@fiesty @gingerw @zep @funcountess @zep and others who've responded.

Barnabas was a family pet the first couple years of his life - he was the runt of a litter on a ranch east of us, from unplanned breeding between an Ausie dad and a border collie mom, and people chose his litter mates, but no one wanted him and he was going to be put down the day after we found him - he loved everyone and the feeling was mutual. So he was one of our rescue dogs. He became my service dog after some training, much more than a pet. He was very well behaved. The relationship between a handler and his service animal is even closer than a pet. The evening Barnabas had the stroke I took him to an emergency vet that's open 24/7, then went back home and spent a sleepless night with him. In the morning I took him to our local vet and sat in the back seat with him, and held him while she injected the medication. I felt him finally relax, then stop breathing.

We lived for 14 years in Albany, Oregon, on the frontage road next to I 5. Over the course of those years, we saw a huge difference in the traffic flow. For a long time, we knew when it was 11 p.m.because the freeway emptied and it became quiet. But the last several years it changed. Traffic continued through the night. We got used to the noise. If we wanted to talk and be heard, we sat in the back yard.

And you probably noticed that I referred the freeway as I 5. Sometimes we called it Highway 5, but our young son called it our freeway.

Jim

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