Day 3172

I actually did go to a new restaurant this morning. Never been there before. This was a Mexican restaurant that catered to a Hispanic audience. All the menu items were listed in Spanish. Not a problem. Even a gringo like me knew what Huevos con Chorizo were. The food was pretty tasty but I'll probably go back to eating waffles next week. Like I've mentioned many times, I'm set in my ways.

I did so many chores today that it wasn't long before I started thinking it was Saturday again. I'm surprised at how easy it is to get the days confused now that Janet isn't working on a regular basis. It used to be that if the alarm went off at 5:30 AM, I knew it was a work day. If the alarm didn't go off and we slept in late, it was the weekend. I could always tell which day of the week it was by how many bananas were left in the fruit bowl. It's all different now. I'm going to have to become more aware of what's going on around me.

Mowing the grass was more of a chore than I'd thought it would be. I let the grass grow too high in the front yard and the mower wasn't really up to the job. I think I'm going to have to get a new 24 volt battery for the mower. By the time I finished mowing the small yard, the battery was dead. Too bad the battery wouldn't hold out for a few more months. I'd rather wait until next Spring to buy a new battery for the mower, but it doesn't look like that's going to happen. The grass is going to continue to grow for quite a while. Batteries are such a nuisance. I like the idea of driving a Tesla, but I can't imagine depending on a car that ran on batteries. What could possibly go wrong?

I made the mistake of washing some of Dash's dog blankets with a batch of black t-shirts. Now I've got dog hair all over my clean clothes. I guess it doesn't matter. I always have dog hair on my dirty clothes. Why should the clean clothes be any different?

Dalmatians shed so much that you have to make an effort to control the dog hair. I vacuumed today and the entire Dyson canister was filled with dog hair. It's like this every week. Despite all the shedding, Dash always has a thick, healthy coat. It makes you wonder where all this hair actually comes from.

The friend who is selling my trains wants to lower the prices on some of the items. I told him that he's the expert and to price things accordingly. Even if I don't get what I initially expected from this collection, it's still a lot better than having a bunch of strangers fight over my stuff on a future edition of Storage Wars. I wish it was easier to unwind a lifetime of collecting. Everything will eventually find a good home with another collector, but it's going to take a while.

Dash used to walk well ahead of me on our walks. Now, I have to be right by his side so I can grab the handle on his Ruffwear harness and keep him from falling when he stumbles. Dash stumbles a lot these days, but it hasn't deterred him from walking. Our slow trips through the park are the favorite part of his day. I think one of the reasons he spends so much time smelling things is that his eyesight isn't good anymore. He is developing cataracts, but surgery is out of the question. Since Dash is no longer a candidate for anesthesia there are a lot of things we can't do anymore. I'd love to get his teeth cleaned again. Unfortunately the dental procedure requires anesthesia. Both of his vets say it is too risky.

I'm going to think it's Sunday tomorrow since I did a lot of my Saturday chores today. Oh, well. At least something got done. I'm not sure if I'm becoming forgetful or if time just doesn't matter anymore. It could be a little bit of both.

Domino is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1103

If Christmas is for kids, then I guess it is Christmas memories that are left for the adults. My own memories are a bit muddled at this point, but I still have a few. I remember playing Joseph in a live nativity scene at some point in the distant past. I remember my parents taking me to visit an old German woman who was a friend of theirs. The lady decorated her tree with real candles. Even though I was very young, I distinctly remember thinking "why hasn't this house burned down yet?" I remember getting an electric train for Christmas when I was a young boy. I have no recollection about the type of electric train or what happened to it. I'm sure my mother gave it away. There is just a vague, pastel memory of waking up one Christmas morning and finding a train under the tree. Later in life, I bought another electric train, but lost interest almost as soon as I got the train working and discovered how much room the layout took up in the living room.

One Christmas, shortly after being hired at my first real job I took a real train home for Christmas, I rode the Great Northern Empire Builder from Seattle to Chicago and then changed trains to take the legendary Santa Fe Super Chief the rest of the way home. It was an epic journey through Glacier National Park, the frozen great plains, the Chicago city center and the American heartland. I think it was the last time I went home to Arkansas for Christmas. It's hard for me to tell anymore whether I'm remembering the way things actually were, or the way I wanted things to be. I remember one Christmas in Alaska when Dad took us to cut down our own Christmas tree. We came home with a magnificent 16 foot tall pine, but I can't remember whether the tree came from deep in the forest or if my Dad just cut down one of the neighbor's trees by mistake. I remember Janet and I going to a comedy club in Las Vegas on Christmas Eve once and listening to Rich Hall tell us that spending Christmas in Vegas was a lot like spending Halloween at the Vatican. We don't do that anymore.

Christmas in recent years has been pretty low key. Most of the presents under the tree are for the dogs. Dot and Dash know that the gifts are for them and have even learned how to open them. Even though they are just looking for something tasty to eat, they remind me of little children on Christmas morning. They attack each package with wild abandon, and gleefully accept the treats inside. It's fun giving presents to dogs, because they are always appreciative.

I tried to keep my weekend errands to a minimum today because the traffic is horrendous. I picked up some things for the house at Home Depot, and got a few more essentials at Sam's Club. I didn't go anywhere near the shopping malls. I'm going to avoid the shopping malls until well after Christmas.

Daisy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day