Day 4349

I keep hearing that the shelves are going to be empty this Christmas, but that doesn't seem to be the case around here. When I did my shopping this morning, the stores were full of Christmas stuff. Nobody seems to be waiting until after Thanksgiving anymore. Christmas tree lots are already up and running. Stores are full of gifts. Some of our neighbors have already put Christmas lights up.

I keep worrying that Dawn might be having an adverse reaction to the new meds she's taking. She seemed slower on her walk this morning. She spit out the cookie I always give her before I leave on my own long walk. She certainly doesn't seem any friendlier toward me. I guess the real test will be tomorrow when she rides in the car to go on her Sunday outing. It's hard to evaluate Dawn's mood anyway. To me, she is always acting weird. 

It didn't take long to get my shopping done today. There were no lines at the gas pump. The shelves were well stocked. And I didn't have a long list anyway. It did take a long time to complete my walk unfortunately. The weather was nice but my feet hurt again today. My pace was pretty slow today. Even old, overweight people were passing me on the trails.

I was wrong when I said we weren't going to get any Fall color this year. The trees are just turning a little later than usual. I saw lots of reds and yellows today. I didn't see the eagles unfortunately. I didn't even see the regular group of ducks and geese. I am seeing Kestrels again and the White Pelicans have started to become active. I like it when the animals are active. They keep my mind off the human side of the equation.

I wonder why there are so many for sale and for rent signs in the neighborhood. The population seems a lot more transient than it used to be. Janet and I seems to be the only people who have been here forever. A lot of the older neighbors have either passed away or moved on to assisted living. I don't know what the young ones are doing. I don't know hardly any of them because they don't stay here long enough.

I also wonder why almost all modern cars look the same and why there are so many people walking babies in strollers? It's a different world now. I hear police and fire sirens constantly these days but I don't see as many airplanes overhead. I don't think that air travel has completely recovered yet. Maybe everybody is just out on the highways. I've never seen traffic this bad in all the time I've lived here.

My Fitbit battery ran out this morning. It bothered me a bit because I didn't get any credit for my long walk. I'm definitely hooked on checking my stats. Every morning I check to see how many hours of deep sleep I got and how long I was in a dream state. I dream a lot, but from what I can remember the dreams are never very satisfying. When I was young I had flying dreams. Now I seems to be constantly lost. I'm always looking for my car in a parking garage or riding up and down elevators looking for my room in a hotel. I think Dawn has lots of dreams too. She often wakes me up at night while barking in her sleep.

The vet called with Dawn's test results. Everything looks normal. I hope she enjoys her Sunday outing tomorrow. I'm not a big fan of her new meds but I do want her to be happy. If she is less anxious it's probably a good thing. 

Ranger is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day