Day 4719

Most of the leaks have stopped, but there's one stubborn one still dripping away in the office. The cadence of drips is much slower now. Maybe things will be back to normal by morning. When everything dries out I will need to bleach away the brown stains in the ceiling and start pretending the house is fine again. I still can't find a good carpenter and my list of potential roofing companies leaves a lot to be desired. A new house sounds appealing, but we already live in the best part of town to have a dog and Dallas real estate is still way too expensive. For better or worse, this is home until we get carted away to assisted living.

I still feel full from our big Thanksgiving meal. It would have been a good day for a long nap, but I got up and went through my regular routine instead. We took Dawn on her sunrise walk, I ate my breakfast of shredded wheat and fruit, and checked my messages before going on my long walk. It wasn't raining today, but it didn't feel dry either. There was a light mist in the air for most of the day. It kind of felt like walking through fog.

I was very slow today. I didn't feel unusually tired, but my walk seemed to take forever. There must be better way to use my time. My doctor did explain why my Fitbit continues to say that my fitness level is low, even though I spend an inordinate amount of time walking and staying active. Evidently one of the medications I take slows down my heart rate, so I never achieve the elevated levels Fitbit is looking for. This made me feel a little better. I think I'm in pretty good shape and couldn't figure out why the Fitbit wasn't agreeing with me.

I picked up a prescription at the pharmacy this afternoon. I'm still getting better rates using GoodRx than my Medicare Part-D plan provides. The prescription drug plan isn't cheap, so I keep wondering what I'm paying for. The pharmacist answered that question today. She said that they were getting bought by another company that didn't honor GoodRx prices. "You'd better keep that Part-D plan," she said.

It's Black Friday today. Everyone in the world wants me to buy something. My inbox was filled with special deals for everything from astronomy gear to wool socks. Some of the deals were tempting, but I really didn't need anything. I didn't buy anything either. I guess this is progress. A few years ago I would have almost certainly bought something I really didn't need just to get the Black Friday price.

It's time to make a grocery list again. Unlike most people we don't have a lot of Thanksgiving leftovers in the fridge. I need to remember to pick up the camera gear I will need for our upcoming Santa Paws photo shoots while I'm out tomorrow. The two day event will be here before you know it. I guess it's time to put up a Christmas tree too. Where did this year go?

Dot is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4355

It's beginning to feel a lot like Winter. The temperature was 36 degrees when I woke up this morning. I'm glad I brought the lawnmower battery inside yesterday. Freezing temperatures destroys these batteries. Dawn enjoyed the chilly temperatures on her sunrise walk, but I wasn't happy with the thought that this type of weather will probably be with us until next March. I had to wear long underwear and a sweater under my jacket on today's walk. It's a lot easier to get dressed when I can just throw on a t-shirt and a pair of shorts.

It was a little warmer when I took my long walk after breakfast, but it was still pretty chilly. The park seemed empty this morning. Only the serious joggers and cyclists were out today. The colder the weather, the fewer people I see. Very few people are as consistent as I am. I know these people by sight now. We usually wave or say "Hi" as we pass each other. There is one cyclist I call the Hello Man who shouts out hello to every single person he passes. You can hear him coming from a long way away.

The big event of the day was that I was able to take Dawn on a walk by myself today. It definitely wasn't a long walk, but this was real progress. As recently as several months ago, Dawn would have been terrified to leave the yard without Janet at her side. Dawn is fine with me walking her as long as Janet is nearby. When I'm alone with her it's a totally different story. It's been a long, slow process to get Dawn to trust me.  We're definitely not there yet, but today's little walk was definitely progress. It probably helped that she had to pee. As soon as Dawn finished her business she immediately wanted to return to the house again.

I had a 20,000 step day today. That's pretty good, considering how cold it was. We've added a late afternoon walk with Dawn to our daily routine. Dawn seems to like the activity and she can certainly use the exercise. With three walks a day now, I don't have time for a lot else. That's fine by me. I usually manage to complete one little fix-it chore around the house during the day and that's about it. Today's task was clearing the leaves off the front and back porch and doing a load of laundry.

Today was Black Friday and I didn't buy a thing. I don't even think Black Friday is a big deal anymore. You don't hear about long lines waiting to get in Walmart or Best Buy these days. I got a lot of e-mail about Black Friday bargains, but the prices all seemed pretty normal to me. Since everything seems to be constantly on sale these days, having a special day just for sales is essentially meaningless.

I forgot what day it was again today. Having a holiday on Thursday is confusing. Almost all the major holidays have been moved to Friday or Monday so people can take a three day weekend. Christmas and New Years move around but they actually are on the weekend this year. Easter is always on a Sunday. I guess there is some justification for being confused by Thursday holidays. The only other explanation is that I've become a forgetful old man.

It's time to make a grocery list again. I wonder how much prices have gone up this week? Inflation is definitely real and I don't think it is going away soon. I read an article the other day that said that when governments gave away money like they did during Covid, inflation is the economy's way of reclaiming it. Makes sense to me. There is no free lunch in this world. Eventually you pay for everything.

