This is Nellie. She came to live with me when my grampa died in 1992. He was 86 years old and was quite a character. He worked every day and kept a farm going right up to his last year on earth. In his final days he worried most about Nellie. I visited him a few times a week and I never did tell him that I would take her home with me and take care of her. I guess I didn't have to. Everyone in the whole family knew.

I never asked him how old Nellie was but everyone seemed to agree that she was about 14 years old at that time. That would make her 18 when she died last year (1996). She died of kidney failure. It was a tough year. I have a diary of Nellie's ordeal that explains all of the treatments and help she got from 3 different hospitals and a medical dietitian for humans on this page, if you care to check it out. I am very greatful to everyone that has helped her.

Nellie loved to run and play. Even after she got sick she would run and play as much as she could. Grampa used to let Nellie run lose while he was working in the fields. Occasionally when it was time to go home Grampa couldn't find her. She would only come back when she was ready. One day, several years ago, I stopped by the farm and Grampa was getting ready to go back to the house and he couldn't find Nellie. "That darn dog has a mind of her own," he told me, "and she just makes me wait until she's darn good and ready". He also told me that she couldn't hear very well, because he would call her for long periods of time and she would be close by but not hear him. - I found out later when she came to live with me that she could hear, she just didn't like to listen. - Grampa and I walked all over the farm and half way across the next one when he said that we should just go home and let her come back on her own. When we got back to where his truck was, there was Nellie, wagging her tail and barking and jumping on us and wondering why we were out goofing off when it was time to go home. Nellie's at home with Grampa now. And I bet she's playing her old tricks on him too.

I wrote a song for Nellie and added some to it after she died. The words are here if you'd like to read them. If you go to my SONGS page you can hear a sample of it.