty much given up on another ACD, at least for a long time yet to come. After Bronco’s death, we had tried with other Heelers. Gypsy the blind girl was wonderful, but soon developed cancer. We barely had six weeks with her. Then I heard of a owner surrender in Colorado, and drove up there to pick up Danny. He was a great dog but turned out to be a biter, and after a few months did an unexpected number on my elderly mom’s arm. So, I had to take him back. Eventually he had to be euthanized. :(( None of them lived past seven.
What could it be, but two baby ACD/Red Heeler (RH) girls with their mom and human! “You can pick which one you want.” WooHoo! The mom was a super sweet RH/hound mix; one girl was almost solid auburn, with a white star on her chest and neck, and the other girl was Bonnie, a red speckled girl with a big rump patch that reminded me of Bronco. It was a tough decision, but the cold wind accelerated the process.
Since we were already in Moriarty, we had to stop and stock up on Too Cool ginger ale for NMFireHorse and Imperial Stout at the local alien outlet… .
When we got back out, libations in hand, what should we see but a clever pup who climbed up on the dash to keep an eye out for us…
I have to admit to having had a bit of trepidation on the way home with her, considering how tenuously Jimi and Danny had gotten along. I needn’t have been concerned, though. While Jimi is not very enthusiastic over having to share my attention with Bonnie, they are getting along remarkably well after having a good mutual sniff upon Bonnie’s arrival.
It is really funny watching them gambol about, chasing each other. I have yet to get any decent photos or videos of them at it; they speed through my frame at such a rate… .
I did however take Bonnie out to a local park for her first geocaching experience, and got some portraits of her. Here are a few of the more popular and awarded ones that I posted to Flickr:
Brian Christian 
She is adorable!
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