It's taken me a week to post this, written last Friday.
Well, Paul & I buried one of the World's Best Dogs tonight. Bear died this afternoon, very suddenly and just the way I had hoped. And the way we all would like to exit this life.
I walked down the road after lunch to go to a bull sale. Bear walked to the gate with me, and I told him "Stay" (even though he was deaf!), and went on down the road. I got back at 1:30, he was there to greet me. I walked in to do BioWorks on the computer, and half an hour later I heard him on the front porch - he was yip-yip-yipping and it sounded just like a coyote out on our porch. I walked out, and just knew. I pet him, and he died about 60 seconds later. Amazing.
We had a great "last week" together, walking each morning and each evening around our pasture. Yesterday I spent an hour grooming both dogs, and he looked particularly handsome for a 14-yr old Bouvier.
Graham was starting his Kindergarten year, in the fall, when we got Bear. Graham is a freshman in college now. (See my post:
A Boy and His Dog, 28 Aug.) It was difficult to call our three kids, all in college, and tell them that their childhood pet had died.
And this is a sand in my hourglass.
~ T.
Beavers are big, nocturnal, semi-aquatic rodents. Maybe the second-biggest rodent in the world. I find them quite cute, despite the fact that they wreak havoc on creeks, rivers, and, as it seems this fall, landscaping.
