Day 4999

I woke up with a terrible stomach ache this morning. I must have eaten something yesterday that had gone bad in the refrigerator. It happens ocassionally. I felt better as the day progressed but I need to be more careful about eating old food.

We had a nice sunrise walk with Dawn and then I made the bed and ate my breakfast. The good thing about eating shredded wheat for breakfast is that it never goes bad. I could probably open a two year old box and it would still be fine. After breakfast I checked my messages and went to the bank. I got stuck behind someone making a long transaction at the drive up window, but I wasn't in any hurry. The only thing on my schedule was a trip to the gym.

I didn't complete my routine today. All I did was walk three miles around the indoor track and come home again. It seemed strange that I did so well yesterday, but I just didn't feel like exercising today. When I returned home I let Dawn out in the back yard so she could sun herself. She loves to sit out in the sun, but I bring her back inside after about ten minutes. When I start getting really hot, I figure she's had enough.

It's still hard to believe that tomorrow is the last day of the blog. I've been doing this for a very long time. I still have mixed feelings about ending things but I think it's time. I don't enjoy writing these daily posts as much as I used to and often feel like I'm running out of things to say. Sometimes I'm amazed that anyone still reads this. In the early days of the blog my readers seemed amazed when I posted something every evening for 500 consecutive days. Now that I'm approaching 5000 days there are few readers left. Blogging just isn't as popular as it once was. My plan was always to take long walks in the morning to keep my body in shape and write something every evening to keep my mind in shape. Not a bad plan actually, but it probably would have worked just as well if I did Sudoku puzzles instead.

This afternoon was uneventful. I hope things finally start to cool off in September. The weather app on my phone still shows clear skies and triple digit temperatures for the next two weeks, but this has got to end sometime. I need to think of something to occupy my time but I'm in no particular hurry. Until something captures my interest I can just watch old Seinfeld and Everybody Loves Raymond episodes on TV.

It's time to make my grocery list again. Janet did her grocery shopping today and Dawn was just as excited as ever when she returned with lots of bags of food to put away. Grocery day is a big deal to Dawn. I'd like to post something meaningful tomorrow, but I suspect that it will be another ordinary Saturday. There has certainly been some excitement during the past fifteen years, but life isn't like that always. Maybe that's the charm of this blog. I make the ordinary and uneventful seem OK.

Spot is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4293

Just a normal Saturday. I filled the car with gas and then went to Sam's Club and Central Market. I debated whether to go grocery shopping first and then walk, or the other way around. If you go grocery shopping early, the stores are less crowded. If you go walking early, it's nice and cool. It's too bad you can't do everything early. I opted to get the shopping out of the way, but it was pretty hot by the time I got around to taking my long walk. I had to use the spray fountain in the park to cool off again. I didn't think it would warm up so quickly, especially since we needed light jackets on our sunrise walk with Dawn.

I've had a stomach ache for several days now. At first I thought that something might have gone wrong with my surgery, but I feel better now. I probably just had a mild case of indigestion. It takes a while to get used to a new diet. I've been having huge fruit smoothies for so many years that solid food must be somewhat of a shock to my system. I think I am eating healthier now, but I always thought I was eating healthy before. Who knows? It's hard to get a straight answer on diet and nutrition. I know I'm doing better than all my friends who still get their meals through the drive-thru window at Wendy's, McDonald's, or Whataburger.

Dawn seems friendlier toward me recently. It's a long, slow process but she doesn't run away when I come into a room anymore. Janet thought that if I was the one who fed and walked her, she would eventually start to warm up to me. It seems to be working. She's real friendly early in the mornings now. Later in the day, she remembers that I'm a man and she's got to be cautious. We are making progress though, so that's a good thing.

I'm not making much progress toward finding something I enjoy doing in Dallas. I still wouldn't mind living out at the observatory and I kind of envy my Florida friends who have built an entire lifestyle around following rocket launches. I guess I just don't like big cities anymore. City life revolves around doing things with other people. Not so good when you are trying to avoid people. I can remember a time when I loved going to gallery openings, lectures, and plays. Not anymore.  Did I change, or did the cities themselves change? I know I used to feel safe in almost any large city. That's a big change right there.

It's time to go up on the roof again. I keeps hearing pecans falling on the roof and if I don't remove them, they will stain the water a dark brown the next time it rains. I need to clean things up and do a thorough inspection before the leaves start to fall. A leak under a huge pile of Oak leaves is even harder to find. I wish I could find someone to do this odious job for me. It would take forever to explain what needs to be done and the roof surface is kind of fragile. I've learned a lot tending to this miserable roof over the years. If someone else was up there, I'd just feel that they were making things worse. I'm not getting any younger though. One of these days, I'm not going to be able to climb up there.

I hope the weather stays nice for Dawn's Sunday outing tomorrow. Walking outdoors is so much more enjoyable when the weather is nice.

Rosie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4260

Charlie, Cooper and Bullet are all still at the kennel. I guess the people who looked at Bullet decided not to take him. All three dogs were very playful today. They certainly had more energy than I did. Charlie has a strong prey drive and tries to kill every toy in the room. Cooper tries to show us how fast he can run. Bullet makes us laugh because he is so goofy. There is still a lot of puppy in him.

