Blue Christmas

Some age old Christmas songs take on new meanings this year . .

BLUE CHRISTMAS

I'll have a Blue Christmas without you

I'll be so blue thinking about you

Decorations of red on a green Christmas tree

Won't be the same dear, if you're not here with me

And when those blue snowflakes start fallin'

That's when those blue memories start callin'

You'll be doin' all right, with your Christmas of white

But I'll have a blue, blue, blue, blue Christmas

I'LL BE HOME FOR CHRISTMAS

I'm dreamin' tonight of a place I love

Even more then I usually do

And although I know it's a long road back

I promise you

I'll be home for Christmas

You can count on me

Please have snow and mistletoe

And presents under the tree

Christmas Eve will find me

Where the love light beams

I'll be home for Christmas

If only in my dreams

I'll be home for Christmas

If only in my dreams

If only in my dreams

Love, Izzie

PLEASE COME HOME FOR CHRISTMAS

Bells will be ringing this sad sad New Years

Oh what a Christmas to have the blues

My baby's gone, I have no friends

To wish me greetings once again

Choirs will be singing Silent Night

Christmas carols by candlelight

Please come home for Christmas

Please come home for Christmas

If not for Christmas, by New Years night

Friends and relations send salutations

Sure as the stars shine above

But this is Christmas, yes, Christmas my dear

The time of year to be with the ones you love

So won't you tell me you'll never more roam

Christmas and New Years will find you home

There'll be no more sorrow, no grief or pain

And I'll be happy, happy once again

Oh there'll be no more sorrow, no grief or pain

And I'll be happy, Christmas once again

Love, Mom & Dad & Opus

Worried About Izzie

With this snow, we just don't know what to think or say.

If it turns out that Izzie was taken in by someone, somewhere along the way, then she's as safe and warm as are all dogs living in homes with peope -- just not our home.

If she's out on her own, the possibilities are still endless for her survival, especially with the skills she's acquired over all these months. Food will be harder to obtain in snow like we have, but we've heard too many stories of dogs, even small ones like her, surviving hunger long enough to make it until they can get food. There are non-domestic animals of all kinds that make snowy areas their home, including those smaller than she is, that don't expire due to "snow".

We're going with the belief that she has found a way to keep herself safe if not warm, and that when the rest of us are all back out and about, Izzie will be too.

Keep Circulating the Word

I know, sometimes it's hard to believe we're still at it, with it having been so long since Izzie was sighted, but we want our girl back! Even when there are no leads to investigate, there's always spreading the word, searching for the people that have seen Izzie about as much as we're searching for Izzie. We've done a lot with fliering and with passing out business cards, and a lot with direct mail (snail mail and email), and a lot with advertising with media of all kinds and web-only options. Here's some of what we've done with media in the last week:

We've expanded our outreach to the News Messenger, a Christiansburg publication we haven't used before. Who's to say that Izzie isn't in Christiansburg?

Then we've now got a display ad in the New River Magazine, which we'd never have guessed we'd need, given that it's a bi-monthly publication.

We've put a classified ad with a picture of Izzie in the Pets section of the Virginia Leader.

We've been advertising in the Roanoke Times, but we were recently alerted that the ad isn't displaying correctly right now. Thanks to the person that has found a dog, and took the time to let us know this, while in the process of trying to find that dog's owner. Sadly, the dog that was found is not our Izzie.

If you've got ideas for how we can spread the word that you thind we might not have tried, please leave a comment! We're up for most anything to try to circulate the word that Izzie is lost and needs help finding her way home.

Small Black Female Mutt (Not Izzie) Found in Blacksburg

It's now well past the point at which we get excited when there is a sighting of some kind. We can still remember in the beginning when a sighting call was an exciting call. Back then, before it seemed possible that more than four months later, we wouldn't know where Izzie is or has been, any call to say that Izzie was sighted basically was accepted as true. We had to learn quickly that a sighting should be considered as merely a possible sighting, not a valid sighting, unless or until enough information could be gathered and checked out.

