Day 4211

I guess the holiday continued into today. The markets and banks were closed. There wasn't any mail delivery. The Dalmatian's kennel was still open though, so we were still able to visit Charlie and Cooper. I took my camera because there were supposed to be two new Dalmatian puppies at the kennel. They were both at the vet for their check ups when we arrived though, so maybe we'll see them next week.

The day started normally enough. We got up early and took Dawn on her sunrise walk. I can already tell that the days are starting to get shorter. Sunrise seems a few minutes later each day. Dawn is now reluctant to eat the new food we got for her, so we made an appointment to see the vet. We need to know if she's just being a picky eater or if there is a medical problem. We are a little worried about her kidneys since we've known that they are a potential problem for some time. We'll get some new blood work done and a urinalysis, along with anything else the vet suggests. Hopefully, Dawn is just being stubborn. She has no problems eating people food.

The traffic was still pretty light when we went up to the kennel. I guess that holiday travelers aren't visiting Dallas. There were a lot of boarding dogs at the kennel, but we were still able to secure a room where we could play with Charlie and Cooper. Charlie was still very gentle with his new possum toy. This is the only toy that he doesn't toss in the air and get rough with. He just carries it around like he's looking for a safe place to hide it. We've never seen Charlie act this way before. It's actually encouraging to know that he has a softer side.

I was planning to go to the gym when we returned from the kennel, but I decided to take a walk at the last minute. I don't know why I thought it would be cool enough for a long walk in the park. Maybe the sun was behind a cloud. I managed to complete my six miles, but I was hot and tired by the time I returned home. I would have been tired at the gym as well, but I wouldn't have been as hot and sweaty. It's too bad I don't enjoy exercise more. It's very necessary, but I'd rather just sleep.

I paid some bills today and noticed that the electric bill has take a sharp rise upward. It's summer in Texas. Next month's bill will be even worse. The water bill will be a lot higher next month as well, now that we are trying to keep our new grass alive. I was never as aware of prices when I was working. Living on a fixed income puts a whole new perspective on things. 

I didn't sleep well last night. I've been having weird dreams again. For some reason my dreams frequently involve choosing food in buffet lines, being lost inside buildings, or being back in college. Last night I was dealing with all three of these things. At some point a professor asked me to come up with an equation that would generate an outline in the shape of Africa. I kept trying to convince the class that you could accomplish the same thing with a much easier equation that gave you the area of a circle. Just pack a whole bunch of little circles together and you'll have your map of Africa, I told the class. Hey, I was never very good at math. Maybe I was distracted by the fact that right after I had chosen a pathetic looking roast beef sandwich for my lunch, service workers bought out huge stacks of much better looking meat and replaced the entire buffet table. The flying dreams I had as a kid were much more enjoyable.

Hopefully the vet can tell us why Dawn keeps licking her feet and has lost her appetite. It might be nothing at all, but you never know with a dog. It's too bad dogs can't talk and just tell you what's wrong.

Isabella is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4127

It's Monday again. We got another Kong football for Charlie and Cooper to replace the one that got destroyed. Both dogs love to fetch and catch things and have boundless energy. They were delighted with their new toy. Charlie and Cooper are smart, very athletic, and I keep thinking that they would respond well to agility training. I keep hoping that one of these days when we visit the kennel, we'll discover that at least one of them has found their forever home.

I was expecting rain today. We were under a severe weather forecast for a while but nothing materialized. I'm glad when that happens. At this time of year storms can pop up out of nowhere. Sometimes they disappear quickly as well. By the time I took my long walk, I wasn't worried about rain at all. I was more worried about getting a sunburn. Today was very hot for early April.

I decided to upgrade my laptop and install an operating system that will run the astrophotography processing software I need. Step one is to replace the current 4 GB of memory with 16 GB of memory. This is an easy upgrade and I wish I'd done it earlier. Every time I remove the tiny screws that secure the back of the computer in place, I'm afraid I'm going to strip the threads. Apple won't sell you replacement screws. If I am successful at adding the additional memory, I'll create two partitions on the hard drive with a separate system on each. In theory these dual boot systems are easy to create and quite safe to use. I still worry that I'll, screw something up though. I've certainly done that before.

After I ordered two 8 GB memory sticks, I found a replacement for the video component that I accidentally threw away a few months ago and ordered that as well. I may never use this gear, but I hate not having it. I also feel stupid for throwing something away in what I thought was an empty box. The New York audio shop where I found the part told me that had only one left. Everybody tells you that they only have one left these days. The star tracker people told me that they only had one unit left as well. I guess these guys know what they are doing. This psychology certainly works with me. I'm usually the first to buy the last available widget.

I seem to feel perpetually tired these days. Sometimes I wonder if I might have had Covid and never even realized it. Since literally everything under the sun is a potential side effect from Covid, it's pretty easy to attribute anything abnormal to the disease. Probably, I'm just getting old. Trust me, 70 is a lot different than 40. My joints are toast, but I'm going to continue walking and probably even return to the gym. I'm convinced that you start to go downhill the minute you stop being active.

I have a feeling that I may be able to postpone any further furnace repairs until next Fall. This morning when I woke up I heard the air conditioner instead of the furnace. The temperature was in the high eighties today. Our gas bill will go down for a while, but our electric bill will go through the ceiling this Summer. We have a very small house and I can only imagine what all the people in the huge houses that are popping up all over the neighborhood pay for electricity.

Dawn doesn't like me to be in the kitchen with her so I've started going back to the office after I fix her meals. This seems to work and it is much easier than trying to figure out what is going through her head. Dawn is my buddy when we are hanging out on the bed together. She's scared of me in the kitchen though and won't come in the office at all. Go figure. All is fine when we're outdoors. Dawn loves being outdoors when the weather is nice. Dogs are just as complicated as people. Luckily they are nicer than most people.

Nellie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day