Bill Is Still Missing

It has been rainy and cold, and he's still out there somewhere.  I've talked with the neighbors and have asked them to keep an eye out for him.  He's very friendly, so if they call him he'll likely go to them.  The lady down the hill said she'd be out in the woods hunting turkey soon, and will keep an eye out for him.  We've been out along the edge of the woods and fields calling for him,

I hope that he comes back soon.  He's an old guy - 17 years old - without much extra meat on him.  He's all hair.  Some friends have suggested that at his age, perhaps he just went away to die.  I don't believe that's what happened.  He's old, but he was healthy and happy, and did not appear to be close to the end of his run.  He still has his moments when he runs around the house like a kitten.

He just isn't the type to stay out.  I don't think he's ever stayed out all night.  He's out there somewhere, wet and cold and lost.  The rain has kept the farmers out of the fields.  I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing.  Would he get run over by a combine, would it chase him out of the field and toward home, would it get the corn out of the way so that he could find home?  They're not going to be getting the corn out any time soon.  The forecast through next week is rain, rain and more rain. 

Poor Bill.  If something got him, I hope it was something big and that it was quick.  I hate the thought of him out there cold and wet, covered with burrs and ticks, sick and miserable....  I hope he comes home soon. 

FT