Bell Bay and Remembering Sebaka

So what can we say? It happened so fast and we had to make the right decision, for us and for Sebaka. This week end we had to get away. As you know from the previous post we had to put Baka to sleep on Tuesday morning. He had bone cancer and from everything we learned it is a fast and painful disease. Baka is now resting at the top edge of one of John and Loretta Sutherland’s fields. He has a beautiful view and can chase the deer all he wants. We placed a big rock as his headstone, but will probably return to clean the spot up a bit once we get through the pain of his being gone.

We drove down to Bell Bay to camp and get our heads and hearts around the fact that our best friend and basically, child has passed. Baka was with us over six years. Every day, most moments that we were here at our home, he was by our side. We watched him a lot and noticed that he never liked to not be able to see one or the other of us, so he was always there, keeping an eye out, protecting, and hoping that we would scratch his belly. This has made it dreadfully hard now that he is gone. Everything we did was based on decisions about how it would affect Baka. Go to the store? How will we park to keep him out of the sun? Weekend trip? Do we have all his stuff and will there be enough places for him to rest as we look around? Most everything Linda and I did for the past six years included decisions about Baka.

This weekend we needed to let go, so we camped and of course, we thought about Baka. The one thing we have found is that everything reminds us of our friend. We always walked up the road at the campground and looked for deer every night so when we got done with dinner and started walking we got quiet and tears filled our eyes. We sat on the bench overlooking the lake and talked about him and how to let him go enough to stop the hurt. Yes, we have found the hurt. This hurt sets in your chest and stays there until you breath. It comes and goes all the time. When we sat at his grave two days ago, Linda asked me what my best memory of Baka was. It was easy; every night when I watched TV Baka would walk in and flop down on my lap for about an hour of petting. Linda remembered the way he would get so excited whenever she returned home, barking, getting the Kong and almost howling at her. The belly rubs; a ritual that always made Linda laugh and get up and pet him. So we cried and remembered our friend.

On Thursday we got up and drove to Harrison where we unloaded our bikes and rode the Trail of the Coeur d’Alenes about fifteen miles up river to the Lane Trail Rest area. On the way we saw some type of an Owl hidden in the shade next to the river. Our total ride was about 30 miles earning us some ice cream from the Harrison Creamery. We drove back to the campground and went swimming. Dinner was chicken enchiladas. After that we took a walk and stopped by to visit with the camp host, Jim, and his dog Bebe. I asked Jim about his window sticker that said “Chosin Few”, Chosin, Korea. Jim explained that he had served in Korea and had survived the battle at the Chosin Reservoir. He said that the Chinese had trapped US troops in this area and that he and 3000 others had to endure 40 below temperatures while they moved across the frozen reservoir under Chinese fire. He said that of the 3000 soldiers 182 made it safely across and survived. I had never heard of this battle and Jim said that it was because we were losing the war at that time and it was kept secret.

We said goodnight and walked back to our camper, got ready for bed and turned in. Thirty miles on the bikes had taken its toll.

The next morning we were on the road again. Back to Harrison and on to the trail, we rode our bikes south. The trip took us up to Plummer and back, a total distance of thirty- two miles. It was a great ride! The trail leads up an eight mile hill into Plummer and then it returns down hill all the way to the bridge that crosses the lake. Eight miles of no peddling and then to top that all off we had the wind at our back so we were able to ride at 17 mph all the way in to Harrison. ICE CREAM! We looked over our choices and decided on the same flavors we had yesterday, Black Cherry for me and espresso almond fudge for Linda. We watched the goings on in Harrison, talked to a couple of recumbent riders about their trip the past couple days and then we drove back home. First thing we did was swim and then read and then I made chicken alf redo from Costco. We ate and took our walk. Each night we have checked to see if Larry and Marry Wright, two hashers I know, were at their lake home. Tonight as we approached we heard “On On” from the front window and we stopped by. The house is beautiful and Larry gave us the proud tour. We didn’t stay long, their whole family was coming over and they had a lot to do to get ready.

We walked back to camp and said hi to Jim and Bebe. Jim invited us to sit and chat. We found out that he goes to all the EWU games with his old army Jeep and when the Eagles make a touchdown he turns on the flashing lights and runs the siren. His wife has had to work a lot this year and so Jim will not be doing the camp host thing next year, he said he has to take care of his farm. I think he misses his wife a lot. We talked more about the “Chosin Few”; Jim got several medals for his efforts in this fight. Sounded like he was shot three times, he admitted to not talking about it much but I think he had recently talked to a person who was a history teacher on the Korean War, so it was on his mind. The night cooled off and we headed back to the camper and went to bed. Once again our legs were at the mercy of the 32 mile ride.

We got up Saturday and I was restless. Linda ran six miles and I had slept. By the time she got back and cleaned up I was ready to go home. It was probably because I felt I wanted to deal with being home without Baka a couple days before I started work. Everyone at work will know about us putting Baka to sleep so I think I need some time at home to get ready for all the support. It is great to have people talk to you about his passing but it still digs up memories and makes it hard nonetheless. I don’t think Linda was ready to go, but once we got home and did our chores she seemed to be ok with it.

We went to bed late on Saturday night, I am not sure why. The movie we watched, “Wild Hogs” was funny and cute and kept our minds busy. I slept well, but woke up wondering why I didn’t hear the usual rustling outside our bedroom door. There were no snorts, there was no sound of the Kong dropping on the floor followed by an excited low throaty woof, nothing; I got up and walked out to Linda quietly reading the Sunday newspaper. Our dog was truly gone forever; tears filled my eyes as I made my morning coffee and started another day.


This entry was dedicated to Sebaka.
Born: February 1999.
Passed: August 14, 2007

Our last picture of Baka, August 2, 2007