Day 4909

I did my grocery shopping early this morning so we could go to Dawn's dog school party. I think I tried this last week as well, but this week I started even earlier. I finished my shopping and was home again before I typically leave the house. I need to make a habit of this. The stores weren't crowded and there was a better selection of everything.

I thought that Dawn would enjoy the party because she likes going to school. Nope. She was nervous the entire time and was eager to return home. She wasn't interested in playing with any of the other dogs. This was something new and Dawn never reacts well to new things. Janet entered her in several of the competitions and she won fourth place in one. I had a good time and got to chat with several people I hadn't seen since we used to take Dot and Dash to training class. I guess we'll do this again next year.

After we returned home I went on a not so long walk. It was later in the day and too hot outside for my regular route. I knew I couldn't complete six miles today. I only walked three miles this afternoon but that was enough to get my steps and close all three rings on my Apple Watch. I had to soak my hat in water to stay cool this afternoon. I should have gone to the gym, but after grocery shopping this morning I was tired of driving.

We had a very brief power outage this afternoon. The beeping noises from several devices were enough to send Dawn into a panic. Thunder and lightning don't scare Dawn, but electronic beeping noises do. She managed to get stuck behind the bedroom television in a tangle of cords and cables. Why she thought that this was a safe place, I'll never know. It was hard to extricate her from this tiny awkward space and when I got her free, she wasn't comfortable for the rest of the afternoon. I took her outside so she could lay in the grass and that actually calmed her down after a while. She was back to normal in time to start barking at me to fix her dinner.

One of my battery back-up power sources bit the dust today. I don't think I'm going to bother to replace it. There are way too many things in the office that I don't even use anymore. This thing beeps when the power goes out too. We don't need any more beeping things in this house. 

I thought about fixing the screen door this afternoon but it was way too hot. All I really wanted to do was take a nap. At least it didn't rain today. Rain was in the forecast all day, but somehow it never materialized. I actually would have welcomed a little rain on my long walk. Did I mention it was hot. I'm not reacting very well to summer this year. It's hot every summer, but I don't have the patience for it anymore. 

Tomorrow I'll go walking at the mall and then we'll take Dawn on her Sunday outing. Dawn and I both like familiar routines. Dawn and I should be best friends. We're both old and grumpy and don't react well to change. There is still rain in the forecast for tomorrow but there is a good chance we'll never see it. Old habits die hard I guess. We've got a brand new roof and I'm still worried about rain.

Freckles is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 4549

I don't know what it is about beeping noises. When I removed the old battery fron the uninterrupted power supply in the bedroom this morning so I could take it to the battery store, the unit made a single high pitched beep. That was enough to freak Dawn out and she left the room for her dog bed in the kitchen. It was at least two hours before she would come back to the bedroom again. Dawn doesn't like anything out of the ordinary. Hey, I don't either, but this is ridiculous.

The battery store is located in an industrial area and the roads are filled with large trucks. It was a traffic jam of eighteen wheelers and it was only 10AM. This explains your inflation problem right here. Everything moves by truck these days and diesel fuel is insanely expensive. I'm old enough to remember when areas like this were all served by trains. Just about every warehouse had it's own rail spur where boxcars could unload. This system worked well for many, many years. We took long road trip summer vacations when I was a kid and I never remember seeing large trucks on the highways. There weren't as many cars either. Sometimes we traveled by train. Even our small town was served by a daily passenger train. I miss train travel and empty roads. At least I got to experience these things. Younger people probably don't have a clue what I'm talking about.

I'm glad the new battery I bought worked. Hopefully, there won't be any more annoying beeping noises for quite a while. There is no need for Dawn to be on high alert all the time. Last night a small stick landed on the roof and woke Dawn up. It seemed like hours before she would go back to sleep again. I probably wouldn't have noticed except that I was having trouble sleeping as well. I fell asleep watching television after I finished my blog post last night and when I woke up again it was almost 2 AM. When I got up to brush my teeth and take my evening meds, I had trouble getting back to sleep again. 

I got gas on the way home from the battery store. I was only down a quarter of a tank, but I wanted to see how much I'd save by buying gas at Sam's Club. I saved five dollars, but the gas was still pretty expensive. Since my car gets terrible gas mileage in the city, gas is actually ridiculously expensive. I calculated that two trips to the gym, a short trip to pick up Chinese take out, and our visit to the Dalmatian kennel yesterday cost me $35 in gas. My conclusion: $5 gas when you are getting 14.5 miles per gallon isn't good.

Since there was a nice breeze when we took Dawn on her sunrise walk, I decided to walk in the park today instead of going to the gym. I probably didn't want to spend $6 on gas just to go to the gym either. It wasn't hot on my walk, but it was extremely humid. I didn't feel like walking my full six mile route, but I did get enough steps to satisfy my need for consistency. I've met my fitness goals for over 200 days now. I wonder how long I can go? Usually the only things that force me to start over are an extremely long road trip that leaves little time to walk or an illness. It doesn't really seem like it's been 200 days since I was hospitalized for gallbladder surgery, but I think that was the last time I was unable to get at least 10,000 steps in a day.

I'm glad the new dishwasher is coming soon. I think the water leak is getting worse. Still haven't caught the rat either. Janet said that Dawn did really well at training class tonight though. I'm glad Dawn enjoys her training class. Maybe it makes up for the annoying beeps she heard this morning.

Lacey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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