Day 2215

I ran into a photographer buddy at breakfast this morning. We hadn't seen each other in quite a while, so it was enjoyable to spend some time catching up on things. We talked about how radically our business had changed. We wondered why time seems to speed up as you grow older. We couldn't remember the names of people we both used to work with. "You know the guy," my friend said. "He used to take a lot of ballet pictures." "Sure, I know who you're talking about," I replied. But what was his name? Who knows. Basically, we were just a couple of old men talking.

This morning started out even foggier than yesterday. Ground fog is interesting. When we left the house on our morning walk, I could see the stars. It was clear enough for me to spot a faint Saturn right below Venus in the Eastern sky. As we walked down toward the lake, we were quickly enveloped in fog. It was like we were inside a dense cloud. Looking back toward the house, you could see the top of the cloud, with blue sky above. It was strange and very pretty. There were still patches of fog when I finished breakfast, so I got my camera and went back to the lake again. Just like yesterday, I was too late to catch the sailboats peaking through the fog, but I did see some nice White Pelicans.

I've been wondering about an elderly neighbor who's house has seemed vacant for the past month. I finally ran across someone who might know what was going on and discovered that the husband, who had already fallen and broken his hip twice, started to fall again. His wife tried to catch him and ended up falling on top of him. They were both injured and are currently in a rehab center learning to walk again. Their son is trying to convince them that it is time to move to assisted living. Evidently, they don't want to leave the neighborhood, but their house has become hazardous for them. The EMT ambulance has already been to their house six times. This sounds so much like what happened to my Dad. Getting old isn't pretty.

Since I spent so much time talking with my photographer friend at breakfast, I didn't have time to go to the grocery store. I went home to make sure the dogs were alright and completed all the website updates that were due today. It didn't take long for me to get my January invoices out. There were so few of them this month that I wondered why I even bothered. When I finished all my work for the day, I decided to go to my favorite barbecue place and bring home a surprise dinner for Janet. We both love ribs and brisket, but don't have it that often anymore. I came home with two pounds of pork ribs, a pint of potato salad, some fried okra, a generous helping of barbecue beans, and several big dill pickles. Almost as an afterthought, I added a couple bottles of Corona Extra beer to my order. Barbecue this good really deserved to be accompanied with beer. Janet was pleased when she got home from work and we had a tasty and somewhat nostalgic dinner.

I noticed this morning that the top of Dash's head is covered with little bumps. What now? He used to have skin allergies, but his coat has looked great for the past two years. Maybe he is allergic to the shampoo we used to give him a bath last week. Maybe an insect bit him. We haven't changed his diet, so I don't think the irritation is caused by food. If he doesn't improve over the weekend, I'll take him to the vet next week. It's always something with these dogs.

I'm hoping that the weather stays warm this weekend and that the dogs let us sleep in a little later tomorrow. We'll see how that goes.

Jordan is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day