Day 3405 - Easter

It was a very quiet day. After breakfast Janet joined me on my morning walk. She's in better shape than I am these days and I had to walk a little faster to keep up. We both do a pretty good job of staying active. Janet just enjoys the activity more. I go to the gym once a week out of necessity. She goes almost every day for fun.

I was surprised that the park didn't seem very full today. The weather was beautiful, but there were very few egg hunts and family gatherings. Usually this place is a madhouse on Easter morning. Maybe traditions have changed. We saw lots of cyclists and joggers today, but there weren't a lot of children.

I finished clearing the water off the roof today. This is how I get my exercise. No spin class or yoga for me. Just drudgery. I'm glad it's getting warmer because the water evaporates faster. There really wasn't that much standing water today. Of course, I don't think it has rained since Thursday. I may have to continue this task indefinitely. The bids for replacing the roof are much more expensive than I anticipated. It's a shame that it is so complicated to add a slight slope to the roof so the water drains properly. The hole in the center of the roof where the atrium is doesn't help matters. Maybe I'll just continue patching things.

I watched a show on Easter Island this afternoon on PBS. Later, there was another segment on Sixty Minutes about Easter Island. This seemed like a strange coincidence to me until I remembered that today was Easter. Easter Island was discovered on Easter. Of course the people who live there discovered the island thousands of years earlier. It would have probably been better if Westerners had never discovered the place. The tiny island has become a tourist trap. It is a destination for cruise ships now.

Even though I rarely cook, I've always liked The Great British Baking Show. There was an Easter Special today about making traditional Easter pastries. I'd never have the patience to make my own puff pastry. Even making Hot Cross Buns seemed far too complicated for me. Nevertheless, I enjoy seeing these creations come together. Bread is a forbidden pleasure for me. I could live on bread and pasta, but my body wouldn't be happy. I do better if I avoid the stuff.

I looked up the theater where High Life is showing. Parking is bad and there are no early matinees. This probably gives me the excuse I need to just wait until the film is available on iTunes. It really doesn't take much to convince me to stay home. If a movie happens to be playing at Northpark, I might convince myself to go. Other theaters just aren't very appealing.

I was surprised that my pharmacy was open today. I could have waited until tomorrow to pick up my prescription, but like I said earlier it was a very slow day. Going to a strange theater may seem daunting, but I have no phobias about going to the pharmacy. I go there all the time.

Joe is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3019

When I went to the hardware store this morning to look for some screen wire to repair the back door, there were a whole bunch of people inside the store singing happy birthday to a chicken. This was the most interesting thing I saw today. It was a pretty uneventful day.

We must have run out of all the items we buy in bulk at the same time, because I sure had a lot of stuff to buy at Sam's Club. For once, I looked like everyone else in the store. When I got home it took forever to figure out where to store everything. We definitely have plenty of paper towels, trash bags, and bottled water now.

Dash's new Ultra-Paws boots are better than the ones I've been making myself. We tried them out this morning and not only did they stay securely on his feet, Dash seemed to walk completely normally while wearing them. I think we have a winner. We'll have to see how these new boots hold up to wear and tear. Dash can be pretty rough on his shoes.

Lately, Dash has been pretty rough on me. He gets me up every night at 3 AM to go outside and poop. Usually he gets me up at five AM again to poop a second time. I've been trying to get him to eat dry food again in hopes that he would return to his old schedule, but it's a losing battle. He doesn't like dry food anymore. It's weird that Dash is so confident that I will always be there to open the door for him. On the other hand, maybe he doesn't care. He's certainly not shy about pooping on the floor if I don't wake up in time.

Since the weather is nice, there are going to be a ton of people in the park tomorrow. This seems to be a favorite place to have Easter egg hunts. I wish kids still hunted for real eggs instead of plastic eggs filled with candy. Lots of eggs are never found. I've always had to keep a close eye on the dogs for weeks after Easter. I definitely don't want Dash eating a chocolate bunny, or any candy for that matter.  Dash isn't as quick as he used to be, but he's still pretty good at spotting a piece of stray Easter candy in the grass.

