Day 3071

As usual, Dash was not a model of good behavior this morning. He barked at the vet and pooped in the lobby. Dash used to be so well behaved, but now he's old and cranky. I'm glad everyone is patient with us. We couldn't trim his nails this morning, because Dash wouldn't let anyone get near his paws. We did get all his vaccinations though, and that's what we came for. Dash's vet was pleased at how well he was responding to the antibiotic, but warned us that it wasn't a good idea to take Rimadyl with blood thinners. This was our fault. Actually, Dash's other vet did recommend stopping the low dose aspirin when he initially prescribed the Rimadyl. All this got forgotten because we didn't give Dash the Rimadyl anyway and tried the safer Movoflex supplement instead. When Dash's blood clot appeard to dissolve and disappear, the doctor wanted to continue the Plavix and low dose aspirin combination because it was working. When Dash became painful, we remembered we already had the Rimadyl, and forgot the complicated path we took to get where we are. No harm was done because Dash only took the Rimadyl for three days, but it was a good reminder to check and re-check everything when it comes to a change in medication.

I thought that Dash would be tired after his trip to the vet, but he was surprisingly active. Even though it was later in the day and things were starting to warm up, he took a very long walk. He was actually a little too active, because we lost a shoe. I eventually found the rubber boot, but it was hard to get Dash to turn around and retrace our steps. It was important to find the missing boot, because these little things are way to expensive to leave them lying around in the park. I've got to figure out a better way to keep the boots secure. As his rear legs grow weaker, Dash seems to loose these shoes more often.

I looked like a dork this morning. I wore both the Fitbit and Jawbone trackers on my right wrist to compare the way they counted steps. After wearing them together most of the morning, they were only about 75 steps off. The surprising thing was that my Apple Watch counted over 1500 extra steps. It was way off. I would have thought that the watch would be the most accurate but that didn't appear to be the case. Since your natural arm movement is part of the algorithm that is used to calculate distance, I wonder if any of my trackers are even close. When you are holding on to a dog leash, your arms don't tend to move back and forth at all. With an active dog, they are often straight out in front of you.
  
Our mild Winter has been a bonanza for biting insects. I don't think I've ever gotten so many mosquito and chigger bites this early in the season. I have to worry about spiders too. When I leave my dog walking shoes outside to dry after our walks, I always check to make sure no spiders have crawled inside before I put them on again. The spiders are everywhere. I dream of a place with cool, dry air, infrequent rain, and an absence of insects. I wonder where that would be?

I'm looking forward to a new episode of The Expanse tomorrow. This shows just how slow and uneventful life has become. I shouldn't be waiting all week for an hour of TV. Oh, well. That's the way it goes. I suspect that waiting for your favorite TV show is a lot more normal than spending the morning comparing fitness trackers.

Dash has been in good spirits all day. Maybe being bad at the vet was fun for him.

Rosco is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 1743

Surprisingly, everything turned out well today. I walked Dash while Janet fed Dot her breakfast and when we returned, Dash just went to sleep until it was time to go to the vet. I didn't expect this, but it made life a little easier. Dash's blood was free of lipids this time, so we got a good sample for the thyroid level tests. Dot got her DHPP and Bordetella vaccinations when she went to the vet a little later, and so far she has had no adverse reactions. Hopefully, we're done with shots and lab work for a while.

Despite the multiple vet appointments, I still managed to get quite a bit of work done. There were the usual website updates, along with a new writing assignment. I didn't finish the writing assignment, since it was longer than usual, but it will give me something to do tomorrow.

I'm wondering what's so special about IOS 8. I installed it on my phone several days ago and still haven't noticed anything different. There are supposed to be hundreds of new features, but apparently none of them have any impact on the five simple apps I actually use. The camera is supposed to gain several additional features with the new operating system, but it still doesn't have the features I've been wanting since the very first iPhone. I can't understand why you can't manually focus the camera, or control the f-stop. These two things seem pretty basic to me.

One of the dog's vets was telling me today how much her kids liked Dr. Who. I'm pretty fond of Dr. Who myself, so it made me wonder if I was still basically a kid at heart. I certainly don't tend to see "adult" solutions to most of the world's problems. The world is simple to me. Unemployment? Just start manufacturing things in this country again the way we used to and there will be plenty of jobs. Global warming? If global warming is caused by man like everyone says it is, just quit having kids for a generation. The population growth will slow dramatically, nature will reclaim what it lost, and everything will be fine. Terrorism? Just don't let these guys on planes. Ever! No exceptions for anyone. Keep your oil and keep your camels and let the rest of the world get back to business.

None of this will ever happen though. Too many people still believe that globalization is a good thing and that by relentlessly promoting diversity, we can somehow all learn to get along. Not very likely. If your own family can't get along at Thanksgiving dinner, how is the whole world going to get along?  Personally, I think we have made such a mess of things that we ought to give the place back to the whales and the dolphins.

Enough with the seriousness though. It's not really part of my narrative. I prefer to talk about dogs for a reason. Dogs aren't Democrats or Republicans. They may bite you, but they'll never lie. Feed a dog and treat it properly and you've got a friend for life. People are a bit different.

Sage is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 1624

I got up early to walk the dogs before Dash's 8:30 AM vet appointment. Although the skies looked dark and foreboding during the entire walk, we hardly got wet at all. Just a few sprinkles. No rain during the trip to the vet either. We got lucky. Dash is now current on all his vaccinations and should only have to go to the vet once a month for routine chemotherapy blood tests.

Today was busier than I expected. I completed a big website revision and returned to writing again, completing my first new article in over a week. It's good to stay busy as long as you're not too busy. Today was just about right.

Sometimes I wonder whether the Internet is increasing knowledge and awareness at all. Lately, it seems that our interconnected world is just providing a forum for idiots to find their soulmates. Today, I followed two different threads on Facebook that would have been hard to take seriously if it weren't for the hundreds of people who fervently seemed to believe them. One thread was filled with people claiming that airplanes never crashed into the world trade center towers and that the entire event was an elaborate illusion created by the CIA using holographic projections of commercial aircraft coordinated by a nearby invisible B2 bomber. I'm not making this stuff up. Next was an old thread that resurfaces every once in a while, claiming that the moon landings were a hoax and that Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin never went to the moon at all. Why do people love conspiracies so much?  It's been around forever. Kennedy was assassinated by the mafia. All new advances in technology have been reverse engineered from wreckage found in the Roswell flying saucer. I was shocked to read recently that almost 40% of the world's population don't even believe the Holocaust ever happened. I guess it's not surprising that Duck Dynasty, The Kardashians, and monster truck shows are so popular. We're doomed.

I try not to get involved in arguments about whether we went to the moon, or if there were dinosaurs on Noah's ark. It's just not worth it. If I can't even convince the dogs that the cat they're obsessed with had left the yard, how am I going to convince someone that there's nothing worth looking at in Area-51? The ironic thing is that conspiracies do exist. We just don't seem to care about the real ones. I'm sure that the NSA knows much, much more about all of us than we could ever imagine. We did go to the moon though.

If I don't make an appointment to go to the dentist within the next month, I need to have my head examined. Despite brushing several times a day and using a water pic, I've still got a tooth that bothers me. I've also got a persistent metallic taste in my mouth, but I don't think that has anything to do with dental hygiene. The metallic taste is probably a side effect of the Metformin I take to control blood sugar. I wonder if I even need to take Metformin anymore? I've dramatically cut back on my sugar intake during the past year. Who knows if I am even at risk for developing diabetes? My blood chemistry is close to perfect now. I am at risk for needing a root canal though. Remind me to make a dental appointment soon.

Libby is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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