Goodbye to our dear friend Zeus.

The god dog was 15 years old — 105 if you multiply by 7 — when he left us today.

I made a tag — "Zeus the Dog" — and collected all the old posts, going back to his first appearance... in 2012, when he was 5 (35):

Our dear Zeus is 98.

 

Happy Birthday!

I wrote "our," but he's not our dog. We just borrow him a lot of times.

Snow, incorporated.

Snow citizen and photo by Meade.

The midsection of the snowperson was originally the lower part of the snowwoman I'd made in the front yard. He disassembled my creation and reincorporated it in the backyard. He's copying and improving on some of my ideas, notably my pronouncement that a snowperson should have a neck and a waist.

Zeus looks unfazed.

At the Blue Chair Café...

... you can talk about whatever you want.

And if you've got some shopping to do, I recommend using this Amazon link.

That photo is from 5 years ago, from the first week of December. I don't take too many photographs at this time of year, which I call Darkmonth. Especially if there is no snow. So I went looking into the past. Zeus looks so much younger then!

At Picnic Point...

... with Meade and Zeus today.

Talk about anything you want.



And give some thought to using The Althouse Amazon Portal.

At the Friday Café...

... you can talk to all your friends.

Photo of me and Zeus — he's not our dog! — by Meade.

And please consider doing your Amazon shopping through The Althouse Portal.

A perfect 10.

Zeus is 10. Happy Birthday!

(Photo, by Meade, is from August 2014).

Zeus and Meade on frozen Lake Mendota.

About an hour ago. Notice the Wisconsin Capitol building on the far shore.

"Oh, good, brave, strong dog!"

Meade and Zeus on frozen Lake Wingra, yesterday evening.

Meade makes the news: "Dog-sharing leads to Puparazzo blog."

By Samara Kalk Derby in the Wisconsin State Journal. Excerpt:

When someone left the neighbors' gate open, Zeus wandered into Meade's backyard. Meade invited him inside, and with tail wagging, Zeus got a tour of the place. Eventually, Meade led him back to the neighbors, who with two little kids and another on the way, didn't notice he was missing.

Zeus has been coming over to visit pretty much every day since. And when Zeus' owners, Raj Shukla and Tora Frank, go out of town, Meade and Althouse take care of him. Meade has even taken Zeus paddleboarding.

"Laurence is really the person at the center of our dog's life," Shukla said. "(Zeus) loves us... I guess. He would probably save us if we were in trouble -- probably. But we know where he wants to go most days. And it's to be with Laurence.... We were never sure, is he going to the park, or are they just binging on bacon?" Shukla said laughing. "What is it that is causing this deep affection? But it turns out it's both."

Cool grass.

Cool dog.



Photos by me, not Meade. Just because it's a dog doesn't mean it's by Meade. But Meade has a new post up over at The Puparazzo. It's called "Plott Hounds." Notice Otis. And his companion Maeble. Over there. But here, it's good old Zeus, cooling off in the luscious, Meade-made lawn.

Aw. Gee.

It's Augie.



With Zeus providing background. More Augie at Puparazzo.

Lake Wingra, this evening... I stayed on the shore...

Meade took Zeus out...



... and together...



... they floated away into a tiny little red + orange dot amid all that blue and green"

Happy birthday, Zeus.

... the god dog is 49 (in dog years).

Arctic journey.

In the harsh winter morning light, Meade treks through the back yard to find Zeus.



We're not believers in the Greek Gods as a religion, just borrowers of a dog named Zeus who arrives through that path between those 2 buildings.

Twilight catch.

Last night, in the blue hour.

It was a Lab fest:

The blind dog sees.

The dog on the left, Sunny, is blind. She gazes at Zeus. And into the sunset:



Sunny was rescued (while not yet blind) from Hurricane Katrina.



Do you understand?

Hey, nobody told me this event was black tie.

Photo by Meade. Post title by me, reading the mind of Zeus, the dog in the back.

Update on the leaf installation at Meadhouse.

I showed you Meade's leaf project 6 days ago. It looked like this:



3 days ago, it looked like this:



The pumpkins — nicely and sharply carved — were picked up by the side of the street down the block. And here's how it looks this morning:



I like the way the pumpkins — with appropriate facial expressions — appear to be drowning in leaves and the unintended and unnoticed inclusion of Zeus.

2 God Dogs.

Zeus and Ares:



Video by Meade.