Day 4155

We picked up a new dog at the vet on our way to the kennel this afternoon. Aries is a beautiful six year old female who was an owner surrender. I can't recall that we've had another dog named after a zodiac sign. I wonder is she has an Aries personality. Aries is friendly, very gentle, and will probably find her forever home almost immediately. I wouldn't be surprised if she was determined as well. That's a typical Aries trait. I took some pictures of her for the website, but I think she already have someone looking at her. A dog this nice doesn't stay at the kennel very long.

Cooper was still at the kennel, but only because the guy who wanted to adopt him still needed to fix a few things in his yard. As soon as the yard is secure, I think Cooper will have his forever home. Charlie will probably be with us a little longer, but he certainly deserves a good home as well. Charlie is one of the smartest dogs in the rescue program. He just never developed a soft mouth as a puppy, so you have to be careful where you put your hands. 

Dawn got her walk today, but I had to skip my longer excursion. I'm already way behind on packing for my trip. I did take a short walk after we returned home from the kennel, but the weather hasn't been very cooperative today. It's been on the verge of raining all day. I thought I was going to get lucky, but when I had to go out and run some errands toward the end of the day, I got soaked. I hope the weather improves later in the week, but it's not looking good right now. I have a feeling that I'm going to be driving to West Texas in the rain.

I keep hoping that the ice maker will start working again, but we haven't seen any ice for several days. It's a safe bet that the ice maker is broken and will need to be replaced. We got a big bag of ice on the way home from the kennel. Maybe that will last until I can make arrangements with the appliance repairman to get this fixed. Something always seems to be broken around here. As soon as I get one thing fixed, another thing breaks.

I'm starting to wonder why I wanted to go to the astrophotography workshop at all. I'm very disorganized this time and I'm dreading the long drive. Hopefully the weather in West Texas will be nicer than the weather in Dallas. The rain is pounding down now and there is lots of thunder. There have been several severe weather warnings on the television this evening as well. I'm really glad that Dawn is unaffected by the weather. Thunderstorms don't seem to bother her at all. I wish I could say the same.

It's been a long day and I need to get some sleep. I'll do a little more packing before I go to bed. I guess there's always tomorrow, but I am running out of time. Why didn't I get organized sooner? I certainly knew this was coming. 

Chief is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4154 - Mother's Day

I couldn't find a good picture of my Mom, but she would have liked this picture of Dot. Dalmatian Rescue used to do pet photo events for every holiday under the sun. Our Mother's Day events were surprisingly popular. You didn't have to have children to be a pet Mom and everyone wanted a picture with their dog. Dot was the poster child for many of our photo events. She wore her pearls well.

Dawn expects her Sunday car ride now. She got so excited when she saw we were getting ready. She still doesn't seem to like riding in the car, but she loves going somewhere new. Dawn walks a little faster on Sundays. She seems to know that we are doing something special just for her. As always, we finished this morning's outing with an ice cream cone. When we returned home, Dawn was content for the rest of the day.

I had more energy than usual today. It was an increasingly rare 20,000 step day. After a short nap on returning from our outing with Dawn, I decided to mow the grass. I tracked the activity on my Apple Watch and discovered that I burned twice as many calories mowing the grass as I did walking Dawn a little earlier. Mowing without a self propelled mower on a sloping lawn can be pretty strenuous for an old guy like me. I really need to ask one of the neighbor's lawn guys how much they'd charge to mow my lawn too while they were doing the neighbor's yards. My yard is so small that it would only take them a few extra minutes. If the cost was even remotely reasonable, it would be worth the money. Pushing this mower is wearing me out.

I needed a little longer nap after this much activity, but I still wanted to take my regular long walk today. It was very windy today, but the rain that was forecast never arrived. Actually the wind helped cool me down. It would have been hot and muggy outside without it. It was a nice day for a walk, but by the time I'd completed my normal five mile route, I'd had enough. 20,000 steps seems to be my limit these days. There were times when I completed as many as 24,000 steps a few years ago. I don't know how I did it.

