I mentioned back in August in my doggy-obituary for our pal Pax that in his later years Pax discovered an affinity for hunting, courtesy our friend Brendan and his pal, Baxter. So much did all three of them enjoy their occasional early morning outings to the wilderness, in fact, that beyond Melissa and me I don't think anyone was so broken up by Pax's sudden passing as was Brendan.
So after we got Pax's ashes back and scattered most of them in his favorite places around the yard, we gave some of them to Brendan. Pax was such a free-spirit, and we were so consistently amazed throughout our 11 years with him by his ability to maintain (seriously!) relationships entirely independent of us, that it seemed appropriate for some of him to rest away and independent from us.
Last week Brendan and Baxter went out pheasant hunting in a nearby nature preserve. Brendan sent this photo of the tree where Pax and Baxter always like to pause, drop a marker, and perhaps loll in the grass for a few minutes during their hunts. Some of his ashes are there now. Sentimental, I know, but I love this. And it showed me that three months on I can still get a moist eye for our departed buddy.
