Day 4968

Today was a little weird, although it started normally enough. Like always, we took our sunrise walk with Dawn during the coolest part of the day. Unfortunately, it was already 85 degrees when we got up. It was still cool enough for a pleasant walk though. When we got home I made the bed and ate my breakfast. I was about ready to go to the gym when I heard a strange noise in the living room. When I went to investigate I saw Dawn perched on the edge of one of the chairs in the living room and her dog bed in the kitchen had been torn up. I don't like her sitting on that chair because it is near a glass coffee table and I'm always afraid she might cut herself if she tries to jump off the chair. This has happened before, but not very frequently.

I led her back to the bedroom on a leash and gated her in the back of the house where it was safer. Unfortunately this didn't solve the problem. A few minutes later I found her cowering under the sink in Janet's bathroom. I led her back to the bed again and this time she calmed down. I don't know whether noises from the machines tearing down the nearby house scared her or whether she might have had a mild seizure. It's hard to tell with Dawn. She's scared of all sorts or things, but she has also had a seizure once before.

I didn't want to leave her alone, so I stayed at the house until Janet returned home. I actually got quite a bit done. I did a load of laundry, paid some bills, took care of my August bookkeeping, and wrote a letter to my sister. Dawn was calm and mostly sleeping during this time. Whatever was bothering her only lasted about ten minutes.

I think she was bothered by the demolition noises. They are bothering me too. It has taken two days to tear down this house. Probably because it was very well made in the first place. It still seems odd to me that this is the house that is coming down. I always thought it was one of the nicest houses on the street. There are shabbier houses nearby, but they are all currently occupied by renters. I really miss the days when the people who built these homes in the 1950's actually lived in them.

When Janet returned home I went to the gym. I really wish that my gym hadn't changed management. There are lots of personal trainers now and they must all be on commission. I try not to look at them while I work out because they will inevitably try to engage you in conversation and make their pitch for why they think you need an individualized program. Forget it guys. I just come here to get my Fitbit steps when it's too hot to walk in the park and maybe shoot a few baskets. I've recently added a few upper body exercises to my routine, but I definitely don't need a trainer. As soon as it cools down a bit I'll return to walking in the park.

Since I got a late start today, I arrived home a lot later as well. It wasn't long before Dawn started barking at me for her dinner. She's really bold when Janet is around and seems to like to boss me around. Things change quickly when Janet is away though. I wish I knew what was going on in Dawn's mind. She's a very strange dog. I'm quite fond of her, even though I'm apparently not her favorite person.

It got up to 106 degrees today. Sadly it is going to get even hotter later in the week. I need to remember that this too will pass. Sooner or later I'm going to be complaining about the cold again. The electric bill arrived today and it was even worse than I expected. At least the house is staying cool though.

Snoopy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 4222

Dawn chewed up one of her socks today, so getting her paws to heal is going to be an uphill battle. I expected the socks to fall off frequently, but I never thought she'd chew them off. Dawn is not a destructive dog. Janet and I both think we are putting the socks on securely. When I put them on I'm convinced that they'll stay on her feet all day. An hour later they are lying on the floor somewhere. The vet gave us a special spray that is supposed to be soothing and prevent itching and discomfort. When Dawn sees the bottle she runs away and won't let us get anywhere near her. The weirdest thing is that this behavior is new. We've had her for over a year and never thought she was allergic to anything. She never used to bite at her paws and all of the sudden it has become an obsession. I have no idea what has changed. Very little changes in our life these days, but maybe I'm not looking at things from a dog's point of view.

Fridays aren't much different than any other day of the week. I need to remember to retrieve the trash can from the curb and bring it back to the house. The trash truck comes later now, but usually the trash still gets picked up. The city has postponed picking up the blue recycling bins because they don't have enough drivers. We don't have a lot of glass bottles, tin cans, or cardboard so this change doesn't affect us much. Most of our trash is plain old garbage. Dawn contributes a lot of dog poop as well.

I've gotten pretty good at predicting what the weather is going to be like later in the day while we take our sunrise walk. You can tell by how the clouds are moving and what the humidity feels like. Even though we had a very pleasant sunrise walk, it didn't seem like an auspicious day for a walk in the park. When I went out to check the mail after I finished breakfast, my suspicions were confirmed. Today was too hot and humid. I was going to the gym again.

