After the long silence.....

I can now tell you some news as to why.......

Today, after helping police with their enquiries, the lady (if you can call her that) Kath who apparently sighted Jacob on the 18th March with a man in Stanborough Lakes, Welwyn, was arrested and charged on 6 counts of Fraud, and 2 unrelated cases.
She was a parasite delving into retired persons lives, and defrauding them of money for investment and for fake cancer treatment.
She is a career criminal, one of the lowest forms of person that can walk the earth.
She never had cancer, something she claimed she was taking treatment for currently,
alongside that and the deception, most probably had she ever seen Jacob.

She had become an arms length 'friend' to us these past few months, offering us hope and getting us running about Welwyn in order that we spot someone walking our dog.
Hell, she even had Jon rushing back from Coventry one day on the knowledge that a fishing match was taking place, and that the man with Jacob would no doubt be there.
The time, hope, and money invested in her web of lies and deceit were purely there for her to worm her way into our lives and hopefully groom us in order to defraud.

Good thing is that we never trusted her, deep down we knew there was a hug niggle about that woman. I tried desperately to trust her, but things just didn't make sense, and things she said to us made us question her motives.
Knowing my maiden name without me having ever told her it, raised eyebrows.
She was obviously seeking information about my family, possibly with a view to defraud them.

Her home is not her home, it's a place where she rents a room, her car, is not her car, it's a friends car.
All a web of lies.
She even was arrested under another name, and by Midlands Police unit.

The whole thing has been deeply upsetting for us.
I know that in the great scheme of things we have come away without any losses other than that in time and hope but it hurts just as deeply as if someone had robbed us of every penny we had.
We now have no starting place to find our boy, no doubt he was never in the Welwyn area, and even if she (once questioned this week) tell the Police she definitely didn't make up the sighting, then how do we ever believe her.
I guess we will know as she will have to give the name of the man she said had had him and Police will investigate them too if they actually exist (which I very much doubt they did)

Such a terrible twist of fete we could have well done without.

No sightings in all these months is just leaving us at a loss as to what to do next, where to look next. What else can we do other that live in the hope that if someone, somewhere has Jacob, they will slip up and he will be seen and reported.

Meanwhile, the ever loyal Ginger Army will continue to email vets, and Dog Wardens nationwide to alert them to his being missing.
Once we are able legally, we will try to alert the papers of the evil twist in the the tale that's occurred, and reason that the 'angle' they needed is now there to allow him some much needed press attention.

Thoughts are in our heads as to maybe he did succumb to the weather back in January, or was shot by the farmers for pestering their livestock or game.
We just have so many conspiracy theories too.....the mind just ticks over at a rate of knots given half the chance, and comes up with all sorts, but no definite answers sadly.

One things for sure though, we will never give up and that deep lodged area of hope in our hearts will be there forever.
We now just wait, and hope for answers, some closure in one way or another.

Microchip Madness ??

Have 2 weeks really passed us by ?

Surely not .........

The past 2 weeks have been what I can only express as quiet, sad, and deeply frustrating.

There hasn't been one call from anyone sighting our boy, nor has there been any news whatsoever from Welwyn.....to say we are at loss........ well it's really the truth.

What happens next ? Where do we go to from here ?

Well what happens next is that we carry on, and continue to be pro-active.

Set those publicity cogs whirring into action, and alert vets, rescues and dog wardens again, as well as re-alert those people we initially made contact with that Jacob is still out there, missing.

One thing I have to tell you is that we have be lucky enough to get 4 A4 pages of coverage in two of the UK's leading dog magazines, Dogs Monthly and Dogs Today both covered our appeal and story for Jacob and we truly cannot Thank Beverley and Caroline enough for this.

Both magazine copies are available now if you want to read the article. It's the June editions.

We didn't know both would run the article, but we are pleased all the same that Jacob has been able to gain this much needed publicity.

http://www.dogstodaymagazine.co.uk/ http://www.dogsmonthly.co.uk/

The huge audience that they cover between them will hopefully reach out further for Jacob to be seen somewhere, and we can be alerted of him perhaps being unknowingly with a new owner who is looking at the magazines for new dog ownership help.

These past weeks have taught us a huge lesson too.

To not get complacent that almost everyone who needs to know our dog is missing knows....

.....Spread the word he is still missing comes across very clear.

We have had 3 calls in from members of the public who have read the article and whom have had differing stories of their dogs being taken, be that lost or stolen, and whom have eventually been rescued by dog rescues, and vets, and whom have all been microchipped.

