My good friend Ralph called this morning. “You are writing more than usual and responding more to comments, what’s wrong?” he asked. Ralph knows me too well. Gilmore the dog is sick.

Nine year-old Gilmore, whom some of you may recall from a column years ago about taking him (telepathically, no less) to the pet psychic, has canine autoimmune hemolytic anemia. His immune system is attacking Gilmore’s blood cells, which is fairly common in older dogs and occurs for no particular reason. We’re treating the condition with steroids and it is improving slowly (the survival rate is about 70 percent). But for the foreseeable future Gilmore and I are roommates, sleeping together downstairs. […]