Day 4824

Dawn is getting tired of wearing her harness all the time, but it's for her own good. We need a handle to grab if she starts to go down. No falls today, but she's still pretty fragile. Dawn is learning to walk up the step to the bed, but you've got to watch her like a hawk. Her instinct is still to jump on and off the bed like she used to. We have a nice dog bed on the floor, but she is reluctant to use it. Dawn is a very stubborn dog.

I hate to see Dawn so sedated, but if it's bed rest she needs the plan seems to be working. I watched her this morning while Janet was grocery shopping and she mostly just slept. There is no anxiety now and she seems relaxed. The real test will come when her meds run out. Strangely, the hematoma on her ear seems to be getting better because she can't shake her head anymore. I think the swelling in her neck is better today, but it's hard to tell.

Yesterday's hard rain just seems like a bad dream now. Today was beautiful and the ground was dry again. Did the sudden storm even happen? The sky was clear this morning and our roof leaks stopped fairly quickly. I guess I'll take what I can get. Historically it always rains a lot during this time of year. Increasingly, it does seem like we are having an early Spring. It's hard to imagine more snow and ice when the air conditioner is running in March.

I wrote a letter to my sister today and took it to the post office. Traffic on our street has gotten impossible, It took me ten minutes to get out of the driveway. It doesn't matter what time of day you are out and about. It always seems like rush hour these days. The traffic and crime in the city make me wish I lived in a small town. That's not going to happen though. We like our neighborhood by the lake, the house is paid for, and moving anywhere is way too much trouble. Moving is for younger people. I moved around a lot during my 20's and 30's. It didn't seem like a big deal back then, but I can't imagine doing that sort of thing now.

I wonder how long I'm going to be able to continue walking six miles a day? It seems harder now. My last mile was terrible today. I walked a lot faster when I was trying to avoid the rain yesterday. I'll continue walking because it's good exercise and so much easier than driving to the gym. I do wish that it wasn't such an effort to remain physically fit. Growing old isn't all that fun.

I think I'm going to need a new phone, a new computer, or maybe both. Increasingly, things I use a lot aren't supported anymore. I can't update the system on my phone, computers, or even my watch because they are all too old. Safari is worthless on my computer now so I've had to switch to Firefox. I can't even upgrade my watch anymore because the watch says I need a newer phone. On and on it goes. Apple basically does a terrible job of supporting old hardware. Like most companies they just want you to buy new stuff.

Tomorrow is my grocery day. I wonder how expensive everything is going to be this week? Inflation seems fairly relentless when you like to travel and are living on a fixed income.

Ely is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3920

I guess it was inevitable. I can no longer use the old Blogger layout to write the blog. I kept switching back to the original legacy version of Blogger for as long as I could, but today that option disappeared. I don't know why this is a big deal to me. I guess I just hate needless change. My familiar Facebook timeline is going away as well. I keep pressing the "return to legacy view" button, but I've been warned that this option will disappear in September. Hmm. I guess it already is September. I'm even reluctant to install IOS 14 on my phone because I've heard that Apple is changing the way the screen looks. I'm used to the way my phone screens look. I don't want anything new.

I don't have to worry about change on our morning walks. These walks are remarkably consistent. The seasons and the weather change of course, but natural changes are much easier to deal with. The seasons are actually very consistent. I'm not surprised by Fall weather. It is supposed to be cooler at this time of year. The motion of the moon and planets is extremely consistent. You can plot their positions for years in advance. Even the ducks and geese at the lake are fairly consistent. They are always in the water at night and routinely come ashore right around daybreak. 

I'm very comfortable with nature. It's people who are inconsistent. People get bored easily and like to change the way they dress and the types of cars they drive for no reason at all. All this needless change drives me nuts. As soon as I manage to find something I really like, it's gone. Maybe this is why I keep trying to fix old things. I guess I'm supposed to throw away my old computers, printers, and cars after three of four years. It is probably actually cheaper to toss things when they become obsolete. I keep trying to patch them back together. Old things are familiar and comfortable. Who really needs a faster computer or a car with LED headlights? I'm tired of all these needless changes.

I send the low resolution pictures to Sky & Telescope this morning even though they probably won't be needed for several months. I also wrote some people in Florida to find out more about upcoming launches. There are several interesting events occurring in the next several months, but I can only really afford to go to one. It's hard to decide, especially when Covid restrictions reduce access to everything. 

It's weird. Smoke from the West Coast wildfires is dramatically reducing visibility at dark sky areas all over the country. The Rio Grande valley, where the Boca Chica Space X facility is located, currently has the highest rate of Covid infections in the country. Florida and the Gulf Coast is having an unusually heavy hurricane season. It's almost like the universe is telling me to just stay home and wait until all this is over.

It probably would be wise to hunker down and forget about travel plans for a while. I've already been doing that for most of the year however. Eventually boredom and cabin fever become a significant part of your decision making process. I'm sure I'm not the only one who's decided that 2020 totally sucks. Unfortunately nobody has figured out how to hit the fast forward button and move on to something better.

I doubt that tomorrow will be better, but it probably won't be worse either. The weather still looks good and I bought some fresh strawberries for my smoothie. I just finished taking this weeks trash to the curb. I'm done for the day. I think it's time to hit the new orange "publish" button on my Blogger layout and see what happens.

