Day 4918

It was a busy day. We had quite a storm last night and we woke up to find some fallen branches in our yard. It turned out that these branches were from the neighbor's tree. No limbs fell from our own trees. I decided to climb up on the roof to see if there might be more branches up there. The roof was clear of debris, but there was standing water. I was so disappointed. One of the main reasons I got the new roof was so that it would drain properly. The puddles of standing water were in the same places I usually found them on the old roof. I'll call the roofers, but I doubt that there is anything they can do at this point. The roof is finished. I'm sure they'll just tell me that everything Is OK and that I've got a good warranty on the roof. "Call us is you have a leak," they'll say. The roof definitely doesn't leak now, but I'm still disappointed. Standing water is never good on a roof.

I promised Janet that I'd vacuum today and ended up spending more time cleaning the clogged Dyson than I did vacuuming. I wish I had our old Hoover back. The Hoover never needed cleaning or repairs and all I ever needed to do was change the vacuum bag when it got full. Why did I get sucked into believing the Dyson was better? It does clean reasonably well, but it's been a total nuisance the entire time we've owned it. 

I noticed that the utility room floor was wet this morning. This hasn't happened in quite a while. Did the washing machine drain overflow while doing a load of wash? Was this water condensation coming from the air conditioner? Who knows. It could have been either, or both. Both the washer and the AC use the same floor drain. I usually stuff a rag down the drain to keep water from backing up while the washer is running. This works well unless it is a very humid day and there is a lot of condensation from the AC. At any rate, I cleaned up the water and hoped that this was just a fluke. The main problem is that the old house has 2" drain lines where modern washing machines do a lot better with 3" drains.

The weather was all over the board today. It was clear when we took Dawn on her sunrise walk. I checked the weather forecast before I took my long walk and it was supposed to be cloudy for the rest of the day. As soon as I got a few miles from the house I got rained on. The weather apps on my phone are basically worthless. They are pretty accurate about what is going to happen thirty minutes from now. If you want to find out what is going to happen four hours from now, the apps just take a wild guess.

There were a ton of downed trees in the park. The storm last night didn't last long, but there must have been some really strong winds. I feel lucky that none of our own trees were damaged. It's going to be a while before the rainy season is over, so I expect more heavy rain this month. The problem is than when the rainy season is over, it is immediately replaced by hot, dry Texas summers. By July I'm usually wishing the rain would come back.

Janet wanted me out of the way when she was cleaning this afternoon, so I thought it would be a good time to install the latest software and firmware for the star tracker. As usual, the installation went smoothly, but the star tracker didn't work any more reliably than it did before. Getting it to connect to the camera is kind of like starting a car with a bad battery. The camera never connects immediately and often randomly disconnects during use. I keep turning the thing on and off again and switching cables around until I get the tracker to connect. I've had the thing for over a year and some functions still don't work. I still have problems taking a panorama shot. After several hour of monkeying around with the Polaris, I put the thing away again. I probably won't look at it again until the next software update.

I hope tomorrow is less problematic than today. My holy grail is always a day where nothing bad happens at all. I don't mind if nothing good happens either. I can always take a long nap. 

Winston is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4616

Mall walking has become part of my Sunday routine. This is the third week in a row that I've done this and it still seems like a pleasant activity. The stores are starting to look pretty familiar now. The window displays must not change often because so far everything looks exactly the same. Surprisingly, the art on display does change ocassionally. I've noticed a few new pieces that weren't there several years ago, along with several favorites that are gone. I wonder where they store this art when it isn't on display. Some of the sculptures are huge.

We need to start our sunrise walk with Dawn earlier on weekends. We didn't leave the house until after 8 AM this morning and the park was already bustling with activity. Now that school has started there are high school sports teams that run in the mornings and there are always lots of bicycles to watch out for. The park is a lot quieter in the mornings when the weather cools down. In the winter it is practically empty. Dawn enjoys walking more in cooler weather and so do I. I'm ready for winter so I can start complaining about something else.

The weather was a littler cooler this morning, so we took a short walk in Dawn's Sunday park on her outing today. We didn't walk far though. It is still too hot for a dog to be out in the middle of the day. The price for cones at the ice cream store has gone up at the same time the cones have gotten a little smaller. This doesn't seem fair, but I'm not running a business. People are still buying ice cream, so I suspect that they  are just seeing how much they can get away with.

The real estate market in town seems to have really slowed down. We're seeing for sale and for lease signs stay up in the neighborhood a lot longer than they used to when interest rates were near zero. Houses for rent near the lake used to be snapped up almost immediately. Lately I've seen a couple of real estate signs standing in people's yards for well over a month. Sign of the times I guess. Who would want to commit to a major purchase with so much uncertainty in the world?

I wrote a letter to my sister this afternoon and will mail it tomorrow. I also vacuumed the carpets. The Dyson vacuum still takes longer to clean than it does to vacuum, but I guess it does a good job. There is sure is a ton of dust and dirt in the clear plastic tube when I'm done. I still think old fashioned vacuum cleaner bags are a better solution, but what do I know. When the bags were full on our old Hoover, I just took them out and threw them away.

There is a new version of the star tracker software available now, but I haven't had the heart to install it. I keep thinking that updates to this thing should start slowing down soon, but the Benro team seems relentless in their efforts to add new features. Sometimes the new features work and other times they don't.  This experience has made me wary about buying anything new before all the bugs have been worked out. I have tended to buy computers just before they are discontinued because you can often get great deals. I've rarely had problems with these older computers because mature products are just more stable. I think the same thing can be said for cars. I've been interested in the new Bronco, but early buyers seems to be plagued with problems. Maybe a few years from now this car will be more reliable.

Tomorrow I return to my weekday routine. I'm sure there will be a trip to the gym and maybe a nap with Dawn. I've got a few bills to pay and it's time to take bulky trash out to the curb. I don't think I will mow the lawn though, even though it really needs some attention. Will I finally get details about the Artemis launch press itinerary from NASA? Somehow I doubt it. 

