Nellie Sue
A donation was made in memory of Nellie Sue on Aug 13, 2009.
"Nell" was a beautiful half Keeshond / half Schnauzer friend who had belonged to a Tacoma teacher I knew only as Sue, whose retirement plans included a medical checkup. At the appointment her doctor sent her to terminal care.
Sue wasn't allowed to return home to settle matters, close accounts, sell her condo nor make arrangements for her sole companion her dog Nell. Other teachers were walking, feeding and housing Nell who couldn't reciprocate the kindness with her owner missing. One Tacoma teacher, my stepdaughter, phoned me because she knew I missed "Janna" my registered long hair German Sheppard.
I went to meet Nell, who turned out to be too fat, too aloof as well as too much of a barker. Nevertheless, Nell went home with me.
The match was reported to Nell's hospitalized owner, who was relieved that Nell had a home with a female and a fenced backyard. I wrote Sue to tell her the details and how Nell was missing her, but seemed resigned to the change. When I learned Sue had grown up near southern states where females usually were given two first names, I reported that Nell had been re-baptized to become "Nellie Sue". I think that gave Sue a smile and a bit of comfort knowing her pet - her’s since she was born Sept. 1992 - had a home as well as her name.
Nellie Sue didn't have a loveable temperament; she was strong-minded and aloof toward people. Neighbors were not fond of her. But I came to respect Nellie Sue's determined survivor instincts. One Sunday evening, while I watered the front yard, she wandered into the backyard of the empty house next door - into an unfenced backyard filled with sprawling blackberry vines. Coyotes, who had wondered into that deserted yard, quietly surveyed her as their next dinner. But the coyotes found only fat, no muscle or sinew, and could not drag her away. Nellie Sue, crying, walked from that yard to the front of the house with 17 bleeding puncture wounds as counted by her gruff Midwest (who always rooted for WSU, not the UW, because there was a "State" in his school's (Ohio?) name) veterinarian. Nellie Sue survived that ordeal until, at age 13 in Feb. 2006, she died - possibly of diabetes.
She was beautiful, somewhat remote and followed her own rules. I miss her determination, even her barking ways, and beautiful face. I like to speculate that she linked up with Sue, her first friend, in that vast, unknown hereafter we all think about.
Anita B.
Sue wasn't allowed to return home to settle matters, close accounts, sell her condo nor make arrangements for her sole companion her dog Nell. Other teachers were walking, feeding and housing Nell who couldn't reciprocate the kindness with her owner missing. One Tacoma teacher, my stepdaughter, phoned me because she knew I missed "Janna" my registered long hair German Sheppard.
I went to meet Nell, who turned out to be too fat, too aloof as well as too much of a barker. Nevertheless, Nell went home with me.
The match was reported to Nell's hospitalized owner, who was relieved that Nell had a home with a female and a fenced backyard. I wrote Sue to tell her the details and how Nell was missing her, but seemed resigned to the change. When I learned Sue had grown up near southern states where females usually were given two first names, I reported that Nell had been re-baptized to become "Nellie Sue". I think that gave Sue a smile and a bit of comfort knowing her pet - her’s since she was born Sept. 1992 - had a home as well as her name.
Nellie Sue didn't have a loveable temperament; she was strong-minded and aloof toward people. Neighbors were not fond of her. But I came to respect Nellie Sue's determined survivor instincts. One Sunday evening, while I watered the front yard, she wandered into the backyard of the empty house next door - into an unfenced backyard filled with sprawling blackberry vines. Coyotes, who had wondered into that deserted yard, quietly surveyed her as their next dinner. But the coyotes found only fat, no muscle or sinew, and could not drag her away. Nellie Sue, crying, walked from that yard to the front of the house with 17 bleeding puncture wounds as counted by her gruff Midwest (who always rooted for WSU, not the UW, because there was a "State" in his school's (Ohio?) name) veterinarian. Nellie Sue survived that ordeal until, at age 13 in Feb. 2006, she died - possibly of diabetes.
She was beautiful, somewhat remote and followed her own rules. I miss her determination, even her barking ways, and beautiful face. I like to speculate that she linked up with Sue, her first friend, in that vast, unknown hereafter we all think about.
Anita B.