Princess is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3760

I saw something interesting today. Google and Apple are teaming up to create a new app that can monitor up to three billion people and warn them if someone who has tested positive for the coronavirus is nearby. This is the death of privacy as we know it. Three billion people is one third of the entire world's population. The app is real and will very likely be available on your phone quite soon. I predict that this app will be very popular. I'll probably use it myself. Safety, or even the illusion of safety, almost always trumps civil liberties. Privacy actually disappeared quite a while ago. Google and Facebook know everything about us already. This new app just lets us eagerly opt in to a surveillance state that is already up and running in China.

It won't be long before people realize that others can easily be added to the master database. Sex offenders will be added first. Then will come a long list of people that everyone will argue about for years. Should people with a history of domestic violence be on the list? How about anyone who has committed a felony. There will be all sorts of lawsuits but nobody will be able to put the genie back in the bottle. Eventually commercial interests will want to get in on the action. If bad things can be tracked, why not good things. Match.com will introduce an app where your phone beeps when a suitable match walks nearby. Parents will be able to monitor their children and see if they are hanging around with the wrong crowd.

I'm convinced that the deaths from the coronavirus are only the tip of the iceberg. The big experiment we are undertaking now will fundamentally change society. We won't know for years whether we actually did the right thing. When you begin to suspect that anybody walking past you on the street could kill you just by breathing, I doubt that we will go back to trusting people very soon. Are you going to flinch when the first person who isn't a trusted friend tries to give you a hug? Our own country might fare worse than other countries because we are so politically divided. Jeez. We already don't trust anyone who doesn't agree with us. This virus will only make things worse.

I'm so glad I grew up when the world was comparatively normal. The duck and cover drills and backyard fallout shelters that were common when I was in grade school were nothing compared to this. I don't think that there had been a time in human history when we collectively decided to shut the entire world down. Even during the worst of both World Wars, society was still moving full speed ahead. This is new. It will be interesting to see what happens.

I can't wait to return to McDonald Observatory or get another chance to walk around on the pad at Launch Complex 41. Neither of these activities involve interacting with a lot of other people. Astronomy has always been a lonely profession and launch access at Kennedy Space Center is extremely restricted. I'm not looking forward to Happy Hour drinks or a night of clubbing, but I would like life to return to normal. Everyone has their own version of normal. A functioning society wasn't meant to live like this and at some point the cure will be worse than the disease.

I hope that all of you are staying safe. I'm enjoying getting to know Dawn better and am glad that she is completely unaware of how much the world has changed. I don't do much, but I'm going to continue as many of my normal habits and routines as I possible can. A sense of normalcy is important in uncertain times. I hope my phone doesn't start beeping the next time I see some of you.

Apollo is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3296

Cold rain. Leaking roof. Incontinent dog. Put these ingredients together and you've got the basis for a sad country song. Basically, today was a mess. I started putting buckets on the floor as soon as I got up. The pumps weren't working, so I had to climb up on the roof in the rain to prime them. When I returned, Dash was stumbling down the hall, knocking over the buckets I'd placed a little earlier. There was no morning walk today, but there was definitely poop to clean up. There's always poop to clean up.

The rain didn't freeze today, but it still might. It is very cold. As the day progressed, the leaks in the ceiling continued to spread and I ran out of buckets. I had to go to Home Depot and pick up a few of those big plastic containers that people use to store sweaters and children's toys. I thought a big container would be better at catching water than three or four smaller buckets. It's a shame that I had to buy more containers. I already have a ton of these things in the storage warehouse, but they are all full of stuff. The containers worked, but they made it even harder for Dash to navigate the hallway.

I'm stuck with this mess until the rainy period is over. Lord knows when that will be. There is bad weather in the forecast as far as the eye can see. You can't repair the roof when it's wet and I'm not sure the roofers can find the leak anyway. They certainly failed the first time they tried.

I went out and picked up some meds for Dash after lunch because driving in the rain was preferable to listening to water drip into plastic buckets. I'm sure I'll be driving in the rain tomorrow too. Dash has an appointment for one of the periodic echocardiograms we use to monitor his heart. Hopefully, the blood clot hasn't returned. I'm also hoping that he won't poop in the car on the way to the cancer center. That's always a possibility since it is very doubtful that he'll get a walk before his appointment.

I finally got the pumps on the roof working but they don't remove enough water to stop the leak. The pumps are basically useless. I'm just about out of ideas for stopping the leak while it is still raining. I've resigned myself to the fact that I'm going to have to use my new car fund to replace the roof. Jeez. What's the fun in that? Even with a new roof, it's still going to be a very old house with a host of other problems. I'd rather have a new car.

The first pictures from New Horizons were received today and Ultima Thule looks like a big snowman. Weird to think that a big icy snowman has been lurking at the edge of the solar system for billions of years and we didn't even know it existed until last year. I bet there's lots of other stuff floating around in space that we don't know about either.

Clearly I'm no rocket scientist. The New Horizon's team at Johns Hopkins was able to fly their spacecraft directly to a tiny 19 mile long speck in the sky billions of miles away from Earth and I can't even find how water is getting into my house.

Maybe things will be better tomorrow. If Dash gets a clean bill of health at the vet, maybe he won't have to take Plavix anymore. Realistically, this isn't very likely. It's not very likely that the rain will stop or the stock market will rally either. The Apple earnings warning today even surprised me. Apple hasn't had a dire warning like this since 2002. For many investors this news will seem like a sign of the apocalypse. I have a feeling that 2019 is going to be a very bumpy ride.

