Day 4235

Today was busy. Well, at least it was busy for me. I did more than one thing today which is becoming increasingly rare. It doesn't cool down at night the way it used to last month. Since our sunrise walks are warmer, Dawn doesn't like to walk as far. We are back to our bare minimum one mile loop again. I can't blame Dawn for wanting to get back inside. I usually feel like getting back inside as well.

I stopped at REI to pick up my new running shoes on my way to get a haircut. You could tell the whole mask situation is getting very confusing. Some of the staff were wearing masks while others weren't. The customers were the same way. I see this everywhere. When I went to the pharmacy a little later to pick up the antibiotics I need for my upcoming root canal, none of the pharmacists on duty were wearing masks. My hair stylist still wants customers to wear masks though and says she might continue wearing them forever. Clearly, we are just as divided on masks as we are on everything else in this country. I carry a mask in my back pocket and put it on if it makes someone happy. I don't think they are necessary if you have been vaccinated though. I'm wearing mine less and less.

I always enjoy getting a good haircut. Usually a haircut means I will be traveling somewhere interesting in the near future. Not this time. Travel is another thing that has become completely messed up in a post-Covid world. Planes are crowded and the people flying on them have become extremely rude. Hotels have gotten very expensive and rental cars are almost impossible to find in popular destinations. This is one of many reasons why I will be missing the upcoming Boeing Starliner launch. It's just as well I guess. If I was down in Titusville now, I would be fretting about the latest launch delay and wondering how I was going to pay for the trip. I'm hoping that things will change in the Fall, but I'm not counting on it. A perpetual Covid panic seems to benefit some people. This may go on forever.

I feel bad about making Dawn wear the cone so much, but it is the only thing that keeps her from licking and biting at her paws. We can usually leave the cone off in the mornings because she is tired after her sunrise walk and just goes to sleep. It's the afternoons where she gets into trouble. She knows we don't like the licking and will usually not go after her paws while one of us is in the room with her. If we leave her alone in the house she starts licking immediately. I thought this might be separation anxiety for a while, but she also does a lot of licking while we are asleep. Luckily, she can sleep normally wearing the cone, because she's been having to wear it at night lately.

I'm getting tired of spending money on things that bring no joy. I got my car insurance bill today and of course it was a lot higher than it was six months ago. I looked up the average price of a root canal on Google and was horrified at how expensive they were. Several reputable tree guys want to charge me as much as $5000 to remove the big Oak tree in the back yard. Lord knows how much it will cost to fix all the things that need attention in the house.

I went to the gym again today. I may not be getting any satisfaction, but I am still getting my steps. Maybe I'm fooling myself, but I still think staying in shape and drinking a healthy smoothie every morning is the secret to everything. We'll see how tomorrow goes. I've taken the trash out to the curb and watered the new grass. I'm ready for anything as long as there are no surprises.

Tink is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4014

I promised Janet that I'd throw away at least five things if she'd help me sort through stuff at the storage warehouse. We ended up removing a whole carload of useless stuff. The sad thing was that when we were finished the storage space didn't look any different. It will take quite a few trips like this to remove enough stuff so I can move to a smaller space.

I threw away a lot of empty boxes that I'd saved in case we moved someday. That's probably never going to happen. It never occurred to me that even if we did move, the electronic gear that came in the boxes would be obsolete or broken by then. I finally threw away my first computer, an old Osborne-1 that was completely rusted. I tossed a large rug that had been given to me as a gift. The rug had completely disintegrated and had either rotted of been eaten by moths. There were dozens of computer keyboards that probably didn't work anymore. I found a sales sample case filled with carefully mounted photos that I apparently meant to show to someone. The photos were so old though that they had all faded. The strangest thing I threw away was a white chef's uniform. What was I doing with a chef's uniform? 

I need to find a nearby commercial shredding company so I can get rid of a lot of old financial records. My accountant says to keep three years of documentation. I must have at least thirty years of records. There is some cool mid-century modern stuff that I might lend to a real estate friend for staging in houses he's selling. There's bunch of vinyl records that could go to a vintage record store. I'm willing to get rid of all my old computers now, but it's so much trouble to take them apart and remove the hard drives. Truthfully, most of the stuff in the storage warehouse wound up there because it was too much trouble to deal when I ran out of room in the office. I don't have the temperament to sell things on e-Bay or even do the research to see if anything might be valuable. It's a lot easier to just throw stuff in the storage space and forget about it. 

