Day 4154 - Mother's Day

I couldn't find a good picture of my Mom, but she would have liked this picture of Dot. Dalmatian Rescue used to do pet photo events for every holiday under the sun. Our Mother's Day events were surprisingly popular. You didn't have to have children to be a pet Mom and everyone wanted a picture with their dog. Dot was the poster child for many of our photo events. She wore her pearls well.

Dawn expects her Sunday car ride now. She got so excited when she saw we were getting ready. She still doesn't seem to like riding in the car, but she loves going somewhere new. Dawn walks a little faster on Sundays. She seems to know that we are doing something special just for her. As always, we finished this morning's outing with an ice cream cone. When we returned home, Dawn was content for the rest of the day.

I had more energy than usual today. It was an increasingly rare 20,000 step day. After a short nap on returning from our outing with Dawn, I decided to mow the grass. I tracked the activity on my Apple Watch and discovered that I burned twice as many calories mowing the grass as I did walking Dawn a little earlier. Mowing without a self propelled mower on a sloping lawn can be pretty strenuous for an old guy like me. I really need to ask one of the neighbor's lawn guys how much they'd charge to mow my lawn too while they were doing the neighbor's yards. My yard is so small that it would only take them a few extra minutes. If the cost was even remotely reasonable, it would be worth the money. Pushing this mower is wearing me out.

I needed a little longer nap after this much activity, but I still wanted to take my regular long walk today. It was very windy today, but the rain that was forecast never arrived. Actually the wind helped cool me down. It would have been hot and muggy outside without it. It was a nice day for a walk, but by the time I'd completed my normal five mile route, I'd had enough. 20,000 steps seems to be my limit these days. There were times when I completed as many as 24,000 steps a few years ago. I don't know how I did it.

I should have gotten a big bag of party ice today and used it to fill the ice maker bin. The ice maker is still broken, but I'm not going to have time to deal with an appliance repairman until after my trip. It would be easier to just replace the entire refrigerator, but nobody makes the correct size anymore. Kitchens have gotten larger over the years and today's refrigerators are huge. None of them will fit in the small slot where our current refrigerator goes. It looks like the only way to get a new refrigerator is to keep replacing components on our current one whenever something breaks. We are gradually getting a new refrigerator, part by expensive part.

I'm going to have to get serious about packing soon. I hate to pack and am a terrible travel planner, so I always wait until the last possible minute. I thought I'd be better prepared this time, but it looks like procrastination wins again. I just hope that it doesn't rain when I'm out at the observatory. It's a long, hard drive just to end up with cloudy skies or a thunderstorm when I get there. This will be my fourth trip out to the observatory. I've gotten rained out before, but I've also had clear skies and beautiful weather. You just never know.

I'm curious whether Cooper got adopted this week. I guess we'll find out when we visit the kennel tomorrow. Last week we thought that Cooper would be going to his forever home very soon, but things can always change. It's a pretty safe bet that Charlie will still be there though. Charlie is always there.

Spot is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3356

20,000 steps today. That's what you get when you walk the dog twice, go to the gym, and remove all the water from the roof. I was surprised that Dash even wanted a walk this morning. It was bitterly cold. There was a brisk wind for most of the day and the wind chill made the temperature feel like 20 degrees. I definitely didn't feel like going up on the roof in this kind of weather, but I knew that if I didn't remove the standing water immediately, it would be ice by morning. So far, the roof leak hasn't reappeared, so maybe all my efforts have been worthwhile. Just being outside today was quite a workout. My trip to the gym seemed easy by comparison.

I wasn't surprised that Dash seemed tired today. Walking in freezing weather takes a lot out of you. We probably should have stayed inside but it's hard to convince a dog who loves to smell things in the park that it is too cold. As soon as Dash gets back inside on these cold days, he starts shivering. He never shivers while he is actually walking though. I still haven't figured this out. At any rate, after a short nap under his favorite blanket, Dash was fine. The cold weather certainly didn't hurt his appetite. Dash ate anything within reach today.

I watched the Crew Dragon capsule dock with the International Space Station on NASA TV this morning. The capsule looked so clean and neat inside. It looked a lot more like the interior of a Tesla Model 3 than your typical space capsule. The Russian Soyuz capsule looks like a flying garbage can by comparison. I'm amazed at the progress that Elon Musk has made in the last ten years. It's pretty impressive. I hope he can reach his goal of landing on Mars while I'm still alive.

I didn't have the energy to do any house cleaning after I finished with the roof this afternoon. I didn't finish updating the Dalmatian Rescue website either. I guess I can do those things tomorrow. Today just seemed like a long, continuous workout. Maybe I lost a few a few pounds. It isn't every day that I rack up 20,000 steps on the Fitbit.

I wonder why I've become so fascinated with tracking things. The Fitbit tracks me while I'm walking around and up until yesterday an IOS app called Fabric tracked me when I was driving around. the Fabric company went out of business recently and the app has gone dead. The same thing happened to Moves, another tracking app I used to use. I guess this shows that there isn't much of a market for apps that track your every more. Most people apparently don't want to be tracked.

I wonder whether I should cancel tomorrow's appointment with the plumber? Another arctic cold front is on the way and temperatures are supposed be get down in the teens. I would imagine that if the ground is frozen, it's going to be a lot harder to find that leak in the sewer line. I can't imagine that the plumbers would enjoy working out in the cold either. I'll call in the morning and see what the plumbing company wants to do. This seems like something that could wait until things warm up a bit.

Dash was restless last night and I didn't get a lot of sleep. Hope things improve this evening. I've done enough moving for one day. I need to be still for a while.

Maggie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day