Randy Travis is the guy in the middle, in case you didn't know.

Reuse Jeans sent out an email today to share pictures from the Jan. 21 grand opening of its new store at the Shops at Park Lane. In the email, they were sure to note how grateful they were that country singer Randy Travis had been able to stop by (see photo above.)

This new photo, and Mr. Travis’ recent Denton County Sheriff’s Department mugshot, have sparked an intra-office disagreement.

Settle the argument: Does he look more like a vampire bat or a vampire from the TV shows Buffy and Angel?

Horse Thieves Hit Camp For Disabled Kids: In the latest installment of crooks who are worse than crooks, two horses have been stolen form Camp El Har, a camp that offers therapy for kids with various disabilities, like autism. Now owners of two other horses on loan to the camp have removed their animals out of fear of further thefts, which has forced the camp to postpone its classes indefinitely.

Will ‘Black Atheist’ Billboard Ruffle Feathers? A group called African Americans for Humanism and the DFW Coalition of Reason will unveil a billboard today which voices support for atheists during African American history month. But while the billboard has already prompted some push-back from South Oak Cliff pastors, pre-event controversy also led to an unexpected act of community service: members of the DFW Coalition of Reason turned out at Pastor Kyev Tatum’s church garden Sunday to help harvest their greens, which will be donated to local food banks. Tatum reconciled the art of charity like this: “the devil might have picked it, but the good lord sent it.”

Fact: Feral hogs are hairy. Another fact: I once copy edited a story where the writer kept referring to Farrell Hogs. It took me most of the article to figure out it wasn’t a person. Context is your friend.

And another fact, just because I adore linking to this because of the last paragraph: If a feral hog and a coyote faced off, don’t necessarily put your money on the coyote.

True human goodness, in all its purity and freedom, can come to the fore only when its recipient has no power. Man­kind’s true moral test, its fundamental test (which lies deeply buried from view), consists of its attitude towards those who are at its mercy: animals.

Me, I find ridiculous what the Dallas Police did to retrieve two dogs from inside a locked car (paywalled story):

Danika Shipman said she checked the outside temperature on her phone. Because the day was mild, she and her husband felt comfortable leaving Copper, 2, and Penny, 6 months, in the car with the windows cracked. The pets had just been fed, she said.

They had heard that some dogs have been stolen from cars after the animals accidentally hit the electronic door lock. So they propped the back folding seats down slightly so Copper and Penny would be confined to the back of the 2011 Hyundai Sonata.

The dogs could still pop their heads out from behind the seats, Danika Shipman said.

Dallas police officer called John Shipman and told him to come outside, his wife said.

When he went to the parking lot, “it looked like a murder scene,” he said. Four police cars, a Dallas Fire-Rescue vehicle and an animal services truck were clustered around their car.

Someone had heard the dogs barking, Hill said, and, “after not seeing anything in the car, they decided that it must be coming from the trunk.”

My husband and I like to take our dog for late-night walks on Katy. He enjoys the smells and chasing the occasional squirrel (the dog that is, not my husband). But I was a little on edge when we went for our walk around 9:30 last night. I’d heard about a coyote sighting. And Miko, our very fluffy Samoyed, looks like an easy target for a hungry coyote. So I kept looking behind us as we walked. We got to just a little more than a quarter mile north of the American Airlines Center, when I turned around and saw him. He was very close, and he was obviously stalking us. He wasn’t bothered when we turned around to look at him, but he did stop, look at us, look at our dog who hadn’t turned around and had no idea what was going on, and then sauntered into the wooded area next to him. The only way back to the car was to pass by where he was. So we carefully made our way and then turned around. We saw him cross the trail and go to the other side. Then he sat and watched us for a while before taking off.

So be careful out there. Keep your dogs close. And surround yourself with people slower than you.

