<div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;font-size:small">HOUNDSERVANT emerged onto the bridge of the HMS Santa Rosa this morning to find a curious sight... Claire the Trembling was pawing out a message to Mr. Shannon Gerdel. Although she scampered away (the poor dear is always afraid of corporal punishment, which is banned as cruel & unusual on HMS Santa Rosa), she left behind this message, which Houndservant passes along.<br><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;font-size:small">Here is her message<br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;font-size:small"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;font-size:small">"hhhihihihihi, he-he-llo, my name is claire i tremble a lot well all the time i can't help it its so scary so scary so scary that's why i duck all the time especially when there is a loud noise or i see someone walking toward me fast so scary so scary even now after so many years <br><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;font-size:small">safer to duck and run thats what i say<br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;font-size:small"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;font-size:small">i live at the hms santa rosa with other hounds they are different than i am bigger much bigger i am tiny a beagle very round because the food is good and i have never missed a meal here it is wonderful just wonderful it is warm and i get to stay here except when i go to pawties with the bigger dogs someplace called ggbr they have pawties all over the place these nice ladies gloria and cindy and other people i don't know their names they are so glad to see me and so nice to me i don't know why anyone is nice to me but its nice very nice at first it was horrible going to pawties with so many other dogs all of
them bigger than me well mostly i was so scared so scared so scared <br><br>anyway i get to sleep on the softest beds all over the place whenever i want is is always warm some days i sit all day in the sun in the same place and i cuddle with ruby and jasper the new dogs at night foxy doesnt cuddle except with the person i creep into the persons room at night to sleep on that soft bed on the floor but when she gets up i run run run because well you never ever ever know what a human will do<br><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;font-size:small">i don't know why all the big dogs tell me we are on a ship the only water i see is in the water bowl but i dont make waves no i dont if they think they are on a ship i'll be on a ship too the person thinks we are on a ship its kinda weird but who am i no one<br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;font-size:small"><br>i am not from here i got out here by a miracle i was abandoned in a blizzard in branson missouri it was 9 degrees my legs were painted blue<br><br>i don't know why my legs were painted blue my stomach almost touched the ground i was not spayed i had had a lot of babies and <br><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;font-size:small">i was starving i was about 17 pounds now i am overweight almost 28 pounds but i like that i get to eat a lot the person who feeds me most people call her lea except foxy foxy calls her on the carpet a lot <br><br>foxy kinda jumps up and down all the time she's kinda high strung but shes not afraid im afraid afraid afraid she's not afraid EVER foxy tells everyone what to do whenever she wants and no one kicks her or throws her out the door it is amazing<br></div><br><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;font-size:small">anyway i got flown on an airplane to california from missouri and went to a beagle rescue near orland on a big cattle ranch it was very hard the people were so nice but no matter what they did and they tried i still didn't have any hair on my whole lower half the fleas ate it all off i looked weird and i knew it i knew it well this person lea comes one day with another lady she had long long long blonde hair and was very beautiful her name was de-anna and she had a huge white fluffy dog he was a samoyed he was very very nice to me so was de-anna and so was lea<br><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;font-size:small">they brought me back to this place and i was so scared so scared so scared i bolted out the back door and hid in the raspberry bramble way in the back this person lea was really upset and crying worried about me but i was more scared for almost two days i hid and no one could see me until i got hungry and thirsty and i don't know why but i let out a howl just a soft howl and the lea person came running it was the middle of the night o maybe 3 am in the morning and the lea person grabbed these huge really big scary garden shears and whacked out a path through the bramble until she saw me i was so afraid so afraid so afraid i just froze<br><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;font-size:small">then i was kept in the house and watched until i thought maybe i would not get hurt maybe not maybe not maybe not but for the longest time i could not let anyone watch me eat and i made sure every other dog ate first so maybe they would not beat me up and steal my food they never did i ran at any sound it seemed the smart thing to do oh and my fur grew back i don't look chewed up anymore<br><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;font-size:small">i am sorry sorry sorry i am rambling off at the paw<br><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;font-size:small">i heard the lea person crying last weekend she was in her office and the big hounds told me that somebody named babe and somebody named boomer left and were not coming back and their person mr shannon was beside himself because he loved them so much and lea person knew what that felt like and cried too<br><br>at first i thought it was terrible to leave where it is warm and there is food but the lea person told all of us about The Bridge it sounds even nicer than this place yes it does but i like being with the big hounds and the lea person and visiting with gloria and cindy and even big dogs i dont know they have all been nice no one has beat me up not once lea person says ill go to The Bridge one day and thats ok with me it sounds like a pretty good pawty maybe i'll no longer be afraid<br><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;font-size:small">apologies apologies apologies the reason i wanted to paw a note i know its very long to mr shannon gerdel is because my lea person kept telling all of us how much we do for her how loved she feels how we give her life meaning and i just wanted to say<br><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;font-size:small">whew this is getting long<br><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;font-size:small">i want to say you mr shannon you do far more for us than we can ever do for you <br><br>without you we are hungry and cold and in danger and sad so sad so sad and afraid some of us get mad and start lashing out at people because well there are a lot of bad people in the world yes there are without you no one loves us and we have no one to love<br><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;font-size:small">mr shannon gerdel i know there are other hounds out there who need you they really need you like i needed the lea person and i know they will love you will all their hearts and souls yes they will <br><br>it will not be the same as babe and boomer hounds but please when you feel a little better try to think of how much we need you now<br><br>when we go to that place The Bridge we are safe and sound and healthy and we have a Big Basset Buffet that is all the time thats what they tell me and there are lots of hound lovers like someone named debbie i never met her but everyone loved her so much im a senior hound now and boy that debbie she sure sounds like someone i want to meet i bet she pets good<br><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;font-size:small">so mr shannon gerdel i know what it is like to be abandoned and unloved so i hope one day soon you can open your heart again<br><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;font-size:small">there are a lot of hounds like me who need you and they will love you one thousand billion gazillion percent because you will pet us cuddle us give us a home and yummy food and protect us <br><br>i know you will because you did for babe and boomer they were so lucky i want to meet them too<br><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;font-size:small">i should go now i know you are busy<br><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;font-size:small">claire the trembling<br></div><br></div>