Day 4623

You can learn a lot about society by walking around a shopping mall before the stores open. Cooking hasn't changed much. I see exactly the same Cuisinart food processers, Vitamix blenders, and Le Creuset cast iron pots in store windows as I did fifteen years ago. On the other hand, what people put on their feet has changed a lot. Everyone wears sneakers now. Even the mannequins in high-end men's stores show men wearing sneakers with suits. Every clothing store has some sort of sneaker in the window. That's all you see on the feet of people walking around too. Not a leather shoe in sight. 

The expensive boutiques still display clothes for impossibly skinny people, but middle of the road stores now proudly display larger sizes in their windows. There are even fat mannequins now. There must be a large market for purses. I counted at least a dozen stores that sold nothing but very expensive purses. Jewelry stores don't put jewelry in the windows anymore. There are just posters with pictures of jewelry. The Apple store has a policeman inside the store even when it is closed. Times have definitely changed. Truthfully, there is very little you actually need in most shopping malls. You get that stuff at Walmart.

We got more rain today. I knew the rain was coming so I went up on the roof and fixed the pumps. A low hanging limb from the neighbor's pecan tree had knocked over one of the pumps and it had become unplugged. The other pump had a bad extension cord that started to smoke every time I plugged the pump in. That pump will stay unplugged until I can buy a new extension cord. Oh, well. At least I got one of the pumps working again. I swept the remaining water and a ton of pecan shells off the roof before I called it a day. I really hate going up on the roof these days. My balance isn't as good as it used to be.

At least the rain has cooled things down a bit. It was quite pleasant outside on our sunrise walk with Dawn  and we were even able to take a short walk later in the day on Dawn's Sunday outing. It's still quite humid though. A succession of rainy days makes things uncomfortably humid outside. The humidity didn't stop us from getting ice cream though. You can eat your ice cream cones in the car with the air conditioner running.

I vacuumed the can light sockets in the bathroom ceiling this afternoon in an attempt to get rid of the ants. This was a wasted effort. Even though the dead ants are falling directly below the can lights, there were no ants to be found when I removed the bulbs from the light sockets. Ants and debris are still falling from the ceiling. My success with the pumps was short lived as well. It just started raining again and my one remaining pump is no longer working. It's probably that same pecan tree again. When the limbs get wet they droop down and some even touch the roof. The moving limbs probably knocked over the pump again. This house can be very discouraging at times. I think I just heard the ominous drip of a roof leak.

I charged the laptop and installed security updates this afternoon. I think I'm ready for the trip now. Working with computers is much easier than dealing with household problems. The computers are old but not nearly as old as the house. 

We need to take Dawn to the vet tomorrow morning for pre-dental lab work. It's time to have her teeth cleaned again and they want to make sure she is OK for anesthesia. Getting her teeth cleaned is probably a big reason why Dawn doesn't like the vet. Healthy teeth are important though. For people and animals. 

Sure wish the pumps were working this evening. We're getting a lot of rain.

Cookie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day