Day 4621

Today is Janet's birthday. We dressed up a little, went to a nice restaurant, and had a great dinner. We were both born on the 19th, but two months apart. Neither of us is getting any younger, but we seem to be doing well. Janet is still doing a better job of staying in shape than I am. The birthdays come too fast now. It doesn't seem like a year has passed since our last birthday celebration. Hopefully, there will be many more.

The weather is still a little cooler. Dawn enjoyed her sunrise walk and it was still nice enough for me to take a long walk in the park later in the morning. I probably should have gone to the gym because it did seem pretty hot by the time I returned home. I managed to complete my full six mile route, but it's starting to seem a little harder that it did a year ago. I'm determined to keep moving though. I think I would deteriorate pretty rapidly if I stopped moving.

I had trouble posting the blog to Facebook last night. I finally discovered a work around, but it did make me wonder why I still post something every day. I really don't have that much to say. Computer problems are becoming more common now. I keep getting messages that my browser is out of date and is no longer supported. The computer is old and can't run new systems. I don't feel like buying a new one though. As far as I'm concerned the computer worked fine ten years ago. Why do people insist on changing things? At any rate, I hope the blog posts normally tonight. I'm tired and want to get to bed at a reasonable hour.

There were more bills to pay today. Living on a fixed income in inflationary times is not something I'd recommend. When I was working I could just work a little longer and make more money when prices started to rise. Now I have to pay more attention to budgeting. I don't buy as many things I don't need now. Maybe if I did this when I was younger, I wouldn't even need the storage warehouse.

I think there might be a Space X Starlink launch while I'm down in Florida. It would be nice if I could see two launches in a single trip. I'm not sure about the date though. Some places say the Space X launch will take place two days before the Artemis launch. Other places say the day before and one website says that the launch has been postponed until some time in September. Probably the most accurate website just said "launch date subject to change."

I think Dawn finally accepts me as a family member. We're getting along pretty well now. We certainly share some of the same interests. We both like to eat and we like to nap. I don't think that Dawn will ever be completely comfortable with men, but this is close enough for me. She is a good dog.

Spot is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 4343

I did a lot of walking today. We started with Dawn's sunrise walk. Even this early I could tell it was going to be a warmer day. Dawn is back to taking her short one mile loop. Any day now she could surprise us though. We never know when she's going to decide to be adventurous. 

Weekends are the only time I eat a big breakfast. Actually, it's the only time Janet and I eat breakfast together. We had a hearty meal of bacon, eggs, and toast and then I went out walking again. My feet still hurt but I am unwilling to quit walking. Basically the problem is just arthritis and I don't want to start taking pain pills on a regular basis. Aching feet slow me down though. I definitely didn't make good time today.

As soon as I returned home, Dawn was ready to go on her Sunday outing. It had warmed up enough at this point that I didn't even need a jacket. Dawn is weird about our Sunday ritual. She gets so excited as we get ready to leave the house and then as soon as we get in the car, she gets terrified. She has never liked riding in the car, but luckily it is a short drive to her Sunday park. As soon as we arrive at our destination, she is back to normal. Normal for Dawn actually isn't very normal, but we'll take what we can get. 

We had a nice walk with lots of new things to smell and then we went for ice cream. The ice cream place always has a help wanted sign out front. Either they have a big turnover or they are very picky about who they hire. We always get good service. Occasionally they even give us a free pup cone. The pup cones are very small. I think Dawn likes the regular cones better. Dawn is a noisy eater. It makes us laugh to hear her crunching on a cone. 

I didn't do much for the rest of the day. I got out the wet-dry vac and removed the water that collects between the tiles and the shower pan after I took a shower. I probably need to re-grout the bathroom tiles, but I've done this several times and it never worked for long. For whatever reason, the bathroom is where there are the most stress cracks in the sheetrock. Old houses move and shift with the seasons. Some of our doors stick in the summer but are fine in the winter. Since tile grout isn't very pliable, it always tends to crack when the house shifts. This is a minor problem compared to others we've had, but it does make me want to quit taking showers occasionally.

