Day 3167

It's always something. Dash got stung by a bee today. We were taking our morning walk when all of the sudden he yelped and immediately began limping. I suspected an insect bite, but it could have also been a sprain. When old dogs rear legs begin to go, it puts a lot of extra strain on their front legs. Either way, this was not good. Let me tell you, it was not easy getting a dog back home with only one good leg.

I was hoping that when we finally got Dash home, he would relax so I could examine him better. Unfortunately, this is not Dash's style. He tends to panic when things go wrong. He was agitated and we noticed that the leg was starting to swell so we loaded him in the car and headed for the emergency clinic. On the way, Dash finally started to calm down. By the time we arrived, he was semi-normal again.

The admittance nurse said that Dash wasn't having an allergic reaction and didn't appear to have sprained anything. He wasn't limping anymore either. Faced with a choice of waiting in the lobby for several hours until we could see a vet and then getting a $75 bill for a few Benadryl tablets, we decided to just turn around and go home. Dash has been stung by bees before. He completely freaks out for about thirty minutes and by the time a vet is able to look at him, he is all better.

I gave Dash some Benadryl when he returned home and he quickly went to sleep. By the time he woke up, he was back to his old self. Notice that I didn't say "back to normal." Dash will never be back to normal. We all ate our breakfast late enough to be called brunch and then resumed our regular Sunday routine. I kind of suspected a bee sting the moment it happened, but it's better to be safe than sorry. If Dash had seriously injured his front leg, it would all be over.

I think I'm going to have to stop using the arm bicycle at the gym. My wrist started hurting again and this appeared to be the cause. It makes sense. Twenty minutes on the arm bicycle can put a lot of strain on your wrists. Too bad. I like this machine. It's a great upper body workout and seems to be better than the treadmill for elevating your heart rate.

Elevating your heart rate during exercise can be good for cardiovascular fitness. At other times, it's not so good. I noticed on my Fitbit that my heart rate went way up right after Dash got stung by the bee. This was stress. I wasn't sure how I was going to get him home again. I wasn't sure what had happened either. Luckily, everything ended well today, but it definitely wasn't a relaxing day.

I'm sure the bees have moved by now, but I'm a superstitious person and I won't want to take the same route on our walk tomorrow. This might be problematic, because Dash is set in his ways and always wants to take the same route. I wish the city would hurry up and mow the field behind our house. The grass in the park is getting high again and it's hard to tell what Dash and I are walking through.

I guess I'll have to wear the brace on my wrist again tonight. I should have known better than to use the arm bike. It's pretty clear that Dash and I are both set in our ways. We'll try not to injure ourselves tomorrow.

Cammy s today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 2121

I think I know what's wrong with Dash now. He appears to have stretched or pulled the ligament covering the kneecap on his right rear leg. At first this would seem to be some sort of odd sports injury, but apparently it is not uncommon for male dogs to pull a ligament when they scratch the ground vigorously after they pee. Dash does this all the time. It was how he tore his paw pad earlier in the year and now he has injured his leg doing the same thing.

The good news is that the damage is not permanent.  If we can keep Dash quiet for a few weeks, the inflammation in the injured ligament should subside and everything should return to normal. Have you ever tried to keep a Dalmatian quiet for a few weeks? It's not an easy task. I'm glad he hasn't torn his cruciate ligament though. ACL injuries typically require surgery. I'm glad he doesn't have hip dysplasia either. Things could be a lot worse.

Our trip to the vet was the most interesting thing that happened all day. The rest of the day was pretty dull. Cleaning up poop during the night and early pre-dawn walks have become the new normal. I've talked to other people with aging dogs and Dot's incontinence is pretty normal. In fact, Dash's vet told me that she was having the same problem with her own dog. Once a dog loses the ability to squat properly, you're going to have problems.

I learned today that Klout has discontinued their Perks program. As the recipient of many of those Perks, I was very disappointed to hear this. I always enjoyed getting random free stuff in the mail. The things you received were seldom very valuable, but Klout did make an effort to learn your interests. I got lots of dog food, dog treats, and dog toys. The best thing I ever got was a voice activated WiFi thermostat which I'm still using. The theory behind the Perks was that by sending free stuff to people Klout considered to be social media influencers, the brands they were pushing would get talked about on Twitter and Facebook and more people would buy them. I think the flaw in their theory was how they defined influential. I'm not influential. I like getting stuff in the mail, but I doubt that I ever influenced anyone to buy anything in my life. Oh, well. It was fun while it lasted.

I've started looking at star charts before we go on our morning walks. These pre-dawn walks are the most sustained amount of time I've spent in the dark for a long time and I might as well learn something. Right now, you can see Jupiter, Mars, and Venus in the morning sky. Pretty soon, these planets will be joined by Mercury. I've only seen Mercury a few times in my life because it is always visable very low on the horizon. It remains to be seen if I'll be able to catch a glimpse of Mercury later this month. There are lots of trees on the Eastern horizon and I have a feeling that by the time Mercury clears the treetops, it will be too close to sunrise to see it.

The peaches and bananas in the kitchen still look pretty fresh and there's a leftover pork chop in the refrigerator for dinner. I think I'm all set for another day.

Cassie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 1378

We got off to a late start this morning, but it didn't really matter since the temperature has cooled down quite a bit. You never know what is going to happen with the dogs. Dash started limping today on the way home. At first I thought he had stepped on a thorn or a burr, but I could find nothing when I examined his paw. Since he was limping on his left front paw, I knew he hadn't torn his anterior cruciate ligament. Something was really bothering him though. We would walk about ten steps and the stop for a while to rest. It took forever to get home again. I thought about trying to carry him home, but he's too heavy to carry very far. Since Dot was with me too, carrying Dash was pretty much out of the question. Eventually we made it home and I gave Dash a Benadryl and called the vet. After a two hour nap, Dash got up and started walking normally again. I still don't know what was wrong. Maybe he got stung by a bee.

