Day 2635

I picked up a better pair of binoculars today. I'd like to spend some more time stargazing, but I hate the idea of dragging a telescope down to the park at night. Binoculars seemed like a good compromise. Our yard is worthless for observing anything. There are streetlights and lots of car headlights that spoil the view in the front yard and a bright security light in the backyard. The large oak trees almost totally block the sky anyway. Tonight wasn't ideal for viewing since there were a lot of high clouds, but the Moon and Venus looked spectacular.

Today was a busy day. I took Dash to the vet in the morning to get his anal glands expressed and drove over to the UPS customer service center to get the binoculars as soon as I got him home again. Dash seems to need to get his anal glands expressed every two weeks. They get full and make him uncomfortable and then he wakes us up during the night licking his butt. Oddly, Dot never needs to get her anal glands expressed, even though they both eat the same food. Since Dash was much calmer than normal during his exam, I had the nurse take his blood pressure again. This time it was normal. I need to remember to send these results to the cancer center, so they won't waste a lot of time trying to get a blood pressure reading when he's stressed out.

I'm getting better at planning my trips away from the house. Since I ran all my errands in the morning, Dot was still sleeping when I returned. Dot is usually restless in the afternoon, so I try to let her sleep as long as she can. Since her morning nap is a little longer than she can typically hold her bladder, it's always a little dicey when I wake her up for lunch. Sometimes we make it outside to pee and other times we don't.

Considering the amount of time I spent running errands, I still managed to get quite a few website updates completed. There is a new article I need to write tomorrow as well, so maybe things are looking up. I wish my work was more interesting, but at least it's a change of pace from holding up Dot's rear legs all afternoon. Sometimes I wonder if I'll ever get a challenging project again, but I'm not  complaining. Even mindless work allows me to pretend that I'm not really retired.

When I took the trash out to the curb this evening, it seemed like I've been following the same routines forever. Every day I find myself doing things that I've been doing for decades. I take a picture for the blog. I walk the dogs. I try to do something that is billable. Pick a year. It's all basically the same. Maybe I'll look for a brand new restaurant tomorrow. There's bound to be some place nearby that I've never tried at all. The food might not be good, but I'm not sure it even matters. I need to do something different. I have a feeling that even a small symbolic gesture would be beneficial at this point.

Tucker is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day