Day 2806

It was a little unusual to go to the gym on Wednesday, but why not. There is nothing to differentiate weekdays from weekends anymore. I've decided that stopping or reversing the muscle atrophy I've been experiencing is as important as anything else that's on my plate. I might as well go to the gym whenever I've got some free time.

Truthfully, I could go to the gym every single day if I enjoyed it as much as some of the other people I see working out. Some of them seem to live at the gym. It doesn't matter what day I pick. They're always there. I actually did pretty well today, considering that I'd already been up on the roof. If I could bring myself to consistently exercise like this three times a week, I might actually see some results.

Preparing the roof for my repairs was actually a lot more work than my workout. I cleared away the remaining standing water today. Tomorrow I will clean the damaged surfaces and hopefully on Friday I can apply the new elastomer patches. Since there is no more rain in the forecast, there is a reasonable chance of success. It is so discouraging to go up on the roof. I think the materials that were originally used to coat the roof were defective, but the roofer won't put on a completely new roof. The whole thing is eventually going to be patched one square foot at a time.

I could spend the rest of my life repairing broken stuff around the house. I think I understand now why people sometimes just get in their cars and drive away from it all forever. There is so much that needs to be fixed now that it seems a bit overwhelming. If it was hard to find a good contractor before, it's going to be impossible now. Everybody is going to be down in Houston rebuilding the city for the next ten years.

I stopped by the REI store on the way to the gym and there was absolutely nothing that I wanted or needed. I left the store empty handed. I felt the same way the last time I visited the Apple Store. Maybe I am finally moving beyond my need to constantly accumulate stuff. It would be a good thing if this was true. Every amazing gadget turns into a pile of broken stuff after three to five years. I have enough broken stuff already. Maybe possessions are actually a liability. This would be a totally new concept for me, but it's something I see looming on the horizon.

It's time for my annual physical, but since I'm thinking of switching doctors I don't know whether to go ahead and schedule an appointment or wait until I find another doctor and start over with a clean slate. Why did my doctor have to fire me as his web designer? I was reasonably happy until this happened. Now I hate to even visit the clinic. Janet's doctors are great, but they are in a whole different league than mine. It's pretty obvious that the quality of care she gets is worth the extra money, but it's still hard to put aside money for health that could be used for a new camera. Nevertheless, I'm fairly certain I'll eventually go ahead and make the switch. The older you get, the more you realize that staying healthy is the only thing that matters.

I'm glad the rain finally stopped in Houston. Hopefully, the flood waters will start to recede soon. As hard as things are now, I think it will be even harder when the news crews disappear and people are left with the enormous task of rebuilding their lives from scratch. A tornado roared through a suburb of Dallas a few years ago and the residents are still wrangling with insurance companies and trying to rebuild their homes. We'll see what happens, but I think Texas has been changed forever.

Tessa is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 2804

Whenever there's a disaster, my first thoughts are about the animals. There's already been an amazing effort to rescue dogs, cats, and horses trapped by rising waters around Houston. Probably much more will be needed in the days ahead. Among the thousands of animals in danger today were three Dalmatians trapped in a kennel that was being flooded by water that was being released from a nearby dam. I'm not sure, but I think these dogs are safe now. I hope so. It was amazing to see the rapid efforts of many people, some of whom I know, to coordinate an immediate rescue by boat. I'm not a huge fan of social media, but this is where it shines. Not more than an hour after I began seeing stories about the dogs plight on Facebook, boats were on the way. There were probably hundreds of stories like this today, but this was the only one that involved Dalmatians. When a Dalmatian is in danger it catches my attention.

It's already been a week since Janet's reconstruction surgery. Her doctor was pleased with her progress today and even removed some of the stitches. The nurse said that we were doing a good job with the bandages. That was a relief. If all continues to go smoothly, Janet will return to work again in another week.

I wish things were going just as smoothly with Dash. He threw up again after eating a normal breakfast and having a nice walk. Like many of his previous episodes, there was no warning. He just walked calmly to the back door around 1 PM and threw up. Dash shows no signs of distress before or after these incidents. He's been fine for the rest of the day. His vet has suggested that we put him on a mild anti-nausea medication for a month and see if we notice any changes. The theory is that he might be mildly nauseous all the time as a result of his vestibular disease. I hate to add another pill to his already lengthy list of meds, but this might be worth a try. Obviously something is wrong, but it has been very hard to pin down the cause.

We had more intermittent rain from the outer bands of Harvey. It's nice that I don't have to water the lawn every day, but the rain is going to complicate the roof repairs I was planning on making this month. It's going to take an extended dry spell before I am even able to prepare the surface for the elastomer coating the roofers gave me. There's certainly not any dry weather in the immediate future. I should have checked the weather radar before I walked Dash this evening. We got caught in a sudden shower and both got soaked.

It wasn't a very productive day. I got the wet/dry vacuum out and removed another quart of water from under the shower tiles. I don't know how this water is getting in there. I've sealed all the cracks completely with silicon caulk. Things like this are why people eventually give up and remodel their bathrooms. I don't know if I'm ever going to be able to locate the source of this leak.

It doesn't matter if it is a shower stall or an iPhone case. Old things just crack and break. I tried to repair my Lunatik iPhone case for the third time this afternoon. I bought this case because it was supposed to be indestructible, but it is so old now that it is developing stress cracks. I took the case apart and applied superglue to the tiny cracks using watch repair tools. It would have been easier to just buy a new case but they don't make these things anymore.

I'm not sure what I'll be doing tomorrow. One way or another, I'm sure it will involve water.

