Day 2452

I hurt my back lifting Dot into the car today. I don't think I did any serious damage, but it was a reminder that I'm not getting any younger. Just about everybody I know has some sort of lower back problem. Some go to chiropractors. Others prefer massage. I tend to do nothing. Usually the problem goes away on its own in a day or two if I don't do anything further to make the problem worse. Lifting Dot is becoming problematic. She's fairly heavy and if I don't lift her just right, she whines and complains. I blame today's mishap on somebody parking too close to me at the vet. I couldn't get the door to open fully and had trouble getting the leverage to lift Dot properly. It's hell getting old. It's too bad I can't get a two for one deal and get the vet to give me acupuncture at the same time she's treating Dot.

Most of today's mishaps were caused by me. I was still half asleep when I got up to take Dot outside to pee. Instead of hurrying her right out the back door, I stopped to adjust her harness and she promptly peed on the living room rug. I should have remembered that she didn't pee before she went to bed last night and this was going to be one of those mornings where I had less than twenty seconds to get her outside. I'm still not sure what to do about the rug. This is one of the large rugs that is difficult to take outside and clean. Dot also pooped in her bed this afternoon, but that's hardly worth mentioning. It happens all the time.

Dash has decided to create his own set of problems. He won't take his long walk before breakfast anymore. This is the best time of day, because it is still cool outside. I can't convince him of that though. Our new routine is for me to finish my breakfast, feed him his banana, do the dishes, and then give him a walk. For some reason, it seems to take longer to do things this way. The temperature heats up quickly too. I was sweating when we finished our walk this morning.

The vet always asks whether I think Dot is getting better or worse when we go for our Wednesday therapy sessions. I honestly don't know anymore. Some days she genuinely seems to be improving. Other days it seems like the end is near. Often it seems like we were in exactly this same place last year at this time. She was already incontinent last August. She couldn't walk far without assistance. I guess the amazing thing is that despite her age and many injuries, Dot really hasn't gotten much worse during the past year. She is remarkably tenacious. On days like today, I think she is going to outlast me.

At least the marathon of vet appointments is over for a while. Tomorrow ought to be a quiet day. It's hard to believe it's September already. If the weather is nice I should go up on the roof and see how many pecans are up there. I hear them dropping on the roof from the big pecan tree all day long. I should have removed these nuts already, because they create a huge mess when it rains. The tannin in the pecan shells turns the standing water on the roof into a chocolate colored mess that quickly stains the white roof. This natural dye seems indelible, so each year the roof gets a little darker. I wouldn't be surprised if the brand new patched areas are already turning brown.

I hope my back feels better tomorrow. If it doesn't, I won't be going up on the roof at all.

Domino is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2092 - Labor Day

You could tell it was a holiday this morning. The park was filled with cyclists and joggers when we took the dogs on their early morning walk. Judging from the number of people we saw, Labor Day is pretty universally observed. Unlike President's Day and other seemingly optional holidays, everybody stayed home from work today.

I stayed home too, but that didn't keep me from working. As soon as we finished breakfast, I went up on the roof and removed the water from Saturday's brief, but surprisingly heavy rainfall. Just like our last rainfall, I wished that I'd remembered to sweep away all the pecan shells first. If you've ever gathered these nuts, you've probably realized what an effective and permanent brown dye they make. Nothing seems to remove the stains left by pecan and walnut hulls. I"m really tempted to ask the roofers if they could paint the roof to match the color of these persistent stains, because they are not going away. You may wonder why I chose a white roof in the first place. I was under the impression that the special coating would get me a nice tax credit the year it was applied, but my accountant said the roof didn't meet the government's energy efficiency guidelines for some odd technical reason. Oh, well. Screwed by the government once again.

Since I was already outside, I decided to wash the car when I finished with the roof. The car seems to get dirty whether I drive it or not. Birds shit on it. Sticky tree sap sticks to the windows. And the wheels are perpetually coated with a mix of road grease and brake pad dust. It's almost impossible to clean the house theses days, but the car is a smaller challenge. It makes me feel good to see a clean car. I may not be able to keep everything spotless, but at least this tiny little chunk of the universe is still under my control.

I thought I'd finished my website work yesterday, but apparently not. I got input for some additional pages that needed to be created in this morning's e-mail and then I noticed on Facebook that two dogs needed to be removed from an animal rescue website because they had been adopted. Increasingly, animal rescue websites are just an afterthought. The real news goes out on Facebook now.

I think we've solved Dash's eating disorder. He was just bored. Janet got two different brands of food to try yesterday and we filled Dash's bowl with one of the new choices this morning. He gobbled it down like he was eating a steak dinner. It's a shame that Dash doesn't like his regular food anymore, because it was perfect for him. It made life easier to feed Dot and Dash the same thing too. Maybe if he eats this new food for a while, we can re-introduce the original food and he'll think it's new again. You can't fool a dog all the time, but sometimes you can. It's worth a try anyway.

Janet goes back to work tomorrow. I go back to having my fruit smoothies for breakfast. Hopefully, Dot doesn't go back to pooping on the floor. We've had a nice accident free holiday.

Bailey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day