Day 1930

You can certainly get a lot more done when the weather is nice, the dogs are behaving, and you've had a good night's sleep. I had a feeling that today would go well when I walked Dash this morning with clear blue skies overhead and dry ground under my feet. Dot gets a walk now as well. She only goes a very short way down our street, but it makes her a lot happier. It seemed fitting on a day like this that we celebrated with bacon for breakfast.

The front yard looks much better now after I finally mowed it this morning. I had to mow the yard twice, once at a high setting and again at a lower setting. The Spring weeds had already grown too tall for the mower to handle the job in a single pass. I like the convenience of electric mowers, but they sure aren't as powerful as my old gas powered Yazoo.

I was able to wash the car while the dogs were sleeping this afternoon. I'm still not sure about leaving Dot alone, but I could easily hear her bark while I was cleaning the car on the carport, so this didn't worry me. Dot and Dash not only slept through this chore, they slept through all the Sunday chores. I was able to do a load of laundry, write another article, clean up dog poop in the yard, and look for new wasp nests under the eaves before they eventually woke up and wanted to be fed.

When I woke up this morning, I was surprised to notice a big ugly bruise on my left hand. I don't remember dropping anything on my hand or bumping into a wall yesterday, so the whole thing is a mystery. You see these kind of bruises on old people a lot. I'm sure they bump into things all the time and don't remember it later. I hope I haven't got to that point yet.

I didn't bother going to the gym today. Mowing the yard twice was all the workout I needed. Dash was enjoying the nice weather this morning so we took a longer walk this morning too. Somehow, I don't think I'll ever be able to incorporate going to the gym into my regular routine. I'll go when I'm feeling fat, or weak, or tired, but I'll never become a gym rat. Some people, including Janet, love this type of activity, but I can usually think of other things I'd rather be doing.

I'm coming to the realization that we're never going to be able to get rid of the ugly rugs. We had lots of rugs on the floor when Spot got older and the rugs stayed with us for the rest of Spot's life. In retrospect, we should have kept Spots collection of rugs, but I didn't have a storage warehouse back then. Dot has been healthy and active for so long that somehow I didn't think she'd ever get old until she was diagnosed with cancer last year. Seeing her joy at taking short walks down the street again makes me realize that you're only as old as you think you are. Despite everything that has happened to her during the past twelve months, Dot doesn't think she's old. In her mind, she's still a young dog. That's probably why she's still with us today.

Elliott is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 1877

We passed another milestone today. Dash's oncologist told me that he won't need to see him again for another year. This is very good news. The lab work and x-rays that were done at the re-check painted a portrait of a very normal, healthy dog. For all effective purposes, Dot and Dash have both beat cancer.

In addition to putting the yearlong chemotherapy regime behind me, I think I managed to put yesterday's video woes behind me as well. I'm sure we're not really done yet, but at least I have a nice looking finished product to show my client tomorrow. Since this isn't a time sensitive project, there will almost certainly be further changes. Projects like these always expand to fill the time available. I'd be fine with this if budgets expanded in a similar fashion, but they never do.

I've always thought of myself as a prolific and productive person, but some of the people I met in California are putting me to shame. I'm already starting to see really well researched articles about the SMAP launch from other participants at the NASA event. Some have secured interviews on local radio and TV stations. Others have produced elaborate, full edited videos and posted them on YouTube. What have I done? Not much. I've mentioned a few things here, but these guys are running circles around me. It was a real honor to be included among the best and the brightest, but clearly I am neither the best, or the brightest. It appears that I am still just a guy who spends most of his time walking his dogs.

I noticed today that Dot wasn't interested in walking at all while Dash was at the cancer center. She is very competitive and seems determined to keep up with her younger companion. She kind of likes to boss Dash around too. I think this friendly rivalry is what keeps her going. Without Dash, she suddenly seems much older. There's a lesson in this. You really need someone to challenge you as you grow older. It's so easy to grow complacent and start making excuses. Dot had so much more energy on our evening walk after Dash had returned home. I need to take this to heart. I think I held my own pretty well with the young space enthusiasts in California. I should be able to do it here as well.

I hope my client approves the video tomorrow. I'm supposed to do at least five more of these things. If the first one goes well, doing more should be a piece of cake. If there are a lot of silly changes, I'm doomed. I don't deal well with silly changes. The thought of spending the entire Spring jumping thru hoops makes me want to crawl under a blanket and hide. Let's hope for the best though. The glass isn't always half empty.

Duke is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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