Day 2166

My doctor asked me today if I was under any unusual stress and if I was getting enough sleep. Apparently, my Cortisol levels were high and this is often an indicator of a sleepless, stress filled life. So, what else is new? I was talking about this just the other day with Dot's vet and a few of her vet techs. All of us led stressful lives and weren't getting enough sleep. We all seemed to average between four and five hours of sleep each night. This is just modern life. I doubt that I needed a blood test to tell me that I wasn't getting enough sleep. All you have to do is look at my face.

Despite the high cortisol levels, the rest of my blood work looked pretty good. Considering that my doctor had actually cut back on a few of my meds last month, I considered the test results a win. My cholesterol is under control, I don't have diabetes yet, and I don't have to take any additional pills. Who could ask for more?

Considering that my income is declining, my expenses are increasing, and I'm cleaning up dog poop every few hours, I think I'm handling stress pretty well. Maybe now that we have running water again, life will settle down a bit. It's always stressful taking care of an aging, sick dog, but I don't regret any of the time I spend with Dot. Both dogs have done far more for me than I'll ever be able to do for them. Making them my top priority now is the least I can do. I don't think the stress is going away though. All I've got to say is don't let your babies grow up to be web designers. Let them be plumbers instead.

I felt like having burgers this evening and was pleased that I returned from the grocery store with all the ingredients. I had the ground beef. I had the tomatoes. I had the lettuce. I had the cheese and all the condiments. It was only much later that I realized that I had forgotten to buy the buns. This always happens to me when I shop. It doesn't even matter if I make a list, because I'll always forget to add something essential to the list. This is one reason I go to the store a lot.

We didn't make our Thanksgiving reservations soon enough this year and ended up going to our third restaurant choice instead of our favorite. This is still better than cooking at home though. We'll probably never cook a big holiday meal again. Evidently, Janet and I aren't the only people who feel this way. When we started eating out on Thanksgiving years ago, you didn't even need a reservation. Now going to a Thanksgiving brunch has become so popular that you have to make reservations a month in advance.

Dot had a good day today. She was strong and energetic on her morning walk, and I was surprised to see her wandering around the house on her own throughout the day. Some days she can barely move. Other days she can still get up without assistance. As far as I'm concerned, every good day is a bonus.

Puppies are today's Dalmatians of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2117

The furnace came on this morning. I wore a light jacket and jeans on our morning walk, instead of a pair of shorts and a t-shirt. The Elm tree in the back yard has started losing its leaves. The grocery stores are full of pumpkins. And the State Fair of Texas has taken over Fair Park. Could it be that Fall is officially here? I hope so. The dogs and I like the cooler weather. I just wish we'd go back to Standard Time. The days keep still getting shorter and even when we sleep in a bit, it's still dark when we get up. Sometimes it's fun to look at the stars, but walking in the dark every day gets a little old.

Today was busy. After I had my usual Friday breakfast and made a trip to the grocery store to get the ingredients for a cheeseburger dinner, I started to work on my new website projects. Much to my chagrin, I'm already having to re-learn some of the coding tricks I mastered just a few months ago when I decided to build mobile friendly websites for all my clients. When I'm faced with a choice between use it or lose it, I usually lose it. To really become familiar with something, you have to use your skills every day. I'm just not involved with enough new web projects to remember all this complicated responsive design stuff. I floundered around for a couple of hours, but eventually it all came back to me. This would be a good time to send a new project my way. I'm sure I'll remember the coding tricks I brushed up on today at least until Thanksgiving.

The Land Rover dealer surprised me by calling mid-afternoon to tell me that my car was finished. When I took the Defender in for service, it would often stay in the shop for weeks. This time, they had everything finished in two days. I don't think service has really improved. It's just a different car. There is only one guy who works on the older Defenders, while all the mechanics work on the newer cars. I wish I hadn't told them to change the oil. I'm so used to changing my oil every 3,000 miles, that I continue these frequent oil changes even though my service representative keeps telling me that the synthetic oil I use now is safe for much longer intervals. I'm learning the hard way that synthetic oil changes can get pretty expensive because my engine seems to hold an enormous amount of oil.

