Buster by Cherry & Jim Graham / Mom & Dad & Grandmother

Memories of Graham’s Ghostbuster

I first carried our new puppy, Buster, to the bank where Cherry worked. With a sad look she asked why I had not picked him up. I reached into my coat pocket and introduced him to his new mom. He was no larger than my hand from the heel of my palm to the end of my fingers. When placed on the floor he immediately “left his mark” on the bank’s carpet.

When we got home with Buster, we put him into a small pet carrier. When we placed him in a pet carrier, he’d bark and cry. When we would take him out of the carrier, he’d run around the house happy as can be. This was the first sign that he would become
the “ruler of the roost”.

We decided to take Buster to the building site of our new home. We had already buried our poodle of fourteen years, Smokey, on that property. As soon as Buster hit the ground he ran over to Smokey’s grave and immediately hiked his leg. I am sure when Buster met Smokey for the first time this week Smokey reminded him of this.

During this same time, we were living in an apartment until our house was completed. My first head to head test with Buster was taking him out to get the morning paper. He wanted to teach me a new game of tag and run. I was already late for work and that little stinker would not let me catch him. I threw the paper (I didn’t know the Anderson Independent could explode into so many sections) at him and he froze in his tracks and forever had a fear of the newspaper.
Our next adventure came when he was placed into a meshed playpen in our bedroom. In the middle of the night we heard a big commotion, turned on the light, and there was Buster upside in his water dish…… the result of licking the electrical outlet. After this he was never the same again!

While planning an out of town vacation, we carried him to Larry and Candy’s to stay. As we approached their home Buster expressed his displeasure in not getting to go on vacation by wetting in my lap as we pulled into their driveway.
He really liked going to see Larry and Candy. Candy was the owner of a pair of
“one of a kind” bright red bedroom shoes. They were very fluffy and Buster enjoyed playing with them. Buster would steal her shoes and hide them under the bed. (I always wondered where Buster got those red shoes for Cherry’s Christmas present that year.) Another game that he played at Candy’s was to go into the bathroom, grab the toilet paper and run. He only did it at her house and nowhere else.

For all of his first year we had to watch the ground every step. He was so tiny we had to always look down as we walked so we would not accidentally step on him. We must have looked like giants to him.

Finally we got to move into the new house. We kept Buster in a kennel beside our bed. Since he was so small we left the top of the kennel open so we could easily put him in and pick him up. One night after I put Buster in the kennel, I went downstairs and in a couple of minutes there was Buster standing, looking me. I thought Cherry had let him out but she had not. I took him back up stairs and put him in the kennel again. In a few minutes he appeared downstairs again. After placing him in the kennel a third time I hid and watched. He began to climb on a stuffed bear in the corner of the kennel until he could get his paws on the top edge, then pulled himself until he could flip over the edge onto the bed, and then jump off of the bed and proceed downstairs. We should have changed his name to Houdini at that time.

Since he could escape the kennel we had to find another way to block him off from the rest of the house during the day. We purchased a child’s security gate and placed him in the bathroom. In a matter of a few days he had mastered escaping from the bathroom by climbing over the fence. Being the genius parents of Buster that we are, we purchased a second gate to stack on top of the first gate so he couldn’t climb over. Since we purchased a plastic gate instead of a wire gate, he proceeded to chew a hole through the gate and was waiting by the kitchen door when we came home from work. At this point we decided that he lived in the house and allowed us to share it with him.

On one occasion MaMa Graham was getting ready to go on a trip. We carried Buster out to see her the night before she was to leave. We noticed Buster was missing and would not come to us when we called him. After a short search we discovered where he was – sitting in the middle of her packed suitcase on the bed ready to go with her. He placed a guilt trip on his grandmother.

Each time we would let Buster out in the yard and he spotted a bird, he would break into a rapid run. He loved to chase the birds. We decided to take him with us to a Clemson baseball game one Sunday afternoon. We made the mistake of sitting near the bullpen. When the pitcher would warm up, Buster thought the baseball was a bird and barked continuously at it. We finally had to leave to calm him down. For some strange reason the next baseball season there was a sign stating no dogs allowed in the ballpark.
Coincidence, you tell me.

Buster had a habit of sitting down and turning his back to us when we scolded him. He would peep over his shoulder and cut his eyes to see if we were watching him. As soon as you would pet him he was back in your lap trying to kiss you. He never held a grudge.

When Buster was about two years old we acquired a second dog. He was a longhaired Chihuahua named Creature. Buster wasn’t very excited about having to share his domain with a dog. (Buster never considered himself a dog; he was a human with four legs and a stubby tail.) After a few weeks they became best of friends and stayed that way until his death. Creature was a follower and Buster a leader. Both were very happy together.
We took our “boys” to a fundraiser for the animal shelter. The local Catholic Priest placed a blessing on both Buster and Creature. It was amazing how quiet Buster was when the priest proclaimed the blessing and sprinkled holy water. One of the few time he did not get the last word in.

One thing that Buster starting doing as a young pup and continued for many years was perform perfect back flips. We started this by playing fetch with a stuffed animal and fake a throw. He would start to chase and suddenly stop and cut a flip in the air trying to get back to the animal. He mastered this trick to perfection.

