We often talk about how great it is to live in a small town. Our postal carrier, who we know by first name, will often bring our mail to the house if we have a package too big for the mailbox (which is down on a main road). Our UPS and Fed Ex drivers often call to see if we are home before trying to deliver a package. If we aren’t, we figure out a place for them to drop off the packages so that we can get them later. Once, we heard a honk and it was the Fed Ex driver who ran up to our car and delivered a package while we were at an intersection.

All of this is to say we really thank them for all of their hard work and don’t think like this:

We also want to be clear that Typhoon, despite his appetite for envelopes, did NOT have anything to do with this. In other words, “the dog ate my mail” will NOT be our excuse.

Before we started the Valentines Hearts for The Herd Contest, we opened a PO Box. Completed all of the paper work, paid for the box, and picked up our keys. We had been diligently checking the PO Box waiting for the first Valentines to arrive.

Thursday night, we received the first message. A mailed Valentine had been returned marked “not deliverable as addressed.” Visited the post office Friday morning and found out that despite having all of the paperwork, they had forgotten to “open” the PO Box. Ack!

Hopefully, we caught this before too many Valentines get returned. If yours rebounds back to you, please re-send. We have full assurances that the PO Box is open, the address we have been posting is correct, and your Valentines will come through!

The good news is that we received our first valentines. Here is our leaderboard:

Qannik is in the lead with 2 cards and $40 raised so far! Most importantly, the first day total shows we have raised $60 so far for Sarge’s!

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Hurry and get your Valentines in the mail! Please enclose a check or money order to Sarge’s Animal Rescue Foundation.  Sarge’s helped over 1100 animals find new homes in 2013 – yes, that is an average of 3 every single day – so your money will be going to a terrific cause.  You can click that link to find out all about Sarge’s.

In addition to tallying both the number of Valentines and money raised by each member of The Herd, we will select one of the Valentines and award that lucky reader the Grand Prize donated by Smoky Mountain Dog Bakery!

Typhoon checking out the Grand Prize that one lucky reader will receive!

So get those Valentines in the mail to:

Dog’s Name
c/o The Thundering Herd
PO Box 1835
Maggie Valley, NC  28751-1835

By the way, many of you have said you are having a problem selecting only one member of The Herd. We are quite sure that Sarge’s will gladly accept a donation for as many Valentines that you wish to mail !!!! Or, you can always just mail a Valentine to the whole Herd. The real winners, after all, are the 3 animals that Sarge’s saves EVERY SINGLE DAY.