}
It is with a very heavy heart that I write to say that my loyal companion of over 10 years has crossed the Rainbow Bridge. Those of you that have known me for some time know how much I care for him. For those of you that don't, I rescued Bruno at gunpoint from a group of drunks that used to get plastered and torment/torture him. They lived next door to a man who worked for me and I witnessed the abuse first hand and despising injustice I saw an opportunity to remedy one.
I know that many may think 'he's just a dog,' but to me he was much more -- he was a loyal and devoted friend. I much prefer the company of dogs to that of humans, a species that I find duplicitous and self-interested for the most part. I've never yet met a dog that lies or behaves dishonestly, while the vast majority of humans I've met do. Over the past 11 years Bruno has proved to be a wonderfully loyal friend, not only to me but to my granddaughter Kayla who is devoted to him -- she will be heartbroken when she gets the news, she grew up with him.
On Christmas 2019 Bruno suffered a massive stroke, but recovered after a week or so. Subsequently, he had several mini-strokes but would recover after an hour or so. Last week he suffered another massive stroke after which he stopped eating and drinking. We used to have a vet that made house calls but stopped because of... Covid. It seems to touch our lives in unexpected ways.
They say that bad news never strikes alone and I suppose it's true. A couple of weeks ago "The Beast," my Gateway 825 GM, that I bought in 2012 for $25 began showing signs that it was headed for whatever bridge computers go over when they die. It began running slower and slower -- it took 30 minutes to upload a photo and copy & Paste my last article from google.docs where I write to Hive. Altogether this episode has put me $1500 in debt! Lamentably, I've had to power down my Hive account as it's my only source of income. There used to be a computer shop that sold refurbished computers but they closed... reason -- Covid. Frankly, this "new normal" sucks.
Please join me in saying goodbye to my devoted friend. He was 17-18 (I'm not exactly sure which) and enjoyed at least 11 years of a good life, a pretty long life for a big dog. I will miss him and his loyal company, something I'm certain all dog lovers will understand. I am comforted by the fact that he's no longer suffering -- there are no strokes in Heaven and I look forward to seeing him there -- something all dog lovers I'm sure understand. So farewell to a good good boy, travel well my friend!