Day 4228

We're back to square one. I left Dawn alone while I went to the gym today and she did some serious paw licking while I was gone. I thought her paws were really starting to improve, but now they're all red and raw again. I don't know what to do with her. I take the socks off when I leave the house now, because she has started to eat them. If we put a cone on her, she can still manage to reach her rear paws. Usually she just sleeps while I am gone, but today was pretty bad. She did so much licking that the comforter and sheets were all wet and had to go in the wash.

The paw licking wasn't the only bad news either. The vet called and told us that Dawn still has a bacterial infection. The antibiotics she was taking failed to clear it up. Now they are doing a culture of the bacteria to find out specifically what it is and then then we'll probably have to treat it with a different antibiotic. What happened to our gentle, low maintenance dog who just wants to sleep all day? At least she's not as fearful of me anymore. She doesn't run away when I'm fixing her dinner anymore. This probably has more to do with her new food than it does with me though. We've got a long road ahead of us. First, we've got to clear up her bacterial infection. Then we've got to go through a slow process of elimination to find out why she continues to lick her paws. Can dogs self harm like people do? So far, this seems like a reasonable explanation to me. We've taken her to the vet several times and haven't found anything medical that would explain the licking yet.

Dawn continues to explore new areas of the park on our sunrise walk. We didn't go as far as we did yesterday, but she still had a very nice walk, exploring an area where we haven't been in many months. It's disappointing that her paws looked so good while we were walking this morning. I really thought we'd turned a corner. Now we're starting over again. At least we know that it's possible for the paws to heal. We've just got to keep her from licking for two or three weeks.

While Dawn was making a mess of things at home, I was at the gym trying to undo the mess I'd made of my body during a lazy Covid year. I really wish I enjoyed this because it is much harder to build muscle mass as you grow older. I'm thinking now that I had a stomach ache yesterday because I've been working too hard on my core and abs. My stomach is sore and I'm beginning to think it has nothing to do with what I've been eating. I did some different exercises today. We'll see if that helps.

It's a shame that Covid infections have become an issue again. Texas was doing so well for a while that I thought that we'd put the pandemic behind us. Now Florida has become a hotspot again. 20% of all the new cases in the entire country come from Florida. This isn't good for any near term launch viewing plans. I'm not even considering going to Florida until the state returns to normal. I sure hope they don't reinstate mask mandates in Texas. So far, our state seems to be doing pretty good. Unfortunately, anything that happens in other states can easily come here.

We need a bigger dryer. It's going to be hard to get all the bedding washed and dried again before it's time to go to bed. It takes a long time to dry a heavy bedspread. I've always wished we had one of those industrial sized washers and dryers that you often see at vet clinics and boarding facilities. If you have dogs, a regular washer and dryer just doesn't cut it. The sad thing is that as soon as I get everything back on the bed, Dawn will probably make a mess of things again as soon as we go to sleep.

At least it's Friday tomorrow. I've taken the trash out to the curb and watered the new grass. I ate a very light dinner tonight and so far no stomach ache or heartburn. I"m hoping for a very uneventful day tomorrow.

Pongo is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4215

It was a little cooler today. That made it easier to do some things I've been avoiding. I finally got around to mowing the grass. It grows quickly since we've had a wet Spring. I don't like mowing the front yard now, since traffic has gotten heavy on our street. When I've got the mower down by the curb, cars and big trucks will barrel past me at forty miles an hour. This constant traffic makes it hard to get out of the driveway too. Things have changed a lot in thirty years.

I was tired when I finished mowing both the front and back yards, but the weather wasn't bad today so I decided that I'd go ahead and take my long walk after a short nap. Dawn got the best part of the day when we took our sunrise walk early this morning, although the rest of the day was much better than I expected. It was overcast with a pleasant breeze. There was a chance of rain in the forecast, but all we got were a few light sprinkles. Actually the light showers helped keep me cool while I was walking. It felt more like a mist than an actual rain shower.

Mowing the grass and taking a long walk seemed to eat up my entire day. I didn't do much else today. We heard from the vet and Dawn does have bacteria in her urine. The second sample we took to be analyzed looked exactly the same as the first. Janet picked up the antibiotics the vet prescribed and we'll see if we can get her back to normal. At least Dawn still loves her new food. I guess you solve one problem and another one takes its place.

I'm having a hard time staying motivated. My days consist of deciding what to eat and when to walk. I probably won't even try to go back to Kennedy Space Center until Artemis-1 is ready to launch toward the end of the year. Rental cars are almost impossible to find in Florida now and hotels have gotten quite expensive. There are a lot of Starlink launches this Summer, but nothing that really captures my interest. I hope I don't lose the contacts I've worked so hard to build down at the space center, but it is what it is. It's a lot easier to go out to McDonald Observatory when I feel a need to get out of town. It's a lot more peaceful as well. I have no real desire to visit a big city again.

I should be working hard to master PixInsight and the other astrophotography software I was introduced to at the last workshop I attended. I have these application on my computer, but seldom open them. Truthfully, taking pictures of dogs is more fun than taking pictures of stars. I love staring up at the sky on a clear, dark night but I think I enjoy visual astronomy more than astrophotography. Astrophotography is very technical in nature. I think I enjoy the spontaneous side of photography more. I loved shooting fashion back in the day. I'll continue to work on becoming a better astrophotographer though. It's definitely something I haven't mastered yet.

Time passes so quickly now. It will be the middle of July soon and 2021 still just feels like an addendum to 2020. Has anything actually happened this year? It's time to make a grocery list again. I bet the stores will be more crowded tomorrow. I'm not sure where everyone went over the holiday, but they're definitely all back now.

Greta is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day