Day 4111

I think a lot of people must have moved here during the pandemic. The traffic is horrible now. Every time I go out, I feel like I am driving in Los Angeles. Dallas was never a small town, but it wasn't always this way. I remember when there was a farm with livestock right across from Northpark. Maybe I'm just getting too old for city life. It's getting harder and harder to find anything positive to say about all this congestion. 

Shopping was relatively easy today. I found everything on my list fairly quickly and was home well before noon. I used to think that the pandemic would be over when I started seeing Clorox wipes again. The wipes are everywhere now, so why does it feel like nothing has changed? Even getting vaccinated didn't change much. I still wear a mask whenever I go out. I seldom eat at restaurants anymore. When I pass someone while I'm walking in the park, I make a conscious effort to move way out of the way. I might never go to a large gathering again. I could go on and on. I doubt that this behavior is going to change any time soon. I've never trusted people all that much. Now I have a reason not to trust them.

I do trust dogs, which is why it bothers me that Dawn doesn't seems to like me. Dot and Dash would follow me everywhere, but Dawn still hasn't set foot in the office. The whole room seems off limits to her. We are making a little progress though. When I take a nap on the bed, she no longer leaves the room. She seems content to share the bed with me now, but she won't follow me outside even when I know she wants to go. The only way I can get her to go in the back yard with me is to lead her out on a leash. Dawn is an entirely different dog when Janet is home. She is much more confident and very little seems to bother her. Oh, well. I guess it's just me.

My long walk was a little slow again today. I felt fine, but I could tell after the first 300 yards that I wasn't going to set any records. It's still a mystery why on some days I have a spring in my step and on other days I don't. I used to think my slow days resulted from a lack of sleep, but I've been sleeping well lately. I doubt that any of this even matters. I should just turn off the Fitbit and enjoy the view. On today's walk I noticed that one of the Muscovy ducks and three of the geese were missing. I saw two Monk Parakeets which was strange since these birds usually fly together as a large group. There were lots of people in the park, which was understandable since it was a nice Spring day. For the first time in over a year I saw some of the baseball diamonds in use. School sports have definitely returned. The soccer fields in the park have been in use for quite a while now.

I'm spending way too much time looking at telescopes and other astronomical paraphernalia online. This usually leads to buying things which is probably unwise. I'm never going to spend much time looking at the stars here in Dallas. The light pollution is terrible and I don't feel safe going out at night in the city anyway. This leaves the occasional trip to West Texas, which might actually be all I need. It's too bad I can't just rent the equipment I need the same way I rent a car for these trips. 

I may be forced to do some yard work tomorrow. The yard still looks terrible after our big freeze, and neither of us want to spend the money to hire a lawn service anymore. I guess we need to clean up the place for Dawn. She loves being out in the yard.

Chloe is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2907

Another year of Santa Paws has come and gone. Today was a big success and I'm pretty sure that we photographed even more dogs than we did last week. We had a several very large dogs today, one cat, a very well behaved baby, and a chinchilla. I don't think I've ever seen a chinchilla before. They have large ears and look like someone tried to breed a rabbit with a rat.

We photographed quite a few Dalmatians today. Dalmatians are very photogenic, but they have lots of energy. Every year I always have at least one photo of a Dalmatian flying through the air trying to escape from Santa's arms. A nervous Husky was the only dog who peed on the backdrop this year and nobody knocked anything over. I operate the strobes on low power now and move the lights in a little closer to get the same exposure. By babying the equipment this way, maybe I can squeeze one more year out of it.

I was pleased at how well things went this year. We've been doing these Christmas pet pictures for almost a decade now and there are few disaster anymore. We've definitely learned how to photograph dogs. I'm not as nimble as I used to be but I feel foolish even mentioning my somewhat minor aches and pains. Our leader had knee replacement surgery last week and it didn't seem to slow her down a bit. Every year I wonder how much longer we can continue doing this. Judging by how well things went today, I think we'll be back next year.

I feel bad about leaving Dash at home so long when we do these photo shoots, but there is no other alternative. Janet and I are both needed at these events and Dash hates riding in the car. He seemed fine at home today. There were no vestibular events and every time we checked him on the baby monitor, he was just sleeping on the bed. It was a very long day, but Dash still got a walk just before sunset. It was amazing he got a walk at all today. Janet left for home earlier than I did, but we both got caught in a horrible traffic jam on the freeway. There was an accident and it took over an hour to inch our way past the wreck.

The photo equipment is still piled up in the hallway, but I'm going to get organized tomorrow and take it all back to the storage warehouse. I don't do many photo shoots anymore and there's a good chance that this stuff won't be needed again until next year. As soon as I get all the clutter cleared away, it will be time to put up the Christmas tree.

I doubt if I'll make it to the gym this week. I might not even make it to the grocery store. There's so much to do that I don't even know where to begin. Maybe Dash will let us sleep in tomorrow morning. That would be nice. I think I'll sleep well tonight. I'm very tired.

Puppies are today's Dalmatians of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2743

I've completely lost track of what day it is. I woke up this morning thinking it was Saturday, but it's really just Wednesday. Most of the things that imposed a structure on my life are gone. When I was taking care of Dot toward the end of her life there was always something that needed to be done. Practically every minute needed to be accounted for. When work was busy, a host of deadlines imposed their own structure. Even Janet driving off to work every morning made the week seem orderly. Now it doesn't really matter what day it is. Maybe this is what retirement is like.

I'm not sure what comes next for me, but I can tell that Janet doesn't want to sit around the house all day. She can't wait until her doctors give her the OK to drive again. After today's visit to see the surgeon, we're one step closer to that goal. The doctors seem pleased at her progress and one of the drainage tubes was removed. When the drainage in the other tube decreases to 30 milliliters per day, it can be removed as well. The good news is that there is no sign of infection anywhere.

I can't decide whether Dash needs the canine flu immunization. Our vet would probably say yes, but I've read of several instances where dogs who got the shots ended up having seizures afterwards. Since Dash has problems with both epilepsy and idiopathic vestibular disease, I don't want to do anything that would give him another seizure. Dogs who participate in dog shows or go to dog parks frequently have the highest risk of influenza, but there is no guarantee that your dog is completely free from danger  even if you just stay at home. It's a tough choice, since the canine flu is pretty serious. I never get flu shots myself. The one time I did, I actually caught the flu. My solution for avoiding the flu is just to stay away from children.

Canine flu shots aren't the only think I'm having trouble making a decision about. Should I go see the August eclipse or not? When I first started reading about the upcoming eclipse, it was presented as a must see, once in a lifetime event. Lately, the tone of the articles I've been reading is changing. Eclipse day is projected to be a traffic nightmare of epic proportions with millions of people converging on the totality zone without much of a plan. Now, people are being told to bring extra food and even extra gasoline. Expect to be stranded on the highway if you aren't in place several days ahead of time, they say. This doesn't sound like fun at all. Totality is only two minutes long. I'm not sure being stranded on a crowded freeway for hours is worth those two minutes. There's a 40% chance it's going to be cloudy anyway. All this being said, I'd still love to see a total eclipse.

There's still time to decide. I'll ask Dash's vet about the immunization shots and I'll keep checking airfares to the eclipse zone. In the mean time, there are more mundane things that need to be done. I still need to get my passport renewed and the back yard desperately needs new St. Augustine grass. One of my writing clients said they'd have some more assignments soon, but I'm not counting on much work these days. That ship has sailed.

It's weird to have so much time on my hands. When I have lots of time, I have no money and when I have lots of money, I have no time. That's life, I guess. At least Janet is getting better. That's the important thing right now.

Patch is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day