Elliott is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3877

Wednesday has turned into house cleaning day. Don't look at me. I have lost all interest in cleaning, but I don't want to be a slacker. I still try to do my part. Today I vacuumed the house. I used to think the Dyson was amazing because it appeared to pick up so much dust. Now I suspect that the clear plastic cylinder is just a marketing gimmick to make you notice the dirt. The house doesn't seem any cleaner than it did with our old fashioned vacuum. It certainly was easier to empty a paper vacuum cleaner bag than it is to clean the Dyson. I have to go outside and use a leaf blower to get all the residual dust out of the canister after I empty it. Oh, well. The carpets and the Dyson are clean again until I have to repeat this exercise next Wednesday.

We got a later start on our morning walk today, but we got lucky with the weather. There was heavy overcast and a nice breeze that kept things cool. It didn't seem as humid today either. If you can manage to avoid the sun and the humidity, even August isn't quite so bad. We must be having a hot summer though. Our August electric bill hit an all time high. Something was fishy about that bill though. I know we have had hotter summers. I think the electric company just raised our rates.

At first it was baffling to me why the stock market was doing so well at the same time there was record unemployment and well known companies were going bankrupt every day. Now the answer is becoming clearer. The economy didn't shut down at all. It just changed. Some companies lost, but other companies were big winners and are doing better than ever. It seems like the pandemic just accelerated the rate of change that was happening anyway. Even Luddites like me have gone digital now. A wide varieties of companies have been urging me to use their mobile app, go paperless, and try online payments for years. All it took was a global pandemic to get me to change my ways.

I'm always curious about long-term trends. I think it will be five years before we realize how much has changed. I used to think everyone would revert to their old ways as soon as the lockdown was lifted. New habits are emerging though. We aren't going to be comfortable around strangers for a long time. Nobody even wants to ride in an elevator with me anymore. Handshakes are no longer going to be a common ritual. Ghost kitchens will become more popular than restaurants. Sports fans are going to have problems with the new normal, but ticket prices were becoming exorbitant anyway. Fewer and fewer people could even afford to go to a professional football game. Maybe fans will learn to love players in empty stadiums. I guess the big question is whether schools can safely reopen. If the kids have to stay home indefinitely, we are in for a world of hurt.

I guess we're just going to have to learn to live with the changes. Some of these changes were going to happen anyway. Just not as fast. Change is never easy and it is seldom fair. I'm certainly having problems dealing with all this. I need to remember the importance of staying flexible. Youth was all about staying flexible and seizing opportunities. It was only when I became older that I became set in my ways. We'll see how it goes. There will be winners and losers in the days and months ahead. It would be nice to be a winner.

Tomorrow we're going to try to get up early again. The flashlights are ready. I don't know how ready I'll be. I was never a morning person and it's not easy to change old habits. I'm convinced that the future will be all about changing old habits. I might as well get good at it.

Morgan is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2573

When I was eating breakfast this morning I ended up sitting next to the kitchen and overhead three of the cooks talking about guitars and amps. It seemed apparent that all of them had either been in a band or were still in a band. My ears always perk up when I hear someone talking about guitars. I love guitars. I kind of wanted to join the conversation, but the guys looked very busy and I was a little too far away to be heard anyway. Musicians don't talk about music the same way fans do. They usually talk about gear.

One of the guys was talking about a certain brand of strings meant to be tuned an octave above the standard tuning. Another mentioned that he once had an all-white Marshall Super Lead amp like Randy Rhodes used to use. He then mentioned that his amp was a cheap copy, which made sense since the limited edition Marshall tribute amp was hugely expensive. All three of the guys seemed to like Randy Rhodes, which reminded me that I once did a fashion photo shoot at the home of Ozzy Osbourne's drummer. Maybe this was after Randy Rhodes died, but I'm not really sure. The drummer's girlfriend was a model and they lived in a huge home with almost no furniture and some pet rabbits hopping all over the place. The drummer seemed to spend most of his time playing with radio controlled model cars when he wasn't on tour. This is why I enjoy my Friday breakfasts. I just listen to other people's conversations and lose myself in memories. Now that I know that the cooks are musicians, it kind of explains why the restaurant makes its own mix tapes instead of subscribing to a plastic sounding SiriusXM channel like other places.

I thought today would be a good day to vacuum the house, since basically the floors were covered with dog hair and leaves. It was getting to the point where I couldn't avoid this task any longer. I've become convinced that all the people who think a Dyson vacuum cleaner is wonderful have a maid that does the cleaning. This machine is difficult to maneuver, even more difficult to clean, and has a long heavy cord that is always getting tangled up in the furniture. The dogs were asleep when I started vacuuming, but that didn't last long. For some reason both dogs like to follow me around when I'm vacuuming. I had to stop the vacuum every few minutes and gently move Dot out of the way. Moving around was actually good exercise for her, but it made my job harder. She was always getting stuck in precarious positions and as the house became cleaner, I began to worry that she was going to poop on my freshly cleaned rugs. Eventually, I finished the task I'd been postponing for so long. The Dyson canister was completely full of dirt and the house looked exactly the same as it did before.

It has gotten cold again. This weather is driving me nuts. One day it's freezing outside and the next day it is balmy and warm. I've literally been alternating between using the air conditioner and the furnace. It would be nice to have a little consistency in my life. The weather isn't consistent. My work isn't consistent. And Dot's pooping schedule doesn't even come close to being consistent. I hope my Friday restaurant stays consistent. After my first breakfast restaurant lost it's magic, it took me quite a while to find this new place. I don't want to do that again.

I don't make New Year's resolutions, but I probably should. My problem is that I'm not very big on self-improvement. I'm happy with my weight. I certainly don't want to become a kinder, friendlier version of myself. I'd like more money, but that's probably more of a wish than a resolution. I'd like Dot to get healthier, but that's a wish too. Maybe I'll just make a New Year's wish...

Penny is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2512

Sometimes on Sundays I stare at the screen for thirty minutes before I write a single word. I'm just too tired. I went to the gym right after breakfast this morning, because I knew that if I waited until I finished the household chores, I probably wouldn't go at all. Right after breakfast wasn't that early though. It was actually closer to lunch. By the time we cleaned up Dot's latest accident in the house and gave the dogs their morning walk, it was already pretty late.

