Day 2231

If you happen to follow my Instagram account, you've probably noticed that certain images appear again and again. On Sundays, there is often a picture of a basketball. On Thursdays, you frequently see Dot exercising in the underwater treadmill. On Fridays its almost always a picture of my breakfast. Although these pictures are similar, they are not the same. Each one records a specific event that will never happen again. To me, repetitious pictures like this are an affirmation. They are a way of saying that I'm still here. Life itself is fairly repetitious. The sun comes up every morning and sets every night. We brush our teeth, we shower, we fix our meals, over and over and over again. Some try to escape this monotony with wild adventures. I celebrate the tiny little nuances that make even the most repetitious event unique.

Today was like most Sundays. We slept in a little later and waited until after sunrise to walk the dogs. I can eat a bigger breakfast on weekends because I know I'm probably going to work it off. According to my fitness band, Sunday is the most active day of my week. Today when I vacuumed the house, I not only cleaned the rugs and carpets, I got down on my knees and cleaned baseboards, under tables, and even under the bed. I'll have to admit that Janet shamed my into this additional cleaning, but the house does look pretty nice now.

On my way to the gym this afternoon I stopped by the REI store again. I'm kind of fascinated by the stuff inside this store. I got a pair of mountaineering pants. I'll never go near a mountain with these clever pants, but they seemed perfect for walking dogs. The knees in my regular jeans wear out way too fast because I'm always kneeling down to get Dot's harness on and off or clean Dash's paws. Maybe these heavy duty, reinforced pants will last longer. Shoes wear out pretty fast too with two walks a day over rough terrain. I finally retired my old dog walking boots and started wearing a new pair this morning. The odd thing was that I'd had these new boots for over a year. A receipt in the box said I bought them on January 12, 2015. This is typical of me. I tend to wear old clothes as long as I possibly can, because they become more comfortable with age, but I always have a replacement waiting in reserve.

I wonder if I'm going to be able to see Mercury during the short window of opportunity I have between now and early February? I went outside around 6 AM this morning with a pair of binoculars when I knew the planet would be above the horizon, but once again it was obscured by clouds. For the past several days skies will be crystal clear around midnight, then around dawn clouds will roll in. Later in the day the clouds will burn off and it will become clear again. I'll try again tomorrow.

I need to remember to order printer ink tomorrow. The longer I wait, the harder it will be to unclog the printer. I'm not sure how busy I'll be tomorrow. If there aren't many websites to update, I might see if The Martian is available on Hulu. I currently watch old TV shows on Hulu, but haven't used it yet for pay per view movies. I've noticed that falling leaves are starting to accumulate on the front and back porch. It might be time to use the blower again. Janet couldn't find rubber snakes this weekend either, so she got a rubber lizard to protect her car. We'll see how that goes. The pooping birds are definitely still around. They made a mess of the lawn furniture yesterday. All this may sound insignificant and somewhat boring to you, but it's really not. I'm already looking forward to my banana and strawberry smoothie in the morning.

Holly is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2005

Dot has been leaving little "accidents" around the house. She can't help it. Doctors say that this is not true incontinence. It is a common problem with older dogs that have weak or debilitated hind legs. Dogs like Dot have a real difficulty squatting, so they never fully empty their colon when they poop. As a consequence, poop just falls out of them when they bark or when they get up in the morning. I don't think there is much you can do about this other than be as patient as you can. With Dot's weekly acupuncture, water therapy and exercise regime, we are already doing everything we can to keep her legs strong. The disconcerting thing is that this type of thing happens to people as well. It doesn't paint a pretty picture for growing older. One of the last things I remember my Dad saying before he died was "Nurse, there's a turd in my bed."

Dot's pooping problems haven't really slowed her down. I don't even think she's aware that when she opens her mouth to bark, things fall out the other end. Despite all her problems, Dot is still a happy dog. She wakes up every morning eager for breakfast. She loves her morning walks and relishes smelling every bush along the way. Today, the weather was warm and she wanted to lay outside in the grass and sun herself like she used to do when she was healthy. I can't leave her alone in the yard anymore, because if a car came down the alley, she would try her best to run back and forth along the back fence barking at it. Running is something she should never do because she could seriously hurt herself. Both dogs were having such a good time sunning themselves that I just sat on the garden bench for forty five minutes watching them while the mosquitoes bit me. You have to have a lot of patience with an older dog.

