Hoover: The Rescue Dog Who Rescued My Family

“Dogs are always good and full of selfless love. They are undiluted vessels of joy who never, ever deserve anything bad that happens to them.” – Steven Rowley

   

Before I start telling you all about Hoover, I wanted to thank you for all of your incredibly kind comments on my Facebook page and this blog (still trying to comment on them all) and your very generous donations to our GoFundMe page. Wow, I am overwhelmed by gratitude for you guys!  It has been so therapeutic to read all of your comments, thank you. And also thank you for your thoughts and prayer for my family. It has been a rough start of the new year, but things are starting to look up and we are counting our blessings, not our troubles.

Isaac has started physical therapy and he has graduated from his crutches to his cane (we call him Mr. Peanut) and now he can walk unassisted! It will be a year or two before he is 100% recovered, but already he is healing well. His physical therapy has been a godsend, and thanks to our GoFundMe account it is all paid for, in addition to helping pay for our replacement (and extra safe) car. Thank you so much!!!

If you read my last post, you know that our beloved fur baby Piper was killed by a drunk driver who totaled our car. We are heartbroken as Piper was a member of our family, constant companion, and we loved him so much. We rescued him when he was 6 weeks old and he was only 6 years old when he was killed. What wonderful adventures we had with him over the years 

While grieving for the loss of Paul's sister and dealing with the damage inflicted on our kids, we also had a huge hole in our lives without Piper. One evening, just a day or two after Isaac returned from the hospital, Luke and I were sitting on the couch talking about Piper. His bark collar was still sitting on the table where we last placed it as I wasn't able to put any of his things away yet. As we were getting up, it beeped one time. It has never done this before, and it was fully charged and on, so Luke and I decided that Piper was letting us know he was OK. 

There is plenty of room in heaven for fur babies.

We heard phantom barks, knocks on the back door, his little toe nails tapping on the floors. I would cut up a cucumber and look for Piper so I could give him a slice. I would glance outside the door to see if he was ready to come in. I would grab his leash when I headed out for a walk. 

I had so much on my plate, physically and mentally. My family and I were overwhelmed with grief and we were in the middle of a forced kitchen and bath renovation so it was bad timing to get a new fur baby. 

My mother had recently rescued a dog with our help, so I was still on all of the local rescue sites on Facebook. I would have a daily reminder of sweet dogs who needed good homes, but I tried to stay strong. But it was just too quiet without Piper.

One day I saw a photo of a cute small black lab mix female that needed a home at FMCTAS. I thought I could just see if she was adopted, just in case. Lucy had found a loving home, but Sandra of FMCTAS told me she had another black lab mix (a male) that was available for adoption. She had rescued his black lab mom 2 years ago and he was one of ten puppies. He was adopted right away, but unfortunately his family had personal reasons come up where they had to re-home him. They hated to do it since he was a family dog and had two human toddler siblings. But they really didn't have a choice.

Poor Donut (his name at the time) was back with his foster mom and had horrible separation anxiety. He was heartbroken since he lost his family of almost two years and he was scared to trust again. After I heard his story I had to bring the kids and my mom to go check him out. As Sandra had predicted, he was a little scared of us at first, but after a few sniffs he became our best friend. I took one night to sleep on it, and we returned with Paul the next day to take him home on a trial basis.

I wanted to mention that Sandra of FMCTAS is wonderful and really directed us to the dog that was a perfect fit for our family. You can tell she has so much passion fostering dogs and cats, and she is amazing.

Paul fell in love with Donut instantly. He has never one that encouraged dogs to sleep on the furniture. Piper, who he adored, was only allowed to cuddle with me on the couch. And Piper slept on his doggy bed every night like the good boy he was.

But Paul worried that Bob Hoover (Paul decided on his name BEFORE I brought him home), was stressed and thought it important that he be treated with extra special care the first days we had him. So he was invited to cuddle with Paul on Paul's leather recliner couch.

And my couch. With Paul.

On our bed. With the family.

Paul couldn't very well drink coffee and have Hoover on the floor.

And Paul made sure Hoover had his own little pillow to rest his weary head.This dog loves to sleep.

Hoover was an angel and we all fell in love with him. You would think with everything that had happened to us that month, we were maxed out on horrible situations. I was on edge as it was, trying to conquer my fear of driving the boys around and dealing with Isaac's broken leg and our family's emotional health.