There are no pretty faces at my gym. I can't believe that everyone is so old. They are a steely eyed, very determined bunch though. A lot of the men look like they were CEO's before they retired. One old guy always exercises in a button down dress shirt and street shoes. It's like he's still at the office. I probably look just as old to these geezers. Especially if I arrive after I've vacuumed the house.

It's really hard to keep the house clean when Dot keeps peeing and pooping all over the place. I try though. Every Sunday the Dyson picks up an unbelievable amount of dirt and dog hair. Maybe the house smells a little better, but it certainly doesn't look much better. I sure wish this vacuum cleaner was easier to clean. I mean how many people need to use a leaf blower to clean their vacuum cleaner? The leaf blower actually does a pretty good job, but it would have made a lot more sense for Dyson to use a bag to catch the dust like everybody else does.

I received input for several new website updates this afternoon, but I'm going to wait until tomorrow to look at it. Enough is enough. Working on weekends must be becoming more commonplace. Everyone is doing it now. Even Janet is bringing home work on weekends. I can probably get everything done tomorrow, but I definitely don't want to deal with it tonight.

I wonder if Anthony Weiner used a Macintosh? Huma Abedin claims that she has no idea how 650,000 of her e-mails wound up on Weiner's computer. She probably does know, but giving her the benefit of the doubt, if she ever opened an account on her husband's computer, all the e-mails she was sending on other computers could have quietly been updating on this one as well. Cloud-based computing can be sneaky that way. I know that when I send or receive an e-mail on my computer, it winds up on my phone, iPad, and laptop as well. 650,000 e-mails sounds like the mother lode of everything the FBI has been looking for. This is probably even more information than Wikileaks has. With this much information, there is probably something pretty damning. I know she won't do it, but Hillary should withdraw from the race immediately for the good of the country. If she wins and gets indited after the election, all hell is going to break loose. She could always pardon herself, but I don't think that is going to go over very well. I don't think there is much of a precedent for running the country from prison either. Just let Tim Kane run. He'll do most of the things the democrats want anyway. Hillary is toxic at this point.

I'm a great believer in Karma. Bill Clinton only got a slap on the wrist for his own misdeeds. He not only was a friend of Anthony Weiner, he introduced him to Huma Abedin and actually married the couple. A few dick pics later and everything comes crumbling down. Hey buddy, what goes around comes around. I have no sympathy for these fools.

I can't wait for the time to change next week. I'm getting real tired of walking the dogs in the dark before breakfast. Of course, when the time actually does change,  I'll be complaining about walking in the dark in the evenings. That's just the way I roll.

Puppies are today's Dalmatians of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2386

I got an REI gift card for my birthday, so I stopped by the store on my way to the gym today and got a jacket. Did I need a jacket in June? Not really, but I will when things get cold again. It makes sense to me to buy clothing out of season. You get some great bargains, and when the need does arise, I'm way ahead of the game. In a way, I do everything in life this way. I try not to be out on the roads until everyone else is at work. I go to restaurants that aren't particularly popular. I rarely read books while they are on the best seller list. The more out of sync I am with the rest of the world, the more peaceful my own world becomes.

This desire to find the alternate realities that are hidden in plain sight is probably why I picked a gym that nobody goes to. It always amazes me that a gym this nice and well equipped is so empty. If my gym were an LA Fitness franchise, it would have gone out of business long ago. The gym is owned by a major hospital though, and can probably operate at a loss forever. Today, there were only four other people working out with me. I quietly went through my routines like I always do. The first ten minutes I feel like quitting and going home. Then my body loosens up and I get a second wind. By the time I eventually finish, I feel pretty good.

Working out at a gym is certainly more enjoyable than vacuuming. The Dyson Animal may be a marvel of engineering, but it is murder on your hands if you suffer from carpal tunnel syndrome. My wrists aren't very flexible anymore and I struggle sometimes to turn the unwieldy machine and maneuver it in tight spaces. Although the Dyson does an admirable job of picking up dirt and dog hair, it is not very easy to clean. I have to take the canister outside after I'm done and clean it using a leaf blower. That's something you never see in those slick looking Dyson commercials. It just doesn't seem right that you would have to clean a vacuum using a leaf blower. Vacuum bags were so much easier.

It's getting too hot to walk the dogs. The days are so long in June that it's hard to get up early enough to beat the heat. We were a little late today and it was already pretty warm. At least there was a little breeze. The instant the sun is above the horizon the temperature seems to jump ten degrees. These Summer days are hard on Dot, so we need to make an effort to get up earlier. Tomorrow will be better. Janet always gets up very early to get ready for work and we are usually on our way well before sunrise. By the time it is cold enough to wear my new jacket, we will be walking under starlight.

I guess I'll go pick up my tape recorder at the audio repair shop tomorrow. Maybe it will inspire me to put the studio back together again. Truthfully, about the only thing these old analog machines are good for is transferring my old songs to Pro Tools. I started to do this once and after some critical listening, quickly realized that most of the old songs weren't that good and that the arduous process wasn't worth the effort.

This is the challenge these days. What exactly is worth the effort?  I think that keeping Dot as healthy and happy as I can is a worthy cause, but I don't have much to prove in the advertising world anymore. So much of what used to seem so important to me just seems silly now.

Derrick is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2315

What a wet day. It started raining last night while we were asleep and it hasn't stopped yet. I'm sure the plants enjoy days like this, but they don't do much for me. Wet weather and restless dogs are a recipe for cabin fever. I should have gone to the gym, but my aversion to driving in the rain prevailed and I stayed home. There were occasional power spikes and brief outages, but nothing serious. It was a good thing we had power, because I spent the day vacuuming and cleaning the house. The dogs still wanted their walks, so I kept looking at the weather radar until I found a dry interval between downpours to take them out and pee. My timing was pretty good, but we were slow returning home on our morning walk and got wet. If we were just two minutes faster, everyone would have stayed dry.  I did a little better walking Dash in the evening. We were able to walk about twenty minutes between storm cells.

Dyson has won all sorts of design awards for their vacuum cleaners, but I bet they will never win an award for easy maintenance. The thing is impossible to clean. It takes almost as long to clean the vacuum cleaner as it does to clean the house. Couldn't James Dyson have just used bags to hold the dust like a normal person would. My old Hoover was easy to clean. You just put in a new bag when it got full of dust and you were good to go. You have to literally take Dyson's clear plastic contraption apart to clean out the residual dust. The machine was unusually dirty today, because I haven't vacuumed the house in two weeks. I shouldn't complain. It's not like I had anything better to do. Little rugs went in the washing machine. Big rugs got vacuumed. Floors got scrubbed. For a brief moment in time, the house was clean.