Pepper is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4350

Another Sunday with lots of walking. My feet held up fairly well today and my pace was back to normal. The weather seemed strange today. When we took Dawn on her sunrise walk it was warm and a little humid. It was still pretty warm when I took my long walk, but later in the day it suddenly became a lot colder. I've given up predicting the weather. Every day is a new day.

We discontinued Dawn's new meds. They actually seemed to be making Dawn worse instead of better. Janet and I both noticed strange changes in behavior that could only be explained by the new meds. I'm glad that Janet noticed the changes independently and was the first to want to discontinue the meds. I've tried to remain neutral since both Janet and the vet wanted to give the medicine a try. I've never been a fan of Prozac or any other anti-depressants. My Mom was manic/depressive and I've seen what these drugs can do. It's not good. You are playing with fire when you try to mess with the brain.

Dawn will never be completely normal, but she is back to her old self. I don't think any damage was done with the short trial of the drug. She was anxious in the car when we began our Sunday outing today, but quickly recovered when we arrived at our destination. She's always this way. Dawn doesn't like surprises and wants her life to be very predictable. I'm sure the drugs made her feel a little different and in her mind that was a big surprise that frightened her. I can appreciate this. For most of my life I've felt the same way. When I was in college in the 60's, I tried almost every mood altering substance you could eat, drink, or smoke. Once was enough for me. I hated being high. I don't like being out of control. LSD and Psilocybin were the worst, but I didn't even like weed. To this day I still think substance abuse is at the root of most of our nation's problems.

Every year about this time I'm inundated with ads for Black Friday bargains. This year for the first time I can remember, I have no desire to buy anything. I don't think I've reached the decluttering stage yet, but I've got all the stuff I need. Since I've always been somewhat of a gearhead, I can see how technology companies try to make you feel like what you are currently using is obsolete. There is this relentless desire to sell you new stuff because if you were happy with what you had, they wouldn't have a business. I think the fashion industry operates the same way. It's a shame that we are being programmed to desire cheap, disposable stuff that only lasts a few years, when what we really need are a few durable things that last a lifetime.

While we're on the subject of cheap, disposable stuff, I many need to get a new Fitbit soon. Why do they make these things with a battery that can't be replaced? When the battery wears out, you have to buy a whole new tracker. Would it have been that hard to design a tracker using a small flat easily replaceable watch battery for power? A lot of new technology is this way. It is not designed to be repaired, it is designed to be replaced.

While we were eating dinner this evening we heard the news about the Christmas parade in Wisconsin. What a shame. These kind of things keep happening over and over again. It's like humanity has become a bunch of wild, feral animals. Events that would have seemed impossible when I was a child are just considered normal now. It makes you wonder how low we can go? I don't think humans deserve this planet. We manage to screw up everything we touch.

Puppies are today's Dalmatians of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3986

Another cold front must be moving through the area. The temperature actually fell as the day progressed. I only needed a light jacket when we took our morning walk with Dawn, but a warmer coat was required by the time I took my afternoon walk. I was surprised at how cold it was this afternoon. The rain we were expecting has been postponed until Tuesday as well. All this is fine by me. I do wish the weather was more consistent though.

I'm getting bombarded with Black Friday deals. This happens every year. These deals always make it extremely tempting to buy camera and electronic gear that I don't really need. Today I was tempted enough by deals on Panasonic GH-5 and Olympus OM-D E-M1X camera bodies to waste about an hour online  researching features while trying to convince myself that I actually needed another camera. I don't. That's never stopped me before unfortunately.

What we do need is another dehumidifier. The performance of our current dehumidifier continues to deteriorate. The symptoms I'm experiencing appear to be caused by either operating in too cold of an environment, a dirty air filter, or leaking refrigerant. The house is pretty warm, the air filter is clean, so it must be the refrigerant. This, unfortunately is expensive to fix and it's a lot easier to just buy a new unit. Maybe it's time to change brands. I have a Friedrich now but the online reviews say a Frigidaire might be the better choice. This is what I do on uneventful days. I don't watch Netflix movies or get distracted by politics. I methodically research my next purchase.

The only thing I bought today was socks. REI had the wool hiking socks I like for 30% off. I don't know why socks have gotten so expensive, but if you walk a lot you've got to have good socks. While I was at the store, I picked up a small LED headlamp. I've been meaning to do this for quite a while. This headlamp has a red setting that won't affect your night vision and will be very useful the next time I attempt astrophotography or photograph a rocket launch at night. It's harder than you think to adjust camera settings in the dark without a red light that won't ruin your night vision.

We got a late start on our morning walk, so I got to sleep in again. Janet and Dawn like to get up earlier than me, so I'm usually struggling to get ready in time. Maybe it would be easier to get up early if writing the blog wasn't the last thing I did every day before going to bed. Lately, these posts have been taking longer than usual. The writing is easy when something interesting happens. Uneventful days can be a challenge.

