WRW? - Episode 3 - “The Mountain”

Written By Diane Thomas
1400x1400_Who Rescued Whom Podcast Cover Art.jpg

Summary - Today we will be sharing the story of Angela, a working mother, and her daughter Adelaide, a nursing school student and working emergency medical technician, who were living in New Jersey in 2018. Their story is one of a series of unfortunate events, leading to a serendipitous ending, resulting in a mutual rescue of lives and relationships. We love this story and we hope you will too!

“The Mountain” ~ Episode 3 - Show Notes
Summary - Today we will be sharing the story of Angela, a working mother, and her daughter Adelaide, a nursing school student and working emergency medical technician, who were living in New Jersey in 2018. Their story is one of a series of unfortunate events, leading to a serendipitous ending, resulting in a mutual rescue of lives and relationships. We love this story! 

….See below for a full script for the hearing impaired…..

Episode Highlights/Takeaways

  • Josh Hopkins Quote - (at 12:40 - 12:54) Josh Hopkins, an American TV and film actor says, and I quote, “The perfect rescue dog is out there for everybody, you just have to find it.”

  • Donation - (at 13:11 - 14:19) - With each episode, in honor of our guests, the Who Rescued Whom? Canine Rescue Tales Podcast makes a $25 donation to the rescue of their choice. We are happy to make this episode’s donation to Puppies and More Rescue of South Jersey - Puppies and More Rescue of South Jersey, is an adoption and foster home network. They are a nonprofit group of volunteers dedicated to rescuing dogs, puppies, and other animals that are doomed due to overcrowding in shelters, abandonment, or because they are just unwanted pets. They provide immediate medical attention as well as loving foster homes. Each animal is socialized and evaluated in a family setting. After taking care of immediate needs, they show their animals on their website and Facebook so they can find their forever home through adoption. You can find a link to Puppies and More Rescue of South Jersey and see pictures of Wesley, by going to the episode page on our website WhoRescuedWhom.com.

  • Subcribe and Review - (at 15:03 - 15:18) Please subscribe and review our podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube.

  • Who Rescued Whom? Canine Rescue Tales is Seeking Sponsorships & Support - (at 15:19 - 15:58) The Who Rescued Whom? Canine Rescue Tales Podcast is seeking sponsors and supporters. If you’d like to sponsor an episode, or several, please email us at info@whorescuedwhom.com. Or, if you love our show, and just wish to support us in creating more great content, please consider visiting https://www.buymeacoffee.com/whorescuedwhom, where you can support us by buying us a coffee or puppaccino! Each $3 Cup of Coffee, or Puppaccino, represents the 3+ million dogs that enter animal shelters each and every year here in the United States.

  • Production Note - (at 16:02 - End) - This podcast was edited and produced by Mike McClellan at podcastps.com. Mike also wrote, performed, and produced all the original music that you heard on this episode.

  • SCRIPT ~ created for the hearing impaired, can be found on the Episode Page of our website, WhoRescuedWhom.com (Click Read More next to Episode 3)

WRW? Canine Rescue Tales Script - Episode 3 ~  “The Mountain”

This script, for the hearing impaired, was created using the online platform Descript, then edited.

INTRODUCTION MUSIC ~ 

Host - Diane Thomas -  It's the Who Rescued Whom? Canine Rescue Tales Podcast, and we’re your hosts, Diane and John. Today we will be sharing the story of Angela, a working mother, and her daughter Adelaide, a nursing school student and working emergency medical technician, who were living in New Jersey in 2018. Their story is one of a series of unfortunate events, leading to a serendipitous ending, resulting in a mutual rescue of lives and relationships. We love the story. 

Host - John Thomas - This twisted tale begins in Philadelphia, where Angela was attending a funeral. She dropped some friends off at a hotel, following the service.

MUSIC FADES OUT

Guest - Angela (Mother) - I parked underneath the carport, went into the hotel, was three minutes long, and when I came back, my wallet was gone and my purse was gone. That was the beginning of the story.

Host - John Thomas - Angela knew she had lots to do to get herself back in order, canceling credit cards, getting a replacement license and cell phone. She was under a time crunch too. As two days later, Angela and Adelaide, and we're supposed to be leaving on a mother daughter trip to Tennessee. Angela called her husband, Michael, who was working in Saudi Arabia at the time, to discuss her troubles and predicament. She was thinking of outright canceling the trip with Adelaide, but… 

Guest - Angela - My husband had seen that we were drifting apart and needed some time to spend together. And he said, no, I, I think you still need to go. 

Host - John Thomas - So Angela spent the next day replacing her missing items. And then the following day, she and Adelaide flew into Nashville. Part of the reason for the girls' trip, in addition to the fun, was that they wanted to look at some houses in the Chattanooga area as a possible area where Angela and Michael's future retirement might be. Angela and Adelaide got into the rental car to start heading to their hotel, and that's when they discovered a problem with their cell phone.

Guest - Angela - It came to my attention that we didn't have data.

Host - John Thomas - Another unfortunate event, but one that we'll find out later was really a blessing in disguise.

MUSIC ~

Host - John Thomas - Here's Adelaide. 

