Day 2928

This is the time of year when TV stations create short retrospective tributes featuring famous people that have died during the past twelve months. Jeez, these aren't old people anymore. They're my age. Quite a few are even younger than me. How did this happen? I've seen these memorial segments for most of my life and with the exception of musicians who always seem to die young, I always remember these people as being my parent's age. Growing old kind of creeps up on you. One day you're young, and in the blink of an eye you're older than the actors they're showing on the year end memorial clips. I wish everybody were remembered like actors and musicians. My parents deserve to be remembered. So do all my neighbors who have passed away since I moved here. I wonder if I'll be remembered? Probably not. Nobody remembers anything very long these days.

I got a thank you letter from my sister today. She's old school and still sends hand written thank you notes. I probably shouldn't have gotten her a cookbook for Christmas since her chemo treatments give her nausea and she has little interest in eating. It's hard to break with tradition though. I've always given her cooking related things because she's loved cooking for most of her life. Maybe it was an optimistic gift. I can't really imagine her not cooking anymore.

I can't imagine Dash not walking anymore either. He still seems to enjoy his walks, but he's so slow now. The arctic cold front that has gripped most of the nation is headed our way and it kept getting colder by the hour. I was freezing on our afternoon walk, but Dash seemed fine. He actually took a longer walk than he normally does, pausing to sniff every bush along the way. I dressed warmly, but apparently not warmly enough. By the time we returned home I felt like I'd spent the afternoon in a deep freeze. I think I've lived in Texas too long. I don't know how northerners survive these temperatures.

It's hard to believe that tomorrow is New Year's Eve. It just seems like yesterday when we were partying like it was 1999 and wondering if the Y2K bug was going to wipe out the world's computers.   Janet and I haven't gone out on New Year's Eve since I played in a band many years ago. Until recently, we always cracked open a bottle of champagne and toasted the New Year. These days we rarely even stay up until midnight. If I'm up at midnight tomorrow night, I'm probably just taking Dash outside to pee.

The Cerenia pills have stopped Dash from vomiting. They are not meant to be a long term solution, so we only give them to him for four days at a time. Some vets say it is OK for dogs to take Cerenia indefinitely, but I'd rather play it safe. Usually after a four day course of the anti-nausea pills, Dash won't throw up again for at least a month. He certainly seemed normal today and had a lot more energy on his walk than I did.

Janet's friends brought back the dog crate they borrowed this afternoon, so I returned it to the storage warehouse. This large crate used to always be in the back of my Defender. It won't fit in my current car though, so I fold it flat and keep it in storage. It didn't seem so heavy when I used to transport rescue dogs. Now, everything seems heavy.

I hope you guys have a Happy New Year. Almost everybody hopes that 2018 will be better than 2017. Maybe it will be.

Penny is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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