Since it was raining anyway, I tried to figure out why the weather app on my phone only works when WiFi is turned off. Logically the radar images should update faster when I'm using WiFi, but the opposite seems to be the case. The app works fine using 4G cellular data, but is impossibly slow using WiFi. Other apps seem normal using WiFi. I've called technical support and they say nothing is wrong.  Janet's phone picks up the radar better and mine too. It's all very complicated. This wouldn't be a big deal if I wasn't hooked on weather radar. Most people look at their Facebook feed. I look at weather radar.

I almost forgot Dot's Palladia pills today. It's really hard to remember to give these things every three days, since the days never repeat. Every Wednesday would have been so much easier. The only way I remember at all is to write the dates down on every calendar I own and hope that I remember to look at a calendar from time to time. Don't worry. Dot got her pills. Just a few hours late.

There is thunder and lightning outside and the dogs seem to have noticed. Dot is barking and Dash is hiding under my desk. They say we're not going to see the sun again until next Friday. I'll probably be stark raving mad by then.

Bella is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2301

It was a busy day. I updated the operating system on my phone, vacuumed the house, washed the car, polished some shoes, and went to the gym. The dogs seemed content to sleep in late this morning, but I was already up. I woke up around 4 AM to clean up a mess that Dot had made in her bed and couldn't get back to sleep. I don't even think Dot realizes that she poops in her sleep. The incontinence has become so routine that I managed to clean everything up and start a load of laundry without waking anyone. Even Dot didn't wake up.

It still amazes me that I can fill up an entire Dyson canister with dirt and dog hair and the rugs and carpets don't look any better. The canister full of dirt is the only evidence I have that I've actually cleaned the house. Cleaning the car is more satisfying because at least it looks a little better when I'm finished.

On the way to the gym, I stopped at a kitchen store to look for a bread knife to replace the one I lost last month. I don't know how you can completely lose a bread knife that always stays in the kitchen, but I did. I noticed that a nearby Sports Authority store was closing, so I went inside to look for bargains. The store was filled with garish signs saying that everything must go and advertising close-out prices that were up to 50% off.  I'll have to go back again because the store was way too crowded for my taste, but I did manage to find some slip on sandals that I can use to take the dogs out in the middle of the night.

I must have been the youngest person at the gym this afternoon, and I'm not very young. I guess old people are the only ones who would choose to stay inside and walk on a treadmill on a beautiful Spring day like this. The handful of octogenarians in the gym was fine by me. I like doing things when the rest of the world is doing something else. I had a good workout and I didn't miss the sunshine either. I'd already taken Dash on a nice long walk in the park.

It's a good thing that I got a lot of errands done today, because I'll have to be home all day tomorrow while the landscapers are here. I've got to keep an eye on Dot, because sometimes she gets upset when she sees people in the backyard. Since Dot can't hear very well anymore, there's a good chance that she'll sleep through the whole thing, but I don't want to take any chances. Dot still thinks she's a guard dog, but she can barely move and could easily hurt herself if she's trying to run around and bark at strangers like she used to.

I'm starting to see some really pretty Irises behind our house. I see them every Spring. Our next door neighbor planted the flowers over twenty years ago. He died of leukemia almost fifteen years ago, but the exotic looking Irises still remain. When I see these blooms, they remind me of a time when neighbors were actually friends.

Lexi is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2259

Things take longer now. It takes me longer to shave. It takes longer to brush my teeth. It takes longer to make the bed. It's not just age that slows me down. I've become more particular about how I do almost everything. I wouldn't say I've that got OCD, but other people might. This odd combination of aching old bones and a mildly obsessive personality, can turn many days into a slow, plodding journey.

True to form, today didn't didn't start out like a spontaneous romp on the sun. The combination of a lingering cold and a long list of Sunday chores made the day seem like walking through quicksand. To be fair, it wasn't even sunny today, but I doubt if blue skies would have helped much. It took forever to make the bed. The dogs were slow on their morning walk. And I lingered over breakfast so long that it was almost lunchtime when I finished.

I spent the afternoon alternating between taking short naps and vacuuming the house. I've grown to hate vacuuming since we filled the house with inexpensive rugs to help keep Dot from falling over. These rugs are no match for the powerful Dyson vacuum cleaner and I'm constantly having to turn off the machine and pull a rug out of the brush after it got sucked in. The house was so much easier to clean before there were all these rugs. All you had to do was run a damp mop over the brick floors and you were done. The rugs seem to be giant dust magnets. Furniture and dog beds must be moved every time I clean, and even after a concerted effort to tame the dust, nothing looks any different. The only evidence that I've done anything at all is a full canister of dust and dog hair. I continue to be amazed at how much dirt and dog hair can accumulate in a single week. Well, OK. I admit it's been two weeks since I vacuumed. Maybe that explains it.

I feel a little better today, although Janet keeps telling me that I probably have pneumonia. I doubt that I have pneumonia since I got the pneumonia shot this year at the same time I got my flu shot. I don't have a fever. I just have a nagging cough. Chest colds like this must be quite common, or there wouldn't be all those irritating Mucinex commercials on TV. We had been planning to go to an open house in the neighborhood this afternoon, but Janet decided that she didn't want to go at the last minute. She was probably concerned that I would break into violent coughing spasms and scare the Realtor and any potential buyers. I'm still a little curious what the interior of this house looks like, since I've walked by it for years while walking the dogs. I must not have been that curious though, because I certainly don't regret missing the little home tour. Hey, maybe the change of plans proves that I'm spontaneous after all.

I've got to remember to take my car to the dealership tomorrow. I made the service appointment so long ago that I've almost forgotten what's wrong with the car. It's one of those intermittent electronic problems, so when it isn't actually driving you crazy, it is easy to forget. I hope they don't give me another Evoque loaner car. The engine in these cars automatically shuts off every time you pull up to a stop sign. This is supposed to be a feature, but it drives me nuts. After a lifetime of having cars that stall out at stoplights for no particular reason, having a car that does this on purpose just seems wrong.

