In memory of Buster...

Here are some of my favorite pictures of Buster.



We sure do miss Buster as he was a great companion around the house. I can't believe it's almost been a week and life is going back to normal. We're still sad but we are healing. So in honor of our cherished friend, here are some of our favorite memories of Buster.

• Buster, Wendell and I were all popcorn lovers. One of our favorite night snacks was to pop up some popcorn and toss some to Buster. He always jumped up to snatch it out of the air and then chomp it down. Sometimes if I wasn't quick enough, he'd even start drooling in anticipation of me tossing him some pops.
• Buster was a great snuggler. He would always want to jump on the couch or in bed to lay next to us. Wendell got to enjoy this the last few months but in the beginning I got this joy. The best was when I was pregnant and Buster and I would lay back to back and he kept me nice and warm yet gave me some back support.
• Buster would bark when someone was near our house (but not usually annoyingly), often giving me a warning that someone was outside. Usually it was the mailman or neighbor but it was just nice to have an awareness that someone was near the house.
• Buster was also pretty good at keeping me company. Although in the last few months it did get annoying, when I cooked supper he would sit in the door way just hanging out. He used to be good about just sitting and the last few months he's been leaning towards begging for food with those sad puppy dog eyes. But either way, his company was nice.
• Buster was a a great vacuum. He cleaned up after us after we ate, getting the little morsels off the floor. Of course, occasionally Wendell fed him food too but that is to be expected from a three year old. This is kind of gross but he was also a big fan of Harlie's spit up, often licking up the spot after I wiped it up so in a way, he did a double clean up on those spots on the floor.
• Buster was a great playmate for Wendell. The last few months, they have played a lot of tug of war and fetch. Wendell usually ended up falling or getting scratched but he knew that was part of the game. And it was usually his (Wendell's) fault for teasing Buster
• Before Phil and I had kids we took a road trip to see my mom in Florida. We took Buster along and he was the best dog ever. He loved hanging out in the car on the ride down, he loved being at the beach but wasn't so much a fan of the water. But he was a great travel companion and was very well behaved on the trip.

Some funny memories...

• Buster was a great snorer. When we used to have a big chair for him, he'd curl up upside down and next thing we know he was sawing logs. He was really loud sometimes and occasionally he would twitch and you knew he was dreaming of chasing a rabbit or something.
• Buster loved car rides and one time when Phil had is truck he went to take Buster for a ride and Buster tried to jump in before the tailgate was down. He was so excited and apparently Phil was too slow and Buster jumped right into the tail gate. He (Buster) was a little leery of jumping in the truck after that.
• Once when Wendell was about 6 months old, I took him outside on a nice summer day and layed him on a blanket. I also took a book and big glass of ice water out. Of course, Buster went out with us. I had to run back in for a minute and when I came back out my glass was empty. Apparently Buster had gotten thirsty because he drank all my water.
• We used to call Buster 'Dog Man Cabbit' because he was a mix of a dog, man, cat and rabbit. He barked like a dog, acted like a king (man) and ate food like a man, was scared like a cat and could jump like a rabbit.
• Which reminds me, the first time we took Buster to Phil's parents house he met his first cat. And normally this cat is pretty quiet and keeps to itself but somehow it ended up nose to nose with Buster. It took one swipe at Buster and he ran like a scared mouse. But I am happy to report the last few times we took Buster to Phil's parents that they all got along just fine.

Of course, Buster had his share of messes too and his whining and begging could get annoying sometimes but that just meant he was part of the family. Overall, he was very good dog.

On a side note, Wendell seems to be doing pretty good, he has only asked a couple of times about Buster. It seems if we don't talk about it then he doesn't really think of it, so for Wendell's sake, that is good. Wendell does know that Buster was hurt and that he's 'all gone'.

So all that's left to say is thanks to God for giving us such a great friend, and help us to remember him. We hope he's having a joyous time in heaven and that we get to see him again some day.

For anyone who doesn't know Buster. I have to share that he was the oddest cutest dog ever. He was part basset hound and part lab mix. So he had a lab face and basset body. He was very short but his torso was the size of a lab. He had the nicest brown eyes for a puppy dog. Often people asked what kind of dog he was because he was so unique. And almost any person who likes dogs, loved Buster because he was so well behaved. Phil and I adopted him from the Humane Society here in Waterloo in January of 2002, 3 months after moving into our first home (where we currently live). He was about 1 1/2 years old when we got him (we do not have an exact birth date) and we were almost positive that he had been abused by his previous owners because he often shook with nerves anytime we yelled (even if we didn't yell at him). Even towards the end of his life, he still got very nervous whenever we yelled. Overall, we like to think we were good 'parents' and that we provided a good home for Buster. We will miss him but we have comfort knowing we'll see him again some day.