I have my fingers crossed that my "normal" cooking routine can continue if I just cut out the salty snacks. Ham hocks are important to good bean recipes. And I need my occasional BLT sandwiches. But for now, I'm tracking the amount of sodium.

My dogs will be ecstatic tomorrow morning because the next door neighbors returned today from their 10 day cruise (plus 2 days of travel to and from Galveston). Every morning before dawn my now 80-year-old neighbor gets up, turns on his kitchen light, puts in his hearing aids, and then hears my dogs barking. They are out in the yard way-early and have seen that light and know Cecil is up. Bark bark bark (an intermittent bark, but still, noticeable). So Cecil heads out to the fence between our yards and gives each dog a treat. Just once a day, they know not to bark for treats the rest of the day.

He asked years ago if he could do this with the first two dogs I had, Cinnamon and Poppy. They love dogs, but travel a lot so have never had any of their own. Prior to my buying this house the renters had a couple of dalmations, and he had that routine in place then, so continued it with these guys. Now five dogs later, they live and breathe for that pre-dawn treat. When the weather is bad, his wife and I communicate to make sure he doesn't go out in ice, etc. And sometimes I cover the dog door until it seems safe and then text him that the dogs are out. But we know that he and the dogs have this food-over-the-back-fence bond that is very strong, so do what we can to make it work. Stopping to think about this - I've had dogs for 18 years, so he was much younger when all of this started. Who knows - maybe this tradition is keeping him young. :)

The next few days will be cool but trending warmer, so I will be mowing and doing some garden work in the afternoons. Mornings would be well-spent picking up around the house. And I still need to set out the live trap for the anole who is chirping from my stone fireplace. He's kinda getting on my nerves (this is his second year in there - I think he returns every spring). I say "anole who" instead of "anole that is" because it feels like a personality and we have a relationship. He's a "who," not an "it," if you make that distinction.