Day 2447

Nothing went smoothly today. This morning, the cancer center called and canceled Dot's afternoon appointment. Oddly, they called me less than 24 hours ago to remind me about the appointment. Apparently, the Ultrasound technician didn't show up for work this morning. When I tried to reschedule, they told me that Dot's oncologist wouldn't be available again until mid-September. The oncologist was there today, but there wasn't much point in keeping our appointment, since there would be no scan for her to analyze. Last minute changes like this are frustrating since they happen so often. It just reinforces my feeling that the world doesn't work anymore.

This afternoon, our power was out for almost four hours. The power outage was surprising, since there wasn't really much of a storm. There were no high winds and the rain only lasted about 45 minutes. When I checked the power company website, I noticed that there were other outages all over our part of town. I think the traffic lights went out too, since traffic backed up in front of our house rather quickly. Luckily, the power was restored before it began to get dark.

The sudden rainstorm upset Dash, but Dot didn't even seem to notice. She's almost deaf now and I don't even think she heard the thunder. It's weird how many electronic items lose their settings when the power goes down. For some reason, whenever power is restored after an outage, the washer and dryer start running. It's always been this way. so I need to remember to unplug these appliances as soon as we lose power. When the electricity was restored today, the WiFi printer became scrambled and said that three ink cartridges needed to be replaced. The clock on the coffee maker always needs to be reset and automatic shutoff thresholds on the dehumidifier usually need to be reset as well. I have backup batteries on the office computers and phones so I can shut down these items gracefully, but I still think that power outages are way more complicated than they need to be.

At least breakfast was enjoyable this morning. I went back to the hipster restaurant and, as always, I was the only guy without lots of tattoos and a long beard. I noticed a small poster in the window saying that the restaurant had recently been selected "Best Breakfast in Dallas" by D Magazine. I guess the accolades are well deserved.  I've never had a problem with the food in this place. The food is delicious. What keeps me away is that they insist on serving everything on paper plates.  The ironic thing is that the owners are these environmentally conscious guys that put little signs on the tables telling patrons not to use too many napkins because it wastes paper and then they waste a ton of paper themselves by serving everything in disposable paper take away boxes.

The dogs probably didn't even realize that it was National Dog Day today. If they knew, they would  have been even more demanding than usual. Dash was moody today. He didn't want a morning walk at all, but after the thunderstorm was over, he decided to make up for lost time and took a very long afternoon walk. In between, he mostly just hid under my desk as the weather got worse. Dot was sweet and somewhat befuddled as always. I took her outside several times after I returned from breakfast, trying to get her to poop. I was very patient, but she just didn't seem to be in the mood. Five minutes after I gave up and took her back inside, she pooped in her bed.

I'm hoping for a calm weekend. I always hope for a calm weekend.

Cammy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1715

Today is National Dog Day. I was curious how this holiday originated and quickly discovered that creating your own "national day" has become somewhat of a cottage industry. Creating recognized national days has become a hobby for some and a calling for others. It is remarkably easy to create your own special day. You or I could do it if we had the inclination. The woman who created National Dog Day in 2004 has also created National Cat Day, National Living Room Day, and National Farm Animals Day. Although there are only 365 days in a year, there are already over 13,000 officially recognized national days. This all seems kind of weird to me. Here I had been thinking that National Dog Day was a real holiday and it is just a totally made up event created by a woman who likes holidays.

My own important dog day is tomorrow. It is Dot's birthday. Our best guess is that she will be 14 years old tomorrow. I say this because we've been telling people she was 13 all this year. It's hard to know exactly how old a rescue dog is. When we initially adopted Dot, we thought she was about three years old. Our vet thought that this was a good guess. She was fully grown at the time and her teeth looked like those of an adult dog. We may be wrong. Dot could be older or younger than we think she is. August 27 is not the day Dot was born. It was the day we adopted her. It is still a very special day. Especially this year. When Dot had a 105 degree fever a few months ago and was clinging to life in the ICU, we didn't know if she would make it to her next birthday. The fact that both of our dogs survived cancer this year and are now healthy and happy again makes this a very good year. We will definitely celebrate tomorrow.

I spent more time taking Dot to her physical therapy session today than I did working. It's time consuming being a dog's rehab nurse. Dot did great on the underwater treadmill and walked a full twenty minutes. She is strong enough now that I've started walking both dogs together again. We had an enjoyable pre-dawn walk this morning and another not so enjoyable, but very necessary, walk in the afternoon heat. Dot really got her exercise today.

We used to bake the dogs a special three layer cake on their birthdays. At some point in the past, I even took a cake decorating class and became quite adept at decorating fancy dog cakes. Neither of us has the energy for that sort of thing anymore. I don't think we've baked a dog cake in over three years. These days, we either go buy a cake or do nothing at all. In truth, the dogs would rather have a nice juicy piece of chicken than a cake anyway. We'll conjure up some sort of a celebration.

I wish it were Friday tomorrow. I actually wish every day were Friday. I could make that happen easy enough by just going out to eat for breakfast every morning and picking up something tasty for dinner at Whole Foods or Central Market. This seems all wrong though. Once a week is a treat. Every day would be an indulgence. We can't have that. Indulgence has always been my personal road to ruin.

Cammy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day