Day 3165

There was something for everybody at the restaurant this morning. As I was being seated, four policemen in tactical gear were paying their bill and leaving. Shortly after that, two open carry guys with side arms strapped to their waist took a seat. There was a large extended family with everyone from the grandmother to small babies gathered around a table. There were two Hispanic guys in starched white shirts with cufflinks who looked like they had gotten halfway dressed for a wedding before deciding they were hungry. There were young couples and retirees, along with several people who were conducting a business meeting. It was a diverse group and I appeared to be the only person eating alone. If you wanted to sample the mood of America, this would have been the place. I'm not sure if this was the place to sample a really great breakfast, but everyone seemed happy.

Maybe it was just a happy day. Dash certainly woke up in a good mood. He slept all night and managed to make it outside the next morning to poop. We took a nice walk before it became too hot and although he wasn't very hungry, Dash did manage to eat his breakfast later in the day. You can't ask for more than that from a tired old dog.

My wrist didn't hurt this morning, so I decided to go up on the roof. Much to my surprise, it was dry. Although we've had quite a bit of rain recently, it has been hot and dry this week. Apparently it takes about five days for the standing water to evaporate in the Summer. I need to remember this, because I'm not going to be able to continue climbing up on this roof forever. Unfortunately, the water will never evaporate in the Winter.

Janet didn't work today, so I started thinking it was Saturday again. I'm going to be really confused when she stops working completely. Who knows when that will happen though. Although she has officially retired, her company continues to bring her in on a consulting basis when they've got a tough problem. I tell Janet that it must be nice to be wanted. Whenever I used to leave a job, they usually never wanted to see me again.

The real estate market is heating up in our neighborhood. It happens from time to time. There seems to be lots of houses on the market right now. Whenever this happens, people get real interested in what their own house is worth. I used to feel this way until our house started falling apart. Now, I think it will just get torn down if we ever leave. But will we ever leave? Somehow, I doubt it.

Hero is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2906

It was so cold this morning that we decided Dash needed a sweater in addition to all the regular gear he wears on walks. I'm surprised he could move after we got him all bundled up. The sweater went on first. Then the Ruffwear harness was placed on top of the sweater. The knee brace attached to the harness and then came the socks. Finally, the rubber boots were placed over the socks and Dash was ready to go. We had to adjust several straps so all this would fit properly, but Dash took it all in stride.  He doesn't resist wearing this gear at all. I think he realizes that he is more sure footed now and that he can walk with more confidence. I hope he appreciated the sweater too, because it was only 28 degrees this morning.

I didn't go out for breakfast this morning because I had a meeting scheduled. I was a little worried about leaving Dash, but he slept well last night and had a lot of energy this morning. There were no visible signs that he was still having problems with his vestibular disease, so I decided it was OK to go.

It was kind of weird to have a business meeting again. I used to do this almost every single day and now it's all becoming a distant memory. The project sounded interesting and I hope I get the job. There is a website involved, but it's really more of a rebranding project. After a while my brain kicked into gear and I started spitting out ideas. It was almost like old times again. The meeting lasted a lot longer than I though it would, but when I got home Dash was fine. He woke up when I opened the front door, but it was obvious that he'd spent most of the morning sleeping on the bed. It didn't take him long to let me know he was ready for lunch. I'm really glad he's finally getting back to normal.

I was hoping to finish my website project today but that didn't happen. My morning meeting threw me off schedule for the rest of the day. By the time I fed Dash, took our regular afternoon walk, and did a few errands around the house, the day was over. I was feeling good that it was Friday and the long week was almost over and then I remembered that we've got another Santa Paws photo shoot tomorrow.

Most of the equipment is already packed and ready to go. All I had to do today was recharge the camera batteries. I'm glad that we didn't get snow like the Southern half of the state. I've got a long drive in the morning and it's going to be a lot easier on dry roads. I'll need to remember to dress warmly. Santa always gets hot inside his heavy red suit, so that means I'm almost always cold. I'm used to cold though. Both Janet and Dash like a cold house. I'm just the opposite. I'm wearing a jacket now and wishing there was a furnace vent under my desk.

The doctor I saw earlier this week called with my test results. Everything is fine. I've had some major health problems over the years, but most of them have been resolved. I wish I could say the same for Dash. He has a fabulous team of doctors and we do everything we can, but our little guy has never really been healthy. We think he probably came from a puppy mill, but like any rescue dog, we'll never know his early history. Dash might not have been dealt a good hand at birth, but we're doing our best to make sure he stays in the game. He's happy and comfortable now. We've all just got to keep taking things one day at a time.

Willow is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2815

Sometimes little things make all the difference. Nothing really happened today, but there were some little things that made it feel like a good day. The weather was beautiful. This is the one time of year when the weather is actually nice in Dallas. After a brisk morning walk with Dash, I had an enjoyable and surprisingly quiet breakfast at a place that is often crowded and noisy.

When I got home, I was amazed that I'd gotten a reply to the plea for help I'd sent the roofer a few days ago. Hopefully, he can figure out how to fix some of the mistakes his crew made earlier. My repairs actually look pretty good. When I went up on the roof today to clear away my equipment, it seemed like all my patches were solid. I'm sure there's still some water trapped under the elastomer, but the roof looks better than it did a few weeks ago.

