Little Elvis 2009 - September 27, 2024

 Little Elvis was almost 15 years old.  He was my constant companion in the Winter time, sleeping most nights at the foot of my bed.  I will miss him, he was mostly deaf and could hardly see anything...old age is hard on dogs.  BUT he had a good life! 

January 2010  Miney, Little Elvis and Chance

 

Adam and Little Elvis

May 2010 

 

Noah and Little Elvis

Chance and Little Elvis 

 

Chance, Little Elvis and Miney

Chance and Little Elvis

 

Miney, Little Elvis and Chance

Little Elvis

 

Little Elvis and Sadie 

Little Elvis has left the building.  Rest in peace little buddy.  

Little Elvis and Miney helped to cushion the loss when Chance died in 2018, Little Elvis cushioned the loss of Miney in 2021.  Now they are all mourned and missed more than ever. They were a real pack! Three of the bestest dogs ever!

Far Side

 

Photo Project

 I am working on the photo album project for our Grands.  Some of the photos make me smile. 

February 27,  2010  Adam holding Little Elvis. 

Miss Miney, Little Elvis and Chance.  Noah is in the background.   Feb 16, 2010

Little Elvis must have turned 13 now as they have had him 13 years. 

Here is a photo I took just the other day...his eyes are getting cloudy and his hearing is not great, he sleeps in our room most nights.  He has a fluffy dog bed.  He has a touchy tummy so the only treats allowed are rice cakes...and he likes them.

Far Side

Miss Miney 2005-2021

 Miss Miney (Hermione) has been having a time with Old Dog Vestibular Syndrome.  Some days she was fine ...other days she struggled to get up and down but was still happy.  Yesterday she could not get up from a lying down position.  It was time.   Sadly she made that last trip to the Vets office in the afternoon.  

We will miss her so much.  We were lucky to be able to care for her throughout the years...instead of going to the kennel when her people had to be away she came to our house.  We loved having her visit.  Chance loved her visits.  She was just a little younger than Chance.  She would have been 16 years old this summer.  

August 2005 when she was just a little puppy she made her first visit to our house.  She is sleeping on top of an overnight bag and a pair of shoes most likely Noah's shoes. 

She was a beauty. 

She and Chance were best friends. 

Little Elvis joined the pack. 

Miss Miney was our daughter Jen's "heart dog" ...they come around only a few times in your life if you are a dog person...those dogs are the ones you always miss and remain forever in your heart. 

I am certain that Chance was happy to greet her. 

Goodbye beautiful Miss Miney.

She helped to heal our hearts a bit after Chance died. 

Run free Girlie.

Far Side

Gone to the Dogs

Rather the Grand dogs have come to us...to be spoiled for a bit...today they go back home.

They wake us early in the morning for their breakfast and want their supper at 5 PM but start asking for it about 4:15...just in case you were going to forget about them.  They take really long naps as they are both older dogs... Miss Miney is almost 15 years old.  Little Elvis is just over 10 years old.

Little Elvis can be a turd.  BUT he listens really good to us. Miss Miney would listen if she could hear anything... she is pretty much deaf.  We use hand signals...her eye sight is getting worse too.  She waits at the top of the step for help descending the stairs.

Last week Little Elvis stopped the LP Man from making a delivery...he has to go into the back yard...well that is Little Elvis territory...

I have been calling him Sid Vicious!  What a good watchdog!

They love to be in the kitchen when I am cooking...just in case something is dropped...either that or to keep me company.  Chance used to keep me company in the kitchen too.
Far Side

October half over

Seems like we are whipping right through the month of October.

I got my flu shot yesterday....the gals up in the infusion center  give them to family members of patients.  So I didn't need an appointment or anything.  So far so good.  No bad reactions!

The sun was out yesterday...yeah for sunshine!

Miss Miney and Little Elvis enjoyed the sunshine too!

I still have a few flowers blooming!  I am enjoying every flower I see!

The other Salvia has succumbed to the frost but  Salvia Victoria Blue is still hanging in there.  From the kitchen window I noticed a mainly black with a little red butterfly on the Salvia ...it did not stick around long enough for a photo...must have been just passing through.

Went to Bingo with my Dad and my baby brother....we did not win but we had fun anyway.  Dad is still having problems with his knee.  Considering his age there is nothing much they can do with his knee.  I told Dad we need one of those rolling walkers with a seat so when his knee is not cooperating he can sit down and I can push him to the vehicle.   It is either that or no bingo.  Luckily my brother has been there to help me get him to the vehicle safely when his knee isn't cooperative.
Far Side

Miney in the Morning and Crochet Projects

The dogs love to wake us up early, at home they have a doggie door and can let themselves out. At our house Little Elvis licks your hand or arm or face until you get up.

Far Guy got up way early at daylight.  I did the second shift...they were hungry at 7AM and then needed to go out.

One way to get Little Elvis to leave you alone for five minutes is to brush him!

We sure enjoy their visits.  They are good company.  Miss Miney is over 14 now, she has problems walking a straight  line some days...she wobbles...BUT she is still happy and seems comfortable.

 I struggled with a different baby bootie pattern...finally have a pair that are acceptable.  If I do them again I would pick a fine baby yarn. As it was I used a cotton thread. I added the ties being realistic that they might have to be tied on!

At least these will fit a baby and not a one year old.

I worked on packaging up seven crochet rescue nests for a Wildlife Rehabilitator in Iowa.  They are ready to mail!  I work on nests here and there, when ever I have a few minutes.  I forgot to take a photo.
Far Side

Log Repair Project

Many years ago...like about 20 years when we built this house we used Jack Pine logs to make a covered entry.  We did it up real good.  We sunk rebar into a bucket of cement and buried them for footings...the rebar stuck up about 6 inches and the logs were set on top of the rebar...it was quite a project.  We were younger then.

