Day 3828

The doctor wasn't pleased with my progress this morning. "I froze the hell out of those things last time and the roots are still there," he told me. It was a little unsettling to learn that keratosis blemishes had roots. I've watched enough science fiction movies to know that having something growing inside you with roots is not a good thing. "We're going to have to scrape these," the doctor told his nurse. I had visions of sandpaper and asked the doctor if it would hurt. "You won't feel a thing," he told me.

The doctor was correct. The anesthetic they injected in my face was pretty effective. I closed my eyes because I didn't want to see what the doctor was actually doing. After a while I began to smell something burning. "Is that me," I asked? I couldn't feel anything, but there was a definite smell of burning flesh. "This is how we remove these growths now," the doctor told me. "It is very effective. "Will this bleed a lot," I asked the doctor? "I doubt if it will bleed at all," He told me. "There is already a scab." The nurse placed a small bandage under my eye and the doctor said he'd see me again in four months. I was good to go in less than fifteen minutes.

This wasn't what I expected at all. The entire procedure was much less traumatic than a trip to the dentist. I'm glad I don't have to go back for another four months. A trip to the doctor in today's post-pandemic world is still a little unsettling. There are rules about how many people can ride in the elevator and lots of social distancing circles on the floors. So many people are wearing masks that you just know that some of them have got to be sick. I definitely wouldn't want to work in a hospital environment right now. You can tell these guys know that they are at ground zero. I always have to fill out a questionnaire saying that I haven't traveled anywhere in the last fourteen days and haven't come into contact with anyone who has been exposed to the virus. How would they even know if I was telling the truth?

The rest of my day was uneventful. We're still walking extremely early, but you can tell that the temperature keeps rising. Summer is here. There was a breeze this morning, but Dawn seemed a little tired. We'll probably try a shorter route tomorrow morning. Dawn loves these walks in the woods and enjoys smelling things, but we don't want to push her too hard. She's getting older and isn't as obsessed with exercise as Janet and I seem to be.

If I were writing a dystopian novel, it would be hard to top what is happening right now in real life. People around the world are tired of being quarantined and are becoming restless. The virus is still here though and keeps reappearing like a forest fire that can't be extinguished. Social unrest is growing everywhere and there is already a shortage of Xanax. Everyone is upset about something. Truckers say they are going to stop delivering to cities with protests. People want to go back to the beach. Supply chains are crumbling as workers fall sick in critical industries. Police and emergency workers are under attack at the same time there are massive riots and arson in many cities. Kim Jong-un is blowing up buildings along the South Korean border and a weird little country just appeared right in the middle of Seattle. Basically, it's a total shit show everywhere you look.

This isn't going to end well. We need to get a grip on things in a hurry. It's easy to break something. It's a lot harder to put it back together.

Riley is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2241

I've gotten so intrigued with watching Mercury, Venus, Saturn, Mars and Jupiter in the pre-dawn sky that I'm tempted to bring the telescope home from the storage warehouse and take a look at all five planets while they are still visible. I need to remember why the telescope is in storage in the first place, however. Telescopes are bulky and take a while to set up. Dallas skies are filled with the light pollution you find in any large city, so it is difficult to see anything fainter than a bright planet anyway. The only place in the yard with a good view of the sky is near a busy street filled with people going to work in the dark with their headlights on. I'd have to get up even earlier than I already do as well. It's hopeless. Occasionally, when I travel, I wind up in a place with clear dark skies and I'm amazed at how many stars there are. You never see these stars in Dallas. I'll add clear dark skies where you can see the Milky Way to the list of attributes I'm looking for in that mythical retirement destination Janet and I will probably never find.

I got up early enough to see the planets this morning, but it was so cold I immediately wished I was back in bed. We didn't see many other people walking their dogs this morning. Neighbors looking out their kitchen windows as they drink their morning coffee must think we're nuts. We're always out there bundled up in every coat we own, walking a crippled dog who can barely move. Even though she is slow and sometimes forgets where she is, Dot absolutely loves these walks. She gets to smell things, bark at neighborhood cats, and survey the park she has known all her life. We watch her carefully to make sure that she is not overexerting herself, but at least for now, our early morning walks are the best part of her day.

Maybe the walks are the best part of my day as well. Until recently, my days were filled with a seemingly endless series of deadlines to meet. I was in demand and almost always busy. All that has changed in the past couple of years. It's quiet now. Most of the clients are gone. Some abandoned me for larger, full service alternatives, but most simply retired or faded away. Throughout my career, my best clients have always been five or ten years older than me. That makes them pretty old now. Quite a few people I've worked with over the years have died already.