Wow. I just noticed that it's pouring rain outside. I guess we need the rain, but I've grown fond of our long stretch of dry, low humidity days. I haven't had to go up on the roof and remove standing water for a long time. I've given up on having a nice lawn. I think if there was enough water to take showers and flush the toilet, I could go without rain for a long time.

Lizzy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2210

It was nice to see the sun again. It seemed like I got a lot more done today. Truthfully, I didn't accomplish much of anything, but clear skies and sunlight streaming through the windows can magnify the smallest accomplishments. When we walked the dogs this morning, everybody cast a shadow. This was much better than yesterday. Dot seemed to have a lot of energy today and there were no accidents in the house. During the holidays, we've all been sleeping longer. I'd like to think that this is why Dot is back on schedule, but it's probably just blind luck.

I made it back to the gym this afternoon and had a surprisingly good workout. It always amazes me that whenever I happen to arrive at the gym, some of the same people are always there. Some of them appear to live at the gym. This seems a bit excessive to me. I know I should go several times a week, but every day seems a bit much. I could never do that, even if I did have the time.

I probably get more exercise than a lot of these gym rats anyway. The two dogs walks we took today and the hour I spent wrestling with the Dyson vacuum cleaner probably burned off more calories than my afternoon excursion to the gym. Sunday's are always busy. It's the last chance we have to get things straightened up before another week of chaos arrives. Since it was such a nice day, Dash even got a bath. You never realize how dirty your dogs are until you give them a bath. Dash looks several shades whiter and his coat is soft and smooth again. I'm sure that Dash would just as soon have stayed dirty, but maybe he won't itch so much now. Hopefully, spending time in the underwater treadmill each week keeps Dot clean. It's too hard to bathe her at one of those self-wash dog places now, since she has trouble standing on her own.

I thought this evening might be a good time to find Mercury just after Sunset, but there must have been too much haze on the horizon. All I saw was a nice sunset. Maybe I missed my opportunity. January 1st was supposed to be the best day to look for this illusive planet, but it was cloudy that day. As I stood on a small hill scanning the horizon with my binoculars, I did notice that the park completely changes its personality after dark. I heard drums and chanting off to the South of me and down by the water I saw some people setting off fireworks. I've started seeing coyotes in the evening again too. Several days ago, Dash and I had to curtail our evening walk when we came face-to-face with a coyote around dusk. Coyotes will usually leave you alone, but I didn't want to take any chances.

Janet is taking a vacation day tomorrow, so we'll all get another chance to sleep in a bit longer. Left to my own devices, I would never get up until the sun was streaming in the bedroom window. Getting up early has been good for me though. We walk before dawn because it is the only time when Janet and I are both available, but it is also one of the prettiest times of the day. Most of our walks are around 45 minutes and that is almost exactly the amount of time it takes the sky to go from starlight to sunlight in the morning. Sunrise can be quite beautiful. Hopefully, tomorrow will be another day exactly like today.

Petey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2196

I made it back to the gym today. I wish I enjoyed this more, because it seems pretty obvious that this is a much more effective way to ward off heart attacks and diabetes than working around the house. Housework can be strenuous, but I'm slow and methodical and vacuuming or sweeping leaves off the roof seldom elevates my heart rate. When I'm at the gym, my body knows I've done something. Cleaning the house leaves me tired, but I'm not really feeling the burn. The weariness probably comes from the futility of it all. When I go to the gym regularly, I actually do feel stronger. When I clean the house regularly, it is still old and falling apart. It never really gets clean either. I continue to be amazed that week-after-week the Dyson canister continues to fill up with dust and dirt while the dehumidifier bucket continues to fill up with water. Where does all this dirt and moisture come from. It's almost like the house manufactures it.

When I was young and starting out in advertising, my boss came up with the famous "There is no finish line" theme for Nike. This was a brilliant headline, but it also summed up my feelings about exercise. I want there to be a finish line for everything. I'd like to be able to get into shape and then be able to say "been there, done that," so I could go back to eating donuts. Life doesn't work that way unfortunately. If I don't continuously keep practicing my skills, I lose them. If I don't continuously stay active, I become fat. If I'm not comfortable with the idea of continually being my own personal drill Sargent, I'll probably just sink into a deep depression and give up.

It's more about perseverance than pleasure these days. That's not entirely bad. There is a quiet satisfaction in hanging in there and being able to get up and face another day. I see this determination in Dot every day. Her brain isn't all there anymore, and her body definitely isn't all there. Aging and adversity doesn't seem to phase her though. She wakes up every morning comfortable in the knowledge that she is a dog. This seems to be enough. She enjoys smelling things. She loves to eat. And she sleeps a lot. I have a feeling that she doesn't search for the meaning of life at all. This is probably a better way to live.

I seldom think about the meaning of life on Sundays. I'm too tired. In addition to burning off a lot of calories at the gym, I cleaned the entire house with the Dyson and made a valiant attempt to straighten up my office. It's gotten so bad that I have to approach cleaning the office like archaeology. Today I removed hundreds of small tools, broken watches, computer cables, and other dusty objects off an unused workbench. I cleaned each of these objects and then cleaned the workbench itself, which was covered by a thick layer of dust. I should have cleaned the bench months ago, but it was just too much trouble to clear it off. It looks better now. Things that have been out of place for years are now back where they belong. A few things were thrown away and I even found a couple of things that had been lost for months. Was it worth the two hours it took to de-clutter a small two foot by six foot surface? Maybe. The problem is that the dust will return. Remember, there is no finish line.

I took today's picture of the moon before I went to bed last night. I just pointed the little point-and-shoot camera I take with me when I walk the dogs at the moon and clicked the shutter. There was no telescope, no tripod, no exposure calculations, no real effort at all. When I was in high school I became fascinated with astronomy and would spend hours trying to take pictures of the moon through a small telescope. Most of my efforts didn't turn out as well as this lazy, effortless shot. That's the way life should be. As you continue doing the things you have always done, they should gradually become easier. My aching body and somewhat muddled brain beg to differ. Like it or not, most things become much harder as we grow older.

