Day 4952

Life is back to normal. Dawn was so happy to take a walk again this moring. She could have taken a walk with me every day last week, but she's a strange dog. Unless we're both around, she just retreats to the bedroom. It was surprisingly cool this morning. The temperature was still in the 70's when we woke up. If it wasn't for the sporadic rain showers it would have been a good day for a long walk in the park.

After our walk with Dawn we had a big weekend breakfast and then I got ready to go mall walking. Dawn didn't hide in the bedroom today She joined us for breakfast and even got her own egg. It was nice to be back on schedule again. The long list of daily tasks was gone. All I have to remember now is to feed Dawn her dinner and bedtime snack.

I go to the mall earlier now. This leaves more time later in the day for whatever needs to be done. There were very few changes this week. No new stores opened and almost all of the window displays were he same. I'm still surprised at how popular mall walking seems to be. There are almost as many people circling the perimeter before the stores open as there are later in the day. I really prefer mall walking to walking around the indoor track at the gym. You can only really do this one day a week though when the mall opens for business at noon. On most days the stores open too early to make mall walking feasible.

Dawn got her Sunday outing today. There was a light mist when we left the house, but Dawn still got a chance to walk around her Sunday park a bit before we went for ice cream. There was a big line at the ice cream store drive thru this morning. I guess this is what you do on a rainy day. The cones have gotten more expensive, but I still can't think of a better alternative. This definitely beats getting a soft serve cone at Dairy Queen.

The big pile of stuff in the living room is gone. Janet is a wizard at getting rid of things. Some stuff got thrown away. Other things got bagged up to take to a charity resale shop. The few things that remained all found a new place to reside. It's weird. I would have had a much harder time getting rid of this stuff, but I don't miss any of the things that got thrown away.

Since it was much cooler than I expected today, it seemed like a good time to mow the grass. I almost never mow during the afternoon in the summer, but I knew the temperature was going to be much warmer next week. Luckily the mower still had a charge and I was able to finish the front yard before dinner. The back yard is easier. Maybe I'll do that right after breakfast tomorrow.

I don't have any plans for Monday. I need to take a few things to the storage warehouse and fill the car with gas. I'm sure I'll go to the gym. The temperature is supposed to reach 105 tomorrow.

Laura is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 4833

I'm happy to report that today was an absolutely normal Sunday. Dawn got her Sunday outing again and she was more than pleased to resume her routine. She was still a little unsteady in the car, but I sat in the back seat with her to keep her from falling. We took a shorter walk than normal, but she had plenty of time to smell things and eat grass. I wish she wouldn't try to eat grass. Unfortunately every dog we've ever had has liked to nibble at fresh Spring grass.

Of course we went for ice cream after our walk. The ice cream store raised their prices again. Jeez. We might have to start going to Dairy Queen if this continues. The ice cream was still good though. Hey, little extravagances are worth it if your dog likes them.

The day started normally enough. We took Dawn on a short sunrise walk and she did very well. After seeing how well she did, we decided that she was ready for her Sunday outings again. The only thing we've got to be careful about now is her tendency to jump on and off the bed. She knows she is supposed to use the step at the base of the bed now, but if you aren't watching her, she will still try to jump. None of this is all that strange. Not only is Dawn a dog, she's a very stubborn Dalmatian.

I fixed French Toast for breakfast this morning. It's the one thing that Janet says I make better than she does. As usual I made and ate too much. There's no sense in having left over French Toast so I ate twice as much as I should. It's a good thing that Sundays are filled with lots of walks.

There was nothing new at the mall this week. A noticed very few changes as I made my five laps around the perimeter. There were a few more Spring styles in the windows, but that was about it. The place was crowded with walkers and very noisy this week. Maybe I just didn't get there early enough. This seems to be the favorite place for families to take small children on a weekend. Many of the kids were in strollers, but some of the older ones pushed their own little strollers which carried their dolls. 

Going to and from the mall is the only time I listen to the radio. I never listen to music and only listen to NPR is there is a show about science or the economy. If they are talking about some social or political issue I turn the radio off. Today I listened to one show about the shortage of cadavers for anatomy students in today's medical schools. On the way home I listened to another show about the economics of running an airline. Steven Dubner's Freakonomics Radio is always an interesting show.

Since the living room looks a lot better after I bleached the leak stains in the ceiling, I thought I'd try the same thing in the office. This was a harder task since there is a carpet on the floor and the room is filled with junk that could be discolored by bleach. I found an old plastic shower curtain that we had to use when one of our dogs became incontinent while still insisting on sleeping on the bed. This actually worked pretty well to protect the carpet. The room looks better now although you can still see some stains and there are cracks in the sheetrock. Oh, well. This will do for now. Eventually we will replace the damaged sheetrock throughout the house, but that's a ways down the road.

This weekend really went quickly. There is a lot I need to do next week if I can get myself motivated. Bulky trash day is coming soon and I still need to finish raking leaves. I also need to see if I can find where the water is still getting in on the roof before it rains again on Thursday. It's questionable if any of this will happen, but we'll see. 

Pringles is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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