Day 2725

We thought we'd see if Dash would take a longer walk if we both walked him. That seemed to do the trick. Dash took a nice long walk without any hesitation. I'm not sure what this proves, but it isn't a very practical solution. It's rare that we have time to take a family walk. I know that Dash always preferred to walk with Dot. Hey buddy, I'd rather walk both dogs too, but that's not going to happen anymore. We're all going to have to adjust to Dot being gone. I wonder if Dash knows what happened? He saw us carry Dot out the door and she never returned. I wish I could tell him that everything is going to be OK.

Today I learned that the pressure washer is great for cleaning bricks and concrete, but it is terrible for removing spiderwebs. I tried to clean the windows on the back of the house this afternoon and ended up getting spiders all over me.  The webs were so sticky that I had trouble dislodging them with the water spray. Once again, nature wins. The water was powerful enough to penetrate the window frames and get inside the house, but the webs seemed impervious to damage. I also learned that it's not a good idea to use use the power washer nozzle to spray away a spider that landed on your leg. Ouch. It was just instinct, but I shouldn't have done that.

The windows eventually got cleaned, even though I had to resort to a bleach soaked wet rag to finish the job. The sad thing is that in two weeks, the spiders will all be back. They build web near the windows because it's a great place to catch bugs. Flying insects are attracted to the light from the windows at night and the industrious spiders ensnare them with their webs. Don't even get me started about the lizards. In a month from now, there will be lizards crawling on our windows at night as well.

I can live with most of these critters, but I draw the line at rats. I went to a pest control store and bought some attractant that is supposed to be much better than peanut butter or cheese as bait. I cleaned all the traps, moved them around to new locations, and baited them with the attractant gel. We'll see. I"d better have a rat in the morning.

I started doing a little research about viewing the eclipse this August. It became apparent very quickly that the big problem will be the weather. Once you've picked a location, you pretty much rule out all the other locations. I'm sure there will be people who decide to change locations at the last minute to increase their odds of clear skies, but all this is going to do is create monumental traffic jams. Based on prior history, there is about a 40% chance of cloudy weather at many of the best locations. Based on my own experience, you just can't predict the weather. We were supposed to have clear weather when my Dad and I traveled to see the Alaskan eclipse in 1963, but a cloud covered the sun at the last minute. When NASA invited me to Vandenberg Airforce Base to view a satellite launch a few years ago, everything was going perfectly until a few minutes before lift off. Once again, weather surprised us and the launch was scrubbed at the last minute. I guess if you want to see the eclipse, you've just got to pick a location and take your chances. Just like my experience with the spiders, mother nature is going to win this one too.

I got a lot done today. Hopefully, I will do the same tomorrow. I plan on going to the gym. Since the gym is indoors, there will be no rats or spiders to deal with. It's sad that it takes a rat to make the gym appealing to me, but if this gets me exercising, I guess it's a good thing.

Escher is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2484

Sunday is usually the busiest day of the week. It's the last chance to catch up on chores I should have done earlier in the week before it's time to start all over again. I debated on whether to clean the house or go to the gym first. If I go to the gym first, I'm usually too tired to clean. If I clean first, I'm too tired for a workout. The dirty house practically demanded to be made a priority. As I was vacuuming, I wondered if there was anything left that I actually enjoyed anymore. I stay busy. I keep my commitments. I try not to let life get me down. We're taught that life should be an adventure, but often it just feels like a long hike up a very steep hill.

I woke up three times last night thinking that Dot had pooped in her bed. Each time it was a false alarm. I was so tired that when she had her inevitable accident around 6 AM, I was fast asleep. I woke to the sound of her coughing after she tried to eat the mess. This was a frustrating way to start the day. Dot barks all the time. Why couldn't she just learn to bark after she poops at night. I'd have everything cleaned up in a jiffy, if she'd just bark and give me a head's up.

I've been noticing that I'm not as hungry as I used to be. I just can't eat as much anymore. Sunday breakfast is frequently bacon and eggs with a couple of biscuits on the side. Janet used to fix an entire package of bacon and cook three or four eggs to share between us. Today, I only felt like having a couple of pieces of bacon and was full after eating one egg. Breakfast was delicious, but I just wasn't hungry. This isn't like me. I'm even eating less when I go out on Friday morning.

Even though I was tired, I went to the gym anyway. There were people using the basketball court when I got there, so I had to change up the order of my workout, in hopes that they would eventually go away. Most of my workout is about as much fun as mowing the grass, but I do enjoy shooting baskets. The weird thing is whatever I do at the gym, it almost always takes exactly 63 minutes to complete the workout. I purposely never look at my watch until I'm finished and I'm amazed that even though I sometimes use different machines and never spend the same amount of time shooting free throws, my total elapsed time is always exactly the same. It's like I have some kind of internal clock telling me that after 63 minutes, I need to get out of that place.

Last year, the city paved one of the trails I use to walk the dogs and turned it into a bike path. Using this path has become hazardous on weekends because it is filled with cyclists who have little regard for dogs. Dash likes to zig-zag from one side of the path to the other, depending on which side smells better. I have to be real careful that we don't get run over. It's impossible to daydream on our walks anymore. The place has become a race track. Don't get me wrong. I have nothing against bicycles.  It's just the aggressive Type-A people who ride them I hate.

I wonder if not buying a pumpkin for your front porch counts as an effort to simplify your life. For years I put pumpkins on the porch in October but they just rotted. They didn't even make the porch look better. I think we'll skip the pumpkins this year.

Bailey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day