Lexi is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2168

It's November 22 and I haven't heard a single thing about John F. Kennedy on TV today. That's odd for Dallas, because there's almost always a local feature about Dealey Plaza.

It was just an ordinary chore day for us. We are determined to regain control of the house. I finally got out the leaf blower and cleared all the leaves off the front and back porch. Maybe for a day or two we won't track in enormous amounts of dead leaves every time we take the dogs outside. Like all tasks, this one took longer than expected because I couldn't find a long, heavy duty extension cord to run the blower. I used to clear away leaves every week during the Fall when we first moved here. Now, once a year seems fine.

Janet cleared out the liquor cabinet to make room for several laptop computers that had been sitting on a living room chair for six months. We got rid of an unopened bottle of Baileys that said "best used before 2002.' There were several bottles of Scotch with duty free stickers. Neither of us could even remember the last time we traveled out of the country. We tasted several things to see if they were still any good. Scotch and Bourbon hold their own pretty well. Any flavored liqueur completely loses its infused fruity taste after ten or fifteen years. I think vodka just evaporates. So, why was there so much old booze in the liquor cabinet? Probably because I quit drinking entirely after I discovered that I had Hepatitis C and Janet prefers wine now. We kept some of the stuff though. You never know when a well prepared cocktail might brighten your day.

I continue to be amazed at how much dirt and dust the Dyson picks up. I would think that after the first good house cleaning, each subsequent vacuuming effort would yield less and less dirt. That hasn't been the case. Every single week there is an enormous amount of dirt and dog hair in the clear Dyson canister. It seems almost impossible that we could be tracking in this much dirt. I always feel better after I vacuum the house. The feeling doesn't last long though. Usually it rains the next day and the rugs and carpets get dirty all over again.

Dot pooped in her bed again last night. She soiled two blankets and I accidentally soiled another two trying to clean up the mess. I wonder how long the washing machine is going to last. We've been using the washer and dryer like a laundromat for the past several months. Dot's incontinence is so predictable that you'd think I would have come up with a solution by now. I don't think there is one. Doggie diapers don't work. They fall off and if you secure them tight enough so that they won't fall off, then Dot can't sleep comfortably. Creating a penned-in safe area doesn't work either. Dot likes to sleep right next to me and if we put her in the X-Pen at night, she just barks until one of us lets her out again. For a lot of reasons, it's easier to just spread blankets around the area where she likes to sleep, clean up the mess the best we can using doggie poop bags, spray any remaining stain with Nature's Miracle enzyme and throw the blankets in the wash. This system works pretty well unless I inadvertently step in the poop while I'm trying to turn the light on so I can assess the situation.

The weather was beautiful today. It was cold in the morning, but warmed up to "brisk" later in the day. I didn't even have to wear a jacket when I raked and cleared away leaves this afternoon. The dogs love the cooler weather and we were able to give them two good walks today instead of the single walk they typically get on weekdays. I'll be glad when the days start getting longer again. Now, it is completely dark before Janet gets home from work, so we've had to curtail Dot's evening walk.

I noticed that Google+ has changed its format again. Why do Facebook and Google keep changing their format and features all the time? It's irritating. One thing I like about Twitter is that it never changes. The new Google format features little square boxes right at the top of your profile page that showcase the Collections you've made and the Communities you've joined. I don't like this because I haven't made any Collections or joined any Communities. Because part of my job is helping my clients with their Social Media efforts, I can't ignore these things. I grudgingly made a couple of Collections this afternoon and added them to my profile. Google says Collections are the next big thing, but I think they're just a big nuisance. I've got two more Collections to make to fill up the empty boxes on my profile and then I'm done with Collections forever. The ironic thing is that I actually like to collect things in real life. It just seems silly to put something on my Google page that is a blatant copy of Pinterest.

It's going to be a short week, since most people get Thursday and Friday off. I don't know if this is good or bad at this point. I've already had to change Dot's physical therapy appointment. I'm sure there will be other changes to come.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2119

It takes forever to clean a house filled with inexpensive throw rugs. Some rugs can be vacuumed. Others must be thrown in the washing machine, because they tend to get sucked into the Dyson. A few rugs don't seem to do well with either the vacuum cleaner or the washing machine and must be taken outside and shaken. The rubber backed rugs that go in the washing machine must be dried at a very low temperature, so the rubber doesn't burn up in the dryer. To clean the larger rugs; furniture, dog beds, feeding bowls, and a variety of other stuff must be moved. When I'm finally finished, nothing looks very different at all. I must have accomplished something though, since the Dyson canister is always filled with dirt, small leaves, and lots of dog hair.

I'd love to have our pretty brick floors back, but it will probably never happen. I'm already starting to see signs that Dash is beginning to have problems with his rear legs as well. Dash is already having trouble jumping in the car and doesn't leap up on the bed like he used to. Occasionally, I notice a slight limp on our walks. I always worry that he may have torn a cruciate ligament. This happens quite often with older Dalmatians. Today, he had a brief spasm in his left rear leg that caused it to shoot backward. He seemed startled and uncomfortable. I quickly examined him and could find nothing wrong. About a minute later, he was fine again. This strange behavior worries me, so it's time to go to the vet again. I'll schedule an appointment this week.

I was already tired from cleaning the house, but decided to go to the gym anyway. Sunday is really the only day with no conflicts. When I arrived, there was a work crew boarding up a section of the building. Apparently one of the geezer customers had driven their car straight into the building when they were trying to park. One of the main reasons I go to the gym is to avoid winding up like these people. It is clear that many of them waited far to long to get on the straight and narrow path. I had a good workout, but was terrible on the basketball court for some reason. It always seems strange to me that some days I can sink a long string of free throws in a row, and other days I can't find the basket at all. I've done this for so long, that you'd think that I'd be more consistent by now. I know what I need to do. It's all hand/eye coordination. You'd think I could eventually learn to replicate the perfect shot.

Dot seemed restless this weekend. That's actually a good thing. I'm always encouraged when she has enough energy to roam around the house on her own. When she's feeling bad, she just sleeps in her dog bed. Today was a good day. She wandered freely around the house without her harness. She had good energy on her two walks. And best of all, there were no accidents in the house. There have been days when she pooped in the house right after I finished cleaning it. This wasn't going to be one of those days.

