Day 3071

As usual, Dash was not a model of good behavior this morning. He barked at the vet and pooped in the lobby. Dash used to be so well behaved, but now he's old and cranky. I'm glad everyone is patient with us. We couldn't trim his nails this morning, because Dash wouldn't let anyone get near his paws. We did get all his vaccinations though, and that's what we came for. Dash's vet was pleased at how well he was responding to the antibiotic, but warned us that it wasn't a good idea to take Rimadyl with blood thinners. This was our fault. Actually, Dash's other vet did recommend stopping the low dose aspirin when he initially prescribed the Rimadyl. All this got forgotten because we didn't give Dash the Rimadyl anyway and tried the safer Movoflex supplement instead. When Dash's blood clot appeard to dissolve and disappear, the doctor wanted to continue the Plavix and low dose aspirin combination because it was working. When Dash became painful, we remembered we already had the Rimadyl, and forgot the complicated path we took to get where we are. No harm was done because Dash only took the Rimadyl for three days, but it was a good reminder to check and re-check everything when it comes to a change in medication.

I thought that Dash would be tired after his trip to the vet, but he was surprisingly active. Even though it was later in the day and things were starting to warm up, he took a very long walk. He was actually a little too active, because we lost a shoe. I eventually found the rubber boot, but it was hard to get Dash to turn around and retrace our steps. It was important to find the missing boot, because these little things are way to expensive to leave them lying around in the park. I've got to figure out a better way to keep the boots secure. As his rear legs grow weaker, Dash seems to loose these shoes more often.

I looked like a dork this morning. I wore both the Fitbit and Jawbone trackers on my right wrist to compare the way they counted steps. After wearing them together most of the morning, they were only about 75 steps off. The surprising thing was that my Apple Watch counted over 1500 extra steps. It was way off. I would have thought that the watch would be the most accurate but that didn't appear to be the case. Since your natural arm movement is part of the algorithm that is used to calculate distance, I wonder if any of my trackers are even close. When you are holding on to a dog leash, your arms don't tend to move back and forth at all. With an active dog, they are often straight out in front of you.
  
Our mild Winter has been a bonanza for biting insects. I don't think I've ever gotten so many mosquito and chigger bites this early in the season. I have to worry about spiders too. When I leave my dog walking shoes outside to dry after our walks, I always check to make sure no spiders have crawled inside before I put them on again. The spiders are everywhere. I dream of a place with cool, dry air, infrequent rain, and an absence of insects. I wonder where that would be?

I'm looking forward to a new episode of The Expanse tomorrow. This shows just how slow and uneventful life has become. I shouldn't be waiting all week for an hour of TV. Oh, well. That's the way it goes. I suspect that waiting for your favorite TV show is a lot more normal than spending the morning comparing fitness trackers.

Dash has been in good spirits all day. Maybe being bad at the vet was fun for him.

Rosco is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day