It's been a tough few months since the last time I posted.  My mother in law passed away in January after a bout with brain cancer.  My wife was out in Michigan for 8 weeks attending to her.  It was a difficult time for her, but it was definitely the right thing to do.  She was out there with her 2 sisters helping her, and their brother joined them towards the end so that Mom's four kids, sisters, brother and best friend were there when she passed.  Wife was out there over Christmas and New Years, which was hard on her, but, again, it was the right place to be.  Just before she went out there, on the evening of Thanksgiving, we lost our dog.  He was only 10, but I think he had an abdominal tumor that burst, and he died as we were taking him to the emergency care facility.  Very unexpected and heart breaking.  He was a challenging dog..had aggression issues so we were VERY careful with him around other folks.  In fact, we never let him around anyone who wasn't part of the family, other than 3 of our neighbors who he loved.  He also loved us, and was always the first one (and in the last year or two the ONLY one) who would greet me when I got home at the end of the day.  We just got a new dog yesterday.  Very sweet and friendly pup.  I wasn't ready for a new dog but the kids wanted one and it wouldn't be right for me to stop it.  Life goes on.