Day 3868

It's Dalmatian Day again. We have a new boy named Marshall on the way, but for now there are still just three dogs at the kennel. Luckie is really making progress. She trusts the kennel staff now and didn't seem nearly as shy as she did last week. She loves treats and Janet and I were both able to get her to come over to us for a cookie. Luckie might even have a forever home in the near future. We learned today that someone is looking at her this week. Charlie and Hank seemed quieter than usual. Maybe it was the heat. They played with their toys for a little bit, but mostly they just wanted to sit next to us. Not surprisingly, the two boys were just as interested in treats as Luckie. Hank has learned to sit for a treat and Charlie has a whole repertoire of tricks to impress us with.

We managed to get an early start on our walk with Dawn this morning and it was definitely worth the effort. The combination of an overcast sky with a nice breeze made the walk fairly pleasant for late July. Dawn seemed to agree. She had lots of energy today and we completed our full five miles. The park is much less busy on a weekday, but we still encounter a lot more people than we would have at this time last year. I used to remember the park being completely empty on a Monday morning. Those days are gone. There are too many folks who are still out of work and looking for something to do.

I wrote one of my Air Force contacts today to ask about the status of my media accreditation request for upcoming military launches at Kennedy Space Center. I imagine that everything has been delayed because of the coronavirus, but I would have thought I'd have an answer by now. I submitted my application months ago. It's hard for me to be patient when so many things have been put on hold. I'm very polite because I don't want to burn any bridges, but I wish I could figure out a way to move the ball forward. I'm ready to resume writing about rockets and astronomy.

I'm doing a better job of maintaining contacts with my friends out at the observatory. I got a letter from one of the astronomers today. I'm pretty sure that I'll be welcome back as soon as the place opens up again. Lord knows when that will be though. There are certainly no plans at the moment. I don't think anyone is welcoming visitors now. Even the National Parks are starting to regret opening up again. I imagine Disneyland is having second thoughts as well. Until the situation changes, I'll have to be content with making travel plans in my head while I watch the ducks and geese at the park.

I wonder if anyone realizes the true extent of the mess we have managed to create? Some say that at least half the jobs lost during the pandemic will never return. People are leaving big cities in droves. Why live in a city when the stores are boarded up and you've lost faith in public transportation. Now that they're saying the virus can be transmitted through air conditioning systems, is anyone ever going to want to come back to work in a high rise? I doubt it.

With bad news everywhere you look, this is starting to look a lot like the fall of the Roman Empire. Civilizations come and go but I never thought I'd witness something like this during my lifetime. It's easy to focus on what is happening in the United States, but the changes I'm seeing are global. I sure hope the world can manage to get it's act together. When Rome fell, it wasn't followed by the Renaissance. The Middle Ages lasted for a very long time.

Deuce is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 3154

I spent some time talking with auction houses today. I've got to finish consigning things before I totally lose interest in this downsizing venture. I wish I'd methodically inventoried everything when I was younger. It would make life a little easier if I actually knew what I had. It's probably just as well that my younger self wasn't this obsessive. I'm obsessive enough as it is. Maybe I will regain my enthusiasm if the first batch of auctions go well. Right now, downsizing seems very tiring.

The weather hasn't gotten much better. The sound of raindrops on the roof woke me up again last night. The showers were sporadic today, but it's still pretty dark and dismal outside. I'm amazed that I've still been able to give Dash a walk every day. I don't know how I survived before I had weather radar on my phone. We go outside when it's dry and stay inside when it's wet. Usually it works out pretty well.

I had to pick up some meds for Dash at the vet this morning, but that was the extent of my travels. I really don't put many miles on the car anymore. According to my Fitbit, I walk about as much in any given week as I drive. I drive so little now that I wonder if I'd save on car insurance if I put one of those little tracking devices the insurance companies are pushing in my car. I hate the idea of being tracked by an insurance company, but anyone who uses less than a quarter of a tank of gas a week is bound to get a discount.