Dash is still moody, but he's eating better now. We're back to eating two regular meals a day now, instead of dividing his food into a bunch of little meals. He hasn't thrown up in several weeks, so that's good too. Now if I could just get him to take normal walks again. For some reason he doesn't want to leave the house. Once we're down in the park, he's fine, but getting him to leave the house is often next to impossible.

You'd think Dash would be eager to leave the house. The place is pretty quiet these days. Dot is gone. Janet is back at work again. My office is no longer a beehive of activity. As a result, we both spend too much time thinking about food. I spend forever fiddling around with breakfast and since Dash never learned to eat slowly and savor his food, he's constantly begging for treats. I usually save some of the banana I put in my morning smoothie for him, but he eats the banana so quickly that I wonder if he even tastes it.

I did get a few things done today, but there was nothing that couldn't have waited until tomorrow. Actually tomorrow will be fairly busy. We need to take Dash downtown to get his picture taken. I'm not sure why, but I think it has something to do with the upcoming Dalmatian Rescue Golf Tournament. I could have taken Dash's picture myself since I'm a photographer, but that wasn't apparently the plan. I just hope that Dash is good in the car. I definitely don't want to be cleaning up poop again.

I'm mesmerized by reports of the slowly approaching hurricane. I hope everybody stays safe. I have a sister who lives in Florida and I never could figure out why she moved there. In addition to alligators, snakes, and huge cockroaches, they have to deal with hurricanes over and over again. I still think Wyoming is a better place to live.

Camp is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2780

Today wasn't bad. Nothing exciting happened, but nothing bad happened either. I got a good night's sleep. Dash was eager to take his morning walk as soon as Janet left for work. The weather was warm, but not oppressive. By the time I got dressed to go out for breakfast, I was convinced that it was going to be a good day.

I've started going back to the very first restaurant I discovered when I began eating out on Friday mornings. The place has been through half a dozen management changes over the years, but the food is still pretty decent. Although the novelty of eating out has worn off, it still felt good to get out of the house for a while. I picked up some food for the weekend at the grocery store after breakfast and was back at the house before 10 AM.

I thought today might be a good day to get the lawnmower out. My legs are almost back to normal and the grass definitely needed mowing. Like my experience at the gym last Sunday, I quickly realized that I was still out of shape. It's disappointing that you have to work so hard to stay fit as you age. When I was in my 30's, the whole process seemed effortless. I guess it can be done. There is an old man I see almost every morning when I walk Dash. He runs back and forth on the streets surrounding the park for hours. He was in horrible shape when I first noticed him four years ago. Now, his muscles are well defined and he looks much better. I don't have that single minded resolve, but I do walk. My fitness tracker says I'm back to 10,000 steps a day again.

I watched the last episode of The Expanse today and now I've got to wait until sometime in 2018 to see season three on the Syfy Channel. I really enjoyed the first two seasons of this show. Too bad it only took me three days to watch them all. I looked on Netflix to find something else like this, but all I found were dystopian post apocalypse movies. Apparently it is much easier for filmmakers to stay right here on earth than to create realistic simulations of life in space. The CGI work in The Expanse is pretty amazing. I've seen a lot of science fiction and these are the most realistic computer generated images I've seen yet. Hey, I wasted three days, but I'm glad I saw this show. I was genuinely impressed by the effort it took to put this all together.

I saw something on the local news today about a group of cyclists getting attacked by dogs while training for a race. They showed pictures of some of the bite marks and they looked exactly like mine. The riders got bitten in a rural area north of Dallas where there are no leash laws, so the owners of the dogs won't even be punished. It's ironic and a little sad that I love dogs and yet I am somewhat fearful of them. I have good reason to be. I've been bitten five times in my lifetime. I was even nervous about taking Dash to training class. Most of the dogs in class were wonderful, but fights did break out occasionally. Once or twice a dog had to be banned from participating in class. I had hoped that dog class would be a relaxing experience, but it never was. I felt the same way that I do when riding DART trains. You have to remain alert and aware of your surroundings at all times.

Sadly, the world is not a very relaxing place anymore. I used to hitchhike all around the country when I was in college. That would be insane now. Our national parks are overcrowded. Road rage is a fact of life. Airline delays are normal. And entire cruise ships can get food poisoning. No wonder people buy 70" flat screen TVs and have HelloFresh meals delivered to their house. I'm probably not the only one who prefers to stay inside.

Pebbles is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2766

I must have been really tired this morning. When I woke up, Janet had already eaten breakfast and walked Dash. I've lost the urge to go out for breakfast on Friday mornings, so I fixed myself some pancakes and bacon instead. I really got off to a slow start today. By the time I'd cleaned up the breakfast dishes, the day was well underway.

It didn't seem like Friday at all. I had work to do and spent most of the day writing a new article. It's hard to believe that not that long ago I was writing three or four articles a day for weeks at a time. Times change. Now, it's the exception rather than the rule when I'm busy with work. I can't say I enjoyed all the deadlines, but I was certainly comfortable with them. Writing under pressure was something I'd done for most of my life. Now, as I find myself sliding toward retirement, I'm not certain what to do next.

