Stuart, our family dog, is also a registered therapy dog. He and I visit schools, hospitals and nursing homes. We have done this for over 13 years. On Stuart’s last birthday, he turned 17 years old. That makes him almost 120 years old in dog years.

For the past few months, we have been noticing that Stuart has been having some physical problems. We got worried and made an appointment with his veterinarian. Dr. Jones at The Southside Animal Hospital has taken care of Stuart for many years.

A day or so later, Stuart and I were visiting one of the nursing facilities. He has a very special friend that is a resident there. We have been friends with her for over 10 years. She and Stuart have a very close bond.
After much thought, I decided that I should explain a little of the problems that we had been noticing in Stuart. I really didn’t want to explain to her but I did talk to her about how he was doing and the veterinarian’s appointment. She quietly listened as she gently stroked his head and ears. I could feel that she was a bit upset.

Later that evening, I received a call from one of her doctors that she was very upset and had been crying. She was distraught about Stuart. He assured me that they would take good care of her and would help her deal with this depression.

On the day of Stuart’s veterinarian appointment, we made a short visit to the nursing home and visited with her. She petted Stuart and softly talked to him. I assured her that the medicine that Dr. Jones prescribed the week before seemed to be helping Stuart.

Later that day, we had another appointment. Dr. Jones gave Stuart more of the same medicine so he could get better.

After that, Stuart and I returned to the nursing home to give his special girlfriend a good report. He cuddled up with her on her bed and she again petted him and quietly talked to him. I saw a few nice smiles. There were no tears from her on this visit.

The next day, one of her nurses said there was a positive difference and that she kept talking about Stuart’s visits. She seemed very happy again. Stuart is still being known as “the miracle healer”.
Stuart seems to be having fewer physical problems each day and takes a lot of naps. He seems bothered that we haven’t visited many areas of the nursing home or any of the school reading programs that we normally do.

On a different note about Stuart, our next-door neighbors have been dealing with a big project. They hired a contractor to remove their old asphalt driveway and replace it with a new concrete one.
These neighbors, Mark and Carolyn Leigh, are also good friends with us. They keep some very tasty treats in their garage. Stuart would quickly notice the opening of that overhead garage door and scamper over to accept some treats.

The pouring of wet concrete created a challenge for several humans. The garage door needed to remain closed and Stuart was supposed to have his leash attached to prevent any dog paws in the concrete. That went for Harry the cat and all 10 chickens also.
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On the final day of concrete pouring for the driveway, Mark came over to our house and got Stuart on his leash. He walked him to a wet part of the new driveway and helped him sign his name. It is beautiful.
Stuart has many friends and I have lots of friends because Stuart lets me hang out with him.

THE RIGHT STUFF
As I mature, I seem to be paying more attention to the reason behind some of our special national days like Memorial Day, Veterans Day, and Independence Day. I have a feeling that this happens as we grow older and have memories of family and friends that served in the military. We have so much for us to be thankful.
I really enjoy seeing short videos showing a parent or family member that is currently in the military who returns home on leave a few days earlier than expected by their family members. 

I had something like that happen to me while stationed at Aberdeen Proving Grounds in Maryland. My parents told me that they were planning a road trip to the Maryland area and they would be pulling their small camping trailer. No date had been set. 

One Friday evening, I had some friends with me with weekend passes. We were driving toward Baltimore when we pulled up beside a car that was towing a camper at a traffic light. It was my folks. I’ll never forget that evening.

I spent six years in the Indiana National Guard. I enjoy looking back on those years. I’m still in contact with several of the guys that I served with. We were on the list to be activated a couple of times and that required us doing double of the amount of training. 

I’d love to see more people honoring our folks currently in the military. I’d also really like to see more stories on television and in print that tell special stories about anyone who is making their communities better. Good stories encourage people to do good things.

During the pandemic I have spent more time inside our house and have watched a lot of TV shows. I enjoy NCIS New Orleans and JAG, each series is connected with the U.S. Navy. I like the other NCIS shows also but the music on the New Orleans show is really good. Sometimes at the end of a really good episode when I watch some of the characters saluting, I find myself also saluting from my recliner.

One of our neighbors is a retired U.S. Postal worker. He is also a former member of the Army. As we learned that we both had a military background, when we saw each other from a distance, we started saluting each other in lieu of a friendly wave.

One of his former Army buddies will be visiting with them this week. It is so cool that they stay so connected. I believe he and his wife are coming to Indianapolis from New Hampshire by airplane. I’m looking forward to meeting them with a good salute.

I’d love to see more good stories shown on local and national television news. I think our younger folks should be exposed to stories about people doing wonderful, special things and not so much about the negative stories.

I think we should celebrate the good things and the people doing all the right stuff.

A HAPPY DAY

Last Friday afternoon was amazing. Stuart (the therapy dog and part-time columnist) and some of his human friends set up a Drive-Thru Drop Off at the Beck Service Center to collect items on the “Wish List” for his friends living at the Southside Animal Shelter.

We had it set-up for a couple of hours prior to the monthly cruise-in car show. It was great to see folks pull up and donate pet supplies. I really enjoyed seeing people walk up to see and pet Stuart. He made lots of new friends that afternoon.

I also met some very nice people that donated supplies and stopped to tell us how much they enjoyed reading The Southsider Voice each week. I remember one lady leaning down to complement Stuart on his articles. His tail was going very strongly.

