My wife has decided that 38 straight days at home is not an acceptable retirement practice for me, so she booked a Birthday weekend for us in Lincoln City. It’s on the coast only a couple of hours away and dog friendly, so everybody gets to go but Frankie the cat.  It will put an end to my 26-day stretch of being a homebody. Without this getaway, it could have been my first month since retirement of spending every night in my own bed. I’m already 16 days into “Homebody Heaven” and prepared to cook Veal Parmigiana for dinner tonight. Speaking of domestic duties, I also hired a painter yesterday to give us white ceilings and to put a fresh coat on the walls. It just might make me want to stay home more.

It’s a Spa Day for the pups, and a visit to the dentist for me once I drop them off. I will also make a stop to buy some Birthday running shoes, as I do every year at this time. I put about a thousand miles of wear on them each year, usually rotating between two pairs, and I can feel the need for fresh rubber. Last year, I bought them in anticipation of The Hood to Coast Relay that I have no desire to do again. However, with my recent weight loss of about 12 pounds, my morning runs have been easier. Traffic will pick-up a bit on my route as school starts in a couple of weeks, and I can race the bus up the hill again. Without the travel interruptions, I have maintained my 5k-a-day (3.1 miles) regimen now for 20 straight mornings, including the weekend “Schnauzerthons.”

Eye drops have become my biggest responsibility every day. Four times a day, I have to apply drops to both Tinker and Tally’s eyes. They only want to be interrupted for snacks, so they are not very cooperative. Tinker has “dry eye,” meaning that tears are not properly forming, and infections soon follow. With Tally, I continue to treat a cyst on her eyeball with a steroid solution. They will both be excited to get in the car in a few minutes until they realize that they are going for haircuts. When we take them to Lincoln City, it’s actually one of the few times where a ride in the car ends in a rewarding run on the beach. Occasionally, they get to go out to eat, but in most instances getting in the car usually results in unpleasant grooming or doctor visits. Frankie, our cat, had to go for a drive last week for some grooming, which is never a good experience. She “meows” in anger, non-stop from the minute we put her in the cat carrier. She gets to be a “homebody” today while the rest of us go our separate ways.