These dogs were either sent on to rescue kennels, having been passed first to a local vet, or they have gone the whole hog so to speak, and have fully experienced the rehome procedure.

All good, but with one common problem......they have been rehomed with the original owners chip still intact.

One poor lady who called us telling of her a 4 month old rare breed dog who had been stolen, and that she was pretty sure she knew where her puppy was, and was 99% sure who had taken him.

Armed with this information sh went to the police, but unfortunately they were helpless at that time, and were not able to be of help for many months sadly.

This lady, well she had to pretty much sit back and wait it out.

Meanwhile she was trawling the streets daily in case these thieves slipped up, and in the hope of seeing her boy, this situation only culminating in him getting found by police, when finally the premises where he and others were kept were raided by police.

You would hope that was the end of her ordeal, knowing that this puppy was only 4 months old when stolen, but no, this pup was taken to the vets to be checked, microchipped, then passed to this large scale rescue. Remember here that he is already microchipped by the original owner.

It was only the final vet check prior to rehome procedures some weeks later, and a savvy person properly scanning this dog, that thankfully the scanning showed up 2 chips (one inserted by the vet) and the original chip....It was through the 1st chips older date the owner finally had that long awaited call.

Sadly this was many months later, so she was reunited with a dog that she had lost all puppyhood with, and who was now an adult.

The happy ending was that he still recognised her, and her other dog too.

I feel she was very, very lucky, but the dog was even more so.

We have had echoes of this ladies story actually, something I was scared of to be honest.

One man called and said he had been advised his dog was in a rescue centre many miles from his home, he of course rang them, was told no that dog is most definitely not here, but thankfully he couldn't let this knowledge rest, and his curiosity got the better of him.

Having driven over 200 miles to the rescue in question, there was his dog, staring back at him in a kennel, microchip firmly in place.

He said they had quoted lack of time as being the reason the microchip had got missed, and their time was 'about the animals welfare'. Surely that 'welfare' extends it's right to being reunited with it's legal owner.

Pretty shocking really as I thought that was the whole idea of having your dog microchipped in the 1st place.

Now don't get me wrong, i'm truly not knocking the procedures and good work these charities and rescues do, that wouldn't be right, as they do an awful lot of good and save many dogs lives through their efforts. Most do not run on huge budgets, and time is at a premium.

However, i'm told that sometimes a dog that is chipped, and perhaps whose chip has migrated to a strange place in their body, needs to be scanned very thoroughly for it to be found.

Some half and hour perhaps to locate it.

Now, how many charitable organisations have half an hour per dog to check a dog is microchipped ? I would think that they have other pressing priorities, and that is getting the dog vet checked and settled to relieve stress, and I would say that takes priority over half an hour of scanning.

In their eyes, there wouldn't be enough hours in the day otherwise would there ?

It's all so difficult to know how this could be remedied. Their good intentions are commendable, but we need these dogs scanned properly by everyone involved in the rescue process, that is from dog wardens, vets, and rescues. Surely with 3 people in the process, at least one of them could extend to that thorough scanning process.

My argument would be that spend the half an hour, and they would be spared the expense of spending time and money caring for a dog that perhaps a few hours later could be reunited in the care of it's original owners, and they are then of course, spared any expense for vet care and food.

It's a difficult situation I know, and one which I don't know the answer to.

All said and done time is money, and time is sometimes not a luxury a rescue outfit has.

It's all about the dogs welfare, safety and health.

I would say that perhaps sometimes dogs do fall through the loop and microchips do get missed along the way.

The contact i've had from people these past 16 weeks tell me this is in fact true, as much as I don't want to believe it does happen, they assure me it does.

I'm now terrified in case Jacob has become a victim to the whole scanning procedure, and that he has endured the process of perhaps being picked up as a stray, kenneled, and duly rehomed.

I reason with myself that I would be more than happy to know this happened (hmmmm!?)

Thinking it through, I guess as it would mean that through that mistake, he was loved and cared for, and most of all safe.

If I had a phone call from someone saying they couldn't give him up and he was safe it would make things okay in the end wouldn't it ?......(okay, I would hunt them down, but that's besides the point lol!) but at the end of the day, you have to remember one thing. He is ours.

The microchip inside him, well it states that doesn't it.

It should be the one single factor that means he makes his way home.

So why isn't it ?

The other thing that has prayed on my mind again is that he isn't out there to be found.

As harrowing as those thoughts are for us both, they are ones that we have to be reason with.