Dash is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3145

Dash was in good spirits this morning. He was eager to leave the house and quickly decided that we needed to explore some new places. He wanted to walk near the shoreline today. This is always a good sign, since he has trouble navigating the more uneven terrain unless he is feeling strong. We had a good walk. The weather was cool. There was a nice breeze. And Dash was feeling confident.

I got my new vehicle registration sticker today. As soon as I renew my car insurance later this month, I should be good to go for another year. Texas doesn't require a safety inspection sticker anymore. You still need to get your car inspected, but there is no need for a windshield sticker. The state just won't renew your registration until their computers show that you have a current inspection.

My grocery list wasn't large today. I'm still a bit confused since I bought a number of things out of sequence while Janet was away. It's kind of sad that I basically buy the same things week after week, but it does make life easier. Usually people feed their dog the same thing day after day while they enjoy a more varied menu. I'm the exact opposite. We're always feeding Dash something different to ensure that he keeps eating, while I keep eating my familiar favorites.

The trouble with hot weather is that it's impossible to get an early start on everything. Dash is always our first priority, so we take him on a walk as soon as we wake up. I also like to go shopping early on Saturday to avoid the crowds. I didn't do so well this morning, since I needed to pay some bills and get my vehicle registration sticker. It would have been nice to mow the grass early this morning as well, but like I said you can't do everything at once. The grass will have to wait. By the time I finished my Saturday errands, it was way too hot to even think about mowing.

I tried, and failed, to discover where the carpenter ants are coming from. I haven't actually seen any ants, but I have seen the little sawdust piles they create. When we bought the house, I was pleased that it was largely brick. "We'll never have termites," I thought. I forgot that there is still a lot of wood in a brick house. The entire roof is made of wood. I think that's where the ants get in. Carpenter ants aren't as destructive as termites, but they can still do a lot of damage. Luckily, they only seems to be a problem for a few weeks each year.

I wonder if Facebook is having a secret war with Apple? Ever since Tim Cook made some derogatory comments about Facebook, the platform quit working on Safari. Coincidence? I think not. Facebook works fine for me when I use Firefox or Chrome, but it freezes, crashes, and uses way too much memory whenever I view it using Safari. This wasn't happening before Tim Cook began publicly mocking Facebook's business model. The Internet was a more enjoyable place when the only people who used it were a few nerds like me. I think the desire to monetize everything has ruined everything.

There is rain in the forecast for next week. Almost everyone in town is hoping for rain, but I still have mixed feelings. Is there still a roof leak? Only time will tell.

Pebbles is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3051

I'm trying to get organized. I spoke with the guy who is going to sell my model trains and made some final arrangements for him to pick up my collection. I finally contacted the right person and got a refund for the worthless broken activity tracker I ordered several weeks ago. I left another message for the landscaper. He's almost as hard to get hold of as the roofer. None of these things are all that important, but at least I felt like I was doing something.

Dash was really slow today. His energy level varies widely from day to day. It took well over an hour to complete our morning walk. When the dogs were healthy, we could complete this distance in less than thirty minutes. I let Dash take his time. He still enjoys smelling things and I don't have anything better to do with my time anyway. It's sad to see him slowly decline, but I think he's doing the best he can. Dash was a picky eater today as well. I don't think he was sick, but he was very lethargic.

I found a new app for my phone that lets me manually focus the camera. I've been looking for this feature since my very first iPhone. If a third party developer could figure out how to manually control the phone's camera, why hasn't Apple already done this? Probably a focus group told them that the selfie generation didn't care about manual focus and exposure control. Amazingly, the new app works like a charm. Maybe I'll finally be able to keep flowers without sharply defined edges in focus.

I've been waiting all day for the rain to start. It's still dry outside, but there are some ominous looking storms to the West of us. According to the forecast, it's supposed to rain all day tomorrow.
None of this would matter if the roof was in better shape. I've had roof problems for so long that it seems like the roof was always this way. Except for a brief period after the last new roof was installed, the roof probably always was a problem. Even a brand new flat roof can be a nightmare. My one piece of advice to new homeowners would be to never, ever buy a house with a flat roof.

There's a new episode of The Expanse on tonight. I'll probably just record it and watch it later. There is very little incentive to watch a show when it originally airs anymore. I wonder if anybody watches live TV these days? Even the news is easier to tolerate if you watch it later.

Another roof panel blew off the greenhouse this afternoon. Apparently, I'm not doing a very good job of reattaching these things. The slightest wind can knock something loose now. The greenhouse is so old that a lot of the nails holding things together have completely rusted away. I need to get a bid to repair things properly, but I already know that it will be more expensive that it's worth.

If it rains, Dash wont get a walk in the morning. I hope Dash is feeling better tomorrow. Rainy days are even worse when I spend them worrying about his heart.

Bogart is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2972

Why can't you purchase individual TV channels? Janet and I only regularly watch five or six channels, but for years have been forced to buy an expensive cable package with hundreds of unnecessary channels just to get the ones we like. Cutting the cord sounds appealing, but it's turning out to be just as difficult to find our favorite channels on popular streaming packages. You'd think Hulu Live, Sling TV, or Direct TV Now would include PBS in their lineup. PBS is almost as basic as local news. Nope. Even the most expensive packages don't offer PBS. Nobody offers MeTV either. I like this weird little channel because it has all the old Perry Mason and Twilight Zone shows I watch while I fall asleep. Very few people offer NASA TV. This just seems like a public access channel like CSPAN. I though you had to offer public access channels. Maybe I'm stuck with paying too much for cable. It was a slow day and I had a lot of time for comparison shopping. I couldn't find anything I liked.

