Strange phone calls about Danny

Putting our home phone number in the local paper when advertising Danny's disappearance might be a bit of a two edged sword. So far I have received two calls regarding him:

The first one was last night. A young woman rang saying she thought she had seen him last week between Abercanaid and Troedyrhiw on the canal bank. I immediately thought: If he was that near why didn't he just come home? She said she was walking along and the dog joined her and kept running off and laying down on the floor. Didn't sound like Danny's behaviour at all. So I asked her if the dog she saw had one long pointy ear and the other floppy. She said she hadn't noticed. Now his ears are so prominent you couldn't possibly miss them! Not only that there was a very clear picture of him and his ears with a written description in the paper. The final clincher for me was when she said he was wearing a red collar. Definitely not Danny.

The second call came when I had just come in from work this evening with piles of shopping to put away, I hadn't even got as far as taking my coat off. A male voice I would estimate to be in his 60s started talking to me in a familiar way. "I read about your dog missing in the paper..." At first I thought it might have been my father or my uncle, but then it was obviously not. This man, as well meaning as he was, was just ringing to find out if we had found Danny! GRRRR! I felt like saying to him: "Well that's why I thought you were ringing me not the other way around!" Instead, the penny dropped and I asked him if he had any information. To which he replied "No."

To cut a long story short, he proceeded to tell me all about his dog and how it might need an operation. I didn't lose my temper, I just sympathised with him when I really felt like saying: "Why on earth did you bother ringing me?" One good thing though, I found out from him that he'd read about it in the local Rhymney newspaper, so the article is appearing further afield than I thought.

Another thing I noticed about both phone calls is that they were both withheld numbers. Perhaps they were people who just wanted to chat about dogs in general. Those kind of phone calls I can do without right now.

At last -- report of missing Danny in the newspaper!

I've been trying to get something in the paper about Danny since the weekend he went missing, almost four weeks ago. At last The Merthyr Express has printed a decent sized article about him along with a photograph.

So I shall be waiting with baited breath to see if anyone rings here.

I'll keep you posted.

Finding it difficult to write

I'm finding it difficult to write at the moment. I don't mean in this blog or anything, I mean the novel I am in the midst of. I've changed the title to 'Midnight Shadow'.

It's a romantic suspense thriller and this book is a little different for me in that this time I have included the thoughts of the villain. I've read several books like that by big name authors that have intrigued me. It makes the read more 3 dimensional, I think.

I find I'm writing in short spurts at the moment. I can probably only get down a page or two every day, whereas last October, I managed to draft a full novel in less than one month. I'm lacking focus and in general I'm not really myself. There is still no news about Danny. I rang The Merthyr Express this week to check to see if they have received the second press release from the press officer at http://www.doglost.co.uk

They appeared to know about it and so, I'm hoping, it will go in the paper this week. I feel this is our best hope of getting him back if someone is looking after him. If not, then I am going to have to draw a line and bring about some sort of closure for myself. Some of my family think I have been too optimistic about getting him back, but reading about some of the success stories of dogs being reunited with their owners on the doglost site has given me some hope. Some have been missing for months.

The sad thing is that these days a lot of dogs are stolen. I think one of the sadest tales I read there was of one dog who had been stolen with its owner's van and then dumped by the motorway by the thieves. It got killed by a car. This dog was the part of someone's family and to do something like that to steal something of material value beggars belief.

I sent off for two dog tags on the weekend with our address and phone number on, they arrived this morning, so I have attached them to Milly and Shelley's collars. Perhaps if I had got one for Danny, someone could have returned him to us. It might sound naive but it didn't really occur to me before, even though we've kept dogs before. The dogs are walked regularly and are not thrown out into the street, so I thought it wouldn't happen to us. I was wrong.

My hope is that someone is taking care of Danny and will give him lots of love, my fear is that he's dead. The worst part is the not knowing.

Wanna be tagged?

I found this post on Ms. Creativity's blog and have adapted it for this blog. So do you wanna be tagged?

INSTRUCTIONS: Remove the blog in the top spot from the following list and bump everyone up one place. Then add your blog to the bottom slot, like so:

1. Holly’s Corner
2. Daddy Forever
3. Sparky’s Scratch
4. The Story of an Aspiring Writer (or two)
5. Nettie's Ramblings

Next select five people to tag:
1. YOU!
2. if
3. you
4. want
5. to...

What were you doing 10 years ago?

Just left college and didn't have a clue what I was going to do!

What were you doing 1 year ago?

Just had my first book published and waiting for book launch at Cyfarthfa Castle.