U-Verse isn't working again, so I was trying to show Janet how to work the Hulu remote control this evening. I don't watch Hulu and Netflix all that much, but whenever I do, I'm amazed at the thousands and thousands of things just sitting there on our TV waiting to be watched. It makes me wonder why I'm spending all this money on U-verse service when there are all these other things available for next to nothing. Oh, wait. I remember now. It's U-verse that powers my Internet connection and WiFi network. If I dropped the U-verse service, I would automatically lose all the other things that are streamed for next to nothing over the Internet. My high-tech thermostat would quit working too. There's always a catch.

My insurance agent finally called me back to explain why my rates were so high. He offered me several alternatives, which somewhat inexplicably cost even more than what I am already paying now. When I patiently explained to the agent that the whole point of my call was to reduce my rates instead of increase them even further, he seemed perplexed. I guess it wasn't in the cards to save any money today.

One of my clients also happens to be one of my doctors. I didn't feel like driving up to the clinic just to make an appointment, so I thought I try making an appointment online using a new appointment widget I'd added to his website recently. When I clicked the "Make An Appointment" button, I was presented with a calendar that showed all the available appointment times. Every single morning for the rest of the month was available. This didn't seem right at all, because this particular doctor is always busy. No afternoons were available either, which was even more peculiar.  Since the online system seemed all screwed up, I drove up to the clinic and made my appointment the old fashioned way. "Do you know that your online appointment system doesn't work," I told the guy at the front desk. "Oh, that thing isn't even connected to our system anyway," the guy said. "When someone clicks on one of those buttons, the company that sold us the online service calls us and asks if we have that time available. If we do, we call the patient back and confirm the appointment." "So, clicking on the button doesn't actually make you an appointment at all," I said. "Nope," the guy told me. This has got to be the world's worst automated appointment system.

I hope that Dot doesn't poop in her bed tonight. I'd like to get a good night's sleep without getting up at 3 AM to clean up the peculiar smell next to the bed that woke me up in the middle of the night. It happens a lot.

Lucky is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1573

The weather forecast was right. It rained all day today. There were a couple of short windows of opportunity were I was able to take the dogs outside to do their business, but basically we didn't leave the house today. A cold front must have passed through last night, because it was about 20 degrees colder than it was yesterday. It would have been a good day to light a fire in the fireplace, if we had a fireplace. It might have been a good day to watch a movie on TV as well, if there was anything I felt like watching. We get hundreds of cable channels, but there are only three or four of them that I actually watch. Half the channels in Dallas are in Spanish anyway. On the movie channels, the same Disney movies, Lifetime chickflix, Apocalyptic action movies, and the perennial You've Got Mail and Forest Gump seem to play over and over again.

This was especially irritating today when I paid my latest cable bill and noticed that it had gone up by 30%. What a waste of money. I should probably drop cable entirely and just stick with Netflix and Hulu. I wish you could buy cable channels à la carte. I watch three or four channels and Janet watches three or four more. A plan that included only ten channels would probably be quite reasonable. 

The cable companies still seem quite reasonable compared to the government however. As I've grown older, I'd had to sign up for several government websites. I tried to visit several of these websites today. Each site has their own peculiar password protocols, so you can't use a common, easy-to-remember password to access all of them. What's worse, each site forces you to change your password every six months. It's ridiculous. Once you do manage to login successfully, you usually discover that all your information is wrong anyway. As I slowly learn to navigate the byzantine complexities of the Medicare system, I realize that this is probably what Obamacare will be like for everybody in the near future. I don't think my parents ever really realized that they lived in the best of times. I think I grew up at the tail end of those days of limitless opportunities. The dream may not be over, but it certainly has tarnished a bit.

On one of our short walks between the recurring thunderstorms we passed a small pale blue egg. It must have fallen out of a nearby tree during a burst of wind. The little bird inside isn't going to make it. It was very cold and wet outside today and incubating eggs need to stay warm to hatch. This unlucky egg was already stone cold. This brief encounter reminded me that nature isn't always kind. Nature still probably has a better batting average in this regard than humans do however.

Dash gets his tenth radiation treatment tomorrow. We will pass the halfway mark this week. Dash has been an inspiration through all this. Even though this has been a very rough couple of months for  him with major surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy, he still greets each day full of energy and enthusiasm. In many ways he actually seems happier now than when we started this journey. He gets lots of attention and maybe that's all a dog really wants. Dot is equally amazing. She can barely walk on some days, but she still soldiers on as if she's indestrudtible. If I had Dot's determination and Dash's optimism I would be unstoppable.

