Day 3845 - Independence Day

I guess I'm sort of a lazy patriot. I never served in the military. I seldom fly a flag, although we did have one on our house for a while right after 9/11. I'm proud to be an American though. I like it here. I've visited and worked in other countries and none of them even comes close to this one. I really hate to see people tearing this country down for things we either did or didn't do in the past. You've got to put historical events in context. Everything happens for a reason. The journey from the Stone Age to the Rolling Stones has taken us three million years. Humanity has only been keeping track of this journey for around five thousand years, but still that is a lot of time. When the founding fathers wrote the Declaration of Independence they had already learned from the Mesopotamians, the Greeks, the Romans, the Italian Renaissance, the Industrial Revolution, The Protestant Reformation, the establishment of parliamentary democracy in England and much more.

It's not really fair to condemn the founding fathers for owning slaves. The practice was commonplace at the time and in fact has been commonplace throughout human history. You can throw a dart at any civilization and you will find slaves. The Romans had them. The Aztecs had them. Many countries still have them today. It was commendable that John Quincy Adams rejected slavery, but he was the exception rather than the rule.

I think we should remember Washington, Jefferson and the others who signed the Declaration of Independence for their brilliance in creating a system of self governance that has lasted far longer than most. The history of the world is mostly a history of war and revolution. Generally the citizens haven't ruled. When you look at the United States through the lens of history, we come out looking pretty good. The founding fathers designed a system that was durable and flexible enough to adapt to a world that none of them would have recognized. Hey, we only had one civil war. The French had at least four.

While I'm sitting here musing about history, everyone else seems to be outside shooting off fireworks. It sounds like a war zone in our neighborhood. I don't know what it proved to eliminate public fireworks displays this year. Everyone seems determined to have their own. I think fireworks became cheap and abundant this year when so many municipalities decided to cancel their public displays because of the coronavirus. Apparently people have been shooting off fireworks every night in major cities for weeks now. I think this is happening in Dallas too, but I live far enough away from the city center that I don't hear what goes on downtown. I'm sure Dawn hears the fireworks, but she certainly isn't bothered by them. She's just sleeping calmly on the bed now.

It was a little cooler today and the park wasn't as crowded as I expected. There were the usual Saturday morning runners and cyclists, but there weren't many picnics and barbecues. Actually Fourth of July celebrations have been declining for several years. Cinco de Mayo is the big day for picnics in the park these days. Sign of the times I guess. Independence Day doesn't get as much respect anymore.

I removed the remaining water from the roof today. I'm not sure what I'll do tomorrow. My gym has been open for several weeks now, but I think I'll wait a while before returning. Gyms still seem to wind up on the list of most dangerous list of things to do while walking in the park appears to be the safest.

Matao is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3793

My annual physical went well. I'm definitely getting older, but it appears that I'm just as healthy as I was last year. The only mildly alarming thing is that my doctor wants me to see a dermatologist. He thinks that some small scaly spots on my face that I always thought were keratosis might be squamous cell carcinoma instead. I hate having something removed that is so close to my eye, but I've learned not to ignore things like this. I'll see the dermatologist next week.

I enjoy talking with my doctor. In addition to being an excellent physician, he is also a history buff and loves talking about Texas history. He comes from a long line of Texas doctors that can trace their roots all the way back to the Republic of Texas. We talked about the Davis Mountains for a while and then I asked him about the coronavirus. He wasn't very confident that the pandemic would end soon. He said we were dreaming if we thought there would be a vaccine before the end of the year. "Just look at history," he told me. "It took decades to develop a safe polio vaccine. We failed to develop any sort of vaccine for SARS or other types of coronaviruses. Even the common flu vaccine we all take every year isn't always effective. You have to remember that a vaccine just helps speed up the development of herd immunity within a population. No pandemic since the Black Plague has been eradicated until herd immunity has been established and often that takes years."

This wasn't very encouraging. I told the doctor I was feeling fine but wondered why he was wearing a cast on his arm. He told me he was a Covid Casualty. When his gym closed, he started riding a bicycle for exercise. At some point, he lost control of the bike, flew over the handlebars, and broke both his arms. I never realized this guy was a badass. He fell in a remote area and somehow managed to reattach the chain to his bicycle with two broken arms and ride four miles back to town.