I'm still trying to figure out why my WiFi connection crashes occasionally. A quick Google search revealed that lots of other people were having the same problem. So many people were complaining about connectivity issues between AT&T and Apple computers that you'd think one of these companies would have come up with a solution. Nope. Neither of these corporate giants would even acknowledge there was a problem.

Here's where things get difficult. If you want to learn how to fix your car, your refrigerator, or your broadband router on the Internet, you've got to sort through dozens, or even hundreds, of wacko solutions offered by ordinary folks and hope that one of them doesn't make things even worse. You'd think people would agree on how to fix something, but they never do.

Fake news isn't limited to politics. It's everywhere. Most diet plans you read about online are fake news. So are restaurant reviews, miracle cures for cancer, and stories about the best food for your dog. When did people become so confident about information that is at best just an opinion? I try to avoid telling people how to fix things. At least I realize that my opinions are probably no better than all the others out there. So far, I don't have the nerve to reconfigure my router based on something I heard on the Internet.

Hey, I did manage to get my refrigerator running again from watching a YouTube video. I've learned a lot about fixing old watches online too. The problem is that I never actually become an expert by watching a YouTube video. Most things I fix end up breaking again. I read a lot about routers today and I still don't really understand how they work. Why can't AT&T or Apple give me reliable, trouble free WiFI? I shouldn't have to do their work for them.

Maybe I should limit myself to simple things. I'm pretty good at doing laundry and finding dog poop in the yard. My morning smoothies are better than anything you'd find at Smoothie King. I make a mean omelet when I'm in the mood too. Maybe this is enough.

At least Dash had a good day. He ate well, took two nice walks, and only got me up once last night. So far, we haven't has any shivering episodes. I was the only one shivering today. It is still very cold.

Lucy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2942

I'm glad I didn't wake up this morning with a message on my phone saying that a nuke was headed my way. It was all a mistake, but that didn't stop the conspiracy theories. Why is it so hard for people to believe simple human error in cases like these? Chernobyl and Three Mile Island were caused by human error. So were the Challenger and Columbia Space Shuttle disasters. In 1961 a B-52 accidentally dropped two nuclear bombs on the city of Goldsboro, North Carolina. Luckily, neither exploded. In 1979 a technician put a training tape into an operational computer by mistake causing NORAD to think a major soviet attack was underway. As recently as 2010 the Air Force lost control of over 50 nuclear ICBMs for over 45 minutes. The Russians made similar mistakes throughout the cold war. When you think about it, we're really lucky we're still here.

People love conspiracy theories. They'd rather believe that Stanley Kubrick staged the moon landing on a Hollywood sound stage than the fact that the entire world watched the event on live TV. There are people who believe that pharmaceutical companies invented cancer to sell drugs. Others believe that aliens are living among us. I guess it makes sense that there are people who believe that the alarm in Hawaii this morning was created by hackers for some nefarious purpose.

It's easy for me to believe human error as an explanation for just about anything. Humans are idiots. We tend to think we are much smarter than we really are. I have listened to five people try to explain Bitcoin and how blockchains work. None of them made any sense. Does anyone really know what a blockchain is? Anytime I hear someone tell me that something is completely safe and transparent, I begin to worry. Did you ever see that documentary called "The Origins of AIDS" about how tainted oral polio vaccine distributed in the Belgian Congo in the 1950's led to the beginnings of the deadly disease? It may not be a nuclear bomb that ends humanity, but one way or another we are accidentally going to do something that ends horribly wrong. That's just the way we are.

I almost made a serious error today. I tried to repair the directory on my computer using Diskwarrior without realizing that the version I was using was not compatible with the Sierra operating system. I've used Diskwarrior for decades and it has saved me from some serious crashes. I haven't used it since I upgraded my hard drive and operating system though. Oops. My bad. Luckily, I was able to force the program to abort before it caused any damage. When I was trying to figure out what to do next, I also discovered that the Apple Disk Utility no longer lets you repair permissions on your hard drive. Damn. Yesterday it was my phone. Today it is my computer. Apple is no longer my friend.

It was a beautiful day today, but it was still very cold. We had such a mild Winter last year that I keep forgetting that January is almost always very cold. I just leave my Winter coat on the sofa now because I have to put it on every time I take Dash outside. I have to follow Dash around every time he goes outside because I don't want him to eat something that will make him throw up. His rear legs are so weak that he also tends to get stuck in the dense Asian Jasmine ground cover in the back of the yard. If he poops, I carry bags so I can clean it up right away. If I don't, it is almost a certainly that I will step in it the next day.

Hopefully, I can limit my mistakes to stepping in dog poop. It's hard to avoid human errors because there is so much that can go wrong. Will I make any mistakes tomorrow? Definitely. Will my mistakes cause hundreds of thousands of people to panic? I certainly hope not.

Taylor is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2659

Lord knows what I do in my sleep. I woke up this morning without my fitness tracker on my wrist. I couldn't find it anywhere. Did it fall off when I got up to go to the bathroom? Did it fall off when I cleaned up Dot's poop at 2 AM? I didn't want to lose the tracker for three months like my other UP band, so I looked everywhere. Eventually, I found it under the sheets at the foot of the bed. How on earth did it get there?

