Big Red

 

Big Red

Today was Red’s final day here on the big orb we call Earth.  He had spent a lot of good times with me and there are a lot of stories I’ll keep in my heart. Here is just a couple off the top of my head;

* I had to get a plastic set of steps for him to help him climb into the Jeep.

*Shortly after we got Red,  Ann Marie and I “lost” him at Hartwood Acres. We called and called, looking all over the place and finally giving up and headed back to the car. I looked behind us and there he was, about 20 feet away, following us.

* He loved to run free sneaking out the door anytime he thought he was going to miss out on something. There was the time Frank and I were going on an expedition, he finally came back from  his own expedition a couple hours after scooting out the door. Frank and I left a couple hours behind schedule, rushing to get to the train depot only to find out we were still a couple hours early! (You had to be there…)

* One of the conditions to adopting him from Animal Friends was that I had to put a fence up in  the back yard.  When I finally finished, Ilet him out into the yard and he promptly jumped over the fence, clearing it easily! This was the first of his many times running free through the neighborhood!

*The neighbors would call and say “Your dog is in my backyard” and I’d have to explain to them that he wouldn’t be by the time I got there.  After an hour or two of running he always came back.

* There was the time we stopped at the farm-market on our way home from a drive. I bought a Strawberry Rhubarb pie, fresh out  of the oven, it would be desert for my lunch. I stopped at a store and “hid” the pie under the front seat of the Jeep. Red was tied in the back where he couldn’t reach it. Still, when I came back out from the store, after only a couple minutes, the entire pie was gone. The tin pan was wiped clean and the only remnants of it were on his nose. I was not happy with him that day!

* He has eaten plenty of things he shouldn’t have. He tore into a bag of flour when he was still a pup. He has eaten entire loafs of bread and bags of cookies, wrappers and all! I had to be careful not to leave anything out where he could get them.

* There was a day that he stole a sandwich from Ann Marie. We were on a hike, miles away from the car, sitting on an overlook. Our lunches were out and we had turned to talk with a couple other hikers. When we turned around, one of the sandwiches was gone and he was eyeing up the other one. It's funny now, but it sure wasn't then!

*We went on lots of hikes and adventures. Ann Marie and I would laugh (?) about how he howled the whole way to where ever we were going and then slept the whole way home. We could only talk on the return trip!

* People loved his howls. They didn’t have to listen to them as they were driving.

*These are just a couple of the memories, there are soooo many more. He was a good dog and I’ll miss him. Thankfully the memories help him to live on!