The nurse who did my EKG said that the past month at the clinic has been very weird. "We've been open the entire time," she told me, "but everyone canceled their appointments because they were scared of leaving the house." She said that there were many days when the entire staff just sat around with nothing to do. The phlebotomist who did my blood work said that even now some patients freak out if you even touch them. It's pretty hard to draw blood without touching someone.

I did have a mild fever last night after receiving the Shingles vaccine, but my temperature returned to normal this morning. Some people have a terrible reaction to these shots, but I've been pretty lucky. I felt a little tired today, but that might just be because it was hot and humid. At least I can cross this off my list. Hopefully I won't hear any bad news from the dermatologist.

There's going to be an all day virtual NASA Social for the Crew Dragon launch on the 27th of this month. It's definitely not the same as being there, but this was a good idea. I applied and quickly got accepted. I was pleased to see that many friends I'd met at previous NASA Socials were already there. I enjoy being part of the space/astronomy community. You can talk for hours with these people without ever mentioning politics or the coronavirus.

Haley is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3537

As we were driving between Midland and Odessa on Monday, it never crossed my mind that this long, flat stretch of highway would become the site of a mass shooting. What a difference a few days makes. Of course, when I was at Kennedy Space Center earlier this Summer I wasn't thinking about being in the path of a hurricane either. You never know what is going to happen these days. Maybe this is why I seldom listen to the local news. It is just too alarming.

I find enough uncertainty just dealing with the weather. It's a good thing I didn't bother to clear the water off the roof yesterday because we got some more heavy rain this morning. I waited for a break in the rain to do my Saturday grocery shopping and then the rain started again. So much for my forecasting skills. At least the pumps on the roof were working today. I think the water needs to reach a certain depth to prime them.

The good thing about today's rain was that it really cooled things down. When I took my walk after I finished shopping today it was only seventy five degrees. It was still very humid, but I'll take what I can get. Since it was much cooler today, I just kept walking after my first three miles. I wanted to see how far I could go before I got tired. After five miles I wasn't all that tired but I had other things to do. Five miles is plenty for one day.

I had to go to the bank today and ended up standing in line behind an older lady who clearly had no idea what was in her account. She seemed apprehensive and confused despite the teller's best attempts to help her. When she eventually walked away with an envelope full of cash, I hoped she was doing the right thing. Maybe she was just giving money to a granddaughter but maybe she was the victim of a scam. It happened to my Dad. I sincerely hope I never become senile. It's a sad thing when the mind begins to go.

I'm hoping that reading and writing will keep my mind functioning. That's my plan anyway. I bought some books on local history when we were out in West Texas and I started reading one today. It's a sure sign you are getting older when you become interested in history. I was never interested in history when I was younger which might explain why I am interested today. Reading about the past helps me fill in some gaps in my own history. I read a lot about the Apollo program during the Fiftieth Anniversary moon landing celebrations and was surprised at how much I'd forgotten or never knew in the first place. When we were visiting the The National Museum of the Pacific War I realized that I actually knew very few details about World War II. I certainly wasn't thinking about little towns in West Texas when I was younger but their story is fascinating. I guess I'll keep reading.

It's hard to believe that it's almost September. Where has this Summer gone? I'll go to the gym and try to get my 20,000 steps. If I can bring myself to go up on the roof I might get a few more. No wonder reading seems appealing at times. You just lie in bed and take the steps in your mind.

Domino is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3370

I'm glad I saw Apollo 11. The film got mixed reviews, but I think that anyone who is old enough to remember the event will agree with me. This wasn't just a movie, it was a time machine. The 65mm footage of the launch itself was spectacular, but what struck me the most were all the little details that brought the sixties back to life. Everybody smoked back then. It was amazing to see how many of the engineers and technicians at mission control were smoking cigarettes and pipes. Each of the flight controllers had a black rotary dial land line phone next to their console. Reporters were calling in their stories using pay phones. Some were typing on small portable manual typewriters. The men had crew cuts and a surprising number of women had beehive hairdos. This is exactly the way it was. It's funny how modern I thought the world was when I was in college. Back then I couldn't have imagined the world we live in today.

