Day 827

Most of today was occupied by getting U-verse installed. It was such a long, involved process that I boarded the dogs for the day. Dot would never have tolerated strangers moving things around in every room of the house. Since we were replacing all the phones, the televisions and the entire office network, I was expecting the worst. So far, the results have been largely favorable. The television works and we have a lot more channels than we had before. The Internet is quite a bit faster than it was before. The phones have built-in voice mail, so I don't need the answering machine anymore. I like a lot of the little things the best. When someone calls, the caller ID number shows up on your television screen. You can record an entire season of your favorite show just by clicking on a single button. The DVR automatically records each episode and then you can watch them whenever you want. So far, so good. It will probably take me months to learn all the available features but the main thing is that we are getting more services than cable for less money each month. As long as this complicated fiber optic system doesn't crash on us, I'm a happy camper.

I can't say that the dogs were all that happy today. Apparently, they both hate day boarding. When I picked Dot and Dash up after the U-verse installation was complete, Dot was panting like she'd been left out in the sun all day and Dash was making strange warbling bird noises. They were both very happy to return home again. Oddly, after all the boarding agitation, they were both very good at training class tonight. Dash had one of his best nights in months. We was even able to do some of his exercises off-leash. OK, I forgot to bring the long leash, but he did much better than I expected without it. Maybe I don't even need the long leash anymore. That would be great. If I could actually get to the point where I could trust this dog to come when he's called, it would be a miracle.

Now that the big household electronics upgrade is behind me, all I have to worry about are the washing machine repair and a potentially expensive trip to the Land Rover dealer. The mystery noise under the hood is getting louder, so I'd better take the car in soon.

The weather was beautiful all day. I'm sure the U-verse installation went a lot smoother than it would have if the technicians were trying to hook up new phone lines in a thunderstorm. I hope the nice weather continues. It should! After all, it's officially Spring now. Summer will be here before you know it, and that means I'd better turn my attention towards getting the rental property leased or sold.

Big Boy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day