I have to remember not to eat breakfast tomorrow. I have a semi-annual physical at my doctor's office and I have to fast for the blood work. I need to remember to ask why I frequently have coughing spells while I am eating and why my feet hurt all the time. Neither of these conditions are new. I just forget to ask about them. Maybe I'll wear one of my new N-95 masks and see whether the doctor notices. I guess I should ask about my insect bites as well. They still haven't cleared up.

Dawn continues to have much more energy and enthusiasm than she did before her seizure. It's hard to believe that a simple course of antibiotics and Prednisone would make such a difference, but Dawn is definitely feeling better. Maybe the cooler weather helps as well. At any rate, it nice to see her enjoying life again. Now I just need to find a little more energy myself. I didn't hear a thing about Dealey Plaza or the Kennedy assassination on the news today. I think the world has forgotten about it.

Chelsey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3627

Lots of rain today. It was such a dismal, wet day that I decided to take my walk at the gym. This was a first. Driving in the rain to walk on an indoor track isn't something you'd expect of me. Surprisingly, it wasn't as bad as I thought. Walking five miles on an indoor oval track is much better than getting cold and wet in the park. I may do this again. There is no sensation  of distance when you are walking on an indoor track. The only sensation is of time. To my surprise, I completed my walk faster than I do in the park. This was probably because there were no hills to climb. I also passed people on the track, which almost never happens in the park. People in the park are young and fit. People at my gym are taking physical therapy or recovering from heart attacks. I often think I'm one of the younger members.

I had to pick up something for dinner on my way home from the gym and the store was almost empty. I guess everyone was eating leftovers today. Since it was a cold, rainy day I thought we'd have chili for dinner. Eating chili almost guarantees that I'll have heartburn later this evening, but it still seems like the perfect meal for a wet winter day.

I guess it's a good sign that there are still no roof leaks. We've had a ton of rain lately. The pumps on the roof have been working pretty well, but they don't even come close to removing all the water. At best, the pumps can turn four inches of standing water into one or two inches. To remove the rest I have to get up on the roof and sweep the water over the edge of the roof with a big push broom. When it eventually stops raining, that's what I'll be doing.

Ginny has discovered squirrels. We may have to start taking her out to pee on a leash again. A dog that is recovering from heartworm treatment shouldn't be running around the back yard trying to catch squirrels. All our dogs have liked to chase squirrels. Dot even caught a few. It doesn't help matters that there are a ton of squirrels in the park. They could care less where the park ends and our yard starts. I've seen up to a dozen of them in the yard at the same time.

I didn't do any Black Friday shopping today. Instead, I deleted hundreds of Black Friday messages from my e-mail inbox. The ads and e-mail spam are relentless. From now until Christmas, retailers are determined to sell me something. These guys should know that I'm not really their target audience anymore. I don't need much. Unless someone's going to offer me a Mercedes Sprinter van for half price, I'm not interested.

Fitbit says that I am sleeping better since Ginny has arrived.  This is a bit counterintuitive, but it makes sense to me. Having a warm dog next to you is comforting. I didn't sleep well when Dot and Dash were sick, but they needed lots of attention. When our dogs were young, we all slept well. Ginny certainly has no trouble sleeping. She is sleeping next to me right now.

Petey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2892

On television, Black Friday looked like a madhouse, but from my vantage point it just seemed like another normal day. Janet and I went out for breakfast this morning and there wasn't even much traffic on the road. I don't know what made us think we even needed breakfast. We were still full from yesterday. We should have just ordered one item and split it. Neither of us could finish our meal and ended up taking the rest home for tomorrow.

On the way home, Janet wanted to stop at Old Navy and get a coat she'd seen on sale. No mob of Black Friday shoppers here. Everything is already so cheap at Old Navy that I wondered why they even bother with giant sales. The clothes aren't made in China here. The labels come from places like Haiti, Vietnam, and Bangladesh. Who would have thought you'd have to go to stores like Bloomingdales or Nordstrom to find clothes from China? Made in China is reserved for upscale retail now. So where do you go to find clothes that are actually made in the United States? You'd probably need a time machine.

I think a lot of people must have gone out of town for Thanksgiving. The roads weren't really crowded. The park was virtually empty yesterday and wasn't very crowded today either. That's fine by me. Any day that I can walk Dash without worries about being attacked by a loose dog is a good day. I am going to have to worry about coyotes this winter. When we were walking Dash this afternoon, a firetruck went by and the siren caused our local pack of coyote pups to all begin howling at once. From the sound of things, this is a large litter. I haven't seen these coyotes yet, but it's pretty easy to tell where they live. We had a bad problem with coyotes several years ago until they ate all the small animals and moved on. I have a feeling that it is going to be a bad year for bunnies this Winter.

I took advantage of the warmer weather today to continue my work on the roof. This is one of the more discouraging projects I've undertaken yet. There was a small tear in an area I had patched last month and when I began peeling away the damaged elastomer coating, I discovered that water had seeped under a much wider area than it looked like on the surface. The roof really needs to be fixed in July when it is hot and dry. Unfortunately, it always becomes damaged during the Fall and Winter months when the weather is cold and damp. I didn't re-coat anything today. All I managed to do was remove about a square yard of elastomer in hopes that the asphalt underneath will completely dry out before it rains again.