You can forget a lot in fifty years. As I was exiting the theater, a couple of older looking guys were commenting on the film. "How old were you when we went to the moon," one guy asked. "I was 8," his friend replied. "I was 6," the other guy said. Good grief. I must be really old. I was in college when the launch happened. The guys ahead of me at the theater looked old enough to be retired and I was at least ten years older than them. I not only remember Alan Shepard and John Glenn's first flights, I remember Ham the monkey. I was pretty young at the time, but I even remember Sputnik 1 in 1957.

When I went to the theater this afternoon I realized I was totally out of the loop. The guy at the ticket counter asked me to pick a seat on a touch screen. "I can't just go inside and sit where I want," I said. "No," said the attendant. "You have to pick a seat first." I guess even going to the movies is done on your phone now. You can get your ticket and pick a seat in advance. That explained why some of the best seats were already taken, even though the theater was almost empty when I went inside. I was so confused that I ended up sitting in the wrong row. "But it says Row G right on my ticket," I said to the guy next to me. "No, this is a G-Rated film," he explained to me. "Your seat is over there."

Later today, I watched another short film on my computer called Seattle is Dying. What a contrast. Apollo 11 was an incredibly optimistic story about one of the greatest achievements in human history.    Seattle is Dying is basically a cautionary tale about how civilization is literally crumbling under our feet. I guess that's the difference between 1969 and 2019. I used to live in Seattle. It was a great place in the early 70's. Seattle used to be called the Emerald City because it was so beautiful. The city now has one of the highest crime rates in the country. Drug abuse and homelessness are out of control. Parts of the city look like a third world country. Citizens don't feel safe anymore. You wonder how things deteriorated so quickly. It's sad. No wonder I would prefer to live in 1969.

It was nice to have a break from the usual Sunday chores today. I didn't really miss going to the gym. I'll catch up on chores tomorrow. The only useful thing I did today was make some temporary repairs to the balky French toilet. I've discovered that there's a weird little rubber piston in the flush mechanism that causes the toilet to run if it gets dirty. Periodically, I take the piston assembly apart and clean all the parts with alcohol. This usually fixes things for a few months.

Dash had a good day. He was still as slow as molasses, but he really enjoyed his outings in the park. The weather was beautiful and there were lots of things to smell. I wish I could do a better job of keeping him from stumbling. I do the best I can and we're still walking, so I guess that's all that counts. I evidently didn't do a great job of cleaning him up last night when he pooped either. He still had a brown tail when I woke up this morning.

I promised myself that I'll get started on my taxes tomorrow. I don't always keep my promises though.

Allie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3201

The unicorn has never been my spirit animal. I have always been a pragmatic, unemotional, and slightly cynical observer of life. When those "Black Lives Matter" and "Blue Lives Matter" memes were popular, the only thing that resonated with me was an icy cold picture of the Andromeda Galaxy with the inscription "No Lives Matter." We humans think we are way too important. In the grand scheme of things, we are just a single grain of sand on the beach.

I'm convinced that if you want to see what the future is like, all you have to do is look at the past. History repeats itself, over and over again. If you want to stop global warming, you have to realize that it is caused by too many people on the planet. Solar power and carbon credits aren't going to make any difference unless you can reduce the population. It was already been calculated that it will take 1.5 earths to sustain our present population indefinitely. Doesn't that bother anybody? We only have one earth. By the same token, if you want to change people's behavior, you have to understand history. If humanity has acted in a certain way since the dawn of time, things are not likely to change overnight. The pendulum always swings both ways. If you push too hard, the pendulum swings in the other direction and attempts to restore equilibrium.

This is why today's political circus is troubling. In a raw grab for political power, some politicians pushed too hard. They were willing to ignore all laws of fairness and decency and destroy two good people's lives in an effort to get what they wanted. Dr. Ford and Judge Kavanaugh have both become roadkill. Probably anyone who has ever known either of them is terrified that they will become roadkill too if this travesty continues.

If you upend the simple things that have kept civil society from imploding, you've got to expect pushback. Our country was built on the idea that all people are innocent until proven guilty. An assumption that someone is guilty until they can prove their innocence is going to get pushback. If you are expected to believe someone just because they say so, it is going to get pushback. I wonder if the women who want to destroy the patriarchy have really thought this through. If they succeed, 50% of the world's population will still be men.