I was pleased to hear the furnace running normally when I woke up. So far, all my repairs are a success. The furnace is working, the toilet doesn't run anymore, and I haven't seen any ice build-up on the refrigerator yet. Even the fitness tracker I fixed yesterday hasn't fallen apart. There is still one huge problem. It's up above my head. The roof is something I can't fix myself. My next challenge is to get the roofers out here to make good on their promises. It won't be easy. If I can ever get the roof fixed, then I can final get around to fixing the sheetrock on the living room ceiling.

Tomorrow should be a relaxing day. The weather is nice. The gym is closed, so there's no need to exercise. With any luck, we'll be able to sleep in late. Last but not least, there will be a nice smoked ham in the oven for Easter dinner.

Smiley is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2669

I found out this morning that the guy who played lead guitar in my old band is dead. I was going to wish him Happy Birthday on Facebook and when I went to his page I discovered that he had passed away last September. I'm so out of touch these days that this isn't the first time this has happened. I'm kind of wary about wishing someone my age Happy Birthday now without checking to make sure they're alive first. I'm not sure about the etiquette of these things, but it seems disrespectful to send a Facebook greeting to a dead person. Although it's a little late now to pay my respects, I was really sorry to learn about my old friend. He was a good guy. The years I spent playing in a band with him were some of the best.

I cut myself again today and didn't even notice until hours later. This is the second time I've done this recently. I have a feeling that I'm scraping my arms on branches in the yard when I'm holding Dot up when I take her outside to pee. I have to really concentrate when I'm walking her around like a marionette. I used to be able to just walk behind Dot, holding up her rear end as she walked. Now, her front legs are starting to become weak as well, so I need to provide support for both the front and rear. It's kind of awkward and hard on the back, so I have to be careful that I don't trip. It's not really surprising at all that I don't notice when I've bumped into a tree.

Blueberries are back. There was a big supply today, but they had doubled in price. I wonder sometimes how stores keep a steady supply of seasonal items. These berries probably came from South America instead of California or Mexico. Somewhere there's a guy who's job it is to source berries from all over the world, so people like me can enjoy them in their smoothie all year long. I'm always impressed that things like this work so smoothly. Maybe I'm not as much of an isolationist as I think I am. I enjoy having access to fresh fruit all year long. I routinely buy coffee from Ethiopia and Sumatra. And I'm continually amazed that you can get good sushi in Dallas.

The indestructible pants I bought at REI last year are already falling apart. I'm disappointed, but Janet tells me that you're not supposed to wear the same pair of pants every day. The knees of these pants tore first, which isn't surprising since I spend half my day on my knees cleaning up poop, or trying to get Dot back in an upright position. If lifting weights is supposed to build muscle, I don't understand why I'm still having trouble with muscle atrophy. After two years of lifting a fifty pound dog, I should look like the incredible hulk by now. Sadly, my muscle mass hasn't increased at all and all I've done is tear up both shoulders.

It looks like we got a bumper crop of wildflowers this year. The fields and meadows around our house are in full bloom now. I'm seeing new varieties almost everyday. Some flowers only bloom for a few days and others stick around for months. Some bloom very early in the morning and disappear by midday. It's fascinating to watch this pageant of color unfold. I spotted some Lazy Daisies this morning. I wonder who names these things.

I'm going to have to be careful when I walk the dogs in the park tomorrow. Every year, hundreds of families have their Easter Egg hunts here. Nobody seems to hide real eggs anymore. They hide plastic eggs filled with candy and chocolate. The kids never seem to find all the eggs, but the dogs do.  Since chocolate is poisonous to dogs, I definitely don't want Dot and Dash to go snooping around in the grass for stuff the kids left behind. It's amazing how much litter appears every Easter. Nobody even tries to pick up their mess.

It's been a long day. Two rugs and a blanket got soiled, but it could have been a lot worse. Dot is tired now and so am I. Hopefully we'll get some decent sleep before we start all over again tomorrow.

Krissy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2294 - Easter

I think I've finally got all my tax information in order. I keep postponing this task longer and longer because it's so discouraging. This is the one time during the year when it becomes abundantly clear that I'm not making much money anymore. What's even worse it that I know that my accountant will charge me more than he did last year to tell me that I made less than I made last year. I certainly don't begrudge my accountant for raising his rates every year. My dentist and my plumber do the same thing. Just about everybody raises their rates except for web designers, who are expected to work for much less than they did ten years ago.

