Sunday, November 14, 2021

Day 4343

I did a lot of walking today. We started with Dawn's sunrise walk. Even this early I could tell it was going to be a warmer day. Dawn is back to taking her short one mile loop. Any day now she could surprise us though. We never know when she's going to decide to be adventurous. 

Weekends are the only time I eat a big breakfast. Actually, it's the only time Janet and I eat breakfast together. We had a hearty meal of bacon, eggs, and toast and then I went out walking again. My feet still hurt but I am unwilling to quit walking. Basically the problem is just arthritis and I don't want to start taking pain pills on a regular basis. Aching feet slow me down though. I definitely didn't make good time today.

As soon as I returned home, Dawn was ready to go on her Sunday outing. It had warmed up enough at this point that I didn't even need a jacket. Dawn is weird about our Sunday ritual. She gets so excited as we get ready to leave the house and then as soon as we get in the car, she gets terrified. She has never liked riding in the car, but luckily it is a short drive to her Sunday park. As soon as we arrive at our destination, she is back to normal. Normal for Dawn actually isn't very normal, but we'll take what we can get. 

We had a nice walk with lots of new things to smell and then we went for ice cream. The ice cream place always has a help wanted sign out front. Either they have a big turnover or they are very picky about who they hire. We always get good service. Occasionally they even give us a free pup cone. The pup cones are very small. I think Dawn likes the regular cones better. Dawn is a noisy eater. It makes us laugh to hear her crunching on a cone. 

I didn't do much for the rest of the day. I got out the wet-dry vac and removed the water that collects between the tiles and the shower pan after I took a shower. I probably need to re-grout the bathroom tiles, but I've done this several times and it never worked for long. For whatever reason, the bathroom is where there are the most stress cracks in the sheetrock. Old houses move and shift with the seasons. Some of our doors stick in the summer but are fine in the winter. Since tile grout isn't very pliable, it always tends to crack when the house shifts. This is a minor problem compared to others we've had, but it does make me want to quit taking showers occasionally.

Janet was gone for most of the afternoon, so Dawn and I had plenty of time to bond. Dawn wasn't interested. When I would lie down on the bed to take a short nap, Dawn would always groan and move away to the far corner of the bed. Although Dawn clearly prefers that I stay in the office, she likes the bed so much that she reluctantly shares it with me. When Janet's home, Dawn follows her around like glue. I think Dawn thinks I'm a kennel attendant. I'm good for walks and fixing dinner. That's about it.

I read an article today about skyrocketing home prices and the difficulties new buyers are facing these days. Evidently in some cities there are multiple bids on almost every house that comes to market and buyers either get outbid or end up paying way more than the asking price. It makes me glad that we aren't going anywhere and are living in a home that was paid for a long time ago. The world isn't a friendly place anymore. I keep thinking that my parents lived in the best of times. There was no social media or fake news. Everybody trusted Walter Cronkite. Nobody made a lot of money, but things didn't cost very much either. I wasn't even aware of crime when I was a kid. Nobody even locked their doors in our neighborhood. Even much later when I started college it still felt safe to hitchhike. I hitchhiked all over the country. Times have definitely changed. It's not Mad Max at Thunderdome yet, but we are definitely headed in that direction.

Puppies are today's Dalmatians of the Day


Watch of the Day