That bad weather the few weeks after his disappearance, and the fact that in reality he has hardly been spotted in 17 weeks. It makes you be reason to yourself, more for the fact that you need answers, closure, purely for your own sanity.

How can we go on and on like this is beyond me. It hurts like hell.

The publicity machine isn't interested to be honest, and believe me we have tried endlessly to reactivate the tv and radio interest. I can see their point, there is no story other than a missing dog, but it still doesn't help.

A read out on national tv, a 20 second appeal, it could do wonders.

I have to say a huge Thank You to the ladies who gave us their 'Jacob' boards complete with posters and information, and whom between them printed off thousands of leaflets and handed them out at shows for us.

Your generosity of time and effort taken to do these is just fantastic, Thank You.

We will do our best to visit Paws in the Park http://www.pawsinthepark.net/ this year to flyer the public there, and also we'll be contacting this week lots of the UK's country game fairs and shows that are going on.

Someone there may know about Jacob if he's being kept local to them.

Hell, he could even be being walked around these shows and going by unnoticed ?

Please, if anyone sees a white and orange Bracco anywhere, can you please stop that person and ask questions.

Jacob has a small lump on his left shoulder, like a small nodule under the skin that is the size of a small pea, so run your hand there if you are unsure.

Sadly I never heard back from the Eastbourne dog warden, but have left messages at the council there, and sent emails.

So the Bracco seen there by this lady has gone by, and even through a mass of emails between Bracco owners and puppy purchasers amongst them, we really don't know whose dog that was.

It could have been Jacob for all I know.

I would hope that any dog warden, or any person whatsoever seeing an orange and white Bracco, and being aware Jacob is out there, would approach any owner nicely and ask where they bought him from. I would never take offence at anyone asking me about any of my dogs, it would make me feel happy being advised of the circumstances to any questions, that there were people willing to come forward and authenticate me !

There are only so many Bracco breeders, and so they would know where a particular dog originated from, their traceability would be pretty easily done.

Today and this week will be spent contacting rescues once again, dog wardens, and vets.

I will also take time again this week to research gypsy liaison officers further in the hope they will not take offence at me contacting them, and they will keep a look out on their site visits.

Finally, sorry this blog ended up such a ramble of thoughts, but rest assured that we are still here, working behind the scenes in order to bring our handsome chap home where he belongs.

Thanks for keeping Jacob's search alive, and for all of your positivity, it helps more than you will ever know.

Eastbourne Bracco

We had a call this morning from Sue Criddle who is the dog warden in Eastbourne.

She was off duty on Sunday, and saw a Bracco the same colouring as Jacob being walked along the seafront in Eastbourne at around 12-12.30

We are obviously now in touch with everyone we know that is connected with the Bracco society, so that we can find out if this dog is owned by someone there, or perhaps someone is/was on holiday or a day trip with their Bracco at that time.

I am sure it's someone out having a nice time, and all is above board, but then.....

.....well you never know.

We're thankful to Sue for being so vigilant and spotting this Bracco, and getting in touch with us.

Thanks Sue.

If anyone knows of friends/relatives/friends or friends etc that have a Bracco and possibly could have been seen in Eastbourne, please get in touch or email me at haggerwoods@aol.com

Will let you know any developments.

On the hunt for Lady Godiver !

It's been a busy week over at Ginger Army HQ, the nationwide Ginger platoon has been busy emailing and we have had some fantastic help at agility shows, dog shows, and a fab effort at The Kent Country Show to name a few things that were being covered in 'gingerness' this weekend.

Thanks to all the girls for all you've done, a fab effort all round.

Welwyn has gone very quiet, in fact too quiet for our liking, but what we need to do right now is sit back and wait for more sightings, we just can't do any more there for the time being, we have driven there too many times to count, and have spent countless hours walking and skulking around those estates and dog walking areas.....sadly we seem to be getting nothing in return.

It's time to wait, and be pro-active in other ways around the area as well as nationwide.

We have had companies ranging from hauliers to drain clearance operatives emailing and phoning saying they have Jacob's posters and are on the lookout around the area, the whole response has been fantastic.

If he is around that area, one day soon, we'll surely get that call.

I'm assured 'a watched pot never boils' so we'll revert to a gentle simmer now, and just 'watch' from afar.

We've been investigating into large roadside banners, but alas the expense of doing that seems unreachable and hugely costly. Shame really as if I had my dream every major motorway would have a banner with MISSING and Jacob's photo on it !

