Lloyd the Dog isn't feeling so well. He took sick Saturday night, barely moved all day Sunday so we had him at the vet first thing this morning. He is extremely dehydrated so he's hooked up to an IV and that treatment will last a few days. He is being tested for something serious but not life threatening or maybe it will turn out that the country boy just got his snout in something nasty and simply needs to get hydrated and some meds that will wipe out whatever is hounding him.

In any case, I'm not feeling particularly witty. Lloyd is family to Karen and me and even though it seems like the worst case scenario is treatable, the idea of him sitting in a hospital all night, away from his home and all he knows is tough to handle. You can't explain what's going on to a dog. But Lloyd is very smart and probably has some idea of why he is where he is. He makes connections.

For instance -- a few months ago something was under our shed. Lloyd was insulted by the presence of another critter on his turf. At first he charged the shed and barked at it. Then he started sniffing all around the shed and found a fresh trail. He realized that when he charged the front of the shed his nemesis fled out the back. So Lloyd developed a plan.

He started charging the shed just as he had in the past, only this time, just as he got close, he turned sharply and ran around to the back. As he was doing this he was smiling (he has a killer smile) because he figured he catch the trespasser as it tried to escape. He never did succeed but at least he proved he was smarter than George W. Bush because he considered an exit strategy.

Anyway forgive me for my failure to post much today. The world's smartest dog matters more to me than the world's stupidest president.