with heavy hearts...

It is with a heavy heart and a considerable loss of faith in the common decency of mankind that I write this.

This afternoon, as my boys prepared to go fishing (yes, in the snow)
a large truck which had been racing up and down our little road all day
ran over our little pup... Booger.

Without so much as a word, they stopped, then drove away.

It's been a really rough last month.  Two days before Thanksgiving, Nana went missing.

Now, Nana was known to go to the river, but stayed close to home and never missed a meal.
For more than a week, we searched... and searched and searched.
120+ pound dogs do not vanish into thin air.
If there is a carcass, you will know it... this is the country after all, and we're obviously not unfamiliar with animals dying.  There was no body.

One one other occasion, some 10 years ago, in the weeks leading up to Christmas, we lost two purebred dogs when they were let out to potty.  In less than 15 minutes, they were picked up and gone.
On that occasion, seven other people in the area, who had all gotten pups from the same litter, suffered the same loss.

We still are mourning the loss of Nana, our big girl.

So, as the sun goes down this evening, we have buried the pup, that was so unceremoniously dropped off here about 6 weeks ago.  She'd been spayed and had all her shots about two weeks ago.  She and I walked in the snow and made pictures this morning.  As I photographed the cedars in the pasture, she sat in front of me, facing me... just learning to sit and stay...

I cannot do this again, just now.