Day 1941

I wish I'd stop having dreams about being lost or losing things. For decades, I've wandered around in my dreams trying to find my car in a parking garage, trying to find my room in a large hotel, trying to find a connecting flight at an airport. The list goes on and on. Last night I picked out two pair of pants in a clothing store and then lost them before I could get to the register. You'd think it would be easy to find these pants, but I never did. These dreams aren't scary. They're just irritating. I hesitate to analyze any of my dreams. They probably mean something, but not anything I'm eager to know.

We got up earlier than usual today. I'm not sure if Janet had to go to work early or if I was just trying to avoid the rain. It was windy and warm this morning and I could see the moon through thin clouds. There was no pretty sunrise and I just had cold cereal for breakfast when I got home. It was that kind of day.

Don't get me wrong. Parts of the day were very good. Dot did great at her physical therapy session and her vet continues to be impressed with her progress. She walked almost ten minutes in the underwater treadmill and this was in addition to a pretty impressive morning walk. She made it all the way to the entrance to the park this morning. It's not really that far to the park entrance, but this was still a personal best for Dot. She even walked up a gentle hill today to help strengthen her leg muscles. For the most part, Dot is able to walk on her own. We only have to help her if she is trying to climb over a curb or encounters an obstacle.

I've noticed that Dot rests more comfortably in the house, now that she's getting to go outside again. I let her sleep outside her pen now, as long as I'm nearby to keep an eye on her. I'm still housebound, but life is starting to seem a little more normal now. I was thinking that Dot was almost ready to start staying alone for short periods of time and then she managed to get her leg tangled up in her harness today. I quickly unsnapped the harness and freed her stuck leg, but the incident made me nervous about leaving her alone. Maybe it would be better to put her in a small safe area and take the harness off completely if I have to leave the house.

I only got one of my writing assignments finished today, but there is still plenty of time to complete the other. It's hard to get a lot done when Dot has physical therapy. She's only in the treadmill about ten minutes, but it take time to get her situated in the hammock where she rides in the car. It takes time to dry her off after her water therapy, and it takes lots of time to navigate the Dallas traffic. It's a good thing I'm seldom in a hurry, or this whole process could be very frustrating. I actually like going to the vet and don't particularly care how long it takes. These Thursday afternoons are a nice change of pace. I hope Dot enjoys the outing as well.

This week went quickly. I've already taken this week's trash out to the curb for tomorrow morning's garbage pickup and am looking forward to another meal at my breakfast restaurant. I'll have to get up early again so I can walk Dash and get to the restaurant when it opens at 7 AM. I don't even mind getting up early anymore. It's certainly better than weird dreams about being lost.

Cooper is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 1813

If anything happened today, I certainly wasn't aware of it. It's been so chilly lately that I think my brain has gone into hibernation. I haven't even bothered to cook breakfast for the past few days and have been eating a bowl of Swedish Muesli that Janet picked up at the Ikea store instead. Even though the stuff has the consistency of sawdust and is basically uncooked oatmeal, it is surprisingly good when mixed with fruit. I suspect that I'll revert to my old habits as soon as the bag runs out. I'm definitely not driving all the way up to the Ikea store for a bag of cold cereal.

Whenever the weather turns cold, the air in our neighborhood is thick with the smell of wood smoke. So many people are burning a fire in their largely unused fireplaces that it is often hard to breathe. I've never understood the fascination with fireplaces. They're drafty, dirty, and unless the chimney is properly screened, they provide an open invitation for critters to come into your house. I can smell all types of wood burning when we take our morning walks. Since this is a city, people buy "designer logs" at the supermarket. Pinyon Pine is popular. So is Mesquite. All these exotic smells just make the dogs sneeze. I find it ironic that the people who like to burn a fire are typically the same ones who hate coal fired power plants and automobile exhausts. They certainly don't mind turning logs into charcoal and soot though. Fireplaces are just a more romantic kind of air pollution.

I had to fill out a bunch of new patient paperwork in preparation for my dental appointment tomorrow. I don't understand why there isn't a central repository for this information where doctors, dentists, surgeons, and other medical folk could just download your medical history whenever they needed it. I've seen a lot of doctors and I'm convinced that I've filled out this same information at least a hundred times. Sometime you have to fill out the information multiple times for the same doctor, because they want to update your file every year, or more commonly because they lost the paperwork you filled out the last time you saw them. I've gotten so tired of filling in the list of medications I take, that I've pre-printed a list of all my meds and just staple it to the patient information form. Some parts of today's form were embarrassing. Especially the part that asked "When was the last time you saw the dentist?" I left the entire Dental Insurance page of the form blank because I don't have any dental insurance. Maybe I'll get some later. It's always easy to get dental insurance because it doesn't really cover that much.

Work was slow today. Or maybe work was normal and the entire day was slow. Cold Winter days can be disorienting. I'm hoping that my brain returns to normal tomorrow. I'm also hoping that my teeth turn out to be normal as well. New x-rays and a cleaning is OK. A root canal, not so much.

Greta is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day