Buster also had the talent to do impersonations when Cherry would give him a bath and wrap him in a towel, he would look like ET. When dried he would strut around letting everyone know he was pretty. During the course of drying him he was perpetual motion. Sometimes it was like trying to change a tire on a moving vehicle.

When we would take Buster and Creature for a walk we would often go to Clemson and walk on campus. He would immediately attract the girls. He wanted to see each one of them, but he did not care for the guys. Where was this girl magnet when I was attending Clemson?

When Cherry’s uncle and aunt (Lonnie and Nancy) would come to let the “boys” out when we were away, Buster would run to Ma Ma Graham’s house next door and Nancy would have to chase after him. It would scare Lonnie and Nancy each time, but they always knew where he was headed.

We had a college student who lived with us for a few months. His name was Tony. Tony was studying to be a minister. Tony really enjoyed watching the movie “A Fish Called Wanda.” In this movie there were several Yorkshire Terriers who met untimely accidents in the movie and Tony would grin at each of them and look at Buster. That was okay, because on a trip to Greenville one evening Tony was holding Buster in his lap and Buster proceeded to pay him back by cooling his lap with water, and it did not come from a drink if you know what I mean.

One thing that Buster was known for by all of our friends is that when they got ready to go home he would pitch one more fit. He’d bark and bark as hard as he could. He did not want anyone to leave because he thought anyone who came to the house was there to see and play with him.

Buster grew up playing with our friend Diane Goldsmith’s daughter. She was one of his best playmates. Diane always had Buster chasing the vacuum cleaner when she was helping us at our house. Until the day he got sick you could not turn on a vacuum cleaner without him trying to bite it.

One morning I was in a hurry to get to work. I had just taken a shower and ignored Buster who was sitting on the toilet lid. As I bent over to get shaver from under the sink he reminded that I had ignored him by nipping me on my behind.

When he was a puppy one of his favorite places to sit was on my shoulder between my neck and the back of the seat as I drove. He rode many miles there until he noticed the windshield wipers on the car. From that day until the day we brought him from the emergency clinic the week before he died, he sat intently on Cherry’s lap or stretching from the seat staring at the windshield wipers waiting for them to turn on. If you had to turn on the wipers he would strain to try to get to them and to try to bite at them through the windshield.

One of my most memorable moments was a Saturday morning when I took Buster with me on some errands. Without giving it much thought I decided to take the truck through a carwash. Remember this is the same dog who tried to bite the windshield wipers when they moved side to side. Once the carwash began and the brushes were spinning on the front, back, and both sides of the windshield, he could not decide which to try to bite first, so he went for all of them. It kind of reminded me of Ray Stevens’ song about that Mississippi squirrel.

On one occasion we carried him to the beach. I took him down on the beach for a walk. He decided that the ocean wave was too tempting and he ran straight at it and to try to bite at it. Obviously he lost the battle as the wave washed him back up on the beach. After that he stayed on the screened porch of the house and barked and chased sea gulls as they flew by.

Anytime we were at home, Buster would sit either on the sofa with us or on our laps. All of our married life Buster slept each night on our bed between us. One night I had already gone to sleep and Cherry was watching television. Suddenly she heard me call Buster to come to me. I jumped and yelled at him when he licked me on the face. I did not realize that I had called out to him in my sleep. He was doing what he rarely did…..He obeyed me.

Another time he was lying on the cover between us. Both Buster and I were asleep. Suddenly I grabbed the cover to turn over. Not knowing this since I was asleep, I flipped Buster into the air. He had a rude awakening, or a nightmare about a new ride at Disney World. But it did not stop him from sleeping on the bed in between us each night until the day he passed away.

In his later years Ma Ma Graham began to stay with us on weekends. Buster would not let anyone near her and would protect her. On one occasion Johnny was getting ready to leave our house after visiting Ma Ma. He leaned over to give her a good-bye kiss, Buster growled at him warning him that he was intruding into his and Ma Ma’s territory.

When Ma Ma was here Buster could be found sitting in the chair with her, often both of them sound asleep. Buster loved his grandmother very much. He paid her back with his love for all of the time she would let him out during the middle of the day. Sometimes she would take him back to her house to keep her company.

An elderly gentleman built a box for Buster’s burial. We left Buster’s nametag on him because he was never without it except to take a bath. We buried him with some of his favorite things, a blanket, a toy duck, Buster’s look-a-like Yorkie stuffed animal, and the infamous “slut Mickey”. (Just asked people who knew him and they would tell you about “slut Mickey.”

Words cannot explain the grief that we have felt since Buster’s passing from this world. We feel there is a special place in Heaven where the angels are playing with him. He has been a big part of our lives and we will miss him greatly, but he will always have a special place in our hearts and will never be forgotten.

He gave so much to us and asked so little of us in return. Regardless of how bad of a day we had at work, there was always a four legged, furry little son at home jumping with joy to see us and welcome us home. One day we will see him again. He will lick our face as he always did and remove the tears from our eyes forever.

 

You're always on our mind and in our hearts!