Day 4511

I woke up early this morning and against my better judgement I got dressed and went outside one last time for a look at the pre-dawn sky. Who knows when I'll have a chance to see the milky way again. A couple of other Astronomers Lodge guests were wandering around in the dark doing the same thing. I showed them how to find some of my favorite objects in the pre-dawn May sky. Hey, I'm making progress. A couple of years ago, Astronomy Lodge guests would be showing me how to find things.

When the sky started to lighten, I went inside and fixed myself breakfast. I was still hoping to get an early start on the long journey back to Dallas. A couple of guys invited me to join them at their table. One of the men had been a writer for Texas Monthly for over twenty years. He was freelancing now but was still writing for a wide range of very familiar magazines. I was impressed. The writer's friend was a pilot who had a goal of landing at every small airport in Texas. They had flown to Marfa in the pilot's plane while I was inching along toward the observatory on I-20. We had an enjoyable time trading stories about writing, flying, and living in Texas. So much for my plan to leave early.

Eventually, I hit the road and began my long journey back to Dallas. When I'm driving toward McDonald Observatory, the traffic gradually gets lighter as I head West. When I return to Dallas the opposite happens. The journey starts out as a pleasant drive through the Davis Mountains with surprise views of deer, javelinas, and occasionally even elk around every corner. When you hit the freeway, the wildlife are replaced by eighteen wheelers, and then once you get within a hundred miles of Dallas/Fort Worth the roads become clogged with city traffic. I thought that things would be better on Sunday, but there were still way too many cars for my taste. In the mountains I could drive for ten minutes without seeing a single car. In city traffic I am passed by ten cars in a single minute.

I thought I could avoid the construction in Arlington and the perpetual traffic jam near Fair Park by taking a different route from Fort Worth to Dallas. I didn't save any time and ended up getting lost instead. By the time I discovered that the road wasn't the one I was thinking of, I was well on my way to Shreveport. Oops. I turned around and headed back West again. Jeez. I've lived here for over thirty years and still can't find my way around town.

It took a little longer to get back to the house than I thought it would, but I'm finally home. Dawn not only remembered me, she seemed happy to see me. I haven't bothered to unpack yet. I used the remaining daylight to take a short walk so I could satisfy my Fitbit's desire for a minimum of 10,000 steps.  The walk was such a contrast to my daily walks on Mount Locke. The silence was gone, replaced by police and fire sirens, airplanes on final approach to Love Field, and the perpetual background noises of city life. 

I'm already missing the quiet of Mount Locke. Was the trip worth it? You bet. Would I make the long drive again? The jury is still out on that one. I think I'll go sleep on the idea. It's been a long day and I'm very tired.

Betsy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 2611

Dash was released from the hospital today. He's still a little shaky, but he is much better than when we visited him on Saturday. Dash has never traveled well in the car and I definitely shouldn't have agreed to pick him up during the evening rush hour. It was a stressful drive home to say the least. Dash was causing such a commotion that I figured if he didn't have another stroke on the way home, he was cured. I still don't have a clear idea what caused the seizures. Three highly regarded specialists examined him during his stay at the cancer center and each had a slightly different opinion. Does Dash have vestibular disease? Did high blood pressure cause a capillary to burst in his cerebellum? Were these seizures new or have there been subtle signs that this was about to happen for a long, long time? We may never know the answer.

Dash came home with a big bag of meds.  Admittedly, some of these pills were the same ones he was already taking when he was admitted to the hospital, but it was still a bit sobering to see how much medication he needs to take every day. Hopefully, we'll never get these pills mixed up with the ones Dot needs to take, or with my own. Our kitchen is already starting to look like a pharmacy. Dash needs to stay calm for the next couple of weeks. That's a tall order to say the least. I couldn't even keep him calm on the way home from the hospital this evening.

I haven't been asked to do a complicated photo shoot for quite some time, but that's about to change. I was on the phone this afternoon, trying to work out the logistics for a photo session this weekend that involves teenagers, dogs in costumes, and a leftover set from Erykah Badu's latest music video. I kept trying to tell my client that I was getting too old for this sort of thing, but she kept insisting that she had faith in me and wanted me to do the job. Janet says she'll watch the dogs while I'm gone, so I guess the shoot is a go, whether I'm ready or not.

I finally got all the rugs cleaned that Dot peed on the other day. Every time I complete this task I feel a bit like Sisyphus, eternally pushing the rock up the hill. I know that within a day or two, I'll have to repeat the whole process all over again. I'm still trying to figure out how my complicated routine is going to change, now that Dash needs extra attention. If Dash would just stay calm, my job would be a lot easier, but calm is not a word you would normally associate with Dash. For most of his life, he has been high strung and nervous. Along with all his other problems, we discovered today on one of the new scans that Dash has an enlarged heart. I always knew he had a heart murmur, but there was no reason to assume that he automatically had heart disease. We rescued Dash and will never know his entire history, but I'm willing to bet he was a puppy mill dog. He has way too many health issues.

Dash was quite excited and very happy to be home this evening, but he wouldn't eat his dinner. I'll need to call the cancer center in the morning and find out what they were feeding him. Apparently, his appetite was quite good while he was away. Dash has always been a finicky eater. If he's decided he likes something new, it's going to be hell getting him to eat his old food again. Of course, I may be overthinking things. Dash could easily gobble down the same food he rejected tonight when we feed the dogs breakfast tomorrow morning.

I hope we all get a good night's sleep tonight. Dot seems happy that Dash has returned and our high strung boy has finally calmed down and is taking a nap on the bed. I'm more than ready for life to return to some semblance of normality. Picking up poop in the house is no big deal, but having two dogs that might drop dead at any minute is a bit stressful.

Dalmatian of the Day

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