But Feb. 2021 was not yet over.

We have a big balcony off our bedroom that Piper loved to hang out on. Hoover liked to follow me everywhere, so when I went to go brush my teeth one morning I let him go sit on the balcony while I was in the bathroom. 

When I came out I couldn't find him anywhere. Then some movement caught my eye and I saw that Hoover had squeezed between the balcony railings and managed to jump down to the garage roof. He was at the edge of the roof, looking down at the pavement below. I thought I was going to have a heart attack. Literally.

My heart started racing and I rushed over and called him to come to me so I could pull him back up. He was having fun and running around the roof without a care in the world. My heart dropped and I realized that I was going to lose another dog, weeks after I lost Piper. He was going to fall to his death and there was nothing I could do about it.

I ran inside screaming to Paul to come immediantly.

Paul was terrified that something horrible had happened and couldn't find me on the second floor, but finally heard me outside on the balcony. When he ran out Hoover was sitting on the peak of the roof of the garage, enjoying the view. Paul calmly called him and was able to pull him back up on the balcony. Hoover was saved! 

I had to take two Triple Calm magnesium pills and one lavender pill as I had a complete panic attack. We almost lost our new fur baby and we hadn't even adopted him formally yet. Thank God he was OK! And obviously he will never be allowed on the balcony again.  I felt like the worst dog mom ever, so I added a dash of guilt to my grief.

After that we realized that Hoover was our baby. So we formally made Hoover a permanent member of our family. And we celebrated with a walk around the neighborhood.

And a walk around the Greenbelt.

We showed him off to our friends and he was a perfect gentleman.

And he made an instant fur friend for life with my parent's rescue dog Luna. 

This 2 year old mutt with a heart of gold is helping us cope with life right now. He loves people, dogs and ignores cats. Walks on the leash perfectly. Hardly barks. Sleeps like a baby but snores like a big guy. Takes food from your fingers with such a gently touch, and has zero food/toy aggression. He wants to be with us 24/7 but will hang out in the house for a while if he can't come out with us. Hoover loves riding in the car and going on adventures, but is just as happy cuddled by his family on the couch or bed. He is pretty low energy but will play when prompted. We can bring him outside in the front yard and he stays close and doesn't wonder off. He has no interest in chasing cars, and loves kids. 

We have had workers coming in and out of the house since we have had him and he is doing great. So proud of him since many rescues wouldn't be able to handle so many strangers, loud noises, and strange smells. 

Yes, he is perfect for our family. We love him.

But I did find something he doesn't like. My big camera! I took it out to take some photos of him and  he started barking at it! I had to put it down and let him sniff it, but he is still suspicious. Funny since he is a big poser when it comes to my iPhone camera. Maybe he just does't like Canons.

So this is the story of Hoover. The dog who saved us.

“Dogs come into our lives to teach us about love, they depart to teach us about loss. A new dog never replaces an old dog. It merely expands the heart.”―Author Unknown

Do you want to download my favorite CoffeeShop PSE/Photoshop Actions and Lightroom Presets or Design Elements in one convenient zipped file AND help support this blog? Just click here for my action pack or here for all the actions/presets and professional design elements, storyboards, and textures.

Tragedy, Blessings, and Hope: 2021 Has Forever Changed Our Family

 

"Rabbit, Rabbit".

I haven't been up to writing this post until today, but I wanted to share what has been going on the last weeks with me and my family. This is difficult to write and I couldn't help but cry as I was going through these photos, but I have to share what can happen to the victims of a drunk driver. 

A man decided to get drunk, got in his car, and hurt my family.

On February 3, 2021, the boys and I brought our dog Piper over to my parent's house to meet their new rescue dog Luna. Our dogs got along wonderfully and we had a long walk and a great visit. Luke, who is 16 and has a driver's learner's permit, was driving us home. Our house is only 4 miles away from my parent's house. I was in the front passenger seat, Isaac was in the back seat behind his brother, and Piper was in the back of our small SUV.

It was a clear day and we were almost home, stopped at a stop sign. We had to make a left on a normally very busy road.

Directly in front of us was a telephone pole, and slightly to the right was a huge concrete drainage cover. 

