Day 4753

Dawn seemed sad today. I could hear her crying in the bedroom ocassionally. We are getting along fine, but I've never seen a dog so dependent on one person. Dawn is just not the same dog when Janet is not around. It all makes sense if you know Dawn's history. Dawn was attacked by another dog at the rescue kennel and Janet took her home and nursed her back to health. 

I was out of town at the time and Dawn didn't know I was a part of the household until later. I don't think Dawn has ever trusted men. She was born at the puppy mill where she was later used as a breeding dog and was mistreated by the two men who ran the place for her entire life. It is all she has ever known. Dawn could probably put her past behind her if she was a young dog, but she is older and has seen a lot.

We do the best we can. I don't think that Dawn and I will ever be best buddies, but she does depend on me.  I do the best I can to make sure she has nothing to worry about. We do everything very consistently and try to avoid surprises. I have always been very consistent with Dawn and think that it helps to build trust. We eat and go outside at the same times every day. It's probably not great that she wants to spend her day sitting on the bed, but she's peaceful and relaxed there. She will go down to the park with me every morning to smell things and do her business. Hey, it's a start. Given enough time, I might eventually be able to convince her to take a walk. I know she loves to walk when Janet is around.

I continue to take my long walk every day. I just don't feel like going anywhere else. I don't think there will be any year end purchases this year. I just don't feel like buying things this year. The walk has become a placeholder to fill a very long day. If my feet didn't hurt so much, I might walk even longer. Walking is great exercise and it doesn't prevent you from day dreaming. I daydream a lot. I think about future trips I'm planning and cars I'd like to buy. Sometimes I think about articles I'd like to pitch to various magazines. Occasionally I worry about my health, but I still think I'm pretty healthy. I rarely think about doing anything with friends. I'm happy enough by myself.

All the leaves are off the trees now and the grass has turned yellow and dry. The park is actually looking pretty bleak, but there are still plenty of birds to watch. Another female Muscovy duck turned up today, so now there are four of these strange birds. Maybe there will be ducklings this Spring. I have no idea where the eagles went. They don't even seem to be in the area anymore. Maybe that's why all the white pelicans have returned. I saw a ton of white pelicans today. I don't know where the monk parakeets went either. These loud birds were everywhere this summer, but I haven't heard a peep out of them for months.

It's hard to believe what is happening with Southwest Airlines. I almost always fly Southwest and have liked the airline for a long time. It's sad to see them implode like this. All things considered it wasn't even that bad of a storm. It makes you wonder how many other companies are living on the edge of disaster. I don't think our economy is nearly as robust as we'd like to think it is. Look what happened when a little bad weather almost brought down the entire Texas power grid a few years ago. This ongoing uncertainty doesn't bring me any comfort. Much of my future is tied up in the stock market and there has never been anything safe about the stock market. In some ways I'm glad I'm old. The world is doomed, but I think it will probably last another twenty years.

I've taken this weeks's trash out to the curb. There wasn't much trash this week. I guess I don't consume much. I imagine that tomorrow will be very much like today. It's been a very quiet week.

Petey & Greta are the Dalmatians of the Day

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Day 4749 - Christmas Day

It was a very quiet day. I didn't talk to anyone all day. Dawn's first day alone with me went better than expected. She was a little nervous last night but she fell asleep long before I did. She wouldn't come out of the bedroom for breakfast this morning, but was eager to eat when I brought her bowl back to the bedroom. The little diva evidently wants breakfast in bed.

I ate my own breakfast and then took Dawn down to the park to do her business. She doesn't like to wear her regular harness when Janet is gone, but will follow me down to the park if I use the special training leash that Janet uses at dog school. She acted fairly normal this morning, smelling everything to find the perfect spot before peeing, but she definitely didn't want to take a walk. As soon as she was finished she headed straight back to the house.

My Waterpik broke today and I tried to order a replacement on Amazon. I discovered that I can't use Janet's Prime account anymore because she's enabled two-factor authentication and gets a code sent to her phone before each login attempt. Oh, well. I used my regular Amazon account and paid the shipping. Amazon Prime is nice but it's not worth each of us having our own Prime account. I use two-factor authentication for almost everything myself. It's weird to think that ten or fifteen years ago you didn't even need passwords on the Internet. A lot has changed over the years. I think I liked things better when I had a little 300 baud dial up modem and getting online was an adventure.

Since both my gym and the mall were closed today, I took a long walk in the park. The temperature had warmed up quite a bit by early afternoon and it was actually a very nice day for a walk. I didn't make great time today, but I did OK. I didn't see the eagles either, although lots of people were looking for them. I've walked this route so many times by now that I can predict my pace along the way almost to the second. There was a little excitement on the way home this afternoon. There were ten police cars and at least thirty cops surrounding a car on a nearby road. The police were lobbing tear gas canisters at the car and using a bull horn to tell the guy inside to come out and surrender. Eventually the driver did surrender and left the car. Then a large group of officers went up the the car with guns drawn to make sure there was nobody else inside. There were lots of spectators taking pictures with their phones but nobody knew what was going on. Clearly this guy was in some serious trouble. Whatever he did, it was a lot more than speeding or running a traffic light. I checked the news but there was nothing about the incident. That's kind of sad. It's probably just another day in the life for Dallas police.

I wish that Dawn didn't get so depressed when Janet is away. I haven't seen her wag her tail yet. She did come out and eat her dinner in the kitchen tonight though. That's a good sign. She came out for her bedtime snack last night as well. Dawn actually adjusts to changes fairly well. I just hate to see her sad.

There isn't a lot on the agenda for the rest of the year. I might be going to another launch in January, but I haven't been approved yet. Basically my life revolves around going down to Kennedy Space Center three or four times a year and and making at least one trip out to McDonald Observatory. I don't have any desire to go anywhere else. I haven't picked up a guitar in years and my little recording studio is gathering dust. Things change I guess. At least I'm still interesting in something. 

Dot is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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