The sky was clear this evening, so I practiced taking pictures of Jupiter and Saturn. The two planets are already quite close together. Photographing them was a little more difficult than I anticipated though. Jupiter is much brighter than Saturn so it is almost impossible to find the correct exposure for both. Jupiter's four brightest moons are clearly visible with even a modest telephoto lens, but they are quite dim.  You could take three different images for Jupiter, Saturn, and the moons and then composite them together in Photoshop, but the color of the sky would be different in each photo. I learned some things tonight, so maybe my photos of the conjunction tomorrow will be better. If you are reading the blog on Blogger, you can enlarge this picture and see more detail. If you're reading on Facebook, you are out of luck, because you are just looking at a JPEG image of the blog post.

My new shoes are still doing a great job of reducing foot pain. Unfortunately, I forgot that I sometimes wake up with foot pain when I sleep in the wrong position. The shoes don't help much when your foot hurts before you even put a shoe on. Maybe there's some sort of lightweight wrap or brace I could wear at night. It's a nuisance when your body starts falling apart, but I still think I'm doing better than most people my age. 

It's hard to believe that Christmas is almost here. Where has this year gone? Janet usually visits her family on Christmas but Covid put an end to that. Hopefully by next Christmas we can all resume our regular routines.

Lexi is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4013

My new shoes are a success. I wore them for the first time on our morning walk with Dawn and experienced considerably less foot pain. There are still a few aches and pains, but what a difference. My late afternoon walk was even better. Usually by this time of day my feet are wrecked, but I was able to walk reasonably normally this afternoon. These shoes weren't cheap, but they are worth every penny. I feel like I have one less problem to worry about.

The broken dehumidifier that Janet dragged out to the curb for bulky trash pickup is already gone. I told Janet that someone would probably take it because it still looks new. Some poor fool probably thinks they scored a real find. It will take weeks for them to discover that the machine is basically worthless. It still turns on and sounds like it is working. All the buttons and displays still function. It just does a terrible job of extracting moisture from the air. Since the machine still extracts a little water from the air every day, the new owner might think that this is the way it is supposed to work. Nope. It's broken. Maybe I'll go get the other broken dehumidifier from the storage warehouse and put it out for big trash day too. Someone will inevitably snag this worthless machine as well. I know how this works because I used to be one of those people who would bring home worthless treasures I found along the side of the road.

Dawn is definitely back to normal. She had lots of energy this morning and we were able to take our full five mile walk. She seemed happy that I was able to walk a little faster as well. Even the dog likes my new shoes. Every morning we see four Muscovy Ducks. These ducks are kind of rare and stand out among the other ducks. Two males and one of the females always hang out together. The other female always seems lost or shy. Sometimes she follows along behind the other Muscovy Ducks. Other times she tries to hang out with the geese. Today we found her with a bunch of little black Coots. I've started to feel sorry for this pitiful little duck. All the other ducks seems to have rejected her. You know you've been walking a long time when the wild animals start to develop personalities. I'd never see all these things if I was just walking on a treadmill at the gym.

It was overcast this morning, but by sunset the sky was completely clear. I was able to see Jupiter and Saturn again. They keep getting closer and closer together. Maybe Monday evening will be clear. There has been such a media buildup about this planetary conjunction that it will be a disappointment if I don't get to see it. My best view tonight came as I was walking from the parking lot to pick up Chinese take out for dinner. I like PF Changs in Northpark, but this was not the best time to visit the mall. The place was packed around dinner time and it was almost impossible to find a parking place. There is such a disconnect between what I see on TV and what I see around town. On television the world is still shut down. In Dallas everything seems normal. Parking lots and restaurants are full. People are going to work and doing lots of shopping. They say hospitals are filling up in Dallas, just like other cities. You'd never know it though. The city seems exactly like it did last Christmas.

The shopping app on my phone didn't work today and I had to check out with a cashier. How old fashioned. I've totally adopted the new normal. I like contactless shopping and online pill payment. The fewer people I need to interact with the better. I don't miss holiday family gatherings at all. I never got along with my own family anyway. I don't really like wearing masks, but I find myself turning into a mask snob. I bite my tongue, wanting to tell other people that their cloth mask is worthless or that they are wearing it wrong. Maybe I'm wearing mine wrong as well. I don't think anyone has really mastered pandemic etiquette yet.

I'm going to try to throw some stuff away at the storage warehouse tomorrow. I'd better take Janet with me or I will just start labeling things and leave all the junk there. There has got to be an easier way to declutter. Getting rid of things still seems foreign to me.

