It's been almost six weeks since I posted anything here, so loyal readers may be wondering whether I have succumbed to some horrendous fate. I'm still alive, I just haven't had any wonderful experiences or stunning insights worth writing about recently. The summer slump seems to be contagious; many blogs seem to be suffering the same fate.

For lack of anything else, I might as well give a brief menagerie status update. I suppose the biggest news is also the baddest. In mid-May, my dogs were shot by a neighbor, for no good reason. They weren't on his property, they weren't harming anything.

Chowder had a .22-caliber hole in each side of his abdomen, where a bullet went clear through him. Fortunately, it must have missed all the vital organs. After a couple of 3-day hospital visits to fight infection, he's back to normal.

Norm has a shattered kneecap and a bullet in his leg, and the vet recommended leaving no action for either. He's running around on three legs, but his hyper-cheerful personality doesn't seem to be affected.

The equines are all healthy, and as usual, are not being ridden enough. Since our exciting season finale in mid-April, I've only been in the saddle 5 or 6 times.

The mechanical menagerie seems determined to prove the validity of Murphy's Law. I've been spending a lot of time dealing with various breakdowns. Actually, the truck broke one version of the law, the one that states failures will occur at the worst possible time. When it decided to blow a brake line, it actually picked the best possible time (well, I suppose never would have been better) when I was moving the trailer Wednesday. The worst possible time would have been en route to the ride the day before, when a moronic construction worker decided he needed to shovel up some more loose blacktop after the flagman had waved me through the site