We were waiting to turn, the traffic on this small 2-lane road is always very busy. But suddenly the road cleared both ways and I remember telling Luke that it was a miracle that during 4:30 in the afternoon during a weekday it was all clear for an easy left turn. 

Suddenly our car was flying through the intersection incredibly fast and I heard Piper and Isaac screaming. I turned toward Luke and he had this horrified look on his face and was trying to keep the car on the road. We flew over both lanes, over a muddy ditch, and then slammed on the other side on an embankment. Our airbags did not deploy.

When we stopped moving my first thought was that Luke had wrecked the car and I couldn't figure out why he had accelerated so quickly. I couldn't hear anything as I was in shock, looked over at the boys and they were alive, so my first thought (insane) was to get out of the car and check the damage. 

I opened my door, tried to step out, and my right leg collapsed and I fell on my face in the mud. I was in shock and looked at all of the cars lined up on the road and I worried that those people in their cars were laughing at me because I was so clumsy. 

I got up, in pain, and looked at the back of my car, which was gone as it was completely smashed in. Suddenly I realized that this was not just Luke going too fast and having a fender bender. I looked where the back of my car used to be and Piper, my sweet pup, was crushed in the back, alive but bloody. He wasn't crying anymore, just looking at me and panting. He was also in shock and I rubbed his head once and started screaming for help.

Then I heard screams behind me and I realized that my children were hurt. I pulled myself to the front seat and found that Isaac's legs were crushed between the front and back seats and he was screaming in pain. He had blood around his mouth and I first thought he was internally bleeding, but later I found out that he had just bit his inside lip. I asked him if he was OK and he screamed "my leg is broken, my leg is broken". 

The front seat had broken and was lying on Isaac's leg and Luke was confused and in shock just sitting there. I asked Luke to try to help me get the seat off Isaac's leg but we couldn't shift anything. Meanwhile, Luke was completely out of it and kept on asking me what had happened, over and over again. I have never been so terrified in my life.

I realized I needed to call for help but my phone was somewhere under my seat. Thankfully some good samaritans had called 9-11 and within minutes the firetrucks showed up. The paramedics told me that Isaac's leg was broken, and they were going to have to use the jaws of life to cut him out of the car. They gave Isaac some pain meds. They asked my permission and I remember saying "yes, please", and that I "trusted their judgment 100%". Anything to stop my baby from being in agony. Luke and I had to get out of the car so they could cut Isaac out. 

That was when I noticed the big pickup truck that hit us was not too far from us, also on the embankment. Until this moment I had not realized that we had been rear ended and that there was another car involved.

Our car went to the left of the telephone pool and his car went to the right side of the concrete drainage cover. Neither one of us crashed into anything on the other side of the road.

I finally found my phone and tried to call my husband Paul, but he was seeing a patient and didn't pick up. I called the front desk and apparently was pretty incoherent because Paul raced from work not knowing if we were all alive. He said he had never driven with so much fear in his life. The cars were backed up around the wreck and he was driving around them when a police officer tried to stop him. He told him "I am not stopping, that is my family in that car!" and he was escorted to us.

At this point I realized Luke had a bad concussion, he was wondering around asking over and over again "What happened, is everyone ok, was it my fault, who was driving, where were we going, where were we leaving, is Piper ok, etc." It was nonstop, I would answer a question, he would say "ok", and then ask it again. I was frantic, convinced that he had a brain bleed, so I was running around asking for help. A paramedic looked him over and said he was ok, he was walking around and not high risk, and that Isaac was their first priority right then. 

I then asked about Piper, if they would try to get him out of the car too, and they said "Ma'am, we will take care of him, but your boys are our first priority right now". I felt like the worst mom for even asking about my dog when both my kids were so hurt, but at the same time devastated because Piper was a member of our family and we loved him so much and I couldn't get his panting, scared face out of my mind. 

I sat with Luke and Paul (who finally got there), crying and crying while they were cutting Isaac out of the car and loading him in the ambulance. Then I saw that they had cut Piper out of the back of the car. They pulled him out and he apparently had a broken back, because he was on the ground flopping around, trying to get up. It was horrifying, everything that was happening was horrifying. Then a Fire Marshall (later I found out he is a friend of my father) walked up with a shot gun and told me that they were going to have to use it on Piper. I completely understood, but asked if I could say goodbye. He told me it was better that I didn't and I know now he was right.

