Fred Bumpus

In honor of "Pet Appreciation Day," a holiday likely celebrated only by those in the Awe-Manac journaling community (and on the heels of St. Patrick's Day, a holiday that most know nothing about, but inexplicably wear green and/or skin-tight shamrock shirts and drink a bunch anyway; see long-ago post about arbitrary or poorly- understood holidays), I offer a tribute to Lucy and Willie.

Reasons I appreciate my pups:
*They always seem excited to see me, whether I've been gone 20 minutes or 2 days.
*They love to sleep with me. And I love that I can tell which one is flanking which side by feeling the thickness of their ears.
*They make me laugh, even when Willie is being jealous of the attention Lucy is getting and proceeds to jump on her, in the water bowl, or into the baby gate that divides dog land and living room land.
*They would protect me if I were in any danger. I don't doubt this at all.
*They know when I'm sad and amp up licks and cuddling.
*They have been by my side through the toughest moments of my life. They always made me feel needed and gave me something to focus on.
*They will wrestle like any brother and sister, but they also sleep on each other in the car and sometimes share the same bed. They are precious.

*They give me something to which to be 100% devoted. They remind me that I can unconditionally love.
*They get excited when we go for walks, no matter if it is just to the creek down the road from our house or long strolls through Marrowbone. They don't mind that DC likes to go with us.
*They are quiet company. Sometimes it's really nice to have someone here...but, two someones that aren't asking questions or bothering me.
*They love at all times and forgive daily. They never keep a grudge if I fuss or take out frustration on them.
*They truly brighten everyday.
How amazing is my sister, Leigh Morgan? She took these last Sunday at Mom's farm, pretty much perfectly capturing how much we all love each other.
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I'm definitely not the only Turner girl who loves animals...

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Janet Hume, one of my wonderful co-workers, wrote the following tribute after the passing of the beloved Hume/Melton family dog named Fred. She kindly made me a copy and gave me permission to include here.

Excerpts:
Brandon was about two years old when he went to Billy Jo Thomas' house to pick out a six week old beagle puppy. He found just the one he wanted from the rest of the litter. Fred was the runt of the litter and Rick wanted Brandon to pick another puppy, but Brandon had found the one he wanted. He brought it home, wrapped it in a towel and brought it down to Ma's house to show her his tiny puppy dog, which he named Fred. (He certainly didn't want Fred to make a mess in Ma's house). Brandon loved Fred and Fred loved Brandon. As Fred grew into an adult dog, we all grew to love Fred and he seemed to love all of us, as well. We would now like to share some special memories of our favorite beagle named Fred.

When fishing with the Meltons, Fred couldn't be still in a boat. He went to sleep on the boat and his ears would perk up and run around when Brandon got a bite. That was the last time he went camping and fishing.

Fred was very, very scared of thunderstorms and lightning. He could sense a storm coming even before the black clouds appeared. One night, it was storming. Charlotte and Ricky had their screen door open for some fresh air. They didn't pay an attention to Fred on the outside, scratching, whining, yelping - wanting to get in out of the storm. All of the sudden Fred appeared in the living room. He had made a running jump and had come through the screen on the door, tearing the screen all to pieces. He came in, lay down in the doorway and seemed to make himself at home.

Pa had a golden retriever dog, named Ginger. She and Fred liked to run together on the fame, especially down by the river. Fred would get so tired of running with her that he would come back home, lap up lots of water and lie down to rest and sleep for a couple of hours. Fred and Ginger liked to go hunting for rabbits, and oftentimes they would bring in rabbits to the house and chew on them all afternoon. Ginger liked to ramble around and one day she was in the road and a car came along and hit her. The first Pa knew of that was that Fred came up to him and began his "talking" trying to tell Pa that something was wrong with Ginger. Fred missed Ginger terribly for several days. He would to to her pen looking for her.

One night Charlotte and Rick were asleep in bed. All of the sudden, Charlotte felt something big jump on the bed and land on top of her. She jumped up, screamed, felt fun, and slung whatever it was clear across the room. She then got up to see what it was, and there was "poor Fred" shaking over in the corner of the room. Somehow, Fred had sneaked in the house when someone came in or went out the door earlier in the night. He had hidden somewhere in the house until 2:00 am when he decided to get in bed with Charlotte.

Another time, Charlotte was cleaning and straightening the living room when she saw something black sticking out from behind the couch. She couldn't imagine what it was until she looked and there was Fred lying back there wagging his tail. He had again slipped into the house when nobody was looking.

While Rick and Brandon were four wheeler riding over on Raft Creek (a few miles from home), they looked around and there was Fred trotting along following them. Brandon had to hold Fred in his lap the rest of the ride. Fred seemed to like Brandon better than anybody else. He somehow knew that Brandon was his "buddy."

Fred was the father of a couple of liters of pups with Travis's female dog, Scrappie. Pa asked Brandon one time, "Where is Fred? I haven't seen him for a while." Brandon, who was not very old, said, "Guess he's got a girlfriend."

Fred was a "picky" eater. He'd look at his food, put his nose down and think about it. Every morning, Fred would cross the road, looking both ways, to visit the neighbors. He wanted to see what kind of food they had thrown out. Fred liked turkey. Last Thanksgiving, Ma had fixed her turkey the night before, wrapped it in Reynolds wrap int he pan in which she was going to cook it the next day. Her refrigerator is small so she decided to put the turkey in the pan on a table on the back deck for overnight so it would stay cool. She was finishing up in the kitchen when she heard a big "thump" on the deck. She ran out and there was Fred just about ready to drag the Thanksgiving turkey out the gate. He had chewed and gnawed on the corner of the tablecover, then pulled and pulled on the corner of the cover until the turkey pan had fallen off the table. There was Ma's turkey on the floor of the deck. She wasn't to be outdone, however. She just picked it up, brought it back in, washed if off good and rewrapped it for cooking the next day.

We all miss Fred, but we know that he lived a long life and that he's not suffering anymore. We'll always remember Fred, the "talking" dog, and the many experiences and incidents that happened during his time with us. Fred was a "smart, little dog" and we were fortunate to be his friends. But most of all, we're glad that Fred was a friend to us and that he'll be remembered by all those who knew him. Thanks, Fred, for being such a remarkable dog!
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I just think this is so endearing. What are some of your favorite memories with your dog(s)?