Breaking with tradition, I will deny you the choice of which you shall hear first, and proceed with the good news.

Allison now has a blog!  She had asked me to set one up for her days ago, and I’ve finally gotten the work done. You can find her new blog at http://kd4dcy.net/allison.  I expect it will make more interesting reading than mine on a more regular basis.

Now for the bad news.  Keiko, our sweet and gentle bear of an Akita, passed away yesterday, apparently as a result of a snake bite.  He was an old fellow, but we all loved him very much, and the humans as well as the animals miss him greatly.  We’re all very sad at the loss of our friend, and none of us are ourselves just now.

Allison has used her new blog in a way that I used to use mine, as therapy.  Writing was always a good release for me, and this morning it appears to have helped her a bit too.  Her blog about Keiko is wonderfully emotional and tells his story, as well as the story of his predecessors, much more eloquently than I ever could.

There is other news, but it can wait for a less somber, more appropriate time.  For now, we will take some time to grieve, to remember, and to cry.