Dash must have known it was a holiday today. He didn't want me to walk him alone like I normally do on Friday and insisted that Janet and I both go with him. This wasn't a problem in the morning, but he could have made life easier if he'd taken his normal walk this afternoon. By the time Janet returned from running errands, it was almost dark. It's hard to explain these things to a stubborn dog though. Dash knew that Janet hadn't gone to work because she wasn't wearing work clothes when she left the house.

It seemed like Saturday today, so it will probably seem like Sunday tomorrow. I'm not sure what I'll do tomorrow, but I won't be able to ignore everything. I got a new writing assignment today. There is a big website project to work on. And sometime very soon I am going to have to test all my ancient equipment prior to next week's first Santa Paws photo shoot. I sure hope everything works. One of these years it won't.

Maggie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2886

It was so windy today that I kept expecting one of our trees to topple over. It has happened before. I see old growth trees fall in the park all the time, but luckily nothing happened to ours today. The wind did signal a change in the weather. A cold front moved through town this afternoon and it's currently about twenty degrees colder than it was this morning. Dash seems to like this chilly weather. I can't say that I agree.

The only thing I accomplished today was to catch the cockroach that eluded me yesterday. This time I had my flyswatter ready. The bug didn't have a chance. I hate to think how many of these things might be lurking around the house. There are certainly plenty of places for them to hide in the office. The office was full even before I brought all the paraphernalia home from the storage warehouse for Santa Paws pictures. Now, it's a total mess.

Dash seemed to want a walk around 3 PM this afternoon, but when I looked outside I noticed a mobile grooming truck parked in our neighbor's driveway. We would have to walk right by this truck to get to the park. It would be just my luck that the groomers would open the door just as Dash and I were walking by and out would come the dog who bit me. I wasn't going to risk it. I'm still very apprehensive about that dog.

I waited about an hour until the truck drove away and then we took our walk. We encountered another loose neighborhood dog along the way, but luckily this one was friendly. These people let their dog out in the front yard without a leash all the time. Over and over again, it races out in the street to greet me and Dash. One of these days it is going to get run over. I really don't understand how people can pay so little attention to their dog's safety. Is it that hard to keep your dog on a leash? The streets are busy. There are coyotes in the area. There are snakes. There are just too many unpredictable things that could happen.

I tried to sweep the leaves off the front porch today. It was impossible. Prevailing winds tend to blow leaves onto the porch where they pile up against the front door. When you open the door on a windy day, the leaves blow inside. This is one of many things that make me wish I lived in Arizona with a big cactus and a swimming pool in the yard. At any rate, I swept the leaves away three times today and the wind blew them back again every time. It's futile to battle against nature. Nature always wins.

I wonder how Black Friday got to be such a big deal. We are being inundated with Black Friday flyers in the mail and Black Friday e-mail messages. I don't think I've ever bought anything on Black Friday. I guess it's a good deal if you want to stand in line for a cheap big screen TV, but how many televisions do you need? I think everybody already has a big screen TV by now. I guess I'm not the target market. I'm so out of the loop that I thought Black Friday was yesterday.

Puppies are today's Dalmatians of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2538

It didn't seem like Friday today. It was almost midnight last night before I remembered to take the trash out to the curb. This morning Janet had to remind me that I usually go out to breakfast on Fridays. Basically, my brain was mush after eating that big Thanksgiving meal. I wasn't hungry, but I did end up going out for breakfast. It's relaxing just to get away for a while.

On the way home, the low tire light came on in my car, so I took it up to the Land Rover dealer to see if I'd picked up another nail. It turned out that my right rear tire was a little low for no reason at all. They pumped it up with nitrogen and I was on my way. While I was at the dealership, I noticed that they sell Jaguars now. I guess it makes sense since both cars are manufactured in the same factory. Jaguars and Land Rovers share the same engines and use a lot of the same parts.

My inbox was filled with Black Friday announcements today. There must have been hundreds of them. When did huge sales on the day after Thanksgiving get to be a thing? It probably happened when people decided to put up Christmas trees on the day after Thanksgiving. There were lots of tempting bargains, but I only bought a new iPhone case at a ridiculously low price.

I went to the storage warehouse this afternoon to retrieve the photography gear I'll need for the Santa Paws pet picture events that start next week. I don't go to the storage warehouse much anymore, so I had trouble even remembering my passcode. Once I got inside, I had even more trouble finding all the items I'll need next week. My storage space used to be neat and tidy. Everything was inventoried and easy to find. Now, the place is a disaster. After a decade of filling the place with obsolete and unused gear, I don't even know what's here anymore. I used to think this was just temporary storage until I could retrieve everything and take it to a huge studio loft space where I could put the gear to good use again. Now I know the truth. The storage warehouse will probably never be emptied out and will eventually wind up being fought over by bargain hunters on that Storage Wars show on cable TV.