I try to stay busy and am happy with the occasional assignments I get, but there is no clear purpose anymore. I've become adverse to risk, I don't welcome change, and nothing could convince me to sit through a status meeting. Basically, all the qualities that helped me create and sustain a successful company are gone. Some of my friends have reinvented themselves and gone on to second or third careers, but I'm uncertain what I want to do next.

Luckily, when I've got a writing assignment I don't have to worry about all that. I wrote for most of the day, took a shower, paid my July Mastercard bill, and picked up some burgers for dinner at Chili's. I was going to  use the pressure washer to clean the Eastern side of the house, but it was way too hot for that. The temperature was well over 100 degrees this afternoon.

Dash seemed back to normal today. The frightening thing about idiopathic vestibular disease is that there is no known cure. There are lots of tests you can do to rule out certain things, but if the tests are inconclusive, you just have to try to keep your dog calm when there is an incident and hope for the best. Dash's symptoms are often severe and they make us wonder whether he has some rare disease that hasn't been diagnosed yet. I'm always happy when he recovers, but I'm always worried about what might happen next.

I probably should just quit worrying. My life is still calm and serene compared to what I see on the television news. Janet, Dash and I are all getting older, but I think we are still aging with a certain amount of dignity. I'm smart and I still have a sense of curiosity. It shouldn't be that hard to turn the next twenty years into a meaningful experience. The world might not even be here in twenty years, but I'm going to remain hopeful. I just need to find a purpose.

Katie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2566

Janet and I decided to go out for an early Christmas dinner before she leaves for the holidays. We went to Knife to try their burgers. Knife is basically a steakhouse, but after a well known food critic wrote that Knife's hamburgers were in his opinion the best in the entire world, I've been curious to try them. I'll have to say that I wasn't disappointed. These burgers were amazing.

I've learned not to check the pet cam when we are trying to do something enjoyable away from home. It always spoils everything. We had a relaxing and very enjoyable dinner, but I wasn't surprised to see that the house was a disaster when we returned. Dot is completely unpredictable now. When she poops, it might be ten hours before she goes again or ten minutes. I thought we had a chance this time, because she'd pooped about an hour before we left the house. It wasn't meant to be. My poop forensics abilities were able to determine that she'd heard a noise outside and pooped while she was struggling to get up and investigate. It's so much easier when Dot poops while she's asleep. This time she stepped in the stuff and tracked the mess all over her penned in area in the hallway. Three blankets and a large waterproof floor protector all needed to be hosed off and thrown in the washing machine. Dot needed quite a bit of cleanup herself.

Janet had a vacation day today, but it still seemed like a normal Friday to me. I checked to make sure the trash had been picked up, went out for my regular Friday morning breakfast, and then returned home to finish writing my last article before the Christmas holidays. I wrote the article quickly enough, but then I discovered that my client hadn't been receiving my mail all week because their IT department was blocking me again. This happens every couple of months and it is infuriating. Guys, how many times do I have to tell you that I'm not a spammer. I'm sure that there are a few spammers using Bluehost servers, but you don't have to block the entire hosting company to catch them. To make a long story short, it took more time to successfully send the article than it took to write it.

This has got to be the worst weather for fighting a cold. It's cold and damp outside and warm and dry inside. I'm constantly taking Dot out without adequate clothing, because there isn't time to bundle up. At least I've got a bunch of cough drops now. I'm surprised that the dogs haven't caught colds too. It's really nasty out. If Dot didn't need me, I'd probably spend the entire holiday weekend sleeping. It's almost certain that she's going to wake up at 5:30 AM tomorrow morning though, just like she always does. If I don't get her outside by 5:31, there will be pee on the floor.

I hope it dries out and warms up a bit tomorrow. There are too many wet leaves on the floor and too many wet paws on the bedspread. It would be nice if I quit coughing too. At least I didn't cough during dinner tonight. Dinner was definitely the high point of the day.

Ziggy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2110

Today was filled with familiar routines. As the days get shorter, it gradually gets darker and darker when we begin our morning walk. Orion was high in the sky and I could see all three morning planets as we left the house. Venus was highest in the sky, followed by Mars, and finally Jupiter, low on the Eastern horizon. It takes us about 45 minutes to complete the walk, and by the time we return, it is almost daylight. I make the bed when we get home and make sure to put a couple of packets of Stevia in my pockets before I leave for breakfast. I like it that everybody knows me at the restaurant. The barista knows my coffee order. The cook has my breakfast cooking on the grill before I even get up to the counter to pay for it. I rarely talk to people, but I feel like I know the other customers too. Most of the regulars have been here as long as I have. Everyone has their favorite table, and most people seem to order the same thing every week too. Maybe I'm not so strange after all.

When I go to the grocery store after breakfast, the butcher knows which cuts of meat I'm going to select for dinner. The guys at the Sushi counter usually know what I'm going to want as well. There a Chef Prepared section in the store where I usually pick up pre-cooked side dishes. With only one or two people eating dinner during the week, it's hard to keep fresh vegetables from going bad. You just can't buy things in small enough quantities to cook for one.