Ranger is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4012

Dawn seems to be feeling better. We had a nice walk this morning and Dawn showed no signs of discomfort. We thought it would encourage her to walk if we let her choose the way. Luckily it was dry outside because Dawn quickly left the trail and went down by the shoreline. There's lots to smell down there. The uneven ground was a little harder on my foot, but Dawn had fun.

I followed my orthopedic surgeon's suggestions and got the running shoes he recommended. They definitely felt different in the store, but it remains to be seen whether they will cure my foot pain. I mostly buy shoes in self-serve discount stores, so it's been a while since I've had anyone fit me for a shoe. It appears that shoe shopping has gone high-tech. I stood on a special machine that displayed pressure points in your step as different colors. Even when I was standing relaxed with my weight equally distributed on both feet, it looked like I was placing more weight on my left foot. Interesting. Apparently I was compensating for something. Maybe it was the old knee injury in my right knee. I'm not expecting miracles, but I hope these new shoes help. I do like to walk. It's about the only form of exercise that I actually enjoy.

I'm glad I made an effort to look at Jupiter and Saturn the other day. It was overcast today and it occurs to me that I may not get a chance to see the planets again before the conjunction. The weather might be beautiful on Monday, but you never know here in Texas. If it is clear on Monday evening I'm going to attempt to photograph the planets through the biggest telephoto lens I've got. It's not a telescope, but it will have to do. I don't have the right adaptors to attach my camera to the one telescope I do own. I doubt that the photos will be spectacular, but taking pictures helps me remember things. I definitely won't have the opportunity to observe something like this again.

It's weird that after seeing two highly regarded medical specialists this week that their recommendations were just to change the shoes I was wearing and starting taking more Pepcid AC.  Somehow I was expecting much more complicated remedies. I sure would be nice if I could eliminate the foot pain, coughing, and heartburn with such a simple solution. One added benefit of taking Pepcid is that a recent research study showed that Covid patients taking Pepcid were 45% less likely to die in the hospital. I don't think the new shoes will have any effect on the virus.

I paid my property taxes today. Somehow, I was under the impression that property taxes were capped for senior citizens and wouldn't go up any more after you turned sixty-five. That was clearly wrong. They went up quite a bit this year. I'm sure this is a sign of things to come. Municipalities are losing a lot of sales tax revenue because of virus restriction and online shopping. They're going to get the money wherever they can find it. Oh, well. At least I won't have to worry about this bill for another year.

Where did this week go? It's already time to make a grocery list again. If it's not raining tomorrow morning I'll wear my new shoes on our walk with Dawn. I'll add a Pepcid to my list of evening meds as well. 

Alvin is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3436

I need to call the plumber. The leaking shower head is getting worse. I put a bucket under the drip after I took a shower today and it only took a couple of hours for the bucket to become full. I was surprised. It just seems like a little drip, but it is relentless. I don't think I can fix the faucets myself. I took the handles off today to look at the mechanism and it looked unfamiliar. I'd better leave this alone.

Since I couldn't fix the leak, I defrosted the little refrigerator instead. Melting ice is more my speed. I don't know why we even use the little refrigerator anymore. There's plenty of space in the big refrigerator. I guess I just like to be prepared. The little refrigerator can run off a generator. We may need it someday.

I keep wondering about the White Pelican I see on my walks. It is apparently never going to migrate. The bird seems content to live by itself on a quiet little bay at the lake. There are probably no other Pelicans within 1000 miles right now but the bird seems happy enough. It catches fish in the lake, sits on logs for hours at a time observing things and occasionally flaps its wings and flies. Maybe this is my spirit animal.

I tried out some different shoes today with thinner socks. Maybe this combination is better. I had very little foot pain on today's walks. The Vibram soles get caked with mud easily, but that's a small problem. Muddy boots clean up easily with a garden hose. I'll wear these for a while and see if they encourage me to walk longer.

I wrote a letter to my sister this afternoon and paid a credit card bill. Credit card bills are frustrating because they are always larger than I expect. It's amazing what you can forget during a month. My Webflow account auto renewed this month. I forgot about that one. I wonder if I even still need this? I subscribed to this advanced web development tool so I could build mobile ready websites for my clients. They all got really nice sites, but eventually left anyway. I haven't built a new website in almost a year.

I wish my plumbing problem would magically go away overnight. I hate dealing with plumbers. Somehow, little problems always end up turning into big problems. In theory, fixing some leaky faucets shouldn't be a big deal, but I've been wrong before. We'll see what tomorrow brings. I have a feeling that it's going to be a lot like today.