I'm dreading next month's photo events. I wish I looked forward to things instead of trying to avoid them, but that's just the way it is. I know I'll do a good job. It's just so tiring. I'm thinking of looking for a wrist brace. It's murder holding a heavy camera all day with carpal tunnel syndrome.The knees aren't doing too well these days either. I'll need to set up the Norman strobe lights and test them next week. I don't want any surprise failures. It's amazing that this all stuff works, since my equipment is as old and cranky as I am.

I'm beginning to think that I should have waited until after the holidays to discontinue my heartburn medication. I feel like I ate ten pizzas after yesterday's Thanksgiving dinner. I forget why I tend to have acid reflux problems in the first place, but right now, bone density problems seems like the lesser of two evils.

Dot is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2537 - Thanksgiving

"Be careful who you hate, it could be someone you love." I don't have any idea who originally said this, but I've always liked the thought. It certainly seems appropriate for the first Thanksgiving after a particularly rancorous election. Janet and I went out for Thanksgiving brunch at one of our favorite hotels today. There were people dining with us from all walks of life. I saw large families with children, senior citizens eating alone, young couples, mothers and daughters, groups of friends who didn't appear to be related, and then there was Janet and I. It's a safe bet that everyone in the dining room didn't vote for the same candidate on November 8, but they all seemed like very nice people.

I wonder how many of these people spent the past year posting dire warnings or hateful memes about the other side on their Facebook pages? To me, it's time to move on. I have friends on both sides of the political fence that don't seem to understand that not much is really going to change. Things didn't change much after eight years of George Bush and things didn't change much after eight years of Barack Obama. All presidents mean well, but when they push too hard, the pendulum swings back the other way the next time there is an election. Bush pushed too hard when he got the country tangled up in meaningless wars in the middle east and got Obama elected. Obama pushed too hard when he tried to disguise a massive income redistribution program as health insurance and got Trump elected. All politicians need to remember that the pendulum swings both ways. Voters are generally more pragmatic than politicians. They don't really care about ideology. A good job and a safe place to live will keep most people happy.

There was a gay couple taking their Moms out to dinner at the table to the left of us. A large Hispanic family was seated at a big round table directly in front of us. Two senior citizens were seated to our right. Somehow, I think all of these people are going to do just fine in the years ahead.

Dinner was fabulous. I don't think Janet and I will ever cook a big holiday dinner again. It's fun and a lot less stressful to enjoy a well prepared meal at a nice restaurant. Families who dine out probably also discover that there is a lot less fighting at the dinner table when you are eating in public. I was basically full after the salad course, but I went ahead and had a second course that included Eggs Benedict and a third course with Prime Rib. There was dessert too. It was a week's worth of calories in a single meal, but what the hell. We only do this once a year.

We weren't gone all that long, but as expected, Dot pooped in her bed and ate all the evidence by the time we got home. I purposely didn't check the pet cam on my phone while we were at the restaurant, because I knew it would spoil our dinner. There is nothing we could have done anyway. Even if we were only five minutes away, there would have still have been plenty of time for Dot to eat her poop. After we changed clothes, we took Dot outside and cleaned her up. The bedding went in the washing machine and all was good.

Tomorrow is Black Friday. I guess that's a holiday too. I love gadgets and gear, so it will be hard for me to ignore all the online Black Friday sales. I really don't need anything, so I should restrain myself. A better idea would be to take an extra long walk tomorrow morning and work off some of today's monster meal.

Maggie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2173

It's official. 2015 is now the rainiest year in Dallas history. When I look out my window, it's easy to see why. Some parts of town have had over six inches of rain during the last 24 hours. It rained more than usual this Spring. It rained more than usual this Summer. And it is definitely raining more than usual now. The traffic was horrible today. I saw five accidents on my way to the grocery store this afternoon. Last night was a lot worse, when three people died after they were swept away by high water. I try to stay inside on days like this.

The weather may be getting worse, but Dot's condition is definitely getting better. She didn't throw up at all today and is still holding down her food. We are continuing to feed her the Hills I/D and are gradually increasing the amount she is allowed to eat. Getting back to her regular diet couldn't come quick enough for Dot. She is very focused on food. I still don't know what caused all the vomiting. With dogs it could be almost anything.

The cold, damp weather gave me an extra incentive to make a decision about a dehumidifier. After talking to a patient, very nice customer service representative at an air quality specialty company for about twenty minutes, I finally decided on the best model for our house and ordered it online. It was hard to find a dehumidifier that had everything I needed. Some units were too big and noisy. Others didn't have an internal water reservoir, so they constantly had to be hooked up to a drain hose. Many of the smaller, high capacity units were designed to be installed in a crawl space under the floor. These don't work very well if you don't have a crawlspace. The dehumidifier I initially wanted turned out to be too small for our house. I wondered who would buy this rather expensive, built like a tank unit if it wouldn't dehumidify our rather small house. The customer service representative told me that police departments loved the compact machines and used them to dehumidify their gun safes. In the end, I never could find a commercial dehumidifier that would work well in our house and ended up buying a much less expensive consumer model instead. Hopefully it will last at least a couple of years.

