It has been a while since my last posting. The real reason is that Olive has gotten much older and less active so that there is not as much to write about her.

I hosted Easter Sunday foe my family; this time we had a total of ten guests plus Olive and myself. That was the biggest Easter gathering at my house since my parents and uncle died. It was good to have my cousin Donna’s daughter Lisa here on a visit from England where she is now living with her husband Chris. My sister’s daughter Katie and her husband Andy were also here with their daughter Juniper. It was a good day.                                                      

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Shortly after Easter Olive seemed to have trouble walking. A visit to the vet and she was diagnosed as having a case of vertigo! The vet told me it’s fairly common in older dogs. The vet prescribed an over-the-counter product for seasickness in humans called by the generic name meclizine, sold under the brand name Bonine. The vet also saw some signs of a urinary infection, took a urine test which confirmed that Olive had it, and prescribed some antibiotics.

After a week the vertigo cleared up, but Olive still seemed to have trouble walking, walking in an awkward manner often crossing her hind legs. Another visit to the vet, and we were referred to a veterinary neurologist. I managed to get an appointment for Olive at a full-service veterinary hospital about a half hour away, the same hospital where Olive had her back surgery a few years ago. In fact the neurologist was the same one who performed Olive’s surgery last time.

The neurologist recommended an MRI, which required me to leave Olive overnight. The hospital called me the next morning to tell me that Olive had gone through the MRI just fine. The neurologist herself called me later in the afternoon.

While the MRI showed a few minor issues, including a couple of slightly swollen disks (not the one that was corrected last time), there was nothing seriously amiss. There were no issues with her brain, so at least I know that she didn’t have a stroke. The staff did not think that Olive was in any pain other than her arthritis.

It is possible that the combination of vertigo and the urinary infection set off her sudden difficulty with walking. Some muscle atrophy was present that has been developing for some time. The recommended treatment was rest and lots of TLC.

I took Olive home and the poor thing was thoroughly exhausted. We barely got through the front door and she dropped on the rug and stayed there for several hours. As recommended by the hospital staff I gave her some canned dog food instead of the dry kibbles I normally gave her; to my surprise she gobbled half of it, fell asleep, then woke up a half hour later and finished almost all of it. Clearly, she had just gone through a brutal 28 hours.

Although her crate (with a comfortable pad to sleep on) is in my living room, I got her bed from upstairs and brought it down to her favorite corner of my dining room for her to sleep on. When she finally got up the strength to move, she plopped onto her bed and stayed there the night. Not wanting to let her think I was abandoning her; I slept on my living room couch that night so that she would know I was nearby.

Today she did as well as I would have expected despite some terrible weather. She ate about half of her breakfast and seemed to be getting around the house ok. She was able to get out back to do her business and come back in, though she clearly gets exhausted easily. Twice she had to plop down and rest before going back into the house.

It’s a matter of waiting and seeing now. My hope is that Olive will be able to move around the house (even if she cannot negotiate the stairs up to the bedroom level), be able to get out back to do her business, and not be in pain, then I am good with it. I don’t want her to suffer.

Olive resting in her favorite corner of the dining room.

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On a more positive note, I have long wanted to create a page in this blog of Olive’s canine friends around my townhouse complex. I don’t know whether I am spelling all of the names correctly (people tell me their dog’s names but rarely spell them).

Here are a few of Olive’s friends.

Apollo

Apollo is a very friendly dog, younger than Olive but has known Olive since he was the new puppy on the block. The two seem genuinely fond of each other

Beauty

Beauty is a very shy dog. His people tell me that Olive is one of the few dogs that she Beauty seems ok to socialize with. I guess Olive just knew how to not come on too strong.

Brady

Brady is much smaller than Olive but the two seem very fond of each other. 

Donner

Donner lives in the building next door with frequent visits from his energetic cousin Mocha. Mocha is an escape artist and frequently gets loose, sometimes showing up on my back deck looking for Olive to play with. Olive likes both dogs, but Mocha can be a bit much at times.

Mocha

Lexi

Lexi was initially full of the puppy energy that sometimes gets annoying to Olive. As she has grown she has calmed down considerably and both look forward to seeing each other during morning walks.

Remy

Remy also lives in the next building, next door to Donner and Mocha. At first I was told that Remi did not get along with Donner though he did with Mocha. It seems, however, that the two have resolved their differences and now get along well.