Rosco is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3372

I finished getting my tax files organized today and took them over to my accountant. For the past several years this has been a somewhat depressing experience. I've known the accountant for decades. We are about the same age. His business is still very successful and mine is practically nonexistent. It's embarrassing to show him how little money I've made. The accountant just laughs and says that old accountants are in more demand than old creative people. While this is probably true, it is not reassuring.

There's a shoe store I like near the accountant's office. I usually stop and buy a pair of shoes after I finish my meeting. I didn't stop today. After moving my storage warehouse last November, it finally dawned on me that I don't need anything. Pick almost any category and I have enough. I certainly have enough shoes. Buying things was like comfort food for me for a long. long time. Not anymore. When I look around the office, I just see lots of obsolete stuff I no longer need.

My waist and shoe size haven't changed, so I'll eventually wear all the clothes. I might be out of fashion, but who cares. When you dress like Steve Jobs and Elon Musk, fashion is irrelevant. T-shirts, jeans, and comfortable shoes are timeless.

Cleaning up Dash's poop at night usually goes like clockwork, but last night something went wrong. I always slide out the soiled puppy pad, roll it up and seal it in a plastic bag. I was unfolding a fresh puppy pad to slide under Dash's butt when he decided to poop again. No protection always equals a big mess. We had to wake Dash up, get him of the bed without stepping in the mess, and then replace the soiled blankets. By the time I re-made the bed, took the blankets outside to clean with a hose, and then placed them in the washing machine on the sanitize cycle, I was wide awake.

I hate reading articles about how sleep deprivation can take years off your life. There's not much I can do about the situation right now. I think parents with small children go through something similar, but most of them are quite a bit younger than me. At any rate, if you're changing diapers or trying to get your kid back to sleep in the middle of the night, I can relate.

All this week Dash has seemed exhausted after his walks. We walk really slowly, but he doesn't have as much energy anymore. I've tried to get him to take shorter walks, but Dash is very stubborn. I can't get him to turn around. It is only after we return home that he realizes that we went too far. Hopefully, the long naps Dash takes during the day are beneficial. I'd hate to have to discontinue the walks. They're one of the few things he still looks forward to.

Now that my taxes are out of the way, there are a tons of things around the house than need my attention. My toilet repair didn't work very good.  I'll have to repeat the process. There's a new pothole in the driveway that I need to fill with river rocks. The little refrigerator needs to be defrosted as well. The little refrigerator was only meant to be temporary, but like most things around here, it has become permanent.

Maybe I'll get some sleep tonight. It's all up to Dash at this point.

Pringles is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3304

I've been cold all day. Sadly, this is just the beginning of Winter. There will be many more cold days to come. My office is the coldest room in the house. It is a long way from the furnace and by the time the warm air arrives through the floor vents it has already cooled quite a bit. I plugged in my trusty little ceramic heater today. This small four inch square cube does a pretty good job of keep in the office at the same temperature as the rest of the house. Ceramic heaters are much safer than other types of small space heaters, but I've still got to be careful not to let Dash get too close to it. He's curious about anything new and I don't want him to burn his nose.

Since it is still supposed to rain tomorrow I thought I'd try to bleach the stains in the ceiling where water has been leaking in. This won't prevent future leaks, but it will make them easier to see. I've thought about putting bleach in a spray bottle and just spraying the ceiling, but I'm afraid that the mist will get on furniture or pictures hanging on the walls. Instead I soak a rag with bleach and stand on a ladder while I scrub the damaged areas. This works, but it is terrible on my hands. Bleach is nasty stuff. The ceiling looks better now. If I start seeing rust colored stains again, I'll know that the roof repair didn't work. The stains appear first and then the water starts dripping about an hour later.

Tomorrow should provide a good test of the repair work. It's is supposed to rain all day again. Hopefully, Dash will be able to take his morning walk before the rain begins. He is much calmer after he's had a walk. We'll see what happens. If the rain is bad I won't want to leave the house. I've got to be ready to place buckets under any leaks that might appear. I'll feel much better if the house survives the rain tomorrow. On the other hand, if the roof starts leaking again I'll be very discouraged.

I left Dash's harness on for most of the day. He is still falling a lot and it is much more effective to lift him up using the handle on the Ruffwear harness than it is to get my hands under his belly while he is struggling on the floor. Dash would be fine if he stayed on the rugs, but he always seems to find a place where the floor is still slippery. Dot did a little better at adapting to her disability. Dash is so stubborn that he still thinks he can move around like a pup. I don't know when he is going to realize that he would be much more comfortable sleeping on the floor. That doesn't appear to be an option. He is determined to keep sleeping on the bed.

