Day 1768

It was a remarkably normal day. Both dogs got a bath at Dirty Dawgz. We didn't even have to wait long for a tub this time. I mowed the grass for what I hope is the last time this season. I changed the bed sheets and washed the dog blankets. I filled the car with gas and picked up some bulk items at Sam's Club. It was just an ordinary Saturday.

Oh, I forgot to tell you. There was this one little snag. A train station less than two miles from our house was completely shut down and the train was taken out of service when a woman with a fever got off the train at our neighborhood station and vomited on the platform. Janet actually saw all the police and hazmat crews as she was driving home from running errands. Rumors swirled for most of the afternoon. The woman was on the quarantine list. She used to be on a quarantine list. She never was on anyone's list at all. Nobody knew for sure. I kept hearing that she lived at the Ivy Apartments where Thomas Duncan became ill. I'm not even sure if this is true. Evidently, there was a lot of confusion because the woman in question kept changing her story. The woman now says that she threw up because of a spider bite. Of course she could have just been drunk. When asked for a comment, a DART Rail official said the woman was the sixth person today to have thrown up on one of their trains. This is why I prefer not to use public transportation.

Once again, I failed to watch tonight's new Dr. Who episode. This used to be a Saturday night ritual for me, but I just don't find the new season all that interesting. Maybe things will get better as the season progresses, but so far, these new shows don't even come close to the classic ones like Vincent and the Doctor, where the doctor and Amy meet Vincent Van Gogh, or Blink where the doctor has to utilize "easter eggs" hidden on seventeen different DVD's to convince Sally Sparrow and her friend Larry to send the Tardis, which was stuck in 1969, back to him. Maybe the new shows will seem better after I've seen them a few times. I tend to like re-runs better than new programming anyway. Oddly, I read an article recently that said watching re-runs makes people happier than watching new shows. Works for me. I've started re-reading books I've already read too.

Since the dogs are clean and the yard is tidy, I have no idea what I'll do tomorrow. I'm even all caught up with work at the moment. Maybe I'll play the guitar a bit. Maybe I'll replace a bunch of dead watch batteries. Or maybe I'll forget what I did today and do everything all over again.

Little Petey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1705

Yay! Dot made it all the way through the night without an accident. I think she was as happy as we were to wake up in a dry bed this morning. I'm not sure whether last night was just a happy accident, or whether Dot has finally turned the corner. All I know is that it was sure nice to get a good night's sleep for a change. Hopefully, things are getting back to normal. I'm still going to waterproof the bed tonight though. There's no point in being overconfident.

Getting her incontinence issues under control isn't the only sign that Dot is getting better. She gets stronger every day. Our daily walks continue to get longer and we are beginning to get back to many of our old routines. Dot is eating normally now and gaining weight. The tremor in her left rear leg isn't as pronounced and she can negotiate steps fairly normally now. Considering how old she is and how serious her condition was, it's kind of amazing to watch her make such a full recovery. The tumor must have been bothering her for quite a while, because she acts like a giant burden has been lifted. She's still going to need quite a bit of physical therapy to regain her strength, but she doesn't need to worry about regaining her happiness. It's pretty obvious that she's happy right now.

Both dogs got a bath today, which probably explains why it rained this afternoon. Whenever the dogs are clean, something happens almost immediately to get them dirty again. Dash is worse about getting dirty than Dot, because he loves to dig holes in the dirt. I would have blamed the holes that mysteriously appeared in the yard last night on him, but I knew he was sleeping in the bed with the rest of us. I shouldn't have worried about the dogs getting dirty. Neither of them like to go out in the rain anyway.

The sudden thunderstorm was pretty bad in some parts of the city, but luckily we didn't lose our power like some in other parts of town. By sunset the rainclouds had moved north and I was able to give both dogs their regular evening walk. It was actually a pretty normal day. I went to the grocery store, did a few chores around the house and then we had a nice dinner. The washing machine was quieter than usual today. Hopefully Dot will have another normal night and there will be no need for lots of laundry tomorrow either.

It's looks like I'll have time to go to the gym again tomorrow. I certainly need the exercise, but somehow a long nap sounds a lot better.

Pogo is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1656

The dogs both got a long overdue bath this morning. The combination of Dash's cancer treatment and Dot's advancing age has meant that the dogs have been a little dirtier lately. Since they both sleep on the bed with us at night, there comes a point when a bath is necessary though. It's hard to sleep when your dog stinks. What amazed me today was how good Dash has become about getting a bath. He hopped right into the tub at the Dirty Dawgz self-bathe place and didn't put up a fuss at all. This would have seemed impossible a year ago. I think going back and forth for radiation treatments all Spring has changed Dash. He trusts people more now and is much more accepting of things. After all he's been through, he probably realizes now that a bath isn't going to hurt him at all.  Our boy is growing up.

After we returned home with two clean, good smelling dogs, I went up on the roof to remove the standing water from the rain we had earlier in the week. I tried to make sure that the runoff went on the lawn, instead of into the street, since I didn't want the code compliance guy getting on my case again. The water did eventually drain into the street anyway, but it evaporated quickly, since it was a hot day.

I then went to the grocery store and bought another case of bottled water. We go through the stuff, well, like water. I don't remember when, or why, we stopped drinking water out of the tap, but it's been a long time. There is even one of those ice-water dispensing gizmos in the door of the refrigerator, but I don't use that either. I know our water is perfectly safe, because we fill the dogs water bowls with tap water all the time. Drinking bottled water is just one in a long list of totally irrational things I do every day.

We didn't get any mail today. That was strange. You can usually count on the post office to deliver a steady stream of flyers and junk from mattress stores, politicians, Bed Bath and Beyond, and AARP. Most of this stuff goes straight to the trash without even being opened, but still it's nice to know that the postman is making his appointed rounds.

"What are you going to write on your blog tonight, since nothing happened today?" Janet asked me during dinner. "So," I said. "That has never stopped me before."

Patch is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day