Paxton is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1296

There was a package of socks on my front porch this morning. It says a lot that I'd rather buy something as utilitarian and easy to find as socks online instead of going to a store. I don't know how local merchants survive when everything from digital cameras to dog food is easy to find online. It's so painless to buy things this way. A few mouse clicks and the FedEx guy brings it to your door a few days later. The allure of online shopping is even stronger in the Summer. Who wants to park your car at the mall and return an hour later to find your steering wheel too hot to touch? People don't seem as patient in the Summer either. More cars cut you off on the highway and you'll get honked at or worse if you don't make those left turns at stoplights quickly enough. I think the entire city is in a bad mood on hot days like today.

I probably notice the traffic more on Wednesdays, because that's when Dot has her acupuncture appointment. Traffic slowed to a crawl on Central Expressway this afternoon when a wreck blocked traffic. As we inched along toward the vet, I kept wondering what would happen if our own car stalled out. I try to stay in the right lane, so at least I could get off the road if I had car trouble, but sometime that's impossible. Maybe I worry too much about driving around in the Summer with a dog in the dog, but there's so much that could go wrong when you're driving an eighteen year old Defender 90. If I had to get a tow, I'm not even sure the tow truck driver would let Dot ride in the truck with him.

Luckily, we made it to and from our acupuncture appointment without a hitch. Dot seems to like her treatments now. Even though her legs still seem weaker than they should be, I have to assume that the treatments are doing her some good. I wish I could say the same for myself. I got the results from last Saturday's blood tests back today and my liver enzymes are elevated again. I'm not sure what to do now. I'm already taking the recommend medications, eating the recommended food, and doing the recommended exercise.

Although tomorrow is a holiday, it's going to seem pretty much like a regular Thursday around our house. Janet has to work tomorrow and if the weather remains as hot as it was today, the dogs aren't going to want to go out of the house anyway. I'm pretty much caught up on my writing work. If nothing new comes in tomorrow, it might be time to watch another movie on Hulu.

Dash didn't do well in training class tonight. Actually, none of the dogs did. There was something smelly in the grass that the dogs wanted to eat. I couldn't tell what they were interested in, but there must have been something. Every ten feet or so, Dash had his nose in the grass, looking for some illusive treasure. No illusive treasures for me today. The high point of my day was getting a package of socks.

Bob Hope is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 1244 - Mother's Day

I should have paid more attention to my Mom when I had the chance. It's way too late now. Both my parents have been dead for many years. Mom died way too soon. She would have loved the Internet and all the new opportunities it brought. Mom was a champion of lost causes and would have been delighted to discover that there were other folks who thought the same way as she did. The Internet is good for that sort of thing. As it was, she fought her battles more or less alone. Towards the end of her life, she took me aside and told me, "You're the writer in the family. You're going to have to tell my story, because nobody else will." I wonder why it slipped her mind that there was another, more celebrated writer in the family. I don't know whether Mom would have liked what I wrote. I was never good at reading her mind. She certainly had me pegged pretty well though. And she did make a difference. Thank you Mom.

Dot occupies the role of Mom in our house. She knows she's in charge and does an amazingly good job of keeping Janet and I punctual, while doing everything in the proper order. Dash never listens to me, but he does listen to Dot. All it takes is a stern look or a low growl to put an end to his bad behavior. Dash isn't scared of Dot, but he does respect her. The girl has an air of authority about her that every dog in the dog park understands. If Dot was a person, she'd have made a great Mom.

The dogs and I had a quiet day. I took them on an extra long walk this morning to compensate for missing their outing to the dog park. While they both took a snooze after we returned, I watched a movie on Hulu. I wonder if there's any way to turn off those irritating commercials on Hulu. One of the reasons I signed up for Hulu in the first place was to get away from commercials. I guess I shouldn't be surprised. Whenever someone comes up with a good idea, the first thing they want to do is monetize it.

Later in the day, I went back to Central Market and got some more tasty food from the deli counter. I like to eat, but I really don't like to cook. I think I've got enough now to last until Janet gets back. Never mind that there's tons of food in the freezer. I never open the freezer. That's Janet's side of the fridge.