I didn't get a lot of sleep last night, so I tried to catch up today by taking a lot of short naps. There wasn't much else to do anyway. You know your day is uneventful when the high point is applying bleach to the ceiling. I guess this was actually the low point as well, but the ceiling does look better. I was going to get a haircut this afternoon, but there were no appointments available until next week. It's just as well I didn't go today anyway. I still haven't shaken that cold.

I was going to wear the new boots I bought on Dash's evening walk, but I couldn't bring myself to put them on. They looked so nice and new in the box. I wore my old worn out boots instead. I'm hopeless. I specifically bought these boots for wearing in the mud. It's hard for me to start using new things. I want everything to stay new looking forever.

I've taken the trash out to the curb, but I'm not sure if I'll be able to go out for breakfast tomorrow. It all depends on the weather.

Murphy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3300

Dash seemed a little more lucid today. He didn't stumble around as much and his eyes seemed brighter. I have no idea what determines whether Dash has a good of bad day. Everything in his life is fairly consistent, but some days are definitely better than others. I'm always happy to see a good day. They are few and far between.

The roof is finally drying out. The weather is still nice and warm but the leak did not return during the midday sun. I'm at the mercy of the roofers now. If they return tomorrow or Tuesday we may be able to fix this leak. The rain is supposed to return on Thursday though, so the window of opportunity is small. I'd love to hear the guys up on the roof tomorrow morning but I'm not going to count my chickens before they hatch. I was the squeaky wheel for a while, but I may not be any longer.

On my way to the gym this morning I thought I'd pick up another pair of cheap rubber rain shoes for walking Dash. These slip on shoes don't last very long but I can put them on in seconds and they keep my feet dry. Somehow, instead of these cheap shoes, I came home with a pair of steel toe Doc Martens. Why did I buy these things? I already have some heavy work boots. These felt comfortable though and seemed like they would last forever.

 My shoulders and elbows still hurt from working on the roof last week, but I did my full workout anyway. I'm afraid if I vary my routine, I may just quit going to the gym altogether. I'm pretty much on automatic pilot when I go to the gym, but my Fitbit indicates that I'm doing something right. If I could just bring myself to endure this kind of punishment three times a week I'd be in great shape.

The park behind our house has become so popular in recent years that it is stressful to walk Dash on a nice weekend. There were bicycles everywhere today. None of them slow down for Dash. The number of loose dogs increases dramatically on warm weekends too. You really have to be aware of your surroundings. These things called Onewheel are becoming popular too. They look like a skateboard with a single big motorized wheel in the center and can travel up to twenty miles per hour. We saw six of these contraptions today. They're fairly expensive but that doesn't seem to stop people from buying them. Onewheel travel seems even more dangerous than those ride sharing scooters that are popping up all over the place. What do I know though? I still prefer walking.

If things go well tomorrow the roofers will discover what is causing my roof leak and the Herman Miller technicians will fix my office chair. Unfortunately, it's a Monday tomorrow and people aren't always at the top of their game on a Monday. I'll hope for the best but nothing will really surprise me.

I'm getting sleepy so it's probably time to call it a day. Dash has been sleeping for quite a while, so he'll probably be wide awake at 3 AM. We'll see what happens.

Nellie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2665

I didn't accomplish much today. I used the dog's sleepy period to go pick up our tax preparation materials from the accountant. They used to just mail this stuff back to me after they filed the tax returns, but for some reason they insist on using FedEx now and charging for overnight delivery. It's much easier to just go retrieve the files myself. I think in the early days the accountant would just store all this stuff at their office, but they probably ran out of space years ago.

On the way home, I stopped at a shoe store to look for some slip on sandals for taking the dogs out at night. Flip flops are easy to find, but durable slip on shoes without the annoying flip flop loop you put your toe through are almost impossible to find. There are plenty of these shoes for women, but the shoe gods have apparently decided that men don't need them. I needed a new pair, because the shoes I'm using now are basically cheap house slippers that have been ruined by too many trips out in the muddy yard. I was surprised to find exactly what I needed and even more surprised to arrive home and find both dogs still sleeping.

I've got a tough choice to make now.  I like to let Dot sleep as long as she wants because she has more energy during her active periods if she's rested. Also, the only time I can get anything done is while Dot is sleeping. Unfortunately, if Dot goes more than two hours without going outside, she pees immediately as soon as she wakes up. A peaceful house usually ends up being a wet mess. If I take her outside regularly and keep things dry, it's difficult to get her to go back to sleep. Also, whenever Dot is up, Dash thinks it's time to eat and starts barking in the kitchen. There just isn't a good solution.

