Day 3320

The original Bladerunner took place in 2019. We don't have replicants or flying cars yet, but in many ways we are already living in a dystopian world. The pumps are falling apart at the place where I regularly get gas. I have to stick my credit card in the slot four or five times before it registers and activates the pump. The thing that prints your receipt is perpetually out of paper and sometimes the switch that selects premium gas doesn't work. I could go somewhere else, but this place is convenient. I've learned to adapt to the dilapidated machinery.

When I go to the grocery store, I rarely get a cart where all four wheels work. Usually at least one wheel is stuck, twirls around aimlessly, or doesn't even touch the ground. Again, I've learned to adapt to pushing a three wheeled cart around the store. Slowly but surely we are getting used to living in a world where nothing works. I don't pick up the phone anymore because it is just an automated voice trying to sell me something. When the cable TV stops working, which it does almost every day, I just turn it off, wait thirty seconds and then turn it on again. Sometimes this works, but nobody knows why. Going to the airport is a nightmare. So is driving in rush hour traffic. This isn't going to end well. Not only have we lost the ability to build a better world, we can't even cope with living in the world we've got.

I certainly don't have any answers, I can barely cope with an old house and a sick dog. Dash wouldn't poop before he went to bed last night, so I knew I wouldn't get much sleep. At around 3 AM, he had to go. He pooped on his puppy training pad, got up, pooped again in the hallway, and then about thirty minutes later, pooped a third time on a fresh puppy pad as we were trying to get back to sleep.

I've been trying to trim Dash's nails while he takes his morning nap. I can usually only trim one or two nails at a time, but he takes a lot of naps, so it's worth a try. Today I managed to trim both his dewclaws. Then I hit the quick on one of the nails on a rear paw which quickly ended today's grooming session. The all black nails are hard to trim because you don't really know where the quick is. It took a while to stop the bleeding. Amazingly, Dash never woke up during this entire process. It was a blessing that he stayed sleeping, because otherwise there would have been blood all over the house.

I think we may have found something that will work to protect the bed at night. It is a rubberized canvas mat that we used to use when we took the dogs in the car. I originally thought that this would be too heavy and awkward on the bed, but it seems to stay in place. Our motto these days is "whatever works."

I read an article today that said gum disease can contribute to the development of Alzheimer's Disease. Maybe this is what is happening with Dash. He does have gum disease and his cognitive abilities have certainly declined. It's really a shame that you can't effectively clean a dog's teeth without anesthesia. We brush his teeth and use an oral rinse to keep his mouth clean, but it is an uphill battle. I wish the vet had cleaned his teeth one more time before everybody decided that Dash wasn't a candidate for anesthesia anymore. They don't think he would wake up if he was anesthetized again. I feel bad that we can't do a better job of keeping Dash's teeth and gums healthy, but we're doing the best we can.

Tomorrow it's time for the gym again. I'd really rather just sleep, but something tells me that in a dystopian world you've got to keep moving.

Jazz is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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