Day 1976

I got up at six this morning and wasn't finished with the breakfast routine until well after nine. I don't know if the the routine is growing more complex or if I'm just becoming slower. At any rate, it takes forever to do the simplest things. The first thing I do when I wake up is take the dogs out to pee. Since the ground is so wet, I have to clean each of the dogs paws before we come inside again. Occasionally, we go back to sleep after we do this, but usually the dogs want their breakfast immediately.

I fill all their water bowls with fresh water, put Dot in the little pen we now call the breakfast nook, and get their food out of a big container we keep in the kitchen. When the food is in their bowls, I let Dot join Dash for a quick eating frenzy. I have to put a big rubber Kong in Dot's bowl to slow her down so she won't eat so fast. Sometimes she tries to eat so fast that she chokes on the food. When the dogs have finished their breakfast, I give them their meds. Dash's pills go in a dog food meatball, because they aren't chewable. Dot's are chewable, but of course she wants a meatball too. At this point, I normally take them on a walk, but now that I've started eating bananas with my breakfast, the dogs have become obsessed with bananas. It's easier to go ahead and eat my own breakfast, feeding them each slices of banana as I drink my morning coffee and sip my banana, strawberry and egg milkshake. When breakfast is finished, I clean the Vitamix machine and we begin our walks.

Dot goes first because she is the most eager to get out of the house. She doesn't walk far, but her short walk around the block takes just as long as Dash's much longer walk, because she's so slow. She's getting better at holding herself up, but I still use the Help 'Em Up Harness and two leashes to keep her from slipping. The tail leash has kept her from falling countless times. I don't even bother taking a camera when I walk Dot. I have my hands full. Dot is usually tired when we return and is content to sleep on her dog bed while I walk Dash. Dash is slow too, because he likes to smell things and pee on every bush. I let both dogs take their time, because these morning walks are the best part of their day. Walking slow gives me the opportunity to observe things too, like the tiny mushrooms you see today.

When Dash and I return home, I clear Dot's blankets out of the hallway and put them away, make the bed, put the breakfast dishes away, clean my teeth and rinse with he special mouthwash the dentist gave me. When all this is finished, I turn the computer on and go to work. Luckily, there wasn't a huge amount of work today, because right after lunch, I needed to take Dot downtown for her weekly physical therapy appointment. Dot did really well in the underwater treadmill today, which surprised me a bit, since she seemed tired this morning.

There were a few light showers during the day, but rain wasn't really a problem today. I wrote a letter to my NASA contacts asking why all the NASA sites were down. I got a quick reply saying that the sites were working fine in California. Why would be they not be working in Texas, I wondered? I haven't been able to access any of the NASA websites for over a month, so I've probably already missed out on opportunities to apply to observe another satellite launch. I doubt that I could have gone anyway. Life with the dogs has just become too complicated.

It's been a long week and I'm looking forward to my breakfast outing tomorrow morning. I'm sure that some of my delicious meal will end up getting stuck in the empty wisdom tooth socket, but it will be worth it.

Lady is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day