Day 4810

Another cold, cloudy day. No rain though, so that's good. Lately I've been having trouble thinking of something to write about. Time passes quickly, but every day is almost exactly the same. I reluctantly get out of bed when Janet tells me that we'll be walking in twenty minutes. The one mile walk wakes me up. Dawn loves to smell things and always enjoys herself no matter what the weather is like. I usually overdress for this walk because I'd rather be too warm than too cold. When we get back home I change back into my indoor clothes and make the bed.

When I go out to the kitchen to fix my breakfast, Dawn is usually waiting for her shredded wheat. She knows she gets two shredded wheat squares every morning now. As soon as she's had her treat, she goes back to the bedroom to nap. I fix some coffee, take my morning meds and eat my breakfast while watching one of the business channels on TV. I find the business channels less annoying than watching the news. I use half and half with my cereal instead of regular milk and Janet usually leaves me a small bowl of cut up strawberries to put on top. Even though we have a perfectly good dishwasher, I always wash and dry my breakfast dishes by hand and put them away before going back to the office and turning on the computer for the day. Rituals are important.

I always have tons of spam in my inbox. Even more spam is caught by my hosting company before it ever gets to me. Why are there so many spammers? Are people really stupid enough to respond to these messages? People send you fake invoices and shipping notices, hoping that you will reply and say you never ordered anything. They are just trying to extract personal information from you. I've thought about canceling my land line phone because the calls are all spam now. Most even show up as "suspected spam" on the caller ID. Why does the phone company even put these calls through if they know they are spam? Sadly, I think I know the answer. The spammers are probably their best customers.

Modern life is just one small irritation after another. Nothing works smoothly anymore. It's almost impossible to talk with a real person if you need technical help with something. If you do reach a real person they're usually in a call center in Indonesia and you can't understand what they're saying. Grocery shelves are frequently out of whatever you went to the store to get. I couldn't find real whipping cream this week. City traffic is impossible now. Where did all these people come from? I'd like to live in a small town except I'd also like to have easy access to the best doctors and veterinarians. I've got no complaints about health care and veterinarians. Pretty much everything else sucks.

The construction crews are making good progress on the access road they are replacing in the park. These guys start their day early. They were already hard at work when we took Dawn on her sunrise walk this morning. Parts of the road are already finished but I'm hesitant to walk on it yet. I don't want to get tar on my Hoka shoes. The new route I'm taking now to avoid the construction is about a half mile shorter than my regular route. Even something as minor as this throws me off. I like consistency and continuity. 

Dawn seems to be getting tired of wearing the No Flap Ear Wrap. I can't say that I blame her. I usually take it off when she's in the house, but you never know when she's going to vigorously shake her head. So far the hematoma on her left ear hasn't gotten any smaller. Hopefully by this time next month we'll be able to see some improvement. 

Nora is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4751

Dogs love consistency. As luck would have it, so do I. Dawn and I do exactly the same things at the same time every day and this consistancy seems to help us both. I've turned off Janet's alarm clock and we sleep until 8 AM now. I've learned how to make the bed while Dawn is still in it because she refuses to leave her spot on the bed. I get dressed, fill Dawn' water bowl with fresh water and then make her breakfast. I take it back to the bedroom and then go out to the kitchen and start fixing my own breakfast. I can hear her eating because the tags on her coller jingle on the ceramic dog bowl. When I'm sure she has finished eating, I put on a coat, and grab her blue training leash. When she is wearing this leash, she will follow me down to the park. Without the training leash, she won't leave the yard. I always make sure I have poop bags in my pocket before we leave the house. Dawn usually does her business very quickly and then immediately wants to return to the house.

I take my time eating my own breakfast, because a day is a long time to fill and I don't have that much going on. After breakfast I give Dawn her morning meds. She likes to take them in cream cheese. Since it's been very cold lately, I try to wait a few hours before taking my long walk. The walk is more pleasant if I leave around noon. Before I leave I'll take Dawn out to the back yard to pee. She always returns to her place on the bed. That's where she likes to spend her day. When Janet is home, Dawn will follow her around like glue. She doesn't follow me around.

My long walk is always the same. I know where the birds and animals live and keep an eye out for them. Some days I see lots of wildlife. Other days I see none. I always see joggers, dog walkers, and cyclists. The park is a popular place to exercise. For me at least, my walk is a lot better than going to the gym. There are lots of elevation changes and if you keep up a decent pace, the walk is great for cardio health. It's also a great way to kill time. I spend several hours each day walking and usually travel at least six miles. I'm about a mile short now that Janet is gone however, because there is no early morning walk with Dawn. Dawn does not want to go walking with me unless Janet is nearby and I'm not going to make an issue of it. 