Janet was gone for most of the afternoon, so Dawn and I had plenty of time to bond. Dawn wasn't interested. When I would lie down on the bed to take a short nap, Dawn would always groan and move away to the far corner of the bed. Although Dawn clearly prefers that I stay in the office, she likes the bed so much that she reluctantly shares it with me. When Janet's home, Dawn follows her around like glue. I think Dawn thinks I'm a kennel attendant. I'm good for walks and fixing dinner. That's about it.

I read an article today about skyrocketing home prices and the difficulties new buyers are facing these days. Evidently in some cities there are multiple bids on almost every house that comes to market and buyers either get outbid or end up paying way more than the asking price. It makes me glad that we aren't going anywhere and are living in a home that was paid for a long time ago. The world isn't a friendly place anymore. I keep thinking that my parents lived in the best of times. There was no social media or fake news. Everybody trusted Walter Cronkite. Nobody made a lot of money, but things didn't cost very much either. I wasn't even aware of crime when I was a kid. Nobody even locked their doors in our neighborhood. Even much later when I started college it still felt safe to hitchhike. I hitchhiked all over the country. Times have definitely changed. It's not Mad Max at Thunderdome yet, but we are definitely headed in that direction.

Puppies are today's Dalmatians of the Day

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4063 - Superbowl Sunday

I expected Tampa Bay to win tonight, but I didn't expect the game to be a complete rout. Kansas City was completely humiliated. It just goes to show that you should never count the old guys out. Experience beats youth almost every time. At 43, Tom Brady never looked better. At 68, Bruce Arians is one of the oldest head coaches in the NFL. No risk it, no biscuit is what Bruce always says. I think Elon Musk would agree with this philosophy. Jeez. Rob Gronkowski even came out of retirement to play this year. Lets hear it for the old guys.

The NFL could learn a few lessons from the old guys when it comes to halftime shows. What on earth has happened to music. Do today's artists even have a clue? Personally, I don't think there has been a truly great halftime show since Micheal Jackson. Prince came pretty close when he sang Purple Rain in a driving rainstorm, but Michael Jackson is still the king of pop. Bruce Springsteen put on a good show. Bruno Mars put on a good show. That's about where it all ended. Recent Superbowl shows have been uniformly terrible. I couldn't even hear the Weeknd's vocals. The sound was muffled and there was way too much reverb. OK, I'll admit it. I've never even heard of the Weeknd. Who is this guy? And what on earth was that chorus of guys wearing jockstraps on their heads? 

I can't say much for the ads either. Superbowl ads used to be one of the best things about the game. Not anymore. The quality of Superbowl ads has been slowly deteriorating for years, but this year hit a new low. Usually car ads are the worst, but this year two of them were the best of the lot. I liked the humorous GM ad taking on Norway and I liked the serious Jeep ad about coming together in the middle. Most of the rest of the ads were crap. This is what happens when you cancel Stan Richards. There used to be Tom Brady's in the ad industry as well, but giants like George Lois and William Bernbach just don't exist anymore. 

After we finished walking Dawn, Janet and I took our long walk together. There is one particular duck we see frequently that we've always called the Lonely Duck because she never seemed to be part of a group. All the other ducks want nothing to do with this one. Today we watched the Lonely Duck chase four larger ducks off a little island. The four ducks had a conference and all went back after the little duck, but she lowered her head and held her ground.  She ran straight toward the larger ducks and they all scattered and started running toward the water. That wasn't good enough for the little duck. She started swimming toward the larger ducks and chased them entirely out of the lake. This performance explains a lot. We're not going to call her the Lonely Duck any more. From now on, she's the Mean Duck.

Tomorrow is Dawn's first anniversary living with us. A lot has changed, but a lot has stayed the same. Dawn is a well loved member of the family and we are convinced that she really likes it here, but she's still scared of everything. I don't think this is going to change. She is an older dog and has a lot of bad memories. You have to be careful not to make sudden movements or talk too loudly. She's always waiting for the other shoe to drop. Dawn has quite a personality though and always makes us laugh. In an odd way, I think we were all meant for each other.

Next week ought to be interesting. It's going to continue to get colder, although I don't think there is snow in the forecast anymore. Janet and I get our Covid shots next week. Will we get the Pfizer or the Moderna version? I still have no idea which of the two is better. If anyone does know, they're certainly not going to tell us at this point. We'll see how it goes. Hey, if we get to travel again, I'm good.

Stortz is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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