The boys grew up and went off to college. Katie’s life became quieter, and she grew
older. There were still moments of
excitement, though. I woke up one
morning to the sounds of Katie barking.
I looked out the back door, and Katie was playing with a small furry
object. A black furry object, kind of
like a kitten. Only this black furry
object had a white stripe down it’s back.
I went back into the house and grabbed my .22 rifle. The poor little skunk was half dead, and
Katie was taking her time finishing the job.
So I got Katie out of the way, and killed the young skunk.
Wife’s parents died, and left their house to Wife, her
sister, and our two children. After much
debate and prayerful consideration, Wife and I decided to buy out the rest of
the family and move into the home. We
really had not considered that to be an option, until the neighbors began
asking us to please move in.
It took quite a bit of doing to go through her parents’
belongings and decide what was going to be kept, who would get what, and what
should be sold or donated. Then the
process of moving our stuff into the old house began. Finally, we were moved into the 80 year old
house. And Katie was introduced to her
new back yard. She now had a house with
a chain link fence so she could see what was going on in the world.
She had lost some teeth and could no longer hear. She was a lot older, but she could still
remember how to dig and how to follow her nose.
We looked out into the back yard one day, and Katie was gone. There was a busy boulevard between our new
home and our old house. I was fearful
that Katie would try to find her way back to the old house and get run
over. I started a search, going up and
down alleys and streets. I called her name,
although I wasn’t sure she could hear me.
Thankfully, I found Katie across the street and down at the end of the alley sniffing
around a trash can. She was next to the
boulevard, but had not yet crossed it. I
brought her back home, and made the yard a bit more secure.
Katie lived out her last days resting under a large oak
tree. She could no longer climb. The squirrels were still of interest for
tracking, but she no longer risked life and limb to give chase.
Katie had to be put down when she was 13. We were the grateful recipients of many
kindnesses at this time. Katie had let
Wife know that it was time to go one Sunday morning. She had become lethargic and it was obvious
she was in pain. I had recently
undergone surgery and my wounds were not yet healed. I was unable to lift Katie or carry her to
the vet, much less dig a grave. One of
our church members came to our house and dug the grave for us. With great kindness the vet came out to our
home with an assistant and put her down.
After Katie was dead, the vet surprised us by offering to bury
Katie. She placed Katie in her grave and
covered her.
We had Katie buried under the huge oak tree where she spent
the last couple of years of her life. We would look out of our back door and at the ancient oak tree and remember Katie, and remember all of the years of
faithful service that Katie had given to us as companion, playmate and protector.
RIP Katie
1989 - 2002
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