I kept thinking it was Saturday all day. I didn't go out for breakfast this morning because Janet was off work today. We slept in a little later as well. My initial reaction was to get Dot up as early as possible, since there had been no accidents by the time I woke up. She was sleeping so peacefully though, that I decided to let her sleep as long as possible. We all got an extra hour of shut-eye until Dash eventually started barking for his breakfast. We got lucky and found a forty-five minute break in the rain right after we ate, so the dogs got their morning walk as well.

Since the rain is supposed to continue all the way through Monday, I don't know what I'll do this weekend. I certainly have no intention to participate in the pre-holiday shopping frenzy. Why would you go to a store and stand in long lines to buy something you could get for the same price online anyway? There were tons of Black Friday deals in my inbox this morning. One looked way too good to pass up. There was a picture of a new model Mac Pro laptop with a price of $15. I immediately put this deal in my shopping cart and went to get Janet so I could show her this amazing price. By the time I returned, the price had gone up quite a bit. The Black Friday price was really $1500. The store sure fixed that typo in a hurry. I bet they had a flood of orders the minute the deal went online. I wonder if they'll have to honor the deal for the few people who were fast enough to check out before the error was corrected. I bet somebody's in trouble. Unfortunately, I wasn't fast enough to get a $15 Mac. I'm rarely fast enough for anything anymore.

Spots is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1809

We decided to wash the dogs this morning, but it didn't exactly work out as planned. When we arrived at our regular dog washing place, we discovered that it was closed for the holidays. We eventually managed to find an alternate facility that was open, but they were so slow that seemed to take forever to walk away with two clean Dalmatians. At least this chore is over with for a while. Dot and Dash managed to stay clean for the rest of the day and all is well.

I forgot to take the garbage out to the street last night, but when I rushed out early this morning to try and beat the approaching trash truck, I noticed that everyone else on the street had forgotten it was trash day as well. My trash container was the only one on the street. This only goes to prove that eating too much affects everyone the same way. Your mind goes blank and all you want to do is watch television.

Forgetting the trash wasn't our only forgetful moment today. Janet left her jacket at the dog washing place, so I had to go back and retrieve it later in the day. While I was out, I got gas, since I forgot to fill the tank on Wednesday. We even forgot to go to the grocery store and ended up getting take-out dinners at Chili's instead. I think this is perfectly normal for the day after Thanksgiving. I'm sure I'll get back to remembering things tomorrow.

I thought about going to the gym today, but decided to finish my writing assignments instead. While I was writing, Janet decided to clean or wash everything the dogs slept on, which ended being just about everything we own. Now, in addition to clean dogs, we have clean throw pillows, clean sheets, a clean bedspread, and tons of clean dog blankets. This won't last long. As soon as it rains, everything will be dirty again.

Since it was Black Friday, I was expecting lots of traffic when we were running our errands today. Surprisingly, the roads seemed kind of empty. We didn't venture within five miles of a Walmart, Target, or Shopping Mall however. I would just as soon go to Chernobyl as a Walmart on a day like this. When you can't tell the difference between TV coverage of a Black Friday sale and unrest in the Middle East, it's probably better to just stay away.

It seems like Sunday night, but we've still got two more vacation days left. I probably should follow Janet's example and do some cleaning myself. I'm sure that house cleaning would burn up just as much energy as going to the gym, but at least going to the gym is over in an hour or so. House cleaning is like opening a Pandora's Box. Once you start, it seems impossible to finish.

Spots is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1805

OK. I made an appointment to see a dentist today. This probably doesn't seem like a big deal to most of you, but it is somewhat of a breakthrough for me. The last time I sat in a dentist's chair was just before my previous dentist retired. That had to be at least five years ago. Needless to say, I'm not fond of going to the dentist. I'm not fond of having a toothache either, so I suppose my appointment is the lesser of two evils.

My tooth didn't hurt as much today as it did yesterday, but this temporary reprieve wasn't enough to make me chicken out. Beneath all my phobias is a fairly rational person. I knew it was time to deal with this. Hopefully, I won't need a root canal though. Just the thought of a root canal is enough to send shivers down my spine.

It was surprisingly busy for the start of a holiday week. I worked on some writing jobs in the morning and updated a few websites in the afternoon. There was a trip to the vet to pick up some prescriptions for Dash and some exploratory visits to dental insurance websites. Oops. I should have thought about dental insurance several months ago. It's a little late now, at least for this initial visit.

The weather is turning colder again, but I'm prepared now. I've got my winter socks, my winter gloves, a warm down jacket and my new high-tech leggings. I hesitate to say "bring it on" though, since I really prefer warmer weather. Since the dogs do seem to enjoy the brisk mornings, I'll just bundle up and try to get a few good sunrise pictures while Dot and Dash are smelling a nearby bush.

I'm not sure what I'll do tomorrow. If I finish my regular work early, I might try to get serious about uploading a bunch of new pictures to Shutterstock. There are certainly photographers out there who have figured out how to make a decent living from selling stock photography. I need to figure out how to crack this nut.

I find myself surprisingly tempted by the onslaught of Black Friday and Cyber Monday ads. Such amazing bargains on absolutely useless stuff. It's weird. At least statistically, I should be entering the de-cluttering phase of my life and I still have this desire to acquire things. I wonder why? I really have all I need. Maybe I'm just bored.