Dot had an accident in the house this morning, but it was really our fault. Janet and I were both very tired last night and we all went to bed early. When Dot woke up in the morning, she overslept with the rest of us and was already an hour overdue for a trip outside. She just couldn't hold it any longer. It takes split second timing and a careful eye on the clock to keep a poop free house these days. Some days, I'm just not up to the challenge.

The UPS man delivered some new ink for my large printer this afternoon. Epson pigment ink is the only thing more expensive than synthetic engine oil. I'm determined to keep the old printer running, even though I've spent a lot more on ink than I initially paid for the printer. I try to keep my machines operational, my watches wound, and my dogs happy. What else is there?

Bailey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2041

People give me Starbucks gift cards from time to time. I always used to use these cards for having coffee with friends. Today I used my gift card  to get more Keurig pods. I had no desire to chat with anyone over coffee. That pretty much says it all. I've gone from drinking alcohol alone to drinking coffee alone.

Dot still does OK on her early morning assisted walks. She's not getting any stronger though and it worries me. It's going to be a really tough choice if it comes down to continuing her chemotherapy and facing increasing lameness, or stopping it and watching the cancer become more aggressive. I have to remember that the Palladia may have nothing to do with Dot's recent difficulties, but my gut feeling is that there is a connection. She started having problems with her legs again about the same time she started chemotherapy.

It was a busy day. I took a small check to the bank and then paid the utility and cable company bills for July. A lot more money went out the door than came in. I picked up some more prescriptions on my way back from the post office. It's seems like I am always renewing prescriptions. All of the pharmacists know me by name. I filled the car up with gas, got Stevia at the health food store, and picked up trash bags and other staples at Sam's Club. Instead of mowing the grass, I watered it. Things are starting to look pretty dry.

There wasn't much point in doing yard work today. It was just too hot. After finishing my Saturday errands, I spent the rest of the afternoon inside. There are always websites to update, so I added some new dogs and cats to a rescue website I manage and then took a short nap with the dogs. I should have taken a much longer nap, because I've not been sleeping well lately. My Jawbone UP band says I'm only getting about five hours a night. Most of this isn't deep sleep either. If Dot starts breathing irregularly, I wake up. If her leg gets stuck, I get up and reposition her. If the temperature goes up two degrees, I wake up. Sometimes I wake up remembering that I forgot to wear my Essix retainer before I went to bed and I get up and put in in my mouth. I often wake up with a dry mouth and go to the kitchen for a drink of water. Sometimes I wonder why I bother to sleep at all.

We had Cowboy Burgers from Central Market again tonight. If you haven't tried these, they are the best hamburger patties ever. I don't know what kind of beef or spices they use, but to me, this is what a burger was meant to be. It doesn't matter whether you grill them or pan fry them on the stove, they always come out great. Having a big meal like this tonight almost guarantees that I will have to go to the gym tomorrow. With the complexities of my current life, I think once a week on Sunday afternoon is the only workout I'm going to be able to manage. It's hard to get Dash to the dog park too, but that's on the schedule for tomorrow as well. For now, it's about time go call it a day. Everyone else in the house has already gone to bed. I've still got to brush my teeth and take my evening meds, but I'll be joining them soon. Maybe watching some really old Dr. Who episodes on TV will help me get to sleep.

Beemer is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1909

We got a nice collapsible soft canvas crate to we can transport Dot back and forth to physical therapy after her stitches come out. When we tried to introduce her to the crate, she got scared and pooped in it. Oh, well. So much for taking the crate back to the store if it doesn't work out. This crate is smaller than a normal crate on purpose, because we want her to stay secure and in one place in the car. Dot fits in the crate just fine, but we didn't count on her having claustrophobia. So far, she hates the thing.

Although we struck out on the soft crate, we did figure out a good place for Dot to stay while I'm working around the house. Instead of a crate, I put a comfortable dog bed in a hallway that I can see from my desk in the office and used two wooden kiddie gates on either side to turn the bed into a pen. Dot seemed fine with this arrangement and slept peacefully for several hours while I worked on getting caught up on my website assignments. I put another dog bed right next to this fenced in area for Dash to sleep and everyone was happy for the first time in days.

