Day 4019 - Christmas

It turns out it wasn't Dawn, it was us. We tried an experiment this morning. Instead of having Dawn follow us on a walk, we followed her. She led us over the hills and through the woods on a wild walk to parts of the park we had never even visited before. Luckily, it was a beautiful, dry winter day with no poison ivy, no bugs, and most importantly, no snakes. Dawn had a great time. She was happy, energetic, and didn't freeze in place at all. We ended up walking over five miles and probably could have walked longer. If there is a lesson in all this, it might be that Dawn thinks we are boring people and wishes we would do more interesting things with her.

Dawn's triumphant Christmas walk was the beginning of a very pleasant day. The house was filled with the smells of delicious things in the oven. Janet talked with her family on the phone while I finally figured out how to use my new camera. I've barely scratched the surface of what the camera can do, but I did take some pictures and was pleased with the results. I figured out how to install and pair the phone app that lets me operate the camera remotely and I tried out a couple of lenses that I already own. This camera is going to be very good for astrophotography and future Dalmatian Rescue photo shoots.

Even Facebook was better today. Instead of people arguing about politics, there were just lots of happy pictures of dogs dressed up in Christmas outfits. It's too bad we can't act like it's Christmas all year long. For one day a year, humanity doesn't seem so bad after all.

I took another walk later in the day and some of the larger paved trails were filled with children playing with their Christmas toys. The gifts kids get now are much larger and more expensive than what I used to find under the tree. Janet and I were talking recently about how happy we were to get a ViewMaster for Christmas when we were little. Everything runs on batteries now and will probably break fairly quickly. I saw a parade of children riding on fancy motorized toy cars and scooters. There were motorized skateboards as well. A lot of the older kids on motorized scooters were going way too fast. Luckily, I didn't encounter any serious accidents today. It would have spoiled my Christmas mood.

Our Christmas dinner was delicious. Janet baked a Crown Roast surrounded by root vegetables, all covered by a fabulous spicy glaze. When it came out of the oven it looked like something you'd see in a food magazine. Our side dishes were candied sweet potatoes, Italian sausage dressing, fresh cranberry sauce, and a Brussels Sprout salad. We made Mimosas, got out our best champagne glasses and ate way too much.

Dawn got her first taste of Devon's Doggie Delights for Christmas and she loves the Cheese Chompers. I forget when we first discovered Devon's treats, but Dot and Dash loved them. I'm really happy that Dawn had a good day. It was so nice to see her acting normally again. We'll see how long this lasts. Realistically, it will be impossible to let her drag us through the woods every day. The park isn't that big either. There are only so many undiscovered routes left. Maybe we just have a very stubborn dog instead of a dog with mental problems. We forget sometimes that Dawn is a mama dog who has raised many, many puppies. I think this might explain a lot of her behavior.

A very Merry Christmas to all of you. I hope your day was as nice as ours was. For a short moment in time, I'm feeling fairly optimistic.

Dot is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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