Day 2204

It was 70 degrees on Friday. There were tornadoes on Saturday. Sunday there was flooding. And today feels like snow. That's almost like having all four seasons within four days. Welcome to Texas. I don't even think this was all that out of the ordinary. It was certainly cold when we took the dogs on their morning walk. It's quite an undertaking to get Dot's winter coat on under her Help 'Em Up Harness, but we managed. We were the only dogs walking this morning. It seemed a little strange that an old crippled Dalmatian still has more stamina than all the other neighborhood dogs, but that's Dot for you. She is definitely the energizer bunny of the dog world.

I didn't want to go up on the roof today, but I didn't want the water to freeze up there either. What the hell. I haven't been to the gym in a while, and I needed the exercise. I bundled up in warm clothes and swept away yesterday's rain and the few remaining leaves from the roof before the water had a chance to freeze. Since ice expands, it can cause cracks and shifting in the ceiling Sheetrock. I still haven't finished patching the ceiling after a big ice storm a few years ago. I certainly don't need more cracks. One good thing about all the recent bad weather is that the strong winds finally blew all the leaves off the trees. I won't have to worry about removing leaves from the roof for another year.

The dogs were restless today. It was too cold for them to stay outside long. And they were too bored to lay around the house all day. I was constantly letting them in and out the back door. With Dot, the simple act of going outside is a lot more trouble than it might seem. If it looks like she needs to go outside, I suit her up in her special harness and follow her out, holding up her rear end. She'll sniff the air for about thirty seconds and then decide she doesn't want to be outside after all. Back inside we come and I take the harness off again. I guess I could just leave the harness on, but I've discovered that Dot can move around on her own in the house much better without it. The harness comes on and off many times a day. It takes a certain amount of patience to keep doing this day after day.

After I cleared all the water off the roof, I came back inside and wondered what to do next. I took a shower, emptied the water that had accumulated in the dehumidifier bucket and sat down to watch the Dr. Who Christmas Special on the DVR. Most Christmas Specials seem to involve aliens invading London, but this one was a bit different. The Doctor and River Song were reunited after an absence of several years. I don't remember seeing much of River since Amy Pond and Rory discovered that she was their daughter. River has a very complicated timeline. This show was an attempt to tie up the loose ends. We finally discover exactly when the Doctor gave her the sonic screwdriver that she used in the Forest of the Dead episode. She died in this episode, but somehow came back to life later. Her final words were "You took me to Darillium to see the Singing Towers. What a night that was." Well, seven years later, this Christmas Special was when the Doctor actually did take River to see the Singing Towers. This season's scripts have been far too complicated for my taste, but I'm sure that is exactly why some people love them.

I'm not exactly sure what I'll do tomorrow. We'll have to wait until 2016 to see if I've still got a company. Nothing ever happens between Christmas and New Years. I'd like to get some interesting writing assignments next year. I'm not so sure about mobile websites. Designing responsive websites is a lot more work than I expected. We'll see. Things always improve when the days get longer. I don't do well on short, cold, grey days like these. When I was up on the roof today, I kept thinking about all the first responders toiling a few miles away helping people sorting through the soggy wet wreckage and debris left behind by the tornadoes. Where do they find the strength? I'm having trouble just dealing with dog poop.

Petey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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