WILLMAR, Minn. — A Minnesota woman is crediting her survival of a 20-hour ordeal to her faithful dog and a punctual mail carrier.

Seventy-nine-year-old Emma Iverson says fell and couldn’t get up outside her country home near Granite Falls in late September. Nobody heard her calls for help.

But after night fell, her faithful dog, Crackers, repeatedly chased away the raccoons and coyotes that came around.

Eventually she fell asleep or lost consciousness. Fortunately, postal carrier Stan Boushek arrived on schedule at 12:45 p.m. the next day. He was just able to spot her from the end of her driveway. She spent nine days in a hospital but made a full recovery.

Iverson tells the West Central Tribune of Willmar (http://bit.ly/uNmTA6) nurses told her she wouldn’t have survived more than another couple hours.