The dogs always get a rice cake for lunch. They both love to eat and this is one way to let them enjoy the pleasure of eating without gaining weight. There are practically no calories in a rice cake and the dogs seem to love them. Going outside after lunch is part of the daily ritual as well. Dot still likes to go outside, but she often forgets why she's there. Sometimes she'll stand in the same place for minutes at a time and other times she'll just wander around aimlessly. You have to be patient with her. I know Dot is getting senile, but that's OK. She still seems very happy with her life.

The dogs sleep enough during the day that I've never had any problem getting my work done. I give the dogs my undivided attention when they're active and then I work while they're asleep. Lately, there hasn't been enough work to fill the dog's sleepy periods and I've been getting bored. I used to try to make new business contacts or learn how to use a new software application when work was slow. Now, I mostly just read a book or watch something on Hulu. Life is definitely slowing down. The Pope is ten years older than I am and he seems to have the energy of a forty year old. It's almost embarrassing how much energy he has compared to me. How does he do it? Maybe if you have something important to do, you rise to the occasion.

My career as an ad man may be on the back burner, but the dogs still think I'm important. They both depend on me and I try not to let them down. For the time being, this means watching the sun rise every morning, serving as Dot's rear legs, and doing lots and lots of laundry. If you'd asked me ten years ago what I'd be doing when I was sixty seven, I wouldn't have imagined this. It's OK though. I just wish Dot were healthier.

Zorro is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2102

Sometimes I wonder why I even bother to stay connected. 95% of all the phone calls I receive are telemarketers. Nomorobo takes care of a lot of the nuisance calls, but I continue to be amazed at how persistent some people are. Some telemarketers still continue to call several times a day. Do these people really think I'm an idiot? My e-mail is just as bad. There are industrial strength spam filters on both the server and my local e-mail client and still a lot of the spam manages to get through. I never even open these messages, but some of the headers are so preposterous that it makes you wonder what the spammers were thinking. Are there really that many people out there who are dumb as rocks and would fall for these schemes? Maybe there are. I don't think these guys would be so persistent if people weren't falling onto their traps.

I've noticed that the daily bombardment of e-mail spam and telemarketing messages has steadily increased as I grow older. I'm sure they're thinking that if they keep trying, eventually I'll become senile and pick up the phone. It happened to my Dad. He was a brilliant scientist, but when senility began to cloud his brain, he fell for one of those Nigerian scams where someone will tell you that they won the Canadian lottery, but can't claim the prize because they can't afford to pay the tax. They offer to share the lottery winnings with their unsuspecting victim, if he or she will help them pay the tax. I don't know how my Dad fell for such a preposterous scheme, but he was living alone and couldn't resist picking up the phone. He lost everything he made selling his house a few years earlier. If the FBI hadn't stepped in and warned his bank to block large withdrawals, he would have lost even more.

It's sad that the world has come to this. Instead of being open and inclusive, you are forced to put up barriers. I find it hard to trust anyone in today's world. When I'm driving I feel like everyone else on the road is driving without a license or insurance. In Dallas I have good reason to feel this way. I wasn't happy when the Ebola outbreak hit our city a few years ago, because it seemed like someone let down their guard. When I watch the current European refugee crisis on TV, I am convinced that there are ISIS members cleverly mixed in with the hordes of people who are just trying to escape some very horrible conditions. Sometimes I'm envious of friends who go out to Burning Man for a week and manage to convince themselves that the world is full of rainbows and unicorns. I'm pretty observant and I just don't see much to be encouraged about.

Dot certainly didn't provide a lot of encouragement today. She seemed tired. We had to slow down the treadmill a bit during her physical therapy session because she just didn't have the energy. She was only able to go fifteen minutes this week. It's hard to keep the balance of exercise and rest just right. Maybe it was just the weather. It was warmer today and Dot had gotten used to the cooler weather we were having earlier in the week. We'll rest tomorrow. Hopefully, we'll rest tonight as well.

We'll see how tomorrow goes. Dash has a cancer re-check in the morning and I'm not anticipating any problems. He certainly seems healthy now. I've already taken this week's trash out to the curb and am hoping that the truck empties my entire can this time. Friday's are usually good. No matter what happens, I know I can depend on a good breakfast.
 

Princess is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2060

I wake up every morning with a logical, well thought out schedule that everyone completely ignores. Clients could care less about my plans. The dogs don't care either, even though most of what I do has been designed with them in mind. The city of Dallas always thumbs its nose at my plans. It is almost impossible to leave the house without encountering an accident, a construction crew, or a broken stop light that brings traffic to a standstill and makes me late.

I really only had two things to do today, but keeping these simple tasks on schedule was next to impossible. The package I needed to pick up at the UPS will-call counter wasn't there, even though I received an e-mail saying it was ready to pick up. I eventually got things sorted out, but by the time I got home it was already time to take Dot downtown to her physical therapy session. I got the car ready for Dot, but she was on an entirely different schedule and was in no hurry to leave the house. It took a while to get her hooked up in her harness and then she didn't want to poop in the yard, so I knew there was a 50/50 chance she'd poop in the car. It was late, so we had to go anyway. On the way to the vet we got stuck at a malfunctioning stop light that was only letting three cars get through before it turned red again. The light changed five times before we made it through the intersection. The trip downtown took twice as long as it normally should. Luckily, our vet is always late too, so we were both back in sync when we arrived.