The piece brought back similar memories from one of my hunting episodes. We shot pen-raised birds on a bitterly cold day along the Red River. A temperature in the teens and strong north wind caused continual eye tearing, but the pheasants and chukars flushed reasonably well during the initial session. Later in the morning, our attention turned to the quail which had also been released in the pre-dawn hours. Walking one field, I could see a quail standing like a lone sentinel on a rock still quite a distance away. I was surprised when it failed to fly as I moved within shooting range, and then even as I walked alongside. Upon nudging it with my boot, the frozen quail fell over stiffly on the rock–apparently pen-raised birds do not possess the cold weather survival skills of their wild brethren.—Joe Adams

Ruby is alerting Faith that her blood sugar is not within the 100-180 range. Photo by Type 1 Diabetes Foundation

Often, while in the middle of a deep sleep, I start dreaming about food—sandwiches, doughnuts, steak, peanut butter cups, gnocchi. It doesn’t matter what it is, I dream about it all. Slowly, I start to wake up. And that’s when I realize my blood sugar is low. I stumble into the kitchen, and in a half-conscious state, dig through the pantry and eat. The next morning, I go back to the kitchen and am ashamed of what happened during my “midnight feeding.” It’s amazing what combinations of food seem like a good idea when I’m half-awake. (Apparently, peanut butter goes with everything.)

This is just what life’s like for me, a type 1 diabetic. I was diagnosed when I was 3. Two-year-old Faith Wilson was diagnosed when she was 9-months-old. She doesn’t dream about food when she’s low. She doesn’t wake up. Life for her, her siblings, and her parents has been a nightmare. But things got just a bit easier a year ago when the Wilsons got Ruby, a British Lab.

It was a string of miracles that led the Wilson family to Wildrose Kennels in Oxford, Mississippi, to pick up Ruby. Even though it can take years to match a Diabetic Alert Dog (DAD) to its family, the Wilsons were picked for Ruby within a matter of days. It also takes quite a bit of time to secure the $10,000 this highly trained Lab costs. But, again, through multiple miracles, including the Diabetes Friendly Foundation’s help, the Wilsons were able to go pick up Ruby with money in hand.

That first night was an indication of just how badly the family needed Ruby.

The day had been spent getting to know the young dog. Oddly, 18-month-old Faith’s blood sugar had been normal the whole day. Not once did Ruby alert, which is what she does when Faith’s blood sugar is below 100 or above 180. (Ruby alerts by retrieving a stick called a bringsel, or if she can’t find it because it’s not in its designated place, she takes the glucometer to Faith’s mom. She uses smell to “test” Faith’s levels.) But as the Wilsons got Faith ready for bed, Ruby suddenly alerted. They tested their daughter’s blood sugar. It was 160, a perfectly normal number for her to go to bed with.

Fifteen minutes later, Ruby alerted again. This time, Faith’s blood sugar was 80. Sarah, Faith’s mom, treated the low by giving her some sugar. Fifteen minutes later, Ruby alerted again. This time, Faith was 60. Sarah gave her more sugar. Fifteen minutes later, same thing. But this time, Faith was 50. At this point, Sarah began crying. “This is exactly the help we needed,” she says. Fifteen more minutes pass, but this time, Ruby doesn’t alert. Sarah takes Faith’s blood sugar anyway. It’s up to 110. “We started off with a bang with Ruby,” Sarah says.

Before Ruby, Sarah says, their lives were difficult. Sarah would set her alarm clock to go off every two hours during the night so she could get up to test Faith’s blood sugar levels. “We needed some kind of help,” she says. “I really didn’t think she was going to make it if something didn’t happen.” That something was Ruby. “I can count on my fingers the number of times she missed an alert,” Sarah says. “She has made the most difference.”

I tell you all this because the Diabetes Friendly Foundation, which provides money for diabetic children to obtain a DAD, is having a benefit this Saturday at F.I.G. If you’d like to learn more about DADs or the event, go here. If you’d like to hear of some great midnight recipes involving peanut butter and pickles (yes, that’s actually happened), shoot me an email.