MUSIC FADES OUT

Guest - Adelaide (Daughter) - Yes. So at the time my brothers and I shared phone data and they had been streaming to YouTube or Netflix or games or something that had completely wiped out the data and for our phone plan, for some reason, I couldn't use the GPS properly unless I had data. 

Host - John Thomas - So, although their cell phone mapping app wasn't working all that well, they were able to get to their hotel to check in, and then…

Guest - Adelaide - And they told us you can't check in. And we're like, what? Why? 

Host - John Thomas - Turns out Michael, Angela's husband, booked the room with his credit card from Saudi Arabia. The hotel clerk was adamant that the name on the reservation and the name on the credit card must match. Finally, after two hours worth of phone calls and conversations with managers, they were allowed to check in. After a good night's sleep, and with their recent troubles behind them, they headed out to Chattanooga the next morning.

Host - Diane Thomas - Not so fast, as they were leaving Nashville, the check engine light came on in their rental car. So they took it to the car rental location to exchange for a different vehicle. 

Host - John Thomas - They arrived in Chattanooga to check into their hotel. Well, tried to check into their hotel and guess what? It's Deja Vu all over again. They can’t. Something about a guy named Michael and credit cards not matching. Finally, they get checked in, get some dinner and relax for the rest of the evening. They departed the hotel the next morning to meet with their realtor at a house they wanted to see that it was near the top of a mountain. As they drove up the mountain Adelaide checked her bank account using her cell phone. Unbelievably, the rental company charged her for an entire new booking, and, an additional 500 bucks. 

Guest - Adelaide - So being a nursing student on an EMT salary, I was like, I can't, I can't do that! I was freaking out. My a’A’ type personality, I'm like, that's wrong. This needs to be fixed. Who do I need to talk to? 

Host - John Thomas - They continued up the mountain and at the house, her phone rings, the realtor is going to be an hour late, figures. Needing something to do for the next hour, they decided to find a coffee or snack shop to grab a bite to eat. So as the mountain top house was in a remote area they headed back down the mountain. Since Adelaide was still upset that the lack of phone data was causing GPS problems, and about the rental car overcharge situation, she got out her phone and tried calling them, and of course, the phone call dropped. 

Guest - Angela - Everything's going to work out. Okay. And she's like, turn around, go back up the mountain. 

Host - John Thomas - So back up the mountain they go in search of a better cell signal. 

Guest - Angela - So we turned back up and we're about three quarters up and all of a sudden we see a white, fluffy rabbit. But it wasn't a rabbit.

MUSIC FADES IN/OUT ~

Guest - Adelaide - It was one of those moments where I had always like, just in my mind, just ever since I could drive just thinking, well, what if I find a dogg, what would I do? And it was like, in that moment I was driving thought it was, uh, a bunny or a cat. And then we saw that it was a puppy and it was like, my dream is coming true right now!

Host - John Thomas - Adelaide jumped out of the car before she even stopped and went looking for the puppy, but couldn't find it, when all of a sudden

Guest - Adelaide - I turned around and this little dog came up to me and literally jumped into my arms and started crying. 

Host - John Thomas - They both looked at this little dog and wondered why a puppy was out here in a remote area, all alone.

Host - Diane Thomas - They looked to see if there were any others, but there weren’t. This puppy was starving. His ribs were showing and it needed water. They remembered that they had passed a horse trough on the way up the mountain so drove back to it to get this little guy some water, which he lapped up very quickly.

Host - John Thomas - They decided they needed to get him to a vet, so their realtor gave them the name of her vet and they headed down the mountain. After whining nonstop for 10 minutes…

Guest - Adelaide - He settled down and he fell asleep almost immediately. You could just tell he was exhausted. 

Host - John Thomas - The vet told them that if this dog had spent another night or two out there on the mountain, that he likely would have died from exhaustion, he was that weak. Adelaide, without expressing it to her mom, knew from that moment, this dog, to be named Wesley, that jumped into her arms, was going to be hers. Privately, Angela wasn't so sure.

MUSIC FADES IN/OUT ~

Guest - Angela - I'm not a touchy feely person with dogs. That's because when I was being raised, we would get a puppy and it would have diarrhea or something, and before long, the dog was being packed up and going to the woods to meet “somebody”. And as a child, you just don't realize that it's getting dumped. 

Host - John Thomas - Angela says her mom was a good person and always meant well, but at times she must've gotten overwhelmed with the responsibilities and costs of keeping dogs and chose to simply abandon them in the woods, probably thinking they would find a way to survive.

MUSIC FADES IN/OUT ~

Host - John Thomas - Perhaps dog shelters were not as available as they are today. But in today's modern world, with internet access, there is no reason to abandon any pet or domesticated animal. 

Host - Diane Thomas - According to a 2018 story in the Des Moines register, deserting animals isn't new or unique in the United States. A woman was arrested east of Springfield, Missouri in July of 2018, after surveillance video showed her dumping a dog, which chased her vehicle as it drove away. And, at least 18 Labrador puppies were dumped in upstate New York, in June of 2018. Animals are most commonly dumped in rural areas like farms and forested areas; older and injured animals are more likely to get dumped because people don't want to take care of them anymore. It's very sad, and unnecessary, as there are organizations all over the United States who will take them in. 