I need to figure out what to do with my time. I take care of Dot, write the blog, and keep the house from falling apart, but that's not enough to keep me from getting a severe case of cabin fever. I really don't have any hobbies. I write, take photographs, have made films, and can design websites, but these were never hobbies. They have always been tools I could use to make money without having a boss to report to. Photography and writing are freedom, but they are not necessarily fun. I'm not sure I even know what fun is.

Dot's vet wants me to give her a Xanax before we go to physical therapy tomorrow. I don't think this is a good idea. Dot is a little anxious riding in the car, but she doesn't have enough energy to mess around with any type of sedatives. I've never taken Xanax myself, but if it makes dogs lazy, relaxed and sleepy like it does with people, she could never finish her workout in the underwater treadmill. I think I'll just get started a little earlier tomorrow, so I'll have plenty of time to stop the car and re-position Dot if she gets stuck. If we drive slow, everything should be fine. So, how am I going to be early for our appointment when I'm perpetually late? I think I'll just wait to take a shower until after Dot's therapy is finished. That should give me plenty of time. If everybody had plenty of time and didn't go through life in a hurry, they probably wouldn't need Xanax anyway.

Casey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2235

It's taking longer and longer to get Dot ready for physical therapy. You can't rush an old dog. She likes to sleep in the morning, so it's hard to get her out of bed and put her harness on in the first place. When I take her out to pee before we get in the car, she wanders around forever, smelling everything in the yard before she finally does her business. At this point we're already five minutes late. I try my best to get her positioned comfortably, but inevitably she tries to creep towards the side window and ends up getting one of her front paws stuck in the little space between the edge of the seat and the door. When she does this I have to stop the car and re-position her before she panics and starts to struggle. At this point we're usually ten minutes late. Sometimes we avoid construction zones and traffic jams. Sometimes we don't. I wish Dot's vet made house calls. She suggested giving Dot a low dose of Xanax to reduce Dot's anxiety before we get in the car, but that would make me more anxious. I have an irrational fear of drugs like Xanax and Prozac. When I was asking the vet what Xanax does and how it would make Dot feel, the vet gave me a puzzled look and said "You've never taken a Xanax, have you?" Nope. I wish I could ask Dot what she thought about the whole thing.

Personally, I don't think drugs are a good solution for anything. Maybe this is hypocritical, since I do take meds to control blood pressure and cholesterol. These seem different than antidepressants, sedatives, and anxiety medications though. I've noticed that sedatives sometime have the opposite effect on Dash. They make him hyper and anxious. My Mom experienced terrible side effects from the antidepressants she took. I'd rather just learn to become comfortable with being depressed. Who knows. Maybe Dot does need a Xanax, but there's got to be a better way to keep her calm in the car.

The weather was nice again, but the day didn't leave much of an impression on me. I must have done something other than take Dot back and forth to the vet and clean up poop, but I be hard pressed to describe it now. Walk, eat, clean up poop, repeat. That was about it. It's anybody's guess whether trash will be picked up tomorrow after the mystery trash pickup on Wednesday. I took my can out to the street anyway, just in case. The neighbors seemed as confused as I am. There were other cans on the street, but only about half as many as usual. Probably my can will end up being run over and squashed by a piece of road paving equipment.

I didn't bother watching the presidential debate tonight. Been there, done that. Why do we need so many of these debates? Jeez, if you don't know what these guys think by now, you probably never will.

Molly is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1931

Nothing was in sync today. The landscapers were supposed to come out early this morning to fix up the back yard. They didn't arrive until 4:30 PM. Janet was worried that having strangers in the yard all day would aggravate Dot, so I agreed to give her a doggie Xanax before they came. This was a big mistake, because the drug had worn off completely by the time the landscape crew actually arrived. To make matters worse, the Xanax didn't seem to calm Dot at all. She and Dash got in a barking match and wouldn't shut up until I fed them part of their dinner around 2:30 PM. Dot was more agitated than usual for most of the day. All the drug seemed to do was make Dot's legs weak again. Everything is more or less back to normal now, but I won't be using Xanax again.

The landscapers must have been trying to cram two jobs into a single day, because when they finally did arrive, they stayed until well after dark. It was almost impossible to take the dogs out to pee and Dot ended up pooping in the kitchen because she couldn't wait any longer. I hope the yard looks amazing tomorrow, because right now the whole effort hardly seems worth it.

Tomorrow will be weird as well. The landscapers are returning in the morning to put in some new St. Augustine turf and I've got to wait for a signature required Fedex delivery as well. I usually just redirect FedEx and UPS packages to the nearest service center these days, but since this is FedEx Ground instead of regular overnight Fedex, the service center is almost an hour away. I can't really leave anyway, so I'll just have to wait and wait while the dogs are barking at the landscapers in the back yard. Maybe I ought to take Dot's Xanax instead. If the FedEx guy takes my package to the neighbor's house, I'm going to need something stronger than Xanax.

