Day 1895

I took my morning shower armed with a plunger and drain cleaning tools. Before the hot water ran out, I managed to unclog the slow moving shower drain, do several of my shoulder stretching exercises, and wash my hair. This is as close to multitasking as I'll ever get. Later in the morning, I changed the furnace filters and discovered that, much to my surprise, there was nothing wrong with the Anton Bauer camera batteries after all. Silly me. For weeks I had thought I was going to have to buy new Pro Pac batteries because they would no longer power my LED lights. I completely forgot that the Gold Mount adapter I had added to the lights actually had to be plugged into something. Oops. When I plugged in a little cable I found in my camera bag that connected the battery adapter to the power input, the lights worked just fine.

It was nice to have a free flowing bathroom drain and some movie lights that actually work, but I couldn't rest on my laurels. As the day progressed, it kept getting colder and colder. The dreaded Icemageddon storm is on it's way. I did a big load of laundry to make sure that we didn't have a washing machine full of dirty towels if the power went out during the ice storm. I started systematically charging up my electronic devices. I wish there was a way to store up heat in advance, but there isn't. We have lots of single pane glass in the house and no fireplace. Once the power goes out, it gets cold almost immediately.

I dread taking Dot out to pee during the night if the ground ices over as everybody expects. It's hard enough to choreograph our short walks as it is. The goal is to keep Dot upright using the special harness without falling over myself. It's pretty easy to step in poop in the dark as well. Maybe we won't get freezing rain and sleet tonight after all. That would be nice. I'm not counting my chickens before they hatch though. It's currently raining outside and the temperature has already dropped to 32 degrees. This sounds like a recipe for an ice storm to me.

Even with her crippled legs, Dot is still better about doing her bathroom business in bad weather than Dash. When she needs to go, she takes care of her business quickly and immediately comes back inside again. Dash, on the other hand, freaks out whenever he gets wet. I tried to use a brief lull in the rain this afternoon to take Dash on a walk. It was still sprinkling a bit though, so Dash thought the sky was falling. He didn't pee or poop at all and we both came home wet. This means that he will probably whine at the back door tonight, but refuse to go outside when I open it. He still seems to think I have the power to stop the rain and gets mad when I don't make the bad weather go away.

Janet is listening to the Oscars in another room. I can't sit through these award shows anymore. They are just too long. The Oscars and the Grammys both make the Superbowl seem short. If you count all those red carpet fashion shows that precede the Oscars, you could easily spend the entire day watching this event. I did manage to see two movies that were nominated for an Oscar this year. That's two more than I saw last year.

Jeez, I hope we wake up with electricity and heat tomorrow morning and don't see any downed trees in our back yard. Ice storms have not always been kind to us.

Maggie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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