Paul told me that he heard the shots and looked over at me, but I was in so much shock over everything I didn't even hear them. I have no idea what happened to his body and I hate that I didn't get to say goodbye. Piper was a joy and he didn't deserve to die that way.

Luke and I went in one ambulance and Isaac in his own and Paul met us at the ER. Luke and I were checked out and I had deep tissue bruising and some shoulder/back pain and Luke had a bad concussion. Since there was so much intrusion in the vehicle they had to do CAT scans and X-rays on all of us. Luke and I were released that evening.

Isaac had a concussion and his femur was broken and dislocated. They had to put his leg in traction and brought him to the Houston Medical Center Children's hospital for surgery. They inserted a metal rod from his hip down to just above the knee. Paul went with him and stayed by his side 24 hours a day until he was released. I was home with Luke.

This was the before and after X-ray of Isaac's leg. I am so thankful I didn't see the "before" until they had the "after" image. 

Isaac had surgery on the 4th and they taught him how to get up and down the stairs (all of our bedrooms are upstairs and our powder bath and kitchen are getting renovated so no bathroom downstairs) and to get around on crutches.

He did great. 

And then my broken baby boy was sent home!

My parents really helped me out and went to the car salvage yard to clean out our car. I couldn't do it. They even brought home my old Mexican blanket I bought on a border town with my family when I was 13. That blanket has been with me almost my entire life and stays in every car I own.

They also found my little guardian angel pin that came with my car. I bought the car used from a little old lady (true story) and I asked her if she wanted it back. She said no, it would keep me safe. 

Now that pin is in my new car. I know God kept us safe, but that pin is staying in my car!

Both boys, to this day, have zero memory of the wreck. Luke remembers sitting at the stop sign, but nothing else until that night when we got home. Isaac can't remember anything that happened most of that day. He was really drugged up initially because his leg was incredibly painful. Paul sat there and cried with him. No father wants to see his 13-year-old son scream as his leg falls over to the side but his foot stays sticking up. 

We had a major a/c leak under our wood floors back in Oct/Nov and are in the middle of a major forced renovation. We have no kitchen/bath/running water on the first floor, and the rest of the first floor looks like an episode of "Hoarders". 

Funny, I thought this "Renovation of Hell" was one of the more stressful things I had gone through. That was before Feb. 2021 hit us.

But I had both of my boys home and we were all alive and would heal.  I was still crying all of the time, thinking about what my boys were going through and that Piper was dead. But as the days passed I started feeling a little less grief and felt blessed that we were all alive. And more and more anger toward the drunk driver that hit us.

We looked him up and he had 2 previous DWI's in the last 13 months, this was his third. He was so drunk that witnesses who had been passed by him on the road with the stop sign where we were hit said he was going 50-60 miles an hour and hit our car without braking. 

Our large bright red SUV with three neon yellow bumper stickers on the back asking people to "Please be Patient, Student Driver". 

There were no skid marks. No wonder I felt like we were flying.

How was the drunk? Well, he was peachy keen. So wasted (he completely failed the sobriety test) that they had to hold him up to "walk" him to the police car.  Paul said he was 10 feet away and could smell the alcohol on him. He is still in jail, apparently unable to pay his bond, and next month he goes to trial. They are charging him with Intoxicated Assault with Vehicle, Significant Bodily Injury. This should come with years of jail time and we hope we can make a statement.  For those people who say we are going to get rich from this accident, they are wrong. He is a 50-something unemployed couch-drunk who was wasted at 4:30 in the afternoon and living with a friend in an apartment just up the road. He isn't even on the lease. 

I told Luke next time he needs to get hit by a rich drunk. Maybe that joke was in bad taste, but you either laugh about it or you cry about it, and I am sick of crying.

This drunk had 2 DWI's in the last 13 months yet his car insurance sold him the minimum liability policy. At this point I don't know the extent of our medical costs, but it looks like it is going to be over a quarter of a million dollars. And Isaac might need additional surgeries and it will be a a year or two before a full recovery. And he has to have physical therapy. 

That drunk's insurance is paying out $60,000 total medical and $4000 for our car. We hope to find a Texas legislator willing to sponsor a bill that would raise the auto insurance liability minima for anyone with a previous DWI conviction, so if you know of any politicians willing to work with us, please let us know. 

