Mary and I went to a Holiday party at the office of Scharmen Remodeling
tonight--Kim Scharmen built a house for us in 1998. Through Kim we met Scott
B.
who built some custom cabinets in our bedroom. Several years later Scott did
some carpentry on my boat. I was redoing the electrical distribution
system and because one locker needed to be built around the switch panel I
spent a
lot of time at Scott's cabinet shop fitting and pre-installing the panels,
etc.
Klondike was a dog that wandered into Scott's shop that winter,
half-starved, covered with mange and matted hair and--judging by his friendly
and
affectionate disposition--obviously lost from or abandoned by a former master.
He
was a medium-sized brown long hair dog--kind of a border collie and retriever
cross with a very soft mouth and loving eyes. Though he mostly lived outside
at Scott's shop and often scrounged in the woods for groundhogs he was
irresistible and seemed eternally thankful for having been taken in from the
cold.
He was a lucky dog and he knew it.
Two years ago Scott got sick with cancer and was given a terminal prognosis.
He went through a lot of changes and for whatever reason a few days before
his death last January he took Klondike to the local animal shelter and told
the people there that he was a stray dog. Klondike--now a middle aged and
still mangy mutt--was put on the adoption list, which apparently has about a
week's duration before the dogs are gassed.
During a final visit with Scott Kim found out about Klondike and knew that
his prospects for being adopted were slim. One day before Klondike's date
with the executioner Kim bailed him out, paid the shelter's charges, had him
cleaned up and got him his shots, etc. etc. A week or so later Kim learned
that
one of his clients had just lost her dog of many years and to make a long
story short Klondike found a home.
Well, Klondike appeared at the party tonight with his new master. As always
he was affectionate and sweet, going from person to person for a few minutes
of petting and loving. He gave me a wink and greeted me, I believe, as an
old friend from his former life. He was now a well-cared for and handsome
fellow. He seemed to know that he had again cheated death and was a lucky dog.
I hope I have Klondike's karma.
Best to all--Michael Oritt
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