Five snacks you enjoy:

1. Cheese and tomato toasties

2. Cheese and onion crisps

3. Chips and gravy

4. Beans on toast

5. Sausage roll

Five songs that you know all the lyrics to:

1. Waterloo - Abba

2. Angels - Robbie Williams

3. Without You - Nilsson

4. Someone Saved My Life Tonight - Elton John

5. Living on a Prayer - Bon Jovi

Five things you would do if you were a millionaire:

1. Divide some of my fortune up between close family

2. Give a proportion to charity

With the rest I would:

3. Invest

4. Take a nice holiday [probably the U.S.]

5. Buy a writing cabin in the woods

Five bad habits:

1. Disorganisation

2. Procrastination

3. Not keeping in touch enough with people

4. Looking on the black side

5. A quick temper

Five things you like doing:

1. Trying something new

2. Getting a book or article published

3. Walking in the woods

4. Getting into a clean bed

5. Catching up with people at Christmas

Five things you would never wear again:

1. A mini skirt

2. A bikini

3. Hotpants

4. Polyester

5. Shorts

Five favorite toys:
These are from my childhood:

1. Walking talking doll

2. Tiny Tears

3. Handmade dolls house [made by my grt uncle]

4. Sleigh [made by my grandfather]

5. Kernockers

Which child am I?

I found this image of my school sports day at the Old Merthyr Tydfil website and was amazed to see myself on there. I think I might have been about 10 at the time. I have no idea who sent the picture in or any recollection of that particular race. However, what I do remember is I never used to win. There were always better sprinters than me. I used to try very hard though. I never came last probably somewhere half between.

I think I reached my peak with school sports at the age of 15. I was a good cross country runner and not too bad at the high jump and hurdles as well. In 1976 I was due to captain the red house team for the girls [Caradog House], but alas, I never got my moment of glory. As my father was a postman, we used to take our holidays at different times and often I would have to take a week or two off school for the family holiday.

Now the question is...which girl am I on the picture? [Click on picture to enlarge]

I'll give you a clue: I'm the one with a very determined look on her face!

Nice Review

**Purchase e-book here, print book from June 29th

Return to Winter will go into print on June 29th. I got quite a nice 4 star review for the book from Annie at Euro-Reviews:

Stephanie Baynham returns to South Wales from a nine-month stay with her grandparents in Italy, where she fled from her feelings for Dylan Pryce-Jones. Stephanie and Dylan became close--intimately close--at the wedding of Matt and Sandy, held at Dylan's establishment, but Stephanie's fear of abandonment impelled her escape, leaving Dylan distraught and puzzled. When she returns, she is astonished to discover, first of all, that Sandy is expecting in a few weeks; and second, that Dylan appears to be engaged to his manager.
Christmas at Dylan's castle inn is certainly going to be an uproar for Stephanie.

Much worse, when she returns to her apartment block, the words "You're Dead" are scrawled across her mirror. Stephanie runs again, this time in fear of neighbor and former boss Lawrence Black, nightclub owner and general sleazy type, whom she suspects of killing one of his female employees, in his apartment across the way from Stephanie's. She is right to fear Lawrence,but what she doesn't yet understand is that she has more to be terrified of than just him, including others who wanther out of the way, and her own emotions toward Dylan. Stephanie and Dylan, along with the reader, are in for a roller-coaster ride of suspense, emotions, intimacy, and general uproar!

Return to Winter reprises as secondary characters Matt and Sandy who made It Happened One Summer such a delight to read. In this volume, however, this reviewer found Stephanie a much less appealing character. Ms. Rees performs excellently at delineating Stephanie's insecurities and underlying fear of abandonment. Dylan, the hero, is also well-designed and his parents, and their separate paths, are intriguingly constructed, keeping readers' attention on that sub-plot. The plot will entice readers' notice and keep all guessing. Kudos to Lynette Rees for her ability to twist the plot around unexpected corners and deliver constant reader surprises.

Annie ~ Euro-Reviews

A false alarm

My neighbour knocked my door earlier this afternoon to say that she thought she had seen Danny at the top of her steps and he had just run up the road. It was pouring with rain, so with my heart hammering like a jack hammer, I bolted through the door. Colin shouted he would get the car out.

I walked quickly up the road only to discover it was Milly [Danny's mother] who was out. I was so annoyed with Colin as I realised he had left the back door open [he's always doing that].

My neighbour apologised and I told her not to worry as if she hadn't called me we could have had two missing dogs on our hands.

Feeling better today!

I'm feeling a lot better today, mainly from posting to that site yesterday which led to contact from:
http://www.doglost.co.uk/ who phoned me this morning for more details and a pic of Danny.

They have posted up the details and created a poster for helpers to display:
http://www.doglost.co.uk/forum.asp?ID=9873

I'd be over the moon if I got my little boy back. It really helps to know there are other dog lovers out there supporting me.

I feel awful today

I dreamt a couple of nights ago that Danny came home. I saw him walking down the steps and I rushed to open the front door, only when I did, it wasn't him it was another dog.

Since then I have been feeling worse and worse. Today I am particularly bad. My son and I had a talk last night and we both concluded that the unthinkable has happened, I don't want to even say it here.