While I was searching for the illusive UP band, Dot was slowly waking up. Every morning I have to make a quick decision. When Dot lifts her head and acknowledges that she is awake I have to decide whether to lift her up and let her pee in place on her bed, or quickly walk her down the hall and out the back door. If she pees in place, there is a small well contained mess. If we can make it outside, there is no mess at all. If I guess wrong, there is a trail of pee all the way to the back door and a lot of rugs to wash. I guessed wrong this morning. I really thought she could make it, but when she didn't pee immediately when we got outside I knew there was a trail of pee behind me

It was unusually cold this morning. It felt strange to wear a winter parka in April, but that's Texas weather for you. This was another one of those days where we had the furnace running in the morning and the air conditioner in the afternoon. At least the humidity was low. It will help the rugs dry on the line in the back yard. I've stopped drying the rugs in the dryer, because the rubber backing would always flake off and make a big mess. I've got a fairly efficient system for keeping things clean now, but it sure would be nice if I knew what Dot was going to do in the morning.

I decided to upgrade my IOS devices to the latest system and as usual, Apple hit me with a surprise. They have a two step authentication process now that seems unusually complicated, even for Apple. When you log on with one device, Apple sends an authentication code to a second device. You have to copy this code back to the first device before you can continue. I guess this is an effective way to keep an unauthorized person from using your phone, but it is very inconvenient. I'm not sure what you would do if you only owned one Apple product. I'm going to have to figure out how to disable this feature, because I definitely don't want to keep an iPad nearby every time I use my phone.

I actually had work to do this morning. It was only a routine website update, but it kept me busy for a while. I need to think seriously about uploading a massive amount of photos to Shutterstock. I make a little money every month from stock photo websites, but I don't have enough photos on file to generate any real income. When my few remaining clients eventually disappear, passive income websites like Shutterstock and iStockphoto might be all I have left. In theory, you could make a living selling stock photos, but you'd have to have thousands available. So far, I only have ten.

Today wasn't half bad. Dot was calm and stress free for most of the day. Dash was eager to walk for a change. I had some work to do and the weather was crisp and cool. I didn't even leave the house today, but that was OK. On days like these, I don't feel a need to escape.

Angel is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2598

For several months there has been a small message at the bottom of my Google+ profile asking me if I'd like to try the "new" Google+, along with a slightly ominous warning that the original Google+ was going away soon. As is usually the case, I didn't bother to try the new version because I liked what I had just fine. Today, Google made good on their promise. The old familiar layout was gone. Facebook does this sort of thing too and I've never understood why. I'm never happy when a restaurant changes their menu, or an auto manufacturer changes the design of a car I like. Just when I get familiar with something, somebody else decides to yank it away. Apple is the worst about yanking things away that I've grown to like. Every time I look at a new computer it seems to have less than the previous model. First, the take away the DVD burner, then the SD card slot disappears, along with USB ports and a lot of other stuff I use on a daily basis. I'm just waiting for them to take away the keyboard. So, do I like the new Google layout I've been forced to use? Of course not.

I got up early this morning to look for Mercury in the pre-dawn sky.  I could see the moon shining through some thin clouds and I could barely make out Saturn nearby, but the sky wasn't clear enough to find Mercury. I may have missed my opportunity to view this illusive planet for a while. I think there will be clouds tomorrow morning as well.

I felt like going back to bed after I came back inside and put my binoculars away, but it was already time to get Dot up. It's getting harder and harder to get Dot up in the morning. She used to be eager to start her day as soon as she heard Dash and Janet in the kitchen, but now she sleeps through all this. Depending on when we go to bed at night, there is a small window of time where I can safely get Dot outside to pee. If I wait too long, she will pee all over herself in her sleep. This morning, I put a tasty dog treat under her nose and when she started to yawn and wake up I gently lifted her up by the handle on her harness and off we went toward the back door. I have to make sure that the door is open first, because there isn't time to fumble with the door handle. Oddly, once she pees, she seems wide awake and ready for her breakfast. I wish I was wide awake in the mornings. I think I dislike getting up early even more than Dot.

I had another website to update this morning, but the day was basically pretty slow. I've learned to make the most of the three hours of peace and quiet I normally have after breakfast. Both dogs take a long nap after their morning walk, but getting them to leave me alone in the afternoon is almost impossible. I need to get a haircut, but I'm wondering when I'll find the time. Jobs with deadlines always take precedence over shopping and haircuts. Even though my workload has slowed down considerably, there is usually still enough to fill my morning. I've become very reluctant to leave Dot in the afternoon. If she struggles to get up while I'm gone, she can become very stressed and might even injure herself. Dot doesn't need this, but the consequences of being her guardian are making my world smaller and smaller.

It was so warm today that I decided to wash the car. I'm sure this means that it will rain tomorrow, but the car does look nice for now. Washing the car doesn't really count as being away, since I'm so close to the house that I can easily hear when Dot gets restless. I used my time wisely today. I finished my website project, made a quick trip to the vet to pick up more Allopurinol for Dash, and got something for dinner on the way home at the neighborhood vegan take out place. It wasn't an exciting day by normal standards, but my standards aren't normal anymore. Dot pooped outside today and I only did one load of laundry. I'd call that a win.