Our next thoughts though are to a toned down version perhaps, in that we'll find someone with a huge printer that can make some A3 or AO sized posters for us, which somehow we'll make watertight, and place near major motorway and A road exit points.

I'm told that I have to get police involvement in doing this, or alert the Highways people to get permission ? I guess i'll need to look into that before I get carted off to the cells for littering or endangering public lives !

(Note to self, carry spare knickers and toothbrush at all times !)

A fab achievement to tell you off though is that Jacob has a little photo on the front cover of Dogs Today magazine (June edition) and an article inside sharing part way of our search story.

This is a great surprise, and I am ever Thankful to Beverley (Editor of dogs Today) for raising his profile to even greater heights, and to an even huger audience. Thanks Beverley.

http://dogstodaymagazine.co.uk/

Sadly, tomorrow marks the 15 week mark for Jacob being missing, definitely a point where it's made us realise that time is most certainly moving on, and moving on fast.

I can't quite get my head around the fact that we haven't seen him for all those weeks, and of course we wonder every day what he's doing, who he's with, is he actually alive.

So many questions we'd love to have answers to, but no way of knowing really.

Some days are harder than others it has to be said, and we both find that keeping busy is the way to keep him at the forefront of our mind. It's good to be actively out there doing Jacob related tasks, but at the same time we long for a worry free day, and one where we just make plans looking forward.

We finally have decided to go ahead with Ollie's Fundraising party (Ollie's Fund for Canine epilepsy Research for the AHT) which we organise twice a year usually, but which had been sadly relegated to a back burner whilst the Jacob search went ahead.

It'll be nice to have something else to occupy the hours, and a little focus attached elsewhere can't be a bad thing. Not taking away focus for Jaocb of course, just a different few hours spent elsewhere on a nother matter close to our hearts.

Anyone wishing to join us for the party just email me for details. Haggerwoods@aol.com

The party will take place in CB11 area on Saturday 29th August (Bank Holiday weekend)

Dogs, Children and adults all welcome, all profits to charity.

It's always a great fun day out, and safe and secure for the dogs and children alike.

Last summer I think we had almost a hundred adults, 20 children and about 86 dogs, and were duly blessed with sunshine !

Moving forward is a good thing I guess, but we still need to keep emailing anyone and everyone we can to keep the search in people's attention.

Unfortunately generally the TV people are not really interested, still stating there isn't a valid angle only that he's 'lost'.

That's really annoying and sad for us to hear, purely as they are most likely the ones that indirectly hold the key to him getting found.

So what's the angle they need ? I just don't know really........

Perhaps we need a volunteer to ride naked on horseback (a la Lady Godiva) through the streets of Coventry (in fact any city or town would suffice, we really aren't fussy!) banner proudly being waved enthusiastically overhead stating Jacob's appeal !!!

Sigh.... If only I were a svelte 8 stone Jordan breasted woman ....oh and I could competantly ride more than 10ft on horseback !!

Now that'd be an angle wouldn't it lol !

Volunteers gratefully received of course ;-))

Wrinkles and BBQ weekends

I'm pretty sure that having turned forty now, there are a few more wrinkles appearing now and I would swear they arrived Sunday morning, my first official day of being 'over 40'.....
Coincidence, hmmm, maybe, Estee Lauder has promises that need fulfilling me thinks ;-)
I can honestly say that perhaps these wrinkles are born from stresses related to this search, but to be truthful I would have the face of the 'Bride of Wildenstein', (no 'what do I mean would' comments please !) if it were to bring our boy home safely (okay, well perhaps not that bad, could I bargain for a 'Jackie Stallone' maybe ??!!!)

So the weekend came, the weekend went, without a call or whisper about our boy or his whereabouts.
We ventured off to Welwyn (i'm so fed up with that place already) for another days driving and walking round like 2 lost souls.
Everyone it seemed thought that the sudden whiff of summer arriving meant they needed to be stay at homes, and not venture further than their garden, obviously enjoying bbq's and lazy sleeps, even the usual ice cream man we relied upon for our '99's was not about.
It was eerily quiet about that place, and of course hardly a dog in sight meant no Jacob lookalikey's were being walked anywhere.

We managed to find yet more places to walk, odd places down the back of tracks and fishing places we would never know were there for stumbling into dead end tracks when trying to find our way.
Early evening we eventually gave up, and went to our friends for much needed wine and a roast dinner.
Sitting outside their garden backing onto acres of farmland, all quiet and the sun on our backs, we now knew why everyone else had also been doing the same all afternoon !

