When our beloved Skipper who passed away on Jan the 15th much to our despair I can remember three incidents that always bring a smile to our faces as we remember them.

1. We lived on the 2nd floor of a condo with an awning and next to that was a hugh tree. When he was small one day he went outside and decided to climb this tree unknown to us. Well I finally saw him there and tried unsuccessfully to get him down to no avail. I had finally decided that I would call the Fire Dept. and he must have heard me because he finally came down on his own. Needless to say he was glad to be down.

2. One night after working late I arrived home about midnight and when I opened the door out jumped Skipper and went down to the first floor where he immedieatly went under the condo which was covered with lattice work. No amount of coaxing could get him to come out so I, in my suit and tie removed part of the lattice work and crawled in after him all the while thinking that if the neighbors heard this the police would be there soon and I would be in deep trouble, but as it worked out I was able to catch him and bring him back out and into the condo so all ended well.

3. And the last good laugh we had was we he again slipped out of our apt and ran upstairs to the third floor where he went into the neighbor's apt above outs who happened to have his door open. The ironic thing is that this neighbor did not like animals at all and I thought he would have a stroke until I got Skipper out of there.

So these are the funny and wonderful kinds of things I remember about our Skipper and there are many more, but suffice it to say that life will not be the same without him. We miss him each day and always he is in our thoughts.

God Bless Skipper and we will see you at the bridge.

Jim Avera