On a personal note …

My best pal, Fasolt, known to S&G readers, lost his battle with kidney failure and lymphoma earlier this week. The good people at Mountain Vista Animal Hospital put the big fellow out of his misery, illness having shriveled his once-enormous frame to mere skin and bones. His body was still barely functional but his mind and spirit had already checked out of this vale of tears. From May 1995 until Wednesday morning, he’d been the greatest constant in my life; the sadness following his death is impossible to put into words. I’m trying to keep my head in the game but I’ll confess that it’s a real struggle sometimes.