2026 Life Logs, Day 263: Happy 7th Birthday to Shadow
Date: Sunday, September 20, 2026
Weather: Partly Sunny Early, Turning Overcast and Rainy; High Temp 64, Low 59 degrees F
Location: At Home with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA
Shadow’s 7th birthday was today. He was a very rambunctious puppy but every one said he would calm down when he was 3. Well, that didn’t happen. Then people said that all dogs calm down when they are 7. Not true. Shadow has more energy now than he had as a puppy, so I don’t think he is ever going to settle down. But he is my best buddy and I think his energy helps keep me going. No matter what, he needs to be walked throughout the day and we have a compact to play fetch for at least 15 minutes a day, rain, shine, or snow. Happy birthday to my Shadow. I don’t know what I would do without him.
I divided my day between going to see my sister and working on a list of things that need to be done. The visiting nurse came to see Patsy today about the skin tear on her right leg and said it is healing just fine. Patsy’s blood sugar did go down overnight, but not as low as it normally goes. Then it started back up this morning and by evening was in the high 300’s. But at least it was not in the 400’s like yesterday. So, I will continue to watch it and talk with her primary care to see if we should increase her diabetes meds.
I really didn’t get very far on my to do list, but I will definitely continue that tomorrow. But tonight I put that aside as I was invited to Heather and Jed’s for a special dinner for the last night of Yom Kippur. Heather baked a big, beautiful challah to go with pot roast with potatoes, onions, and mushrooms. And then crème brulee for dessert. Heather outdid herself with the crème brulee. It was perfectly done and perfectly delicious. The sound of three teenage boys in the kitchen using a blow torch to melt the sugar on top was a bit disconcerting! But they did a perfect job.
One interesting thing I did this afternoon was to do a required and much overdue refresher on the conflict of interest law training required by all municipal workers and anyone elected to any office in Massachusetts. I am an elected member of the Board of Library Trustees. The people in power in Washington right now need to take this same refresher:
• Gifts and gratuities. Asking for or accepting a gift because of your official position, or because of something you can do or have done in your official position, is prohibited.
• Misuse of position. Using your official position to get something you are not entitled to, or to get someone else something they are not entitled to, is prohibited. Causing someone else to do these things is also prohibited.
• Self-dealing and nepotism. Participating as a municipal employee in a matter in which you, your immediate family, your business organization, or your future employer has a financial interest is prohibited.
