Day 4097

I think Dallas has decided that the pandemic is over. Every week the roads and stores become more and more crowded. People are definitely eating out and restaurants seem to be operating at full capacity. Most businesses still require masks, but you see a lot more people without them now. It's hard to tell what's going on. You hear one thing on the news and see another thing in the streets.

There seems to be two parallel worlds now. I still see a lot of people wearing masks when they are walking alone outdoors in the park. Some folks still wear them when they are driving alone in their cars as well. On the other hand, I'm seeing a lot more large groups socializing together without masks now. People are planning weddings again. There are several event venues for rent in the park and I frequently see the party planning trucks out front, hauling in tables and chairs for another reception. I guess this is all to be expected. It is weird that everyone seems to have their own reality though. I wonder if this will ever change. I suspect that I will always be a bit more cautious around other people now. Why not. I was fairly cautious around other people before all this happened. Strangers have always been an unknown quantity. I've always worried about drunk drivers and crazy people wandering around on the streets. Now there is the added worry that someone might kill you by sneezing. 

I finished my shopping quickly today. I didn't need to get gas because I didn't go anywhere this week. This left plenty of time for a long walk. I was hoping to repeat yesterday's success, but it wasn't meant to be. I tried to walk faster, but my pace was considerably slower today. Did my feet hurt because I overdid things yesterday? I don't think so, but who knows. I was able to complete five miles, but I think I enjoyed the very slow walk that Janet and I took with Dawn a lot more. 

We've moved all our bags of leaves out to the curb now. All the other neighbors appear to have done the same thing. I think the city is going to have to add some extra trucks for this month's bulky trash day. There are a lot of Live Oak trees in our neighborhood, and the fact that the freeze caused all the Live Oaks to lose their leaves increased the number of bagged leaves considerably. Our yard is looking a lot better now. All we need is some new grass for Dawn.

The Kickstarter project I backed appears to have reached it's funding goal. Now we wait. Will this product deliver everything it promised? Will it even be produced? When will I receive it? You never know about these things. There appears to be a growing amount of skepticism about the ambitious product, but I'm still hopeful. I hope I haven't wasted my money, but I can recall wasting money on products that were actually sitting on store shelves. You wouldn't think a somewhat cynical ad guy could be fooled so easily, but we all can be fooled if we want to believe.

Dawn is still eating a lot of grass on her walks. Does this mean anything? She's still got a good appetite and her poop looks normal. Maybe I worry too much. The grass does look green and fresh. Maybe she just likes the taste. I wish dogs could talk so they could tell you if they were having problems. A talking dog would probably just gripe a lot and quickly become just as irritating as I am though. I guess barking is better.

I picked up some Chinese take-out for dinner and I've already got heartburn. I guess I'll never learn.

Wyatt is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4089

I didn't accomplish much today. I'm still fighting my allergies and blowing my nose constantly. I finished getting my tax materials organized, but wasn't organized enough myself to get them over to the accountant. I wrote Webflow about some issues I've been haveing with their software, but never received an answer. I learned that The Texas Star Party has been canceled for 2021, which is a shame because I was thinking about attending. Nothing seemed quite right today. Maybe I just didn't get enough sleep.

The weather was strange today. It was nice outside when we walked Dawn, but when I continued walking after Janet and Dawn returned home it kept getting colder and colder. I kept going as the temperature dropped and the wind kept increasing. By the time I reached the halfway point I was really wishing I had a hat and a warmer coat. I still don't know what is going on. It was supposed to be nice today.

Janet and I have both been vaccinated, but it is becoming clear that not much is going to change until everyone else gets vaccinated too. Very little has returned to normal so far.  There's a lot of talk and lots of disagreement, but it's still hard to plan ahead. It's too bad that I don't enjoy taking pictures of birds in the backyard, because it doesn't look like I'm going anywhere soon.

It's hard to believe that we adopted Dawn a year ago this March. She still seems like a new dog. It's taken her a lot longer than we expected to adjust to her new life. I can tell she enjoys living here with us, but trust doesn't come easy to her. I guess this is to be expected. Before she became part of our family, she'd spent her entire life as a puppy mill breeding dog. She may never completely trust me because I think I remind her of the men who mistreated her. Dawn definitely prefers women. We continue to make progress, but this is going to take a long time.

I'm beginning to realize that making any sort of progress is going to take a long time. Exercise doesn't produce quick results anymore. Mostly I feel like I'm fighting a losing battle. It's going to be a while before I'm published again. A lot of magazines are struggling and it's hard to come up with story ideas that are actually feasible. Maybe some of this will change as the world slowly opens up again. I hope so anyway. I guess I'm glad that I'm retired. It would be really frustrating to look for new clients in today's Covid environment.