Holly is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2530

It is hard to get anything done when Dot is feeling needy. Every time I sat down at the computer today, Dot would start barking and whining. I would go lift her up and we'd walk around for a while. She appeared frustrated, and didn't seem to know what she wanted to do. Sometimes we'd go outside. Other times we'd just walk up and down the hall. Since Dot tires easily, she'd usually wind up back at her dog bed in about five minutes. As soon as I would return to the computer to try and get some work done, we'd go through the whole process all over again. Senility and lack of mobility is not a good combination. Throw in incontinence and you've really got your hands full.

Despite all the interruptions, I somehow managed to get one of my two articles written and shipped off to the client. Hopefully, when I write the second article tomorrow, Dot will be sleeping. I've been practicing walking Dot in the evenings without Janet and Dash because I'll be on my own when Janet goes home for the holidays. Without another dog to follow, Dot often seems confused. It took us almost a half an hour to walk to the end of the street and back this evening. She really does the best she can. It's me who needs more patience.

I hope the new battery I ordered for my phone arrives soon. My current battery is on it's last legs.  It's reached the stage where it is plugged into the charger more often than it is in my pocket. I don't know why Apple can't put a better battery in its products. They're so determined to make the thinnest phones on the market that there just isn't room inside for a decent battery. You'd think that if Tesla can offer a ten year warranty on the battery they put in their cars, Apple could come up with a battery that would last at least three years. I know they do this on purpose. They just want me to give up and buy a new phone.

I've been wondering why AT&T put fiber optic cable all over the neighborhood last Summer. I got the answer today in the mail. There was a brochure that said I was eligible for a new super high speed internet service. Download an entire movie in just a few seconds the brochure said. Of course there was a price for this added speed. Plans start at $80 a month, I read. Nope. I think I'll keep my current service. Jeez, you could rent a lot of Netflix movies for $80 a month. I guess I was naive when I thought AT&T would give me some added speed for free when they buried the fiber optic cable in the alley behind our house.

This week went quickly. The trash has been taken out to the curb, the November bills have been paid, and I'm already wondering what I'll have for breakfast tomorrow.

Puppies are today's Dalmatians of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2232

Where did today go? I stayed busy all day, but really accomplished almost nothing. It was still dark when we walked the dogs because Janet had to leave for work early. I saw four of the five visible planets, but the illusive Mercury was still hidden by low clouds on the Eastern horizon. I watched the Impossible Planet episode of Dr. Who on the BBC channel during breakfast, which made breakfast take even longer than it usually does. I always liked this episode. When I took the dogs out to pee again before I fired up the computer and started working, I noticed another dead bird in the yard. This explained what the dogs were so interested in last night. The feral cats in the neighborhood do help control the rats, but I hate all the dead things they drag in the yard.

The first thing I discovered when I turned on the computer was that the backup batteries had gone bad in my Uninterruptible Power Supply. Since I wasn't that busy anyway, I took the power supply down to the battery store and had them rebuild the batteries. I think this is the third time I've had to replace the batteries in this particular UPS, but it was still cheaper than buying a brand new Uninterruptible Power Supply.

Dash was low on Phenobarbital, so I stopped by the vet to get a new supply and then returned to the battery store to pick up my refurbished UPS. When I finally did get to work, there wasn't much to do. There are still a couple of unfinished website projects, but no impending deadlines at all. I used my free time to write a letter to the watch winder people expressing my displeasure at their refusal to repair or replace my two broken winders. I don't expect much of a response, but at least I got that off my chest.

I discovered that I could buy The Martian on iTunes for half of what it would have cost to purchase a physical DVD in a store. No wonder stores don't carry many DVD titles anymore. I downloaded the movie and may never buy a DVD again. Why bother. I watch DVD's on my computer anyway and a downloaded file plays more reliably anyway. Half price seals the deal. No wonder Apple isn't making computers with DVD drives anymore. They really want to convince people to buy everything on iTunes. Now, all I have to do it get the little Apple TV box and I can watch my downloaded files on the big TV in the bedroom. Not that it matters, but I did remember to order ink for the large format printer.

The weather has got me confused. I bundled up like I did yesterday, but the minute I stepped out the door I realized was overdressed. As soon as the sun came up, it quickly got even warmer. By the time I was running errands this afternoon, I didn't even need a jacket. I think by the end of the week, temperatures are supposed to be in the mid-seventies. It's strange weather for this time of year, but I'll take it. It certainly beats cleaning up after the East Coast's giant snowstorm.

Unless somebody's website crashes unexpectedly, tomorrow will probably end up being a carbon copy of today. That's OK with me. I've got fresh bag of Fritos and a new movie to watch.

Bones is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2194

I spent most of the day replacing my computer's obsolete operating system with another obsolete operating system. The move from Lion to Mountain Lion was much more complex than simply downloading the current operating system, which is what most people would do. I'm very wary of new Apple operating systems. All too often when you install a new system, you have to update half your software as well. I'm happy with my old software and the last thing I want to do is buy it all over again.

Eventually, even people like me are forced to upgrade though. It's almost a law of nature. I picked Mountain Lion because it was old enough to support most of my existing software and still new enough to support Pro Tools 12. The problem with installing something so old and using it as a new system is that there are a lot of dependencies that need to be resolved. X Code wouldn't work anymore which meant I could no longer run Unix programs on my Mac. I couldn't just install the new X Code, because it was too new. I had to find am old copy of version 5.1.1 which Apple no longer supported. Some of my security software wouldn't work either. It could have been worse, but I ended up spending most of the afternoon testing each of the applications I use and making upgrades when necessary. The important things all work now, but it was a monumental effort for a system that is already obsolete. I've still got Mavericks, Yosemite, and El Capitan to go.