I should have gotten a big bag of party ice today and used it to fill the ice maker bin. The ice maker is still broken, but I'm not going to have time to deal with an appliance repairman until after my trip. It would be easier to just replace the entire refrigerator, but nobody makes the correct size anymore. Kitchens have gotten larger over the years and today's refrigerators are huge. None of them will fit in the small slot where our current refrigerator goes. It looks like the only way to get a new refrigerator is to keep replacing components on our current one whenever something breaks. We are gradually getting a new refrigerator, part by expensive part.

I'm going to have to get serious about packing soon. I hate to pack and am a terrible travel planner, so I always wait until the last possible minute. I thought I'd be better prepared this time, but it looks like procrastination wins again. I just hope that it doesn't rain when I'm out at the observatory. It's a long, hard drive just to end up with cloudy skies or a thunderstorm when I get there. This will be my fourth trip out to the observatory. I've gotten rained out before, but I've also had clear skies and beautiful weather. You just never know.

I'm curious whether Cooper got adopted this week. I guess we'll find out when we visit the kennel tomorrow. Last week we thought that Cooper would be going to his forever home very soon, but things can always change. It's a pretty safe bet that Charlie will still be there though. Charlie is always there.

Spot is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4153

New census data shows that the Dallas/Fort Worth area had the biggest population growth in the country in 2018. We could overtake Chicago in size in the near future. This seems impossible until I start running my Saturday errands and then I realize that the story is true. The traffic is impossible now. Where did all these cars come from? Many cars have out-of-state plates. I guess I was ahead of the curve when I moved here in the 1970's. Dallas was still a big city then, but life moved at a slower pace. I liked it better then. To be fair, Seattle, the city I moved here from, was a lot better in the 1970's as well. I need a time machine.

Before the pandemic I used to love Cadence Kitchen flash frozen meals. These tasty nitrogen frozen skillet meals quickly disappeared from stores when people started panicking about touching things. The Cadence Kitchen meals weren't packaged. You scooped the amount you wanted from big bins in a display case and put it in your own container. The brand quickly disappeared because of Covid fears, but I saw the exact same meals today in standard frozen food packages under a different brand name. Was this the same product, or did somebody copy the idea. I bought one of my favorites and we had it for dinner tonight. Same name. Different recipe. Janet and I both agreed that this wasn't the same as the original. It didn't taste as fresh and there were too many added spices. I think it was more expensive too. How could a company get away with such a blatant steal? I looked on the Internet and didn't see anything about a licensing agreement or a sale of technology. I guess I don't know much about the food industry.

The ice maker broke in our refrigerator. This is a problem because ice is an important ingredient in my morning smoothie. I guess I'll have to call the appliance repairman again. Major appliances used to last forever. Not any more. I'm always having problems with the washer, dryer, and the refrigerator. We have a dishwasher that has worked pretty well for over twenty years and a microwave that has worked flawlessly for over thirty years. Our newer appliances are the ones that are always causing the problems.

The grocery store I shop at stopped carrying my favorite brand of beer. Last month they stopped carrying my favorite cheese. I hate that modern stores routinely change the merchandise they carry based on the check-out tapes of their customers. They carry more of what customers are buying and less of the things that aren't so popular. I always seem to be the loser in these situations. I could always go to a different store, but this store is convenient. I can't help it that demographics are changing. I know what I like and hate driving all over town to find it.

Maybe this is why I like walking. The lake changes at a much slower pace than the city around it. When I look at the trees and the water I can often fool myself into thinking that things haven't changed at all. The ducks still quack the same. It's all an illusion though. The neighborhoods surrounding the park have changed a lot. The houses are bigger and the lots are smaller. Nobody does their own yard work anymore. You can't walk two blocks without seeing a lawn care truck with a long trailer full of lawnmowers. Everybody seems to be doing well. I guess that's why people are moving here.

I didn't mow the lawn today. I felt tired after my long walk and took a nap instead. Maybe I'll have more energy tomorrow. I  hope so. It's supposed to start to rain again soon.

Daisy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day