Day 4246

We met Bullet today. This four year old male is the newest member of the rescue program and probably won't be with us long. He's healthy, good looking, and very friendly. Bullet loves to play and we had a lot of fun getting to know him. I have a feeling that he's going to find his forever home soon. I took some pictures of Bullet for the rescue website and then we made sure to pay equal attention to Charlie and Cooper. All three dogs were happy to see us today. Each dog has his own distinct personality and they'd all make a great pet for the right person. I wonder if we'll see Bullet next week? I think there's a family looking at him already.

We had to get a new longer cone for Dawn before we left for the kennel because she's learned how to reach her back paws wearing the shorter one. The new cone seemed to work, because there were no signs of damage when we returned. Dawn doesn't seem to mind the cone and mostly just sleeps while wearing it. She took her last antibiotic pill today, so hopefully she is clear of the bacterial infection now. The vet will want to culture another sample to make sure and then we'll move on to solving the paw licking problem. 

I still feel like I'm not getting enough sleep. When we took our sunrise walk this morning all I could think of was going back to bed. I stayed up though because by the time we returned to the house, I was wide awake. Monday is never a terribly busy day, but it usually seems that way. After I made the bed and fixed my breakfast, I charged my camera batteries and got ready to go to the kennel. I'd been using my new Olympus camera to take dog pictures recently, but reverted to the Panasonic GH-4 because it seems to work better under the low light conditions in the kennel playroom. I'm wondering why I got the new camera now. It isn't that great for astrophotography and I think I like my old cameras better for dog pictures. 

There wasn't enough time to take a long walk this morning, so I went to the gym late in the day after we returned from the kennel. I guess I'll keep going to the gym, but the relentless news about how bad the Delta variant is becoming in Texas is making me feel like laying low again. I'd really hate to get Covid now after keeping myself safe for over a year and a half. My gym is never crowded and it's probably even safer than going to the grocery store, but you never know. Obviously somebody is getting this disease because hospitals are filling up again and they say Dallas is running out of ICU beds.

I'm really sick of the pandemic. It's very difficult to make plans because things keep changing. I feel foolish even trying to contact people at NASA or Patrick Air Force Base about upcoming launches because I know I'm not going to Florida anyway. By the time Covid has run its course and disappeared, I'll probably have to start over from scratch on my quest to become a space journalist. 

Janet would like to travel too, but I doubt that either of us will be going anywhere soon. It's probably just as well. We've got our hands full with Dawn anyway. Tomorrow will be a repeat of today except that I won't be going anywhere. On Wednesday I get my root canal done. Such an exciting week.

Nautica is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 4244

It was a busy Saturday. We took our sunrise walk, but Dawn still isn't wanting to walk very far. Where did that little burst of energy come from a few weeks ago? We're trying to use up some things that partially thawed when the freezer malfunctioned last week, so we had a package of toaster waffles for breakfast. They were actually pretty good. When I ran my Saturday errands, I got some long foam tubes at Home Depot to make more professional looking inserts for my camera case. I also filled the car with gas, picked up some salicylic acid at the pharmacy, and did my grocery shopping. Everybody was wearing masks at Sam's Club, but almost nobody was wearing masks at Central Market. Go figure. It's Hatch Chili season again in Texas. I don't understand the fascination with Hatch Chilis, but for one month a year, you can get Hatch Chile pound cake and cookies, Hatch Chile Sourdough Bread, Hatch Chile potato salad, Hatch Chile burgers and rotisserie chickens, along with all sorts of Hatch Chile concoctions at the deli counter.

Since I got started early, I was still able to make it to the gym before they closed at 1 PM. You have to wear a mask when you check in now, but you can take it off as soon as you get down to the gym floor and start exercising. I don't know what this proves, but we are all pretty good about following the rules. Some people continue wearing their mask during their workout, but most don't. I don't spend as much time at the gym on Saturdays, but I did get my steps and fill all the rings on my Apple Watch. I'm continuing to work on upper body strength, but I don't know how much progress I'm making.

I've started taking the antibiotics the dentist prescribed for my root canal. Dawn and I are both taking antibiotics now. Her paws are starting to look a little better, but I don't know if this has anything to do with the meds she's taking. I think it's mostly because she's wearing a cone a lot now. We always put the cone on when we're both going to be out of the house. You don't have to leave Dawn unsupervised very long before she starts biting at her paws again. 

When I went to the gym today, there was a line of cars wrapped all the way around the block at the Covid testing site. New pandemic fears certainly aren't stopping people from shopping though. Grocery stores were full today and the Northpark Mall looked like it was Christmas. There wasn't a parking place anywhere. I picked up Chinese take out for dinner and PF Chang's was absolutely packed. There wasn't an empty table in the place and everybody was seated close together. This is all very confusing to me. When you turn on the television, the sky is falling. When you're out in the community, everything seems normal. 

I basically don't trust anyone now. I don't trust what the government is telling me. I think the strangers I see are probably all infected with horrible diseases. You certainly can't trust the media anymore. Every time you change the channel, you get a completely different story. I wonder if anyone's done a study to see if extroverts get infected with Covid more frequently than introverts? I bet they do. They always seem to trace a big spike back to a party or a wedding.

It's a weird world we live in. They still haven't found the missing cobra in Grand Prairie. This snake will never make it all the way to Dallas unless it is already in someone's car. I guess we're safe on our Sunday outing tomorrow. I don't know why I'm worried about cobras. The park is full of poisonous snakes anyway. 

Lou is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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