Sandman's Journal

Just finished 106 hours of driving with Goodall Trucking.  Tomorrow we head off again for a shorter run.

I'm on Killdeer Mountain with the folks today.  Grandpa's old paint horse, Shorty (pictured below, rear), has been sick for the last few days.  This morning the vet diagnosed him to be terminally ill.  We led him over a ridge on the south meadow just west of an old Lakota burial mound, and I used Dad's .30-30 carbine rifle to put Shorty down.  We said goodbye to Partner there last year, and before that Peanut, Topsy, Beaver, and others, when they were dying.

Goodbye, Ol' Paint

It's been emotional for all of us saying goodbye to Shorty.  Besides his being such a beautiful, gentle, and curious horse, he was Grandpa's.

Now, except for Freckles, all of Sandy Bob's ponies are gone.