Can you really change all of recorded history? Aristotle thought women should be slaves. Napoleon Bonaparte thought the same thing. Confucius, that wise sage who said "do not do to others what you do not want done to yourself' also said that "one hundred women are not worth a single testicle." Gautama Buddha, the guy who started Buddhism thought that women were too stupid to become Buddhists. Think that modern men have become more enlightened? Think again. Norman Mailer, one of our most celebrated writers famously said "a little bit of rape is good for a man's soul." Kurt Vonnegut, whose novels are still loved by many young women said that "educating a beautiful woman is like pouring honey into a fine Swiss watch: everything stops." It is well known that Picasso was very abusive to women. I could go on and on.

Are you really going to change all this by destroying a distinguished public servant with a loving family who has led an exemplary life? If it is fair game to go all the way back to someone's high school yearbook in an attempt to create a new narrative, where does it stop? Will we be looking at middle school behavior next? Will an eight year old kid who slapped another kid on the butt find their life ruined forty years later. This is how real fascism starts.

If you woke up this morning and discovered that a family member,  a coworker, or a friend you have known your entire life was actually on the other side, don't be surprised. A line has been drawn in the sand. Some of your best friends are now on the other side.

Let's hope that men don't ever decide that this issue is more important than football. If that ever happens, all bets are off. I don't know where this ends, but if you really want to change things, you've got to be fair. If you want to chase unicorns and change the world, I wish you well. History says it is going to be difficult. If your motive is retribution and payback, it will not end as you expect. I always tell people to be careful what you wish for and to beware of unintended consequences. They never listen.

SweetPea is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2828

I'm going to have to start writing earlier so I can watch the new Ken Burns documentary in the evening. Maybe The Vietnam War is more memorable for me than some of Burns other films because everyone my age grew up right in the middle of that moment in history. This film makes you realize that there is nothing new under the sun. All the turmoil that is going on in today's society was going on in the mid-60's too. Listening to the Lyndon Johnson tapes is amazing. Nobody really knew what they were doing. I guess it is not surprising that no president made tapes in the Oval Office after Richard Nixon. Ineptness sounds so much worse when you hear it on tape.

I'm going to have to go back and watch this entire series on Netflix sometime later. It is an eye opener. Jeez. If I ever get hooked on history and stop watching science fiction, it will be all the confirmation you need that I've become an old man. Children love Dr. Who. Old men read history. My Dad was a voracious reader and always had a tall stack of history books on his bedside table as he grew older. I'm sure you can learn a lot from history, but I'd like to think you can learn from fantasy too. I guess I can be a fan of Ken Burns and still be looking forward to Season Three of The Expanse.

I can't say that Dash loves his new soft cone, but he tolerates it. I think it is much more comfortable for him while he is sleeping. The one good thing about the old plastic cone was that it was transparent. This new one restricts his vision a bit more. He has a little trouble eating out of his bowl with it on, so I make sure to remove it whenever he is eating. The one thing I can't do is forget about him for any length of time while the cone is off. It doesn't take him long to rediscover the dewclaw injury.

The shoe repairman did a great job on my boots. They look as good as new. The only problem is that I know I'll be reluctant to wear them for a little while because they look too nice. I have plenty of clothes, but I tend to wear the same things over and over again. The things I actually wear are incredibly beat up. Maybe the worn clothing is more comfortable, or maybe I don't want to ruin the nice looking stuff. I don't know. I'll probably start wearing the boots again regardless of how I feel. They are the only comfortable off-pavement shoes I have. I'm sure it won't take long to return them to their beat up status.

I've figured out that it takes three days for water to start leaking out of the crack in the shower tiles. A little water must seep under the tiles every time I take a shower and on the third day, enough has accumulated to reach the level of the crack. I sucked the water away again with the wet/dry vacuum but am still unsure how to repair things. Is this a job for a plumber or a tile guy? I think the leak is in the drain itself, but I'm not sure. If I hire a tile guy, it will turn out that I needed a plumber. If I get a plumber, it will turn out that it was just bad grout in the tiles. That's just the way it goes.

I can't decide what I want for breakfast tomorrow. I make a lot of substitutions now. Some of the things I'm hungry for aren't on any menu. Maybe if I'm nice, someone will cook them for me anyway.