MUSIC ~

Host - John Thomas - One simply has to call a shelter and they can take the pet and can give it a great chance at being adopted and living a full, happy, productive life, a life that could change your life. Consider rescuing a dog.

MUSIC FADES OUT

Host - John Thomas - Angela continues her story. 

Guest - Angela - But as an adult, I just didn't really want to get close to any dogs because I had a history of that, and I always felt really guilty and ashamed and upset. You know how you just don't realize you're like that, you're feeling those things. But when we got Wesley and Adelaide was picking like 20 ticks off of him and he was so desperate, that something broke inside me. He needed us and, you know, I needed him.

Host - John Thomas - After they left the vet, they drove back up the mountain, both to look for more puppies and, they remembered passing a sign about a lost dog and they wanted to be sure it wasn't this lost dog. They found the sign and to their relief, it wasn't Wesley.

MUSIC ~

Guest - Angela - So I said, okay, he is free. He is ours now.

Host - John Thomas - That was two years ago. Today, Wesley is thriving and is moving to Arizona to be with Adelaide. During our interview, Adelaide fondly reminisced about how ironic it was that the series of unfortunate events led them to meeting and rescuing Wesley. 

MUSIC FADES OUT

Guest - Angela - The timing of everything was, we had it, it really was, it was like we had all of these, bad things, and these unlucky things keep happening. But if I hadn't had no data and a poor cell phone service, I wouldn't have turned around. If I hadn't had had the car double charge me or break down, I wouldn't be on the phone and had to have turned around. Like it was just crazy. Every unlucky thing led to that decision to turn around. And that's, that's how we found him. 

Host - John Thomas - Wesley changed them as individuals, as well as healed their mother daughter relationship. 

Host - Diane Thomas - Angela's family has a special Christmas tradition each year, where, before they open gifts, they do a little sharing. And during one particular Christmas, after rescuing Wesley, Angela, and Adelaide discovered something about their relationship, that Wesley had indeed helped heal their hearts.

MUSIC ~

Host - Diane Thomas - So who rescued, whom?

MUSIC FADES OUT

Guest - Angela - Wesley rescued us! I was telling my husband, I said, you know, God is so wonderful in the fact that in this dog, there is nothing He could have used that would have really bonded us back together. But a puppy, that you find together, that you share, his story is, it’s just amazing. And so we're really blessed to have this Westley dog,

MUSIC ~

Host - Diane Thomas - Josh Hopkins, an American TV and film actor says, and I quote, “The perfect rescue dog is out there for everybody, you just have to find it.” 

MUSIC FADES OUT

Host - Diane Thomas - Angela's family has lived all over the world to include Saudi Arabia and 13 years in Australia. There are several rescues they have helped along the way, but Adelaide highlighted the work of one in particular called Puppies and More Rescue of South Jersey, an adoption and foster home network. They are a nonprofit group of volunteers dedicated to rescuing dogs, puppies, and other animals that are doomed due to overcrowding in shelters, abandonment, or because they are just unwanted pets. They provide immediate medical attention as well as loving foster homes. Each animal is socialized and evaluated in a family setting. After taking care of immediate needs, they show their animals on their website and Facebook so they can find their forever home through adoption. The Who Rescued Whom? Canine Rescue Tales Podcast will be making a $25 donation to Puppies and More Rescue of South Jersey in honor of Angela, Adelaide, and of course their wonderful rescue, Wesley. You can find a link to Puppies and More Rescue of South Jersey and pictures of Wesley, by going to our website WhoRescuedWhom.com.

MUSIC ~

Host - John Thomas - Dogs, with their unassuming trusting spirits, capture our hearts and cause us to envy them in many ways. They can sense the goodness in us, even when we can't and they help to bring it out. They live in the moment, but can heal our past. They give us cause to look towards tomorrow because they depend on us, they ground us, and they become a daily touchstone for what's important in life, family, good food, playtime and laughter. Long Live Dogs!

Host - Diane Thomas - You can find this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, YouTube, and Spotify. Thanks for listening, and if you love the show, please subscribe.  And feel free to leave us a positive review on your favorite listening platform!

Host - John Thomas - The Who Rescued Whom? Canine Rescue Tales Podcast is seeking sponsors and supporters.  If you’d like to sponsor an episode, or several, please email us at info@whorescuedwhom.com.  Or, if you love our show, and just wish to support us in creating more great content, please consider visiting https://www.buymeacoffee.com/whorescuedwhom, where you can support us by buying us a coffee or puppaccino! Each $3 Cup of Coffee, or Puppaccino, represents the 3+ million dogs that enter animal shelters each and every year here in the United States.

Host - Diane Thomas - This podcast was edited and produced by Mike McClellan atpodcastps.com. Mike also wrote, performed and produced all the original music that you heard on this episode.

MUSIC FADES OUT

This script, for the hearing impaired, was created using the online platform Descript, then edited by Diane Thomas

Diane Thomas
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WRW? - Episode 2 - “Potcake”