Day 4776

Grocery shopping provides a unique window into what is happening in the world. It isn't pretty. Prices keep increasing. Variety and selection seems to be decreasing. There are a lot more empty shelves than there used to be. Stores like Costco and Sam's Club keep replacing national brands with their own private label brands. Prices are lower on these private label brands, but so is the quality. I suspect that these stores know that price matters a lot more to their customers than quality. You might not notice many changes on a week-to-week basis, but if you keep track of things, you will definitely notice that a lot has changed in a year. I find this all very disappointing. Younger people never experienced better times and nobody listens to older people, so the world just keeps deteriorating.

The sun was already up when we took Dawn on her early walk this morning. That was fine by me. I get my best sleep just before it is time to get up. A few hours of extra sleep is great. I thought I'd start sleeping well again after I returned from Florida, but so far that hasn't been the case. I've had sinus congestion all week and I have to sleep on my back to keep my nose clear. I fall asleep much faster when I sleep on my stomach, but the nasal congestion turns me into a mouth breather and I wake up with a dry mouth in the middle of the night. I don't do well with over-the-counter decongestants, so I just get irritated and wonder how I got this head cold. I felt fine in Florida. Maybe it's just allergies. I could easily be allergic to something in the house.

I didn't accomplish much today. Grocery shopping took longer than usual because the stores were crowded. My walk in the park took longer because I woke up tired and walked slowly. The weather was a lot colder than yesterday. I have trouble deciding what to wear on these walks. If it's a windy day, I freeze down by the shoreline. If the sun pops out from behind a cloud on a calm day, I'm usually too hot. I can either dress for the first part of the walk or the last part. Today I was cold for the first few miles, but was fine on my way home. I noticed today that the city has fenced off a large area near the eagle's nest. Maybe they haven't noticed that the eagles don't seem to be using the nest anymore. It's weird that the city seems to be doing a much better job of protecting the eagles than protecting the people. I still don't feel safe in this park after dark.

I don't know what it's going to take to get me back to the gym. I had the best of intentions today, but after I brought the groceries home, I didn't feel like going out again. I was actually pretty close to the gym when I was out shopping, but I didn't want the food to go bad in the car. Oh, well. The gym isn't going away. One of these days I'll start using it again. For now, it's a lot easier to just easier to open the back door and start walking.

I need to at least make an effort to do something productive tomorrow. I'll go mall walking in the morning, but that's just another way of avoiding things. I used to always have a project I was working on, but most of these projects seem pointless now. I probably just have a bad case of 'been there, done that.' Tax season is right around the corner, so I'll have to start gathering materials for my accountant soon. Working on my upper body strength would be a good project, but so would reading a good book. Starting this blog was a project and look what that got me into. Luckily I have less than a year to go.

Molly is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day