I built some online forms for a client today. I made sure to do this before I attempted to upgrade my system. You never know what is going to be broken after the upgrade. It could easily have been Dreamweaver. Luckily Dreamweaver, Photoshop. Microsoft Office, Colorburst, Final Cut Pro, and Quickbooks Pro still work. That's all I really use these days anyway. I thought about upgrading my phone as well, but that would just be asking for trouble. One major upgrade a day is plenty. I'm sure IOS 9.2 can wait. I still don't know why I bothered to upgrade to IOS 9.1. Basically all these software upgrades are a giant pain.

Breakfast was good today. Actually, everything was pretty good today. The weather was nice, the humidity was low, there were very few surprises, and the bird didn't poop on my car. Dot didn't have any accidents today either. As far as I'm concerned, a day without poop is always a good day.

I don't have any big plans for this weekend, but I'm sure I'll be busy. There are leaves to rake, software to debug, rugs to clean, and dogs to walk. I need to remember to turn the outdoor faucets on just a bit so they drip a little. I don't want frozen pipes, especially in the greenhouse. If it doesn't get down to freezing tonight, it will soon. It's weird. Even though I accomplished virtually nothing today, I felt oddly energized. Trading one obsolete operating system for another equally obsolete system is fairly complex. My brain got a little exercise today. Sadly, that's somewhat of a rarity. Most of my daily activities require no thought at all.

Alvin is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2141

Dash is much better today. The swelling has gone down on his paw and he's walking more or less normally again. He remembers where the bee stung him and won't walk in that section of the park. He's a nervous dog, but he's a very smart dog who learns from his experiences. I wouldn't walk on that trail either if I'd been stung yesterday. I had been thinking about making another vet appointment because Dash had been having some digestion issues last week, but that problem seems to have resolved itself. Dash is eating normally again. He's about as normal as he's going to get.

I didn't see the cluster of three planets this morning, because the sky was very overcast. It wasn't raining though. That's always a good thing. By around 10:30 this morning the blue sky I was hoping for suddenly materialized and it was nice for the rest of the day. Since it was a typical slow Monday, I used this opportunity to clear off the roof again. You would think that I could find better things to do with my time than to spend it perpetually removing water from the roof. Maybe. I can tell you one thing. Once you've had a bad water leak with sections of wet sheet rock falling from the ceiling, you never really trust water or your roof again. I'll always be looking over my shoulder when it rains.

Although my website business has slowed down quite a bit, I still get update requests every couple of days. Most of these updates are simple and don't provide much of a challenge. Sadly, they don't provide much of an income either. I keep hoping that these maintenance clients will spread my name around and one of their friends will eventually bring me a big new project that will keep me busy for months. That probably isn't going to happen though. Everybody has a website these days, but not everybody needs one. Some of my clients look at their website like an electronic Yellow Pages ad. Others have forgotten that they even have a website until I remind them. It can be discouraging to realize that you're not exactly setting the world on fire. On the other hand, it's kind of nice to have clients who still keep using you even though they don't need you at all.

I'm getting to the age where I see far too many obituaries. I see most of these notices on Facebook, because that's where you see everything these days. I haven't subscribed to a newspaper in years. Most of my college teachers have died by now. Many of my former ad agency bosses and early mentors have passed away as well, including one more today. It's kind of sobering to realize what a limited amount of time we have on this planet. Whenever I read that a friend or co-worker has died, I renew my resolve to put my remaining years to good use. This resolve usually lasts about an hour and then I revert to my old ways.

Apple is really getting sloppy about its upgrade program. During the past two weeks I have installed three different IOS upgrades to my phone plus another two upgrades for my watch. I just installed another Apple Watch upgrade this afternoon. Each of these upgrades was designed to fix a series of flaws and omissions found in the previous upgrade. I wish they'd tested these patches before they released them. I'd rather wait a little longer than hurry to install software that is full of bugs.

There will be one more chance to see Mars, Jupiter, and Venus packed into a tight little triangle tomorrow morning. The best viewing time was today, unless you had a sky full of thick clouds like we did. Maybe we'll get lucky tomorrow. Clear skies, no dog poop in the house, and a new job in my morning e-mail: that would be my tight little triangle.

Pearl is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2115

I was glad the yellow warning light came on again when I was driving to the dealership this morning. At least the repair guys won't think my suspension problem is something I imagined. Who knows how long the repairs will take. It always seems to take much longer than I anticipate. This is probably why Land Rover has always been pretty generous with their loaner cars. If you've got a free loaner car, you're not going to complain as much about how long the repairs are taking.

Since I like to complain, I'll complain a bit about the Evoque anyway. The car is more expensive than the larger LR2 or the appealing new Discovery model. It has a small 4 cylinder engine and terrible visibility. The rear seats don't fold flat and the engine shuts off when you stop at a light. The stop and go engine is supposed to be a feature, but it is a giant annoyance to me. I never really believe the engine is going to start again when the light turns green. I hope they are able to fix my suspension quickly. I'm not looking forward to driving the Evoque for the entire month of October.

