Two of the boys in this picture are still available. Don’t wait too long, we may just decide to keep them…

Gentle, sweet, kind, mother to everyone including Molly. But all of us have a limited amount of time here and Hope’s time was running out Friday morning. I made her comfortable in the truck, close to where I could keep my hand on her and she passed away on the way up to the farm. I buried her on the hill, close to Lisa and next to her friends and family.

Hope’s daughter, Happy was getting close to her due date. I left her loose in the yard like always. Happy never leaves home. I was busy trying to get the lawn mowed and work on the lawn mower and a thousand other things and I wasn’t in a very good mood. The feeling of loss was getting all too familiar.

I had just turned Lovey and Taylor loose to chase a rabbit by the house when Lisa’s mom called, she had apples for me. Soon as I got home I found Lovey and Taylor running close by and stayed with them until dark, then brought them in the house with me. Happy usually comes in at dark but I hadn’t seen her. She would be OK outside with the other dogs and there was an airline kennel in the garage the puppies like to sleep in.

It rained hard that night, the sound of heavy rain on the steel roof woke me.

Saturday morning I went looking for Happy, and could not find her.

I called and called, looked in every dog house and hiding spot and all the places they like to go. Any kind of shelter she could have used. Nothing. It rained off and on all day Saturday. Heavy, cold rain.

I peeled and cored and put enough apples in the freezer for at least 20 apple pies. Cody came and wired up some outlets in the kennel. Buttercup and Monroe got their turn to chase rabbits and both of them got to sleep on the bed with me.

And I lost Hope and Happy on the same day.

Sunday morning I was out taking care of the dogs first thing, and there was Happy. And she was skinny. I followed her around, and followed her around, and finally she led me out in the swamp behind the house to some thick, heavy canary grass in the low ground, and stopped and looked at me.

“Go find your puppies”

She just stood there by some heavy matted down grass and looked at me. I started digging down through the grass, and found a nest under it with four warm, dry, healthy little female puppies.

I found Happy again. Hope can’t be far away.

Should be loved by an old dog.

Except Tiny, she gets carried a lot.

Weather has pulled a few minor escapes already in her short life, but when you open the front door first thing in the morning and this is what you see you know that this one, this one is going to be trouble!