We lost Jay today. He had just gotten too old and sick to go on. It’s okay. He had a good run of things. He was 14. It was just time to go.

In 2006 we got Jay through a Collie rescue agency.   I’d just nailed a doe at the farm at the lowest possible elevation and been struggling up the hill with the carcass.  I kept telling myself that if I got up to the top of the ridge, my day was over and I could relax.  That’s when I got the call that Jay was ready to be picked up north of Dublin, Ohio. 

We listened to the Bengals lose to the Browns all the way into Cincinnati, and then caught the traffic going north from the game.  It rained. It sleeted. It froze.  Jay bit me when he first saw me.  The rescue lady said he was too far gone and he’d always be a tough handle.

I spent the next couple of months cradling him like a baby and giving him belly scratches whenever I could.  He started out too scared to move, but eventually, he started to relent, and by late winter he began to expect them.  Jay was always bonded to KYHillChick, but he always loved being with all of us, especially at the farm.   He had a special affinity for the turkey vultures.  He’d see one and run off into the field. Over time the turkey vultures used to play with him, and swoop close. Jay was sure he would get one someday, but he never did.

Jay’s best friend was our Beagle, Lily.  Lily was with us when we got him and lasted until a couple of years ago.   I’m not sure Jay ever fully recovered from her loss.

Jay loved to watch cows and horses and dogs and whatever else he saw on the TV screen.  He loved watching episodes of Rawhide with me. 

Anyhow, I just wanted you to know Jay was with us and now he’s gone.

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