Olive and I frequently encounter Winter and her human during walks. The two will usually sniff each other in a friendly way, then immediately move on.

Winter

Although Lenny has passed over the rainbow bridge, I had to include a photo of him courtesy of his people. Lenny is a cattle dog mix and was the first dog in this complex that Olive got to know. The two were immediately friends, so much so that Lenny's humans and I used to joke about He and Olive being boyfriend and girlfriend. After Lenny died, Olive would often look to the unit Lenny lived in as we passed it by on walks, wondering where Lenny went to. I regarded Lenny as the nicest dog in the complex. No doubt that the two will someday be playing together again on the other side of the rainbow bridge.

Lenny

Apple Tree Update/Olive loses a sister

 

You might remember that in April of last year I planted an apple tree near my unit. I am happy to say that not only has it been taking root and seems to be thriving, but it has already been producing apples! I did not expect to see apples this soon. Only four this year, though it shows that there is at least one other tree nearby capable of fertilizing mine.

 

Of the four apples, one was found on the ground near the tree and looking a bit inedible, so I tossed that one into the woods. Another just seemed to disappear without a trace. Perhaps a squirrel took it? Or a person? Today I picked one of the remaining two that looked ripe and had it after lunch. Delicious! It tasted as good as any Macintosh apple I have ever eaten.

 

Now, if I planted the seeds from the core and it grew into another tree, would I have another Macintosh tree? Maybe, but not necessarily. I have no way of knowing what tree fertilized mine. I could have been a crabapple tree, which can happen according to what I found on the internet. The seeds from my apple, then, would have mixed genes.

 

I did not try growing the seeds this time, but I might try that in the future.

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Olive seems to like the apple tree. She will often sit or lie near it when I take her out for play. She seems to want me to sit with her. So Andrews Sisters, I will offer my apologies:

Don’t sit under the apple tree

With any other dog but me.

With any other dog but me.

With any other dog but me-

Woof! woof! woof!

Don’t sit under the apple tree

With any other dog but me.

‘Till I come barking home!

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I am very sorry to report that Olive’s sister Leelu has crossed over the rainbow bridge. I had met her many times and visited the farm with Olive. Leelu was a fine sheep herding dog and, I understand, functioned as the pack alpha on the farm.

 

 

Good dog, Leelu.

 

She and Olive were full sisters, though from different litters. Leelu will be sorely missed.

 

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Olive herself is in good health, though clearly showing signs of age. She turned 13 years old on August 1. She doesn’t have the stamina and energy she once had; she needs to stop and rest during a walk around the circle in my complex whereas she used to be ready for a second go around as we got close to home. As such I have been taking her out my back door for a romp around the field instead of full walks much of the time. That way she can head in to the house when she feels tired. I am still taking her around the circle for early morning walks and for her last walk of the night. She is still very friendly with other dogs we meet during those walks, but not as anxious to play as she once was.

Happy Holidays 2023 from George and Olive

 

It has been a while and I have not kept up Olive’s blog over the last year. That is mostly because at age 12 now, Olive is not as active and energetic as she used to be. She has trouble getting into my car, so that I do not take her anywhere if I can help it except to the kennel for daycare and the vet. A plastic folding stair that I had hoped would make it easier for her to get into the car did not quite work out as I had hoped. It is a bit wobbly and I do not think she really trusts it. I will be going to a few pet stores to see what is available after the holidays.

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In October I traveled to England to see cousin’s daughter Lisa graduate with a PhD from Cambridge University. Olive spent that week at Candlewick kennels, where I know she was well taken care of. When I got home and picked her up from the kennel her reaction was one of “you’re here? Okay, let’s go home.” No exuberance at seeing me. It was after we got home that she stuck to me like glue and wouldn’t let me leave her even to go into the next room. It was good to be back home with my dog.

Lisa has not only graduated from Cambridge but is not engaged to an impressive young English man named Chris. I had met him both over in England on previous trips and here when he came to visit Lisa’s family. This trip I met his family and was quite favorably impressed. On a previous visit by Chris to the US he came to my house and met Olive. She seemed to like him and took to him right away. So Chris has passed the “Olive test”. Olive approves of him and so do I.

