Farewell to Lindy Lou Barnes

Lindy Lou Barnes Jigsaw Puzzle

My sister, Janet, tragically lost her four-footed friend, Lindy on June 16th. Following is her tribute to those who aided and supported her as the unfortunate events unfolded. I am sharing your story with lots of love and prayers for your recovery from this loss.

For Lindy.....

Ray and I can never begin to thank everyone who knew, or knew of our beloved Lindy, who responded to our call for help. Our rescue families of NVSR, SEVA, the residents of Cape Henry Shores, the Rangers, Staff and Docents at First Landing State Park and others who rallied so quickly and selflessly to find our special boy.

To those of you who e-mailed your condolences and/or called us with words of comfort, thank you for sharing our heartbreak and grief.

To the two generous young men and their families who returned Lindy to us when they discovered his body in The Chesapeake Bay a couple hundred yards off The Lynnhaven Fishing pier; what can I possibly say? Sometimes in life "angels" reach out to us. You bore tragic news, but you gave us the gift of closure. If not for your call, we would have agonized forever over Lindy. Instead, you brought his body ashore, laid him on your blanket, and called us with the tragic news we so dreaded to hear. You could have passed him by without a second thought, but you didn't. Although we were horrified to learn of his fate, you made a most difficult call to a stranger. We are grieving so deeply for him, but you spared us the agony of forever wondering what had become of him. You earned many points for heaven today.

We also wish to thank the VB Animal Control Officer who helped carry him off the beach, bundled him in towels and placed him in my car.

To Melinda, we are forever in your debt for taking this wonderful boy into your heart and your home, delivering him to us and entrusting us with his care. We cherished every moment he shared with us. I am just so very sorry we let you both down.

We don't know what drove him into the canal in the wee hours of last night. He awakened Ray, bent on going outside about 1:30 am. Ray was very sleepy when he let him out, but left the door cracked so Lindy could let himself back in. He sat in a chair near the door for a few minutes, then went to check on him, as he always takes care of "matters" promptly, and sings his heart out if the door isn't open for him. He was standing just off the porch, but started circling when Ray called him to come in. When he didn't come right in, Ray left the door partially open, and went back to the chair. When he called him again, he was nowhere to be found. He "never" leaves the front yard unless he is on the leash alongside Molly, and going for a walk. He will never leave the back deck because our yard only extends about 20' beyond the deck before it reaches the bulkhead. Lindy has always been "fraidy" of the bulkhead and canal. He would not even approach it on a leash.

I have only two theories of what may have happened. Our next door neighbors have been battling raccoons that have been tearing the mesh on their back porch and eating their cat's food. They have been setting live traps, and this morning they had a trophy sized coon in it. Maybe he chased the coon, or the coon chased him, and in the darkness and damp, Lindy slipped of the bulkhead.

My other theory is that he may have encountered a fox and her pups, and "Mom" might have chased him away. A neighbor about 1/4 mile up our street has been feeding a family of foxes behind her home which backs onto the park, at sunrise every morning for a couple of years. One night last week, my neighbor across the street called me about 10 pm and told me to look in her front yard, which I did. There was a mother fox and her babies playing on the lawn. They are becoming much less fearful of humans since Marcie has been feeding them, and have been making appearances in the populated areas on a regular basis.

We'll never really know what happened, and we both are simply devastated. If only we could have a do-over.....

Instead, here is a tribute to our wonderful "Fraidy Boy".

Click on the link below to view him as we will always remember him. Be sure to expand the comment on the video and read in his own words, his tribute to "Casey Our Sheltie". It has been annotated today.

U'r Sheltie Casey juz made da' mummy cry

The sad irony of this video, is that we posted it on YouTube as a response to another video about a Sheltie that had died.
Casey's Video

To best appreciate Lindy's video, you should watch Casey Our Sheltie first.

Again, thank you and God Bless you for everything you do!

Sadly,

Jp and Ray Barnes

Some parting shots: