Here's Cooper in his bassinet, just before his afternoon nap. In his left eye you can see a cataract forming; in his right eye, a corneal lesion complicated by the condition known as "dry eye." Both are medicated regularly. He's had a tough day today, with his rear legs never quite where he wanted them to be. But he got around as he needed to, but by evening was ready to be carried and even asked to be lifted into his bed.

Sometimes I watch him struggle to do something that was once so easy for him and think, "This is The Time; we should put him down." But then he perks up again, gets excited over something interesting, comes looking for a meal, and I think, "No, this is not The Time." I have said that he can smell a bagel toasting on the moon and command it be his. I suppose that when he can no longer do that, it will be Time.