The only thing I'm going to look for tomorrow are groceries. I need some more Parmesan cheese. It has to be a good Parmigiano-Reggiano. I'm not particular about a lot of things, but I am particular about cheese. I guess I'll go look for another decongestant too. I'll probably end up with four or five different kinds before I find something I feel comfortable taking. I hate having a runny nose, but I hate the way most decongestants make me feel as well. It's a problem. It's time for a new batch of fresh fruit. I see these commercials on TV for Balance of Nature pills that are supposed to contain all the nutrients found in fresh fruits and vegetables. Why wouldn't you just eat the real fruits and vegetables instead? Fresh fruit is delicious.

Excuse me if I'm rambling. I tend to do that on days where nothing happens.

Rory is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3797

The weather was much better today. We got up early to avoid the crowds, but apparently we didn't get up early enough. Even before 8 AM, the park was already filled with runners and cyclists. This must be the city's new exercise destination now that the gyms are closed. I guess I shouldn't have been surprised. It was a Sunday morning on a very nice day.

It's pretty clear that the quarantine is over in Dallas. Traffic is back to normal and people aren't shy about gathering together in the park. When I returned later in the day for my afternoon walk, the place was packed. There were large barbecues, clusters of hammocks strung between trees, and a flotilla of kayaks on the water. Most of the large gatherings consisted of young people. Maybe they are starting to develop herd immunity.

There are still a lot of people wearing masks in the park. I suspect that some of these people will continue wearing masks forever. They will become a fashion statement or a badge of identity. There definitely aren't many who know how to wear a mask correctly. I see a lot of noses poking out on top of these masks. People take them off to talk to other people or even to sneeze. Basically, you wear a mask to show other people that you are a team player. Medically, most of the disposable earloop masks are of dubious value.

I was back on the roof this afternoon removing the standing water from yesterday's rain. Both pumps are working again, but there is still a lot of residual water after it rains. Removing the water with a big push broom is actually good exercise. I'm usually tired after I finish the job. I'm always careful, but I hope I never stumble and fall. That's the first question my doctor asked at my physical last week. "Did you have any bad falls last year," he said.  I guess I've arrived at the "I've fallen and I can't get up" stage of life. I felt like telling the doctor that I was much more careful than he was. At least I don't ride bicycles.

Dawn likes our bed so much that she gets upset when I change the sheets. I told her that everything was going to be OK and that she would be pleased when I was finished. After everything was clean, there was still dog hair on her blanket. I've noticed that the vacuum cleaner canister fills up twice as fast now that we have Dawn. Dalmatians shed constantly. You just get used to the dog hair after a while.

I had another 20,000 step day, but I didn't do anything of consequence. 20,000 step days are so common now that maybe it's time to up the ante and try for 25,000 steps a day. I'm hoping that walking will keep me in shape, but I need something to occupy my mind as well. I'll complete my application for launch access to Kennedy Space Center and send it to the Air Force tomorrow. Maybe I'll start editing my McDonald Observatory pictures and send a batch to Sky and Telescope. They haven't actually requested the pictures yet, but have indicated that they will use them when the article eventually appears. I'll be glad when they give me a publication date. Right now I don't know whether the article I wrote will appear a few months from now or next year.

The chigger bites still itch, but I've got some nice looking fresh fruit for tomorrow morning's smoothie. Life goes on.

Susie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2756

I finished writing both my new articles today and spent the rest of the time lying on the bed with my feet elevated. It was nice to have some work to do again, but I don't think it is a good idea to sit at the computer all day. I can literally feel the fluid pooling around my ankles when I sit for long periods of time. Another bad thing about sitting at the computer is that I spend too much time Googling information about swollen legs and ankles. I'm finding lots of similarities between my condition and people who have had minor motorcycle accidents. Basically, if you are a hypochondriac, you should never Google your own ailments.

Elevating my legs really seems to help control the swelling in my legs, but unfortunately the benefits seem temporary. It kind of feels like I've got a quart of water floating around inside me. When I lie on the bed with my legs elevated, the liquid flows back into my body. When I stand up and start walking, gravity causes it to flow down around my ankles again. It's frustrating, but there's not much I can do at this point. It's going to take a long time to completely reabsorb the blood and fluids resulting from a trauma injury like this.

Maybe I need to start watching Netflix like Janet. She needs to rest for long periods of time too, but luckily she enjoys watching movies. Often I find her asleep with a movie still running on the iPad on her lap. I'm growing bored staring at the ceiling, so maybe I'll give Netflix a try tomorrow. Lying on your back with your feet in the air probably isn't the best position to watch a movie, but I'll have to improvise.

