"Cheer up"

"Cheer up!" Mother said "Things could be worse". So I cheered up. Sure enough, mom was right. Things got worse. Today was a very dark day on the farm. Let me recount the day.
I was up very early in order to be at church by 6:30 (I was on the audio team today). As usual I let the dogs out to bark at the garage door as I was putting it up. Once the door was up, I called the dogs back in. Morgan came running and I let her back in. I called Eli two or three more times. Since he didn't come back through the garage I supposed he went out into the yard so I got into my truck and started it up. As I was pulling out of the garage I felt a bump and heard Eli yelp. I knew right then we were having a bad day. He got up and ran back into the garage and hid behind the car so I figured I must have run over a foot or something. Sensing that I was going to be late I went in to get Julie to take a look at him. We moved the car and Eli got up and followed Julie back inside. I figured that was a good sign so i took off for church. Well, Julie noticed that Eli didn't seem to be doing vey well, so she enlisted the help of my mom and dad to get him in to the Vet. After checking him out the vet told Julie that Eli was more banged up than we first believed and should be taken to Columbus for further evaluation/treatment. So Julie called me at church and I made a flying run home to pick her up and then another flying run to the vet to get Eli. We were part way to Columbus when Eli succumbed to his injuries in the back seat of the truck with his head on "moms" leg. We take solace in the fact that he did not have to endure prolonged suffering and that now he is free to run and play in a far better place than the here on the farm. We were privileged to have Eli with us for about three years and I can truly say I've never known a dog who was better at expressing his personality. We will always remember his "cheesy grin" and laugh. He brought us much happiness and we will miss him terribly.


Check back soon (and often)
Dave and (the extremely sorrowful Princess) Julie