Flooding in the park

We in Robbinsdale were not flooded in the recent storms, at least not in my part of town, yet I noticed on our walk this morning that a large flock of, hopefully, migrating geese was swimming in the middle of  Sanborn Park.  Sanborn Park does not usually have a lake in the middle of it. 

That home down the block is apparently still not getting any of the frequent rain, as I see they watered their lawn today, as they have been doing every day all spring and summer.  Yes, their lawn is lush and green, as is every other lawn in the neighborhood.  I think they may be trying to establish a rain forest, except they're  only growing and regularly mowing grass and a few of the usual annuals.  Looks nice though. 

Geriatric Challenges

She is stone deaf, missing an eye, almost totally blind in the other, has a floppy ear and now she walks in circles, staggers and stumbles, bumps things and holds her head at an angle.  It is very confusing for her and, though occasionally amusing, is also another dog lesson for me.  On the positive side, she is eating heartily, is  happy to go for a walk and is overcoming her infirmity amazingly well.  She doesn't even care if she looks a bit funny.  Most positive of all, she has a condition from which she will recover, called "old dog vestibular syndrome", although her head will always tilt, as it now does, to the left.  She's already walking in a straight line much of the time. 

Dogs teach us many things, not the least of which is that with advancing age, stuff happens.  Dogs just adjust and handle these things.  I wonder whether, as I age, I will be able to accept and adjust as well.  If Princess were a "people", she'd be in a "home", sitting in her wheel chair with head tilted and probably drooling.  Should that happen to me, I hope someone will come and visit me anyway and, hopefully, remember, as I do with my Princess, the happy days when I ran through the fields with her, jumping, climbing and tunneling just as fast as she could go. 

My Lily is being Spayed today

My Lily Anne is being spayed today.  That means, among other things, that she couldn't have anything to eat after 6 p.m. last evening, and she had to be at the "hospital" by 8 a.m.  Lots of traffic between 7:30 and 8 a.m. on Monday mornings, but I wasn't going where they were, so I whizzed right by them.  Perhaps whizzed is not a good word to use, and it probably wouldn't help if I qualified it saying I whizzed by them in my car. 

On my way I again mused that this really is a lousy way to spend a good part of one's life - this thing strangely called "rush hour" driving.  In many places it's more like "creeping hour".  I also mused on a sign offering VM Training.  Voice Mail training?  Very Mild training?  Vine Management training?  Obviously the letters mean something to someone.

Back home I noticed in an article on "clothes with super powers" in today's StarTribune the discription of a suit that wicks away sweat.  It said the sweat "beads up and rolls away".  Egad!  Do you suppose on our hot summer days the person wearing this suit will arrive at work with water dripping out is pant legs and into his shoes?  Wouldn't that be hard to explain? 

So after today my Lily will officially be "just a pet" and there will be no more puppies born in my household.  Just one more indication, six dogs notwithstanding, I am NOT a pet hoarder.  Furthermore, I also clean my house regularly. 

Where have I been?

I really have no idea, but for several weeks I have not been inspired to share my life with others, which is perhaps a very good thing for all involved.  I have been pretty much where I was supposed to be most of the time, physically anyway.

I am now making lists of things to do on the task section of my new version of Outlook, which is on my new computer, which I have because my previous computer died after a few days of its having trouble waking up in the mornings.

I have made a detailed list of things I need to do.  I check it in the morning to decide what I will do that day and in the afternoon I cross off the several things I have done that day.  Stress reduction and reward works.  Day before yesterday, for example, I cleaned the downstairs bathroom,  edited my list which had read "clean bathrooms" to read "clean upstairs bathroom" and "clean downstairs bathroom," which I could immediately cross off as "done".  Yesterday I attached my new license plate tabs and crossed that off my list.  So satisfying.  Clearly, this is not a life filled with overwhelming projects to be accomplished.