Jeanette Mellish of Arden Circle, Clemmons, came by The Courier office Tuesday to place a lost dog item knowing there was little hope her faithful black cocker spaniel, Molly, is alive.

The aging, sick dog just drifted away Thanksgiving night while Jeanette had her outside in the dark.

The dog had always been her shadow.

Molly was taking 14 pills a day, had heart problems, couldn’t hear and didn’t see well.

Would the dog deliberately drift away to die?

“I’ve checked almost every lawn and under every bush,” Mrs. Mellish said. “I can’t help believing she’s dead. Bless her little old heart.”

She apologized for being so sentimental.

“The house is so empty without her. I’ve got a cat I love just as much.”

She got the dog 12 years ago as a rescue animal.

Molly rarely barked and stayed close to Mrs. Mellish, who fed her ravioli.

“I’d give anything to have her back or at least give her a burial. My beautiful little dog. I loved her. Molly.”

She hopes a child doesn’t discover the dog dead.

There was a time when I would have thought Mrs. Mellish was too sentimental. I was young and stupid then.

If you find Molly, call Mrs. Mellish at 766-9694.

 ‘Got Milk’ Mustaches Hard to Reproduce

 I have new respect for the “Got Milk” campaign folks.

Who knew it was so difficult to make a photogenic milk moustache?

I was social director for the family Thanksgiving gathering — 45 people crammed inside the house with 40-degree temperatures outside. In honor of the dairy cows of our youth, we did Holstein things with my mom’s dozen great-grandchildren. They drew cow pictures, mooed a little and admired my life-sized cardboard cow.

The milk mustaches were disappointingly thin and runny. I tried melted ice cream, whipped cream, Elmer’s Glue and shaving cream with mixed results.

The whipped cream sagged. The shaving cream melted. Mothers wouldn’t let me near their babies’ mouths with glue. The children tended to drink the melted ice cream rather than let it sit on their upper lip.

I had advertised our gathering as the Running of the Calves. The great-grandchildren came prepared for our first ever Cul-de-Sac Clop. We sent them running down the street to get them tired before taking a family picture.

Getting them assembled was a chore. We had 45, but there were 15 others missing

 Traveling To Finger

 Similar to the many Moravians in Forsyth County, Rowan is full of Lutherans. We took a cross-country trip to young Sam Robertson’s birthday party in the Albemarle County community of Finger on Saturday and passed a lot of Lutheran churches along the way. From Salisbury, we went through Faith, past the historic Organ Lutheran Church, established in 1792, and through the beautiful countryside until we reached Mt. Pleasant, which lived up to its name.

Finger is on N.C. 73. Farmhouses are marked with windmills in the area. It must be plenty windy there. We returned by way of Richfield, Rockwell, Misenheimer and Granite Quarry, little towns with a few stoplights built more than a century ago along the railroad tracks.

We took the scenic route. No Interstates. Lots of farmhouses and little towns the heart of America.

– Dwight Sparks