It's a case now I think that we sit back and wait with the whole Welwyn situation.
We need more people to ring and verify they have seen this dog, be it be or not be our boy, we just wish others would call to tempt us back there with renewed vigour.

I think we have spent enough time over that way to feel confident in the people who are there every day, walking, working, driving about, there are lots of good people making that area pretty covered for us.

Back home at Ginger HQ the girls are back at their computers emailing every person and organisation we can think of, in all different places.
The hunt goes on, the word needs spreading round again, we need to keep Jacob fresh in people's minds, and try our best to rack up some publicity.
We have people at shows and country fairs across the country this weekend, all of whom will be flying the Jacob flag on our behalf. Thank You guys and girls for helping us keep the Ginger Whinger flag flying well and truly higher..

We have a few irons in the fire still, they've been burning a while as you know, but they are getting hotter and hopefully might come to fruition next week.
I won't specify now, but will fill you in on the finer details once we know anything from the plan that's ahead.

I am off now to email every conceivable dog food manufacturer and online pet supplier that I can rustle up. I want them to send our email to their customer list if possible.....
You know me, give me a bone and i'll dig a trench for it !

Longing for the Ginger Whinger

Well, the sun is out, the sky is most definitely blue, but Jacob oh Jacob - where the hell are you.....

This week has been eerily quiet.
Not a single call has come in to say that anyone has seen a Jacob-lookalikey, it's all been very frustrating to say the least.
Eyes have been around Welwyn, but nobody has seen this dog.
We did have a call late on Sunday evening, about 11pm, it was a private number, but we could just hear background noise, like someone was listening.....noone spoke. Is it Jacob related, a weird call, a wrong number perhaps (are we're getting extremely paranoid!?)
Who knows.

I am thinking that maybe this man has decided that he doesn't like the hunt that he feels is going on and has decide to go underground with him.

Someone pointed out to us this week, that knowing Jacob as they do, if they had looked after him for a few weeks, they would find his bright personality and endearing ways hard to resist falling for, so maybe this is the probelm. The person who has him be it he's at Welwyn or Inverness, well maybe this is why no calls - they have decided they don't want to give him up.

This most definitely has struck a chord.
Maybe Welwyn man has fallen for Jacob (if it is him) and is reluctant to give him up.
Sort of 'finders-keepers' playing itself out in his head.
The thing is here, that if the dog is Jacob then he isn't his/theirs to own.
We are the legal owners of him, and therefore he belongs quite rightly to us.
We have all the evidence needed to back up this 'claim', and the relevant documents and photographic evidence to show he is ours.
In his heart, if the man is avoiding us, how fair on the dog is that (let alone us) ?
Any dog (least of all Jacob who would drive someone insane by his constant walkies requests!) needs a good run each day, so to shut it up inside a garden or house (no matter how big) and keep a low profile, well it just can't go on forever.
More than anything, we simply won't go away, not ever !
Time to come forward and let us have our boy back if it's him.

Noone can knowingly be so callous to deprive a family of it's pet surely, I urge if anyone reading this has Jacob, or has been 'sighted' wrongly by owning a dog that may be being mistaken for him, come forward, contact someone if you can't do it yourself, even text us and let's 'talk'.
We all need to move forward.

We have some 'irons in the fire' right now, and have some ideas which we're working on as far as publicity is concerned, so I will keep you all up to date when those are put into action.

Most of all we will keep hope alive that someone will be in touch really soon.
We're at the 13 weeks point now. Hard to believe I know, but we are.
I remember the early days like a distant memory now, just feels like years to us.
Watching back some video footage the other evening was hard, it's like you can reach out and touch them, but they aren't there. How can this have happened, I really don't know.
How the heck did we get to this ?
It's pretty unbelievable really isn't it.

Still, positive thinking, a pro-active approach coupled with only looking forward, must bring him home one day.
I look forward for experiencing that day I really do. I know exactly how my FOUND email will read, i've 'sleep' written it a hundred times over already.
It's all 'there' waiting to be typed and sent.
I never longed to send such an email in my life before.
Wish it was soon.....
......Tomorrow being the 'big day' -
I so need that boy here to make it the best day ever, red ribbon tied neatly, him crowing cheekily as if nothing has happened - wouldn't that be the BEST present ever :-)

Mistaken Identities and '99's

REWARD MONEY NOW OFFERED AT £1000 FOR SAFE RETURN

Finally some good weather !
Hmmm.....wasn't expecting that this weekend that's for certain, and although we were 'daytripping' in sunny Welwyn for the best part of this weekend, it was made all the nicer for the sun being out. Hell we even found an ice cream van and sat scoffing our 99's (with flake!)amongst people washing their cars and cutting hedges on the estate !
I tell you, lost dog searching has shown no boundaries of luxury lol !

