Old Cowboy, Heaven and Hell

An old cowboy was riding his trusty horse followed by his faithful dog along an unfamiliar road.
The man was enjoying the new scenery, when he suddenly remembered dying, and realized that the dog beside him had been dead for years, as had his horse.
Confused, he wondered what was happening, and where the trail was leading them.

After a while, they came to a high, white stone wall that looked like fine marble.
At the top of a long hill, it was broken by a tall arch topped by a golden letter "H" that glowed in the sunlight.

Standing before it, he saw a magnificent gate in the arch that looked like mother-of-pearl, and the street that led to the gate looked like gold.

He rode toward the gate, and as he got closer, he saw a man at a desk to one side.
Parched and tired out by his journey, he called out, "Excuse me, where are we?"

"This is Heaven, sir," the man answered.

"Wow! Would you happen to have some water?" the man asked.

"Of course, sir. Come right in and I'll have some ice water brought right up."

As the gate began to open, the cowboy asked, “May I bring my partners too?"

"I'm sorry, sir, but we don't accept pets."

The cowboy thought for a moment, then turned back to the road and continued riding, his dog trotting by his side.

After another long ride, at the top of another hill, he came to a dirt road leading through a ranch gate that looked as if it had never been closed.
As he approached the gate, he saw a man inside leaning against a tree and reading a book.

"Excuse me," he called to the man, “Do you have any water?"

"Sure, there's a pump right over there; help yourself."

"How about my friends here?” the traveler asked, gesturing to the dog and his horse.

"Of course! They look thirsty, too," said the man.

The trio went through the gate, and sure enough, there was an old-fashioned hand pump with buckets beside it.
The traveler filled a cup and the buckets with wonderfully cool water and took a long drink, as did his horse and dog.
When they were full, he walked back to the man who was still standing by the tree.
"What do you call this place?" the traveler asked.

"This is Heaven," he answered.

"That's confusing,” the traveler said. "The man down the road said that was Heaven, too."

"Oh, you mean the place with the glitzy, gold street and fake pearly gates?
That's hell."

"Doesn't it make you angry when they use your name like that?"

"Not at all. Actually, we're happy they screen out the folks who would leave their friends behind."


Sometimes, we wonder why friends forward things to us without writing a word.
Maybe this explains it:

When you're busy, but still want to keep in touch, you can forward e-mails.
When you have nothing to say, but still want to keep in contact, you can forward jokes. When you have something to say, but don't know exactly how, you can forward stuff.
A 'forward' lets you know that you're still remembered, still important, still cared about.

So the next time you get a ‘forward,' don't think of it as just another joke.
Realize that you've been thought of today and that your friend on the other end just wanted to send you a smile.

PS: You're welcome at my watering hole anytime.

Cocoa Shell Mulch - Dangerous to PETS!

I know you all are smart pet owners and probably already know this, but if you don’t, please DO NOT use cocoa shell mulch….

Share this with all the pet owners you know and ask them to do the same - the information you take a few minutes to share might prevent the senseless loss of other pets.

Please tell every dog or cat owner you know. Even if you don't have a pet, please pass this to those who do.

Over the weekend, the doting owner of two young lab mixes purchased Cocoa Mulch from Target to use in their garden. The dogs loved the way it smelled and it was advertised to keep cats away from their garden. Their dog (Calypso) decided the mulch smelled good enough to eat and devoured a large helping. She vomited a few times which was typical when she eats something new but wasn't acting lethargic in any way. The next day, Mom woke up and took Calypso out for her morning walk . Half way through the walk, she had a seizure and died instantly.

Although the mulch had NO warnings printed on the label, upon further investigation on the company's web site,

this product is HIGHLY toxic to dogs and cats.

Cocoa Mulch is manufactured by Hershey's, and they claim that "It is true that studies have shown that 50% of the dogs that eat Cocoa Mulch can suffer physical harm to a variety of degrees (depending on each individual dog). However, 98% of all dogs won't eat it."
*Snopes site gives the following information: http://www.snopes.com/critters/crusader/cocoamulch.asp *

Cocoa Mulch, which is sold by Home Depot, Foreman's Garden Supply and other Garden supply stores contains a lethal ingredient called 'Theobromine'. It is lethal to dogs and cats. It smells like chocolate and it really attracts dogs. They will ingest this stuff and die. Several deaths already occurred in the last 2-3 weeks.

Theobromine is in all chocolate, especially dark or baker's chocolate which is toxic to dogs. Cocoa bean shells contain potentially toxic quantities of theobromine, a xanthine compound similar in effects to caffeine and theophylline. A dog that ingested a lethal quantity of garden mulch made from cacao bean shells developed severe convulsions and died 17 hours later. Analysis of the stomach contents and the ingested cacao bean shells revealed the presence of lethal amounts of theobromine.

**PLEASE PASS THIS ON**