Because I am a crazy insane neurotic person, I called the driver at noon and he was doing ok, and instead of calling again I put my phone in another room until I could no longer take it and I called Debit and told her it was her turn to call the driver so we could keep the fact that I am crazy and insane a secret and not let the driver know. My co-conspirator called and reports that Walter is sleeping and doing well, and may even be there by midnight tonight.
And now we nap. The one at noon didn’t happen.
? Martin
My daughter would say that Cole is totes adorbs.
Johannes
So say we all, Martin /Adama
Kristine
Walter is and will continue to be the most laid-back of the parties involved in this multi-state transport saga. Because he’s a pup in a car–okay, a van–with a blankie, and he can look outside whenever he wants.
Wen he meets his new person and his new buddy, things might get peppier.
Josie
I’m sure the driver already knows your secret. He transports pets, for goodness sake – he has seen plenty of crazy, neurotic pet people.
SFAW
@? Martin:
Is that how The Kids spell “nuts” these days? I guess I’m officially An Old, then.
waysel
A man after me own heart, John Cole. Thanks for the larf.
Amir Khalid
Walter is fine. He will be fine. A very good thing is happening in his life because of you, and from now on only good things will happen to him. You’ve made sure of that. Relax.
Greg Ferguson
Secret is safe with us, Cole. And safe journey to Walter, the goof – his transformation is a wonder to behold.
piratedan
yeah, not attached to the dog my ass…..
its going to be alright JC, trust in the people that you’ve worked with to make this happen.
the Conster, la Citoyenne
someone is a big fat softie
eemom
Cole, you are totally adorable, as well as totally my spirit beast, especially when it comes to …..well, beasts. xoxo
Auntie Anne
And I, for one, am very glad Cole and debit are crazy. How I’ve gotten attached to a dog I will never meet, I don’t quite know, but I am anxiously watching for Walter updates.
Mnemosyne
Because the best way to make sure no one knows about this is to post it on an almost top-10,000 website. Why not tweet it, too? ?
gsp
You should have just tailed him all the way to Debit’s just to make sure everything went well (and of course called him a few times during that time too). I mean who knows, perhaps Tim was going to pull over for a pee break or something.
donnah
It’s good to celebrate acts of kindness, big and small. There’s a lot of anger and hate out there, and having happy news makes a difference for all of us. It’s not sappy or silly at all.
Thanks to John, Debit, and the driver for saving the life of a dog who could just have easily died or been further abused.
MomSense
@Auntie Anne:
Same here. I’m even giving Walter updates to my mom.
rikyrah
Thanks for this, Cole. You are good people.
It’s ok for you to be neurotic.
Bless Walter and hope that the trip runs smoothly.
skyweaver
No more than many juicers like me hoping to come here for an update. I sure like that dog, and I sure like this community.
Mary G
Aw, just thinking of Walter in the minivan driving across the Midwest with his new friend Tim, and not being scared and alone and hungry in that house, so good. ?
I have always wanted to travel when I stopped working. So far that hasn’t happened IRL, but in playing “The View from Your Window” on Sully’s old site I’ve gotten in the habit of looking at places on Google Earth as a substitute .Walter may pass this building shaped like a picnic basket.
Why yes, I am a bit nuts.
? Martin
Automating all the things.
It’s basically a consumer handheld CNC router. Load a plan into it, put down a reference guide, and it’ll steer you through carving out the thing you want. Motors within the router translate the bit along two axes to always follow the plan – you just need to guide it roughly where it needs to go. Give it a few iterations and it’ll be self-propelled.
Villago Delenda Est
John, you know, you need a diversion. Why don’t you create a gnome hunter in WoW and do some demon invasions.
MazeDancer
Waiting til noon is not the least bit neurotic. Shows great restraint.
I’ve been coming back to BJ every half hour wondering where are the updates.
Which is a fall back from my first choice which was Van Cam for the whole trip.
Keith P.