We're still supposed to get some severe weather later in the week, but today was perfect. The dogs loved the crisp, clear Spring day and we were able to take two nice walks. We certainly weren't the only ones in the park today. The place was full of family Easter celebrations. Every open field was filled with children looking for Easter eggs. I wish people still hid real eggs. Hard boiled eggs would be fine, because if the children didn't find them, animals would eat them or they would just rot and disappear. Plastic eggs filled with candy and trinkets tend to stay around forever. From now through May, I'll have to be on the lookout for candy on the ground, because Dash will smell the stuff and try to eat it. Chocolate is really bad for dogs and a lot of these plastic eggs are filled with chocolate. Nobody seems to care about littering anymore. Public parks just seem to be a designated place where families can litter with impunity.

In addition to working on my taxes today, I was also able to catch up on a few things around the house. I went up on the roof and cleared away the standing water from last week's rain. It was nice to see that some of the water had already evaporated. The warmer it gets, the faster the water evaporates. When I was working, I noticed several new worn places that will need to be patched. Patching the roof after the Spring rains has become an annual ritual. I need to call the roofer, as well as the landscapers and a tree trimmer this week. It's that time of year. Hopefully, I won't need to buy a new lawn mower. I seem to need a new mower every four or five years. I'll see if I can get the current mower started tomorrow. If I wait much longer, the front yard is going to be full of weeds.'

I tried to superglue some broken stuff back together this afternoon. I think I was successful with the Nike running shoes, but the watch band was a dismal failure. I need to remember that superglue and duct tape are not the answer to every problem. As careful as I try to be, I always manage to get some superglue on my fingers. It's almost impossible to get this stuff off. I usually try acetone or Janet's nail polish remover, but if I wait too long, even that won't work.

I'm not sure what I'll be doing this week. Work has often been slow at the first of the year, but it's not the first of the year anymore. This slow period has lasted a lot longer than I anticipated. It's beginning to look like this might be permanent. I wish I knew how to get clients who would pay me what I made in 1995. I wish I knew how to get clients period. My business grew through referrals from existing clients and everyone is retiring now. It's the end of an era.

Chloe is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2293

In theory, today would have been a good day to sleep in. Unfortunately, lazy mornings are only a theoretical concept at our house. Dash ensured that we got up early as we always do. I thought he needed to go outside, but the little shit just wanted his breakfast. I know Dot would have been happy to sleep a bit longer, since she and I had already been up twice during the night cleaning up another mess in her bed. Basically, it was just a regular Saturday morning.

I'm making progress getting everything to work on the new server. It really doesn't matter whether my website works perfectly or not, but I still find a small amount of pleasure in learning how things work. The new server is different than the old server and I'm slowly learning why. It's unlikely that you'd know the difference if I corrected all the small errors I'm finding or not, but I'm correcting them anyway, mostly because I can.

I decided to go to the gym today because it is going to be closed for Easter Sunday. I also had some errands to run that I was planning to take care of on the way home. Trying to cram all these activities into a single afternoon was a mistake, because I ended up leaving Dot alone too long. When I returned, I discovered that she'd pooped in the small protected area where I'd left her. She must have slipped in the poop because her leg was dirty, along with three small rugs and all her blankets. I think she ate the poop too. I hate when this happens. If I was there, I could have helped her. She hates to make a mess in her pen and I could tell she had struggled to get away from it. It's hard to live your life where you can never leave the house though. I try to make sure everything goes smoothly, but sometimes it doesn't.

I still haven't gotten around to preparing my tax materials for the accountant, but at least I've cleared the deck so I can concentrate on that tomorrow. There are so many things I need to do that it feels a bit overwhelming. The grass is getting long in the front yard and I still haven't checked to see if the mower works. I know there's water on the roof, but it seems like a huge waste of time to remove it, since it's going to rain again in a few days anyway. I did put clean sheets on the bed and did several loads of laundry. It's important to make an effort.