I wish someone could explain to me what is is going on in Dash's head. It's easy to say he's becoming senile, but I'd like to know exactly what is going on. I'm not sure there's much we could do at this point, but it's sad to see him so disoriented. He'll stand at the back door forever before making a decision to go outside and pee. Sometimes he'll aimlessly walk in circles while we're at the park, and occasionally he seems to get lost in the house. There are still plenty of times when Dash seems completely lucid, but the moments when he appears totally out of it can be pretty scary.

I have a meeting scheduled with my financial advisor tomorrow. I used to be very interested in the stock market and we would have some lively discussions. Not anymore. I've done the best I can to prepare for the future, but the future seems to be growing more uncertain every day. It would be a miracle if I have thirty years left. Sometimes I think it would be even more of a miracle if civilization has thirty years left. There are way too many potential disasters on the horizon.

The one good thing about aging is that the older you get, the less impending doom matters. Hey, I'm already a survivor. I could be wrong too. Maybe the glass is actually half full. I could be more optimistic, but it would be even better to be more like Dash. I doubt that he spends a lot of time thinking about the future. For a dog, the future is always tomorrow morning.

Emma is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 2080

I was expecting to see lots of cute dogs on the Internet today. Hey, it is National Dog Day. Instead I see a disturbing and very graphic POV video of the senseless murder of two journalists on live TV taken by the shooter himself and posted immediately to Twitter. Is this what our world has come to? It's very sad. There will be the usual outrage about guns and gun violence in the weeks to come, but the problem goes far beyond guns. There are simply way too many crazy people and it has become socially unacceptable to lock them up in insane asylums. When I was a kid, every state had a huge network of mental hospitals and it was a fairly easy process to have a loony relative committed. I once knew a man who was the director of one of these state hospitals. He took me on a tour back when I was in college. It scared me. A lot of the people who were locked up seemed no different than I was.

Later, when my own mother was diagnosed as manic depressive, I became somewhat of a mental health advocate. I never dreamed that mental health advocacy would lead to this. We have gone too far. Giving people Prozac and tossing them out on the street again isn't going to stop school shootings and senseless violence perpetrated by crazy people. We have to develop a way to stop these people before they hurt someone. I'm sure that a lot of you saw the film Minority Report. That's exactly where we are headed if we don't get a grip on this situation. We have almost reached a tipping point. You can see it in the rhetoric of politicians. And you can see it in your friends Facebook postings. I don't care what you think about mental health issues. Society needs stability to survive and it will get that stability one way or another. When crazy people threaten the rest of the world's sanity, the lunacy simply has to stop.

The stock market had a good day, but today's gains did little to assuage my uneasiness. This roller coaster ride has already chopped over 8% off the value of my investment portfolio in just a matter of weeks. I used to take these meltdowns in stride. I knew, and still believe, that the market will always bounce back. The problem is that you can never be sure when it will bounce back. It might be months and it might be years. The older you get, the more you start to think that you might not live long enough to see the next boom in this perpetual boom and bust cycle. My Dad lived quite comfortably off his old fashioned university pension. I don't think many of us who depend on an increasingly volatile market and a 401K plan for security will do nearly as well.

I had a long conversation today with a guy who seems destined to become the new brand manager for a company I work with. I don't know if this is good or bad for me. New brand managers often want to get rid of old suppliers. I was asked for my opinions and I gave them. We'll see what happens. I've had a long run with this particular company, but nothing lasts forever. Hey, there's always room for a September surprise. Maybe the guy actually listened to what I had to say.

It seems like I just took Dot to physical therapy yesterday, but it's already time to take her again. This year is going by very quickly. I'm not sure whether to rest Dot tomorrow morning, or take her on her normal walk. She does seem a little bit stronger. Maybe we can do both. I'm not having much luck strengthening Dot's weak rear leg, but I am getting better at anticipating when she is going to poop. For two day in a row I have recognized the telltale signs and gotten her outside in the nick of time. It's too bad I can't do this while I'm sleeping. That's when most of the pooping occurs.

I hope tomorrow is a calm and peaceful day for everyone. With any luck, Dot will be able to go her full 18 minutes in the underwater treadmill. Maybe I'll remember to take out the trash too. That's enough to make Thursday a success for me. I don't set the bar very high these days.

Cammy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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