Been a pretty relaxed day for the animals at my house. Got my kitty and her boyfriend feral fed this morning, so he’s been stretched out on the patio deck all day (he injured a leg fighting the other feral) while my kitty has been alternating between her patio chair, under a tree, and a chair under the AC. Cats really do know how to enjoy the leisure life.
I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet
@? Martin: Neat. Thanks for the pointer.
Google’s Tango seems to be working on similar problems – how to easily translate 3D stuff into information that phones, etc., can understand and use.
Cheers,
Scott.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Mary G: Looks a bit out of the way(I looked, I’m nuts too); but I can see Tim and Walter going through ZEGS’s hometown of Janesville, WI. Good place for a poop break.
planetpundit
Cole is our Spirit Geek
Cassandra
I never comment, but I am a faithful reader. You are all such good people here, John and Walter and Debit are, of course, at the top of the list right now, but the community you have built here is just astonishing. You make my heart sing.
SiubhanDuinne
@Mary G:
I’ve been able to do some of that, although not nearly as many road trips so far as I had originally intended.
I think I’ve mentioned my cousin Dave who, upon retiring ten or so years ago asked himself what he most enjoyed doing. “Taking long road trips” and “Eating barbecue” were his answers. So he looked for a way to combine the two passions, trained as a BBQ judge, and now judges and officiates at BBQ competitions all over Canada and the US. He drives to all of them from his home on the shores of Lake Huron, eats as much pork shoulder and whole hog as he can manage, and sees all kinds of off-track oddball places in the process.
HRA
Very glad to have read about Walter being found in time, your excellent care in his recovery and now his trip to his ever home. Thank you, John.
Zoey2020
I think we should come up with a story something along the lines of John, Walter, and the Parallel (slash) Universe, in which Walter finds John in an abandoned house, and go from there. Not sure how / where to go with this, but a subset of writers/editors/photographers/publishers should be able to come up with something to sell on Amazon that would fund all sorts of Balloon Juice Pet Projects…. What say you?
jeffreyw
Interest is high, here. Keep us informed.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@SiubhanDuinne: I’ve been seeing some the oddball places here in LA. Yesterday was the Glendora bougainvillea(about 25 foot tall bougainvillea).
BruceFromOhio
@? Martin: TFA, indeed.
Zoey2020
@Zoey2020: I don’t know how to edit my own comment in order to add Illustrators to the list of potential creators of the Walter/John/John Walter idea. I’ve been lurking long enough to realize that the talent here is almost as amazing as the heart. But it all pales to what happened with John at the foreclosure auction and what followed.
eemom
“But I don’t want to go among mad people,” Alice remarked.
“Oh, you can’t help that,” said the Cat. “We’re all mad here.”
eclare
@jeffreyw: Guard dogs!
raven
@eclare: Bird dogs!
Run, Lillian!
I have such a great image in my head of Walter with his big head hanging out the window taking in the sights as he is on his way to his forever home. Thanks for the update! I would be every bit as anxious about it as you are.
danielx
Cole, don’t know quite how to put this except….not news. Don’t change.
jeffreyw
@eclare: @raven:
I’m happy if they are “do their business outside” dogs. LOL
Gelfling 545
@MomSense: same here. Three people asked me today if I knew how that dog I talked about was doing.
SiubhanDuinne
In response to a request in one of the morning threads (I think it was “We Have Liftoff!”), I’ve aggregated as many of the Walter-centric posts as I can identify. I didn’t try to go through the comments for each one, so it’s possible there are other posts by John and other FPs that end up discussing Walter downthread, that I’ve missed. But for anyone who wants to follow Walter’s inspiring story from the day John found him starving and dehydrated and skinny and mangy, to this morning when he happily jumped in the van with driver Tim and took off for his Forever Home with Debit, it should be pretty easy to follow along.
