Day 2917

What a dismal day. It started raining last night and it still hasn't stopped. Since today's rain was accompanied by thunder and lightning, Dash immediately went into panic mode. Whenever he hears thunder, he looks for a place to hide. Sometimes he tries to hide under a table. Other times he tries to crawl into a closet. Since Dash's legs are weak and he falls easily, I have to block all the potentially hazardous places. Our dogs have always seemed to think that Janet and I cause the rain and get mad when we don't make it stop. Dash is reluctant to go pee in the rain. He'll go to the back door over and over again, but won't go outside until he can't hold it any longer. I lost count of how many times I opened the back door today.

I had errands to run, but I postponed them until tomorrow. I didn't want Dash to freak out and hurt himself while I was gone. Even if Dash loved the dismal weather, I doubt if I would have left the house. I'll do just about anything to avoid driving in heavy rain. I kept checking the weather radar, hoping for the rain to stop, but it never did.

Actually there was a short break in the rain around 4 PM this afternoon and I thought I could take Dash for a walk. I forgot how slow Dash has become though, and the rain started again before we were able to make it home. We got soaked. Getting wet irritated me but it didn't seem to bother Dash. Since there was no thunder to frighten him, he just kept poking along, smelling every bush he passed. Oh, well. Dash needed a bath anyway. When we got home, I dried Dash off with a bath towel, threw his harness and my clothes in the dryer and cranked up the heat. Pretty soon we were both warm and dry.

I think we got over three inches of rain today. When we were walking this afternoon, I noticed that the lake was very high. Many low areas were flooded and several piers and boat docks were under water. I wasn't really aware how common wet weather was in December until Facebook started putting all these "memories" on my timeline. When I re-read these old blog posts, it seems like I was always complaining about rain in December.

I halfheartedly tried to find something to watch on Netflix this afternoon, but I couldn't find anything interesting. I read an article about new trends in website design and realized that that wasn't very interesting either. Ultimately, I dealt with my cabin fever the same was Dash does. I took a nap.

My mind wanders on days like these. I've started wondering why there is this huge panic about net neutrality. People talk about net neutrality like it's been around forever, but these rules have only been in place for two years. I've been on the Internet since the early 1990's and during most of that time there were no net neutrality rules. I can't recall that any big changes occurred two years ago. If anything, I probably had more choices back in the Internet dark ages than I do now. What has changed it is that people have become addicted to their life online. If you scare them by saying it might go away, they panic. To me, this panic is just as irrational as Dash's fear of thunder. Sure prices will go up. Prices always go up. My auto insurance, my storage warehouse rent, and my cable bill are all more expensive than they used to be. That's life. I have a feeling that five years from now, the Internet will still be here. It will be faster than ever and there will be a lot more choices than there are now. Just don't expect it to be free. Things you've become addicted to are never free.

I hope it dries out tomorrow. You guys may worry about net neutrality and tax cuts. I just worry about roof leaks and storm phobic dogs.

Ranger is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day