I hope I get a few checks in the mail this week. There are already October bills to pay and a couple of clients are way behind on their invoices. I wish there was a life beyond working to pay bills, but I haven't found it yet. I suppose I could just live off my investments, but the market is so volatile and flaky that I have no faith that the investments will last. It's easier to just keep on working. I try to keep Dot's brain from turning to mush by keeping her active and engaged. It seems to be working. It doesn't take a genius to realize that I've got to stay active and engaged as well. Writing helps. Working helps. Walking helps. That's what we'll be doing tomorrow.

Jersey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2076

Janet and I went to a barbecue and going away party for one of Dot's nurses today. She's leaving Dallas to begin vet school in London. What an adventure. I always admire people who have the nerve to take a big, bold step forward. Going to vet school at the Royal Veterinary College in London is a big deal. It is consistently ranked among the top three vet schools in the entire world. Of course, Texas A&M, where a lot of my veterinarian friends went to school, is ranked number six in the world. There are a lot of really good veterinarians in Texas. Dot will miss her friend at our water therapy sessions, but she's going to be a very good veterinarian someday.

I've got to start getting more sleep. I got to bed late last night, and even though we slept in a little longer because it was Saturday, my activity tracker still said I'd only gotten 4 hours and 10 minutes of sleep. That's really not enough. Whenever I wake up a little late, my first thought is how to get Dot dressed in her harness and outside before she poops all over the place. Sometime I succeed and sometimes I don't. It's kind of like watching a ticking time bomb. You know it's going to explode sometime. Today, we did manage to get Dot to the back door in time, but neither of us had our shoes on and Dot pooped in the doorway. I should have had my shoes on before we headed for the doorway, but it's hard to be coordinated when you're still half asleep.

The poop soiled area rug is finally dry again and it's actually cleaner than all the other rugs in the house. Maybe I need to take the all the other rugs outside and hose them down with the pressure hose. It couldn't hurt. There are some things even the Dyson can't handle. I've just about concluded that it's physically impossible to keep a tidy house with old, sick dogs. It's just not going to happen. It doesn't help matters that the house itself is older than the dogs, and Janet and I are older than the house. Everything in our little universe is slowly falling apart. I used to wonder why my parent's house looked like it had been hit by a tornado as they got older. It was always as neat as a pin when I was a kid. Now I know the answer. Priorities change, and a messy house can end up being the least of your worries.

One of my worries today was gaining access to my coffee pods. The door to the kitchen cabinet where I store all the Keurig pods was jammed shut. Somehow the latch had broken in the closed position and it was impossible to open the door. I tried everything I could think of the get the latch to release, but nothing worked. I finally had to pry the door open with a large screwdriver and ended up ripping the two screws holding the latch to the door right out of the wood. I was really lucky that I didn't end up cracking the door. Now I've got to find a new latch. Nobody makes them anymore. I bought a dozen of the peculiar looking latches at an old hardware store when I first bought the house. One of my rent properties used the same type of latches and I knew I'd use them. I think they're all gone now though. A lot of door latches can break over a twenty year period. I'll think of something. It's already one of my projects for next week.

Dot seemed pretty perky today. From time to time she would get up from her dog bed and wander around the house with no assistance from me whatsoever. Baby steps. I'm still hoping we can manage to get her a little stronger.

Lance is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2070

Sundays are simple. One glance at my fitness tracker will tell you everything you need to know about Sunday. I don't do a lot of thinking on Sundays, but I do keep moving. 19,000 steps so far today. The dogs got several walks. Dash went to the dog park. I went to the gym. The house got thoroughly vacuumed. And I still had time for a nap. I definitely needed the nap, because I only got about 4 and a half hours of sleep last night.

It takes forever to vacuum the house with all the little throw rugs we have to keep Dot from slipping. The Dyson is too powerful for these flimsy rugs and it keeps wanting to suck them up. I'm constantly having to turn off the vacuum cleaner and pull the edge of these rugs out of the rotating brush. In a way these small rugs are good though. If Dot inadvertently poops on a rug, we can just take it outside and hose it off. If things are particularly messy, we can just throw the rug away. Life would be a lot more difficult, and probably smellier, with wall-to-wall carpet.

You learn a lot of little things when you track yourself at the gym. I was somewhat surprised to discover that twenty minutes on the hand bicycle burn up far more energy than twenty minutes on the treadmill. I use the hand bicycle because it was part of my exercise routine when I went to physical therapy for my shoulder. I only did five minutes on the bike back then, but I figured that if five was good, twenty would be even better. Hardly anybody every uses this machine except feeble old heart patients. This is apparently not a cool machine for younger people to use. I like it though. Using your arms to peddle strenuously for twenty minutes or more is a pretty good upper body workout.

There's a section in the meat department at Central Market that features a huge assortment of marinated meats. There are all sorts of interesting regional flavors and you don't have to go to the time and trouble of marinating the meat yourself. I've grown fond of these pre-marinated cuts of meat, partially because I'm lazy and partially because I don't think I could ever do a better job of preparing the meat myself. Tonight, we had a marinated pork roast for dinner and it was delicious. I'm starting to feel guilty about eating pork though. There are lots of animal advocates on my Facebook feed who constantly post cute pictures of little piglets or upsetting messages about the cruel ways commercial pork producers treat their pigs. I love bacon but this is starting to upset me. I wonder if you can find free range pork, somewhat like free range chickens and beef?  I'll never be a vegan, but maybe I'd feel better about eating a pig that at least had an opportunity to live a life outside of a small cage.

I don't feel guilty about drinking my breakfast smoothies.  There are two raw eggs for protein, but mostly the ingredients consist of fresh fruit, with some rolled oats and ice cream thrown in for flavor. Janet bought the Vitamix to make fancy soups, but mostly it just gets used to make my breakfast now. I don't know what I'd do without the Vitamix and my Keurig brewer. They have both become my breakfast best friends.

