My boy Max died last night. He ate his dog food with his usual gusto earlier in the evening and around 3:30 this morning woke me up to let him out by poking me with his snout and smacking me with his paw. Both dogs shot outside like rockets. Mini came back in about ten minutes later but Max was patrolling the fence and stayed out. About 5:00 the wife heard an odd noise and went to check it out and found Max laying on the deck breathing and awake but not moving. I took him to the 24 hour emergency vet clinic where they told me he had died on the trip. Probable heart ailment. I'm going to miss him but Mini, the Boxer, is already bereft. She saw me carry Max out and not return with him, they have been inseparable best buddies for about eight years.

We all like to think of ourselves as rugged individualists. But when push comes to shove most of us are sheep who do what we are told. Worst of all, a lot of us become unpaid agents of whoever is controlling the agenda by enforcing the current dogma on the few rugged individualists who actually exist.