Thursday, January 3, 2019

Day 3297

It didn't seem like a good omen when the power went out last night. It's hard to clean up poop in the dark. The temperature in the house drops quickly when it's near freezing outside as well. We've had power outages in the Winter before and they aren't fun. Without the furnace running, the sound of water dripping from the ceiling seemed even louder. Luckily, the beeping of various uninterrupted power supplies and the thunder outside didn't wake Dash up. I shut everything off that would cause a surge when power was restored, found some extra blankets and went back to bed.

I'm not sure when power was restored, but I don't think the outage lasted long. When Dash woke up at 3 AM and pooped on the floor as he was heading for the back door, we had lights again. Dash had a bad shivering episode when he went back to bed. Maybe he was just cold this time. I was shivering a bit myself. It was still raining when we got up this morning. Dash was definitely not going to get a walk before his 9 AM vet appointment.

Riding with Dash in the car before he's had a walk was not a good omen either. When it was time to leave for the vet, he still hadn't pooped. He almost always goes right after he's had his morning meds. I knew what was going to happen next. It didn't take long. Dash pooped in the car about two miles away from home. Luckily, we were well prepared, so the mess wasn't that bad.

While we were at the cancer center we got the first good news of the day. Dash's blood clot still hasn't returned. The echocardiogram looked good and so did his lab work. The only thing the doctor was worried about was Dash's failing rear legs. He confirmed what we knew already. Dash's mobility has significantly deteriorated since his last exam. Sadly, there isn't much we can do at this point about Dash's neurological problems. He's way too old and frail for surgery. The vet suggested increasing his pain medication and we reluctantly agreed.

By the time we returned to the house, the rain was already decreasing. I decided to have my smoothie for lunch, since it was way too late for breakfast. When the rain finally stopped, I went up on the roof. I wish the pumps worked better because it's a lot of work to sweep all the standing water away. Like it or not, this was a very necessary task. If I wanted the leaks to stop, I needed to remove all the water first.

As the afternoon progressed, the sound of water dripping into buckets became less frequent. I don't hear any dripping now and I think it is finally safe to remove the buckets. It's supposed to be clear tomorrow, but it will take more than one day for the roof to dry out enough to begin repairs again. Both the owner of the roofing company and the job foreman assure me that I'm at the top of their list. We'll see. Probably it will start raining again on the day they decide to return.

I guess it was inevitable that the stock market would crash again today. It was just that kind of day. Maybe tomorrow will be better. So far, 2019 hasn't gotten off to a great start, but I'm still looking forward to breakfast tomorrow. If I pick the right restaurant it might be the high point of the week

Petey is today's Dalmatian of the Day
Watch of the Day