On the way to the gym this afternoon, I stopped by the dealership and got some rubber mats for the new car. Hopefully, this will make it a little easier to clean up the mountains of dog hair. Dog hair was never much of a problem when Dot and Dash rode in the Defender, since they always rode in the large dog crate I kept in the back. While I was getting the rubber mats, I discovered that I'm supposed to put nitrogen in my tires instead of air and that there is a special button that will lower the car two inches closer to the ground to make it easier to load packages, or large dogs.

So many people I know tell me how much they enjoy things like running, cycling, zumba, and weight lifting. I have yet to discover the allure of these sweaty activities. I think I have been successful at incorporating a regular exercise regime into my weekly activities. I just don't enjoy it. I'm still waiting for the endorphins to kick in and I suspect they never will. So far, going to the gym seems a lot like mowing the grass indoors. Don't get me wrong. I thing the exercise is good for my health and I'm going to stick with it. It's just no substitute for photography or playing the guitar.

Other than Dash's unexplained limping, it was a fairly normal day. I went to the bank and the grocery store. I got some website work finished that I should have done over the weekend. Tomorrow looks like it's going to be a busy day, so I guess I can postpone painting the ceiling a little longer. Every time I look up, I realize that the Sheetrock repairs I made a month or so ago won't be complete until I re-paint the ceiling. Since painting is right up there with exercise on my list of things I could do without, finishing this little chore could take a while.

Sage is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 1354

I decided to make a kitchen cutting board today. You would have thought this endeavor would have involved a quick trip to Home Depot, or better yet, an even quicker trip to Bed Bath and Beyond for a ready-made cutting board. Nope. Nothing is this easy with me. We've had trouble with cutting boards warping or splitting apart in the past, so I wanted something that was impervious to water. I thought mahogany would be a good choice, because people make boats out of the stuff. I discovered very quickly that not many companies sell select quality mahogany lumber here in Dallas. Even fewer will sell you a single small piece of wood about the size of a cutting board. After much searching, I finally found a specialty lumber company that said I could look through their scrap bin and see if I could find a piece of mahogany that met my needs.

Too bad this odd little lumber company was a long way away.  I'm glad I still have the loaner car. My Defender would have never made the journey in this heat. School is back in session and the route to the lumber company was peppered with school zones. Throw a few broken stop lights in the mix and traffic just crawled along. Eventually, I reached the lumber company and found a nice looking piece of mahogany. I'm glad I wasn't building a boat. Select grade mahogany is a lot more expensive than I'd thought. Now I've got to sand the board, round the edges, and then cut an oval hole in the center so I can fit a small colander to drain food when I place the board over the sink. Alternately, I could forget all this and just use the board like it is.

It's always something with the dogs. When I was walking the pair through some tall grass, Dash let out a yelp and acted like something had bit him. I looked at his paw and found nothing. There were no cuts or abrasions and he hadn't stepped on a thorn either. When I extended his leg, there was no sign of pain or discomfort. I don't know what happened, but Dash limped periodically during the trip back home. The boy seems fine now. Maybe he's just a big baby.

I think most of my clients have already started their Labor Day holiday. Work was non-existent today. I didn't even have any website updates to do, which is rare for me. I'd like to tell you that I did something exciting with my free time, but all I've got to show for myself is a 10x21 inch piece of mahogany. I did try something new for breakfast though. That was nice.

Tessa is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 1282 - My Birthday

How did this ever happen? I've got a Medicare card in my wallet. I'm 65. My advancing age is somewhat confusing, since, at least in in my own mind, I'm still 19. Let's face it. A career in advertising and the absence of children in my life is not conducive to maturity. In many ways, I'm the boy who never grew up. I find myself in a weird sort of Twilight Zone. I have little in common with contemporaries who now share pictures of the grandchildren their own grown children have bestowed on them. I have even less in common with the current crop of young folks. They weren't even born when the seminal events of my life took place. Neil Armstrong's famous words, Ken Kesey's acid tests, and Jimi Hendrix's remarkable performance at Woodstock are all ancient history to them. They look at these things they way I look at Lincoln's Gettysburg Address.

I'm certainly not crying in my beer about the situation though.  Oh, wait!  I can't drink beer anymore. My resolve to give up alcohol and change my diet has actually managed to turn back the clock in an odd sort of way. I feel much better than I did this time last year. I've lost twenty pounds. I have a lot more energy. And according to my doctors, my overall health has improved by just about any objective standard. There's even a much better treatment for hepatitis-c on the horizon, so maybe I can put eventually that behind me as well

I wish Dot wasn't so excitable. She got herself so worked up while the landscaping guys were here this morning sawing up the downed tree limb with their chain saws, that she tore a dewclaw. The vet got Dot patched up during her acupuncture appointment a few hours later, but she's got to learn to calm down. This wasn't the first nail she has torn or ripped out.

Like most birthdays in recent memory, this was just another work day. I completed a big update to an animal rescue website and wrote an article about watches. I didn't have to go up on the roof, because it was quite nice today. The dogs enjoyed their walks and so did I.

After dog training class this evening, Janet and I has a birthday celebration, complete with some delicious Sprinkles cupcakes. The dogs got little dog cupcakes as well. Yeah, I know. Cupcakes have sugar in them. I did forgo the alcohol though. I think I'm all set for another year.

Inky is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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