For the past 6 days we have trudged around the various housing estates in Welwyn trying to catch a glimpse of a dog that could easily be mistaken for Jacob, or quite possibly IS Jacob.
what the chances are at actually seeing this person I really don't know. The odds are quite unfairly stacked against us, but hell, never ones to give up, we drive round in ever decreasing circles until we both need to get out of the car for fear of tripping on our own senses.
I am pretty sure that at one point after the '99 I started to hallucinate as I saw a dog I was sure was 'Jacobesque' in a back garden, only to see it next time we drove around as a Springer Spaniel, complete with long waggy tail. It was defintely a Homer Simpson DOH moment !
Maybe those '99's these days contain things other than ice, milk and cream, or failing that I really must get more sleep !

About 4pm yesterday found us walking the Stanborough lakes, to ease our weary minds and our legs more than anything, but hoping also that we might see some of the dog walkers we'd be-friended to find out if they had any information.
Sadly it was obviously family day yesterday, the fair was in full swing and so apart from the odd few dog walkers (who we flyered) it was a hotch potch of Mum's and Dad's running after toddlers and groups of hormonal teenagers snogging the faces off of each other. Euwwweee !

We made some enquiries about CCTV at the local store where the Jacob clone was seen, but they are not sure there is any form of 'Big Brother' equipment around there.
I am not convinced either but then there is a bank cashpoint nearby the actual store, so I emailed the bank and am waiting on their email back. If there's valid CCTV it might be that they caught this dog/man on their recording.
The search would be easy as we have definitive times he's been seen there, so it wouldn't be hard for them to look. Might be that the CCTV only points at the cashpoint though, so we'd just get a glimpse of many people's backsides, not the backside we need, that one of gingery proportion's, carried by 4 white speckledy legs.

The next step for us is to go the whole hog and posterise that whole area with gusto.
We have some posters up and around, but we perhaps need to go at it like Lemmings and poster each and every street, alongside all focal points. I think that's the way forward there.
Not everyone would know about the sightings there, no all would read local papers, so many might be unknowingly walking past him raising a smile at his gorgeousness.

The thing that bothers us both (all) is the sheer fact that the description of the man, the circumstances how he gained the dog, alongside Jacob's photo, all went into the local Welwyn (and surrounding areas) paper, and yet you would assume if he was of any normal standing, he would come forward voluntarily, even it it were to rule out any similarities of mistaken identities to the dog he owns. What does he need to hide ?
Noone is bothered about the circumstances he got that dog, where he got it, or who he got it from, we just don't care.
We purley just want to eliminate him from our enquiries, that's it.
If it's not Jacob, what's he evading us for ? All he needs to do is call and we can talk it over like civil human beings.
I've said it before and i'll say it again, we are not baying for blood.
We're just frustrated as hell that 3 people have now seen this 'Jacobesque' dog and we want to know why.
Is that too much to ask for ?
Seems so.

One thing to consider here is that we have many people on board now around that whole area.
The Ginger Army has expanded somewhat largely these last few days !
Some people have kindly offered to help and that is purely though reading Doglost or this blog. They don't know of us from Adam, but feel the urgency in bringing this nightmare to an end for us, and so have taken time and effort to drive/walk around the area, and look round the particular areas we've told them he could possibly be.
To offer their free time as they have done has been fantastic, and we really appreciate extra eyes on the ground when we can't be there.

Quite frankly now, we will just carry on searching that area, until something else comes to light, or another phone call add's to the collection of maybes, and adds a few more peices to the jigsaw.
I have to say this past week has seen us go from elation in thinking we might finally be over the dark side and close to bringing Jacob home, to being back at the lowest ebb of unknowing (and everything in between).

My 40th Birthday looms this weekend (I was sure someone doctored my birth certificate, as I could swear I was born in '89 not '69!)
Hmmmm - Still until such a time that I can find that person (!) I will go on this week hoping that the present I want more than any other, will appear, suitably wrapped with a big red ribbon around his neck, and a huge Bracco "Happy Birthday" 'yodell' going on to boot.

Meanwhile I will enjoy my last few days of being (apparently) 'thirty-something' by severely mocking the afflicted (that's anyone already 'over 40' !!) and hoping that much wished for present can be mine for the keeping come Saturday.