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This year Olive cooperated for her annual portrait in front of my holiday tree. She doesn’t seem puzzled by the presence of the tree, perhaps because after nearly nine years she is used to it appearing in December.

 

Okay, I posed. Are you happy now?

I had some friends over for a “supper by the tree” a week ago. Olive had a good time and enjoyed the attention she got. Among the presents I got was a border collie dish towel. Olive was given some bags of dog treats, which she will enjoy a few at a time over the next few months. She may be a bit perturbed that she doesn’t get to enjoy HER holiday presents on her schedule (all at once), but too bad. I’m the boss.

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This season our gift to all of the readers of Olive’s blog is a Christmas story involving the clay horse named Pokey, who was Gumby’s pal in those early 60s Claymation films. Everyone remembers Gumby, but this is the only film I have ever seen with Pokey and not Gumby.

Note the old dial telephone and the old TV set. There is also what seems to be a guest appearance by Davey (of Davey and Goliath, a Sunday morning semi-religious morality series that was also a Clokey production). Enjoy!

Happy holidays to everyone from George and Olive.

Olive and I observe Arbor Day

 

Some years ago, there was an ornamental tree on the south side of my townhouse that I could see out a window. That tree blew over in a storm some years back; the tree was removed and the stump dug out. A hole was left in the earth that still existed until this morning.

I thought that the area looked empty and thought that another tree should go there. As a kid we had an apple tree in our backyard, so I sentimentally would have liked to see an apple tree in that spot. After a few years of no action by the Association, I decided to take some action. I spoke with my next-door neighbors who said they would have no objection to a tree in that spot. I wrote to the property manager asking for an okay to put an apple tree there. To my surprise, I got a response back after a few days giving me an okay to plant one.

On Saturday I went to a nearby garden center. The people there were very helpful and helped me pick out a Macintosh sapling on their lot. They also gave me some helpful advice about planting it. I bought the sapling and a sack of planting soil that they recommended. Somehow, they managed to fit it into my car and I was off. By coincidence, that was the day after Arbor Day, the traditional day to plant a tree.

 

 

Home from the garden center on a rainy day

Saturday and Sunday were quite rainy, but the forecast was for dryer weather on Monday. So, Monday had to be the day. I parked the tree in the plastic pot on my back deck and removed the yarn used to temporarily tie the branches up to fit the tree into my car.

 

The rain was heavy on Sunday night, so I waited until the ground drained and dried a bit. After a breakfast of oatmeal, egg, a bagel, and a large mug of high-test coffee I was raring to go. First, I had to cut through the sod.

 

One foot deep, 28" in diameter.

As the people at the garden center recommended, I dug a hole one foot deep and 28” in diameter. I placed the tree in the hole and cut away the plastic bucket with a razor cutting tool. I mixed the sack of planting soil with an equal amount of native soil and little by little packed it around the cylinder of soil that was in the bucket, packing it with my hands as tightly as I could to avoid any air voids.

 

View from the East

View from the South

Finally, I replaced the sod as best I could.

 

Not so easy to put the sod back

Lastly, I brought Olive out to see the new addition. She did not seem to have much reaction to the tree; she was more interested in playing Frisbee.

 

"Well, at least he didn't try to plant a tree in the middle of the living room like he did last December!"

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A few bits of dog humor I collected over the past few months.

How else would humans know that it's time to exercise?

How true.

You knew he was a working dog when you married him.

More cat humor than dog humor, but I have heard that cats have secret names known only to themselves.

Starting the New Year

 

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I took Olive for her routine physical exam by the veterinarian in early January. The vet detected a heart murmur. That did not concern me too much as Smokey, the dog I had as a kid, had a murmur for years and lived to be almost seventeen. Murmurs are rated on a scale of 1-6; the vet initially gave Olive’s murmur a 2, which could require medication. To be certain and help get a more accurate evaluation, the vet did recommend a special type of scan, called an echo cardiogram, which would be three-dimensional and show more than a simple x-ray. I agreed and set an appointment for the following Monday.

As instructed, I dropped Olive off at 7:30 a.m., then headed to a nearby café for coffee and a bagel. From there I poked around a home improvement store for a while until around 10:30 when I had been told that the procedure should be finished. Back at the vet’s I used my cell phone to call and ask about Olive (this vet is still being cautious in the wake of Covid and not allowing people to accumulate in the waiting room). It turned out that Olive was just finishing up. I said I would be right in. I should have added that I was right outside the door, as the receptionist was startled when I walked in. She apparently thought it would take some ten or fifteen minutes for me to drive to the office.

