Thank you, everyone

Brenda and I are so touched by the outpouring of sympathy we have received on Sam's passing.
Thank you all for your comments and e-mails and, for many of you, sharing that you too have gone through this experience.
As my brother, Bill, pointed out, in many ways we can become closer to our dogs than to most people. I was like that with Sam. We shared a lot of life. As a tiny example, I calculate that we walked over 3,000 miles together just on our dirt road here in Nolalu during our daily two-mile walks in the winter months. 
There is nothing to do now but move on and so I shall give it a go. I haven't felt much like writing anything on the blog for a long time but I'm going to do some blogs, starting today, to see if it can get my mind off my troubles.
Again, thank you all so much.