RIP Casey the Dog.

A amazing partner in crime from my years in grad school in Texas has passed away. Casey was a fiercely loyal pound puppy that really was one the best things about my time in Texas. She was always down to accompany me on epic trips (Our solo road trip to west Texas during spring break, and the our multi-day trip through the Bob Marshal Wilderness with Tanner and Mariah being two of my favorites). I've always enjoyed my family's preferred breed of Golden Retrievers, but after spending time with Casey there's no doubt my next dog will be a rescued puppy, hopefully just like Casey, maybe even a Catahoula. She was a great four pawed ambassador of friendship and will always be fondly remembered.

To add a local flavor to this post, I'll mention that dogs in the campo are not treated the same as I am used to back home. Our three dogs, Negra, Brandon, and Gringa, recently killed some of Dina's rabbits and chickens. For this, Gringa was sentenced to death by poisoning which took Dina two attempts to complete (I wasn't there when it happened). I've learned not to become attached to dogs in site (I've seen countless litters of both Gringa and Negra never make it past a few weeks of age);Nevertheless it was sad to hear that my favorite dog in site had to go out like this.

*In Dina's defense, those animals that the dogs ate are the food for her family. In the dogs' defense, they never get fed.