Day 1826

I got impressions made of my upper teeth at the dentist today. I'd never had this done before and it was certainly an interesting experience. First they fill all the little gaps between your teeth with a special putty, so the liquid silicon impression material they use to make an exact mould of your teeth doesn't get stuck in your mouth when the material cures and hardens. Since I still have a cold, I was afraid I would start coughing during the procedure and screw everything up. Staying still while the first base impression cured was fairly easy. When the dentist started to make the second fine detail impression using a different type of material, he told me that I would need to breathe through my nose for four minutes while the impression material cured. "This ought to be interesting," I thought. I'm still very congested and breathing through your nose isn't something you often do with a bad cold. I tried to breathe very slowly through my clogged nasal passages and hoped the four minutes would be over quickly.

Dot gave me a scare today. When I got out of the shower this morning, she was standing near the bathroom door and refusing to put any weight on her left rear leg. The limp was pronounced and fairly alarming. I gently manipulated the leg to see if she might have had a cruciate tear. Older Dalmatians often tear their anterior cruciate ligament and I'm always afraid that this might happen with Dot. Her rear legs are so weak anyway that a tear could happen any time. I've seen many cruciate tears and Dot didn't seem to exhibit any of the obvious symptoms. I have a feeling that her leg fell asleep. She also could have slipped off her dog bed while she was having a dog dream and had difficulty getting up again. At any rate, she wasn't in any pain and could support her weight on the lame leg when I tested her. I rested with her for a while and then we walked slowly around the house when she was ready to get up again. Within thirty minutes, she was completely back to normal with no limp at all. I'll probably never know what actually happened.

I worked on getting all the Santa Paws equipment we used this weekend put back in its proper place today. Some of the stuff goes under the bed, some goes in the storage warehouse, and some I use all the time. Since we won't be doing this again for quite some time, there's no sense to clutter up the entry hallway any longer than necessary.  The house looks much better now that this stuff is hidden away again.

My Jawbone UP band broke today. Janet and I have each broken three of these things. I still think the little UP band is the most inconspicuous and unobtrusive fitness tracker out there. You quickly forget that you're even wearing it. I love the technology, but the quality is terrible. I've never had one of these things that's even lasted a single year. Sometimes Jawbone will sent you a replacement band for free. Other times they won't. It just depends on what kind of mood they're in. I doubt that they'll send me another replacement this time. I'm probably on a Jawbone blacklist by now. I'm hooked on these little activity trackers, but I don't think I'll get another one. Maybe I'll just wait until the Apple watch comes out next Spring.

I still need to do my Christmas shopping. We need to put up a tree too. For some reason, it's hard to get in the mood this year.

Jasper is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day