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29 October ~ 2007
Me and Ben and Maggie walked down along the river and back through the Cottonwood grove after dark tonight. The background of highway noise reminds one that this beautiful green belt is at the edge of an urban area. It's easy to forget that when you are the only one down there, as is the case after dark and on cold winter mornings. After the last two big winter blizzards me and the dogs were the first one to break snow down there.The leaves are off the trees now and I got my first glimpse of stars throught he branches of the old Cottonwood, which is a site that marks the seasons change just like the emerging of new green leaves in the springtime. Once I was down there in the first November snowstorm after dark and two foxes came running across the meadow playing with each other like dogs. They were so intent on each other and the joy of the first snowfall that they would have run right into me and Ben and Maggie if I hadn't said something to get their attention.
When I stood next to the frog pond and watched Maggie wade into it I thought of how it usually freezes over some time in November. That got me thinking of little Boogie, and his puppy story that I will never forget. He began his Greenbelt walks with me and Bud and Cody (border collies) during the winter months. Cody would lie down on the ice of the frog pond and little Boogie would run around, weaving in and out of the cattails and then come back and jump on Cody. I recall Cody taking the rough puppy love in his typical good nature, and I remember him often licking the ice of the pond while Boogie played.
Boogie passed away in June, and my daughter Alyssa was so incredibly kind to him at the end of his life. She called me and asked if I would like to see him one last time. When I got there Amy and Kaycee and Alyssa's boyfriend Cody (same name as the dog) were there sitting with Boogie on the lawn. Boogie greeted me happily, as he did everyone. The vet kept coming out and monitoring him, because at that time he could not breathe easily for long without oxygen. I mentioned to Boogie let's go to the mountains and he perked up and was ready to go. No doubt he was remembering all the adventures me and Bud and Cody (the dog) had before Janet left - in the Collegiates and Gore range, up in the Cirque of the Towers in Wyoming, in the Mt Evans Wilderness. I said my goodbyes to him, which was very hard, and then left so that Alyssa could have her time with him. Later I was told that they all sat with Boogie until the vet came out to the lawn and released him to Mountain Heaven, which is where I figure I will meet up with him again.
Cody the dog was my dog. On the day we found him at the animal shelter I right off saw he was special and immediately went to fill out the form to adopt him. As it turned out I barely got it in before another couple who wanted to adopt him turned theirs in. I felt a little bad when I saw the disappointment on their faces.
Cody went with Janet, but the girls brought him to visit sometimes. He was always so glad to see me, and I would take him for a walk on the greenbelt, which made both of us very happy. Dogs are very adaptable and I am sure he was content with Janet down in Oklahoma, although I suspect he never got to go deep into the mountains backpacking after he went with her, which is something he loved dearly. (I never heard that Janet or Bill, her new husband, were into backpacking).
I feel something was unfinished with Cody, since I didn't get to see him again before he passed away two weeks after Boogie did, in June. The girls tell me Janet had him up here in Colorado in April. I said I would have liked to see him. They said they mentioned it to Janet at the time but she declined.
I have forgiven a lot of things regarding my exwife, so as not to have a bitter heart. This sits a little harder, as much as I have loved every dog I have ever had, and how they always love me. I will try to understand it and let it go. I just have to figure that divorce by itself is a selfish act, so it is not surprising that the attitude persists.
Writing this out helps some, and I am grateful for the joy that Cody and Boogie brought to my life, just as Ben and Maggie do now. I have thought of Boogie and Cody and Bud a lot this summer and fall when I am up in the mountains, and I have to wonder what the spirit world for dogs is like. My sense is that they are up there with me. What an adventure it will be to pass through someday, and find them waiting for me to romp across high meadows in front of snow-covered peaks again. I can see Cody going to the far end and crouching low as I walk towards him. When I turn to run he takes off running and closes the distance in seconds, then heads out to do it again, his favorite game.
I have described before how me and Boogie and Bud once were poking around trying to find a set of rocks close enough together to get across a wilderness stream up near Native Lake west of Leadville (exactly right here). Cody ran out into a meadow away from the stream and I called to him, wondering where he was going. He came racing back in his big strides right up to the stream edge and flew through the air, crossing its width in one great leap, while me and Boogie and Bud watched in amazement. I yelled 'Good Dog, Good Dog, Cody, That was Incredible!!.' I recall the proud border collie grin on Cody's face as he wagged his tail from side to side. I remember as soon as Boogie made it to the other side of the creek he ran up to Cody with his tale flopping, as if to say that was some thing you did Buddy.
(Puppy Boogie and Cody on the north bank of Clear Creek, 1998)