Dot did pretty well today. She actually seemed to have more energy than I did. This heat is becoming unbearable. October can't come soon enough. Even though I water the shrubs every day, the yard is still drying out. The house isn't insulated well enough to stay cool in the Summer, so the air conditioner has to work extra hard. Even the tap water is warm now when you turn on the cold water tap. The ground is so warm that it actually warms up the water as it it goes through the underground copper pipes to the house. I'm not surprised that Dot actually seems to like using the underwater treadmill these days. The water is nice and cool.

I watched bits and pieces of the presidential debate this evening. My initial impression was that each of the candidates did reasonably well. It often seemed like they were debating with the three moderators instead of with each other. The moderators seemed to have gotten some sort of directive from the network to make the show provocative. They kept trying to ask gotcha questions that would make them seem tough and probing to their news anchor peers. I'm not really a careful listener to these type of things, but my gut feeling was that the 10 candidates were more or less united on many issues and the moderators were just doing their best to stir things up. This was a little disappointing. I really didn't learn anything new tonight, but then I'm not a big fan of either politicians or news anchors. I would have rather watched a new episode of Dr. Who.

Dot gets an ultrasound scan tomorrow to see whether her tumor has grown. Hopefully it has stayed the same or even shrunk a bit. I'm always a bit nervous about these scans because they place Dot on her back in a cradle to do the imaging. With all the problems she's had with her spine, there's always a danger that a nerve could get pinched again. She needs the test though. All I can do it tell them to be extra careful with her. At least it's Friday tomorrow. The trash has been taken to the curb and I'm ready for the week to be over.

Margo is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2047

Breakfast was the high point of the day. I like predictable, consistent things and this place doesn't let me down. I always order the Amigas plate with Chorizo and tell the barista that I want three cups of coffee. Since I've never varied my order in over two years, I don't even have to say anything when I walk up to the counter. They start cooking my breakfast when I walk in the door. Amigas is basically a plate of scrambled eggs, tortilla strips, Chorizo, cheese, onions, and a very spicy tomatillo sauce. It is served with three flour tortillas and pan fried potatoes. It's a hearty meal, so it takes me three cups of coffee to finish it.

I'd like it if the rest of my day was as relaxing as breakfast, but it seldom is. Apparently, Friday is stressful for a lot of people. I couldn't even get anyone to return my calls today. They were all in meetings or in crisis mode. I kept getting put on hold or dumped to voicemail. I always think my calls are important, but to a lot of people I'm just an old man who asks way too many questions. People prefer to send three word text messages these days. They don't want to spend fifteen minutes going over things in detail. I often realize when people ask me a question they don't really want an explanation at all, they just want me to say yes or no. At any rate, when people say "please call us if you have any questions," and then they won't take your call when you actually do have a question, you can start to feel irrelevant.

Dot ran out of Palladia pills today. This was one of the many questions I was calling about. "What do I do now," I wanted to ask? How can a major cancer center run out of one of their most frequently used medications? When one of the nurses finally returned my call, I was told that all they had left were the 10 mg Palladia pills. The 50mg and 15mg pills were unavailable anywhere. At any rate, next week I will be giving Dot six small pills three times a week instead of two larger ones. The total dose will be 60 mg each day, instead of her usual 65 mg. The oncologist said that this would be fine. I don't know what was wrong at some of the places I called today, but I'm sure the Palladia shortage contributed to the stress at the cancer center.

The temperature continues to get hotter and hotter. I'm impressed with how smart Dash is. He instinctively knows not to walk on pavement now and always chooses to walk on the grass at the side of the road. He never used to do this when the weather was cooler. Even the mornings are getting warmer now and I've had to delay our evening walk until the temperature starts to drop a bit as the sun nears the horizon. My water bill has certainly gone up. It was almost twice as much as it was last month. August will probably be even worse. We've still got grass though. That's a plus. By this time last year, the grass was gone.

It looks like it's going to be a slow weekend. I've got to pick up Dot's Palladia pills in the morning and get a few groceries, but that's about it. Work has slowed down. The dogs have slowed down. There's really no reason for me not to slow down as well.

Molly is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2039

I had way too much on my plate today. The dogs were unusually restless and a lot of my time was consumed just taking them in and out of the house over and over again. Dash just wants to eat June Bugs when I let him out and Dot has to get suited up in her special harness before she can even make it out the back door. I must have taken her harness on and off ten times today. She can't rest comfortably when the harness is on, so I always take it off while she is sleeping. Every time she wants to go outside, I have to put it back on again. Since she is shaky to begin with, getting the harness on and off is not as easy as it might seem.

The article I had scheduled to write today took a lot longer than I expected. I worked on it off and on all day and didn't finish the thing until just before dinner time. One of the reasons the article took so long was that I kept getting interrupted by website emergencies. There were lots of little things that needed to be fixed today. There was also a website so unremarkable that both the client and I had completely forgotten about it for two years. The client finally remembered the website today and asked me why he couldn't find it on the Internet. Hmm. It turned out that he couldn't find the site because it wasn't on the Internet at all. We had forgotten to move it to the new server over two years ago. When you forget about a website for two years, chances are that you don't really need it.

