Day 4760

These uneventful days are even becoming too uneventful for me. I'm very comfortable with boredom, but this is getting ridiculous. Every day is exactly the same. I really can't blame anyone but myself. I've got the time to do practically anything. I just don't have the desire. I'm reluctant to even get in the car and drive across town these days. A predictable routine close to home is much more desirable.

It's not a bad routine when you think about it. I get plenty of sleep when you count naps. I eat healthy meals that I actually enjoy. I certainly get plenty of exercise. Just so I don't get too comfortable in my little cocoon, I try to travel to Kennedy Space Center every couple of months and cover a launch. I'm not a real journalist, but my articles do get published.

I used to spend a lot of time having lunch with people. A lot of this was just maintaining business contacts, but I suppose it was fun as well. I do remember some lively discussions. I don't do this anymore. I keep up with people by scrolling through my Facebook feed every morning. Occasionally I'll hit the like button but that's about as engaged as I get. If you're not on Facebook, I've probably forgotten your name.

Is this healthy? Who's to say. I certainly feel more balanced and content than I did during the ad agency days when life was a cacophony of ambition and conflict. I'm no Henry David Thoreau, but there is a beauty in solitude. To be alone with your thoughts is fairly rewarding when you are actually thinking.

So there you have it. I get up every morning and take an early walk with Janet and Dawn. I eat my bowl of shredded wheat and do a few chores around the house. My long walk is almost always the same, but I'm never thinking the same things. I daydream a lot. These conversations with myself feel more rewarding than the lunchtime arguments I used to have with friends over a bowl of Pad Thai.

I do wish my feet didn't hurt. I vaguely remember four day hikes I used to take in the summer when I lived in Aspen. I couldn't do that anymore. Six miles a day on very familiar trails is plenty. I used to take more pictures, but I think I've photographed everything in the park by now. Sometimes I'll just use an old photo for the blog when I see something on my walk that I've already photographed. One year I decided that I was going to learn the names of every tree and flower in the park. I brought home leaves and photographed flowers and then looked them up in books. There were hundreds of different species. It was interesting for a while, but I've already forgotten the names of a lot of the plants I spent so long trying to identify. Now I just count ducks.

It's probably a blessing that Dawn doesn't want to walk with me. I used to walk our other Dalmatians twice a day and unpredictable things would happen. It was stressful. Over the years several dogs got stung by bees or cut by broken glass. Dot ripped out a nail when thunder scared her and she started running back home. Dash got out of his harness once and I was afraid he was going to run away. Later Dash was almost killed when he was attacked by a very aggressive dog in the neighborhood. A stranger drove Dash and I to the vet and it took him months to fully recover. This is still one of my very worst memories. I try my best to avoid conflict and danger but you never really know what's going to happen next. I really hope my life stays uneventful.

Lucy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 1189

Dot had her first acupuncture appointment today. I wasn't expecting much, since Dot is generally terrified of going to the vet anyway, and I've already tried acupuncture treatments on another dog with largely inconclusive results. It never hurts to try though. Dot was extremely tense at first, just like I expected. She gradually began to relax though as the needles were applied to pressure points. By the time the session was over, Dot was calmer than I'd ever seen her inside a veterinarian's office. She was strong and confident on her evening walk too, so maybe there actually is something to the treatments. We're going to continue with weekly acupuncture treatments for at least a month and see if there is a noticeable difference. I'm not sure that I believe the traditional explanations of why acupuncture works. Although some studies show that the needles are effective tools for alleviating anxiety and some forms of pain, I'm not sure it has anything to do with the flow of qi through meridians. Maybe the needles just relax the muscles.

Although the acupuncture appointment was the big event of the day, there were a ton of other errands to take care of as well. I got my tax files finished and took them over to my accountant. I got some prescriptions filled and went to the bank twice. I also returned a Leica camera to a friend. I've had the camera a long time. I should have returned it over twenty-five years ago when we broke up, but I didn't. Better late than never I guess.

Every day this month I'm starting to see another variety of Spring flower start to bloom. The surprising thing is that most of these flowers return in exactly the same places where I saw them last year. I've taken so many photographs in the park over the years that I can now go back and see if things are blooming earlier or later than previous years. Who knows, maybe in another ten or fifteen years I'll become the Henry David Thoreau of the neighborhood. I'll probably just get bored and quit taking pictures of flowers though.

I hope the calming effects of the acupuncture needles last at least through tomorrow. Dot has never been calm when there are strangers at the house. Tomorrow will be a three ring circus. There will be a landscaping crew removing all the bad soil and dead St. Augustine sod from the back yard. At the same time, one of the roofing companies is returning to tramp all over the roof and complete their bid for a new roof. After all this commotion, maybe I'll be the one needing acupuncture.

Nick is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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