Everywhere I go, whatever I do, I am reminded of Danny, it's awful. I picture him sitting on the garage steps, or lying on his favourite chair with his paws crossed.

I've been trying to register him as missing on various pet websites for about a week or so now, only some of the free ones I've joined, once I upload the details, for some reason they won't go through. A good one I found this afternoon though, charges £24.99 and they don't do much more than we've done ourselves already, such as sending posters to the vets, dog wardens, rescue shelters, etc.

Finally, I found one that worked and doesn't even charge, not that I mind paying if they do something different to what we've already done.

I just sent Danny's details off to this missing pets website along with his picture:
http://www.lostdogsuk.com/ld4824%20border%20collie.htm

This is killing me.

March 9th, 2006, I saw Millie give birth to Danny, I helped wean him, I nursed him. I spent every day with him. I find myself talking to him, but he's not here anymore and it bloody hurts. It hurts like hell.

Dog warden

I just received a phone call and at first I thought it was someone with information about Danny, but it was the local dog warden asking if we had found him. He told me it might be worth contacting the dog warden for Rhondda Cynon Taf. We are living near the Aberdare mountain, so Danny may have gone over that way.

I rang their offices and someone asked the dog warden over there. It doesn't sound as if they have him, although, I did explain that although he is a Border Collie, he doesn't particularly look like one. They told me the dog pound is open tomorrow morning between 10 and 12, so it might be worth a visit.

One week has passed

Well it's been one week since Danny went missing and we are still no closer to finding him. We've done just about as much as we can to find him. Most of the week on and off I have been in floods of tears. I was okay yesterday, but today, now it's a week later, it really brings it home to me.

This time last week, I went into work a little later than usual, so I had time to walk the dogs before I left, instead of asking someone else to do it. Danny was still here then. I took the three of them over the tip and we played with the ball. He wasn't quite as quick as the other two at getting it, so I tried to make sure I threw it in his direction so he got a chance to bring it back to me.

When I returned from work that day, I brought their usual Friday treat for them. I had got into the habit of buying them a little something from the pet section in Wilksons every week. There are two bone sort of dental sticks in each pack and I would buy two. The other dogs took their time over theirs, but Danny always ate his so fast, that I would end up giving him the extra one as well.

It's strange, that I had been thinking how happy and lucky I was to have three great dogs. One of my neighbours had only commented a few days before how healthy the three of them looked. How was I to know when I went to bed that night, leaving my husband to walk them, it would the last time I would ever see Danny?

I feel in my heart, and I have felt this from the first hour he went missing, that I will never see him again. I hope I am proved wrong.

Still no news about Danny

Yesterday was a very weepy day for me. Danny still hasn't come back home or been found. Colin, my husband, visited the RSPCA, the police station and made enquiries about the dog pound. He was given a phone number for a rescue centre in Gelligaer, where the stray dogs from this area are taken. We rang twice yesterday and also today, but so far, he hasn't shown up.

The local farmer has been informed and the country ranger. So we are doing all we can. It's awful without him. It got me thinking to how the bereaved feel when a loved one has died. I can quite relate to addressing him and realising he is no longer here, and to constantly looking for him around the house. I just keep hoping when I wake up in the morning, he will be sitting outside the front door as if nothing has happened. If he shows up, he is going to have the longest hug ever and the biggest meal he has had in his life!

My daughter made up a poster:

Missing

Danny went missing in the vicinity of Gethin Woods [near the bridge at the rear of Anthony Grove], at around 11.00 p.m. on Friday 1st of June 2007.

Danny is 15 months old and very friendly. He is quite slim, short haired and his coat is mainly black. He has very distinctive ears - his left ear points upwards and his right ear is floppy.

If you have any information regarding Danny, please contact:

01685 373073 / 07891596350

There is a £100.00 reward for Danny's safe return.

Missing Dog!

It's been a sad weekend. My hubby took the three dogs out for a walk, late on Friday 1st of June at around 11.00 p.m and only came back with two.

Danny, the youngest, age 15mths, ran off and failed to return. He has run off once or twice in the past and has always come back to the house within an hour or so. It is now almost 48 hours since his disappearance and we are all breaking our hearts.

It's the little things I miss, like seeing him curled up in the armchair when I come in through the door, or hearing him howling as the ice cream van plays the theme from Match of the Day.

Of course, we have all searched. The kids have been out numerous times and are going out again as I write this. We will not give up looking for him. He's one of our own, part of our family.

Danny is quite slim and short haired and doesn't look distinctively like a Border Collie, although he is.

His coat is mainly black, with white markings on the back of his head. His chest is dappled [grey and black] and his paws are a sandy/dappled colour. The tip of his tail is white. He has very distinctive ears. His left ear points upwards [very long and straight] and his right ear is floppy.


If you have seen Danny, who went missing from the Abercanaid/Merthyr Tydfil area late on Friday 1st of June, please contact us on:

07929 181 662