I tried to show Janet how to use the new Apple TV remote but she wasn't very interested. This is why we still have cable. I'll probably eventually download a few science fiction movies, but I don't even watch TV that much. The only reason I wanted to try this is that I think it's outrageous how much U-verse is costing us now. It's frustrating to go back and forth between the different services too. It's super easy and convenient to use the Apple TV remote. Returning to the cable box when you're done is another matter entirely. To switch back from Apple TV to U-verse requires three different remote controls. You've got to use the Apple remote to turn off Apple TV. Then you've got to use the Sony remote to switch to a different HDMI port. Finally you have to use the U-verse remote to turn on the cable box. There's got to be an easier way. People keep trying to invent a universal remote control. I've bought as few. The problem is that companies are always inventing new stuff that the universal remote doesn't recognize. It was much easier when I just read books.

The horse nettle is starting to bloom in the park. I see the plants everywhere now. The small purple flowers are pretty, but the plants are poisonous to horses and livestock. I assume they are poisonous for dogs as well. Luckily Dot and Dash don't seem interested in the many poisonous plants that make their home in the park. Jimson weed is even more hazardous than horse nettle, but it hasn't appeared yet. I'm mostly worried about the poison ivy and poison oak, which seem to be the most common plants in the park. It's rare that I can get through an entire Summer without at least one case of poison ivy.

The dogs have worn me out today. I hope everyone sleeps soundly tonight because I need the rest. At least there's no longer any rain in the forecast. Maybe the yard will finally dry out. I have no plans for tomorrow at all, but I'm sure I'll be busy. Just taking care of the bare necessities keeps me very busy these days.

Tyson is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2638

My mood kind of matched the sky today. What a dismal, grey, wet day. It must have rained a lot last night, because the yard was soggy. Even if it doesn't rain any more, this will probably delay both the roofers and the tree trimming crew. Both these folks told me in advance that they need dry conditions to work.

The dogs weren't very concerned with dry conditions. As soon as I took them outside to pee this morning, they both tracked mud into the house. It's ironic that I get most of my housecleaning done when there is bad weather. It's pointless. As soon as I finish vacuuming, the house is immediately filled with dirt and wet leaves again.

The weather didn't stop me from cleaning. I'm a creature of habit and usually can't think of anything better to do on a nasty day. It's too bad that I'm burned out on movies. Most people would just watch a movie on a grey, nasty day. I did quiet chores first, since the dogs were sleeping peacefully. I hate to wake them up with the vacuum cleaner. I cleaned windows, I cleaned toilets, I cleaned the mud off my boots. Eventually, the dogs woke up and I fed them lunch. Then I vacuumed.

I kept hoping that the rain would stop before I went to the gym. I'm compulsive enough that I knew that if I drive to the gym in the rain, I would need to wash the car when I got home. The rain continued. The car got dirty. But I did have a good workout. I consider Sunday an exercise day, so all the cleaning is just another form of exercise.

I wore some new shoes to the gym, which was a big mistake. I'll probably have blisters on my feet tomorrow. I must have gotten these shoes on sale. Either that, or I tried the shoes on with very thin socks. They felt too tight, especially when I was on the treadmill. Oh, well. There are shoe sales all the time. Maybe I'll have better luck next time.

I"m becoming fascinated by WiFi enabled medical devices. I guess it all started when I began wearing activity trackers. Then I got a scale that measure my body mass index, bone density, blood pulse wave velocity, and a dozen other things. Now I'm thinking about getting a WiFi enabled blood pressure monitor and a WiFi thermometer. There's even a WiFi smart hairbrush that measures and monitors the condition of your hair as you brush it. I don't have enough hair for one of those things. I'm waiting for a toothbrush that will tell you if you've got a cavity.

The ironic thing is that the more of these gizmos I get, the less likely it will be that I'll go to the doctor. My Dad had the same problem as he got older. He thought he could self diagnose and when he began having trouble swallowing, he started just drinking Ensure instead of eating. It didn't take long for him to become severely malnourished. Hopefully, I'll never get to that point. I have a feeling that these smart monitors will continue to get smarter and eventually they'll just send all the information to my doctor anyway.

It looks like the weather is going to be just as bad tomorrow. I might not get a chance to go stargazing for quite a while.

Rory is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day