Dawn did well on her sunrise walk this morning. She appears to be feeling a lot better. I think we can discontinue the Rimadyl now. This is all trial and error, but we can start the medication again if she still feels uncomfortable. So far there is very little paw licking. It's too bad she got scared at the vet the other day and tore up her paws again. We had almost gotten the problem solved.

I had a horrible stomach ache today. I have no idea why. I basically eat the same thing every day. This felt different than the acid reflux I often suffer from. I didn't feel good up at the kennel at all, but I took a nap when we returned home and eventually I started feeling better. I thought a long, slow walk would help so I decided to go to the gym even though it was late in the day. Unfortunately, rush hour traffic was so bad that I couldn't even get out of the driveway. I took a short walk in the 97 degree heat instead. The walk did help my stomach ache but didn't help anything else. I didn't walk that far, but I was hot, tired, and sweaty by the time I returned home.

I didn't feel like eating tonight and only had a small salad and and even smaller slice of cake. I didn't even feel like having a beer this evening, which is rare. Hopefully I will be back to normal in the morning. I hate to miss meals. Eating and walks are basically all I do these days.

I've got to decide whether to go out to the observatory next month. I'm a bit surprised that they haven't already canceled the upcoming outreach events because of the recent Covid surge in Texas. Maybe the surge hasn't reach far West Texas yet. During the first round of the disease, Fort Davis was about two months behind the rest of the state. The infections did arrive though and they probably will this time as well. I'd rather go out to the observatory in October anyway. The weather is better then and maybe the current Covid spike will have died down. Maybe rent cars will be cheaper as well. Renting a car is a little pricy now and the selection of cars is terrible. One more example of our increasingly dysfunctional world. This might as well be a zombie movie we're living in. Nothing works smoothly anymore.

I've got to go back to the dentist later this week. This time it's for a filling in one of my lower front teeth. Hopefully, this will be the end of my dental woes for a while. I never think much about doctor visits because insurance pays for everything. Dental visits are different. I have no dental insurance and dental procedures can be very pricey. I'd much rather buy a new camera lens than pay for a filling.

Fall can't come soon enough. I'm really getting tired of these hot summer days. The days do seem shorter now. Our sunrise walks start a little later. We used to have to leave by 6:30 to avoid the sun. Now 6:45 seems fine. I complain a lot, but we've actually been very lucky this summer. The vegetation is still green and there have been no floods, tornados, or wildfires. No wonder so many people want to move here.

Mickey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4227

Dawn walked two miles this morning. I was amazed. She was tired when we returned home, but this was her longest walk in many months. Something has changed. Dawn seems happier and more assertive now. I don't know if we'll ever discover what caused her to freeze in place and become reluctant to leave the house. It's nice to see her become more confident though. We were probably walking her too far in the beginning. She's an older dog and tires easily. It seems to work pretty well if we just let Dawn choose what to do. She seems to know her limits.

Today was totally uneventful. It was too hot to take a walk in the park, so I puttered around the house for a while and then went to the gym. I need to think of something to do that doesn't involve planning a trip to Florida or West Texas. I probably need to start working again, but the thought of finding clients seems daunting. Things change quickly and I've lost most of my old contacts. I don't think I could work for anyone else either. I've gone way too long without having a boss or a supervisor. Oh, well. So much for working. Probably all I need are a few good books.

I find it strange that there is so much animosity toward Jeff Bezos. There seemed to be a lot of criticism of his rocket on the morning shows today. The same people who find pleasure in hating Bezos always seem to have Amazon boxes on their front porch. I think it's great that Bezos, Branson, and Musk want to go to space. People forget that during the early days of aviation only rich people could afford to fly. The same has been true for most new innovations. Even color televisions were out of reach for many when I was a kid. Hey, somebody has to be first. Say what you will about Zuckerberg, but you are probably on Facebook right now. People like Bezos and Zuckerberg are rich because you want what they have to offer. It seems so hypocritical to badmouth successful tech titans while you are constantly glued to your cell phone, ordering stuff you don't really need online. At any rate, I hope Bezos succeeds with his dream of moving heavy industry off the planet and Musk is able to establish a colony on Mars. We need a lot more people with outlandish big dreams and a lot fewer substance abusers living in tents on city streets.

I can't figure out how my gym stays in business. There are usually only about twelve people on the floor and it's always the same people. I can't believe that the gym is usually crowded and I just happen to pick the times when it is empty. I'm certainly not complaining. I like the fact that most of the machines are always open and there's never a wait for anything. I did my usual routine today and then came home. I actually think I get more exercise walking in the park, but the gym is a nice change of pace. It certainly beats going outside on a hot, humid day.

Maybe I'm imagining things, but I think Dawn's paws are starting to get better. They don't look as red anymore. We try to keep the socks on her while she's sleeping or around the house. She can get the socks off if she really tries, but there aren't as many opportunities to lick or bite at herself anymore. I think the antibiotics she was taking for her urinary tract infection helped too. I hope we can clear this up. I doesn't really matter if the licking is a behavioral or a medical issue. We need to discover the cause and get her back to normal.

I have a stomach ache tonight. This is weird because I ate exactly the same thing for dinner as I did on Monday. I guess life is full of unexplained mysteries. Luckily, like a stomach ache, most of the mysteries don't matter and you forget about them the next day.

Katie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day