Dash threw up again this afternoon. I was hoping that he wouldn't have any problems until Janet and I were both well again. Maybe that was too much to ask for. Dash has thrown up periodically for years. Usually he seems normal again within a few hours. When I take him to the vet they can never find anything wrong and usually just suggest changing his diet. Dash will eat bugs and dead things when he can find them, and eating something bad is often the cause of his stomach problems. Janet and I have been so preoccupied that we probably haven't been watching him closely enough when we take him outside to pee. At any rate, we gave him a Pepsid tonight and hoped for the best.

Dash's upset stomach reminded me to make an appointment for him at the cancer center. His oncologist likes to do a recheck every six months and we are a little behind schedule. Dash has been in remission for so long now that his doctors aren't really worried about the cancer returning. They are more worried about an enlarged heart as he grows older.

When I look at my calendar, it's nothing but doctor's appointments for Janet, myself, and Dash. Hopefully, this is just a temporary thing. Janet is starting to feel a lot better. I'm on the mend too, but dog bites are painful injuries that tend to heal slowly. I'll just need to stay patient. It would be nice if Dash would stay healthy too. We don't need a three ring circus at this point.

Tomorrow, I take my car in for a long postponed service appointment. It will be nice to get that expensive necessity out of the way. Pretty soon, we should have grass in the back yard again too. One step at a time, we're slowly getting back to normal. Just for the record, I didn't see this Great Egret today. I didn't even leave the house. I did see the bird pretty recently though and didn't feel like showing you a picture of my feet in the air.

Sophia is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2621

I need sleep. Dot gets frustrated now when she can't get up and circle around to find a new sleep position at night. All dogs do this, and Dot keeps trying even though it is difficult for her to move. Usually, I wake up before she has twisted herself into an awkward position. I help her do the little twirling motion that Dash does effortlessly five times a night and then we all go back to sleep. Lately, I've discovered that if Dot becomes agitated at night it is wise to take her outside to pee. If it's clear outside, I try to identify constellations in the night sky as she slowly walks around the yard, looking for the right spot. By the time I've gotten her settled into her bed again, I'm usually wide awake. Probably people with small babies find their sleep disrupted like this all the time, but it's a new experience for me.

Dash is acting weird again. We discontinued his anti-nausea medication a few days ago, so maybe he's feeling dizzy again. He didn't want to walk this morning and this afternoon he refused to leave the back yard. Sometimes it's hard to tell if Dash is sick or just being stubborn. I tried a second time to give Dash an evening walk after I'd had my own dinner and this time he was eager to go. He wasn't unsteady and nothing seemed abnormal at all. Go figure. I still think that the hesitation to move or walk might have something to do with his seizures, but I'm not a vet. Now I've got one more question to ask the doctors when I take Dot to the cancer center for her ultrasound scan tomorrow.

I wasn't really busy today and I thought seriously about taking a long nap to catch up on sleep, but Dot had other ideas. She's restless now during the day and frequently wants me to take her outside. Since she's incontinent, I don't want to ignore her, since it just causes her to pee or poop in the house. In and out we go, over and over again. When Dot is outside, she just wanders around aimlessly, smelling all the leaves on the ground. It takes a lot of patience to be her rear legs.

I wonder if life will ever return to normal again. Probably not. I feel lucky that I am still healthy enough to help the dogs during their senior years. Many of my friends have already had serious medical problems and would have difficulty lifting a Dalmatian. When I was a kid, my parents were healthy, but they both started falling apart when they were about my age. I wonder how many more good years I've got? Helping Dot walk is actually great exercise. Too bad the stress I'm experiencing probably negates most of the benefits of this strenuous physical activity.

I'm thinking of going somewhere new for breakfast tomorrow. I've been eating the same thing for several months now and even though it's delicious, I'm getting bored. I'm not even sure what I'm hungry for anymore. Maybe the food doesn't even matter. The whole idea of going out was just to have something to look forward to. A pleasant ritual that I can repeat on a weekly basis is much more important than the food.

I hope that Dot's cancer re-check goes well tomorrow. There have been some significant changes since her last exam and none of them are encouraging.

Joshua is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1962

We're making progress. Dot walked in the underwater treadmill without her special harness for the first time today. Dash managed to keep his protective sock on during his entire walk and hardly limped at all. The bleeding has almost stopped from the empty socket where my wisdom tooth used to be. I fixed a fairly normal breakfast of scrambled eggs this morning and since I still can't drink hot liquids, I let my morning coffee cool down to a lukewarm temperature before drinking it. It wasn't the best coffee in the world, but lukewarm coffee is still better than no coffee at all.