Maggie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 1803

It's hard to believe that it has already been 51 years since John Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas. I was already in high school at the time, so this makes me feel really old. I didn't realize it then, but 1963 was an eventful year. The Beatles made their debut in 1963. Martin Luther King delivered his "I have a dream" speech. And the very first episode of Dr. Who was aired by the BBC.

I used to go down to Dealey Plaza on November 22, just to watch everyone with a conspiracy theory have their moment in the sun. Dealey Plaza used to be a zoo on November 22, but it's pretty quiet these days. Most of the eyewitnesses are very old now and some of the more vocal ones have died. I guess if we haven't discovered what really happened by now, we never will.

I don't know what caused me to look up on a shelf this afternoon, see a dusty Diskwarrior software box and decide to see it it still worked. It didn't. I used to defragment my hard drives frequently and run Diskwarrior to rebuild the directories. It was all part of owning a Mac. Nobody seems to do that stuff anymore. If your computer is running slow, you just buy a new computer. I really thought I could get Diskwarrior to work. I downloaded the latest update, burned a new start up CD and looked up the installation instructions on Google. I should have been suspicious when I noticed that the last update occurred in 2011. Apparently Diskwarrior just doesn't matter anymore. Probably 95% of the software titles sitting on shelves in my office don't matter anymore. Times have changed.

The last thing I'd ever do on the day after Thanksgiving is go to a Black Friday sale, but I'll have to admit that I was tempted when I saw a flyer in today's mail saying that the Black Friday price for a Dyson vacuum cleaner was $199. These things are usually well over $500. I'm not going to go to Walmart and fight a mob of crazy people for a vacuum cleaner though. No thank you. We'll just use our old Hoover for a few more years.

The dogs and I got wet on our evening walk. The skies had been grey and cloudy all day, but unfortunately the overcast day turned into a very rainy day while we were out in the park. I kept thinking if we walked a little further that Dash would finally poop. He never did. All I got for my efforts were two very wet dogs. Now Dash will probably wake up me in the middle of the night frantically wanting to go outside. This always happens when he doesn't poop on his walk.

I hope I come up with something more useful to do tomorrow than wasting hours trying to get obsolete software to work and spending even more time cleaning up wet, dirty dogs. I had a much smaller slice of cake for desert tonight in an effort to curtail my sugar intake. Hmm. Rain and no cake. That's the kind of day it was.

Ranger is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1444 - Thanksgiving

All days should be like this. I got up late. I spent most of the day eating. I walked the dogs in a vain effort to to burn off my gargantuan meal. Then I watched TV for the rest of the day. We gave up entertaining on Thanksgiving years ago when the dogs embarrassed us by eating the guests dinner. We gave up on cooking a few years later when we realized it just wasn't worth the effort for two people.

Ever since, we've been going out to eat on Thanksgiving. We pick a nice restaurant and enjoy having someone else serve us dinner. Some years, we have a traditional Thanksgiving dinner with turkey, sweet potatoes, green been casserole and pumpkin pie. Other years we are more adventurous. This year we went to The Mercury. They have a great Thanksgiving buffet. The food is fresh and varied. As always, I ate way too much.

Although it was chilly this morning, the day ended up being quite nice. Since there were no time constraints, the dogs got some bonus time on their walks. Janet walked them in the morning and I walked them in the evening. I was in such a good mood after my fabulous dinner that I though I'd take a decent camera along with me. That was a mistake. I used to take a DSLR with me frequently when I walked Dot and Dash, but I think they were better behaved then. Lately, I have trouble even getting the scene in focus before one of the dogs knocks me off balance chasing a squirrel or trying to eat something nasty they've spotted on the trail. Once the leashes get tangled around my camera strap, it's hopeless. I snapped a few sunset shots, but failed to capture anything spectacular. The shot you see above shows what happened after Dash flushed a covey of birds out of some bulrushes along the shoreline.

Although Thursday is one of my regular days to go to the gym, it seemed wise to postpone any sort of a workout until tomorrow. After the monster meal I ate this afternoon, I don't think my workout would have lasted long. Probably, the gym wasn't open today anyway. I never bothered to check.

Few things seem less appealing to me than fighting crowds of shoppers on Black Friday. That being said, I'll probably end up going to Home Depot tomorrow anyway. The blinking overhead light in my office is driving me nuts. I've got to find a new fixture soon. I hope I can find what I need at Home Depot. I would dread having to go to IKEA tomorrow.

Scooter is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1075

I got the Christmas tree up today. Maybe it's a little early, but it seemed like a good time since I'll be taking holiday pet photos again next weekend. Holiday shoppers were out in force today. The parking lots were deadly. You had to look carefully before you moved because drivers were racing around like madmen, trying to secure the few empty parking spots. Ordinarily, I wouldn't leave the house on a day like this, but Saturday is my regular shopping day and I was low on a lot of things.

