dog – Page 15

The Last Snow

We got a few inches of snow in Portland on Tuesday, but with Ellie’s recent injury or illness she didn’t want to go for a long walk in it so I was surprised when she flopped down in the backyard and rolled around in the snow. I’m glad she got to enjoy it a little bit as I suspect this snow will be her last, not because she is in any imminent danger but because I have to choose now between two job offers, one in California and one in Arizona, and neither place gets snow unless you drive a ways to the mountains to look for it.

Adjustments

Age has rendered Ellie mostly deaf so she can no longer hear me when I walk up to her. While she’s always slept on the kitchen tile or the hardwood floors, especially when it’s warm, she now often sleeps where I’ll have to step over her so she can more easily keep track of where I am in the house. The cats have adjusted by hopping over her when she inadvertently blocks them in a room.

At the dog park this morning the two other old black labs in the neighborhood were both there, one of their owners asked me if there was ever a time Ellie wasn’t smiling. I thought of all the solemn looks the pup has given me over the years when she’s been bored as I’ve photographed her, but I knew what she meant. That smile is contagious, I’ve seen it spread onto the faces of so many people who have met her. And countless times, to my own.

Happy 14th Birthday Pup!

A picture from 9 years ago on the day we brought home this most wonderful pup. We don’t know her real birthday so we celebrate it on the anniversary of her adoption, even though she might have turned 14 months ago. You can see bits of white paint on her neck and face and ears, her previous owners were moving and must have been painting. The white fur below her mouth and just above it is natural, these days it covers most of that adoring and adorable face.

Ellie’s New Year’s Wish For You

“May your walks be long, past many houses, at every house a Steve.”

Does This Count as a White Christmas?

I don’t think so pup, but it’s OK, after the past year I’ve had enough of white.

(We did get more snow before Christmas morning and had a rare white Christmas in Portland).

Abode of Dog and the Snowman

Snow falls as day turns to night at the abode of Dog and the Snowman.

Dog and the Snowman

Also a good name for a folk-rock band.

Morning at the Fog Park

A foggy and frosty morning at the dog park at Irving Park.

The Pup Pythagoras

The past couple of days Ellie has only wanted to go on 45 minute walks, still amazing for her age, but not quite the adventurous 60 to 90 minute walks of previous days. One thing I’ve noticed as she’s aged, in addition to the stiff legs and shortness of breath, is that at an intersection she tries to take the diagonal across instead of crossing each street in turn. She I suppose intrinsically understands the shortest distance between two points is a straight line, and at her age wants and needs to minimize effort, but it always makes me think of the famous theorem that bears Pythagoras’ name. It made a big impression on my young self when I first learned of it and I realized the world of mathematics, and our world it describes, is both profound and beautiful.

Despite this I make Ellie take the long way round, crossing each street one at a time instead of taking the diagonal, as we live in the world of the automobile and it is their rules that govern our walks. She doesn’t understand, but then neither do I.

Double Dragon

These pictures may look the same but the top one is from Saturday, the bottom Sunday. We’ve had a spate of sunny and cold weather and Ellie was up for unusually long walks both days, slightly over an hour and a half on Saturday and slightly under on Sunday. She wanted to go past Irvington School on the way home, normally we don’t go that far south and east, she likes it because people walk their dogs in the grass field and I like it because I can photograph her beside the dragon statue. She wanted to go Friday as well, trying several times to get me to go past, but school was in session.

This pup is the best.