Day 2407

The most interesting thing I read on the Internet today was something called The Neurotic Eater's Grocery List. I urge you to read it. The provocative little article confirmed something that I have thought for a long time. Practically everything we put in our mouth these days is bad for us. I haven't eaten Tilapia since I learned how the fish are farmed, but apparently Tilapia are actually safer than many other fish. I'm increasingly wary of shrimp. We have become accustomed to eating oranges and strawberries all year long, even though we know that these are seasonal crops. Most of our food is imported now and we don't generally know where it came from or how many pesticides it contains. Humans are so ravenously hungry that we are literally depleting the ocean of fish. We convert prairies into farmland. We suck vast amounts of water out of the ground to irrigate these farms. We use pesticides to increase crop yields. We cut down forests for firewood. This is simply not sustainable. Even the most ardent environmentalists seem reluctant to deal with the real problem. There are simply too many people on this planet.

I have read that some leading scientists think that humans will be extinct in 30,000 years. They are probably right. We are the one species on the planet at the very top of the food chain. Every other animal has to worry about someone else eating them for dinner. This food chain kept everything in balance for millions of years until we came along and claimed everything for ourselves. Without any natural predictors except for other humans, we multiplied too fast, became too greedy, thought too highly of ourselves, and now look where we are. Everything from social unrest to global warming can be traced straight back to too many people trying to share a finite number of resources.

I hate to be gloomy, but I don't see anyone trying to get a grip on the situation. The world is spiraling out of control and the only solution seems to involve searching for Pokémon or looking at cute cat pictures. Whenever there is a police shooting or a terrorist attack, there is a moment of silence and some heartfelt prayers. Nothing changes though. Why is it so easy to say there are too many guns and so hard to say there are too many people?  Why do people who are convinced that every dog or cat on the planet should be spayed or neutered still think it is OK to have ten kids? I just don't get it.

Although the world is certifiably insane, it still has it's pleasures. I enjoyed my walk with Dash this morning. It amused me to see pumpkins growing in the park. I've seen watermelons growing in the park too. The flowers on pumpkin vines are actually quite beautiful. I'll have to watch this patch and see if any pumpkins start growing. I doubt that these are native pumpkins and watermelons I'm seeing. The watermelons are the result of someone's picnic long ago and the pumpkins are the result of my neighbors throwing their rotting pumpkins into the weeds after Halloween to feed the squirrels and rabbits.

I went to the gym and vacuumed the house after I returned, but you knew that already. Dot is still doing well. We walked her around the block again this morning and she didn't stumble at all. As long as I kept the television turned off and refrained from reading my Facebook friends political opinions, this was actually a pretty nice weekend.

Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 1565

I cooked a family breakfast while Janet walked the dogs this morning. I suspect that this renewed interest in food is temporary, but I might as well take advantage of it while it lasts. I do make a good omelet. I opted not to take advantage of today's beautiful weather and do more yard work. Even though the lawn mower beckoned me to give it a first trial run for 2014, I left the infernal machine alone. I can't postpone the inevitable much longer though. Everything is green and growing like crazy now. I think Spring is here for good.

Janet got some sheets for the bed that were made out of bamboo when she was on vacation. They are supposed to be softer than cotton, yet more durable. I heard similar claims of durability about bamboo flooring when I was considering having bamboo hardwood floors installed several years ago. I never realized you could do so much with bamboo. You can eat the stuff too. At any rate, I put the new bamboo sheets on today. We'll see how well they hold up to the Dalmatian durability test.

I had a ton of small errands to run today. I'm starting to see that price must be more important than quality to people. It doesn't really matter what type of store you're in, there are slightly inferior products in the shelves in an effort to keep prices from going up. This brand substitution is most obvious in grocery stores, but you see it everywhere. Prices are more or less the same, but there are different brands on the shelves. Or maybe the brands are the same, but there is less in the box. There is always an effort to make you think you're getting a bargain, when you really aren't. Personally, I'd rather see prices go up than quality go down, but that's just me.

Since my new diet has forced me to read what is on the label, I've noticed that once you're out of the produce aisles in a grocery store, there's virtually nothing healthy on the shelves. The amount of salt and sugar in most packaged food is simply astounding. About the only thing this country exports to the rest of the world these days are pop culture and bad food. It's ironic. As Starbucks, McDonald's, and Kentucky Fried Chicken franchises spring up in every corner of the globe, our gift to the world has been diabetes, heart disease, and poorly behaved children.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not a vegan, I don't do yoga, and I still love a good cheeseburger. It just seems like if we put even a tiny amount of effort into eating healthier, the grocery store aisles wouldn't be filled with fat people reaching for big bags of stuff that will make them even fatter. I've learned my lesson about moderation. I'm never going to eat at The Cheesecake Factory again.

I don't know what I'm going to do about walking the dogs this summer. It's already too hot for Dot. About halfway through an already shortened evening walk, Dot decided she'd had enough. She refused to walk any further while Dash was ready to walk another mile. I had a devil of a time getting the two dogs home again. Maybe I'll just walk Dot in the mornings now, when it's a bit cooler. She still does pretty well in the morning.

It looks like I'll finally have time to go back to the gym tomorrow. I bet it will be like starting over. I haven't been in quite a while now.

Elliott is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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