Day 3034

I looked up at the sky when I took Dash out to pee last night and I couldn't find Jupiter. How could a planet disappear? I guess I'd forgotten how long it's been cloudy when I take Dash out in the middle of the night. Saturn, Mars and Jupiter were no longer in their familiar positions. It seemed like yesterday when the three planets were neatly arranged in a straight line stretched across the Eastern sky. Of course it seems like Christmas was yesterday too. The older you get, the faster time flies.

It's just about impossible to get Dash to do his business at a reasonable hour. I take him out several times every night now. Dash ought to be glad that I'm a light sleeper. He seems supremely confident that I will always be there to open the door for him. Strangely, I don't really feel sleep deprived like I did when Dot was sick. I take naps now. Dash's behavior is not going to change. He's certainly not losing much sleep since he spends most of the day snoozing. I figure if you can't beat 'em, you might as well join 'em. I'm going to sleep during the day too.

I tried to find the special adhesive that can glue silicon to silicon, but nobody carries it. I struck out trying to find a replacement band for Janet's Fitbit too. I'm beginning to think that it isn't even worth the trouble to shop at retail stores anymore. Both of these hard to find items are readily available on Amazon. All I have to do is click on the "add to cart" button" and they'll be here next week.

There seems to be fewer and fewer people at the gym each time I go. Maybe this is seasonal, or maybe there's a better gym out there. I hope enough people keep attending this gym to keep it open. I'd hate to see the place close. I've grown fond of the place and it would be difficult for me to go anywhere else. If I had to go to a trendy gym full of young people, I'd probably stop going entirely.

We ordered Dash some indoor boots that he can wear around the house. He's really starting to slip on the bricks now. Hopefully, the lightweight rubberized boots will provide the traction he needs. I'd hate to bring all those ugly rugs  home from the storage warehouse again. The three rugs we've strategically placed in the kitchen to help him eat are bad enough. I suspect that it's only a matter of time before the rest of the rugs return as well.

I've started watching a show called Detectorists on BBC. The show is supposed to be a comedy, but it is bleak and a bit melancholy. Maybe that's why I like it. The main characters have dead end jobs, or no jobs at all, and spend their time searching the English countryside for hidden gold with metal detectors. They find nothing but old buttons and pull tabs from beer cans, but never seem to give up. The awkwardness and futility of these characters seems so real that each episode becomes a sad metaphor for life in general. I think there still another season of this show that I haven't seen yet. Maybe I've finally got something to watch on Netflix.

Can you believe it's the middle of April already?  Maybe by the end of the month Winter will be over.

Krissy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 2596

I was working out today and was surprised to notice that I had a three inch gash on my right leg. Where did that come from? You'd think I'd notice a cut like that, but I have no idea where it came from. I didn't even notice until I was doing some cardio work that got my heart rate up. With my blood pumping faster the cut stung a little, but it wasn't bleeding anymore. I don't remember dropping anything on my leg or bumping into anything sharp. The cut just seemed to appear out of nowhere. I mentioned this to Janet when I got home and she said it happens to her all the time. I guess the older you get, the more you bump into things. Dot still has a mysterious cut on her leg too. Dot falls so much that she needs a coat made out of bubble wrap. I'm going to start falling too if I don't get to the gym more often. I'm not a person who makes goals, but I really need to figure out how to go to the gym at least three times a week.

On my way home today, I stopped at an Office Depot store to get a monthly accordion folder for my 2017 receipts. I do this every year, even though my accountant told me that he never actually looks at the receipts when I bring him the folder at tax time. I don't go to office supply stores very often and I was surprised at how empty the place was. Half the store was bare with nothing in it at all. The same thing seems to be happening when I go to the local Fry's Electronics store. I think retail is dead. It's just so easy to order anything you need online. I think in five or ten years most of the traditional big box stores will be gone. It's a shame that this transformation has been so complete. I used to like shopping. Small independent camera stores were great places to talk shop and learn things from the shopkeeper and other photographers. There were lots of weird little stores that couldn't even exist today. Two of my favorite stores when I first moved to Dallas sold nothing but electric trains.

I actually threw some things away today. This is almost unheard of for me. When I moved the garment rack to my office yesterday, there were a few things that wouldn't fit after I reconfigured the room. A cheap Ikea shelf that I'd been meaning to toss for years had to go, along with a bunch of old magazines, catalogs, and books. Admittedly, you could hardly call this downsizing, but at least it's a start. I need to do this again sometime. When I look around the office, I hardly see anything I actually use anymore. Most of the stuff is here just for the nostalgia value.

We've reached the point where we need to start decreasing Dot's Incurin dose. Starting today, she only gets half as much as she's been getting for the past two weeks. It makes me a little nervous that her incontinence hasn't been completely cured. There's been a definite improvement, but it wasn't like the first time we tried this treatment two years ago. I'm going to have to talk with Dot's vet, but I have a feeling that she's going to end up being on a much higher maintenance dose than she was before.

Is the political infighting and acrimony ever going to end? I'm getting sick of it. It's almost like we're engaged in a lazy man's civil war. In this new age civil war, we don't battle over territory. We just say nasty things about each other on Facebook and then go home to a nice dinner and a movie on Netflix. I don't think anything will get fixed this way, but what do I know. I'm just a guy who would like to take a time machine back to 1955.

Raider is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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