In any event, the murmur turned out to be slighter than  the vet had feared, level 1. No medication was required, just “monitor the situation.” That was a relief.

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On Christmas Eve, after my Holiday entry was posted, I had family at my house for Christmas Eve dinner. My one-year-old grandniece was there and took delight in seeing Olive catch her ball. My sister, the child’s grandmother, took a short video.

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Some dog humor I have collected over the past few months.

Well, even border collies need to relax and socialize.

Okay, so she took a shortcut.

Well, I can't survive without a border collie.

Merry Christmas from Olive

 

When Olive had her surgery in October of 2021, the surgeon instructed me to keep her in a crate and see that she got plenty of bed rest. I immediately went out and bought a large wire crate, or kennel, from a pet supply shop and set it up in my living room in a spot that I knew she liked to nap in. I was apprehensive that she would not take to being confined; she surprised me by going right into the crate onto a dog bed I placed there and laying right down. I made sure to give her lots of TLC and kept her until she was well enough to roam the house.

Now, more than a year later, she still likes to nap there and occasionally will even eschew her usual bed upstairs near me to sleep downstairs in the crate. If Olive likes having the crate, as she seems to, then I do not want to take it apart and store it in my garage as I had originally planned. The drawback is that the location of the crate blocks access to my liquor cabinet and my stereo set. If I want to access either item, I must pull the crate out of the way then put it back.

The things I do for that dog. She is, however, more than worth it.

 

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At fiddle camp last summer an impressive film was shown that, I am told, was animated entirely by one artist. Call “Crack” (the sound a tree made when cut down at the beginning of the film) The story is seen from the point of view of a homemade wooden chair traversing Quebec history from the 1800s until contemporary times through many changes. Although not strictly speaking a Christmas story, it does depict some holiday celebrations including Christmas and Easter.

One feature that may need to be clarified: the seemingly non sequitur appearance of indigenous Americans at various points through the story. It was explained to the audience that in Quebecoise culture indigenous Americans signify the arrival of a child, as storks do in American culture.

 

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Despite having the dog crate in a place that is inconvenient for me (though not for Olive) I was able to get my Holiday tree up and decorated. It has never been easy to get her to pose in front of the tree, but here is what I was able to photograph.

 

Okay, George, I posed. Now can I have that treat you promised?

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Some dog humor I have collected over the past few months.

I may have been fortunate that Olive was older than 24 months when i got her.

That is something Olive would do.

Good advice to stay clear of any potential partner who doesn't like dogs.

If a border collie can't keep the sheep together, nothing can!

Happy Birthday Olive!

 

Short posting this time.

Olive was born on a wool farm in Maine on August 1, 2011. To celebrate her birthday, we went for dinner at “Lucky Lou’s” restaurant in the nearby town of Wethersfield, CT. As I mentioned in the last post, the restaurant welcomes dogs in their outdoor dining area and even has a special menu for dogs. My sister and cousin Donna joined us.

It was a hot afternoon, with temperatures in the 90s, but we found a table in the shade. We humans all had light salad-based suppers, while I ordered Olive grilled chicken with a side of carrots and celery. Olive enjoyed the chicken, but when I tried to get her to eat some of the vegetables, she actually spit out the carrot and celery. I could almost hear her thinking “the heck with this—I want some more of that delicious chicken!” She barked up a storm, which must have annoyed some of the other patrons, but was otherwise well behaved. I took her for very short walks from our table to try to get her to stop barking, to no avail.

We were also visited by a number of yellowjackets. I had to wonder if we were somewhere near a nest, though Olive didn’t seem to be bothered. Because of the heat, we decided to skip dessert and get back into our air-conditioned cars

I think that Olive did enjoy the outing, but I will not be taking her to Lucky Lou’s again at least for another year.

My cousin and sister help celebrate Olive's birthday. Olive is more interested in her chicken dinner.

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Here are a few bits of dog humor that I have collected since the last posting:

No surprise here!

That last one is definitely Olive.

Any dog person knows this.

No explanation needed.

Why, go to work with her, of course!