Day 3411

All the unused and expired meds in the house are gone. I took Dash's unused meds to our vet where they will be used to treat rescue animals. My own meds were a little harder to dispose of. I went to the location listed on the disposal day brochure and they told me they were full. "How can you be full," I asked. "You only opened five minutes ago." No explanation. They just told me again that they couldn't take the meds. Several other people with bags of expired medications seemed just as frustrated as I was. Why would someone print a brochure and list this location as the place to take your expired meds if they were going to refuse to take them?

The pharmacist did give me an alternate location to take the pills. This location wasn't listed on the brochure at all and was a lot further away. Since the takeback program was a one day event, I didn't want to wait another year. I reluctantly drove to the alternate location. This new location seemed eager to take my meds. There were lots of volunteers with event t-shirts and four big buckets where you could drop the meds. I thought they were going to check and see what I had, but they didn't seem to care. As I got ready to return to the car they tried to give me a frisbee and a deck of cards printed with the takeback event logo. I declined. The whole point of getting rid of the meds was to reduce the clutter in the house. There was no point in bringing back more clutter.

By the time I finished my weekly grocery shopping and was ready to take my walk, it was already pretty warm. I would have rather stayed inside, but I'm determined to continue walking at least 10,000 steps a day. The park was really busy this afternoon. There was a small music festival near the shoreline with a decent sized crowd. The musicians got lucky. They placed their stage in exactly the same spot were the little circus was last year. You might remember that the little circus got flooded out by weeks of heavy rains. No rain today. It was actually quite nice outside. There was a time when I would have stopped and listened to the music. Not today. The only thing I was interested in was finishing my three miles.

I went to a fundraiser with Janet tonight. I've skipped this event for several years since I needed to stay home and care for the dogs. There was no reason to stay home tonight. There's nothing interesting on TV and it really doesn't take that long to write the blog. We had a nice dinner, played roulette at the casino party, and enjoyed the concert. I can't see making a habit of going out at night, but it didn't kill me to do something different. We had a good time.

I doubt that I'll do anything different tomorrow. It's time to go to the gym again. I should probably mow the grass as well. I could always procrastinate, but the job will only be worse next week.

Chance is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3410

The city is having one of their periodic expired medication disposal programs. I think they do this every year, but we always forget about it. This year we are determined to get rid of these old expired pills. I have some that date back to 1999. Most of the unused pills seem to be pain pills. Dentists seem to be the worse about overprescribing these things. When I've had a major dental procedure I might take one or two pain pills. I've never needed a thirty day supply. We filled a shoebox with unused medications. This probably doesn't count as housecleaning though. Pill bottles are small. We'll never notice that they're gone. Dash has a lot of unused medications too. His are still good though. We're going to find a rescue organization that might be able to use them.

I went out to breakfast earlier than usual this morning. There's no reason to wait until 10 AM anymore. I discovered that it's easy to get a table at the trendy restaurant if you go at 8 AM. The place was half empty. This seemed counterintuitive to me, but what do I know about the younger generation. Maybe they all like to eat breakfast late. I do like the Shrimp and Grits at this place. It's nice to know that it's possible to eat here without all the noise and confusion.

A three mile walk has become a regular part of my day. I can't say I really enjoy these solo walks, but I do think you need to stay active. I've certainly got plenty of time. It takes me just about an hour to walk three miles. This still leaves a lot of hours with nothing to do.

I cleared the remaining water off the roof this afternoon. There's more rain on the horizon, but keeping the water level low seems to be the key to avoiding roof leaks. One of the pumps was clogged again with debris from the Oak trees. When the catkins start falling in the Spring, they get sucked up by the pumps. I need to build some sort of cage to prevent this debris from reaching the pumps, but it seems like a lot of trouble. It's almost easier to just clean the pumps out after every rain.

Something bit me last night. The bite doesn't look like a mosquito or a chigger, so it was probably was a spider. I like Spring weather, but I definitely don't like the return of the insects. Since it was a mild Winter, we're seeing a lot of bugs. I'm finding a lot more ants, roaches, water bugs, and spiders than I saw last Winter. Oh, well. I guess we can spray again. I was always worried about insect sprays when the dogs were around.

It's already time to mow the grass again. That didn't take long. This might be the year I finally hire a lawn service. I'm really getting tired of pushing that mower. It's time to rake up all the Winter leaves too. I'm definitely getting someone else to do that. I need to find an activity that gives me pleasure. So far, sleeping seems to be the winner.

Brady is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day