Up the road from the Rondarosa, lives Doug and his family. We have known each other since childhood and now, in the years of our maturity, he is a wonderful neighbor, proving his helpfulness time after time. A few of those times, when I’ve had to call him for help, involved barbed wire wrapped around the blades of the mower. Once, we rescued what we thought was an injured puppy that actually turned out to be a coyote, the very animal we try to protect our farms from. And another time – this was almost downright historic and did wind up making the front page of the newspaper – we teamed to help lower the boom on a band of crooks that had long plagued several counties. One Saturday in mid-February, Doug called. “I hate to bother y’all but we’re out of town and my mother-in-law is house-sitting. Our little dog has gotten loose so if you’d keep an eye out for her, I’d appreciate it.” When the call ended, I turned to Tink. “We have to go and look for that dog right now. Doug has been too good a neighbor. And I know from experience, it’s a terrible feeling to be gone and have something like this happen.”