Day 2663

It's fascinating how the same wildflowers reappear year after year. There are hundreds of varieties in the park and I've learned the names of many of them over the years. Nobody waters or tends to these flowers, but they seem to do just fine. In fact, they seem indestructible. We've had unusually wet years and unusually dry years and the wildflowers just keep blooming every Spring. Many of these flowers are actually considered weeds, but they are still quite spectacular in April. I see something new almost every day now and it makes my walks with Dash more interesting.

I saw my first Spider Milkweed plant this morning. Some people call these Antelope Horn Milkweed and they are supposed to attract Monarch Butterflies. This morning they seemed to be attracting a lot of bees.

Dot woke us up last night trying to re-position herself. When I tried to lift her up so she could move, it caused her to pee. I had to turn the light on to see what was going on. This woke Janet up and we tried to get her harness on so we could take her outside. At this point she decided to poop as well. While Dot was outside I changed all her bedding and ran a load of wash. By the time I got back to bed, I'd been up almost an hour. Luckily, it was early Sunday morning. We all slept in until almost nine AM. I wish they made large puppy training pads that would cover her entire bed. That would make cleanup a lot easier. Huge absorbent pads would probably be too expensive though, especially at the rate we go through them. I buy them by the case now.

I finally made it back to the gym this afternoon. Although I've been following exactly the same routine for several years now, I've been noticing that I'm not burning quite as many calories as I used to. I feel just as tired when I am finished, but I must be slowing down. The fitness tracker doesn't lie. I must be slowing down at everything I do. It takes longer to mow the lawn now and it's even tiring to make the bed. Don't laugh. Getting a fitted sheet on our low platform bed takes more effort than you might think.

On slow days like this I drive myself nuts trying to figure out how to get all the office computers on the same page. Some are new with the latest operating systems. Others are ancient. One of the biggest drawbacks to upgrading everything is my accounting software. It's so old now that I'm not sure that a modern replacement would be able to import my files. The old software works just fine, since the rules of accounting haven't changed much over the years. It would be nice to be able to keep all the computers in sync though. I still haven't come up with a good solution.

I had to renew Dot's Tramadol today. It's always harder to get controlled substances like Tramadol and Phenobarbital renewed. The pharmacist always has to get an OK from the vet, even if the dogs have been taking the pills forever. I guess this makes sense. You don't want to be taking pills like these for the wrong reasons. I think we're going to have to increase Dot's pain medication soon. It's complicated. Do we discontinue the Tramadol and just give her more Gabapentin? Do we increase the dosage of both meds? Or do we try something new entirely. Luckily, Dot's oncologist is very knowledgable about pain management. We'll be talking to her later this month.

My anti-virus software says I've got a virus. I did some research on Google and discovered that quite a few people think my anti-virus software is worthless and that the file that was identified as a virus is really just a normal component of the Apple operating system. Who are you going to believe? If even my anti-virus software is full of fake news, the world is hopeless.

Livy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 1962

We're making progress. Dot walked in the underwater treadmill without her special harness for the first time today. Dash managed to keep his protective sock on during his entire walk and hardly limped at all. The bleeding has almost stopped from the empty socket where my wisdom tooth used to be. I fixed a fairly normal breakfast of scrambled eggs this morning and since I still can't drink hot liquids, I let my morning coffee cool down to a lukewarm temperature before drinking it. It wasn't the best coffee in the world, but lukewarm coffee is still better than no coffee at all.

I wisely postponed climbing on the roof to remove standing water until I'm finished with my dental surgery meds, but I'm pretty much up to speed on everything else. I completed all my writing assignments today, went to the bank, and made a few website revisions. I did most of this in the morning, because the afternoon was reserved for Dot's physical therapy.

I hope I sleep better tonight. Last night, I woke up about 3:30 AM and couldn't get back to sleep again. I spent the rest of the night listening to the two dogs snoring on either side of me and counting the times the furnace went on and off. Ideas often pop into my head when I have insomnia like this but they are usually wasted. I recall thinking of several clever ways I could improve my responsive website experiment, but I forgot them all by the time I turned on the computer the next morning. I worried about getting a dry socket and got up and drank some water. By the time I got back to bed, Dash had stolen my covers. It wasn't worth waking him up to get the bedspread back so I grabbed the nearest dog blanket, pulled it over my head and tried to get to sleep again. Luckily, I don't have  insomnia very often, because I don't enjoy it.

Our rainy Spring weather been good for the wildflowers this year. The meadows in the park are becoming more colorful by the day. I see a new variety of flower coming into bloom just about every time we go on a walk. Today I noticed that the Milkweed plants are starting to bloom. I've always liked the symmetry of these odd little spherical bundles. We call the little five sided green blooms Antelope Horns down here. I don't know why. The Milkweed flowers will last about a month and then they'll be replaced by something else. It's a nice time of the year for a visual person like me.

Tomorrow I have a photoshoot. Dot is doing well enough now that I'm comfortable leaving her for two or three hours. I'll be able to go out for my Friday morning breakfast as well. I'm not sure what I'm having yet, but I'm sure there's something on the menu that's easy to chew. Most of the forbidden foods are back in play after 48 hours anyway. I've already taken the trash out to the curb, but I still need to remember to charge up the camera batteries for tomorrow. I think I'm ready fora good night's sleep this evening.

April has already come and gone. This month was tiring and a bit stressful, but it went quickly. It's hard to believe that it's the first of May tomorrow. May is usually when it starts to get hot here in Dallas. Let's hope our unusually cool Spring lasts a bit longer.

Bea is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1599

Little things can make a big difference. The oncologist went over Dash's treatment in detail with us today and was very reassuring. Even though Dash is very uncomfortable at this stage of his treatment and looks like he has a third degree burn on his neck, he is evidently still one of the lucky ones. The oncologist told us that the side effects from radiation treatment could be much, much worse. The radiation kills cancer cells, but it injures a lot of healthy cells in the process. Most of this injured tissue heals when the radiation is discontinued, but it can look pretty alarming when you're right in the middle of treatment.

Cancer treatment still seems pretty crude, compared to the high-tech pills I've been taking to combat my Hepatitis-C. The Sovaldi pills work directly at the DNA/RNA level to turn the reproductive mechanism of the virus on and off with minimal side effects. Chemotherapy medications by contrast are basically just poison. They are probably where that phrase "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger" came from in the first place. The whole experience certainly seems to have made Dash stronger. Even though he is weak and tired now, he still seems to enjoy going to the cancer center, where he has made friends with the other sick dogs and continues to get lots of attention from all the nurses. When this is all over, I'm wondering if I might be able to bring him back occasionally, just to visit with the other dogs. He's going to enjoy being healthy again, but I think he's going to miss this place.

Work went smoothly today. There was a lot to do, but there were no meetings or phone calls, so I was able to quietly work my way through the day, one problem at a time. I'm more or less caught up with my writing assignments, but I've still got a website prototype to design and code by next Tuesday.  This is a very simple website, so it will probably only take me a day to put the whole thing together. Maybe I ought to get started this weekend though. It's never a good idea to begin a new website project a day before the deadline.

This is going to be a busy weekend. There are several animal rescue events on Saturday, lots of weekend errands and chores, and the dogs still can't be left alone for long stretches of time. I wish I had time to go to the big guitar show in Fair Park this weekend, but like I said, there's still a website that need to be designed. It would be nice to get back to the gym before I gain any more weight as well.

The Milkweed plants have returned for another year. The curious little green balls of tiny flowers are popping up all over the meadow behind our house. They call the plants Antelope Horn here in Texas, because of the small purple horn shaped flowers. They are basically just Milkweed though.

Bogart is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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