Day 3413

My old storage warehouse is under new management. When Janet's unit came up for renewal recently, they lowered her rate to encourage her to stay. This was unheard of under the old management. They kept raising my rate year after year until it was more than double what I initially paid. It's too bad this management change didn't happen a few months earlier. I didn't really want to move. If these guys had offered to lower my rent by even a modest amount, they could have saved me a whole lot of trouble. Oh, well. Too late now.

It's counterintuitive, but I've learned the hard way that things tend to last a lot longer if you use them. When you use something you tend to oil it, wash it, paint it, or do whatever is necessary to keep it functional. I used to think that storing things away would keep them in perfect condition indefinitely, but this has not been the case. Today I discovered that some mid-century furniture I'd been keeping in Janet's unit had become badly stained. I thought this stuff would do well at auction, but now it looks like it will need to go to a thrift store. Jeez. I've ruined so many things by storing them away for decades and forgetting about them. Metal gets rusty. Rubber gets brittle and cracks. Fabric gets moth holes. Heat destroys electronic components. Wood warps. These things happen very gradually and you don't notice if you aren't looking. If someone had told me all this years ago I probably wouldn't have listened. It still seems like storage should be a form of suspended animation. Why can't I put something away and then start using it again thirty years later? I guess the world doesn't work that way.

While I was picking up the mid-century furniture today we found some brand new Kuranda dog beds that were still in the shipping carton. We used to buy these beds by the dozen for the Dalmatians in the rescue program. I forgot that we even had some leftover beds. We don't need them anymore because our current kennel for the rescue dogs already provides very nice beds. The Kuranda beds didn't go to waste. We gave them to a local rescue group we like. I didn't open the box, but I doubt that storage hurt these things. Kuranda beds are virtually indestructible.

I wish I was indestructible. It is a bit disconcerting that a brisk three mile walk leaves me winded. Three miles used to be nothing. I see people every day who run this distance and probably much longer. Dot and Dash had been sick for so long that I guess I didn't realize that our walks were gradually becoming slower and slower. I'm going to continue walking. Activity is good. Walking in the park certainly beats mowing the grass. Maybe if I keep at this, I can pick up the pace a bit.

The weather forecast still looks dismal. It's supposed to start raining at 4 AM this morning and continue for the rest of the week. There's always a chance that the forecast is wrong. Weather forecasts are often wrong in Texas. Also, it could be raining in one part of the city and dry where we live. There's a pretty good chance that we'll get some rain though. We'll see what happens. The pumps and the buckets are ready.

I have no plans for tomorrow. I guess that's not surprising. I had no plans for today either.

Parker is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day