Day 2879 - Veteran's Day

Every year at this time I see an enormous number of pictures of men and women in uniform on my Facebook feed. These are my friends parents and grandparents. I did a little looking and found my own picture as well. My Dad served in the Navy during World War II. So did my Mom. It doesn't take long to realize that something in this country has fundamentally changed. Although almost everybody I know has a picture of a parent in uniform, almost none of the people posting these pictures has served themselves. I wonder what it means when we all say "thank you for your service," but haven't spent any time in the military? Do we even know what service means?

I'm not being critical. I never served. I had a low draft number, but I fell rock climbing in college and was reclassified 4F. To this day, my injury seems like a lucky accident. I'm glad that I never got sent to Vietnam. I didn't understand why we were there at the time, and after watching the Ken Burns documentary recently, I still don't understand. What did this needless loss of life prove? Vietnam is a tourist destination now. We consider the country a trading partner. I have shirts and shoes in my closet that were made there.

Even though I think most wars are pointless and never seem to bring lasting peace, I still admire the generation before me that believed in service. There was a sense of honor and integrity about my parent's generation that we seem to have lost. My Dad was always proud of his service in the Navy. I'm proud of him as well.

Maybe there were parades and ceremonies somewhere in the city, but I didn't see any. There was a lot going on today. I saw people getting ready for a classic car show in the park this morning while I was walking Dash. This evening, I saw people attending an art fair in another section of the park. After doing my grocery shopping, I stopped by a big animal rescue event that I always try to attend. It seemed like there were fewer people than normal, but maybe this was just because I didn't recognize as many. There is a new generation rescuing dogs and cats now. They actually seem to be rescuing everything. I saw groups dedicated to rescuing pigs, rabbits, ferrets, and even fish. Maybe this is what service is all about today. We had a dog when I was a kid, but nobody I knew had even thought about the idea of rescuing them. Since I believe war is a bad thing and saving animals is a good thing, maybe our whole concept of service has evolved into something different.

I'm not sure about what this means for the future. Personally, I care about animals more than I do about people. For the most part, I think people are horrible. I don't think my Dad would have shared this sentiment.

It was still cold today. It didn't rain, but it looked like it could at any point. I'm not sure when I'm going to be able to finish my work on the roof. Since this time of year is often rainy, I'll probably be spending every clear, dry day between now and Christmas making repairs one square foot at a time.

We received our advance copies of the 2018 Dalmatian Rescue calendar. Dot looks wonderful on the cover. It really feels like an honor that she was selected. I'll have to show you guys the picture when I get a chance to scan the book.

Dolly is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2846 - Columbus Day

I was thinking about seeing Blade Runner 2049 and was surprised to discover that there wasn't a matinée. The film was showing at multiple theaters but all the showtimes were at night. Some theaters only showed the movie late at night. Maybe this is why some folks have been disappointed with the box office returns for this movie, even though the reviews have been great. The audience for this film is me. You have to be old enough to have seen the original Blade Runner before you're going to be looking forward to the sequel. What were they thinking by not having a matinée? Let the Millennials watch movies whenever they like, but remember that old science fiction fans sometimes prefer a matinée.

When I was growing up, I never would have dreamed that Columbus Day would become controversial. For most of my life, this has been a bland, largely uneventful day. I don't understand the desire to rewrite history. Columbus was no saint, but he is still revered in many countries. There wouldn't be a Latino culture today without Columbus and the Spaniards that followed him. Sure, the Native Americans were here first, but it wasn't like indigenous people were leading peaceful, bucolic lives before the Europeans arrived. They'd been fighting with each other for centuries. You could make a pretty strong case that the Aztec's were even more brutal than the Europeans.

Every culture throughout history has done horrible things. Some of the horrible things have turned out to be significant. If we try to erase history, how can we possibly learn from it? I wouldn't make Christopher Columbus a role model, but I wouldn't throw red paint at his statue either. Many of the people we admire today will be reviled by future generations. That's just the way life is. Truthfully, I'm amazed that there is still life on this planet at all. Even the animals are mean and nasty. Cute and cuddly dolphins are actually stone cold killers who routinely murder their own babies. We prefer to think that all dolphins are like Flipper though. It's just easier that way.

I love dogs, even though I've been bitten five times. I've learned that you can't just divide the dog population into good dogs and bad dogs. Given the right circumstances, any dog could bite you. I think people are the same way.

We learned today that Dot was going to be the cover of the 2018 Dalmatian Rescue Calendar. She's a beautiful cover girl. When I saw the proof of the calendar, it made me want to cry. Such a wonderful tribute. I have a feeling that there are going to be a lot of these calendars around our house next year.

I called Janet's doctors this afternoon and asked how to become a patient. It's taken me a long time to make this switch, but I probably should have done it a long time ago. I'm not getting any younger and staying healthy is increasingly becoming my top priority. I feel a bit disloyal abandoning my primary care physician, but I've gotten to the point where I'd be nervous depending on him if something serious happened. There are no perfect doctors, but I hope that a year from now, I will still think I made the right decision.

Dash did pretty well today. I'm getting better at putting on his protective gear by myself in the morning and he seems to be walking more naturally using the knee brace. He never did throw up last night and ate a pretty good breakfast. I'm really hoping that his next echocardiogram will show some improvement.

Maverick is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day