Rowe is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2818 - 9/11

With each passing year the world seems to pay a little less attention to 9/11. I was surprised to learn that almost 20% of the US population wasn't even born when the twin towers fell. Do these people even understand how much the world changed that day? It's been sixteen years now. I wonder who will remember when another sixteen years has passed.

I will remember, but I doubt that it matters much. My generation is no longer in charge. If you are my age, you may think you are still relevant, but the torch has already been passed. I hope that future generations will eventually develop an appreciation for history. From what I see, they don't care much about history any more. History is important and you can't just re-write the past because some of it might embarrass you. I will always remember when John Kennedy was shot, when Neil Armstrong set foot on the moon, and when the twin towers fell. These weren't dry events in a history book for me. I was there.

I wonder how long it will take the media to forget about Hurricane Irma? They've already forgotten about Harvey. It's astonishing what a short attention span we have these days. It's almost like the evening news has become a circus. Every Channel had a reporter in a raincoat standing out in the middle of the hurricane, but nobody is reporting about the wildfires on the West Coast at all. I didn't hear much about that huge earthquake in Mexico either. Maybe this is normal, but it seems strange to me.

I have time to think about such things because all I do these days is make pathetic attempts to repair things around the house. Today I got up on the roof with a pole saw and trimmed a lot of low hanging branches. The next time we get bad weather, some of these branches were sure to fall. I probably saved about $300 by doing the work myself, but I'd much rather be busy writing or designing websites, so I could pay someone else to do these dirty jobs.

I wonder how long it is going to take for Dash's dewclaw to start growing back. Every time I take his cone off, he starts licking his paw. It doesn't help that he always used to lick his paws anyway. It's just a habit, but it's a very bad habit right now. The wound needs to heal and scab over. This will take a while. I hope it doesn't take as long as it took my dog bite wounds to heal. Dash and I will both go crazy if that is the case. For the time being, I've resigned myself to taking his cone on and off a dozen times a day.

I guess I need to resign myself to losing work to millennials. Another website I created is being redesigned by a team of millennials. It hurts my feelings, but I would have done the same thing when I was younger. I wasn't shy about taking work from older creatives back in the day. Oh, well. What goes around comes around and time just keeps on marching on.

Shadow is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2414

Sometimes I think I'm mildly autistic. I fixate on minuscule details that others don't even think about. When I shoot baskets at the gym, there are eight basketballs to choose from. Only one of them is properly inflated. It bewilders me that after three years, nobody has bothered to pump up the other seven basketballs. The one good ball looks scuffed and worn, because I'm probably not the only one who has noticed that the other balls are worthless. Why has nobody fixed this?

When I'm using the treadmill I don't try to achieve a targeted heart-rate. I don't necessarily try to walk a certain distance either. I just try to create a perfect triangle on the LED display by increasing the inclination and speed every time the blinking light moves to a new row. I don't even know what this means, but the display looks very pretty by the time I'm finished.

I don't really have a horse in the race, but I find myself being drawn to the ongoing political debate like a mosquito to a bug light. Maybe I'm just watching the conventions because I like a circus. So far, I haven't been disappointed. Ted Cruz gives a lengthy speech were he fails to endorse the nominee and is booed off the stage. Melania decides she likes some of Michelle's words better than her own and the resulting plagiarism controversy just causes everyone to comment on how beautiful she is and compare her to Jackie Kennedy. Debbie Wasserman Schultz is forced to resign in disgrace after leaked e-mails reveal that Bernie was right all along. The system was rigged. Instead of apologizing immediately for trying to use the fact that Bernie is a Jew to undermine his support in the South, party leaders immediately try to blame the Russians for the leaked e-mails, claiming that Putin is trying to get Trump elected. You really can't make this stuff up. Then, Obama's own brother joins the fray, saying that he is going to vote for Trump because he's mad that Obama killed his friend Muammar Gaddafi. And of course you can't forget that Nordstrom sold out of the dress Ivanka was wearing in just a matter of hours when the Instagram girls all decided they had to have it. In a country where people obsess over the Kardashians and Kanye West and can't even name all fifty states, I guess this is all pretty normal.

I am cursed to have an almost equal number of friends on both sides of the political fence. All of these people are freaking out about the Supreme Court. I find this troubling. I'm convinced that politicians and their followers are obsessed with the Supreme Court because they basically don't trust the voters. If you can pack the Supreme Court with people who agree with you, you don't have to worry about the fickle voters anymore. I really think that all these politicians should pay a lot more attention to voters. They should learn from history. There are consequences when you go around saying "Let them eat cake."

