Day 4437

I had to scramble to get all the bagged leaves out to the curb for bulky trash day. For weeks I'd been thinking that big trash day was next week, but it turns out it is tomorrow. How is it already the third week in February? It seems like February just started. I guess I could have looked at a calendar. Depending on memory doesn't work so well these days. 

After I moved all the bags of leaves out to the street, I thought I'd start cleaning up the sticks and twigs left behind in the yard by the power company tree trimmers. These guys should have done a much better job of cleaning up. There were twigs and small branches everywhere. I picked up as much as I could before it started to rain and added the growing brush pile to the leaf bags piled on the curb. All this activity was harder than I thought it would be. Old bones aren't meant for bending over and picking up hundreds of twigs and branches. My back hurts now.

Maybe I was just tired because I took my long walk before attempting to clean up the yard. It wasn't as windy as yesterday, but there was still a strong breeze. There was a light mist as well. It didn't really feel like it was raining, but by the time I returned home my jacket was wet. Dawn has done better than I have on walks lately. The weather was fine on her sunrise walk this morning. If I remember, it was pretty good yesterday morning as well. Yesterday the temperature dropped as the day progressed. Today it got wetter as the day progressed. My feet weren't my friends today. Lots of foot pain, but by the time I finished hauling trash out to the curb, I still managed to get 20,000 steps.

We got more rain than I expected this afternoon. I really hope we don't have another roof leak. I have the pumps working and there appears to already be a lot of water on the roof. Hopefully, the pumps will remove enough so a leak doesn't develop. I probably should have waited to start making repairs, but the stains on the ceiling were driving me crazy. Winter just isn't a good time to deal with roof problems. As soon as you start making a little progress, it starts raining again. Needless to say, it's frustrating.

Basically, everything is frustrating these days. I don't get angry, but I'm in a continual state of mild irritation. Do I really need dozens of robocalls and spam messages every single day? Why am I paying AT&T to irritate me using my own phone? Why do all publications have paywalls on the Internet now? I'm never going to subscribe to your online whatever. I know if I wait a few days I'll be able to find the same information for free somewhere else. A pox on your paywalls. Why is every ad on television for some kind of prescription medicine with announcer copy describing side effects that will probably kill you. Can't we just go back to ads about tv-dinners and refrigerators. Social media is insanely irritating. I'm convinced that you can trace back most of today's problems to social media. Society doesn't function well when every problem is instantly broadcast to the entire world. Someone lights a match and all the sudden it's a forest fire. We don't need to know what everyone else is doing in real time. It's not good. We would all be better off if we all just minded our own business.

I need to remember that I have a teleconference with my gastro-intestinal specialist tomorrow. I've never done one of these virtual visits before, but it sure beats driving down to Baylor hospital. When I was given the option of an office visit or a virtual call, it didn't take me long to decide. One of the biggest changes that Covid has made is that you basically don't have to leave your house anymore. There is a virtual option for just about everything.

Dawn didn't get to go to training class tonight. It's raining outside now. I keep hearing about severe weather warnings, but it's hard to tell what's headed our way. It's pretty calm right now. There are some severe storms out in West Texas this evening that are headed to the Northeast. Hopefully they will pass to the North of us by the time they arrive here tomorrow morning.

Joshua is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 4013

My new shoes are a success. I wore them for the first time on our morning walk with Dawn and experienced considerably less foot pain. There are still a few aches and pains, but what a difference. My late afternoon walk was even better. Usually by this time of day my feet are wrecked, but I was able to walk reasonably normally this afternoon. These shoes weren't cheap, but they are worth every penny. I feel like I have one less problem to worry about.

The broken dehumidifier that Janet dragged out to the curb for bulky trash pickup is already gone. I told Janet that someone would probably take it because it still looks new. Some poor fool probably thinks they scored a real find. It will take weeks for them to discover that the machine is basically worthless. It still turns on and sounds like it is working. All the buttons and displays still function. It just does a terrible job of extracting moisture from the air. Since the machine still extracts a little water from the air every day, the new owner might think that this is the way it is supposed to work. Nope. It's broken. Maybe I'll go get the other broken dehumidifier from the storage warehouse and put it out for big trash day too. Someone will inevitably snag this worthless machine as well. I know how this works because I used to be one of those people who would bring home worthless treasures I found along the side of the road.

Dawn is definitely back to normal. She had lots of energy this morning and we were able to take our full five mile walk. She seemed happy that I was able to walk a little faster as well. Even the dog likes my new shoes. Every morning we see four Muscovy Ducks. These ducks are kind of rare and stand out among the other ducks. Two males and one of the females always hang out together. The other female always seems lost or shy. Sometimes she follows along behind the other Muscovy Ducks. Other times she tries to hang out with the geese. Today we found her with a bunch of little black Coots. I've started to feel sorry for this pitiful little duck. All the other ducks seems to have rejected her. You know you've been walking a long time when the wild animals start to develop personalities. I'd never see all these things if I was just walking on a treadmill at the gym.

It was overcast this morning, but by sunset the sky was completely clear. I was able to see Jupiter and Saturn again. They keep getting closer and closer together. Maybe Monday evening will be clear. There has been such a media buildup about this planetary conjunction that it will be a disappointment if I don't get to see it. My best view tonight came as I was walking from the parking lot to pick up Chinese take out for dinner. I like PF Changs in Northpark, but this was not the best time to visit the mall. The place was packed around dinner time and it was almost impossible to find a parking place. There is such a disconnect between what I see on TV and what I see around town. On television the world is still shut down. In Dallas everything seems normal. Parking lots and restaurants are full. People are going to work and doing lots of shopping. They say hospitals are filling up in Dallas, just like other cities. You'd never know it though. The city seems exactly like it did last Christmas.

The shopping app on my phone didn't work today and I had to check out with a cashier. How old fashioned. I've totally adopted the new normal. I like contactless shopping and online pill payment. The fewer people I need to interact with the better. I don't miss holiday family gatherings at all. I never got along with my own family anyway. I don't really like wearing masks, but I find myself turning into a mask snob. I bite my tongue, wanting to tell other people that their cloth mask is worthless or that they are wearing it wrong. Maybe I'm wearing mine wrong as well. I don't think anyone has really mastered pandemic etiquette yet.

I'm going to try to throw some stuff away at the storage warehouse tomorrow. I'd better take Janet with me or I will just start labeling things and leave all the junk there. There has got to be an easier way to declutter. Getting rid of things still seems foreign to me.

Ranger is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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