Reading Recommendations: Saved, Rescued Animals and The Lives They Transform, Karin Winegar, photographs by Judy Olansen, Foreword by Jane Goodall, Preface by Temple Grandin.

"This book is about people trying to heal the damage done to animals and how animals heal suffering human beings. Some people do it one animal at a time, making room in their urban backyards, basements, and bedrooms. Others have carved out refuges for creatures in shopping malls, nursing homes, and even jails. Still others help by trying to pass legislation that would hold breeders accountable, require wide scale spaying and neutering, ban dog fighting, and prevent horses from being shipped to slaughter.

The stories are about the animals who sit in their laps, lick their hands, and sleep in their beds, who return from abuse and starvation to some degree of health and trust, who repay immeasurably the favors done to them. Because what rescued animals do best and most astonishingly is forgive. They may or may not forget what was done to them - how could they? But they invariably forgive. Somewhere between memory and expectation (as author and horsewoman Jane Smiley characterizes animal and human relationships), they manage to revive their trust in and love for humans, even though certain people have hurt them grievously." - From the Introduction.

And, The Gun That Wasn't There, Russell S. Smith, Retired Texas Police Chief.

Everyday people cross the Rio Grande River and enter into Texas and the United States illegally. Most of these men and women are hardworking individuals in search of a job and a better way of life. But ever so often one of these people is a criminal who preys on their unsuspecting victims, such was the case in the 1960's with Alfredo Amador Hernandez.

Hernandez was a bandit whose burglaries and armed robberies, and at least one attempted murder, brought fear and anger into different areas of Real, Uvalde, Val Verde and Terrell Counties. Excerpts of his major crimes were written about within the pages of the Uvalde Leader News, Del Rio News Herald, the Sanderson Times, Odessa American, Corpus Christi Caller-Times, San Angelo Standard Times, and the San Antonio Express-News, but there is so much more to this part of Texas history.

This story is also about the victims, the people who lived in these counties and the difficulty of the terrain. It is about the law enforcement officers and their posses who pursued the man with their limited resources, and it is about Bill Cooksey, the former Terrell County Sheriff who first told this writer about Hernandez.

Even though a few discrepancies were found and memories may not have been as sharp as they were back in the 60's, The Gun That Wasn't There would give the reader an historical account of what some might call the legend of the Caveman Bandit.

And, The Centurion's Wife, David Bunn and Janette Oke.

A Sweeping Saga of the Dramatic Events surrounding the birth of Christianity and the very personal story of Leah, compelled into a betrothal she never wanted, drawn by a faith she never expected.

When her family's wealth and power are lost forever, Leah is sent to Pontius Pilate in hopes he might arrange a strategic marriage. But despite her betrothed's striking countenance and position, Leah deems life as a centurion's wife a fate worse then death.

Head of the garrison near Galilee, Alban has ambitions that could one day see him at the seat of power-in Rome itself. Eager to prove himself, he takes on the assignment of a lifetime, one that will put his career, his beliefs, and his very life at risk.

But when the death, and missing body, of an obscure Rabbi compel Leah and Alban to search for answers, what they discover, changes everything.

See you at Rylander!