Day 1698

Today was busy. My big task was replacing some door locks. I've been postponing this for over a year, because the door hardware is old and non-standard. I was afraid if I broke the old locks while removing the rusty screws and the new locks didn't fit, I'd be stuck with buying an entirely new door. I worked slowly and methodically, managing to remove all the rusty parts without breaking anything. Luckily, I measured everything correctly and the new locks fit like a glove.

Dot did pretty well today. There were relatively few accidents around the house and she had a great walk in the park this morning. We're still not going very far, but Dot enjoys walking along the shoreline. We took things slow and easy, giving Dot a chance to smell everything along the way. She may not be strong, but she definitely is happy. Janet found some waterproof material at a fabric store and we're going to try to make our own custom sized pee pads for Dot to sleep on. It seems like an easy enough task. We should be able to sew some absorbent cotton material to the waterproof backing and have something at least as good as the crib liners we've been using. The crib liners just aren't big enough and when Dot does her circling dance to lie down, she always seems to end up making a mess of the checkerboard of small pads I've laid out for her. No matter where I place the pads, she always winds up with her butt in a crack between two of the pads. One giant waterproof pad would be much better.

I needed to get some ink for a very old printer, so I thought I'd try to find it at Fry's, instead of ordering it online. Fry's isn't very popular anymore and a lot of their merchandise seems to sit on the shelves for years. I've found discontinued computer supplies there before, and sure enough, I found the ink I was looking for today. The large store was virtually empty. Half the fluorescent lighting in the ceiling was turned off to cut costs, and it felt like the air conditioning was turned off as well. It was kind of sad. Five years ago, this store would have been packed on a Saturday afternoon. Now, I guess everyone prefers to buy their electronic toys online. Slowly but surely, Amazon.com is destroying brick and mortar retail. I do most of my shopping online as well, but I'd hate to see the brick and mortar stores disappear. I guess I need to be more loyal about supporting the ones that are still around.

I'll probably go to the gym tomorrow. I need to go more than once a week, but I've had my hands full lately. I bet I burn up as much energy waterproofing the bed every night as I would on the treadmill anyway. Maybe I'll try to get a head start on next week's website work as well. It's too hot to spend much time outside. We had another triple digit day today. We were lucky to have a mild June and July. That's all over now, unfortunately. It looks like August is going to be a furnace.

Nautica is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day