Sorry it's been a while since my last update!

What a strange year this has been.  We have said goodbye to 3 pets.  Our 2 dogs, Mercedes and Jake were put down earlier this year, both were quite old and had lived good long lives with us.  We miss them a lot.  Then just a few weeks ago, we put our cat Leo down.  The poor thing developed renal failure.  We tried treating him but there isn't much you can do when a cat has renal failure.  We watched him wasting away to nothing and decided it was just time to let him go.  So, losing 3 pets within a 6 month period is pretty heart-wrenching.  Strangely, our Aussie, Elwood hasn't been that terribly affected.  You'd think he would be, after all, dogs are pack animals and need a lot of attention. He is so self-involved, it's quite entertaining to watch him.  The entire world revolves around Elwood now.  He's no longer confined to the family room with two smelly older dogs that can't make it up the stairs, he gets to sleep on the bed, he has access to the ENTIRE back yard now whereas we restricted the yard when we had the other dogs.  Poor old Mercedes would fall in the pool, her vision was pretty bad.  I thought for SURE that Elwood would miss Jake, they were good buddies but the cat seemed to be more upset about Jake's absence than Elwood ever was.  So next week for the first time, we are taking a pet on vacation with us!  We have rented an adorable cottage on Coronado Island for a week and are taking the bikes and the dog for a relaxing getaway.  We'll post pics and keep you updated on our fun!