Two quick things... well, as quick as I am personally able to be...

A stray cat has moved in to the neighborhood. By neighborhood, I mean he spends all of his time between my house and the next door neighbors'. He is a rather handsome cat, but he ticks me off. He beats on the neighbor cats, and has (I suspect it is him) created his own personal litter box in the dirt that I traverse on my way to and from the truck. He likes to dine on Tolkien's over-priced dog food, because Tolkien doesn't like to eat much anymore. I yell and hiss at him, but he doesn't give a crap (except when he is around the truck... then he gives lots of crap). Lilo just walks to the french doors, and he runs off. Granted, Lilo exceeds him by a few inches in height, but Lilo is just begging him to help free the Lilo from a life of confinement... and maybe bring him some good food. I need to load Annie's squirt gun...

Secondly, I just gave Tolkien a bath. I could have planted a garden with the dirt that came off of him. Part of that is my fault because I haven't given him a bath in a while. Part of it is his fault because during the summer he likes to lie in the dust under the deck. In the shower, I could tell that he has lost a lot of weight. I can't seem to get him to eat. The birds and the freakin' stray cat seem to take a lot of his food. His allergies have left him missing a lot of hair because he itches so much, and his paws are magnets for fox tails. The poor dog looks like he is twenty instead of seven. While I was cleaning his ears, he let out a long sustained moan that suddenly brought up images of the movie Jurassic Park. I can't remember what scene, but it was very vivid. The crazy mutt will probably return to his Troll deck lodging tomorrow when I go to work, and I'll have to give him another bath before Annie's slumber party.

Tolkien is a very good dog, and very loving. However, I don't know how he will respond should I act on my current desire to get a Great Dane...

Father of many...