#2 Macey Blue

I will start at this point by numbering the dogs.  You will understand why in the future.  It will get very confusing.  I must stagger these posts so as not to alert the authorities...

We purchased Miss Macey Blue, a black Labrador in Dec of 1999, right before we found out about having our first baby.  She was a puppy and her parents were locals to my home place.  She needed a home and we thought Gunner-rooski needed a companion.  She was the typical puppy although I honestly cannot remember her doing anything terrible...unlike her mentor there.  Maybe he had mellowed enough that only his strong points rubbed off at that point, I don't know.

Macey, Gunner and I took big long walks every morning and every evening.  She always stayed right with Gunner and I.  She was such a sweet little dog.  Nothing eventful with her until...one Sunday morning in November when we let the dogs out before going to church.  They didn't come back.  And didn't come back.  We yelled.  Nothing.  We finally decided to leave and figured they would return at some point while we were gone.  They weren't home when we got home from church, but eventually Gunner showed up at the back door.  Macey did not.

This was the time period where we had just posted our house for sale and were making plans to move home, but figured we had a while.  She'll turn up.  Nope, she did not.  So we packed up in December and headed home...wondering what ever happened to Macey Blue.  It was sad, we had Madolyn, the newborn, but we were dogless for the first time in our married lives, as we had just put Gunner to sleep.  I can't remember exactly how many weeks it was, but at some point in late January I got a call from a police officer in Bridgeport, which is a few miles to the west of Lawrenceville.  He said he thought he may have our black lab.  WHAT?  Yes, this black lab showed up at our house a week or so ago and is so friendly, she's been staying in our house.  The vet said he thought it might be our Macey.

Let me back up a moment here, prior to the disappearance, Macey had a little incident with a fishing pole and a fish hook in the back of our truck.  It caused her tongue to split permanently.  She also happened to have a black spot on her tongue.  Odd, but it ended up that both of those little blemishes brought her home to us.  The vet knew as soon as he saw her tongue that it was our Macey.  So the short of that story is that we drove to Bridgeport and met the police officer at the gas station and brought her home.  What a reunion!!  It was crazy wonderful.

So the years progressed.  My dad fell in love with Macey because he had discovered that she was an "awesome hunting dog."  He borrowed her every now and then and took her hunting.  Macey was friendly to everyone and everyone loved her.  Summer of 2004 when Macey was around five years old, Jay went on a bike ride.  He had taken up riding his bike and would go around our large country block.  It was JULY and it was HOT and Macey wanted to go with him.  So off they went.  They were well into the ride, and probably nearing just a few miles from home when he saw her dart to the ditch by our friends' house.  He called out for her, but heard nothing.  Jay decided he could hurry home, get the truck and come back for her...she obviously was just hot and tired.  Well, he went back for her and she was nowhere to be found.  We figure she had a heatstroke and crawled into the tall corn.  We never saw her again.

She was such a great dog.  Like I said, everyone loved her.  I can't remember a single incident (right now anyway) when I thought I could wring her neck...which is the case in almost every puppy's life.  Macey ended up being one of the best dogs ever.  She had the sweetest disposition and was so good with Madolyn.  Gunner had been five years old.  Macey was five years old.  And so it goes...stay tuned for #3...