Back in the last millennium a young adult dog wandered into my life. Nothing new there. Dogs are always wandering into my life. I don't much like the inbreeding that goes in to creating a pure breed, so most of my dogs have been curr dogs with as much mixed heritage as my own. I named this dog Seeba. Training him was a serious contest of wills, but he grew into the best travel companion I have ever had.

Somewhere in this millennium I discovered that he was a Shiba Inu, a Japanese hunting dog who is known for being natural wanderers who more often pick their own companions more often than they submit to ownership. Of all the currently established breeds, the shiba has more wolf DNA than any of them.

After Seeba had been with me for about 18 years - age still unknown - he was blind, deaf and in constant pain. Ominous swellings moving randomly all over his body made me think he was suffering from advanced cancer. He became compulsive about wandering away from me and the continual search for him every time he disappeared was beginning to feel like a betrayal of his wishes. Finally we let him stay lost when he wandered off.

I lifted the new avatar off the internet, but it captures Seeba's character beautifully. I still miss him. I like to imagine he visits me in my dreams on a regular basis, precocious and free of pain. He loves my bees... He has been here on the farm where I am currently establishing hives. He approves. So I like to imagine...