So my active child has had to learn how slow down so he can heal. 

We were then hit by the Texas extreme arctic weather disaster. It was unbelievably cold and we lost power for 24 hours. It was 10 outside and 35 inside, except our bedroom (thanks to a generator which kept it a balmy 55). We had two teenage boys in our bed and 4 rats in the bedroom in their cage.

One pipe burst in the garage, but it didn't do much damage other than deprive us of water for a few days. 

Then more tragedy struck. Paul's sister Peggy, who has ALS, had her breathing assist machine's backup power fail when they lost power in Houston. She passed away, they weren't able to get to her soon enough. Her wonderful husband Leo was there with her, but no one else could be there with them because of all of the ice. Peggy was one of the most wonderful people I know. This was a horrible loss, and I blame the power grid/windmill failures in Texas for her death. Our family is heartbroken. Thankfully Leo and Peggy have two loving daughters, two grandkids, and all of the rest of the family to help Leo get through this dark time.

We don't get snow here in our part of Texas. Isaac has asked for years to go somewhere where there is snow because he wanted to play in it. So we finally had snow and we were going to get our kid out there in it. We were all so grief-ridden, and I needed to see a smile on my son's face. I had borrowed a wheelchair from my parents and we pushed Isaac around the subdivision through the snow and ice.  He loved it and even made a few snowballs. 

I can't tell you how much anger I felt toward that drunk because he deprived my son of having a rare snow ball fight with his family and friends. 

If I start counting our sorrows of 2021 the list becomes overwhelming. So we have decided to focus on the positives, as much as we can. That drunk has hurt us, but we aren't going to let him hurt us anymore.

We survived what could have been a deadly drunk driving wreck. It really was a miracle no one was on the road in front of us, stopped at the stop sign, or crossing the street. We would have been killed. Paul would have lost his entire family in one moment.

We are so blessed to be alive.

Isaac has started physical therapy and has graduated to a cane. We call him Mr Peanut.

Our house is still a mess, but things are getting done.

Both boys appear to be mostly recovered from their concussions, but it is doubtful they will ever remember the wreck. And maybe that is a good thing? I have physically healed, but sometimes am still haunted by the memory of seeing my kids and Piper, suffering, in the car after we were hit. I have cried myself out the last weeks. It is going to take us all time to heal emotionally. But we will get there.

Our friend and neighbor Maria even started a Go Fund Me for our family to pay for Isaac's physical therapy and help us on our new unexpected car payments. Our friends and family have been so generous with their kind words, food, time, and support. We are so blessed.

Life has been tough lately, but I have realized that even though horrible things happen, life goes on and things almost always get better.

And we have a new bright spot in our life! I will tell you all about Bob Hoover (in the photo above with our family) in our next post. 

If you made it this far, thank you so much for reading. And please, don't ever let your friends and family drink and drive. That is why I want to tell our story; if we can stop one drunk person from getting into a car and driving it is worth it.

CoffeeShop "Distressed Vintage" Fine Art Texture Set

Sorry I have been gone for a bit, it has been crazy here!

We are having a "forced" renovation due to a leak downstairs (in late October), so most of the downstairs including the kitchen and powder room are torn up/out. It has taken so long due to issues with a  previous contractor and insurance, but now we have a great contractor and everything is going much faster. I am optimistic it might be finished in 4-6 weeks and then I will post images.

I also have been busy working at The Graphics Fairy premium site, trying to catch up. I am a part-time tutorial writer/image editor there and I also help out with odds and ends and I LOVE it! Emily and Karen are so incredibly nice to work for and I absolutely love everything on their site. Please check them out if you want an amazing resource of gorgeous vintage images, editing tutorials, and handcraft tutorials.  They also have very generous terms of use if you are a designer. 

The boys are also at home being homeschooled, but they are at an age where they are very independent, so I don't have to spend that much time activity teaching them. I just give them their assignments and pop down occasionally to make sure they aren't distracted and playing with their pet rats or staring into space.

Today I wanted to post some vintage distressed textures I made a few weeks ago. These are so gorgeous and can be used to enhance your own images or even digital designs. I wrote an texture action that I will release soon, but if you do it by hand I like using these textures in Soft Light, Overlay, or Multiply blending modes. They are really so pretty.