Dot did great during her physical therapy session.  Physical therapy Thursdays are another reason why I was so busy today. I was a little worried about Dot's weak rear leg, but she had one of her best days in several months. She went seventeen minutes on the underwater treadmill, which she hasn't been able to do for a long time. The fact that she seems reasonably strong during therapy and on her morning walks, while still having increasing difficulties around the house is a mystery to me. I wish I knew what was causing the sporadic lameness and leg tremors. Maybe I'll find some answers tomorrow when I take her back to the cancer center for another periodic re-check.

The refrigerator is getting pretty bare, so I ended up making breakfast again for dinner. There are always more breakfast items around the house, since I am more or less fixated on breakfast. Biscuits and gravy with a little breakfast ham actually makes a pretty good dinner. We bought too many bananas this week, so Janet is making banana bread with the rotten ones. I love the smell of fresh baked banana bread. It almost makes me forget what a hectic day it's been.

Tomorrow will probably be more of the same. I've got another long article to complete and Dot has another vet appointment at the cancer center. Maybe the dogs will be calmer tomorrow. That would be nice. At least it's Friday. I'm looking forward to a nice, relaxing breakfast with no barking dogs at my feet. Maybe when I get home from the restaurant, there will be new pictures from Pluto to see on the Internet. I complain a lot, but actually I'm pretty easy to please.

Laura is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1983

It's been a long day. It was raining again when we woke up this morning, so I had to wait until later in the day to walk the dogs. As usual, they refused to go outside and do their business while it was still raining. They acted agitated and upset until I got the bananas out, and then they both completely forgot that they wanted a walk. The rain was already diminishing by the time I finished breakfast, so I only had to wait an additional thirty minutes before the morning showers stopped and I could take Dot and Dash to the park.

When I finally got the dogs taken care of, I turned on the computer and discovered that the Internet was down. Actually, the entire U-verse service was down, because the land line phones and televisions weren't working either. I tried re-booting the router several times and when that didn't work, I called tech support. After spending forever in automated call center hell, I finally got to talk with a real person. AT&T couldn't get things working from The Philippines, or Malaysia, or wherever their call center is these days, so a technician is going to come out tomorrow. I hate it when the network goes down. Usually the problem turns out to be a defective router and when they replace it, I have to reconfigure every WiFi device in the house so all the devices can join the network again using the new router's password. Even the thermostat and several of my cameras are on WiFi now. It's going to be a lot of trouble to reconnect everything.

Luckily, I have access to an alternate WiFi network, so I could still get my work done today. Having U-verse down definitely slowed me down though. Just calling tech support took forever. In today's world, having a network outage is just about as bad as a power outage. This is why I always have a backup network. You can't really be a web developer without access to the Internet.

Dot did great today during her physical therapy session, but she hated riding to the vet in the loaner car. It's too small and the rear seats don't fold completely flat like they do in my car. I had to pull over to the side of the road several times to reposition Dot, because the slight incline of the folded rear seatback made her slide backwards and get stuck every time I went up a hill. I would never buy a small car. Large dogs and small cars just aren't a good mix. The old Defender 90 was the perfect vehicle for hauling dogs around in. The entire back of the car was completely flat and there was tons of headroom. Dot and Dash enjoyed riding around in that car. Too bad I couldn't keep it running forever.

I had been planning to do some additional work on my mobile friendly test site today, but several real jobs got in the way. I was surprised that I got as much done as I did, since I was uploading files using the much slower backup WiFi hotspot. Where there's a will, there's a way, I guess. I'm just glad it's Friday tomorrow. A week of relentless rain, car problems, dental problems, and a bad case of cabin fever have taken their toll on me. I'm looking forward to the long Memorial Day weekend, even though I have no plans whatsoever.

Casey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1948

It doesn't really take much to turn a bad day into a good day. It was supposed to rain this morning, but it didn't. I managed to located a missing UPS shipment and it will be here this weekend. I found a better source for my favorite Italian Roast coffee. I even took some decent photographs of baby ducks on my evening walk with Dash. Little things like these made me forget that I saw a giant spider in the kitchen this morning, woke up with a lot of shoulder pain, and discovered that one of my favorite watches had quit working. All you need is a little good to cancel out the bad.

Dot seems to share this attitude. Even though she stumbles a bit and can't seem to walk in a straight line, she seems quite happy with the limited mobility she has been able to regain. Dot's vet continues to be impressed with her progress, but she reminds me from time to time that Dot is fourteen and not to expect miracles. Dot gets stronger every day, but she gets older as well. I am so process oriented that I sometimes think if I faithfully continue her rehabilitation, she will eventually become a young dog again. That's not going to happen. The best we can hope for is a graceful balance between aging and recovery. Dot did great on the treadmill, but was very tired this evening. I guess that is to be expected.

