Finish novel ✅

For those of you following me the last few years, my mystery/suspense novel took forever to finish, didn't it? Now, it's on to the next task: getting the novel out into the world. First queries to agents will go out this month. Please hold a good thought for my story. I'll keep you posted.

New Mexico - part of the U.S.

Did you know there are a lot of Americans who think New Mexico is a foreign country? 'Tis true.

There are online retailers who won't mail stuff to me because "we don't mail out of the country." There are still people in Kentucky who believe we've moved to Mexico, despite maps and all explanations to the contrary.

In 1912, however, New Mexico became the 47th state in our nation. Pass that on, will ya? Even Breaking Bad's popularity didn't help some people figure it out.

New Mexico magazine has a monthly feature called "One of Our 50 is Missing." Check it out.

Building on the past

Our dog, Walker-girl, passed away a little over a year ago. She remains a tough act to follow.

Each dog, cat, fish companion my wife and I have lived with have been mourned when they crossed the rainbow bridge, but Walker was special. She was not a pure-bred Laborador, but her heart was 100% Lab. She didn't have a mean bone in her body. She welcomed all visitors, two-, four-legged, and slithering. We adopted her from the Louisville Metro Animal Shelter. They thought she was 15 weeks old. Playing ball was her favorite sport. She was 12 years old when she died of liver disease.

That was the other aspect that was 100% Lab—her body didn't metabolize copper. Only a small portion of Labs suffer from copper toxicity and Walker was one of them. We found it quite early, thanks to our diligent Louisville veterinarian who, after removing a cyst, said she was concerned about Walker's elevated liver enzymes. We were about to move and she cautioned us to check them once we landed in our new home. A dog's elevated liver enzymes aren't always meaningful, but Walker's were persistently high and rising. It took over a year to figure it out, but our new vet finally did a biopsy of her liver and discovered Walker had copper toxicity. We had to totally change her diet to eliminate as much copper as possible. There is copper in most everything. Like bananas and peanut butter, dog favored treats. There used to be a USDA database that we could plug in foods for their ingredient breakdown, including copper. That database helped us a lot. So did my wife's copper-free biscuits she made every few weeks. They were tasteless biscuits, but Walker ate them as if they were pieces of beef. She loved them.

Walker lived quite well and didn't display signs of liver disease until, perhaps, two or three months prior to her passing. We've been told that's usually when a diagnosis is made—near the end of life, when it's too late to intervene. The prescriptions and food changes didn't stop Walker's liver disease but slowed it down considerably.
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Every animal we've known has taught us something, practical or spiritual, that we carry forward with us. Merlin, one of our last cats, taught us sometimes a medical intervention is worse than death. Gracie taught us some dogs hate dog parks and prefer the company of humans. Walker taught us friendship and love are everything.
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We always say, after each animal passes, "never again." Yet, here we are. In a month, we'll bring home another puppy. There will be photos.

Stay kind and curious, friends. See you anon.—JD

Click to read the latest fountain pen post on my blog.