Lots of friends stopped by, including two of my high school classmates, Sharon David and Robert Hawkins. Some of the patrons made donations before they came back to take part in the cruise-in. 

I was greatly pleased with the number of people and families who pulled up and made a donation. The following day, all the donations were delivered to the Southside Animal Shelter. Stuart and I were able to visit with the shelter staff for a few minutes while unloading supplies.
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Stuart was a resident of the Southside Animal Shelter for a while where we met and began our lives together. He was tired last Friday evening, but he also was a very happy dog.

​Dropping off donations are Fred Shonk with Stuart, Meagan Warmoth, operations manager at the shelter, and publisher Kelly Sawyers behind Southsider Voice community outreach rep, Bob White. Behind and to the right of the group were  the quantity of supplies donated at the Voice’s inaugural event.

REMEMBERING MEMORIAL DAY
Memorial Day and Indy 500 race weekend always bring back so many memories. This year the race was shown live on television with no local telecast delay. The crowd at the Speedway was limited to 135,000 spectators due to the pandemic.

I have memories of seeing live coverage of the Indianapolis 500 by a local television station, WFBM-TV Channel 6. This was before it was connected to a national network and was shown all over the country. My memories include riding with my father on his country milk route on race day and watching the race on TV after stopping at farms to pick up large metal cans of milk to deliver to a local dairy.

I have always enjoyed the Indy 500 radio network broadcasts of the race. For many years, I enjoyed spending the day washing and waxing my car while listening to the race on the radio. I would drive my car into our backyard. I’d have a radio handy and stuff to eat and drink. 

I knew one of the radio announcers, Tom Peden, who was part of the 500-radio network. The Peden family lived on the Southside and were customers at my father’s service station. Peden’s son, Mark, was a member of my senior class at Southport High School.

Speaking of my Southport High School class, I want to remember one of our classmates who lost his life while serving in the military. I think of him quite often but especially at Memorial Day. Stuart Ernhart lost his life while serving in Vietnam. I didn’t know Stuart very well while we were in school. I remembered him as being a very good chess player. His was a very quiet polite young man.

I believe that Stuart was the only member of the Class of 1960 that we lost in Vietnam. He has been gone since 1966. He only had six years after graduation. I have grown to celebrate Memorial Day, Veterans Day and Armed Forces Day more and more every year. I have so many friends and classmates who served. 
Our next-door neighbor is former military. We have exchanged a couple of stories about our time in the service. We tend to salute now from a distance when we spot each other in our yard or driveway. A couple of guys that he served with and their wives will visit with them in a couple of weeks. 

This year’s race was fantastic. I think almost everyone was excited to see Helio Castroneves join the “Four Wins” group of drivers. It was fun to watch all of the people share their excitement with him. It was a very fast and safe race. It will be interesting to see if Helio will try to start a “Five Wins” gang of winners.

Don’t forget about the monthly car show Friday, June 4 on the parking lot of Beck’s Service Center at Madison and Edgewood avenues. Also please remember that there will be a “Drive-Thru Drop Off” that will help fill a wish list for The Southside Animal Shelter. This will happen at the same location just before the start of the car show.
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Stuart and I are looking forward to seeing lots of our friends.

OUT OUR BACKYARD
Springtime is so much fun in our backyard that connects to a large easement and to one of the back pastures of the Southport Equestrian Center. It is always possible to see and hear several horses in that pasture.

My wife, Lyn has been busy getting her garden planted. It is located back on the easement and close to a small creek. The building and fenced-in area (top and sides) that house our chicken girls is also located on the easement. It is a very safe facility for them. 

Last week, one afternoon, I noticed a large bird flying around and sitting on a fence post near the chicken girl’s area. I grabbed my binoculars and quickly saw that it was a young owl that seemed interested in the easy life the girls were enjoying. I’ve also noticed several owl families in our area that are interesting to watch and study.

A couple of weeks ago, I was watching the morning news on television, glanced out a window where I can see the easement and, to my surprise, I saw several deer walking toward the creek. They seemed to enjoy their walk for a nice cool drink of creek water.
   
A few days ago, I was walking out to open up the chicken girl’s doors and I saw a tiny bird sitting on the steps of our patio. It didn’t move as I stepped closer. I figured that it might be injured. I tried to pick it up twice when it jumped and landed on one of my shoes. I was wearing a pair of old sweatpants and was surprised when it started climbing my pants leg. It climbed up to my knee and then flew away.

The bird only reached a couple of the bird feeders. I checked about 30 minutes later and it was gone. Later, I think it was the same type bird sitting on one of the feeders and watching me closely. It seemed to be active and doing great. I looked up what type of bird that I had become friends with, and I believe it to be a Black-capped Chickadee.

There are many wild animals and birds that use this small creek for drinking water. Coyotes, wolves, and foxes are often seen in the area. I find it very interesting when some of our neighbors tell their stories about the animals they have seen or encountered near the creek.

I also had heard some stories about a small young fox being seen along the creek. I looked out a few days ago and saw a small red fox. We made eye contact and it quickly vanished toward the creek.

Our dog, Stuart has learned over the years that many of those wild animals’ patrol around the neighborhood during the dark of night. He has developed a plan to hopefully ensure his safety. On his first trip out our backdoor each morning, he stands on the patio and loudly barks. It seems that he’s telling all the animals that might still be in our yard that it’s time for them to go home quietly. His plan seems to be working well.