I've got a doctor's appointment tomorrow. It is one of those routine annual exams where they make you wait in the lobby for an hour and spend five minutes with you when you finally get in to see them. I'm not going to the doctor as much as I used to. Maybe I'm actually healthier, or maybe I've just grown tired of doctors. It's hard to tell. Dash got a bath today, but I didn't bother vacuuming. At least something is a little cleaner.

Molly is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1366 - 9/11

I wonder how long it will be before the "We will never forget" tributes that honor this day are forgotten themselves. I'm already seeing fewer flags flying at half mast and the once ubiquitous wall-to-wall remembrances on the major news networks have been replaced with a few short feature stories that are interspersed between segments about Syria, forest fires in California, and the upcoming Floyd Mayweather-Canelo Alverez fight. Sadly, a quick Google search will garner just as many conspiracy theories about 9/11 these days as thoughtful tributes.

The events that shaped my life are slowly being forgotten. Do a search for November 22 and you will find more articles about the upcoming Xbox One launch than about the Kennedy assassination. Even though I remember the day well, it is ancient history to a majority of the population. The last time I visited Dealey Plaza on November 22, I noticed that the conspiracy nuts selling books about what really happened were growing very old and the crowds were quite sparse.  Jeez, the Apollo astronauts are senior citizens now and Woodstock memories have been replaced by Burning Man memories. It is almost inevitable that 9/11 will eventually be forgotten as well.

I don't think I'll ever forget that fateful morning when the towers fell twelve years ago, but it could happen. I've certainly forgotten plenty of other important things already. I can't even remember close friends birthdays anymore without the help of Facebook. I did remember to go to the Dallas Business Alliance breakfast meeting this morning. I still find it difficult to get up this early, but I'm already finding these meetings interesting.

Wednesday is quickly turning into the busiest day of the week. With a breakfast networking meeting in the morning, Dot's physical therapy sessions in the afternoon, and dog training classes in the evening, it's hard to find time to do anything else. Not surprisingly, I didn't finish any of my writing assignments today, but I did find time to set up a test Wordpress site on my local server. So far, configuring the server correctly has been a lot more difficult than working in the Wordpress environment. Wordpress is a lot different than building a site in Dreamweaver, but I'll figure it out eventually. Since this is probably the only new thing I'll have to learn this year, it would be embarrassing if I can't master things fairly quickly.

I just got my car back and now Janet's Land Rover has to go to the shop for repairs. The air conditioning abruptly quit working today and it's still pretty hot outside. With such terrible repair histories, you might wonder why we're so fond of these cars. Sometimes I wonder myself.

Shadow is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 635

I was looking through some old Ektachrome slides the other day and was surprised to discover that I'd taken several pictures of Engine Company 18. I used to do a lot of work in New York in the 1980's and I must have taken this picture of the historic West Village station while I was walking from my hotel to the recording studio. Who would have known then that Engine Company 18 would become a specialized HazMat unit known as Squad Company 18 in 1998 and subsequently be put to the ultimate test a few years later on September 11, 2001. Squad Company 18 lost a huge number of firefighters for such a small station on 9/11. When I look at this photograph, I can't help but think that the world will never again enjoy the innocence it felt when I walked by this station on a cool morning in 1985.

When all my other memories have faded, I will still remember the day President Kennedy was shot, the day Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin set foot on the moon, and the day the towers fell. These are days that changed history forever. I think the changes set in place by 9/11 aren't over yet. Today's economy has something to do with 9/11. The Arab Spring with its unprecedented fall of dictatorships has something to do with 9/11 as well. History is funny. It's hard to see it when you're right in the middle of it. Maybe in thirty years or so, we'll have a better idea of what opening this particular Pandora's Box has brought us. I just wish we could somehow recreate the sense of unity and determination we all felt on September 12, 2001. If we could do that as a society, we could accomplish anything.

I don't know how to make sweeping changes. I don't think anybody does. That's why I stick to small things. I try to help dogs and avoid being a burden to others. That's about it. Today we took the dogs to the dog park. We did some laundry. We reflected on what we saw on TV. Tomorrow will be a brand new day.

Shadow is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day