Day 4203

We did a lot of walking today. We took Dawn on her short one mile loop before sunrise like we usually do. Then we came home and ate a quick breakfast before getting in the car and taking Dawn on her Sunday outing. The whole point of doing everything so early was to beat the heat. It worked. It was only 8:30 AM when we arrived at Dawn's Sunday park and it was still quite cool. The sun was up, but it was cloudy and there was a nice breeze. We were wondering if Dawn would want two walks in quick succession and the answer was an emphatic yes. Dawn loved the extra attention and walked briskly through the park. Janet worked on some of her training exercises and I worked with her a little as well. She actually did surprisingly well healing with me. We weren't able to get ice cream cones on the way home because it was too early and the ice cream place wasn't even open yet. We didn't forget about the cones though. Dawn got a second car ride later in the morning for her ice cream cone. 

Between the first set of walks and the trip for ice cream cones, there was time for me to take my long walk. I wanted to do this as early as I could because the temperature was starting to rise. It was pretty pleasant for the first couple of miles and then the sun came out and it quickly started to get hot. The surprising thing is that even though this is a normal Texas summer, it is still a lot cooler here than many other parts of the country. We're getting a lot more rain here as well and are not experiencing the drought conditions that many of the Western states are dealing with. Who knows. Maybe Texas summers aren't so bad after all.

The park was filled with cyclists and runners when I was taking my long walk. I think everyone who is trying to stay active has gotten the message by now. If you want to do something outside, do it early. You don't see nearly as many animals in the summer. Animals are smart. They instinctively know to avoid the heat.

I was beginning to get tired by the time I finished my long walk, but I still needed to go up on the roof and look for the source of our recent roof leak. I measured everything carefully inside and then took a tape measure up on the roof so I could find the spot where water was leaking. It was pretty hot at this point and I had to wear gloves because parts of the roof were too hot to touch. I was disappointed, but not terribly surprised when I couldn't find any damage where the leak was supposed to be. Sometimes is it next to impossible to find the source of a leak. If water manages to get under the silicon elastomer coating it can travel a long distance before it finds a weak spot where it can enter the house. It's hard to defeat water and gravity. Somehow, water always wins.

I cleaned up all the loose paint and spackling material on the ceiling where the water had been leaking in the living room and kitchen. I'm hoping that if the leak reappears I might get a better idea where it is actually coming from. I've been avoiding doing this because it is a messy job. The job is done though and I've cleaned up all the mess that fell on the floor. There is still a big stain in the ceiling and there will need to be sheet rock repairs if we ever get a new roof, but the house does look a little better now. It's supposed to rain again tomorrow, so we'll see what happens. I really didn't fix anything, so I won't be terribly surprised if the leak reappears.

Janet has dental surgery tomorrow, so we probably won't be visiting the rescue Dalmatians. I'll be driving her to and from the dentist and I suspect that she'll want to sleep when she returns home. Dawn will still get her morning walk though. We'll do that before leaving for the dentist.

Rascal is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day