I left Dot alone for the first time today. After we returned from physical therapy, I took a stack of bills to the post office and picked up some prescriptions at the pharmacy. I was only gone ten minutes, but you've got to start somewhere. When I returned, Dot was still sitting in her dog bed and didn't seem frantic at all. The experiment was a success. The only thing I forgot was to take off her harness before I left. Occasionally, one of her feet gets caught up in the harness while she is sleeping, and I don't want that to happen when I'm gone. We'll try this for a little longer when I take Dash for his annual exam next week. If that goes well, I think the dogs will be fine when I have to go for dental surgery toward the end of the month.

I hope I get some interesting projects next week. This week was slow and pretty dull. When I talk with clients they tell me that they have lots of stuff in the pipeline for me. I just hope it doesn't all hit the fan at once. There's only so much I can do in a day. I never seem to be able to regulate my work load very well. It's been feast or famine for over twenty years now, and I don't expect that to change soon.

It's a safe bet that tomorrow won't be very busy. Friday's never are. I think this is how the tradition of going out for breakfast on Friday got started. Without pressing deadlines, I finally had a little time for myself. I'll get up a extra early tomorrow and walk Dash in the dark, so there's still time to go out for breakfast before Janet leaves for work. This little oasis of time is often the high point of my week. As Dot continues to improve, I imagine that I'll be able to go back to my old schedule at some point. There's no hurry though. All in good time.

Backer is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1942

When I went to breakfast this morning, there was a group of older men sitting at the next table. Judging from their shirts and caps, they were all mechanics at a nearby neighborhood garage. Nobody in this group was looking at a cell phone. They didn't even seem to have phones. The men just talked and laughed and told jokes. Everybody used to be this way. Now, these guys seemed like the last practitioners of the art of conversation. I looked around and everyone else in the restaurant was texting or checking their Facebook feed. It's kind of sad that this is what the world has become. I don't think there's any turning back though. We have forgotten how to have a decent conversation.

When I was walking Dash this morning, we met Janet and Dot on the way home. Dot was walking up a small hill and doing great. She's so much happier now that she's starting to get her life back. These short walks are tiring for Dot, but you can tell that she enjoys them. The exercise is making a difference. The atrophy in her rear legs was so severe right after her surgery that her legs just seemed like skin and bones. Now she's starting to get some muscle back. I can already feel the difference.

I was unusually busy today. Usually Friday's are slow, but not today. In addition to my dog wrangling duties, I finished writing several new articles and managed to get my April invoices ready to mail. I've been hearing that Google is going to start penalizing websites that aren't mobile friendly later this month, so I did a little research to see how hard it would be to convert some of my older legacy sites. My own company website is probably one of the worst offenders. I haven't changed it much since the mid-1990's. As it turns out, older table-based static sites like these are some of the hardest to make mobile friendly. I never should of made my sites look like multi-column magazines. One of the reasons why single column sites and sites without navigation buttons are all the rage now is that they are so much easier to re-size.

It's hard to believe that the Apple Watch sold out in just a few hours on the very first pre-order day. It's just as well. I can't afford one now anyway. I bet a lot of companies wish they had Apple's mojo. You come out with an overpriced product with a battery that doesn't even last 24 hours and you still manage to sell more watches in a single day than Android does in a year. Maybe by the time I get one of these gadgets, Apple will have figured out how to improve the battery life.

I don't know what I want to do this weekend. Sleep would be nice. I haven't been getting much sleep lately. My UP band log says that I average 5 to 6 hours a night. Much of that is light sleep too. Since I occasionally fall asleep writing this blog, 5 hours clearly isn't enough. Light sleep is probably why I have all these weird dreams about losing things too. Who cares about a goal of 12,000 steps a day? I think my goal should be 8 hours of sleep every night.

Apollo is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1907

It was nice to get out for a while this morning. The snow is gone and the weather is warming up. It seemed like a perfect day to get a haircut, enjoy a delicious breakfast and do a little shopping. None of these things took that long, but they were important. With a full belly, some new jeans for Spring, and a decent haircut, I felt ready for anything.

Dot woke up feeling great this morning. I think that her acupuncture session yesterday evening really helped her. She's walking faster now and doesn't crisscross her legs as much. Today, for the first time, I noticed that she's learned to redistribute her weight when she starts to slip to one side. I'm still providing support for her rear legs using the Help 'Em Up Harness, but I can tell that each passing day, she is doing more of the work herself. The challenge is to encourage her to walk without leaving her unsupervised or letting her walk on her own. Dot is an obedient dog and if I constantly told her to lie down or stay in her crate, I think she'd become discouraged and wouldn't even try after a while. I let her sleep as long as she wants, but when she's active, we do a lot of physical therapy.

I forgot to take the trash out to the curb last night and by the time I woke up this morning, the truck has already come and gone. There's just too much to remember these days. I forgot my morning meds as well. You guys need to remind me about this stuff. I don't know what to do about the trash. Since the can is almost full already, we'll never make it until next Thursday. It sure was nicer when the city picked up trash twice a week. Older neighbors say that a long time ago the trucks came three times a week. Probably the next step will be for the city to eliminate trash service altogether.

Dot was indignant today when I put her in her crate so I could take a shower and get a little house cleaning done. She hadn't been in the crate more than thirty minutes when I started to hear loud persistent parking. Dot was mad. She's perfectly willing to take a long nap, if she gets to pick the place. So far, I haven't been able to convince her to take her naps in my office. I'm glad that Dot is more active, but I'm still trying to figure out how to stay active myself. Being a good dog nurse is almost a full time job.