We slept in longer than usual this morning. The dogs aren't very good alarm clocks. They'll get up when the sun starts streaming through the bedroom window, or when they hear Janet making their breakfast. Whichever comes first.  We'll probably get up late tomorrow as well. I'm certainly not getting up before the sun starts streaming through the bedroom window.

Dixie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1198

I don't know why I'm so tired today. I certainly didn't do much. To mitigate the effects of a rather uneventful day, I explored Hulu Plus a bit and discovered a wealth of new ways to waste time. I also practiced the guitar for a while until the carpal tunnel pain in my wrist forced me to quit. I can usually play for about forty-five minutes now. Back in my rock 'n roll days, that would have only been one set in a four or five set evening. It's still fun to play though. I usually play through a pre-amp using headphones so I won't bother the dogs. I'm lost in my little world, while they're sleeping on the bed, lost in their own dog-dreams.

I got an e-mail from Angie's List saying that they'd send me a $20 gift card if I'd write two reviews for health care providers. What's that all about? I thought all Angie's List reviews were supposed to be spontaneous and unsolicited. I went ahead and wrote the reviews anyway, but I doubt that I'll ever get the gift card. The whole thing reminded me of the time some meeting planing web site told me that they'd send me an iPod if I filled out their survey. I filled out the survey four times, but never did get the iPod. All I got for my efforts were annoying calls from the meeting planning company, asking me if I'd like to sign up for their expensive service.

I did do some web site work today, but it was all pretty inconsequential. Today's revisions rose to about the same level of importance as the time I spent pumping up the Defender's tires to 32 PSI with an air compressor. I don't know why the tires have a consistent, very slow leak. I also don't know why some clients continue to make consistent, and often needless website changes. It's good to have something to do, however. Without these activities, I would have been forced to watch even more old episodes of Lexx on Hulu.

Although the day started cold, it warmed up quite a bit by the time dog training class arrived. It was actually quite nice outside this evening, so Dash and I had no excuse for avoiding class. Two dogs got in a fight, which scared Dash, but otherwise the training class was as uneventful as the rest of the day. Maybe something interesting will happen tomorrow.

Chloe is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1193

In a lot of ways, days without much to do are harder than the busy ones. I was scratching my head to come up with ways to stay busy today. I did laundry. I watered the new grass. I unclogged the large format printer. I recharged all the portable devices. I even finished my monthly essay for my writers group a week early.

When I was walking the dogs this morning, I noticed that bulldozers were tearing down another house in the neighborhood. One by one, all the little frame houses are coming down and being replaced by mansions. Our part of town has become trendy and desirable in recent years, but apparently the new buyers are too snooty to live in the little frame houses that have surrounded the lake for as long as I can remember. Property values are going up, but only because someone wants to tear down your house.

I was pleasantly surprised to discover something new on the breakfast menu this morning. Since I was eating at the restaurant with the good bacon, I guess I never noticed the healthy section of the menu before. What I ordered were Eggs Benedict with Cuban black bean cakes and grilled tomato slices, all covered with a spicy Chipotle Hollandaise sauce. Although the meal was definitely not a diet item, it was probably much healthier than the plates piled high with sausages, bacon and waffles swimming in maple syrup that I used to order at this place.

My water bill is going to be huge next month. I'm supposed to water the new grass and vegetation for about an hour a day for the next thirty days. The trouble with watering our yard is that the roots from all the large oak and elm trees suck up all the water. The trees stay healthy, but the yard dries out quickly, no matter what you do. I'm determined to keep things wet this time though. Too much effort has gone into this yard just to see it dry up and die again.

Got a call from the Land Rover dealer around supper time saying that my Defender was ready to pick up. Damn. I was hoping to drive the trouble-free new LR2 loaner car for another week or so. Even with the new engine seals and a brand new fuel pump, I still don't trust the Defender. It has reached that awkward age when, as soon as you fix one thing, another thing breaks.

I'm hoping for a totally uneventful weekend. It's going to be cold outside, so staying inside and watching old movies on Hulu Plus and maybe playing the guitar a bit sounds pretty good to me.

