Day 4611

It rained today. The rain only lasted for about five minutes but it was very welcome. I wish the rain had lasted longer. An hour or two later everything was dry again. There is another chance of rain tomorrow. Maybe we'll get something more substantial.

A squirrel tore up a bottle of fire ant granules and we found Dawn walking around in the back yard with one of the pieces of the plastic bottle in her mouth. We don't think she ingested any of the granules, but this still was not good. According to what I've read on the Internet the insecticide used in the Amdro granules isn't very strong and eating a small amount shouldn't be harmful to dogs. We're keeping an eye on her. It's been about four hours now and she appears absolutely normal. If this proves anything it is that dogs can and will get into anything. When I Googled "my dog ate Amdro granules" there were a ton of links. Apparently Dawn wasn't the first dog to become a little too interested in this stuff.

I was disappointed that we didn't get more rain. It would have been a nice change of pace. With the exception of the very short rain shower, today was exactly like yesterday. We started the day with an early sunrise walk with Dawn. You can really tell the days are getting shorter now. Tuesday seems to be a popular day for cyclists. We really have to watch out for bicycles on our Tuesday walks.

I had my usual bowl of cereal for breakfast and then checked my messages, hoping for some clarification from NASA. Nothing yet. I went to the gym, shot 25 free throws on the basketball court, walked two miles on the indoor track, and came home again. I got gas on the way home. I'm using more gas now that I'm going to the gym every day. It still beats walking in the park though. It's going to have to get a lot cooler before I start taking long walks in the park again.

While I was out and about this morning I listened to a program on NPR about how the invention of air conditioning was changing society. It was kind of a doom and gloom story, but I suspect that most of it was true. I have become totally dependent on air conditioning. I had the air conditioner on in my car as I was listening to the story. When the air conditioner goes out at the house it is always a major emergency. Without air conditioning I seriously doubt that I would be living in Texas. When I lived in Seattle my house didn't have an air conditioner and it never was a problem. I don't remember having an air conditioner when I lived in Idaho or Colorado either. Texas is different. Maybe it is a huge waste of energy, but I'm convinced that it is a necessity here.

I still can't think of anything that captures my interest for an entire day. I usually get off to a good start, but by mid-afternoon I've run out of steam. I never had these problems when I was working. There always seemed to be a writing job to keep me busy. It's a good thing I enjoy taking naps. I've been taking a lot of naps lately.

We'll see what tomorrow brings. I'm sure there will be another trip to the gym. I'm still hoping for rain. Our yard could really use a good soaking. I hope I don't find a dead squirrel in the yard tomorrow. I don't think Dawn ate much Amdro, but I think the squirrel probably did.

Nautica is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day