I still turn on the computer as if I was going to work, but my computer time is mostly just looking at Facebook these days. It's a mystery what Facebook chooses for me to see. For a while I'll get a lot of posts about old forgotten rock groups. Then I'll get a bunch of pictures of abandoned houses. I'm getting a lot of pictures of National Parks now. If you are not an active user, I think Facebook just throws stuff at you randomly to see if you'll click on anything. If you do, you'll get more of the same. Curiously, I see very few sponsored posts about things I am actually interested in. You'd think I'd get a ton of posts about dog food and telescopes. Nope. They still seem to think I'm interested in Dr. Who cosplay and buying a Tesla. At least my feed is still filled with pictures of Dalmatians. I love the Dalmatian pictures. If it weren't for the Dalmatian pictures I wouldn't bother with Facebook at all.

My performance is improving a little when I go to the gym. I shaved over a minute off my time for completing three miles around the indoor track. I can do more repetitions on the abdominal crunch machine and I'm working with ten pound hand weights now instead of five pound weights. The whole process is still very boring, but it beats being out in the heat. The air conditioning bill for this gym must be enormous. They keep the place really cold. It still seems strange to see so many people with personal trainers. I think some people hire a personal trainer just to have someone to talk to. Everyone seems to be having a non-stop conversation with their trainer. It's mostly gossip and small talk. The job description for these trainers must include being a good conversationalist.

I've already got a long grocery list for tomorrow. I hope I'm able to get an early start, because I'm going to have to walk in the park whether it's hot or not. Sure wish the gym would open on weekends again.

Laura is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 4212

We took Dawn to the vet today. She had some lab tests done and we came home with some new dog food. We didn't learn anything today, but hopefully when the lab results come back we might find the answer to why Dawn is not eating normally and continues to lick her feet. I'm still thinking that we have a smart and very stubborn dog. She was certainly eager to eat the new wet food we brought home today. Dawn might just be training us. Why are we even worried about a temporary loss of appetite? Well, when our other dogs stopped eating, they usually died. It is not unusual for a dog to get tired of what they are eating. We've had to change a dog's diet many times for a variety of reasons. You've got to take loss of appetite seriously though. Dogs love to eat and when they stop, it could mean that something is seriously wrong.

We got some scattered showers today, but if you blinked you probably missed it. I noticed that the grass was wet several times, but I never actually saw any rain fall. We were able to take Dawn on her morning walk without getting wet and there was no rain while we were at the vet either. I could see a lot of dark clouds when I went to the gym later in the afternoon, but the rain always seemed to be somewhere else. This was all fine by me. I didn't feel like washing the car and I certainly didn't feel like dealing with the roof leak again.

My gym must be offering a special deal on personal trainers because almost everyone seemed to have one today. Maybe it just seemed that way because the gym was fairly empty. I think the city is still on vacation. Everything is open again, but the roads are still surprisingly empty. I wasn't even planning on going to the gym today, but the humidity was oppressively high. This didn't seem like a day to be walking six miles outdoors. As I circled around and around on the small indoor track, I kept watching the trainers pushing the people they were working with to go a little faster or work a little harder. I don't think I could work with a trainer. I can't deal with people telling me what to do, even if it might be in my best interest. It's hard enough for me to go to the gym as it is. If somebody was there pushing me to test my limits and improve myself, I'd probably stop going altogether.

Improving myself is not very high on my agenda these days. I still read articles about astrophotography, but I probably forget most of what I learn because you can't really see stars in Dallas. Setting up my gear and actually taking photographs several times a year out in West Texas probably isn't enough. In theory I could probably find some reasonably dark skies within easy driving distance, but I don't feel comfortable being out at night in the city anymore. Whenever I turn on the local news, the lead story is always about someone being shot late at night. Dallas isn't as bad as Chicago or Philadelphia, but it's a lot, lot worse than Fort Davis or Marfa.

I think that future historians will write about this period of time the same way we currently think about the fall of Rome. We're definitely on a downhill slope and the barbarians are already at the gates. It's such a shame because it didn't have to be this way. When I was growing up there wasn't a single murder in my town during my entire childhood. Parents let their kids roam around town on Halloween without any supervision. Nothing bad happened. It was kind of like growing up in Mayberry on that old Andy Griffith Show. 

Luckily, I'm still pretty confident when the sun is up. If the weather stays cool I'll take my long walk. If it gets hot, I'll go to the gym. Either way, tomorrow will be pretty much the same as today. I'm sure the telescopes will stay inside.

Cisco is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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