Brooke is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1191 - Vernal Equinox

It was a good day. It's hard to go wrong when the first day of Spring actually feels like Spring. The landscaping crew made good progress today. I'm feeling much more confident now that the yard is going to look nice when it is finished. All the metal edging is in place. A dump truck came with lots of top soil today. Even some of the new turf has been installed. By this time tomorrow, the yard ought to be finished. I'm tempted to hire these guys to maintain the yard as well. Neither Janet or I are known for having a green thumb. It would be a shame to go to all this trouble to have a nice looking yard and then have everything die again in August.

Sometimes I'm surprised at how little it takes to put me in a good mood. I'm enjoying seeing the yard come together. It's nice to get on a scale and realize that I've lost eight pounds in less than a month. Dot's shaky rear legs seem to be getting stronger as well. Unless something terrible happens next week, I'm going to give March a thumbs up.

I tried out the new juicer today. It takes a lot of fruit and vegetables to make juice. I fed a whole pineapple into the juicer and only got about two pints of juice in return. The juice was quite tasty, but I thought there would be more. I decided to keep the pulp as well. I guess you're supposed to throw the pulp away, but it tasted a bit like pineapple pudding and it seemed a shame to waste the stuff.

So far, Hulu seems like a good deal. Many of my favorite shows are well represented. There were even quite a few British comedies, which surprised me. Since I generally prefer the old shows to today's endless lineup of reality TV, Hulu might be all I need. I ought to give one of those over-the-air HD antennas a try and see if I can pick up anything in our neighborhood. There are so many trees in our part of town that I doubt that an antenna would work well, but even if it just pulled in a few basic channels for the news, I might be able to dump cable and U-verse entirely.

Tomorrow ought to be interesting. I need to renew a few insurance policies and the agent said he'd be happy to come out to the house, so I wouldn't have to drive to his office in Far North Dallas. I told him that I have two loud barking dogs, but he said that wouldn't be a problem. Actually it will be a problem. Maybe we can meet on the front porch.

Baxter is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1188 - St. Patrick's Day

St. Patrick's Day isn't much of a holiday for someone who no longer drinks. All it meant to me today is that the park was much more crowded than usual and we had to keep our eyes open for people who didn't have their dogs on a leash. We saw one off-leash German Shepard loosely attached to a Frisbee throwing couple who wasn't paying much attention to him. Luckily, the dog was paying more attention to the Frisbee than to Dot and Dash. There were inattentive people with questionable dogs in the dog park as well. A pit bull who liked to play rough almost knocked Dot over. The dog wasn't mean, but its owner should have been paying attention. Usually dogs who come to the dog park are very well behaved, but holidays and nice weather bring out a totally different crowd. I prefer the quiet, uneventful days.

I'm getting tired of AT&T raising their U-verse prices while they continue to eliminate some of our favorite channels. I thought I'd try Hulu Plus as an alternative and see if we could get by without U-verse. Not as easy as you might think. First of all, the Internet gateway is provided by the U-verse modem, so it would be hard to get rid of U-verse entirely. Secondly, I discovered that I couldn't even connect to Hulu on our TV because the AT&T service technician had disabled the TV's WiFi capability the last time they were out to the house to fix the router. I knew that the TV used to connect to the Internet, because I've watched YouTube videos on it before. I put on my reading glasses, got out the manuals, and got to work. About 45 minutes later, I had the WiFi fixed and the TV hooked up to the Internet again. I clicked on the Hulu button and discovered immediately that it wasn't free. I guess that shouldn't have surprised me. Nothing is free any more. Hulu Plus does have thousands and thousands of TV shows in its database though, so it still might be a much better deal than U-verse.

I'm going to try to get as many out-of the-office errands done as I can next week, while I've still got the Land Rover loaner car. I don't know if I'll ever be able to trust the Defender again. Janet says it's time to give up on the car and buy something new. Maybe she's right. There's nothing out there that I like right now though. I keep waiting for Land Rover to introduce the next generation Defenders, but they keep pushing back the launch date. I thought they were going to introduce the new Defenders in 2014, but my mechanic tells me that it probably won't be until 2017 now. I doubt if my current car will last that long.

Next week ought to be interesting. The landscapers are coming to refurbish the back yard and I'm sure that both dogs will be obsessed with all the activity going on in their territory. I'm already trying to prepare myself for a whole lot of barking. Hopefully, I'll be able to confine Dot to my office for most of the day, so she can't actually see what what's going on outside. If I'm lucky, this will keep things a bit quieter around the house, but as you know, I'm not usually lucky.

Allie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day