I have always been a camera bug and love taking pictures. I opened a Portrait Studio here in Waynesboro in 1980 and for fifteen years I did wedding photography along with family portraits. I did school photography from 1980-1983 and that was about the end of me as I was the only photographer and the one taking care of the processing and getting the pictures back to the schools.. My work day was from can to canโt.
Anyway I said all of that to say this, I know how important memories are and pictures say it very well. The memories Sue and I have over the years are kept in our many photo albums. The only thing is I am not in too many of these pictures because I am the one behind the lens looking out. But that is just as well, somebody has to do it so it might as well be me. I have many pictures that were taken before CDโs were available and digital cameras were on the market so maybe I will take the negatives and make some CDโs from them so I can put them on the computer.
I am watching Suzie as she nips the sheet covering the couch looking at me to say something. Fella is on the floor behind me waiting on me to get dressed so we can go for a walk. Sue was telling me a while ago she missed Leviโs nose under her bathroom door sniffing, but afraid to go in because he might miss getting into the bathroom with me while I take my shower. These animals are funny and yet so attached to us that they become an integral part of our lives. Is it any wonder we grieve for them just as we do our human relations when they pass? They are so dependant on us and so accepting of whatever life we make for them.
My dad had bird dogs most of his life. They were working dogs and not treated as family, yet they were happy and content with their place in life and very well cared for. I remember one dog name Bob, and English Setter. He was dadโs favorite hunting dog and lived a long time, about fourteen years. I was just a kid and I would go to the pen and let Bob out and we would play all afternoon. He and I became the best of friends. Then one day Dad asked me to go hunting with him, I was so excited. I believe I was about ten years old. Dad gave me an empty 410 single shot shotgun to carry so he cold teach me the fundamentals of safe hunting before I was allowed to have ammunition. By the time I was twelve I had become a very good marksman. One Christmas dad gave me a sweet sixteen Remington shotgun and took me hunting that afternoon. I was hooked from then on. Dad had a farm south of Waynesboro that was 2,800 acres. He always planned his crops so the Bob White Quail would have food and then he would also plant food parlors in selected areas just for them. It was nothing to find twenty coveys in a single afternoonโs hunting.
It was marvelous to watch the well trained bird dogs do their stuff. One thing dad taught me was to always give wild life a sporting chance and never hunt the single birds down to the last one. That way they would come back together and raise other birds for the next yearโs hunting season.
When I grew up {thatโs a relative term} I raised bird dogs and fell in love with the Brittany Spaniel and was laughed at when I got my first one. Spot became a family member as well as a hunting dog and he was the best bird dog I ever had and demanded respect among his peers. I had never seen such a loyal hunting dog in my life. Once I was hunting along a swollen creek after many days of rain. Spot had pointed a covey next to the creek and as the covey rose to the air I swung on a bird and fired. The bird fell into the creek and Spot went in after it. There was a bend in the creek where the swift water had undercut the bank and the bird went in at that point. Spot was swept under the bank and out of sight. {Suzie remember} I threw down my shotgun and jumped into the creek and reached under the bank, caught Spot and pulled him out. I would like to say with the bird in his mouth, but that would be a little too much even for a dog like Spot. But what happened next was unreal. I put Spot on the bank and before I could climb out he was back in the water looking for that bird. I grabbed Spot and pulled him back out and it was at that time I saw the dead bird caught in some vines and threw him on the bank. Spot immediately picked up the bird and held him until I could climb out of the water.
Dogs have always been a part of my life in one way or another. Levi just happened to be one that really buried himself deep into my heart as a child would in so many ways. Thatโs enough for this morning I am starting to hurt from a kidney stone trying to pass so I had better leave for now.
2016 Ford F250 King Ranch Crew Cab 6.7 Power Stroke
2015 Montana Model 3611 with 4400 Pullrite Hitch.
Wife Sue
Pets: Rainbow Bridge: Bart, Old Fella, Levi, Charlie, Mama, Hobo, Izzie, Peaches. Others Suzie, Dixie.
Old Fella Burke County Animal Rescue