Day 3614

We took Jasmine with us to Petfair today. It's been a while since we've participated in this annual event, but the rescue program has a lot of dogs now and we wanted to give them a little extra exposure. Jasmine was a good candidate to be an ambassador for Dalmatian Rescue. She loves people, is good with other animals, and is less scared of new situations than some of the other newcomers.

Being at a public event was completely new to Jasmine. She'd never even worn a harness before. It took her a while to get used to wearing the harness before we left the kennel this morning. I don't think she ever got used to riding in the car. I wish we'd known ahead of time that Jasmine gets carsick. She threw up several times before we arrived at the adoption event. As soon as the car stopped, she was fine. I understood what she was going through. As a kid, I used to get carsick all the time. I've thrown up in cars, ships, and planes all over the world. We'll know in the future to give Jasmine Cerenia before she takes a car trip.

Jasmine was a little shy when we first arrived at the event. This was all new to her. It didn't take long for her to discover the smell of hamburgers on the grill however. Every time I would take her on a little walk, she would head straight for the big smoker in the back where they were grilling hot dogs and hamburgers. We bought her a hamburger without any seasonings and she loved it. After a few bites of her burger she decided that rescue events weren't so bad after all.

Despite her problems with motion sickness, Jasmine had a very good day. Someone has been interested in Jasmine for a while and her adoption was finalized today. She will be going to her forever home soon. A lot of people enjoyed saying hello to Jasmine this afternoon. Everybody loved her. Maybe her afternoon as a rescue ambassador will help some of our other dogs find their forever homes as well.

It was a long day for all of us, but it was a good one. I think Jasmine was glad to be back in her comfy bed when we returned to the kennel. She was tired and ready for a nap. I was ready to throw my clothes in the washing machine when we returned home. For some reason Jasmine felt most comfortable throwing up when she was sitting in my lap in the car

Tomorrow should be a busy day as well. I will need to finish all of my Saturday errands before I can start my Sunday errands. I should still be able to find time to go to the gym, but I doubt that it will be a 20,000 step day. I've got my priorities. If it's still nice outside tomorrow, I'm going up on the roof and try to find the last of the torn spots. As always, more rain is on the way.

Alvin is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 3567

Treasure was mad that she couldn't play today. It has only been a few days since her surgery and she's not ready to have her stitches removed yet. Treasure can play rough when she gets excited. We didn't want to risk having her incisions come open. It's hard to tell a dog that there'll be plenty of time to play later, but Treasure will just have to wait. After her stitches come out, she can show us how well she knows how to roll over again.

Hank is still too thin but he is eating well and his gastrointestinal problems seem to have gone away. The vet says he should start gaining weight in a week or so. He certainly has plenty of energy. Hank could play ball for hours. Sock isn't interested in playing but loves the attention. He has a new soft bed now and would probably rather have us take a nap with him than play ball. Jasmine and Jelly Bean, our two new girls, have really come out of their shell. It's quite a transformation. They seems to become friendlier and more trusting with each passing week. They are both eager to see us now. Rolly might be getting a home soon. He's such a friendly, easy-going dog that we're going to miss seeing him. Charlie is almost ready for a home as well. He's come a long way. He still needs to learn how to relax but he seems to trust me now and enjoys getting belly rubs.

Poor Jasmine starts her heartworm treatment tomorrow. The treatment can be hard on the dogs, but it needs to be done. Heartworms will kill a dog if left untreated. It's still hard for me to believe that so many people don't give their dogs the preventative medicine. It's easy and it works. So many of the dogs we rescue end up having heartworms. Jasmine has become comfortable with life at the kennel, but she still doesn't like riding in a car. She drooled a lot on the way to the vet this afternoon. Maybe she gets motion sickness. At least she didn't throw up in the car. When I see a dog drool a lot, they are either looking at a piece of cheese or getting ready to throw up.

A morning walk in the park and an afternoon with the Dalmatians basically took up the entire day. That's OK. I don't really make plans anymore. There is very little these days that can't wait until tomorrow. I've got a dental appointment later this week, but that's about it. Sometimes when I walk in the park, I daydream about what I'd like to do next. I can't think of anything I'd like to do here in town. The idea of traveling around in a little van looking for dark skies and bright stars sounds appealing. I don't know if I'd feel safe on the road though. Truthfully, I'm not sure I feel safe anywhere these days. The world I grew up with is crumbling.

Maybe I should start looking for places like Fort Davis. There are probably lots of little towns like this scattered around the country. Maybe not though. When I was a kid, my family used to spend summers in Colorado. Towns like Crested Butte and Telluride were a lot like Fort Davis back then. Then rich people discovered them and ruined everything. I used to love Crested Butte when it was almost a ghost town. I don't even recognize the place anymore.

I'll save these thoughts for another day. I don't have a time machine. Basically, it doesn't matter if you are living in a little hamlet or a big city. It's still 2019 everywhere.

Thelma is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1063

One of my assignments today was writing about a contest where the prize was a flight on one of those planes that lets you experience weightlessness for a few minutes while the aircraft follows a parabolic flight path that temporarily negates the effects of gravity. This seemed like a cool and somewhat original contest prize. I almost thought of entering the contest myself until I started remembering my own flying experiences.

Years ago, I was one of the lead writers on the Cessna account. The aircraft manufacturer thought it would be nice if their creative team were pilots, so the agency told us they would pay for flight training. I sailed through ground school with flying colors. It was only when I stepped into the cockpit of the little Cessna 152 training aircraft that I realized there might be a problem. I had severe motion sickness. Every time I banked the little plane into a turn, I threw up all over the instrument panel. I literally could only fly the plane in a straight line. I thought of trying some strong anti-nausea medications but my instructor said it wasn't wise to fly an airplane on drugs. I finally gave up my quest to fly when I overheard one of the flight instructors tell another instructor "You take him up today. I cleaned up the plane last time."

Since that time, I have preferred flights of fancy. Over the years, I've tended to spend my idle time watching science fiction TV series. I've progressed from Babylon 5, to Farscape, Lexx, and finally Dr. Who. Somewhere along the line, I completely forgot about Firefly. I happened to catch a few episodes on a tenth anniversary retrospective of the short lived series this weekend. Pretty darn good show. While I was running errands this afternoon, I popped over to Fry's and got a DVD containing the entire 14 episode series. If November is as dead as it usually is, I'll have something to watch now on the dull days.

Actually last November I was extremely busy, so you never know what is going to happen. I'm always ready and willing to work. I'm just not that interested in marketing myself. Instead of making cold calls, I'd really prefer that people would become fascinated with the blog and decide to hire me on that basis. What the hell, it happened once. Maybe it will happen again.

It's getting dark on our evening walks again. This is the time of year that I start to worry we'll come face-to-face with a pack of coyotes in the park. I don't think Dot and Dash have learned their coyote etiquette yet. Coyote etiquette dictates that you steer well clear of the critters and by all means don't start barking at them.

Jada is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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