Day 2602

I only go to the mall when I need a haircut. I'm always amazed at how many weird specialty stores there are and wonder how many of them manage to stay in business. Some stores only sell soap. Others just sell shaving supplies. I've never seen any customers in Versace or Valentino, yet these high end retailers remain at the mall year after year. Every expensive Swiss watch brand seems to have its own store. I guess people don't go to jewelry stores anymore. I've never understood the appeal of Nespresso or Peloton either. There are so many very expensive things that the kids who hang out at the mall couldn't even begin to afford. The Tesla store doesn't even sell anything; you can just look. All of this out of reach extravagance must mean something, but I can't put my finger on it. I must be out of sync with the rest of the world, because every time I go to this very popular place, I can't wait to get back in my car and go home again.

I make the trip every month or two because I always get a great haircut. I've been going to the same stylist for over ten years. She cuts Janet's hair too and we all share a love of animals. Today we talked about how we both love bacon, but feel guilty every time we see a cute picture of a pig on Facebook. The struggle is real if you've been eating meat all your life. I'll ask how her cats are doing and she'll ask about Dot and Dash. I could probably just go to a regular barber in the neighborhood and nobody would know the difference, but I like this little ritual.

Dot woke up while I was cleaning up her poop last night, so I decided to take her outside to pee. Maybe I should always do this on weekends, because when we got back inside and went to sleep again, there were no leaks in the bed the next morning. We all slept soundly until well after sunrise. Believe me, in our house this is a real luxury. Dot just can't make it all the way through the night anymore without leaking or peeing in her sleep. I still hate to wake her when she's sleeping soundly though.

I went up on the roof for the first time in over a month this afternoon. There was very little standing water, since it's been relatively dry lately, but there were a ton of leaves. I swept all the leaves over the edge of the roof, where they joined an even larger pile of leaves on the ground. I used to rake leaves every weekend in the Winter, but it is kind of pointless when you live next to a huge park full of trees. The landscaping guys come once a year now in the Spring and haul all the leaves away. With all the leave removed from the roof, I was pleased to see that all the patches the roofers had applied last Fall were holding up pretty well. I have enough to worry about, so it's nice that the roof isn't as much of a priority now.

I guess I'll go to the gym tomorrow. This is another little ritual I've grown to like. You'd think I'd be lusting after one of those expensive Peloton stationary bicycles I saw at the mall so I could exercise at home with the dogs. Exercise machines at home don't appeal to me at all. Go figure. An anti-social person who likes going to the gym. Maybe I just like to shoot the basketball.

Molly is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day