Day 4306

I discovered more dead ants this morning. It's not strange to see ants, but I can't recall seeing large piles of dead ones before. Luckily, most of the ants are outside, but they do seem to be coming from inside the roof. Is the one foot space between the surface of the roof and the sheetrock ceiling full of ants? Who knows. I need to crawl up on the roof and see if there is an entry point for these critters, but it's always too hot by the time I've completed my long walk. I know ants stay together in colonies in the ground. Maybe they do the same thing if they find themselves inside a roof. I don't know why they are all dying now, but I wish they'd stop. It's a disgusting mess to clean up.

We were hoping that Dawn would be adventurous on her walk again this morning, but she reverted to her old ways and just wanted to do the short one mile loop. She loves to smell things on these morning walks, so maybe when she leads us on a new path, she is just following a particularly attractive scent.

We didn't get an early start this morning, but it didn't really matter. It was still nice and cool for Dawn's sunrise walk and my own long walk that came later. It's been so nice for the past week or so that it's hard to believe there are severe weather warnings for this weekend. Forecasts change frequently around here, so I'm hoping that the severe weather threat doesn't amount to anything. I hate worrying about roof leaks, power outages, and downed trees.

I wish I hadn't upgrade my phone to IOS 15. Now the battery life is terrible. It won't even last an entire day anymore. I kind of knew this would happen, but the geek in me wanted to know what was so special about this new operating system. Curiosity killed the cat, I guess. I should have known better. New systems with lots of bells and whistles generally don't perform well on old phones.

I did better on my long walk this morning, but I'm still moving slower than I should be. The weather is beautiful and I'm feeling pretty good. Why am I so slow and what gave me that little burst of energy last week? I may be wrong, but I think my seasonal allergies are causing all this. When you are constantly sneezing and blowing your nose, it can be tiring. I guess I could take antihistamines, but I usually have a bad reaction to them. Who knows. Maybe if a storm rolls in this weekend, it will blow all the allergies away.

The dietary changes I made after my hospitalization appear to be permanent. I wasn't really expecting this and certainly haven't made much of an effort to change my lifestyle. Nevertheless, I'm drinking less coffee, have no desire to make my smoothies anymore, and am eating less for dinner. I'm having a small green salad with dinner now, but I started doing this before I went to the hospital. The salad was just an effort to eat more like Janet because she seems really healthy. It will be interesting to see if I actually am any healthier when I go in for my annual physical at the end of the month. Maybe I am, but this all might just be in my mind.

Dawn certainly seems healthier now. Getting rid of her bladder stones seems to have made a world of difference. She's on a special diet that is supposed to prevent new stones from forming. Janet and I have never liked those Hills Prescription Diets though. Finding the right food for your dog is a long, slow process. Everybody has strong opinions and if you ask ten people you'll get ten different answers. Too bad you can't ask the dog. I'm sure that Dawn has an opinion on this. She actually seems to love the food we're feeding her now, so maybe we'll stick with this for a while.

Time to make a grocery list again. I'm going to try to go early again tomorrow. It worked last week. If you can get your shopping done before 10 AM the stores are almost empty.

Madison is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4300

I like big round numbers. Only 700 days to go. Writing something for 5000 days in a row has turned out to be a harder challenge than I originally imagined. A lot has changed over the past ten years. I'm still determined to make it to Day 5000 though, even though I don't really have much to say.

I certainly don't have any great insights today. It was a typical Saturday. We got up a little later than we do on weekdays and took Dawn on her early walk. Dawn wasn't adventurous today and just wanted to take her short one mile loop. We had bacon and eggs for breakfast and then I left to do my grocery shopping.

I have to go to three stores now to find the things I need. The supply chain in America still seems broken. A lot of common, ordinary things seem harder to find now. At least I'm having trouble finding the things I like. Stores are not shy about discontinuing brands that don't sell well. Everything is so computerized now that larger stores only restock items that customers are buying the most. They know exactly what you are buying because everything on your register tape is entered into their master database. This doesn't help me, because I'm not always buying what everyone else is. The shopping app I often use to bypass the register line always shows me a list of basic items I commonly buy and asks if I'd like to purchase them again. Sure, but where is that cheese that was on here last week? The list is convenient though. Maybe I don't need a shopping list. It's already in my phone.

