Day 4275

There's a hint of Fall in the air. I think the worst of Summer is finally over. When we took Dawn on her sunrise walk this morning, it was only 70 degrees. It still gets a lot hotter later in the day, but this is a welcome relief. The weather was still pretty nice when I took my long walk after breakfast. I'm glad to be walking in the park again. A walk in the woods is much more enjoyable than circling around and around an indoor track.

We ordered some medicine for Dawn recently. When Amazon Prime left their proof of delivery photo, it wasn't even our house. It wasn't either of our neighbor's houses either. I have no idea where this package was actually delivered. You'd think that Amazon would have sent the driver back to retrieve the package while he was still in the area and redeliver it. Nope. Janet had to cancel the order and get a refund. UPS is still the best with deliveries. Amazon and Fedex, not so much.

I'm still not hungry for my morning smoothie. This seems so strange to me, since I've been drinking this concoction for breakfast for years. Maybe the desire for a liquid breakfast will return, or maybe not. I always thought my smoothie was very healthy, but it turns out that it contains too much fat and way too much sugar. Who knows if shredded wheat and fruit is much better?  It will have to do for now. I don't even like the smell of a fried egg in the morning and oatmeal doesn't sound so good either.

I wish I could trust Dawn without the cone when I take my morning walk. She really doesn't like it. Her paws look so good now that I just don't want to risk going back to square one. I guess the cone is OK. I check on her with the petcam occasionally while I'm walking and she's just sleeping. Dawn is more than welcome to go walking with me, but she's decided that one mile early in the morning is all the walk she needs. We were able to take a sunset walk with Dawn this evening though. Did I mention that the weather was quite nice today?

I think our lake needs to be dredged again. There is a small bay near where I always see the geese that has become completely dry. I wish this lake had crystalline waters and colorful stone beaches like Flathead Lake in Montana, but I'll have to settle for murky water and snakes instead. At least it's a real lake in the middle of a city. It would be hard to find a better place to walk a dog.

I'm really starting to miss my time out at the observatory. I'm not up for a long drive yet, but I bet I will be next month. I'm looking forward to volunteer opportunities again. I wish I had enough faith in my own car to drive it to West Texas. I could save a lot of money in rental cars if I just took my own. I just want to make sure I'm really healthy before I embark on another long trip. I'm a cautious person anyway, but my surprise hospital stay has made me even more cautious. 

I wish Dawn would be a little less cautious. She needs to be a little more adventurous on her walks. Maybe I'm a bad role model. I don't think I've been adventurous at all this year.

Bailey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4247

Last year at this time we were in the middle of a pandemic. Apparently, we still are. A year has gone by and it feels like nothing has happened at all. We were taking sunrise walks with Dawn last August because that's what you do when the weather gets hot. I was waiting for things to open up so I could resume attending launches again. I'm still waiting. Last year there was a big stained spot in the ceiling where the roof had leaked. The spot is still there. It's hard to get enthusiastic about anything. Sometime I wake up in the morning and think "That's it, I'm done." Then I get up, make the bed and get ready for our sunrise walk. There is a cadence to each day that is very familiar. It's easy to get from breakfast to dinner without a lot of thought. I often feel like complaining about my many aches and pains and then I remember friends who have cancer or aren't even here anymore and realize I have nothing to complain about at all. Life is good. I just need to appreciate it more.

I called the dentist office to confirm my appointment for tomorrow. I wanted to make sure I could drive to and from the appointment on my own. I don't know why I thought I might be sedated for the procedure, but I've never had a root canal before. They assured me that getting a root canal wasn't much different than getting a filling. I'll be glad when this is over. Having dental work done is the least satisfying way of spending money I can think of. I've thought about getting dental insurance but it really doesn't cover very much. My teeth are pretty good so I'll continue to take my chances. Hey, three cavities in seventy three years isn't bad at all.

Dawn hates the new larger cone, but it keeps her from reaching her rear paws. She only wears the cone while she's on the bed because that's where she does the most damage. While she's walking or active around the house, she seldom pays any attention to her paws. If I feel sorry for her and take the cone off, it won't take five minutes before she starts going after the paws again. It's frustrating. Dawn has a vet appointment this week to make sure her bacterial infection is gone. Hopefully the vet will have some answers about the obsessive licking for us.

I really should have gone to the gym today, but I didn't feel like driving. I took my long walk instead and was very hot. There aren't many people in the park on days like this. A few bicycles passed me on the trails and I think I saw one or two other walkers, but the place was basically empty. I completed my six miles, but when I returned home I was done for the day. 

I wonder how Facebook decides what to show me? I'm not very active and seldom reveal my interests. I always erase the cookies on my computer at the end of the day as well. The blog is just a JPEG image on Facebook,  so I doubt that they're reading that. Nevertheless, my feed is filled with pictures of guitars, reviews of the new Ford Bronco, and updates from NASA. They've actually got me pegged pretty well. There used to be lots of information about watches on my feed, but somehow Facebook has learned that I've lost interest in watches. Even though my timeline is mostly pictures of Dalmatians, I get very few sponsored posts about dog products. It's all very curious.

I don't think I'll have time for my morning smoothie tomorrow. My dental appointment is in the morning and the whole ritual of preparing and drinking the huge smoothie takes forever. Maybe I'll just have a small bowl of fruit instead. I could always skip breakfast entirely. I'm definitely in no danger of starving.

J-Lo is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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