Kurumi went for a trimming and a refreshing bath. His is assisting him these days and he seems to be quiet. I am grateful to the trimmer who takes care of him in this way.
On my way home from Tateshina, I was approaching a traffic jam on the highway when the car in front of me suddenly braked to a stop. At that moment, my car activated the emergency brake to avoid a collision. Fortunately, the car following me kept its distance and did not rear-end me. It was an amazing moment. I wanted to see if this function worked, but I had to use it in a real situation. Today we took Kurumi to clean the grave where my in-laws are laid to rest. It is on a slightly elevated hill, so it is good exercise. Kurumi was moving around while we were cleaning the grave. He has been restless outside lately.
Kurumi is sleeping very well, perhaps tired from yesterday’s trip. When he was hungry, he woke up and asked for food. He seems to be a little sick or listless. He may not be getting enough sleep. We will see how he is tomorrow and decide whether to take him to the veterinarian or not. Yesterday, when I was charging at a highway service area, I saw a non-electric car parked in the charging spot and went somewhere. The parking lot was empty, but some people are insane. The summer camellia tree in my garden is budding. Sooner or later, the birdhouses will be out of sight.
When I am traveling, I like to strike up conversations with people I have never met before. This time also, I was able to strike up a conversation in the hotel lobby. And when we exchange information with each other, we are happy to discover something new. We decided to visit a shrine for the first time based on such information. It is a famous shrine in Suwa. We decided to visit two of the four shrines today. We will save the other two for future visits. This shrine is not dog-friendly, so Kurumi was not allowed to enter. My wife and I took turns visiting the shrine. It was another enjoyable trip with new discoveries.
We had lunch at a restaurant in Kiyosato Kogen. This restaurant has tables where we can eat with dogs, which is very helpful. It was a cloudy and chilly day, so it was a good thing for Kurumi also. The cherry blossoms in this area are at their best. We are enjoying a relaxing trip today.
We decided to take a spring drive trip to Tateshina, Nagano Prefecture. It was another warm sunny day today. Tateshina is at a high altitude, so the cherry blossoms are at their best right now. Tomorrow we plan to drive around the Yatsugatake Mountains to Kiyosato. I hope to drive in every season this year. It may be inconvenient for Kurumi, but I think it is good for him to be exposed to a different environment once in a while.
My classes at the university have begun. Starting today, I will be in the interpreting course for the first semester for 13 weeks to study English with the students. Last year it was translation, but this time it will be interpretation. The main difference is that we will be translating in order, starting from where we hear the English. The method of stopping the flow of the conversation to translate is called consecutive translation, but in any case, it is a busy task to translate into Japanese while listening to the audio and writing down notes. It makes me hungry. Kurumi seems to be doing well in the warm weather. He is playing and eating well today.
My wife’s sister came over today and helped my wife dye her hair. They are very close and were discussing their upcoming trip. They have decided to go to Kyushu together. While my sister-in-law was helping my wife dye her hair, I washed and waxed her car. Recently, this has become an unspoken action. It is smaller than my car, but it is taller, so I need a platform to wash the top part. There is no roof over the parking lot, so it seems to inevitably get dirty quickly. Kurumi had time to play together with everyone, so he was a little tired. He was taking a nap while snoring.
Today was a sunny and pleasant Sunday. My son and his wife gave us a gift of footwear to use on the balcony, and I decided to make a rack. If it is shaped like a slipper rack, it will not collect water when it rains. And I left it with a top panel so that it would not be affected by ultraviolet rays as much as possible. I placed it by the window leading out to the balcony. Kurumi is doing well today. He is taking a nap as usual.
I disassembled and cleaned the hot water flushing part of the toilet; after 10 years of use, the inside has become dirty. There is no written procedure for this kind of work anywhere, so I had to check the condition of the parts as I went along. It took a little time, but now we can continue to use it comfortably. Kurumi seems to be spending more and more time sleeping. Today, too, he took a long nap.