I wisely postponed climbing on the roof to remove standing water until I'm finished with my dental surgery meds, but I'm pretty much up to speed on everything else. I completed all my writing assignments today, went to the bank, and made a few website revisions. I did most of this in the morning, because the afternoon was reserved for Dot's physical therapy.

I hope I sleep better tonight. Last night, I woke up about 3:30 AM and couldn't get back to sleep again. I spent the rest of the night listening to the two dogs snoring on either side of me and counting the times the furnace went on and off. Ideas often pop into my head when I have insomnia like this but they are usually wasted. I recall thinking of several clever ways I could improve my responsive website experiment, but I forgot them all by the time I turned on the computer the next morning. I worried about getting a dry socket and got up and drank some water. By the time I got back to bed, Dash had stolen my covers. It wasn't worth waking him up to get the bedspread back so I grabbed the nearest dog blanket, pulled it over my head and tried to get to sleep again. Luckily, I don't have  insomnia very often, because I don't enjoy it.

Our rainy Spring weather been good for the wildflowers this year. The meadows in the park are becoming more colorful by the day. I see a new variety of flower coming into bloom just about every time we go on a walk. Today I noticed that the Milkweed plants are starting to bloom. I've always liked the symmetry of these odd little spherical bundles. We call the little five sided green blooms Antelope Horns down here. I don't know why. The Milkweed flowers will last about a month and then they'll be replaced by something else. It's a nice time of the year for a visual person like me.

Tomorrow I have a photoshoot. Dot is doing well enough now that I'm comfortable leaving her for two or three hours. I'll be able to go out for my Friday morning breakfast as well. I'm not sure what I'm having yet, but I'm sure there's something on the menu that's easy to chew. Most of the forbidden foods are back in play after 48 hours anyway. I've already taken the trash out to the curb, but I still need to remember to charge up the camera batteries for tomorrow. I think I'm ready fora good night's sleep this evening.

April has already come and gone. This month was tiring and a bit stressful, but it went quickly. It's hard to believe that it's the first of May tomorrow. May is usually when it starts to get hot here in Dallas. Let's hope our unusually cool Spring lasts a bit longer.

Bea is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1605

I could describe today in three words: all day rain. It didn't just rain. There were 60 MPH straight line winds, tornado warnings, severe weather sirens wailing in the neighborhood, power outages, and non-stop weather coverage on all the local TV stations. Needless to say, the dogs weren't happy about all this, but we ended up being pretty lucky. The worst of the storm went to the North of us and all we got was a lot of heavy rain.

Amazingly, during all this commotion, we managed to squeeze in two fairly normal walks. We took our morning walk early, before the downpour began, and then when the skies began to clear around sunset, we walked again. I saw lots of downed trees in the park on our evening walk, but our own trees suffered no damage. I think the weak trees have already been knocked down in previous storms. The ones that are left are pretty hardy. I'm still surprised that our power didn't go out. Usually our neighborhood is the first to go. Even though there were outages all over the city, our lights didn't even flicker. Like I said, we got lucky today.

Since I was more or less housebound all day, I managed to get completely caught up on work. It wasn't that I wanted to work; there just wasn't anything else to do. When I got my writing and website chores finished, I did my May invoices and got them ready to mail. I didn't go to the post office though. I didn't want a tree to fall on my car like some of the pictures I'd been seeing on Facebook today. The car never left the driveway. I learned a long time ago that the best thing you can do during stormy weather is stay home and take a nap with the dogs.

It's so nice not to have a leaking roof anymore. Even though I know there is four inches of standing water up there now, it's no big deal. I'll still have to remove the water eventually, but it's not a major crisis like it used to be. One of the main reasons I still have to get the water off the roof is that once ponds form, things start to grow in them. Once I left the water up there too long and saw hundreds of tiny tadpoles swimming around in a large puddle. Standing water attracts mosquitoes too. It's not really what you want on the top of your house.

Dash continues to get stronger. The radiation burn on his neck is no longer red and raw. It is becoming a pinkish color that actually does remind me of a bad sunburn. Maybe I'm imagining things, but every day, the radiation damaged skin seems a bit more normal. Everything seems a bit more normal this week. Even though it had been a very stormy day, both dogs were eager to take their evening walk. I think cabin fever finally overcame their fear of storms. They definitely had things to do and places to go this evening. I had trouble keeping up with them.

