Nicole and Cassandra work deeply into the trenches of love and dog care, they are skilled and gentle drawers of blood. The vet staff treating Red works seamlessly together, they move together like a flock of birds or a flowing stream. Red is patient, but he has given up a lot of blood for testing this week.

Vet techs remind me of good nurse-practitioners. They can handle almost anything. They are one of the reasons I don’t get my veterinary advice online. Red is getting the best possible care.

Dr. Fariello thinks this might be an extreme form of Lyme or other tick-borne disease, the ticks have been everywhere this wet Spring. He has tested positive for Lyme disease, but almost all dogs up here test positive for that.

We hope it isn’t more than that, and we expect to find out soon.

Red has been through the wringer, patiently and accepting as always. This afternoon, the blood had to come out of his jugular vein in the neck, a tricky procedure done flawlessly.

I was delighted that Red ate some food today – my mix of chicken broth, cooked hamburger meat and white rice. And he held it down. I was disappointed that at the end of the day, his fever had risen to more than 104 degrees. Something in there is persistent and confounding.

Tomorrow morning, ultrasound, we expect to know more by mid day. Also tomorrow, we are delivering Connie’s air conditioner to her room at the Mansion. I feel good about tomorrow, optimistic and of good faith. I let Red run a bit this afternoon in the pasture, and Maria ratted me out to the staff at the clinic. I got yelled at by everyone.

I told her she was more loyal to Red than to me. She agreed.