This is an image from a few weeks ago when we took Merlin for ice cream for his birthday. He loves ice cream -- clearly, we're related. And you should have seen the delight on his face upon discovering the cone itself was edible (and then swallowing the whole thing in one bite). It was adorable.Anyway, I'm posting this photo of him a) because I didn't get home from work tonight until after 8:30 and I'm way too beat to take a fresh shot (sorry) and b) because we've got some news on Merlin here. Turns out his liver numbers from his annual physical came back pretty high. In fact, the doctors now aren't even sure his hip problems are from arthritis, but they might be from muscle loss due to liver issues. We're taking him in next week for a half day of testing to check for things like cushings disease, hepatitis or cancer, but at this point it's pretty early. And on top of all that, his eye is swollen back up, and the poor guy just doesn't even look like himself.And yeah, this brings back a lot of reminders of Memphis.The good news in all of this? (If you could call it that) is that our vet, who is the best vet in the history of vets, continues to blow me away with her caring and her responsiveness. She called me on Monday to go over his tests and check in on his eye, and then said I could email her if I had any questions. Tonight around 9 I emailed her with a few questions about his swollen eye and some other symptoms we're seeing and within 20 minutes I had a long, detailed response from her. Now THAT is service.So if you need a vet for your critters, I highly suggest Heather Stadtherr at Grand Avenue Vet in St. Paul. That woman continues to blow me away with her caring about my crazy dogs.Oh, and also? That is totally lipstick all over Merlin's nose in that image. I love kissin' that big snout.