Sunday, January 9, 2011

Day 390

It snowed today in Dallas. At least I could have sworn it snowed. When I was eating lunch I distinctly remember seeing big flakes falling and watching the backyard get covered with the white stuff. I went back to the office to update some websites after lunch and by the time I was finished and was getting ready to take the dogs on their evening walk, all the snow was gone. I can't believe it all melted so quickly, because it's still pretty cold outside. That's the way it is with snow in Dallas though. You've got to be pretty quick to catch it. There were lots of pictures of snow on Dallas Facebook pages today, but I don't think any of that snow is still around. It's just wet right now.

I had to get the standing water off the roof before it froze into a big sheet of ice this afternoon. While I was up on the roof, I noticed that rats or squirrels had managed to pry the heavy wire mesh off the tops of the standpipes. I sure hope that doesn't mean that animals have gotten into the plumbing pipes again. This had happened before and I hope it doesn't happen again. When it gets below freezing, mice and rats are attracted by the warm steam coming out of the standpipes and either crawl or fall into the plumbing system. Once you've seen a wet rat jump out of your toilet bowl, you get real nervous about using the toilet in cold weather. I thought I'd attached the heavy wire mesh covering the top of the standpipes securely enough so a Gorilla couldn't pry it off, but it's hard to defeat a determined rat. Hopefully, I got the protective covers back on in time.

Janet ditched her old flip phone and got an iPhone today. One by one, practally everyone I know has switched to using an iPhone. When we were at the wedding reception last night, there were iPhones everywhere. Young people had them. Old people had them. Everyone had them. Admittedly, I was late to the party myself, but I've already become a true believer. These phones are fabulous. It's incredibly useful to be able to carry your whole world around with you in your pocket. It kind of changes everything. No regrets about buying Apple stock when it was 88 dollars a share either.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day