Day 2261

Every time we have a day like this, it's easy for me to forget that we've actually had a very mild Winter. I'm trying to be charitable here, but I can't think of many nice things to say about today. It was nasty outside. The combination of high winds and heavy rain made it miserable to walk the dogs. Luckily, there was a short break in the rain when we took Dot on her early walk, but later when I walked Dash, we got soaked. It's been raining continuously for almost 24 hours and shows no sign of stopping yet.

I guess I shouldn't have been surprised that Dot was tired today. It could have been the rain and cold weather. It could have been the cumulative effects of the Palladia pills. It could have been further evidence of her losing battle with the aging process. I feel bad for her on days like this. She still needs to go outside and pee and do a minimal amount of walking around to keep her legs from getting stiff, but she tires easily. We took a shorter walk than normal this morning, and when we returned she was exhausted.

Dot slept for the rest of the day while I picked up my car at the dealership and took Dash to his vet appointment. I was surprised that they fixed my car so quickly. It's a shame that the weather was so bad today. The dealer always cleans and washes my car after a service appointment, but by the time I finished driving home and taking Dash to his vet appointment, all this effort was wasted. The car was already dirty inside and out.

Dash wasn't sick, but with all Dot's problems he's been a bit neglected. I wanted to check and see if he needed his teeth cleaned. He does! He's been having digestive issues lately, so I wanted to make sure he didn't have Giardia or some other nasty parasite that could be causing his diarrhea. He has a small growth on his tail that I wanted to make sure was still benign. The vet checked him thoroughly and expressed his anal glands for good measure. Dash is OK and I feel much better now.

The awful weather and Dot's general state of exhaustion were probably one of the reasons why she pooped in the house twice today. It can take her a long time to poop on a normal day and today wasn't normal. Every time I took her outside, I could tell she didn't want to be out in the cold. To her, it probably made a lot more sense to just poop in her sleep. One of her favorite blankets appears to be indestructible. I've washed it so many times that it should have begun to fray and come apart at the seams long ago. It still looks as good as new, even though I washed the blanket twice today.

Despite all the errands I needed to run, I still managed to get quite a bit done. I finished updating a website and completed the first of three articles that are due this week. I think that's plenty for one day. I've still got a cough, but my cold is definitely getting better.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day