Tomorrow, I'll need to see where I can get a new registration sticker for my car. I think you can still get these things at Kroger and Tom Thumb stores. I hope so anyway. Going to the grocery store for the sticker definitely beats standing in a long line at the courthouse. Dot has her annual exam this week and her birthday is next week. She goes to the vet so often that an annual exam almost seems redundant, but I guess it is still something you need to do. Inspections and exams are how I measure time these days. The car gets safety inspected and another year has passed. A trip to the urologist and another year has passed. A real estate tax notice arrives in the mail and another year has passed. Way too many years have passed this way. I wish there was a way to slow down time.

Pogo is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2056

I saw something on the news this morning that today is the thirtieth anniversary of the Delta Flight 191 crash at DFW. It seems impossible that it has already been thirty years since this happened. I flew a lot on business then, and I remember driving by the wreckage on my way back from the airport several times. It doesn't seem that long ago.

It would be five more years before I would leave the ad agency world and start my own company, but I'd already been living in Dallas a quite a while. I moved here from Seattle in the Summer of 1977 after working my way up to Senior Writer status at several well known Seattle ad agencies. The Delta crash and the continuing parade of historic anniversaries is making me feel really old. Woodstock and the moon landings remind me of my college years. The assassination of John Kennedy in Dealey Plaza and the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan show remind me of high school. Sputnik, bomb shelters, and cars with huge tail fins remind me of grade school. It's been a long, long journey and it's easy to forget that most of it took place before the Internet even existed. I thought we'd be on Mars by now, but the Internet caught me by surprise. Who would have thought that I'd end up spending my evenings talking to the world this way.

Sleeping in on weekends is a thing of the past. We don't need an alarm clock. The dogs know that they get an early morning walk now and they wake up up well before the sun comes up. Even in August it's reasonably nice outside at 6 AM. Dot seemed strong and steady this morning and hasn't pooped in her bed for several days. It's always nice to get the day off to a good start. Our new routine involves taking Dash to a nearby dog park right after we return from Dot's morning exercise walk. Dot is tired after her walk and just sleeps while we are gone. Again, doing all this before breakfast is mainly to beat the heat that comes later in the day. We didn't stay long at the dog park today. Vandals had broken the latch on the airlock style gates where you can safely get your dog in and out of the park without all the other dogs escaping. Dash never misses an open gate, so he noticed the broken latch right away. It was so much trouble keeping him from making a quick exit though the easily opened door that we just packed up early and went home. It's a shame that this newly refurbished park has only been open a few months and vandals are already doing their best to ruin it. That's Dallas for you though. I often wish we lived in Wyoming.

There was an extra loaf of bread in the refrigerator, so I made French Toast for breakfast. French Toast with real maple syrup and a side of sausage patties are comfort food. I can't eat this way all the time,  but it's a nice treat on weekends. To burn off the extra calories, I went to the gym later in the morning. My workouts are more focused now and I think they are doing some good.

When I vacuumed the floors later in the day, I noticed that the rotating brush on the Dyson wasn't working. I took the machine apart and put it back together again after cleaning the really dusty bits. It must have just been a loose connection, because the vacuum worked fine after I reassembled everything. The only problem I have with the Dyson is that it is made of plastic. The whole thing feels flimsy. You should be able to bang a vacuum cleaner into walls and furniture without worrying about it breaking. I can't imagine building a car out of plastic. Why would you make a vacuum cleaner out of plastic with a bunch of fragile snap together components? If the thing was made out of aircraft aluminum, it would be fabulous.

The house is reasonably clean. I've more or less caught up on all my work projects. The dogs are happy and sleeping, and Janet fixed some delicious pork chops for dinner. I think I'm ready to start a new week.

Scout is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2014

Today was all about the weather. Things got off to a very early start when I smelled poop as I got up to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night. Dot had pooped in the house again. I kind of suspected this might happen when she refused to stay outside long enough to do her business before we went to bed last night. Who could blame her. The yard was wet and she was tired. I cleaned the mess up, put the soiled dog blankets in the washer and we went back to bed again. The rain continued sporadically throughout the night, but when daylight arrived, it had stopped. Since the radar showed that more storms were on the way, we dressed quickly and used the opportunity to give the dogs their morning walk. Dot and Dash were in no hurry, so we barely made it home again before the next round of rain started.

Whenever Dot poops in the house, it sets off a clean frenzy. We start by cleaning the soiled blankets and rugs. Then we notice how dirty everything is surrounding these areas and the vacuum comes out. It doesn't take long for the house to get dirty with two dogs and the seemingly endless rain we've been having. I'm glad the new Dyson has a five year warranty, because we're going to wear the thing out. By the time I was finished cleaning today, I had emptied the Dyson several times. I'm glad I got the yard taken care of yesterday, because today would not have been a good day for yard work. It wasn't a good day to fix the screen door either. That will have to wait.

The skies had cleared quite a bit by mid-afternoon, so we decided to take Dash to a new dog park in the neighborhood. Since everyone in the house has been having cabin fever lately, it seemed like a good idea to let Dash do something fun for a change. We hadn't been at the park for five minutes before I noticed some ominous looking black clouds to the South of us. We made several circles around the park perimeter to let Dash smell things and then headed home again. On the way home, the rain started again. It was like this all day long. There would be a short torrential downpour, followed by a dry spell of an hour or so, and then the rain would start again.

It was just as well that I was mostly housebound today. I had a huge website update to complete and rainy days are generally good for this type of thing. I added over 60 new dogs and cats to a rescue website I manage. It's hard to keep these type of sites current. By the time the photographer has time to take pictures of the new animals, half of them have already been adopted. I imagine that I will get a call in the near future asking me to remove many of the animals I just finished adding today. It's not an entirely futile effort though. The dogs and cats do get homes and sometimes it is the website that brings people and pets together.

When I finished working on the rescue website, I started writing another article. By the time I managed to come up with a decent headline, I realized I was very tired and took a short nap. That was it for writing today. When I woke up, it was time for dinner and a brief evening walk with the dogs. Dot pooped right on schedule this time, so maybe we'll all be able to get a good night's sleep tonight.

Next week is already looking pretty busy.  There are two vet appointment, a doctor's appointment for me, an appointment to get a haircut, and then there is a meeting I really ought to attend even though I detest meetings. Of course there are still all the usual articles to write and websites to update. I often feel like a hamster with one of those exercise wheels in their cage. I'd like to get caught up on everything and have absolutely nothing to do, but I don't think it's going to happen.

Barley is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day