Download them toward the bottom of this post. 

Images used in this post (owl, winter scene, yellow flowers).

Download the CoffeeShop "Distressed Vintage" Fine Art Texture Set.

Do you want to download my favorite CoffeeShop PSE/Photoshop Actions and Lightroom Presets or Design Elements in one convenient zipped file AND help support this blog? Just click here for my action pack or here for all the actions/presets and professional design elements, storyboards, and textures.

CoffeeShop "Cézanne B&W Painterly Effect" Photoshop/PSE Tutorial!

So, it is the last day of 2020 and it is pouring down rain and dismal. Seems fitting, right?

Tomorrow can't come too soon, but I am looking on the bright side and thinking about all of the valuable things I learned this Year of the Virus. I listed a few below.

For one, I won't ever again underestimate how important it is to be able to visit and hug loved ones. My mother-in-law is in a memory-care home and we haven't had face-to-face time or hugged her in almost a year. My kids and I volunteered in a nursing home once a month and I miss seeing their happy faces and giving them hugs. Talking to them. Seeing their expressions. And I have many friends and relatives with health struggles that put them in the high-risk category that I haven't seen in person for so long. 

Second, there are many things that I used to find annoying I miss so much. Like waiting in a long line. In the "old days" if you pulled yourself away from your phone you would spend that time chatting with strangers. I miss talking with random people when I am out in stores so much. I miss seeing faces. I miss seeing smiles. I hate standing in a little painted circle on the floor distanced from humanity.

Third, how much I miss festivals and crowds of rowdy happy people. Often I would skip my local festivals since I am what I consider an introvert with a touch of extrovert. I can enjoying being around lots of people for a short time (and will talk up a storm), but then I need to get back home to relax and recharge. Well, now I would give so much to go to a festival with hundreds/thousands of people enjoying themselves. 

I want to be surrounded by people, I want to have to struggle to get through a crowd. I want strangers pushing against me to buy a funnel cake. I want dogs on short leashes trying to nuzzle my hand as their owners pull them by. I want to see kids screaming with excitement as they wait, almost crushed, in long lines for the festival rides. I want to see drunk people spilling their beer as they laugh with friends, teenagers smooching while watching concerts, long lost friends walking by who grab you to catch up. 

So may 2021 bring back fearless hugs and kisses, pleasant conversations with strangers, and being able to be surrounded by people, lots and lots of people. May we look back at 2020 and not only feel sadness about a difficult year, but realize that it has taught us how important it is for us to have people in our lives, whether they are loved ones, friends, neighbors, acquaintances or strangers. May 2021 be the Year of Closeness!

I hope you have a wonderful day today and a happy New Year. Thank you for reading my blog, sharing my posts, leaving wonderful comments, and buying my action/design packs. I really appreciate you so much.

Today I am posting a tutorial on how I created a B&W bird image using my newest texture set. You can download the Cezanne texture used in this tutorial on that post.  I love this texture set, it is one of my favorite sets I have ever made! You can download the original bird photo here.

I wanted to show you that you aren't bound to the color or shape of a texture, you can change it however you want for each image.

Place the Cezanne 4 texture on top of the bird. I compressed it into a square shape.

Put the texture in Overlay blending mode and copy it once.

Pretty interesting colors, right? 

Add a Black to White Gradient Map layer on top to create a B&W image.

Add a Gold to Light Gold Gradient Map in Color blending mode to tint the B&W.

Notice all of the white blown-out areas on the background where you don't see the texture? There is an easy fix to add texture to those spots!

Add a Solid Color fill layer just above the bird layer. I used a gray, but you can also grab a color from the image. Put this layer in Normal blending mode and paint out the bird using a soft black low-medium opacity brush on the layer mask. I used a lower opacity brush on areas where I wanted to see more texture.

Note: To see where you have painted click the "\" key to see the red tint, recheck to remove it.

I am simply darkening the background by adding more color where needed. Then adjust the opacity of the layer to taste, I used 60%. Now the background looks solid and beautiful!

Hope you enjoyed this short little tutorial. And Happy New Year!

Do you want to download my favorite CoffeeShop PSE/Photoshop Actions and Lightroom Presets or Design Elements in one convenient zipped file AND help support this blog? Just click here for my action pack or here for all the actions/presets and professional design elements, storyboards, and textures.