Daisy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1536

The only thing worse than a sick dog is a dog who doesn't realize he's sick. I decided today that the best way to keep Dash calm and sedate is to keep his routine as close to normal as possible. All the complicated instructions the vet gave me just seem to agitate him. He hates going out in the back yard on a leash. Using the logic that the meadow behind our house is really just an extended back yard, I took Dash on a short walk today. It made a world of difference. He got to smell his favorite bushes. He did his business much quicker than he would have in the yard. And, best of all, he was calm. When we got back home, he was a good dog for the rest of the day. A lot of people don't understand Dalmatians. You've got to meet them halfway to get anything accomplished. Dash and I have an understanding now. He'll still get his walks. In return, he'll walk nicely on a harness and keep his incision away from stray branches. As long as he gets to go outside, he seems fine with these shorter, more sedate walks.

It was a very busy day. The tree trimmers arrived promptly at 9 AM to clean up the trees that were damaged by last December's ice storm. I'm glad I finally got this taken care of, because eventually one of the precariously attached tree limbs would have broken loose and fallen on my neighbor's car. The tree looks much better now. My only problem was when I had to negotiate a truce between the tree trimmers and a neighboring fence contractor when they both wanted to park their trucks in the alley at the same time. As I expected, Dot slept through the whole thing. I wonder if they make hearing aids for dogs. Dot's hearing definitely isn't as good as it used to be.

I realized today that being able to get out of the house myself, even for a few short minutes, can make a big difference. I didn't even make a quick trip to the bank or post office today and the day seemed to drag on forever. Staying housebound for a while gives me an opportunity to observe Dash under a wide variety of different conditions and make sure he won't do anything stupid. So far, he's been an excellent patient. There is still no swelling at the incision site, so I don't think hemorrhaging is going to be a problem. Now that Dash and I have agreed to compromise on a few important points, he is being very calm and reasonable. Let's hope this continues.

My writing assignment today was long and complex. I'm still not finished with it. Maybe I'll get up early and do my editing tomorrow morning. I definitely don't like these assignments hanging over my head during the weekend. Tomorrow, I'll see if I can catch up on a few household chores as well. Maybe I'll even get to go to the gym again later this weekend.

Dash is still on pain pills, but he already seems better than he did yesterday when we brought him home. The little guy is a trooper. I only wish I could bounce back as quickly as he's doing. I'm just barely hanging in there these days. Bounce is no longer part of my vocabulary.

Connor is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1535

Dash is back home again. After all he's been through this week, he's acting amazingly normal. Too normal perhaps. When the cancer center released him late this afternoon, the doctors gave us a predicable speech about things dogs should never do right after surgery. They shouldn't jump up on the kitchen counters. They shouldn't race around the back yard like a maniac. They shouldn't hop up on the bed or the furniture. They shouldn't shake their head violently like dogs typically do when they get wet. As you might expect, it didn't take Dash ten minutes to violate all these rules once we had returned home again. He's a Dalmatian, after all. I have to keep him on a leash, even in the back yard, for the next several days. Even restrained on a leash with his special new harness, it didn't take Dash two minutes to find a dead bird in our backyard.

One of the hardest things in the days ahead will be keeping Dash from scratching at his incision with his hind legs. The surgeon did such a good job of sewing him up again, that it's hard to tell that Dash has a long incision running the length of his neck. We can't use the cone of shame, or other common way of protecting the neck, because it would rub against the incision. He's not supposed to have anything touching his neck while the wound heals. Luckily, he's not one of those dogs that is obsessed with pulling his stitches out. If I watch him carefully, I think everything will be OK.

We should have the pathology report within the next five days, and that will determine what happens next. For now, it's just nice to have our little guy back home again. I won't be going out to the breakfast restaurant tomorrow morning. I won't be going anywhere actually. Janet and I will coordinate our schedules so that one of us is home at all times. This essentially means that I will be housebound for a while. It's not that big a deal. This is more or less how I live anyway.

I got a jury summons in the mail today. It's a nuisance getting selected for jury duty. I never get picked to sit on a panel, but I've got to go downtown and spend the day sitting in the jury pool room anyway. Lawyers just don't seem to want me on their juries. I would think that after years of sitting in the jury pool room reading old magazines, I would become exempt from jury duty at some point. That's not how the system works though. You never know. One of these days, some lawyer just might want an unpredictable, opinionated writer on their jury.

Tomorrow will be so busy that I probably won't even notice not leaving the house. There's still lots of work to do. The tree trimmers are coming tomorrow too. Ordinarily, something like this might upset the dogs, but Dot doesn't hear too well anymore and she'll probably sleep through the whole thing. Dash was never bothered by workmen in the yard anyway.

Dash should get a little better with each passing day. FedEx delivered a brand new supply of Hepatitis-C pills this morning. There's food in the refrigerator and plenty of work to keep me busy. Life is good.

Princess is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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