Day 1285

The first rule of home improvement should always be that after you buy the tools and supplies you need, you should never wait ten years to use them. I waited too long and none of the projects I started today turned out well as a result. I went back to Home Depot and got more supplies, but by then I was too tired to do the work. Oh, well. Probably these new supplies will suffer the same fate as the old ones I replaced.

Janet took me out for a birthday dinner tonight. She's been so busy that this was the first time she's had the time to go out in several weeks. We had a lovely, relaxed meal. It was probably as close as we've come to having an actual date for a long time. I had Wagyu Bavette with an arugula salad, asparagus, new potatoes and jalapeño cornbread. Wagyu Bavette is a lot like Japanese Kobe beef and is absolutely delicious. I drank sparkling water while Janet enjoyed a Cosmopolitan, but it was a small price to pay for having a functioning liver.

There are bees in our yard again. I don't know where the bees are coming from this time, but they sure seem to know how to find me. I've looked all over for the hive, but can't seem to find it anywhere. I wore long pants and a jacket in the 100 degree heat to avoid being stung while I was working on the house this morning, but the bees still hovered around, looking for an opportunity. Why is nature so adversarial? I always seem to be faced with stinging bees, grubs eating the grass roots, or poisonous snakes slithering through the yard. Oh, and then there are the cockroaches. I can't even begin to tell you how irritating the cockroaches are. When there are millions of them outside, there seems to be no way of preventing a certain percentage of them from getting inside.

From time to time I wonder about where I'd like to live next. I'd like a place filled with serene beauty, without being hassled by critters and bugs. Living on a beach would be nice, if it weren't for hurricanes. Living in the mountains would be nice, if it didn't get so cold. Living in a beautifully appointed high rise would be nice, if it weren't for the disagreeable homeowner's associations that come with these types of buildings. Been there, done that. I don't want a disagreeable homeowner's association questioning every move I make ever again. Maybe Shangri-La doesn't even exist. The sad truth is that I need to start seeing the glass as half full instead of half empty, and that's very, hard for me to do.

Tomorrow is dog park day. Dot and Dash have no problem enjoying simple pleasures like a trip to the dog park. Of course, they also have no problem abjectly hating simple chores like getting a bath. Maybe we aren't all that different. Life never gives you everything you want.

Kirby is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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