Despite the turn of the weather to unseasonably cold, our little sun dog insists he must be out there, enjoying the sun's rays on his poor little battered body. In the last few days, morning has dawned bright and cold. Cold enough on one morning to have left a light layer of frost on the roofs.

Riley has never liked it when summer passed into autumn. As soon as it begins to get cooler, he begins to shiver. Our solution was to use a light-weight infant-size tee-shirt for him. And that seemed to do the trick. He became accustomed over the years to wearing a little tee-shirt for bodily comfort removed only at night time when he would be sleeping, and worn throughout the day.

As the days would progress into winter the little shirts became progressively thicker and hence warmer and more comfortable for him. He missed the natural light and warmth of the sun, and any time it could be captured shining through any of the windows he would position himself just there until the opportunity passed as the day wore on.

While he was recovering from his surgery, he kept insisting he must be out in the sun, and we couldn't resist his demands, so out he went. We had to keep him covered with a more protective-sized infant garment, little sleepers that we bought used from the Salvation Army thrift shop. On the past several mornings it has been not only cold but windy, so here's how Riley looked out in the sun.

Yesterday he was taken to the veterinarian hospital to have his stitches removed. It was just two weeks after his surgery. And there were plenty of stitches to be removed. He's not a stoic, as Button before him was, and in fact as most dogs tend to be. If he's uncomfortable he'll complain, whimper, whine and snarl. All of which he did as the technician, as gently as possible, removed all of those many stitches that marched down the length of his belly and the side of his haunch because of the extremely long incision to remove all those lipomas.

His hair is beginning to grow back and his bare skin looks just a trifle less vulnerable and shocking to the eye. And finally, we're able to handle him without fearing that we'll inadvertently hurt him where the injury to his body was so tender, post-surgery.