Day 3825

I'm beginning to feel like Forest Gump. I find myself spending more and more of my time walking. I've gone from three miles a day, to five miles, and now eight miles. Occasionally, I'll walk ten miles a day. Walking is a great way to kill time. You can let your mind wander without the distraction of cable TV reminding you that the world is coming unglued or your computer reminding you that you have definitely become a non-essential worker. I don't try to solve problems when I walk. I don't brood or get angry. I just observe things. I wonder about cloud formations and the color of the sky. I notice the changes in vegetation that take place over time. I listen to bird sounds and try to identify them. I try not to think about people at all.

Some people plan elaborate hiking vacations. I seem content to walk the same neighborhood trails over and over again. For some reason I have no desire to walk to the bottom of the Grand Canyon or hike the Appalachian Trail. I don't think I'm looking for adventure at all. Walking is just a peaceful, solitary way to kill time.

One of the nice things about dogs is that they generally like to walk even more than I do. Janet likes walking as well. I wonder how far I've traveled over the years? I didn't even start counting until I got a Fitbit several years ago. Fitbit says I've already earned my "Africa" badge by walking the 5000 mile length of the continent. Add thirty years of walking Dalmatians to that total and I imagine that I've covered a lot of territory.

There is nothing wrong with doing repetitive things. There's always something new if you keep your eyes open. We saw the Monk Parakeets on our walk this morning. These bright green South American parrots have been spotted around our lake for many years but nobody knows how they got here. They are not migrating birds and they are definitely not native to the area. I think there are several dozen birds in the local colony. I've seen them several times now.

Now that the Spring rains are over, I'm already starting to see the water level in the lake start to drop. The lake is actually quite shallow. If we have a dry Summer, a few parts of the lake will dry up completely. The native prairie areas are still green, but these will dry and turn yellow as the Summer progresses. All these things are interesting and I don't have to travel anywhere to see the changes.

I guess writing the blog is another repetitive thing that I've been doing for years. I didn't think that I'd have anything to write about today, since I certainly didn't do much. There's always something to write about though. You can look outward, or you can look inward. I prefer to look inward. I wish more people would try this. There is a lot to be said for keeping quiet and minding your own business.

Daisy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3401

Weather reports can be frustrating. Ever since I woke up this morning I've been waiting for the monster storm with baseball sized hail that was headed our way. Janet changed her plans and stayed home because her previous car was damaged during a hailstorm. I took my morning walk in a slow drizzle because I was convinced that the weather was going to get worse as the day progressed. The rain never arrived. Actually, the sun is shining right now. Go figure.

There is still rain in the forecast. Now it is supposed to arrive around midnight. We'll see what happens. Texas weather is often totally unpredictable. I just hope that the storm moves through town and is well to the East by morning. We need to pick up Dash at the cancer center early tomorrow morning and drive him to our cremation appointment. I definitely don't want to do this during a hailstorm.

It's been easier than I thought to keep taking 10,000 steps a day. There's always plenty of time to walk when there's nothing else to do. I don't think there's any danger of turning into Forest Gump or anything, but I might start taking much longer daily walks. Why not? Walking alone in the woods is a great way to collect your thoughts. There are people who think I need to find a hobby. Actually, daydreaming is a pretty good hobby.

More of my art sold at auction this weekend. These secondary auctions aren't nearly as exciting as the  big ones in New York last Fall, but at least things are selling. So far, I've only had one piece that didn't get any bids at all. I've replaced most of the art that used to hang on our walls with pictures of the dogs. These pictures make me happier anyway. It's been a long time since I was an avid art collector. I'd rather look at pictures of Spot, Petey, Greta, Dot and Dash.

When we were cleaning today we found a humongous pile of dead ants under the microwave. I wonder how many years it took for that pile to accumulate? When the house settled, it left a small crack near a window frame in the kitchen. Ants came through this hole every Spring. I always sprayed, but apparently the ants were tough. Most of them kept going until they reached the microwave.

One of Dash's vets sent us a lovely bouquet of fresh flowers. They smell wonderful and remind me that we always used to keep fresh flower in the house. That didn't last for long. As we both got busier with work, the flowers would often be dead for weeks before we even noticed. I think Spot ate some flowers too. That episode put an end to the flowers. It just became too much trouble to keep track of which plants were safe for dogs and which were dangerous. With Dalmatians it's better to assume that everything is unsafe unless the dogs are being supervised.

Now that I'm getting more sleep, I thought that my resting heart rate would go down. Surprisingly, the opposite has happened. Fitbit is full of mysteries. It tells you just enough to get you wondering, but not enough to do anything really useful. I probably was just as healthy before I started counting my steps.

Bella is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day