Day 4368 - Dawn's Birthday

Dawn celebrated her ninth birthday today. Unlike many of our other dogs, this is her real birthday. Many rescue dogs celebrate their birthday on their gotcha day because it is impossible to know when or even where they were actually born. We know that Dawn was born in the same kennel where she eventually became a breeding dog. That was the fate of many females in that facility who weren't immediately sold as puppies. Dawn had a rough life and wasn't treated well, but the breeders did keep records. We just hope that all her future birthdays will be happy occasions. I think she enjoyed the little celebration we had tonight. She loves Sprinkles Pupcakes.

Oddly, today is also my Dad's birthday. He would have been 104 years old, but he died a long time ago. Dad provides my inspiration to keep walking and stay healthy. I think he would have lived longer if he'd eaten better and taken care of himself. My childhood memories are a little fuzzy now, but I do remember eating a lot of Swanson TV Dinners. We even had the little metal TV trays. Dad was fond of liver and onions, pickled pig's feet, and sardine sandwiches as well. My own diet wasn't exemplary during my younger years, but I'm trying to make up for lost time. Maybe I'm fooling myself, but I think I'm doing pretty well.

Dealing with FedEx today has been totally frustrating. I wanted FedEx to hold the Kickstarter package that is being delivered at one of their facilities so I wouldn't have to wait around the house all day to sign for the delivery. I used to do this all the time when clients used to send me a lot if things via Fedex. The Fedex website is horrible. I kept clicking on the tabs to change a delivery and the site kept saying to come back later or sometimes just crashed. I never could get the website to work so I drove up to the Fedex office that used to hold my packages for me. The door was open but there was nobody inside. I waited and waited but no one came to the front desk. Finally, I started knocking on the door behind the counter where all the packages were kept. Eventually an agent came out and told me that the facility doesn't hold packages for customers anymore. I could try having the package delivered to a local Walgreens, but it would take several days longer. Covid has basically ruined everything. Fedex definitely isn't the only company that has used the pandemic as an excuse to fire a bunch of people and eliminate services that we all used to take for granted.

Dawn got a bath and a nail trim this afternoon. I don't think this was her idea of a good birthday present, but Janet had some extra time today and wanted a clean dog. I keep trying to tell Dawn that if she'd be friends with me I'd let her stay dirty. I don't think she has gotten the message. She was friendlier than usual with me today though. I think we are making progress. I was actually able to get her to go down to the park with me on her own while Janet was gone this morning. We didn't stay long, but she never used to leave the yard with me unless Janet was nearby.

I got 22,000 steps today. This is the fourth day in a row that I've gotten more than 20,000 steps. I don't think I can keep this up forever, but I might as well keep walking. For the moment, I can't think of anything better to do with my time. Today was unusually warm. I think we set some kind of heat record for December today. I think I saw the eagle again. It was flying off in the distance and I couldn't make a positive identification. If it wasn't the eagle, it was the largest hawk I've ever seen. Oddly, the bird appeared to be flying over my house.

I put together the stand for the new TV. It felt a lot like assembling something you bought at Ikea. All these companies that sell internationally just use pictures for their assembly instructions now. I guess pictures are easier than translating into multiple languages. I'm a word person, but I managed to get the stand assembled by carefully looking at the the series of pictures. I think we are slowly reverting to a preliterate society. There's an emoji for just about everything now and many people I know prefer to listen to books in their car rather than actually reading them.

When I took the trash out to the curb tonight I noticed that the Moon, Jupiter, Saturn, and Venus were all arranged in a nice little row. The view was pretty but it didn't make me want to linger outside. I don't think I'll be getting up early to look for Comet Leonard either. I've got to catch up on my sleep. We've got another Santa Paws event this weekend.

Puppies are today's Dalmatians of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1090

My Dad would have been 95 years old today if he'd been healthier. The last birthday I remember celebrating with him was his 80th. After that, he began to go downhill quickly. Although my Dad and I were never terribly close, I find that I am becoming more and more like him as I grow older myself. I've never seem to acquire Dad's good habits; just the bad ones. Dad could never throw away anything. When I was settling his estate, I discovered a large dresser filled entirely with socks. There were stacks of old National Geographic magazines five feet tall. Shoes never became worn enough to actually throw away, and even paper grocery sacks were carefully folded and placed near the refrigerator for some ambiguous future use.

I don't think I've gotten this bad, but Janet says I'm headed down the same cluttered path. I can certainly appreciate the benefits of keeping only what you need. I'm just having trouble actually getting rid of anything. In an attempt to declutter, I thought I'd throw a few things away this afternoon while I was packing up photo gear to take back to the storage warehouse.  I threw away all the phone-books in the house. There were quite a few. I haven't looked up anything in a printed phone book for years. Google seems just fine for finding just about everything. I threw away a lot of catalogs for the same reason. You can always find a wider selection of whatever you're looking for online these days. Some three hole paper punches got dumped. If you're trying to git rid of paper, what's the point of a three hole punch?

Janet was packing up things for her storage warehouse as well. Yes, we both have our own storage warehouses. If she ever got into my space, she would just throw everything away. I leave her space alone as well. I know I would be continually retrieving things she no longer had a use for. It works better to have two storage spaces. At any rate, we filled up both cars with stuff that didn't need to be in the house any longer and the place looks a lot tidier now.

The dogs had a great time at the dog park today. You could tell that Dash had been missing his off leash time. There was a nip in the air and both dogs raced around making up for lost time. Dash even played with other dogs, which is something he only does when he is an exceptionally good mood. Dot never plays with the other dogs, but enjoys the opportunity to stroll around at her own pace, smelling everything in the 22 acre park.

There's a doctor's appointment on my calendar for tomorrow. I can't even remember what I'm seeing the doctor for this time. I guess I'll find out when I get there.

Puppies are today's Dalmatians of the Day

Watch of the Day