Monday, September 5th, 2022
               
               We put our oldest pup, Munchkin, to sleep Saturday morning.
          His health had been in rapid decline the last several weeks,
          which coupled with his dementia, epilepsy, and congenital
          blindness led us to the decision. We scheduled it for the first
          day of the US Labor Day weekend, to give us some time to grieve.
          I am still not convinced we made the right call, but it is too
          late to reconsider now.
               
               The girls do not seem to be taking it very hard. Libby, our
          youngest, went out to the car looking for him when we got home,
          but didn't seem disappointed not to find him. Izzy, the second
          oldest, seemed to think we had just left him in the back yard all
          weekend. She has lost most of her mobility to degenerative
          myelopathy, but she kept casting glances at the gate when she was
          outside. I finally carried her back there this morning, and after
          a quick glance around she seemed satisfied that he was not there.
          I think they both considered him something of a nuisance, so I am
          not surprised.
               
               My executive dysfunction seems to have cleared up some since
          getting a rudimentary lab set back up. Having something to look
          forward to doing when the day is over is probably a big help in
          that regard. I made a point to clear out a space in the garage
          several days ago so I could get back to some of my projects and
          keep myself busy this weekend, since I know otherwise I would
          have most likely just sat on the couch and spiraled into a ball
          of despair. Instead, I broke out the new orbital sander I bought
          a few months ago and picked up my wooden creeper rebuild, a
          project I started back at the beginning of June. I made good
          progress, and should be done in a few days if I'm able to stick
          to it this time.
               
               My SO said she needed to get out of the house, so we hit up
          a couple of our usual thrift stores and discount stores. I found
          a Smith-Corona word processor I think I might be able to do
          something interesting with, as well as a small, mostly intact
          1980s-model Craftsman bandsaw, mounted to a well-built steel and
          plywood table, in addition to a couple of other little knick
          knacks. I haven't been picking up much of anything on our recent
          trips, since it feels kind of silly to buy something when I don't
          have the space for it, but these were exceptional finds and I
          suspect we were both hoping for a bit of retail therapy.
               
               Between the holiday and my (short) upcoming vacation, this
          will be a very short work week for me. I am hoping to keep up the
          productivity at home I have been able to acheive the last few
          weeks. Perhaps I will even be able to get back in the habit of
          regularly making these entries, haha.
               
               -Prokyonid