Day 1509

I shot lots of pictures of dogs in tutus today. You get a different crowd for Valentines Day pet pictures than for Santa pictures. There were very few big dogs and no families. Everybody was pretty young today. A lot of people wanted to have their picture taken with their dog. Your first thought is that the picture is going to be a gift to a special someone of the owner. Then you realize that the dog actually is the owner's valentine. That's OK, I guess. I've seen surveys saying that dogs are increasingly the significant other in many people's lives.

Christmas pictures are almost always expansive, happy affairs. Families bring in four or five big, rowdy dogs, a few kids, and even a cat and then try to cram everything into one picture. Valentines Day pictures are kind of lonely by comparison. It's usually a single small dog accompanied one well dressed young person.

I made it through the day with no further injuries to my shoulder, but realized that you can't really do much with one arm. There were so many things today that just required two hands. Maybe abstaining from walking Dot and Dash and limiting my workouts to walking on a treadmill will help the healing process, but there are so many other ways you use your shoulder muscles every day. A host of simple little things like putting on your pants in the morning, drying your back with a towel after taking a shower, or putting groceries into a grocery cart all have to be re-thought. This is probably why my rehabilitation didn't work out so well the last time I dislocated my shoulder. There are simply too many things that need to be done and too few people to lean on for assistance. I hate to ask for assistance anyway. I've done things my own way and on my own schedule for so long no, that it's really hard for me to change my ways. I'll just do the best I can and try not to do anything stupid.

The weather is turning cold again. They say we might have freezing rain by morning. At least we managed to get this photo event, and most of the weekend grocery shopping out of the way before the bad weather arrives. I think this has been one of the strangest Winters in recent memory. We continue to alternate back and forth between days where you can wear shorts and other days when the roads are slick with ice. It is not uncommon to have 50 degree temperature shifts in a single day. Yesterday there were lots of people having picnics in the park behind our house. I doubt that there will be many picnickers tomorrow.

It's been a long day. I'm tired, but I think the day was a success. We made some money for Dalmatian Rescue. Everyone seemed very happy with their pictures. And most of the photo gear has already been stowed away until it is needed again. I'm looking forward to sleeping in late tomorrow morning. I really hope that Dot and Dash have the same idea.

Myles is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1508

No wonder athletes get hooked on steroids. That cortisone shot I got yesterday really took care of the pain in my shoulder. I'm feeling pretty good today, but as the orthopedic surgeon I saw yesterday told me several times, "Just because you feel better, doesn't mean you are better." I need to remember this, because the last time I injured my shoulder, I didn't let it heal properly. I'm not going to repeat that mistake.

I woke up with a dead phone this morning. I'm such a creature of habit that when I used the x-ray of my shoulder for yesterday's blog post, there was not a need to sync the phone with my computer to transfer the day's pictures. This is usually when the batteries get recharged. It never occured to me that I could just plug the phone into a wall socket like a normal person.

The phone is recharged now, and by all appearances, so am I. After a mercifully good night's sleep, I woke up ready to get caught up on things. I updated my client's websites, finished all my writing assignments and even had time to do a little shopping. My favorite menswear store always has this annual Superbowl sale where for a single afternoon they sell their normally hugely expensive merchandise for 75% off. I knew the guys were pricing things for the Sunday sale today so I went down and picked up a great looking pair of Robert Talbot jeans for $39. No more relaxed fit for me. I've lost enough weight that I can wear skinny jeans again.

I really miss not being able to walk the dogs. The long morning walks are typically the most relaxing part of my day. Janet was able to walk Dot and Dash again today and we'll probably select a dog walker over the weekend. I'm not a very trusting person, so it might be hard to find a dog walker that I have any faith in. "Don't ever let Dash's leash get out of your hand," I'll say. "He'll run away and you'll never see him again." "Dot is very frail. Don't let her trip on a rock or get tugged around by Dash." "Don't ever let Dash eat horse poop. He has a sensitive stomach and he'll throw up in the bed the next night and leave a horrible mess for me to clean up." I've spent so much time around the dogs that I'm convinced that I can read their minds and anticipate their actions. I'm not sure anyone else will have this ability.

Tomorrow I'll be shooting Valentine's Day pet pictures for a Dalmatian Rescue fundraiser. We always do a ton of Christmas events, but this is the first Valentine's Day photo shoot we've had since 2010. Janet and the volunteers will help me load and unload the heavy equipment, so I should be fine. If the camera pulls my shoulder out of joint again, I'm in worse trouble than I thought.

The stock market had another terrible day. They say as January goes, so goes the entire year. I hope that's not true. Things certainly aren't looking very auspicious at this point though. Maybe this isn't the year to fret about money. If I can finally rid myself of the Hepatitis-C virus I've been carrying around with me for 30 years, it will be a very good year no matter what happens with the market. The older you get, the more you realize that health actually is more important than wealth.

Cooper is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 419

Everything is back to normal. The mailman finally delivered our mail today. I hung the pictures back on the wall that I was afraid were going to get damaged by the roof leak. I temporarily put away some of the winter coats festooning the coat rack in the hallway and even had some success bleaching away the stains in the sheet rock caused by the roof leak.

It's hard to believe it's February 7 already. This weekend is our big Valentine's Day pet picture event at The Shops at Willow Bend. It looks like we're going to try the new WiFi setup that will let me transmit images directly from the camera to the printing computer. If this works it will save a huge amount of time. If it doesn't work? Well, that's why I'm taking backup equipment so we can still do things the old way if necessary.

When I turned on the TV this morning I learned that Michael Vick had been given the keys to the city by Mayor Pro Tem Dwaine Caraway during Superbowl weekend. The keys to the city? Say it's not true. The real mayor, Tom Leppert quickly issued a statement saying that he didn't condone or authorize this honor, but that did little to stem the controversy. Now the city is divided into two camps. One side thinks Vick should still be serving time in prison and the other side thinks football is more important than animals. When I hear people saying that Vick "served his time" or that "it's time to move on," I keep thinking that he's still a multi-millionaire and is still playing with the NFL. Maybe he went to prison, but he sure didn't seem to lose much in the process.

I wonder if it's even worth trying to find where the leak in the roof is again? My success rate at finding this leak is certainly less than stellar.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day