You can reach Sue at (314) 452-3685 or (314) 726-2032. You can write to her c/o Rose Holt, 905 Barnard College Lane, St. Louis, MO 63130


Thanks, Chris (aka Ding) for your thorough update. About grocery shopping with you, my sympathies lie totally with Shelly. She would be smart just to leave you at home with the dogs. However, I did enjoy our outing immensely even though I had to veto some of your suggestions.

To our Other Readers: Chris and I spent Thursday going to various places, one of which was their home to meet Oliver. Chris wanted Oliver to meet his grandmother. Rose and I were touched at hearing some of the detail of Gonzo's significance to Shelly and to Chris. Oliver is a beautiful, beautiful dog, and I'm glad to hear he has been restored to puppy health and mischief.

Chris gave a pretty thorough update of our weekend. Den especially enjoyed the fishing and the company--until he took his nasty fall. The Hollensbes were there, Mark Goldman, Maddog Lynch, Scott, Sherry, and boys, and Den and I. We ate well and really enjoyed the four young children. The two younger ones, Josie and Brayden, played well together as did the two older ones, Lucas and Jalen. Doug and Den fished for several hours on Saturday. They said they caught 20 crappie. It was a good mess of fish even though you can't believe fishermen.

Our good time ended abruptly on Sunday. After Den's fall, we spent the rest of the day in the emergency room at Lake Regional Hospital. Den has a compression fracture which is causing him a lot of pain. Late afternoon on Sunday, the Lake Hospital physician released him for the drive back to St. Louis but only with a back brace and some powerful pain medication.

On Tuesday Den had an MRI, and we don't yet know the results. He is still in pain and forced to lie perfectly flat. This is quite a setback, and we don't yet know all the ramifications of it. This week we've had to cancel his various physican appointments and his physical therapy. We'll wait to see what happens next.