Tomorrow, the park will be littered with colored eggs and candy. The place is a popular spot for family egg hunts and the children never come close to finding everything their parents have hidden. Dot and Dash find all this stuff the next day and I have to be careful that they don't eat the candy and other trash left behind by the Easter crowds. If anyone has their egg hunt early tomorrow morning thay are sure to see real Easter Bunnies. This seems to be a good year for rabbits. We see dozens every morning on our walks. Maybe the coyotes have moved on the greener pastures. In prior years coyotes have eaten a lot of the bunnies, but this year they appear to be thriving.

It's already time for bed again. The kitchen selves are stocked with food. Dot's blankets and the hallway rugs have been cleaned. I learned a few things about writing Perl scripts. I even had a pretty good workout at the gym. Although I did quite a bit today, I feel like I've accomplished nothing.

Bubba is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1937 - Easter

I had a feeling that lots of egg hunts and Sunrise Services were spoiled this morning when I woke to the sound of pounding rain on the roof. We actually needed the rain to help the new grass root properly, but it would have been nice if Easter Sunday was as beautiful as it was yesterday. There was no need to get up until the rain subsided, so we all got some extra sleep. Dot and Dash didn't even need to stick their nose out the door to know it was raining. They both just curled up on their blankets and waited for the rain to stop.

It's so nice that Dot doesn't have her incontinence problems anymore. During her cancer treatment I often had to take her outside in absolutely atrocious weather. It couldn't be helped. When you've got to go, you've got to go. Today, the dogs were content to wait until 10 AM to do their business. That's when the weather radar said the rain would stop, and that's exactly when it did. We all had a leisurely breakfast and then I took Dash for a walk while Janet took Dot for a much shorter walk up and down our street. The wet weather made things a little slippery for Dot, but she still did pretty well.

Since it was such a dismal, cold day I thought it would be a perfect time to watch the Interstellar DVD on my computer. I've heard both good and bad things about the movie, so I was curious to see if it lived up to my expectations. It did. I just didn't realize that the movie was so long. Dot will rest quietly for up to two hours at a time, but after that, there's going to be a lot of barking unless I'm there to cater to her needs. I never ignore her barking because when she gets excited, she poops. Believe me, it's much better to pause a movie than to clean up dog poop in the house.

As science fiction movies go, Interstellar was pretty good. I liked the way they described wormholes. It seemed to make more sense than Farscape, Sliders and many other films that have utilized wormholes in the plot. Of course since nobody knows if wormholes even exist, I'll be the first to admit that films like Interstellar are really just Harry Potter movies for people like me. I think wizards and zombies are rubbish, but am perfectly willing to to believe that wormholes could whisk someone from one galaxy to another in a matter of seconds. You almost have to believe in wormholes if you think the human race is going to reach the stars someday. The two voyager spacecraft have been traveling for decades and they've barely reached the edge of the solar system. We need wormholes. And maybe we need wizards too.

It's hard to believe that it's going to be 85 degrees tomorrow, since it's only 50 today. The air conditioner was on yesterday, but overnight the fancy new thermostat automatically switched things back to heat mode and we woke up toasty and warm. I got an e-mail recently saying that I was eligible for an upgrade to the WiFi thermostat that would coordinate our energy use with real-time weather patterns and automatically keep the house at the perfect temperate. This sounded intriguing, but I was a bit suspicious. The whole idea felt a bit too much like driverless cars to me. I want to be the guy setting the temperature, not a computer off in the cloud somewhere. I didn't click on the "lets get started" button, even though the ad said it would save me hundreds in electricity bills.

Tomorrow is Monday. Monday's are usually pretty boring. I'll bet I'm going to wish I'd waited another day to watch that movie.

Angel is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1587 - Easter

I hope everyone had a pleasant Passover, Easter, or just a nice day. I certainly did. I knew it was going to rain sometime today, so I thought I'd get up early and get a lot done while the sun was still shining. As luck would have it, the skies were clear and sunny for most of the day. I got the lawn mower running and got the front yard looking decent again. I think the cause of my battery problems is my battery charger. It no longer shuts itself off when it reaches a full charge. I'll have to remember to manually unplug the thing this Summer after it charges for about three hours. Otherwise, I'll burn up the new battery fairly quickly.

