Jazz's Serendipity Sunset

I buried my best buddy Jazz yesterday evening in the pet cemetary in Outlaw Hollow beside two other great dogs, bro Scott's Molly, and Mom and Dad's Chelsey. I wrapped his box in an American flag that I found at our store and needed to be properly disposed of, and Jazz was the all American dog, so I thought it appropriate. Thankfully my buddy Tim Fletcher, a true dog lover himself, helped me to bury Jazz with his backhoe.  It makes me feel better that Jazz has been laid to rest in what was truly his paradise. Before Tim got there, I had a chance to walk around a bit and remember, Jazz was everywhere, he had been on so many hikes and hung with me as I built trails, that his presence is all over the place, and it was hard to take. But as time passes, it will become easier to enjoy his spirit that is  so evident when I am in the Hollow. I jumped in the truck and climbed the hill out of the Hollow and found Tim loading his tractor, I stopped to thank him again, and he said, "check it out, it's Jazzy's sunset". I turned and saw what had somehow escaped my attention, the most incredible sunset I had ever seen on the mountain. Tim and I both stood in awe for a few moments just admiring on of God's awesome works, finally I said, "thank you so much Tim for bringing this to my attention". So fitting, so perfect, it was the serendipity I needed to close this chapter in the journey of life. I will never forget Jazz's last sunset.

Jazz The Ultimate Good Dog

Just got back from vacation on the beach, it rained 7" while we were gone and the  rivers are all flowing, and the Osage gorge rages in the middle of August. The temperature was in the 50s last night, and the  high is supposed to be 72 today. As my daughter Whitney said "in other words, paradise". All should be right in my world, yet many tears have flowed and a deep sadness has been cast over us.            Last Saturday, my best friend of 15 years, Jazz Jones, passed away while we were on vacation. When the caretaker called and told me that Jazz was not  going to make it, we rented a car, and I was going to drive back to be with him. I only got 15 miles down the road  before she called me back to say that Jazz  had passed. I only wanted to be with my family after that, and I turned around and took the car back.     Jazz was the ultimate GOOD DOG, there are so  many stories  about him, and everyone who knew him said the same thing, he was one of  a kind. When I rescued Jazz from the shelter, he was one day from being euthanized. The only reason I became aware of Jazz was because my good friend Melanie's dog Cocheese died the night before Jazz was to be put down. I came to the shelter to comfort Melanie, and she insisted that I needed a dog and  she had spotted Jazz in the pound. As I was living in a 600 sf duplex at the time, I didn't think that was a  great idea. But Melanie insisted, and I just wanted her to feel better, so I relented. Jazz quickly became a huge part of mine and my daughter's lives, and it became apparent that he was not just an ordinary dog. Incredibly easy to train, but still with a wandering habit that caused us many worried nights because we couldn't find him. Jazz would show up the next day, or the shelter would call and tell us someone had found Jazz, most often it would be a young lady living in the apartments behind my duplex. One time when Jazz reappeared magically, someone had given him a bath! Of course with my lifestyle, Jazz became a river dog, and floated many miles with me on the Big Piney and the Buffalo rivers. When we would spend days on the river, I would put jazz in the kayak that I was pulling down the river behind me. He was like a celebrity on the river when we would pull up to a gravel bar with him riding in the kayak, and then just step out on the bank. Once he got past the puppy stage, Jazz was unbelievably trained. He had an awesome arsenal of tricks that the girls taught him, and he understood commands unlike any dog I had ever seen. In the  year 2000, we bought the land in Outlaw Hollow, and Jazz had his  paradise and was by my side for the whole great experiance of discovery and work helping to build the cabin and trails. He also developed a taste for flying stinging hornets and wasps, catching them in mid air and chewing them up as he got stung. Along about 2003, Jazz met  Cadron, Robyn's new dog, and they became an inseparable pair. We have always said, we didn't train Cadron, Jazz did, and it was the truth. When Cadron would do something that Jazz knew was bad, he would lightly bite her on the knape of her neck and chastise her for misbehaving! Somewhere around 2006, Jazz came down with cancer in his nasal cavity. I couldn't stand the thought of giving him chemo, and the chances for cure were very low. I asked the vet if there was any other treatment we could use and she suggested a surgery to just cut it out. I went with that option, and lord!, Jazz looked like frankendog with tubes coming out of his face, and stitches up both sides of his snout. The Vet warned me the cancer would come back, and it did within a few months  of the surgery. The Vet reluctantly agreed to perform the surgery one more time but said that he would have to be put down when the cancer  inevitably came back. I  cannot tell you how many times me and brother Dave went on walks and believed that Jazz would not make it back to the cabin, but every time he did. Jazz lived another 7 years and the cancer never came back, and the crazy part of this story is that the vet who performed the surgery lost her liscence to practice a couple years later. I believe that Jazz just wanted to be a good dog, and couldn't leave his family until  his run was over. As the years passed, he had other battles with health. Shortly after moving to the mountain in 2010, he went out all  night hunting with Cadron and running the woods so hard that he couldn't walk. After a steroid shot and days of  recovery, Jazz rallied once again, and lived for another 3 years and thankfully got to spend his last months hanging out on the deck  with Cadron, resting and looking out over the Gorge, enjoying the breezes and sounds of the wilderness. He would still take slow walks with me until he would return to the deck. He spent his nights with me laying beside the deck fireplace completing his journey as my faithful companion. AS I learned through the years what a special dog Jazz was, I came to realize that of course all dogs are special. But if we are lucky, God will bless  us with at least one dog that is more than special. And if we are even more lucky, that dog will have an impact on another dog and make  them more than special. I have been more than lucky, and while it hurts like hell, I know that Jazz had an awesome life for a dog, and I know  that he was  the Ultimate  Good Dog. So long old friend, I love you, and rest in peace. There is one more act for me and Jazz, and he will be buried in his paradise on the mountain in Outlaw Hollow. It's gonna be a tough  day.