Cap'n Jack

Discussions among Airsoft players in the Jackson, TN area.

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Cap'n Jack

Postby Beowolff » Tue Sep 09, 2008 12:05 am

tonight i sit here and think of ole Cap'n Jack... my longtime outside guard dog and friend... he's at the Vet's office tonight, hopefully recovering from surgery. hopefully.

i feel sad that he is so far away from his beloved farm...so far from his beloved friends...my wife, myself...his outside companion doggy friend, Miss Katie. i know that he misses us, and despite any pain from the surgery or worry for himself, i know that he is worried for us, for that is what he does...he worries over us, for that is (according to him) his main purpose in life. to protect and serve---us. and that he has always done. protected and served us.

i could sit here and type all night long and still not tell you of all the adventures this loyal, self-less, loving companion has been thru out here on the farm. the stories are long and many... but in condensed form i can relate that he came to me one night---a young dog---at an all night C-store where i was working as a second job. i was outside sweeping the lot and noticed him watching me from the side near some low bushes...a collar of twisted barbed wire around his neck. no doubt a cruel and savage reminder of the bastards (in a project nearby) that had kept him, probably for fighting. i hunkered down and tried to get him to come to me so that i could try and get that wire off of him...but naturally he was suspicious (and shouldn't he have been?) and would not come. but the next night he was there in the bushes again...watching me. and pretty soon he began to follow me around on the lot as i made my rounds. and soon, he was walking beside me. one night after that, he allowed me to feed him, and i tried to take the wire off, but it had grown into the skin, so i had to go get some pliars and snip it off. and after that he would be there every night waiting.

this went on for months...then one night i was late due to illness...and when i finally got there he was not there. upon questioning the girl i was relieving, she admitted she had saw him and been frightened and called the pound on him.

at first i thought the pound might find him a good home...but after a few days i got worried and called to check on him...and they told me he was due to be killed the next morning. g'ah! i couldn't let that happen as it was 'my' fault he had been hanging around there anyway...so i went early next morning and got him. and he's been with me ever since...and that was some 16 years ago.

wow...what a guy. within a few days of being out here on the farm he had yanked a snake out from under my wife's foot. a month later he had saved my arse from a big free roaming dog that attacked me at my chicken pen... a year later and he and i had stood side by side and fought wild dogs trying to take us both down... a year after that he'd been shot keeping burglers from breaking into our house while we were away. a couple years later he'd been ran over and had a leg broke while tangling with an ***hole neighbor using our driveway without my permission. a year or so later he'd again tangled with coy dogs trying to get my goats. there is no telling how many snakes he killed under 'my' feet... and the adventures just go on and on. through the years i have had to work a lot of all-nighters yet i have never worried about my wife being out here in the country for i KNEW that ole Captain Jack was standing watch over her. and i knew that he would die to keep her safe.

and now...16 years later...he is old and feeble...sick, near blind, can't smell too good, can't hear at all. and yet every night i turn him loose... he still guards my door with his life.

and when i discovered that he had a terrible infection and needed surgery all of my friends and family said..."just put him down and out of his misery." and i did think that might be best...i sure did. i thought long and hard about that for i do not want him to suffer and be in pain. and yet i kept turning it over and over in my mind---and it came to me that as long as ole Jack WANTS to live...as long as he keeps getting up...keeps stirring around...keeps wanting to guard my door...how can i just put him down? it does not seem right somehow.

so, though the cost of the surgery was high and i really did not need to spend the money for it...i cannot put a price...a dollar figure on love and friendship. so i will find the money somehow...squeeze it out as i have to...and i told them to go ahead and operate on him. if he makes it thru one more night, it will be worth it. if he only lives a week more...it will be worth it. he has never asked me for anything...only to love me, to be my friend. to guard and protect me and mine. how could i NOT give him the chance to do that---even if only a little bit longer? it is worth any price, and i am glad to pay it.

for a friend. a true friend.

i am glad to pay it.

Salute Captain Jack!

hope to have you back home soon!

Beowolff and family




Mark Twain:
“I’ve seen people burn down their house
to get rid of ants, but I never figured that
worked as well as they thought it would.”
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Beowolff
 
Posts: 2787
Joined: Fri Jan 19, 2007 8:39 pm
Location: Jackson Airsoft Field

Postby Beowolff » Fri Sep 12, 2008 6:01 am

thanks for all the emails and pm's of concern for Jack! :D he made it thru the op and is apparently doing fine according to the vet, though will not be out of the woods for a few weeks.

at least for now...i've got my ole Night Watchman back!

:wink:
Mark Twain:
“I’ve seen people burn down their house
to get rid of ants, but I never figured that
worked as well as they thought it would.”
User avatar
Beowolff
 
Posts: 2787
Joined: Fri Jan 19, 2007 8:39 pm
Location: Jackson Airsoft Field


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