Because FYWP limits us to three links per comment, I’m going to email the list of links (25 of them!) to both Anne Laurie and Adam Silverman. Anne Laurie because she’s the supercompassionate one who is always so good about staying on top of pet threads, and Adam because he may have the technical know-how to put up a “Quick Links” category dedicated to Walter’s Story. They are both extremely conscientious, and I figure between the two of them it will happen.
As Debit takes up the narrative, her new posts and photos can just be tagged and added.
This definitely needs to turn into a picture book!
Lorinda Pike
@Auntie Anne: I did the same thing. Came in from groceries, and went straight to the computer for what I hoped would be a Walter update.
I am happy now.
Gelfling 545
@SiubhanDuinne: would make a nice fundraiser for a pet rescue group.
eclare
@raven: Hahaha, I’ll take your word for it. This is a terrier household.
SiubhanDuinne
@Gelfling 545:
It would! It is truly one of the sweetest, happiest stories to have emerged out of this mostly shitty 2016, and I think would inspire a lot of people to donate to shelters and/or foster rescue pets.
Gravenstone
@Villago Delenda Est: Survival spec, FTW.
Elizabelle
@SiubhanDuinne: Fab! Well done.
bluefish
@SiubhanDuinne: Thank you!
bluefish
Sending you a big old hug. Brings a tear to these old eyes. So so so sweet the entire thing.
Ruviana
It’d be wonderful if Walter could be one of the stars of the 2017 BJ Pets Calendar.
SiubhanDuinne
@Elizabelle:
@bluefish:
All I did was scroll through all posts since August 4th and copy-paste URL links to any of the ones that had remotely to do with Walter. Not difficult at all, and not all that time-consuming as long as I refrained from going back down the rabbit holes of each individual thread.
Hope AL and/or Adam can work their magic and make them available to a larger readership.
Josie
@SiubhanDuinne: This is great minds working in the same direction. I did the same thing and emailed a list to Anne Laurie earlier this evening. I hope a more creative mind than I have can make the posts into a cohesive story. It is so uplifting.
NotMax
@Villago Delenda Est
Deep down, you know he’d go goblin.
NotMax
@Gravenstone
Somehow see Mr. Cole being more drawn to Beast Mastery spec.
Just sayin’.
SiubhanDuinne
@Josie:
It would be interesting to compare lists! For a while I was afraid I had overlooked the one with the photo of Walter’s First Big Dump, but thank goodness I found it.
That photo probably ought to be the cover illustration of the book.
debit
Tim the driver called a bit ago and said they were just past the Wisconsin Dells, which means Walter is about 4 hours away. I’m going to nap, probably, and keep my phone handy so I can navigate them in. Pics will be sent to John upon arrival.
Miss Bianca
So, I had a great day with my dog girls – shopping trip in Colorado Springs, beginning and ending with a stop at one of our favorite places – the Bear Creek Dog Park, 10 enclosed acres of awesomeness – shade and open space and creek and training/agility pen and a small dog run – so many happy dogs with their people! Thought about Walter on his way to his forever home, and it occurred to me that being a pet driver might be a really fun job – combines two of my favorite things in the world – dogs and road trips!
Glad to hear he’s almost home!
Suffragete City elftx
@debit: Are you up in the North Woods??
And so happy for you, Walter and Cole.
debit
@Suffragete City elftx: Minneapolis. I can’t wait for Walter to get here.
KlareCole
@skyweaver: Me too. So happy for Walter.
KlareCole
@Zoey2020: Jeeze, I’ve missed so much of the story.
NotMax
@debit
Relaxing and pretty drive from The Dells to Eau Claire.
Mobil RoonieRoo
Checking in for a Walter update and saw debits note an hour ago. Hoping for pictures in the morning.
Theodore Wirth
Lighten up or resume drinking John Cole. Either way you are still a better man than me.
While I compose this diatribe, our beloved cats Millie and Molly are freakling out because the roofers have been banging away for days. That said, if you watch the ears and eyes of cats, they are awesome sentinels. No matter the time of day, wherever I go in the house Molly is always there–observing.