It was a nice warm day, so the dogs wanted to sun themselves in the backyard after lunch. Instead of lying in the grass, Dot now likes to lie in the Monkey Grass beds next to the greenhouse. This is killing the Liriope plants, but I don't have the heart to make Dot move. I did a little gardening while I was watching the dogs. It's always been difficult to grow the type of plants I want, but surprisingly easy to grow weeds. If I don't pull the weeds, they crowd out the good plants. As I was pulling weeds, I noticed that clumps of them made a pretty good makeshift broom. I used the clumps of weeds to brush away a dense mass of spiderwebs on the back windows. I thought this was pretty clever, since clearing away the spiderwebs with a regular broom typically ruins the broom. The webs stuck to the clumps of weeds like a charm and them I just threw them away.

I've been having trouble with my phone ever since I upgraded to IOS 9. A lot of the apps I use don't recognize the WiFi network anymore and use cellular data instead. I looked on the Internet and a lot of other people are having the same problem. Apple needs to fix this quickly. As soon as people start realizing that they've inadvertently maxed out their data plans by using cellular data when they thought they were using WiFi. My watch is having trouble getting the temperature from my phone as well. Makes me wonder about the wisdom of upgrading my laptop to the new El Capitan system. What could possible go wrong?

I still haven't figured out how to get Dot in the Evoque for tomorrow's physical therapy appointment. That will be my after breakfast project, unless a new writing job accidentally falls in my lap.

Thelma is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1736

It's almost inevitable. When I'm busy, I always wish things would slow down. Conversely, when things are slow I wish I was busier. In the Summer I can't wait for Winter and as soon as the cold weather arrives I want it to be Summer again. I don't know why it is so difficult to just accept things the way they are, but it's been this way for a long time. The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence.

I only mention this because I was busier than usual today. There was a small website crisis that needed to be addressed immediately. There was a new writing assignment that needed attention. And of course, Dot had her annual exam at the vet. Back in the day, a schedule like this would have seemed like nothing, but I think I've slowed down considerably. I still like to stay busy, but I think my definition of the term has changed.

Dot got a glowing report at her exam. Her vets are just as impressed with her progress as I am. If you didn't know better, you could easily mistake Dot for a much younger dog. The only time Dot seems like a senior citizen is when she is sleeping. She sleeps so soundly now that I have to look carefully to make sure she's still breathing. Dot got her three year rabies booster today, along with her annual Leptospirosis vaccination. We'll give her the DAPPV combo shot next week, just to make sure she doesn't have a bad reaction from getting too many shots at once.

When Dot's nurse asked me how she was doing today, I started to bring her up to date on Dot's incontinence and physical therapy issues. "Oh, I know all that already," she told me. "I read your blog." This happens frequently now. I tend to think my readers are just the small group of people who leave comments regularly. In reality, a much larger group of friends and acquaintances seem to read with some consistency. They just don't tell me about it.

I finally figured out how to get my new phone paired with my car again. This Bluetooth connection is really handy because you never have to take your phone out of your pocket. If you get a call, you hear the phone ringing on the car radio and answer by touching a little green button on the steering wheel and just start talking. I couldn't figure out why it was so difficult to pair the phone, but I was determined not to go to the dealership for assistance on something so simple. I eventually remembered, as is often the case with Apple, that I needed to power down the phone completely and then turn it on again before the pairing process would work properly.

I think I might have been just busy enough today. I managed to get everything on my list done without stressing about it. Tomorrow, I will take Dash to the vet for another periodic thyroid test. I'm sure there will be other things to do as well. With any luck, I may be able to keep my life in balance for two days in a row.

Phantom is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1735

Did you realize that while you were sleeping, U2 downloaded their entire new album to every iPhone in the entire world. I didn't believe this until I looked at my own phone and sure enough, there it was. I didn't buy or download the album myself. It just appeared on my phone. The same album was on Janet's phone and on every other iPhone in the world. I don't know how much it cost Apple to pull off this little stunt. I don't even know how it benefits them. I will admit though that this was pretty impressive.

Today got off to a slow start, which wasn't surprising since it was a Monday. By the time I had finished walking the dogs and eating breakfast, it was already 10:30 AM. It must have rained at some point during the night because Dash got exceptionally muddy walking through the soft ground. I usually clean the dogs paws with a damp rag before I let them inside. This mud was too much for a rag though. I had to hose him down. Since this is Texas, by the time I took the dogs out again for their evening walk, the ground was almost completely dry.

The lab work I had done at Baylor last week came back completely normal. My liver is doing just fine. Now I have no excuse to discontinue the Statins and Niacin. I'll be the first to admit these drugs are probably effective in controlling cholesterol. I just don't like the side effects of waking up with a dry mouth in the middle of the night feeling like I'm on fire as the Niacin dilates all the tiny blood vessels near the surface of my skin. Also, ever since I've been taking these new meds, my nose has been dripping like I've got a low level cold. It's irritating, but I guess it's better than a heart attack.

I only had one website to update today, so it was a good day to do some bookkeeping and pay bills. I don't know how economists can continue to say that we have low inflation. The cost of virtually everything I use on a daily basis has gone up. Often it has gone up a lot. Food costs more. Utility bills are higher. Gasoline is higher. Insurance is higher. I could go on and on. Just about the only thing that is cheaper are consumer electronics, but how many flat screen TV's do you need?

Dot really seems to have turned the corner. She has been accident free for almost a full week now. I'm starting to let her sleep wherever she wants now as long as I'm in the house. This is probably a mistake, since dogs are so unpredictable, but Dot is a lot happier having free rein of the house. Janet says I spoil these dogs. Of course I do.

Spot is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day