Texas

One year ago today the Beus household started changing. Who would have guessed that it would end up this bad? It all started when our 15 yr old basset hound, Texie, passed away. Thinking back, we had a barbecue a few days before we put Texie down and Trav was saying that food was getting stuck in his chest. Also, the day after he dug the hole to bury her, he complained that he must have pulled a muscle because his chest still hurt.

Texie was given to Travis by the girls' mom on his 20th birthday. What a cutie she was! I wish I could have been there to smell her puppy breath.


I came along about 7 years later, she was already gray. Trav would have her in a dog run or tied to a long clothes line. I begged him to let her come inside, but he wouldn't allow it. When we moved to our home and later married, she had a dog run with her house in it, but let's face it the whole backyard was her kingdom. Trav said moving here probably added 5 years to her life.

A funny story - the backyard needed some serious landscaping when we moved in, we hauled in dirt, bark, trees, shrubs and flowers. Apparently, Travis left the gate open (see I can blame stuff on him, now :). No one noticed that Texie was gone until the end of the day when we started cleaning up. Travis wasn't too worried about her - said she probably wandered off and would find her way home. What? The dog has her nose to the ground 24/7 she never looks up to see where she's going!! Anyway, I called the animal shelter and sure enough they had picked up an elderly tri-colored basset hound on 2000 W. Elderly - the nerve! I told Travis about it and he wasn't even in a rush to get her, he actually said out loud that he didn't know if he wanted to pay for her release. What?! I know now that he probably just said that knowing I would not stand for her to spend another moment in the pokey. I loaded the kids in the van and off we went to the animal shelter. As we went down each row, our heart just ached for those dogs. Then we came upon Texie-Girl, cowering in the corner wondering what was going on. As we claimed her, we were told that she had received a ticket for obstructing traffic on 2000 W. apparently she went for a leisurely stroll down the very busy road.

The things I miss about her are the way she ran to you when she first saw you, her ears flapping and her tongue hanging out. The way she patrolled the perimeter of our yard making sure all was in order. Travis on the patio grilling hamburgers and he would get the grease on the spatula and flick it on the cement and Texie and Barkley would lick it up. The way she howled at the jets overhead - poor girl, it hurt her ears. Travis playing fetch with her and her never bringing the ball right to him, he always had to walk about two steps to get the ball back. The time her and Travis were outside together and she started running along the fence greeting someone on the track behind us and she ran right into a sprinkler riser and broke it. Trav couldn't believe she did it, right in front of him. Her getting out of the yard and the kids trying to corral her back home, she was a stubborn ol' bitch and she would get on her back and not move and the kids literally had to drag her across the neighbor's yard. And she was tough, I felt sorry for her every winter when the temp's would get so low. One time Angie let us use a heated pillow for her, all she did was bark and claw at it. So much for trying to make her comfortable.

Travis called her his Texas or Texie Roo. I called her Texie Roo Roo Roo, because of the way she barked (which was hardly ever), and sweet girl. Because that's what she was, a bundle of sweetness.

The day Travis passed away, one of the first things DJ said was, "Mom, I can just see Travis up there with Texie." The image flashed in my mind, how often I would watch Travis walking across the back lawn with Texie by his side with her tail up and wagging. She would look up at him and I could see his lips moving talking to her.

One year later, he still had her picture on his cell screen saver, he had caught her taking a nap all curled up on the lawn, Travis missed his Texas everyday. We have acquired another dog, Gage. I will post on him later. On the day I went to pick him up Travis texted me and said that he was sorry he wasn't excited as the rest of us about getting a new dog. He wrote that he still missed Texie, but thought it was time to move on. I cried then and it makes me cry today. I am happy that Texie was one of the ones who met Travis at heaven's gate, with her tail up and wagging, her ears flapping and her tongue hanging out with a big ol' smile. I wish I could have been there to see it.