Waiting for the yard guys today made me realize that I've almost totally lost my ability to roll with the punches. I'm still able to put in an enormous about of effort when required, but I expect things to go right. It irritates me when people are late or a store isn't stocked with what I drove halfway across town to buy. I want everything to be consistent and predictable and it seldom is. I wish that I knew years in advance when appliances were going to break or clients were going to send me work. Disruptive events like landscaping should always begin and end on time. Maybe this is why I like dogs so much. Dogs are extremely predictable. Just don't try to surprise me. It usually doesn't end well.

Predictably, I'll get up early tomorrow and walk Dash before Janet goes to work. I'll have cereal for breakfast because I don't want the milk in the refrigerator to go bad. I can have eggs later when the milk is gone. Since I'm done with my taxes and caught up on work, I'm not sure what I'll spend the day doing. Hopefully, the landscapers can finish their remaining work quickly, because I don't want to spend tomorrow doing what I did today. Oddly, I would welcome rain tomorrow. The roof is fixed, and if it rains, I won't have to water the new grass.

Sparky is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1927

Dot did great at her first physical therapy session. She was able to walk for almost nine minutes in the underwater treadmill before she got tired, and the vet thought that was excellent. Her acupuncture treatment relaxed her and she seemed happy to be back to her old routine. It's too bad she couldn't have had acupuncture before we went to the vet. The trip downtown in the car was the the only difficult part of the entire afternoon. Although I thought I had prepared a nice, secure place for her, Dot still managed to get stuck in an awkward position twice during our journey and I had to stop the car and get out so I could reposition her. If she would just lie down and rest, she would be fine, but she always wants to look out the windows. Inevitably, if she's looking out the window on the left, something catches her eye on the right and she tries to move to get a better view. Since the space I prepared for her is small, an attempt to move to the opposite side of the car sometimes results in getting stuck. When Dot gets stuck she starts to whine and I think she might be hurt. I stop the car, reposition her, tell her to lie down, and off we go again. It was a long journey. I'll need to think of a better solution before we return for therapy next week.

As you can see, we've been getting started on our morning walks very early. It's dark when we begin, but the sun is usually starting to come up by the time we return. After a good walk, Dash is much calmer for the rest of the day, so the further we go the better as far as I'm concerned. Both dogs were pretty good today. I was able to get up on the roof while they were sleeping and remove the standing water for the second time this week. The roofers didn't come today, but the roof will be ready when they do get around to fixing things.

Maybe some of my clients are still reading the blog, because I've suddenly got plenty of work for tomorrow. There are four new articles to write and an equal number of websites that need updates. I won't be able to get all this work done in one day, but it's nice to have plenty to do again. Work does help the day go faster. The other thing that helps the day go faster is a really long breakfast, so I've started making omelets again. I made a nice ham and cheddar cheese omelet this morning and the dogs were quiet during my entire meal because they knew they were going to get to lick the plate afterwards.

I'm pleased that the vet thinks Dot is making good progress. She didn't provide me with any shortcuts though. Getting Dot walking again is going to be a long, slow process. I was somewhat relieved to learn that Xanax isn't really a good solution for leaving Dot alone. The drug relieves anxiety, but it is not a sedative. Dot could still fall taking Xanax just as easily as she could without it. I did learn some exercises I can do with Dot to help strengthen the muscles she uses to sit with, but it looks like I'm going to be housebound for a while longer.

I'm going to walk Dash even earlier tomorrow morning, so I'll still have time to go out for breakfast before Janet needs to leave for work. This worked well last week, and if Dash will cooperate, there no reason why it shouldn't work again. It's going to be a busy day, but I still hope the roofers will be able to make it out tomorrow. The damaged area appears to be growing and I definitely don't want another roof leak. I've got enough problems.

Bubba is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1926

I hope the vet has some suggestions for me when we go to our physical therapy session tomorrow. Dot can stand up on her own now. She can even walk somewhat awkwardly on her own if she's on carpet. She can't sit down on her own though. Her leg muscles aren't strong enough and she just crumples. Unless she is sleeping, I still need to be nearby, so I can grab the harness if she starts to fall. There have been no accidents, but I'm afraid that if she twisted her leg when she was trying to sit, she could hurt something. I'm kind of trapped, because I don't feel comfortable leaving her alone, even when she is contained in the small pen.

I've been told to just give Dot a doggie Xanax if I have to leave the house, but I'm not comfortable with that either. I really don't like mood altering drugs of any kind and I know that Xanax can have some bad side effects in people. I guess I'm trapped in the house until Dot gets a lot stronger.