The logs aged...and this spring we noticed the bottom part of the logs were starting to  become rotten. Some bird most likely a woodpecker had quite a time with one of the logs.

We were not quite sure how we were going to fix it.  Between Andy, Jen and Far Guy they came up with a solution.

Before:

Chance and Odda in 2015 

After:

New brick platforms for the logs to set on.  The logs were cut off and the rebar cut off and ground off to make a level surface.  This fix should last another 20 years!  It was sprinkling when I took the photos.

Miss Miney and Little Elvis July 5 2019

Many Thanks to Andy and Jen for taking time out of their vacation week to help us with this project!  We could not have done it without them.  Thanks also to my other baby brother who had a whole pile of bricks from a construction demo in his equipment yard...I had my choice of colors of bricks...I chose the grey. 

Miss Miney and Little Elvis have returned to their own home...we will miss them.  The house seems quiet without them. 

Odda still comes to visit...she was visiting yesterday...we are her safe place.

Far Side

Visitors

We have visitors for a few days.

Miss Miney and Little Elvis

Miss Miney turned 14 a few days ago.  She wears Chance's old harness now.  She was really sick with Canine idiopathic vestibular disease or "old dog disease" or "Canine Vertigo"...she is better now but still loses her balance sometimes. When she got sick several weeks ago she vomited and lost her balance and fell down and she had irregular jerking eye movements. Jen took her to the Vet. She has recovered somewhat...she still falls down sometimes.   The harness helps to guide her up and down the steps safely. She is deaf but still wags her tail and seems happy.

We love having the granddogs visit...they are older like us and we all require naps.
Far Side

Visitors

Our Grand Dogs Miney and Little Elvis are spending a few days with us.

They are happy here and know the rules...oh wait there are no rules!  Little Elvis is 9 and Miss Miney is 14 .  Miss Miney is very hard of hearing...almost deaf.  She watches for hand signals...and sleeps so sound you wonder if she is still alive.

Little Elvis walked to the mailbox with Far Guy and Miss Miney stayed with me...she only goes for short walks.

It is good to have dogs in the house again.
Far Side

Wistful Wednesday: Meeting Little Elvis

In mid January 2010 Andy bought a Sheltie puppy.  His name was Elvis…Far Guy and I call him Little Elvis.  Chance met Little Elvis for the first time up in Bemidji at Trica and Dicks house in town…Jen, Andy and the boys were visiting for the day.

He was little.  Chance was a tad worried about his tail.

Miss Miney, Little Elvis and Chance.  That is Adam in the background.

Paige, Adam and Noah Jan 2010.

Miss Miney and Little Elvis January 2019.   Elvis is nine years old now.

They are happy to see us when they come to visit.  I wonder if they miss Chance as much as we do.  I wonder if they distrust us because Chance is not here…do they wonder what we did with him…or do they just know.  Jen says they just know.

Do we plan to get another dog?  Not yet, neither of us are ready.  For now we will love our daughters dogs and the neighbor dogs and that is good enough for now.

Far Side

Dogs

It was so cold we had sundogs.  We are NOT  expected to climb out of the deep freeze any time soon.

We sure enjoyed our grand dog company.

Miss Miney and Little Elvis were at the groomers.  They wake us up early and boss us around...after their visit to the groomers they were real tired.  They kept Far Guy company whilst Jen and I went to Bingo with my Dad...good thing we took him along as he hollered bingo twice!

Nice to have sleeping dogs to walk around again if only for a few days!

Far Side

Weekend

Our youngest daughter Jen and the Granddogs came to visit.  Hockey games and Vex Robotics Tournaments on the computer were watched.  Card games have been played, craft projects worked on, walks taken, dogs enjoyed and good food eaten.

Miney is inbetween them on the couch.

Miney inherited Chance’s  red harness…it helps her get down the stairs safely.  Chance would have approved…he always shared with Miney.

Little Elvis has a spot on the other couch.  He chased squirrels and almost caught them…he got into a bunch of burrs…so he was brushed.

This is their first trip here since Chance died, they looked for him a bit and sniffed spots outside that Chance frequented.  They seem much more accepting of his absence than us humans.

Chance: Company

I had company, they just got here and then they had to leave right away…one sleep and then they were off to the groomers.  After the groomers we got to spend another sleep and most of a day together.

They like my groomer.

Miss Miney

Little Elvis

There was one very unsuccessful photo of us together.

Far Side says it was a hot mess….my harness is off kilter and Miney is running away from the camera.

We used to play ball…not so much anymore.  Little Elvis chases squirrels. Miney and I just lay down and watch.

The harmonica was played…at least that was what they say…I didn’t hear it…Miney didn’t hear it. Little Elvis heard it…but he is not the most vocal singer.  It isn’t a chorus anymore.

I am still eating, pooping and peeing (outside of course) and sleeping a lot.  I go for at least two longer walks a day, if they get to be too long I go back home all by myself…Far Side says it is a good thing I still know where home is. 

Chance: Company

I had visitors on Sunday!  My best friends ever and my sister and her husband.

The beautiful Miss Miney is losing some of her hearing and little Elvis is well…Little Elvis! He is a character. They visited my groomer on Monday morning!

I need to report that Far Side has a temperature and has something brewing…not sure what yet… she got a great report from the allergy Doctor all the food allergies she has had the past 20-30 years have disappeared!!  She can eat pinepple and strawberries again…maybe even celery and mushrooms!  The Mayo Clinic says she is allergy free!   Her allergy Doctor says to take Zyrtec for the itchy eyes she gets when the pollen is bothersome.