Day 1522 - Valentine's Day

To a dog, Valentine's Day is just like any other day, except that sometimes you get dressed up in silly costumes, and other times you get an extra treat after dinner. Ours usually get a Sprinkles dog cupcake. These look exactly like the Sprinkles cupcakes for people, except that they are for dogs. I hope they are made with dog safe ingredients and aren't packed with sugar. I've never really asked. Dot and Dash sure like them though.

This morning, when I was driving home from my breakfast restaurant, I noticed a lot of men washing their cars, so I decided to wash mine as well. Men seem to like to wash cars, especially on a nice day. There is something satisfying about a clean car. It is well within the realm of possibility. A clean house is nothing but a pipe dream. With two Dalmatians and clutter everywhere, I've given up on ever having a clean house.

Dot is just about back to normal now. Her eyes are bright and her energy has returned. The only problem I'm having now is figuring out where to keep her, so she'll be safe when I have to leave the house. When I look around the house, there are lots and lots of cloth or leather things a dog could chew on if they got in one of those frantic chewing moods. For now, I put up some dog gates and confine her in a hallway area where there are brick floors. There is no need to confine Dash, but since he likes to sleep on the bed when we're gone, he ends up being confined too. Dot's temporary hallway pen blocks his exit. Neither dog seems to mind this arrangement since they sleep most of the day anyway.

The complex boarding arrangements add even even additional time to my daily dog care routines. Now that I'm walking each dog separately and creating separate spaces for them every time I leave the house, there doesn't seem to be much time for anything else. No sane person would spend this much time being a dog butler, but you guys probably figured out that I'm not entirely sane quite a while ago.

I paid a bunch of bills this afternoon and now I feel poor again. Money seems to flow in and out of my hands like the tide. I need more lucky breaks like I got at the grocery store this morning. I ended up getting a $30 Filet mignon for $9 because somebody mistakenly mislabeled it. I didn't even realized that I had selected such an exclusive little piece of beef until I heard two butchers conferring about the price. They were good to their word and let me have the price marked on the case. I think they took that $9 sign down as soon as I left.

It looks like we've got a three day weekend with decent weather coming up. I'm still not sure what President's Day is all about, but I'll take any excuse I can get not to work. Who knows, the dogs might even get two trips to the dog park.

Dash is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1078

It's pretty clear who calls the shots in this house. I was just a little off schedule with walks and feeding times today and the dogs wouldn't let me hear the end of it. There is a time for everything, and when I'm late they both start barking and nudging me with their snouts to get me back on schedule. It's futile to resist, so I usually just go along with the program. If I'm late, you'd think the earth was coming to an end. On the other hand, if I'm early it just establishes a new benchmark and I'm expected to be early all the time

I don't know why Dot and Dash were so eager to go out today. It was cold outside. Another cold front must have swept through last night, because it was 70 degrees on Sunday. This morning, it was in the mid 30's. Too cold for me!

Every Winter I have reservations about our plan to move North when we retire. I don't like the cold. Even though I went to high school in Alaska and spent a few winters in Idaho and Washington, I never really got used to snow. After thirty years in Texas, I've totally forgotten how to deal with it. Nevertheless, Dallas is no place to grow old. When the time comes, I'll easily trade this city's problems for someplace cold and very quiet.

The only thing I'd miss about leaving Dallas are the city's great veterinarians. There isn't a better place in the entire country if you have a sick dog. The Veterinary Referral Center of North Texas is the Mayo Clinic for dogs. It's amazing what the doctors and surgeons at that place can do. They've saved the lives of several of our dogs and many of our friends dogs. It would be hard to go back to a little rural vet clinic after getting used to the idea that dogs can actually get better care than humans.

The cold weather seemed to cool everything else down as well. Business was slow today. I ended up having time to watch the Joss Whedon "Serenity" DVD after I took Dash to the vet for his antigen shot. It was a good movie, but the dogs didn't like it at all. It was what got me off schedule.

Spots is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day