I don't usually do website work on Sundays, but taking care of Dot has put me behind on several things. It was nice to have a quiet afternoon to get caught up on work while the dogs slept peacefully. This tranquility didn't last long unfortunately. We had burgers for dinner and Dot was mad that she couldn't sit under the table like she used to do and wait for table scraps. Even though we placed a dog bed as close to the dining table as we could, it wasn't close enough for her. Every time we would sit down at the table, Dot would try to get up.

The better Dot feels, the harder it becomes to look after her. It's OK for Dot to walk with assistance.  It's not OK for her to try to walk on her own yet. She can stand on her own for short periods of time now, but she still can't get up without assistance. Although she moves her legs well, she can't walk without assistance either. If I wasn't steadying her rear legs with the harness, she would quickly stumble and fall. All this would be very discouraging if it weren't for the fact that Dot seems to get a little better each day. The neurologist told us that recovery from this type of surgery was a long slow process. We've just got to be patient and make sure that Dot stays out of harm's way while she's learning to walk again.

Just as I predicted, there is more water on the roof now. It rained again today. It's not that bad though. All we got today was some drizzle and light showers. I think I'm going to wait until the weather clears up for at least a week before I go up on the roof again. It's just not worth the trouble to do this every other day. I'm beginning to think it's not worth the trouble to move every clock in the hour an hour forward either. Every time Daylight Savings Time rolls around I'm amazed at how many clocks we have around the house. I mush have spent an hour resetting wall clocks, table clocks, clocks in the television, clocks in the phone, and a variety of wristwatches. The computers, the phones, and even the new thermostat all managed to reset themselves this morning.

My teeth didn't hurt today. Maybe I've been grinding my teeth at night. I do that from time to time when I'm stressed. It's funny how wonderful a good night's sleep can seem when you're not sleeping well. Maybe tonight will be the night. It all depends on Dot. When Dot is sleeping well, we all sleep well.

Bacardi is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1867

I think the video I shot today will be a success. The sound was good. Exposure was good. Everything was in focus. What's not to like? My new LED lights performed a lot better than the old quartz variety. I was pleased with the wireless mics too. I'll have to use this stuff more often. Considering how I was dreading this shoot, it couldn't have gone better. Most importantly, I didn't break anything.

Video production seemed a lot easier when I shot with a full crew. Back in the day, I never had to transport, configure, and set up all this heavy equipment myself. With today's budgets, doing as much as you can yourself is a necessity. Maybe the Miller tripod and Century Stands were always this heavy, but I don't remember struggling with them like I did today. Clearly, Carpal tunnel, a bad shoulder, and arthritis have taken their toll on my aching bones.

I never did find time to do a practice run through before I loaded the car this morning. Necessity is always the mother of invention and I figured out the last remaining equipment mysteries on the set. I need to buy a bigger camera case so I can leave the rails and matte box permanently on the camera. Assembling this gear and attaching everything to the camera and tripod can eat up a lot of time. When I can afford it, I'm going to get more wireless mics too. Wireless mics are great. I don't know how I lived so many years without them.

Although the video shoot used up most of the day, we still had a nice long walk with the dogs this morning. Janet was looking out for me and fixed bacon and eggs for breakfast, along with Cowboy Burgers for dinner. If you've never had Cowboy Burgers, you need to pick some up at Central Market sometime. These are without a doubt the best hamburger patties in the universe.

It will take a while to edit the footage I shot today into something coherent, but I think the material is there. Now it's time to turn my attention to the upcoming SMAP launch at Vandenberg Air Force Base. I have no idea what to take or what to wear. I guess I need to start checking the weather in California. I have a feeling that it's going to be a lot warmer out there than it is here.

Tomorrow is going to be a busy day. I'll start logging and cataloging the footage I shot today. There are already a number of website updates I need to make as well. At least today's work is complete. It's always nice to know that I won't have to go back later and re-shoot everything.
 

Bones is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day