Day 4235

Today was busy. Well, at least it was busy for me. I did more than one thing today which is becoming increasingly rare. It doesn't cool down at night the way it used to last month. Since our sunrise walks are warmer, Dawn doesn't like to walk as far. We are back to our bare minimum one mile loop again. I can't blame Dawn for wanting to get back inside. I usually feel like getting back inside as well.

I stopped at REI to pick up my new running shoes on my way to get a haircut. You could tell the whole mask situation is getting very confusing. Some of the staff were wearing masks while others weren't. The customers were the same way. I see this everywhere. When I went to the pharmacy a little later to pick up the antibiotics I need for my upcoming root canal, none of the pharmacists on duty were wearing masks. My hair stylist still wants customers to wear masks though and says she might continue wearing them forever. Clearly, we are just as divided on masks as we are on everything else in this country. I carry a mask in my back pocket and put it on if it makes someone happy. I don't think they are necessary if you have been vaccinated though. I'm wearing mine less and less.

I always enjoy getting a good haircut. Usually a haircut means I will be traveling somewhere interesting in the near future. Not this time. Travel is another thing that has become completely messed up in a post-Covid world. Planes are crowded and the people flying on them have become extremely rude. Hotels have gotten very expensive and rental cars are almost impossible to find in popular destinations. This is one of many reasons why I will be missing the upcoming Boeing Starliner launch. It's just as well I guess. If I was down in Titusville now, I would be fretting about the latest launch delay and wondering how I was going to pay for the trip. I'm hoping that things will change in the Fall, but I'm not counting on it. A perpetual Covid panic seems to benefit some people. This may go on forever.

I feel bad about making Dawn wear the cone so much, but it is the only thing that keeps her from licking and biting at her paws. We can usually leave the cone off in the mornings because she is tired after her sunrise walk and just goes to sleep. It's the afternoons where she gets into trouble. She knows we don't like the licking and will usually not go after her paws while one of us is in the room with her. If we leave her alone in the house she starts licking immediately. I thought this might be separation anxiety for a while, but she also does a lot of licking while we are asleep. Luckily, she can sleep normally wearing the cone, because she's been having to wear it at night lately.

I'm getting tired of spending money on things that bring no joy. I got my car insurance bill today and of course it was a lot higher than it was six months ago. I looked up the average price of a root canal on Google and was horrified at how expensive they were. Several reputable tree guys want to charge me as much as $5000 to remove the big Oak tree in the back yard. Lord knows how much it will cost to fix all the things that need attention in the house.

I went to the gym again today. I may not be getting any satisfaction, but I am still getting my steps. Maybe I'm fooling myself, but I still think staying in shape and drinking a healthy smoothie every morning is the secret to everything. We'll see how tomorrow goes. I've taken the trash out to the curb and watered the new grass. I'm ready for anything as long as there are no surprises.

Tink is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4233

The sunrise walks are warmer now. You can tell what kind of day it is going to be the instant you step outside. I knew today was going to be a hot one. Dawn's enthusiasm for walking is very temperature dependent. She walked slower today and chose a shorter route. I couldn't blame her for wanting to get back to the house. When the temperature is already in the 80's during the coolest part of the day, even a dog knows that it's crazy to stay outside.

The air conditioner is running nonstop now. I keep hoping that this essential piece of machinery won't break. The problem with air conditioning is that it can only lower the ambient temperature by about twenty degrees. This works pretty well when the outside temperature is 90 degrees. When the temperature climbs over 100 degrees, most systems start to struggle. Our house isn't well insulated either. We have lots of single pane glass. The house was originally built with a thick tar and gravel roof that provided a modest amount of insulation. Modern roofing materials are much thinner and provide little insulation value at all. We have lost several large trees over the years as well, which used to provide lots of shade. We've always had hot summers here in Dallas, but it seems like the air conditioner is working a lot harder than it used to.

After breakfast I wrote a letter to my sister. This is the only way we communicate, so I always try to answer her letters. I kind of wish that everyone still wrote letters. It's easy to put a paper letter or a bill in a file folder and save it forever. I can't tell you how much e-mail that I have accidentally erased over the years. I have already forgotten to pay several bills now that I have switched over to electronic payments for everything. My old IBM Selectric typewriter used to feel so much more substantial than this Apple keyboard. I think my spelling used to be better back in the day as well, since it was such a pain to correct things. The older I get, the more nostalgic I become, so I guess I'm glad that there is still one person who believes in putting their thoughts on paper. My sister is even more old school than I am and writes everything in long hand instead of using a keyboard.

Dawn is getting better about wearing a cone while I'm away. She doesn't like it, but it works much better than the socks did for protecting her feet. She's got some new antibiotics now, but we still don't know what is causing the compulsive licking. It's rare that Janet and I are both away at the same time, so Dawn doesn't have to wear the cone that often. The redness does improve if we can keep her from licking or biting at her paws, so maybe if we can just keep her away from those paws for two or three weeks, everything will be better.

The gym must have fixed their air conditioning overnight, because the place was much cooler today. A lot of the treadmills are still broken, but I was still able to find a good one. It looks like I might be going to the gym every day this week because we've got a long string of 100 degree days ahead of us. Oddly, my car has better air conditioning than either our house or the gym. I have no problems staying cool in my car.   The only problem I have with the car is that it gets terrible gas mileage. If I'm driving in the city, I can almost see the gas gauge go down while I'm looking at it. Its silly to complain about this though, since I don't drive much and basically go nowhere. I only fill my tank about every three weeks.

The foam inserts for my camera case finally arrived. I haven't installed the foam in the case yet because I still have to cut slots in the foam for the lenses and camera. It seems like I had a special knife for this at one point. I'll have to look for it. Once I replace the disintegrating foam in the old aluminum Halliburton case I probably won't look at the cameras again for several years. It's way too much trouble to shoot on film these days unless you do the processing yourself.

I hope it's a little cooler tomorrow, but I'm sure it won't be. I'm probably going to be complaining about the heat for the next several months. 

Deuce is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day