Remembering a good buddy.

Cape-Cape-Cape !!

On Friday, March 28, we lost a good buddy. Capers, the friendly Weimaraner, was laid to rest and passed on to the rainbow bridge. Having experienced this heartfelt experience myself about a year ago, it is in the top 5 of the hardest things to go through in life. It took me almost a year to get over it.

One of the things you do to make it better is remember the great times you had with your buddy. Although I did not spend a lot of time with Cape-Cape, there were some classic memories that I will never forget. Here are the top 5.

1. Her ability to get along with her roommates. Over the years Capes had many roomates. From dustmops to other dustmops, she always seemed not to mind that she had to share.

2. Her rare ability to eat. If a 100 poound bag of dog food fell out of the sky and broke in front of her, she would eat herself to the other side of the bag. Wow.

3. She was lucky. Capes had the rare opportunity to be raised by a very active and outdoorsy (is that a word) owner. She did the dog parks, the beaches, one coast to the other, and loved it.

4. Her ability to overcome. Although she finally was overcome with just plain old age at the end, she overcame several serious dog issues, including having a toe removed, and made it. Her owner can also take credit for that, being as caring as she is.

5. And finally, and probably should be at the top of the list. (You knew it was coming)
One summer afternoon and at big family gathering at the 105 RFR residence, we had a cookout.
I got my burger off the grill, cooked perfectly by chef Yoder. I proceeded to the kitchen to create a masterpiece burger. Lettuce, tomato, ketchup, a burger that even Martha Stewart would promote. I placed it on my paper plate and proceeded to accompany it with the regular family gathering items, potato salad, chips, pickles, etc.
After I grabbed a giant glass of soda with crushed ice, I jogged into the living room and placed my gourmet flamebroil on the glass coffee table.
At that moment, the front door swung open, and Nancy and Capes entered. Then it happened. Capers eyeballed the juicy, condiment ladened items that occupied the flimsy paper plate. She strung out the leash from Nancy's hand and proceeded directly for the target, swapped the culinary delight off like a glacier going through a mountain in Alaska. My materpiece was now on the floor and I thought I had one chance to rescue my lunch. But then, item number 2 took affect. She wolfed the burger down so fast, it had no chance for survival. Even the chips were threatened, but I managed to recover those.
After all was said and done, I settled for two overdone brats that were extra and sitting on the grill for an hour.

I'll never forget that day, or Capers ever. So long good buddy.