Talk about the Domino Effect!  I had just turned 67 and my last greyhound had crossed the Rainbow Bridge.  Mortality seemed to be staring at me smack in the face and it was the first time in 40 years that I was dog-less.  So I decided to travel by air for the first time since pre-dogs.  After an ill-fated trip to Costa Rica, I realized air travel most definitely wasn’t the same as it was in the ‘70’s.  In fact, any kind of travel wasn’t as much fun without dogs.  So I got out my laptop and stumbled on the GALTx website.  Literally immediately, Elixar’s face popped up.  I just knew she was The One.  After applying and having been given fair warnings about Elixar and her history, I met the wonderful Julie and Rick Waller in Austin and they handed her over to me like a nuclear warhead.  With instructions to drive straight to Brownsville, no bathroom stops, I drove her home.  On the way, I discussed with her (actually, I was doing all the talking, she wasn’t saying much) a name and came up with Bonnie Blue.  We settled in her new home and developed a routine based on her needs and my wants: food bowl in bedroom where she slept (at first, reluctantly) with me, moving it further down the hallway, and finally! to the kitchen; letting her explore the yard on a leash until she felt comfortable on her own (see photo) and walkies around the neighborhood.  Soon after came the Pandemic.  Hunter S. Thompson once said, “When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro.”  And Bonnie was a pro.  I followed her lead and we survived the isolation and tedium together in a grand ole manner, learning a lot about each other, established healthy and happy routines and grew to love and understand one another.  Never a boring day.  Then came the Ice Storm of February 2021. My flip phone wouldn’t work for technical “overload” reasons and the landline was out.  A GALTx owner nearby had keeled over and his two greyhounds urgently needed a foster home.  I was the only available GALTx contact in the Brownsville area but I was unreachable!  After a game of telephone tag between GALTx and my local contacts from my adoption application, I finally got the message delivered by bicycle and welcomed Lefty and Gracie into my home.  After this experience, I finally got a Smartphone.  Then I joined Facebook for the first time just as everybody else was getting off of it.  I hooked up with GALTx Facebook page and, later, all local lost pet sites. In 2022, Susie contacted me about a greyhound pup who was being rehomed up the Valley.  I picked her up and she eventually became my Isabel (GALTx’ Elizabeth).  In 2024, I was contacted by a Brownsville resident who, after seeing my posts online, notified me of a stray greyhound being attacked by pitbulls in Brownsville.  This led to another rescue mission that produced Sir Mick who quickly won my heart and I adopted him. Then, in January 2026, I was alerted to an elusive stray greyhound in the Harlingen area.  With the help of my Facebook contacts’ reported sightings, I tracked her from Harlingen to Brownsville, to San Benito, to Port Isabel and finally to Long Island Village, near South Padre Island, where she was secured by a patient gentleman who had heard of her, by this time, in the multitude of my postings on the various Facebook sites. I took her to the vet and then she was transported to Dallas by a group of well-organized GALTx volunteers, including Brownsville resident Traci Wickett who transported her on the first leg of the trip. She was named Fantasma, “ghost” in Spanish by Julie Waller and now is safe and awaiting adoption.  Whew!  I now live with Isabel, Sir Mick and Louis, a very hairy stray that I found on rainy Sunday morning while taking Gracie to the park. So, if not for Bonnie Blue, I wouldn’t have discovered GALTx, gotten to know Traci Wickett and Julie and Rick, rescued Lefty and Gracie, gotten a Smartphone, signed on to Facebook, rescued and adopted Louis, Isabel and Sir Mick, found Fantasma, and had all the wonderful experiences of reading everybody’s posts about their Greyt hounds.  Bonnie Blue peacefully crossed the Rainbow Bridge on April 11, 2022 but she left behind quite a legacy.  If not for Bonnie Blue…