I'm not wild about being held hostage to the latest buying trends. Things go in and out of fashion, even though my personal tastes rarely change. You used to be able to find local craft beers everywhere. Now the selections are more limited. I'm having a lot of trouble finding my favorite brew these days. The same thing is happening with cheese. I got hooked on some very sharp imported cheddar and now I can't find it anywhere. What you can find are store brands. All grocery stores have their own private labels now. These items are usually less expensive, because stores have learned that most customers will buy the cheapest thing available.

The temperature was fairly cool today but the humidity was extremely high. I'll take hot and dry over cool and damp any day. When I returned home from my long walk my clothes were drenched even though the temperature was only in the mid-eighties. I spent the rest of the day inside. At least the rain is over with for a while. The forecast shows clear skies for the next week. I probably need to get up on the roof and clean things up while the weather is nice. I'm not looking forward to this, but I've already proved that I can get up on the roof and down again.

I finally decided to install IOS 15 on my phone. This huge download seemed to take twice as long as most phone updates. The companion update to the Apple Watch took even longer. When the watch update began, it said it would take 4 hours. This estimate was pretty accurate. I think the update actually took about three hours. This pair of new updates is supposed to unlock a ton of new features. I wonder if I'll use any of them. There are several new apps on the phone that are supposed to help you achieve peace and serenity. I'm pretty serene anyway, so I doubt that I'll use those. I am interested in the new sleep tracking capabilities of the watch. I'm always interested in what happens while I'm asleep. Too bad I can't remember my dreams.

It looks like our nice Fall weather will return tomorrow, so we ought to have a good Sunday outing with Dawn. She really likes this change of pace from her normal routine even though a ride in the car still scares her. It's hard to tell the difference between fear and excitement with Dawn. She's certainly happy when we get to our destination. We all love the ice cream. We've even started taking home a pint of our favorite flavor when we get the cones. Life is good when there's long walks and ice cream.

Bailey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4299

The goal for the day was to get everything done before the rain started. This turned out to be pretty easy because it didn't start raining until almost dinner time. We got a lot of rain in a short amount of time. I finally had to crawl up on the roof and restart the pumps. What a mess up there. Lots of twigs, leaves and rotting pecan shells. I didn't even bother to remove all the standing water because it is supposed to rain again tomorrow. It's been dry for so long that I'd almost forgotten how much I hate this job. My bad knee gave me a few problems today, but at least I can still make it up on the roof.

I had to go back to the Land Rover dealer today. After all the expensive repairs, they forgot to reset the 'service required' message on the dash. This was irritating because seeing that stupid message every time I started the car was what caused me to get the repairs in the first place. I found instructions on the Internet for how to remove the message myself but they didn't work. Why make this so complicated? The instructions said to open the hood and the driver's side door, press the ignition without starting the car, and then press the gas and the brake simultaneously for thirty seconds. I thought this was a joke, but a number of people said it worked. It turned out to be easier to just go to the dealership again.

I thought it was Saturday several times today. There isn't much to differentiate one day from another anymore. I paid some bills and then went to the post office and the bank. The bank still hasn't reopened its lobby after all this time. Maybe it never will. I've gotten used to using the drive thru window though. 

When I returned home I took my long walk. Since it was a cloudy day the temperature hadn't changed much from when we took Dawn on her sunrise walk. It's nice when you can walk a few miles without getting drenched in sweat. This is kind of the sweet spot as far as the weather goes. It's not too hot, but I don't need to wear a coat or jacket yet.

I think my Fitbit is on its last legs. It's getting harder and harder to recharge the thing and the battery only lasts for about two days. Today I thought the Fitbit had finally died, but I eventually got it to recharge by using the more powerful charger that came with the iPad. I guess I'll have to get a new Fitbit soon. I've become hooked on tracking things. My watch has added some new tracking features too, but I have to upgrade to IOS 15 on my phone to use them. I think I'll wait a while. IOS 15 is still full of bugs.

Dawn seems so much happier now. She isn't licking her paws anymore. She likes the new food we've been feeding her. And she's even friendlier toward me. I think the bladder stones she had must have been really bothering her. Hopefully the change in her diet will keep the stones from reforming. I might have to change my own diet as well. I'll find out more when I see the digestive specialists this coming Tuesday. I don't think I have to worry about gallstones anymore though. I don't have a gallbladder.

Time to make a grocery list again. Time passes so quickly now. Halloween isn't a big holiday for us, but I'm looking forward to Thanksgiving. I wonder if our favorite Thanksgiving buffet will be back this year? Maybe not. Covid restrictions seem to go on forever.

Tori is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day