there is a buzz around the house lately, of constant chores being done, and ideas being hatched, and conrad crawling and climbing into and onto everything, and of dealing with an impending great loss.

last week, jon and i both noticed something awry with lou dog; foremost, he wasn't him old self-no chasing cars as the drove down the alley, no howling with the downtown sirens, no crashing into the back door when we would call for him to come in-just this lethargic dog we had never seen before with a swollen neck.

after calling the vet and describing the symptoms, they suggested we give him two benedryls, as it sounded like he might have gotten bite my a black widow. which seemed like a perfectly normal scenario, afterall, lou often will take his ball into the garage/shed and get it stuck in the darkness of all those boxes and miscellany items, where black widows like to live.

but after a week the only changes we noticed we're slight, marginal at best; his condition was still worrisome, and so, on monday evening jon and his brother brought lou to get looked at.

a hour or so after they left jon called me to tell me lou had lymphoma and would only be with us for, maybe, three months.



since that call we've been waiting on lou hand and foot...this is harder to write about than i imagined and i'm having great difficulty in going any further, as further...i just can't. i'm asll tears. i'm wanting to believe in God for a canine miracle: for lou and for my husband. the good news is that the doggy doc gave him some presidone and so he is in much better shape.

this weekend we'll be taking him up to squall lakes with us, and i'll be sure to take lots of pictures of it.