Day 1812

I felt like I spent most of the day just trying to stay warm. The temperature was in the 20's this morning with 20 mile per hour winds. This made for a ferocious wind chill factor. We always walk, no matter what the weather, so I put on several layers of warm clothes, bundled the dogs in their warmest dog coats, and off we went. We didn't stay outside as long as we usually do, but it certainly felt like a long walk. It goes without saying that we were all glad to return to a pleasantly warm house.

After breakfast, I went to the storage warehouse and got the props and equipment we'll need for this weekend's Santa Paws photo shoot. The various light stands, poles, backdrops, and equipment seems to get heavier each year I do this. One of these days, I'm going to just start taking these pictures with my phone. I think I'm good for at least one more year however, so I'll continue to keep hauling the heavy equipment and lights from location to location.

I got a call from the physical therapist my doctor recommended asking me a few questions about my shoulder. It's looks like I'm approved for physical therapy, but I'll have to wait a few more days to find out for sure. If everything works out as expected, I'll be able to have supervised physical therapy at the same gym I go to every week. This will be convenient and I might even learn whether my current workout is doing more harm than good. I don't really expect my shoulder pain to magically go away, but it would be nice to see a little improvement. All I really want to do is avoid rotator cuff surgery.

Dash is getting low on his supply of chemotherapy pills again, so I made an appointment at the cancer center for his next follow-up exam. I'm almost certain that the oncologist will want to renew Dash's Palladia prescription for an additional two months, but we're finally getting near the end of this ordeal. After two more months, Dash will have had a full year of chemo treatment and that is the maximum amount of time the cancer center recommends. The hair on Dash's neck never grew back after his radiation treatments earlier this year, but other than that, he is completely back to normal. It will be good to put this all behind us.

I updated some websites today and will probably update a few more tomorrow. I kept busy to stay warm. My success with the Ikea furniture yesterday emboldened me to try and fix a broken drawer on my Dad's old workbench. I couldn't find the small screws and wooden dowels I really needed, but luckily there's always Superglue. I wish I'd remembered to bring home the ceramic heater when I was getting my photo equipment earlier today. If it's this cold again tomorrow, the little heater will keep my warm feet while I work.

Jada is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 1741

I think the dogs are recovering better than I am. My shoulder hurt today, so I confined myself to the treadmill and other lower body exercises when I went to the gym. I have all the symptoms associated with a rotator cuff tear, although this has never been diagnosed conclusively. When things get bad, my doctor usually gives me a steroid injection and then recommends resting the arm until a full range of motion is achieved. Unfortunately, resting the arm is hard to do when you walk two Dalmatians twice a day. Usually the pain is manageable, but I probably overdid things yesterday when I cleaned up the roof and mowed the lawn. It's irritating that my life has become a daily diary of aches and pains, but I really can't complain. So many people have it much, much worse.

There wasn't much on the agenda today. Other than walk the dogs and go to the gym, I didn't do much of anything. Dot and Dash gave us a break this morning and were content to sleep in, rather than get us up at the crack of dawn like they usually do. It was nice to get a full eight hours of sleep for a change.

There was a bit of excitement last night when a cicada got inside the house as we opened the door to let the dogs back in. These loud, flying bugs are not what you want buzzing around your living room. I finally managed to catch the thing, but the dogs would have loved to get the bug first. At this time of year, cicadas and June bugs are everywhere and Dash has developed a taste for them. Like Spot and Petey before him, he loves to catch and eat the bugs alive. It's disgusting. To make matters worse, every time Dash manages to eat a cicada, he has runny poop the next day. You'd think he'd learn that these things upset his stomach. He's just like I was before I finally made the connection between pizza and heartburn.

I've been wondering where the wasps have gone this Summer. Every year, the wasps return in May or June and build huge nests under the eaves of our house. I haven't seen many wasps this year, but I found them all today. They've moved into the greenhouse. I guess I never noticed, because the only thing I use the greenhouse for anymore is a place to store the lawnmowers. I could have left the nests alone, but I've been stung by these wasps enough times to consider them the enemy. I got out a can of Raid and quickly sprayed all the nests before retreating to the house. I think most of the wasps are dead, but the remaining ones are pretty mad.

The annual Dalmatian Rescue golf tournament is next weekend. It's hard to believe that a year has passed since the last tournament. It's even harder to believe that a decade has passed since the first tournament. I guess I'll be taking pictures again. I definitely won't be playing golf. The game is a mystery to me.

Rover is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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