Day 2742

Another rainy day. The yard is still muddy and I have to clean Dash's paws with a wet rag before he comes inside. The first thing Dash does when he comes inside is jump on the bed. If the rainy season continues much longer, Janet may wish she hadn't picked out a white comforter and pillows for the bed. When you've got large dogs, mud brown usually turns out to be the best color for everything.

I really need to start pestering the landscaper to come out and take care of the yard. He was supposed to come a month ago. Usually we put in new grass in March but there's been way too much going on this Spring. The yard really hasn't been a priority. A friend who uses the same guy told us the landscaper isn't very interested in us since we only call him once a year. Hey, once a year is plenty. He ought to be glad to have our business since he gets to put in the same grass over and over again. I don't know why the grass won't grow. The lawn gets enough water and the soil is good. Maybe there just isn't enough direct sunlight. At any rate, it doesn't really matter how long the grass lasts. Right now the back yard is basically a big mud pit.

I wrote another letter to my sister this afternoon. Letter writing is always a good thing to do on a rainy day. I wish my sister would just read the blog, since I end up repeating most of the things I've already written here. Pen and paper is how she communicates and I doubt that anything is going to change. We're both set in our ways. My Dad was the same way. He was a brilliant scientist, but he never owned a computer. He had no interest in computers at all.

Maybe I'm the odd duck in the family. I don't know what I'd do without my computers. Without computers, I'd never have been able to operate a successful business out of my house for all these years. When I first started the company, I was constantly driving from one client to the next. It seemed like I was always in meetings. What a revelation to discover that I didn't really need to see these people at all. The Internet changed everything for me. To this day there are still clients who I have never met in person. I get my assignments via e-mail and I send the completed projects back via e-mail. It works for me.

I'm surprised that Dash has turned out to be a really good therapy dog. Janet and I were a little nervous when she first came home from the hospital, since Dash has a tendency to be wild. He's been very gentle and attentive though. He follows Janet around the house wherever she goes and just sits by her side. So far, there have been no problems at all. I suspect that Dash has wanted both of us home for a long time. For most of his life, Janet has left for work early and come home pretty late. Now Dash has both of us.

Tomorrow I take Janet to visit two different doctors. We're hoping that they are both pleased with her progress. Surgery is always so invasive and recovery is so messy that it is hard to know what to expect. I remember when I first saw my Dad after open heart surgery I was horrified. The cardiologist reassured me that everything was normal but it sure didn't look normal. Dad recovered and so will Janet. There just aren't any shortcuts. I've learned that when a surgeon explains a procedure to you, they usually aren't telling you the entire story. Maybe it's for the best. If I knew everything, I would never have the nerve to have surgery.

It's hard to believe the year is almost half over. This is one year I don't feel like repeating. When Janet recovers, I hope we all stay healthy for a long, long time.

Rascal is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2193

Dot was tired today. So was I. We soldiered on however and did our Thursday routine. I try not to push Dot too hard, but you've got to keep moving. When you quit moving, it's all over. We slowed down the treadmill a bit and Dot did just fine. Dot's vet spent a little extra time with her acupuncture session, trying to ease the tension in her back. I think it worked, because Dot was more relaxed when we got home again.I wish I could think of a better way to transport her to physical therapy. It's becoming routine to stop along the way, so I can re-position her. If she doesn't stay still during the trip downtown, she can get her rear legs twisted in an awkward position. If she struggles to re-position herself while the car is moving, sometimes it just makes the situation worse. The physical therapy is beneficial though, so we do the best we can.

I did the best I could with my assignments today.  Sometimes it's harder to write about nothing than to write something of substance. I've been doing a lot of writing about nothing lately. Hey, it's the Christmas season and that's what marketing is all about. I've developed a pretty vocabulary of superlative adjectives. Everything I write about is a marvelous, must have item, even if it was made in China. Personally, I don't think many people even read the ad copy. It's all about Instagram and images these days. Whenever I see someone send a Tweet or text message using nothing but emojis, I think the language is reverting to Hieroglyphics.

I had to unclog a bathroom sink today. Unclogging a sink or shower drain is even more unpleasant than removing wet leaves from the roof. I remember when taking care of a house was mostly just arranging furniture. Now, taking care of a house is almost entirely about fixing broken things. The older the house gets, the more things break. My next task is finding somebody to fix an oversize sliding glass door. The sliding part of the door is about twelve feet long and quite heavy. I had the rollers on the bottom of this door replaced once before, but apparently they need to be replaced again. The door is very hard to open now.

I ran out of laundry detergent this evening. This is a dangerous thing to do when you've got a dog who poops in the house. I'll need to remember to stop by a grocery store and pick up a big bottle of Tide on my way home from breakfast tomorrow. It's amazing how quickly we go through laundry detergent now. I'm washing something all the time now.

It's hard to believe it's going to be Christmas next week. This entire year has gone by in a blur. If this year was one of those word clouds you often see on people's blogs, the words that would stand out most prominently would be cancer, surgery, neuropathy, physical therapy, and incontinence. Sick dogs and our ongoing efforts to rehabilitate them have definitely defined the year. At least my own health hasn't been much of a problem this year. It's nice to have my Hepatitis C problems behind me so I can concentrate on the dogs. Maybe next year will be easier. I doubt it. The dogs will continue getting older and so will I. As hard as you try, you can't cheat time.

Duke is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day