Day 4368 - Dawn's Birthday

Dawn celebrated her ninth birthday today. Unlike many of our other dogs, this is her real birthday. Many rescue dogs celebrate their birthday on their gotcha day because it is impossible to know when or even where they were actually born. We know that Dawn was born in the same kennel where she eventually became a breeding dog. That was the fate of many females in that facility who weren't immediately sold as puppies. Dawn had a rough life and wasn't treated well, but the breeders did keep records. We just hope that all her future birthdays will be happy occasions. I think she enjoyed the little celebration we had tonight. She loves Sprinkles Pupcakes.

Oddly, today is also my Dad's birthday. He would have been 104 years old, but he died a long time ago. Dad provides my inspiration to keep walking and stay healthy. I think he would have lived longer if he'd eaten better and taken care of himself. My childhood memories are a little fuzzy now, but I do remember eating a lot of Swanson TV Dinners. We even had the little metal TV trays. Dad was fond of liver and onions, pickled pig's feet, and sardine sandwiches as well. My own diet wasn't exemplary during my younger years, but I'm trying to make up for lost time. Maybe I'm fooling myself, but I think I'm doing pretty well.

Dealing with FedEx today has been totally frustrating. I wanted FedEx to hold the Kickstarter package that is being delivered at one of their facilities so I wouldn't have to wait around the house all day to sign for the delivery. I used to do this all the time when clients used to send me a lot if things via Fedex. The Fedex website is horrible. I kept clicking on the tabs to change a delivery and the site kept saying to come back later or sometimes just crashed. I never could get the website to work so I drove up to the Fedex office that used to hold my packages for me. The door was open but there was nobody inside. I waited and waited but no one came to the front desk. Finally, I started knocking on the door behind the counter where all the packages were kept. Eventually an agent came out and told me that the facility doesn't hold packages for customers anymore. I could try having the package delivered to a local Walgreens, but it would take several days longer. Covid has basically ruined everything. Fedex definitely isn't the only company that has used the pandemic as an excuse to fire a bunch of people and eliminate services that we all used to take for granted.

Dawn got a bath and a nail trim this afternoon. I don't think this was her idea of a good birthday present, but Janet had some extra time today and wanted a clean dog. I keep trying to tell Dawn that if she'd be friends with me I'd let her stay dirty. I don't think she has gotten the message. She was friendlier than usual with me today though. I think we are making progress. I was actually able to get her to go down to the park with me on her own while Janet was gone this morning. We didn't stay long, but she never used to leave the yard with me unless Janet was nearby.

I got 22,000 steps today. This is the fourth day in a row that I've gotten more than 20,000 steps. I don't think I can keep this up forever, but I might as well keep walking. For the moment, I can't think of anything better to do with my time. Today was unusually warm. I think we set some kind of heat record for December today. I think I saw the eagle again. It was flying off in the distance and I couldn't make a positive identification. If it wasn't the eagle, it was the largest hawk I've ever seen. Oddly, the bird appeared to be flying over my house.

I put together the stand for the new TV. It felt a lot like assembling something you bought at Ikea. All these companies that sell internationally just use pictures for their assembly instructions now. I guess pictures are easier than translating into multiple languages. I'm a word person, but I managed to get the stand assembled by carefully looking at the the series of pictures. I think we are slowly reverting to a preliterate society. There's an emoji for just about everything now and many people I know prefer to listen to books in their car rather than actually reading them.

When I took the trash out to the curb tonight I noticed that the Moon, Jupiter, Saturn, and Venus were all arranged in a nice little row. The view was pretty but it didn't make me want to linger outside. I don't think I'll be getting up early to look for Comet Leonard either. I've got to catch up on my sleep. We've got another Santa Paws event this weekend.

Puppies are today's Dalmatians of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2719

I stayed busy today. There were several more trips to the storage warehouse. I don't know why I saved all the rugs, but they will be useful to someone. Janet packed up a box of stuff to donate to a local rescue group. Dot's wheelchair joined another wheelchair that was custom made for Spot. Unfortunately Spot's chair was not adjustable so it probably will never fit another dog. We've tried to let friends use it, but the fit has to be exact or these things just don't work. Dash will inherit Dot's adjustable chair at some point. I'm in no hurry to bring it home again. We hope that Dash remains healthy for a long time.

Yesterday, I discovered that we've got a large rat living in our atrium. The rat startled me and almost jumped into the house when I opened the sliding glass door. This is the first rat I've seen around the house in a long time. We used to have a huge rat problem until our neighbors got several large outdoor cats. These cats, along with the existing feral cats in the neighborhood, did a good job of controlling the rats. Unfortunately, coyotes started eating the cats and the rats eventually returned. This isn't a good place to be an outdoor cat. The rabbits haven't fared so well either.

I hate to use poison to kill the rats, so I've always trapped them with a Havahart trap. Yesterday, I baited one of these traps with cheese and set it in the atrium. This morning, the cheese was gone, but the trap was still open. I was either dealing with a very smart rat, or my old trap had gotten rusty. I know these traps work, so I went to the hardware store on the way home from the storage warehouse and bought another one. This new trap worked like gangbusters. I baited it with cheese again and an hour later a large black rat was sitting inside. I usually take these rats down to the park and turn them loose, but this one will have to sit in the cage overnight. It's dark already and it's raining outside. Oh, well. The rat has plenty of cheese to eat.

After I finished my chores this afternoon, I went to the gym. I need to start going several times a week. I haven't been working out regularly since Dot started requiring additional attention and it shows. I did my usual routine today and I was exhausted. Getting in shape shouldn't be this hard. Cleaning the house shouldn't be this hard either, but what are you going to do. I don't burn calories sleeping and the house doesn't clean itself.

Janet bought a pressure washer recently to clean away all the spider webs on the porch. I sure wish things like came assembled and ready to use. When I tried to put the pressure washer together this afternoon, I could have sworn it was made by Ikea. Simple instructions like "press with your thumb until you hear a click" just didn't work. I wasn't going to press too hard, because there is nothing worse than getting your thumb out of joint. After failing to install the wheels using a hammer and a crescent wrench, I finally discovered that the tool I use to open the water meter in the front yard worked perfectly. The pressure washer is now ready to go. Spiders beware.

After taking all the rugs to the storage warehouse, I went back and brought one of them back home again. Dash liked to sit on one of these rugs in the kitchen while we ate dinner and he seemed irritated when it wasn't there today. When a Dalmatian gets irritated, they start barking, so I went and got the rug. I hope he didn't become too attached to the other things I put away. It had to be done. Our house was a mess.

It's weird not having a time limit when I leave the house. For over a year, I've been very careful to never leave the house for any length of time when Janet wasn't there. I learned quickly that it didn't take long for Dot to get in trouble. Dash is fine on his own, but I still think he's lonely.

Daisy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day