Over time, with there having been a lot of spreading of the word about Izzie, and so many great people in the area that want to help us find Izzie, there have been plenty of calls and sightings that didn't turn out to be Izzie.  We have no regrets about any of the calls or emails we've gotten that weren't Izzie; we are still grateful for them, and we still want to be called any time there is sighting that may turn out not to be Izzie. We know that there are so many ways that an unlikely sighting can turn out to be the right dog, and we want to check out every sighting that we can.

So, sightings rarely cause us to jump any more. We know that alot of people whose dogs have been lost for so long become skeptical when they get a call after so long. We don't think of ourselves as skeptical; that seems to imply that we don't think it can happen -- that Izzie is going to surface somewhere. We do think she will!  We know of so many, many situations in which dogs -- even little dogs -- have survived on their own for a surprisingly long time. And while it certainly seems like we've found ways to spread the word to everyone in the area, we know that's not true. There are still so many, many possibilities for Izzie to have been taken in by someone that the word has not spread to. So, skeptical we aren't, and we think any day could be the day she pops up somewhere and is reunited with us.

Finally, one came along earlier this week that sure did get the heart pumping! There are several websites or organizations that allow you to sign up to get alerts when a dog in your area is lost, or in the case of fidofinder.com, found. So the following came through on Sunday that SO could have been Izzie!

It was thoroughly checked out, and definitely not Izzie, sadly. But at this point, it was nice to just find out that we aren't permanently numb, you know? And oh, what a round of day dreams it set off about when and where and how it will all go down one day, that Izzie is found. We may not have control over where she is right now, but we can control our day dreams about that reunion. In our day dreams, we can make it really fun and exciting how she's found, and of course, she's kept up her health and strength. And even though we suspect that her thoughts each day are really about survival, in our day dreams, her thoughts are about us!

Izzie's Parental Units

Check 'em out! Duke (short for Marmaduke???) on the left is her sire, and Squirt on the right is her Dam.

Izzie's ears sometimes stand up like her dad, more often "droop" like her mom. It does change her look at little. When you think you see Izzie, remember not to get stuck on how her ears should or should not look.

The Collegiate Times ad ran again this week, on December 1st. Thanks to Izzie's big hearted benefactor for ordering and financing this ad!

Among numerous other efforts this week, Craigslist ads were all re-posted. We don't ever want to neglect to be up to date with Craigslist ads. We are encouraged by this story, from earlier this year, which is about a woman that posted her log regularly for 17 months until finally, her dog was found and returned to her thanks to Craigslist. The story is HERE.

4 Months and Counting

If time flies when you're having fun, that should explain why the last four months have dragged on interminably. This search for Izzie has not been fun. But there's never been any question that the end will justify the means, when Izzie has been found.

Calls do still come in, from all the past efforts to spread the word, daily since August 1st. Not all of them get a mention here. But here's one to tell about.

Got a call today from some who thought he found Izzie. Unfortunately the dog is a male about 25-30 pounds, wearing a green collar with no tags. The dog has been hanging around the caller's farm for the last 3 days. This is in the Newport area, which is where the last sightings of Izzie were, at the very end of October.

It makes us very uneasy to think about the possibility that this dog -- who the caller has taken in as he's trying to find its owner -- may have accounted for the October sightings of Izzie in Newport. What if Izzie was never in Newport at all? And if she wasn't, then that means that the most recent sightings are even older than those Newport sightings . . .  which are themselves pretty old. This is pretty scary.

So if Izzie hasn't been seen out & about since October 30th or longer, it brings back up the age old question -- does someone have her in their home? If so, where is their home that our efforts haven't reached them yet? What are we missing that we need to be doing to make sure everyone out there knows what number to call if they've seen her? We want her back, no questions asked.

Then again, it also brings up the other age old question -- can she have survived on her own, for four long months, even though she'd been living in a home and being provided with everything she needed, from birth?

There are too many stories floating around of dogs that have survived ten times as long as that on their own, so we know there's no point in deciding that she turned to fairy dust and blew away. Coyotes? Forget about it, we're not going there. She's somewhere. She's trying to make her way home, and can't figure it out. That's why we won't stop looking until she's found.