Lost & Found
It’s been a lost and found kind of week. I’m not even sure what day it is, other than it’s another deadline day. My daughter and son-in-law found their first house; my phone lost, and then found, it’s ability to let people hear me; I lost access to my computer when Windows 10 randomly decided to download itself in the middle of deadline without being asked and then I lost a lot of work by inadvertently overwriting the Bolton paper file with my newly upgraded operating system. On top of all that, there was also an ongoing situation with a lost puppy and two women in need. I’ll get back to that in a moment. But, I do want to say that between this unwanted upgrade causing me to lose information and impacting my publishing program, I’m just crossing my fingers all will turn out right with this week’s edition. Tomorrow I hope to find some fixes.
Back to the lost puppy… for those of you that haven’t seen the story on various Facebook pages: On Tuesday, May 10, two women from Canada were returning home from a dog show in their RV with two dogs when their vehicle caught on fire. The women and the dogs got out safely, but the RV and all their belongings were lost to the fire. This happened in Bolton between the Route 117 and Route 111 exits and Bolton public safety personnel responded, along with Boxborough police and fire, according to Bolton Fire Chief John Mentzer.
Each woman had taken a dog when they exited the vehicle, but in their scramble to get away from the burning RV, one of the dogs got away from its owner and ran into the woods next to the highway. The women ended up at the Boxborough Holiday Inn with nothing but the clothes on their backs and one dog.
Dog owner Joanna Parker-Ross called the paper on Friday afternoon to see if I could post a “missing dog” item. In the meantime, Missing Dogs Massachusetts had been contacted to help find and return the puppy (Yoda) to safety, and were actively working towards that end, with sightings indicating Yoda was staying in the general area where he had been lost.
The women had arranged for a ride back to Canada on Saturday but ended up canceling it as it appeared they were close to getting Yoda back with the added resources of Animal Rescue League of Boston joining the efforts. But giving up their ride meant staying longer without resources and having to find a way home.
As word got out about the plight of the puppy and its owners, local people began offering help both in finding the dog and in providing support for the two women. Joanna and her traveling companion Barbara were extremely grateful to those who donated clothing, pet supplies, food, financial support and moral support.
On Saturday, we got word that Yoda had been caught, checked by a local vet and returned safely to Joanna. There was much rejoicing all around. But now, the whole group needed to get back to Canada. Their original ride would not be able to return for another week. The women needed to get back sooner but didn’t have any resources to do so and couldn’t get hold of any business/officials until Monday to get what they needed to get home.
In the meantime, people continued to volunteer their assistance, many going directly to the hotel to drop things off, meeting the women and the dogs. Finally things were put in place enabling the women to rent a car today (Wednesday) to start the trip home to Nova Scotia.
Many thanks are due for the generous donations of local people like Elizabeth, Elaine, Gavin, Cindy and Brenda to name a few that I know of. There were many others. Joanne and Barbara have pledged to “pay it forward” once they return home and get things settled with the insurance, etc. Above is a photo of Joanne, reunited with Yoda, along with members of the Animal Rescue League of Boston.
I wish them all the best of luck and am so happy to have been a part of such a caring community effort.
Cyndy Bremer, publisher/editor/production;
[email protected]
978-897-7869