If the weather stays nice this weekend, I'll wash the car, get the water off the roof, and clean up the back yard a bit. I need to start looking for a soft dog crate that I can put in the back of my car. The sooner I can start transporting Dot in the car, the sooner we can begin her water therapy again. There's going to be so much to do this Spring, but on a sunny, warm day like today, anything seems possible. Let's hope there are a lot of sunny days in the weeks ahead.

Anne is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1906

Dash got a rare chance to experience snow this morning. It was starting to sleet when we went to bed last night, but somehow it turned into five inches of snow by the time we woke up. This was a thick, wet snow that would have been perfect for making a snowman if I was so inclined. Dash was intrigued by the snow for a while, but quickly decided that it was too cold. Although all my Facebook friends seem to have uploaded a movie of their dogs racing around playing in the snow, Dash had other plans. He was more interested in going back to a warm, dry house for breakfast.

I was going to cancel my haircut appointment because the driveway and roads were icy, but the salon beat me to it. They called while I was eating breakfast and said that nobody showed up for work this morning. We rescheduled the haircut for tomorrow morning. This was a very strange snowfall. At 7 AM, the roads were treacherous. By 7 PM the snow was completely gone. By the time I gave Dash his evening walk, there was no more winter wonderland. There was just a lot of mud.

Work has been unusually slow this week. Maybe it's the weather. If my clients are like me, they're not really thinking about new projects right now. They're wondering if their car will start in the morning. They're wondering what to do with the kids if there's another snow day. They're wondering why the grocery store shelves are picked bare. Most of all, they're wondering when Spring is going to arrive. Spring is a little late this year.

I think Dot knows that she is queen of the house now. She has a comfortable dog bed in every room, with non-slip carpet runners connecting everything together. When she needs to get up, people come running to help her. Her vet even makes house calls now. Early this evening, Dot got another acupuncture treatment here at the house. Dot is funny. She always barks at her vet when she arrives, but as soon as the acupuncture session begins, she is quiet and relaxed. When the session is over, the barking starts all over again.

I'm looking forward to tomorrow. The weather is supposed to be warmer. Janet has time to watch Dot while I go to my breakfast restaurant and get a haircut. When we trade places in the afternoon, I'll work on my taxes while the dogs are sleeping. Whatever happens, Friday is bound to be better than this week of sleet and snow. Enough of this cold weather. I'm ready for Spring. Dot will be able to resume her water therapy in the Spring. I'll have wildflowers to photograph instead of sullen grey skies. With any luck, my friend and I will have some new business to work on. Spring will be good.

Rory is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1878

Today was one of those days where I wish I was sitting in front of a roaring fire, sipping a cup of hot chocolate as I read a good book. It was miserable outside. The temperature hovered around thirty degrees as a light mist made everything seem even colder. Technically, the rain should have frozen, but luckily it didn't. Icy roads and Texas drivers aren't a good mix. I don't even attempt to go out when the roads ice over anymore. It is just too treacherous.

Writing jobs have started to trickle in again. I was beginning to think that everyone had forgotten about me, but maybe they were just reading the blog and knew I was in California. I think most people know better than to ask me to do two things at once anymore. I don't multitask well at all.

It was Dot's physical therapy day today. She seemed a little tired in the underwater treadmill and appeared to be tense during her acupuncture session. Maybe it was my fault. I was talking to the vet while she was receiving acupuncture and Dot is not really fond of me talking. Most of the time I spend with the dogs, I don't say much of anything. Why should I? It's just me and them. After years and years of spending our days like this, I think Dot sometimes gets alarmed when I talk. We have lots of non verbal communication, but talking just isn't normal. When neighbors stop me to chat on our walks, Dot often starts barking at them. I don't know what she's trying to say, but I suspect it's something like "Go away, he's mine and we've got walking to do."

The date for my dental surgery is drawing closer and closer. I'm dreading this surgery and still don't know how many teeth I'm going to be left with when it's over. I do have a bad cavity on the wisdom tooth that is going to be removed, but I don't understand why a dentist can't just put a filling in and leave the tooth alone. Three different, very reputable dentists have all told me that this is impossible, but it doesn't make sense to me. This tooth came in crooked and is partially impacted, but the root is still good. Why can't they just fill the cavity in this tooth like any other tooth?

It appears that I am not out of the woods yet with my video project. The sound is excellent. The images are well lit and very pretty. I followed the clients instructions exactly. Nevertheless, now that there is a finished product, the client sees new things she'd like to add and wants me to come back and re-shoot a large portion of the video later this month. No change in the budget unfortunately. Jeez, I'm not making much on this in the first place, so this doesn't appeal to me at all. So much for a long series of videos that will keep me busy for the rest of the year.  I'll finish this one, but I don't think I'll be doing any more. It's just too discouraging when people think that shooting a video is easy because they can do the same thing using their phone.

At least tomorrow is Friday. I will go enjoy a delicious breakfast at my favorite restaurant and as I sip my morning coffee, I suspect I will contemplate retirement a little more seriously than I have before.

Zorro is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day