Day 1423

The return of nice weather meant it was time to take care of some things I'd been postponing. I removed falling leaves and standing water from the roof. I got a big bucket of soapy water and washed the car. I gathered up all the trash and took it out to the curb. I went to the grocery store and finally made it back to the gym.

In between these activities,  I found time to update several websites as well, but it was definitely a day where my body got more of a workout than my mind. As I grow older, I'm finding that the physical side of my day is growing, while the mental side is shrinking. One reason for this is that I'm slower than I used to be. It takes me longer to do simple things like mow the grass, make the bed, and walk the dogs.

A more fundamental reason for the decline in brain strain is that people seldom ask me to do mentally challenging things anymore. In the early years of my creative career, I would frequently be asked to do amazing and impossible things. Things that required imagination routinely came my way, because people just assumed that creative people handled all the imagination stuff. Now that's all changed. After several generations of teachers telling their students that they are all special and unique, everybody thinks they genuinely are creative. Perhaps they are. It's not for me to judge. All I know is that I'm not the Wizard of Oz anymore. People don't send me to exotic locations to edit commercials, or pay me exorbitant sums of money to write a headline. If there's something cool to do, most  people tend to want to do it themselves these days. Hey, I don't blame them. I've always wanted to save the best stuff for myself.

What passes for work today is usually stuff that other people don't want to do. They all think they could do these things just as well themselves if they had more time, so they don't really value anything new that I might bring to the party. What they want instead is for me to execute their idea. Advertising has always been like this to a certain degree, but at least there used to be an illusion of glamor. Now, I'm just an idea monkey. Writing ads and sweeping the water off the roof get all mixed up in my head, because one thing seems no more intrinsically valuable than the other.

Maybe that's why physical days like today seem more honest to me. I can actually feel my muscles getting stronger. Hey, maybe I'll live a few days or a few months longer as a result. Physical activity is something tangible I can understand. I'm not so sure what completing other people's ideas brings me. Mostly it's just a lot of frustration.

Chase is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1349

I think the dogs had more energy than I did today. Although we schlepped them all over town, they seemed to take it all in stride. Even though it was hot as hell at the dog park, they still enjoyed the outing. They were both great little ambassadors for Dalmatian Rescue at the PetCo store rescue event this afternoon. They even had enough energy left over to take a pretty decent evening walk.

I can't say the same for myself. I think it was mowing the grass after we returned from the rescue events that did me in. I don't care what you say. I still think mowing the grass burns more energy than anything I do at the gym. I use an electric mower now, and even though it is much lighter than the old gas mower, it is not self-propelled. Pushing that thing up a hill is probably all the cardio exercise I need. The yard does look much better now though.

I discovered that there's a name for the numbness I often feel in my toes. It's called Peripheral neuropathy and I actually wish I hadn't learned about it. I used to think the numbness was just caused by the Carvedilol I was taking to slow down my heart rate. It made sense that since my heart wasn't pumping as fast, the circulation to my feet wouldn't be as good as it should be. Now it appears that numbness and tingling sensations in the toes and feet can be caused by any number of things, including diabetes, Hepatitis-C, and vitamin B deficiency. What this means for me is that my doctors will never agree on a cause and they'll all propose different treatments. I guess it doesn't really matter, since there is no cure for Peripheral neuropathy anyway.

I finished my monthly writers group assignment this evening. Lately, everything I write is starting to feel like an assignment. Whatever happened to writing for the sheer joy of it? I'd like to imagine that I used to write for the sheer joy of writing, but I suspect that I've mostly just written for money. About the only thing I do for the sheer joy of it anymore is eat things on my forbidden list. Bacon anyone?

Pinky is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 467

Change of plans. It looks like it's going to rain later this week, so we decided to finish planting all the grass today. New grass needs tons of water, and if we can get the sod in place before the rains start, so much the better. Janet, Brad and Travis walked the rescue Dalmatians this morning, while I ran a grass convoy with the Defender 90. I can only carry 25 squares of sod at a time, so it has taken quite a few trips to Miller Grass to get all the grass we needed.

It's weird. Miller Grass is very near the battery store where I buy watch batteries. A single square of St. Augustine grass and a single watch battery cost almost exactly the same thing. Both last about two years. I wonder which purchase is more worthwhile. Both provide initial pleasure, followed by long-term frustration. The frustration with the grass is that it doesn't last longer. In theory, the grass should keep growing forever, but it never does. I don't expect the watch batteries to last forever, but you'd think the watch manufacturers would make it a little easier to replace them. Even though I have all the proper tools, I still end up scratching some of the watches just trying to pry the back cover off to get the battery out.

Just two days ago the temperature was in the 80's. Now, it's back down in the 40's again. I guess this is just a normal March, but it still seems kind of strange. I was so cold today that I had to dig out a couple of sweaters I had already put away for the Summer. We even turned the furnace on again today. Actually, the cooler weather is kind of nice. I might as well enjoy it while I can, because another Texas Summer is on its way.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day