Cowboy Dreams

A guest post by my truckbuddy Tim from England, now resident in Spain:

He’s So Fine

Prequel II – Cowboy Dreams

I wanna be the guy who wears the white hat
and rides across the plain

I'm gonna be your enigmatic stranger
Honey, you’re lookin' at your Shane

Cowboy dreams, cowboy dreams
You give me cowboy dreams

--Cowboy Dreams by Paddy McAllon

Remember a while back I wrote some self-revelatory stories under the title He’s So Fine. Part I went back to my adolescent crush Wayne and starred the sexy Steve McQueen . . .

. . . whilst Part 2 featured the gorgeous Cam Gigandet doubling as a more recent crush, my Spanish friend José.

Then I wrote a Prequel, which looked back to some of my earliest memories and childhood heroes. It featured Champion The Wonder Horse, Tales of Wells Fargo, and Flipper. You fellows seemed to like that prequel, so here is Prequel II, where we take a look at another three of my all-time childhood favourite TV shows. They cover my age from 3 to 19, and whilst there may not be too many self-revelations this time, I hope you’ll be entertained by the personal anecdotes, and perhaps rekindle some happy memories of your own.

It’s not by chance that Steve is wearing cowboy gear in the image above, for Prequel II is all about the Wild West and cowboys, those chaps in leather and especially requested by your Head Trucker. I’m not sure which is more beautiful, Steve or the scenery, but thanks to Mother Nature for both!

The fact that Cam is in a wetsuit will give you a clue to the content of Prequel III, which is currently on the drooling board, er, I mean drawing board!

Continued after the jump . . .

Le dîner de Mariele

For once, a truly funny video out of the barrage of just-thinking-of-you emails from distant relations:

You Can Help: Manny

Hey fellas, my truckbuddy Martin in Berlin, Germany, needs help paying the vet bills for his little dog who was savaged this week by a Rottweiler in a public park and nearly died.  Here's Martin's appeal from Indiegogo, and a video of Manny.

I'm Martin and Manny is my 13 year old Jack Russell terrier whom I rescued from the animal shelter in October 2011. Manny is the light of my life, and prior to having him, I never thought I could get this attached to another living thing. Manny is simply adorable, the cutest, sweetest, dog you can possibly imagine!

Last Monday evening, as I was walking him in a nearby park, Manny was viciously attacked by a Rottweiler. It was immediately clear that Manny was badly bitten as he bled heavily. It turned out, the owner of the Rottweiler had no dog insurance, even though it is mandatory in Berlin, nor did he assume any responsibility. Needless to say, I did call the police, but they could do little - so they claimed - as the dog owner stated that he had no money since he's living on welfare.

Taking Manny to the vet, Manny's wound was stitched and all seemed to fine, relatively speaking. The bill of 121 Euros was paid by me. A few days later, however, Manny's wound started to smell badly and he started limping. Taking him back to the vet, he unbelievably failed to diagnose the severe infection which was already well on its way destroying Manny from the inside.

Manny's condition went from bad to worse. Eventually, on Saturday night, I had little choice but taking him to the pet clinic as it was obvious that he was on his last legs - literally! Once at the pet clinic, he was put on a drip and it was made clear to me that his condition was, in fact, life-threatening. I was told that an operation was inevitable, starting with reopening the wound stitched by the vet a few days earlier. To do so, however, Manny had to be stabilised first and I was told that Manny had to spend the night at the clinic with the operation to follow the next day.

The next day, I received a phone call from the surgeon who explained that Manny could not be operated upon as his would will have to heal - and subsequently close - from the inside before any new stitching could be done, let alone any operation. For that, Manny has to stay at the clinic for a full 4 days, until I'll be allowed to take him home, though I will then have to take him back to the clinic as an out-patient for at least another week until his wound has fully healed and the infection has been contained.

I was told that entire bill, including the daily dressings of the wound once Manny's been discharged from the clinic, would come to well over 1,000 Euros, all depending on how swiftly Manny recovers.

Being on a low income, I cannot afford this kind of money, yet losing Manny would quite frankly break my heart and simply - is not an option!

I'm asking you to help Manny getting the care he needs to recover. Every single penny of my campaign will go towards Manny's vet bills, and I'm asking you hereby for your support!

Bear in mind that every little helps!

As perks, I have little to offer you other than keeping you posted in detail, including images, regarding Manny's recovery.

Trust me, you help, however little, is greatly appreciated by both Manny and me!

THANK YOU!

You can contribute to Manny's recovery on the Indiegogo page here. Please do, if you can.

Two Prayers Answered

Sometimes grace happens, against all odds.  Oklahoma City, yesterday:

Queen and Country

A charming little behind-the-scenes story of the Queen's visit to Dorset and Wiltshire just last week.  (The Queen is in the process of visiting all parts of the realm for her Diamond Jubilee - she's letting the kids cover most of the colonies dominions Empire Commonwealth, which who can blame the old girl for that?  She's 86, you know.  Though still going strong, as you can see here.)

The charm lies in the stories of the people who come to see her, and what they have to say, which gives a different perspective from the usual media coverage by cynical city types.  As I understand it, this is a very rural part of the country in the West of England - no big cities, lots of small towns, many of them quite ancient.  Which makes me think of rural Texas, of course, and I can see the similarity - down-to-earth folk who work hard, get on with things, and love their country and their Queen - who to them is like Old Glory and the Constitution and maybe the Statue of Liberty all rolled up into one living, breathing symbol of the nation and all they hold dear.

Or so it seems to me.  For a long while there after the whole tragedy with Diana, I wasn't sure they would keep the monarchy very long, but all seems sorted out now.  See what you think.



Bonus:   A bit more on Allen Parton, the disabled vet, and his Hounds for Heroes program. So amazing, what a wonderful story.

Saved

You never can tell. Sometimes even when you're far out to sea and there's no help in sight, a miracle happens, beyond all odds.