I've noticed that a lot of stores are installing automated check-out lanes where you scan everything yourself. I love these automated systems because most people don't seem to want to use them. Even when there are long lines at the regular registers, the automated lanes are often empty. You'd think people could figure these things out in a few seconds, but apparently they are not intuitive to some. I saw a lady ahead of me today take all her groceries out of her buggy, put them on one of rolling conveyor belts, take them off the belt, put everything back in her buggy again and only after she had done all this, did she finally scan her items with a hand scanner. Why? Force of habit, I guess. I never take anything out of the buggy. I just quickly wave the scanner at each bar code and I'm done in less than a minute.

As far as I can tell, Black Friday is all a scam. Nothing really good is on sale at all. I noticed a few really attractive prices on some electronic items when I was out today. As an astute consumer, I immediately noticed that the heavily discounted items were either discontinued or last year's models. The brand new stuff was still basically full price. You have to admire this as a marketing strategy. Discontinued items are always sold at steep discounts anyway. Now this old and less desirable merchandise has been repackaged as the Black Friday deal of the century and people get in fistfights to buy it.

I'm finding ticks on the dogs again. What's that all about? We'll go for month's without any sign of a tick and then all of the sudden, they'll be covered with them. I'm sure the ticks are outside continually, but for some reason they only jump on the dogs at very specific times. One more mystery of nature I guess. 

Maggie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1073 - Thanksgiving

I always like it when Thanksgiving falls on November 22. This date brings together a confluence of Dealey Plaza conspiracy nuts, Dallas Cowboy football fans, and Paula Deen deep fried turkey chefs. It is Dallas at its best. Sometimes I go down to Dealey Plaza on November 22 and listen to the strange theories about Lee Harvey Oswald's real motives and hear about the mysterious second gunman on the Grassy Knoll. Today, I preferred to celebrate the day in a more traditional fashion: with a nice Thanksgiving meal.

Since there are only two of us, we seldom cook a big Thanksgiving dinner anymore. It is much more enjoyable to just pick a nice restaurant and see what they've got for dinner. Today, Janet and I went to The Mercury. The restaurant had a traditional Thanksgiving brunch and it was absolutely delicious. The meal started with Mimosas and fresh shrimp. Several hours later it ended with Creme Brulee and coffee. In between, I enjoyed prime rib, turkey, jalapeño cheese grits, creamed corn, braised brussel sprouts, asparagus spears in a champagne vinaigrette and an exceptionally fresh garden salad. It was a very nice meal.

When we got home again, Janet watched one of those holiday movies on the Lifetime channel while I finished up a couple of yesterday's writing assignments. I can't watch chick flicks anymore. They usually make me feel guilty about something. Towards the end of the day we both took the dogs on a long walk to work off some of our holiday meal. Even though it started to rain while we were walking, it was still a nice way to end a very pleasant day. I have finally learned not to eat too much on Thanksgiving. I try lots of things, but take very small portions. It's much better to feel pleasantly full than to be stuffed.

Since tomorrow is still a holiday, Janet is going to join me on my Friday breakfast excursion. We'll probably venture further from home than I usually do. As long as we avoid the hordes of Black Friday shoppers, we'll be fine.

Chelsey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1071

I thought I'd seen everything. Apparently not. While walking the dogs this week, I encountered a man and his daughter walking two small donkeys on leashes like dogs. From a distance, I just assumed this pair were walking their Great Danes, but on closer inspection, the animals were definitely donkeys. They both had collars and leashes and were actually better behaved than my rambunctious Dalmatians. If only I could get Dot and Dash to heal as nicely as those two little donkeys.

I may have won the battle with the wasps on the side of my house, but I don't think I've won the war. When I went out to finish cleaning the cobwebs off the windows this morning, I noticed a lot of angry wasps buzzing around. Apparently when I knocked down the nests yesterday, some of the wasps were away doing other things. Now they have returned and don't seem to be happy that they can't find their home.

I knew it was going to be slow this week, but I didn't think it would be this dead. I added holiday hours to one website and deleted a departed employee from another. That was about it. I got a call that the webcams were down on one of the sites I manage, but it wasn't a problem I could fix. Personally, I think a rat chewed through one of the wires going to the router, but since the wires are buried away in the ceiling, there is no easy way to check. This is a job for someone a lot younger and more agile than me.

To avoid drifting around aimlessly like I did today, I made an appointment with Betty to get my hair cut tomorrow. The haircut itself only takes about 45 minutes, but the whole process of finding a parking place in the crowded mall and then taking a look at what's new in the Apple store when I'm done can eat up several hours. I've promised myself that I'm not going to buy one of those new little iPads. I don't even use the one I've got very much.

I'd certainly rather go to the mall tomorrow than on Friday. I don't really understand the fascination with Black Friday. Are the deals that good? Even my bank teller asked me yesterday if I was going to do any Black Friday shopping. Lots of people I know routinely go shopping on Black Friday, but I don't think they save all that much. Maybe it's just the thrill of the chase. I think I'll wait until the frenzy is over to do my holiday shopping. Shopping is much more enjoyable when you're the only person in the store.

Puppies are today's Dalmatians of the Day

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