Thursday, March 19, 2009

Ginger's gone

Ginger is gone.
I was working on the side of the house, leveling out ground in preparation to plant the buffalo grass we think would work well out here, when I heard a Thump-Thump as a white pickup sped past at the seventy or eighty miles per hour they travel out here. It’s a sound I fear hearing out here. Running up front I saw Ben and Gretchen sniffing the middle of the road and yelled to get them off of it, all the while looking desperately for Ginger. I saw her body thirty feet down from where her mom and dad had been investigating. When they heard me scream they knew it was more than my just being angry and hurried to the back of the house. I know that Ginger didn’t feel a thing as her neck was broken. Cherie ran out saying “What’s wrong” so I let her know that we had just lost our puppy. She seemed to take it better than me.







When Joe picked up that contract this morning he noticed Ginger and commented on how beautiful she was. We talked about what a joy she was and as we did Ben and Gretchen came across the highway. He loved how Ginger and Ben played and loved each other. I said that we wanted to get a bright orange collar to make it easier to see and explained that our biggest concern was the danger that road represented.






Goodbye Ginger. At least there's a beautiful sunset to see you go.


We’ve already accepted the fact that Ben and Gretchen stood a high chance of getting run over and because they were strays realize there is little we can do to keep them from wandering. But Ginger…no, that wasn’t acceptable. I’d told Cherie that my biggest worry was that she would follow Ben and Gretchen across the road, that they would teach her this bad habit and it seems that is what happened. If we had the money we would have bought the electronic shock collar and perimeter fence devices to prevent that but there is no sense playing the “what if” or “if only” game. We wanted to get the shock collar thing for Trixie and Rascal back when we got them but couldn’t afford it. They learned that getting close to the road would evoke serious consequences but Ben and Gretchen have lured Trixie across a couple of times.

Tomorrow I will have to take some bleach and clean up the blood that is in the road because the smell is drawing the others out there. I let Ben go look, watching carefully to insure no cars or trucks were coming. He knew. He tucked his tail between his legs and came back to me. I let Gretchen smell Ginger’s body to let her know as well, with the probably vain hope she will realize just how dangerous the road is.

Love always comes with a cost. We loved Ginger, loved to watch her grow, loved to watch her play, loved to see her interact and be accepted with the others, loved to….I could go on forever but I have to let go. I loaded the burn barrel and cremated her remains. The ashes will be incorporated with the compost and thus nourish what we grow. Bye Ginger. You blessed us while you were here.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

OH guys, I am soooo sooo saddened to read this.. my heart is breaking for you all.. I wish people would be more careful on country roads and watch for animals.. my prayers are with you all!!

as for your pictures, my friend who is a photographer in Dallas gave me this info...

"This is a beautiful image for sure. He can take an acid free pen and sign these and they are copywritten. He could mat them and sign the mat.That would be a nice presentation also. He could try to sale them at old stanton trade days to start out. Name each print and go from there. You never know who will see them and where it may lead."

Again, I am so sorry about ginger.
Have cherie go to www.chitchatchums.com it is a forum I am a part of, just wonderful christian woman who support each other. it is by invitation only so as not to get random preditors on there.. I will let our admin know , if she would like to join us!

Bob Westbrook said...

I told Cherie about your invite. She might take you up on it.
I wish we did live on a country road but it is a heavily traveled highway with a seventy MPH speed limit and lots of big oil trucks so backing out can be dangerous.
I just discovered that my Picasa program can put my name on pictures so am doing that. It was there all the time but I never noticed. Unfortunately we can't afford to print the pictures for sale right now. They are all just stored on this computer and the Picasa website. You can find over 2000 there. I don't do well in crowds so only went to Trade Days once just to say I've been.

Anita said...

Im sorry. We lost Justins Moms dog this way a few months back. Try to remember the good times, not the bad.

Anonymous said...

We are sorry to hear about your pup. Shock Collars and Invisible Fences aren't as much as you might think. Save yourself and your pets in the future and consider getting one.

Bob Westbrook said...

for the last commenter, when you're poor it doesn't take much to be a lot. We priced them at Lowes but it was more than we could spare at the time. Now that Cherie has a job things should ease up a bit. That's why I work so hard to make this a working farm, to get off disability.

Anonymous said...

amen.. when ya aint got it... ya just aint got it!! :( but your hard work is going to pay off.. I believe it will.:)

Misty

That Janie Girl said...

Oh, no!!!

I'm so very sorry. Ginger was such a cutie. Even though I didn't get to meet her in person I could tell she was quickly wending her way into your hearts.

I hate that this happened.

Hugs and love to you both.

Bob Westbrook said...

thanks Janie, and thanks to all of you. She was in our hearts instantly and we love our pets deeply. Like the song says "love hurts"