After I got the yard looking nice, I weeded a few flower beds. I encountered quite a few honeybees while I was working. Hopefully, they were just passing through gathering pollen. I certainly hope they aren't planning on building another huge hive in my house. Once you've been stung by a bunch of angry bees, you don't tend to forget.

I took some more stuff to the storage warehouse this afternoon. If I lived in a rural area and had a bigger yard, I'd buy one of those metal warehouse buildings that all farmers seem to have. I'd fill it with industrial metal shelving and alphabetize each aisle from A to Z. I'd take great pleasure in categorizing and archiving all my stuff, until the zombie apocalypse came and I realized that all my treasured tools were hopelessly rusty with completely dead batteries. Janet thinks I'm dangerously close to becoming a hoarder, but I think my pack-rat tendencies are no worse than her own tendencies to always buy in bulk to take advantage of sales. I may still have every Macintosh I've ever owned, but at least I'm not responsible for the year's supply of soup in the kitchen pantry.

Today is a huge day for family picnics in the park. Typically, one family member arrives early in the morning to stake out a picnic table and the rest of the family arrives later. Some people erect elaborate tents and put up volleyball nets. By ten-thirty AM, the air is thick with the smell of barbecue and smoked meats. I try to walk the dogs in secluded areas on days like this. Dash loves an audience when he poops and never fails to embarrass me by pooping right in front of a large table of people eating their holiday dinner. There's way too much candy littering the ground too, since the kids seems to only find 50% of what their parents hide for the egg hunt. Easter candy is the last thing the dogs should be eating. Chocolate is poisonous to dogs.

The rain did eventually arrive late in the day, but we were all safely back inside by then, eating our Easter dinner. A great dinner is always a nice way to end a good day. Tomorrow, Dash goes in for his fifteenth radiation treatment. I'm on the home stretch of my own Hepatitis-C treatments as well. I usually don't look forward to birthdays, but this year might be different. By June, most of this Spring's long medical journey should be in the past.

Wilson is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1586

I got lucky today. When I went to the Interstate battery store to get my lawn mower battery repaired, the technician noticed that the defective cells he was removing from the case were still under warranty. The one year warranty on the two battery cells was going to expire in four days. I had forgotten that the old battery even had a warranty. I've just gotten used to replacing these batteries every year. At any rate, the technician refurbished my battery for free. If I had waited until next week to take care of this chore, it would have cost me $90.

I finally made it back to the gym this afternoon. I really need to figure out how to do these workouts on a more regular basis. It was starting to seem easy when I went three times a week. Now that I can only make it to the gym sporadically, these workouts are killing me. It took me about three months to build up a good rhythm and now it appears I'll have to start all over again. No rest for the weary, I guess. I don't even like going to the gym, but I do like the results. I'd hate to start gaining weight again.

While I was at the gym, Janet called and said she'd lost her car keys at the grocery store. I drove home and found a spare pair of keys to take over to her. While I was home looking for the spare keys, the dogs were very indignant that I wasn't feeding them their dinner. Both of them started barking loudly when I left the house again about five minutes later. You'd think having their dinner thirty minutes late was the end of the world.

I got another letter from the city today saying that Dash's animal registration had expired. This happens every single year. I always get new city tags for the dogs when they have their annual physical exam. My vet sends the updated information to the city immediately, but somehow the city is permanently three weeks out of sync. If they would just wait a few weeks before they send out this noncompliance letter, they might realize that Dot and Dash always have current city tags.

The park is going to be a disaster area tomorrow. Every Easter, throngs of people descend on the park to have family Easter egg hunts. Nobody hides real eggs anymore though. They all just hide candy for the kids. For weeks after Easter, I have to be especially vigilant when walking the dogs. There are are tons of candy left in the grass that the kids failed to find, along with assorted chicken bones, beer cans, and dirty baby diapers. I liked this park a lot better before the city discovered it. It's still nice on weekdays after everybody has gone to work, but weekends and holidays are a madhouse.

I'm not sure what I'll do tomorrow. If the weather's nice, there are still a ton of chores with my name on them. Mowing the grass will probably be at the top of the list. If it rains tomorrow, I'll probably just take a long nap  with the dogs.
 

Marley is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day