The parts I ordered for my broken Waterpik arrived today so I took the unit apart and fixed it this afternoon. I guess I could have just ordered a new Waterpik, but why bother? I'm pretty good at fixing things and I knew that this could be fixed. It's hard for me to give up on something, and the computers, the refrigerator, washer, dryer, my phone, and one of the dehumidifiers have all been repaired. The toilet in the office bathroom need work, but I can't find parts. I have been unable to fix the large sliding glass door in the living room as well. It's way too heavy for me to take off its track by myself and nobody seems to repair these things anymore. I wish I was a better carpenter. I have the tools, but the repairs the house needs are way beyond my modest abilities. I do what I can. For now, it's fixing a broken Waterpik.

Our arctic freeze appears to be over. It was still a little chilly this afternoon, but tomorrow the temperature is supposed to climb back to seventy again. That's fine by me. A week of freezing weather was about all I could handle. I keep thinking that the past few days have been the worst ever, but that's just not true. I remember one winter when our lake completely froze over. No frozen lake this year. Not much snow either in recent years. When I first moved to Texas there were some huge snowfalls along with ice storms that knocked down large trees all over town. All in all, the climate does seem to be getting warmer.

Dawn won't be going to her training class tomorrow. That's fine by her. She and I are getting along fine and she seems to enjoy having a lazy week with nothing on her agenda. I'm sure she will be delighted when Janet returns, but so far things are going better than I expected.

Taylor is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4616

Mall walking has become part of my Sunday routine. This is the third week in a row that I've done this and it still seems like a pleasant activity. The stores are starting to look pretty familiar now. The window displays must not change often because so far everything looks exactly the same. Surprisingly, the art on display does change ocassionally. I've noticed a few new pieces that weren't there several years ago, along with several favorites that are gone. I wonder where they store this art when it isn't on display. Some of the sculptures are huge.

We need to start our sunrise walk with Dawn earlier on weekends. We didn't leave the house until after 8 AM this morning and the park was already bustling with activity. Now that school has started there are high school sports teams that run in the mornings and there are always lots of bicycles to watch out for. The park is a lot quieter in the mornings when the weather cools down. In the winter it is practically empty. Dawn enjoys walking more in cooler weather and so do I. I'm ready for winter so I can start complaining about something else.

The weather was a littler cooler this morning, so we took a short walk in Dawn's Sunday park on her outing today. We didn't walk far though. It is still too hot for a dog to be out in the middle of the day. The price for cones at the ice cream store has gone up at the same time the cones have gotten a little smaller. This doesn't seem fair, but I'm not running a business. People are still buying ice cream, so I suspect that they  are just seeing how much they can get away with.

The real estate market in town seems to have really slowed down. We're seeing for sale and for lease signs stay up in the neighborhood a lot longer than they used to when interest rates were near zero. Houses for rent near the lake used to be snapped up almost immediately. Lately I've seen a couple of real estate signs standing in people's yards for well over a month. Sign of the times I guess. Who would want to commit to a major purchase with so much uncertainty in the world?

I wrote a letter to my sister this afternoon and will mail it tomorrow. I also vacuumed the carpets. The Dyson vacuum still takes longer to clean than it does to vacuum, but I guess it does a good job. There is sure is a ton of dust and dirt in the clear plastic tube when I'm done. I still think old fashioned vacuum cleaner bags are a better solution, but what do I know. When the bags were full on our old Hoover, I just took them out and threw them away.

There is a new version of the star tracker software available now, but I haven't had the heart to install it. I keep thinking that updates to this thing should start slowing down soon, but the Benro team seems relentless in their efforts to add new features. Sometimes the new features work and other times they don't.  This experience has made me wary about buying anything new before all the bugs have been worked out. I have tended to buy computers just before they are discontinued because you can often get great deals. I've rarely had problems with these older computers because mature products are just more stable. I think the same thing can be said for cars. I've been interested in the new Bronco, but early buyers seems to be plagued with problems. Maybe a few years from now this car will be more reliable.

Tomorrow I return to my weekday routine. I'm sure there will be a trip to the gym and maybe a nap with Dawn. I've got a few bills to pay and it's time to take bulky trash out to the curb. I don't think I will mow the lawn though, even though it really needs some attention. Will I finally get details about the Artemis launch press itinerary from NASA? Somehow I doubt it. 

Elliott is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day