Buster

Today we said goodbye to a faithful friend.

He was always curious what was going on. Here he is wondering if this four-legged purple critter is going to interfere with his dinner portions. Buster put up with two-legged critters as well. It was not unusual to find a chicken perched upon his back while he lazed on the porch. He did draw the line when the chickens wanted to share his dog food.

He always wanted to be right in the middle of whatever was going on, especially if it involved food! He was always happy to see you and would drop whatever he was doing to come running when he saw you coming down the lane, or when you opened the door to go outside. Okay, so he probably thought he was going to get something to eat. He came running.

Buster didn't come running Sunday afternoon. We thought he might be out in the woods, chasing a squirrel or rabbit, or maybe even fending off a coyote. He would show up, Buster never missed a meal. But he didn't show up that night. Okay, maybe he found a girlfriend.

Monday morning as we left for school, before daybreak, Buster was nowhere to be found. He will be here when we get home. Buster will be hungry.

When we got home Buster was still not around anywhere. The barn and sheds were checked. Maybe he slipped in to get out of the cold. Buster was getting up in years. We never really knew how old Buster was, he came with the farm. But Buster was not in any of the out buildings. He was not in his dog house either, although that would have been the last place we looked, Buster wasn't too fond of his digs, no matter what we did to make it homey. He was an outdoorsman type dog.

My husband went for a walk around the property, no Buster. Buster had missed three meals. This morning, even though snow covered the ground and there was no sunshine, I thought to look out the window to see if he was in his usual morning sunning spot. There was Buster, covered with a blanket of snow, resting in eternal peace.
I am going to miss this guy.