If I were busier, the housebound hours would go a lot quicker. I've spent an enormous amount of time over the years just sitting here at the computer anyway. This shouldn't be a big deal. Unfortunately, work has slowed down for some inexplicable reason and there's not much to do. There's nothing worth watching on TV. I can't relax enough to read a book. And most of the household chores are loathsome tasks like fixing a leaky shower pan or getting rid of wasp nests. This is when I need a nice long writing job.

I'm crossing my fingers and hoping that the roofers get here before the rain does. They said they'd come out tomorrow, but I hear it might rain tonight. I don't know why they couldn't have come earlier? The weather has been nice all week. This could change pretty quickly though. I hear that tornadoes have already touched down in Tulsa, Oklahoma and Northwest Arkansas this evening. I hope this bad weather stays North of us tonight.

We were out of milk and cereal this morning, so I fixed myself an omelet using leftover pesto, mac and cheese, black beans, and eggs. It was surprisingly good and got rid of some leftovers that were on the verge of going bad. I'd cook more often if I didn't have to clean up the kitchen afterwards. When it takes longer to clean up than to fix the meal in the first place, it's hardly worth the effort.

Tomorrow should be an adventure. It will be my first attempt to transport Dot in the car by myself. The hammock I've installed in the back seat looks very secure, so I think things will go smoothly. I hope the water therapy will go smoothly as well. Since Dot's legs are weak, they will fill the tank with more water than usual to provide extra buoyancy. I don't know how Dot is going to react if she starts to float though. I hope this works, because Dot really needs to be using her legs more.

I'm disappointed that the BBC fired Jeremy Clarkson. I'm sure he had a good reason to get in a fight with that producer. I've known quite a few producers who were jerks. Jeez, Top Gear was of the few TV shows that I actually enjoyed watching. It won't be the same without Jeremy. After hearing that the German plane crashed in the Alps because one of the pilots got locked out of the cockpit, I'm going to be nervous every time I see a pilot walking down the aisle to go to the bathroom. You would think they'd give the pilots keys to these cockpit security doors. Not to worry though. I only fly about once every three years.

Petey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1914

3 steps forward, 2 steps back. That's kind of how life has become these days. We found the perfect pen to secure Dot while we are away. It was durable, easy to assemble, and just the right size. The picture in the catalog showed a six sided hexagon. When I opened the box, there were only five panels and there was no way to connect all the panels together to make a self-contained pen. This contraption was meant to attach to a wall. The instructions said that if you wanted a self-contained pen, you had to buy an additional panel and remove the wall hinges. When we looked for the additional panel on the Internet, we discovered that the company had been sold and the new company now markets the pen with all six panels. We had apparently bought old stock at the pet store.

Everybody has become like Ikea. Pet stores seldom have assembled dog crates on display anymore. You just buy something sealed in a box and find out what you've actually got when you get home. It's been an uphill battle to find the equipment we need for Dot's rehabilitation. Half the stuff we've bought had to be returned because it wasn't right when we got it out of the box. We ordered another pen with all six sides off a veterinary website and will return the five sided one to the pet store tomorrow.

On a positive note, we now have a working dryer. The repairman wasn't sure how long the dryer will continue working, but said the part was warrantied for 90 days. At least I don't have to go to the laundromat this weekend. Since the neurologist said it was bad for Dot to become overly agitated during her recovery, we gave Dot a doggie Xanax about 30 minutes before the repairman arrived. It seemed to do the trick. Dot didn't even know the repairman was there until she had to go out and poop midway through the repair. She did a little "stranger danger" barking and then Janet took her back to the bedroom, where she went to sleep again. I'm not a big fan of mood altering medications, but the vet insists that mild sedation is much better for Dot at this point in time than stress and undue agitation. Hopefully, nothing else will break in the house for the next couple of months. Dot is completely calm until a stranger arrives. Janet and I are the only people who seem to have her seal of approval.

The weather forecasting app on my phone is worthless. It's been wrong almost every day this week. Last night it said that it would be dry and overcast today. but when I woke up it was raining again. Luckily, I managed to find a few breaks in the rain to walk Dash, but for the most part, it was a very wet and dreary day.  I must have a bad case of cabin fever, because I went out for breakfast despite the rain. Ordinarily, I would have just eaten a bowl of cereal at home on a day like this, but I needed to get away for a while. I can clean the car later. I never did get a chance to patch the roof before today's rain, but I don't see any leaks. Maybe we're OK.

A small group of Wood Ducks have taken up residence in the park recently. They make the much more numerous Mallards look rather ordinary. I finally got a chance to photograph one of these colorful ducks today. I'll have to admit that the picture brightened up a pretty dreary day.

Wyatt is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day