Sunday, July 12, 2015

Day 2035

I should sleep well tonight. For one reason or another, I managed to keep moving all day long. We got up early because Dot had another accident in bed. She managed to get herself stuck in an awkward position when she repositioned herself during the night and I think struggling to stand up caused her to poop. There is no real way to prevent this. Like most dogs, Dot gets up, circles around, and then lies down in a different position several times a night. Sometimes she doesn't land quite where she expected to. Since she only pooped a little bit, we got up early and took the dogs on a walk so she could finish the job outside.

When we returned, I threw the dog blankets in the washer and we sat down for breakfast. It was actually a fairly normal morning. After breakfast, I went to the gym. I usually don't go this early, but why not? If I had stayed home, all I would have done was vacuum or work on another website. I can do those things any day of the week. I think all the activity trackers I'm using now are shaming me into having a more effective workout.

I really like the Apple Health app. It aggregates information it receives from my watch and the Jawbone UP band and presents it all on an easy to read dashboard. Even though I'm basically a lazy person, I got my heart pumping this morning and burned a respectable number of calories. I'm thinking of adding a WiFi scale to the mix. It certainly isn't necessary, but I just like tracking things.

On the way home from the gym I stopped at a nearby nursery and bought some Liriope plants to replace the ones that had died in the back yard. When I was replanting the Monkey Grass, it became clear why the plants had died. The soil in this part of the yard was just too dry. Actually, we should have planted grass instead of ground cover in this section of the yard, because it is one of the few areas that receives direct sunlight during the day. The combination of sunlight and tons of small roots from a nearby Oak tree had caused the ground to dry out twice as fast as the rest of the yard. Large, mature trees can really suck the water out of the soil. I love the trees though, so it will always be difficult to keep the grass and landscaping looking nice. It looks nice again now though. We'll see how long this lasts.

Dash got a trip to the dog park as a reward for helping Dot with her walks all week. He has become timid again after we quit going to training class when Dot had her spinal injury. Now, just about anything scares him. Today, a basically friendly dog wanted to play a little too rough and it spooked Dash. He was ready to go home way earlier than he should have. It's a shame that dogs are scaring him again, because going to the dog park used to be one of his favorite things. Dot used to love the dog park too. She will probably never go again though. She is just too fragile.

Since it was such a hot day, we had a great  dinner of sushi and cold salads. Cold food on a hot day is really satisfying to me. The only thing that would have made the meal better would have been a couple of glasses of wine. I can probably drink wine again in moderation, but I an scared to tempt fate after making such tremendous progress recovering from Hepatitis C. I feel extremely lucky to have a fully functioning liver again and foregoing alcohol seems a very small price to pay for staying healthy. That being said, I still think a good wine makes a great meal even better.

It has been a pleasant weekend, but it's back to work tomorrow. I will begin development on my latest website project and I expect the flow of writing assignments to begin again soon. Hopefully, I can find the right balance of exercise and rest with Dot. The Summer heat is tough on her, but she still needs to keep active to prevent her leg muscles from atrophying further. One way or another we'll all make it though the remainder of the Summer and then you can listen to me complain about Winter again.

Winston is today's Dalmatian of the Day
Watch of the Day