Mandy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 2803

Everyone in Dallas knows someone in Houston. I've been mesmerized by the news coverage today. The flooding seems biblical. It just doesn't seem possible that we are talking about feet of rain instead of inches of rain. I saw a picture of the Houston airport today. It was a lake. Freeways are under so much water that even the overhear directional signs are buried. I've been to Houston many times and I can't even comprehend this scale of devastation.

Dallas is 400 miles away and even we are getting rain from this storm. The rain here is gentle and in many cases needed, but the fact that the outer bands of rain reach this far shows you just how big this weather system is. I've heard that they're opening a huge center for hurricane evacuees here in Dallas tomorrow. Similar centers will probably be opening all over the state. The problem is that I don't think many people can evacuate yet. The roads in and out of the area are flooded.

I didn't do much today. Dash got his walks in between rain showers. It was so messy outside that I didn't feel like going to the gym. When I took a shower this morning, I noticed a small leak. I still haven't been able to completely seal the shower floor. I used to be much better at this sort of thing. I'm losing my touch.

Today would have been a good day to take a camera down to the shoreline and photograph water birds, but I'd let my camera batteries run down and by the time I got them charged again the light was fading. It's probably just as well that I stayed inside. If I took my camera down to the lake, I almost certainly would have gotten caught in one of today's many intermittent rain showers.

It would have been Dot's birthday today. We don't know if she was actually born on this day, since she was a rescue, but we adopted her on September 27, 2004. I remember the day she came home with us well, but it seems like such a long time ago now. We have had many dogs and some of the memories are starting to muddle together in my head. Dot's memories haven't faded yet. I still can't believe she's not here with me. I wonder if that amazing dog ever knew how important she was in my life.

It's probably going to be a while before I can use the can of elastomer coating material the roofers left on my porch. It looks like we'll be getting intermittent rain every day until Harvey completely dissipates. It's hard to believe that they're forecasting even more rain for the Houston area. How much more rain can that city take?

Janet has decided that she feels well enough to start driving again. She ran a short errand as a test this afternoon and will drive herself to the doctor tomorrow. I'm glad her recovery seems to be going so smoothly. I hope the surgeon approves of the way we've been changing bandages. I have a feeling that we're using twice as much gauze and tape as a proper nurse would, but we're doing the best we can. It hasn't been a great summer. I think 'doing the best we can" might sum things up for quite a few people this year.

Dot is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 2802

Every year around this time we go see the Rich-Tones at the Eisemann Center. One of Janet's friends is in the group and she hasn't missed one of these annual shows in years. She certainly wasn't going to let a little surgery keep her from tonight's concert. If you don't know who the Rich-Tones are, imagine Pentatonix with 100 people in the group instead of five. I wasn't that familiar with a cappella singing when we started going to these things many years ago, but I've grown to appreciate the genre. Tonight's show was very enjoyable. There was lots of new material and for once we didn't have to worry about leaving a sick dog. I checked on Dash once during intermission and he was sleeping peacefully on the bed. He was still sleeping when we got home.

A few of Harvey's outer rain bands arrived in Dallas today. There was no wind or danger. All we got was a gentle rain. We may get more rain later in the week as the hurricane continues to move inland, but we are too far away to worry about severe weather. The storm will either dissipate or move back to sea long before it would arrive in Dallas. It's an entirely different story in Houston. The city is already starting to flood.

Janet can't drive yet, but she's feeling well enough that she wanted to get out of the house for a while. I took her grocery shopping and basically just pushed the cart around while she got a new supply of fresh fruits and vegetables. Since we've virtually stopped buying canned and frozen items, it seems like we're going to the grocery store a lot more frequently these days. It's probably worth the effort. We're both eating healthier now.

Dash's blood test results came back from the lab today. His Phenobarbital levels are still in the normal range, but just barely. I have a feeling that the vet is going to want to increase his dose because she feels that there might not be enough Phenobarbital in his bloodstream to protect him from seizures anymore. I'm sure we'll get this all worked out, but I'd really hate to see him taking any additional meds. I think he takes too many already.

Today's mail was full of flyers for Labor Day sales. Isn't Labor Day when Summer is unofficially over? This has certainly been an eventful Summer, but I don't think either of us would want to repeat it. Here's hoping that Dash stays healthy and that there are no new medical emergencies for the rest of the year. We may get more rain tomorrow. I guess it doesn't matter, since I don't feel like going anywhere anyway. If it's a rainy day, I just may join Dash for a good long nap.

Cammy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 2801

I wasn't expecting things to go so smoothly today. We didn't get any rain, so I was able to walk Dash before we went to the vet. The walk made a difference. Dash wasn't as wild in the car, and more importantly there was no poop to clean up. The car still smells clean. I think the Phenobarbital level test was done correctly too, so we probably won't have to do this again.

After I brought Dash home, I went out for breakfast and ran a few errands. I had Lox and a bagel, which always reminds me of traveling. Maybe when life returns to normal, I'll do some traveling. NASA still offers writers like me opportunities to view launches from time to time. It would be fun to apply for press credentials again. We'll se how the rest of the year goes. Right now there are bills to pay and Janet needs to get healthy again.

The roofers delivered a big can of the special elastomer coating for the roof. I would have preferred that they applied the coating themselves, but this is a reasonable compromise. The problem now is that the five gallon can of elastomer is way too heavy for me to move to the roof.  One of my errands today was to find smaller cans that I could transfer the product to and them hoist them up to the roof with a rope. I'm not sure how the roofers got the large cans up on the roof, but I certainly can't move this thing by myself. I've got plenty of time to come up with a plan. It looks like it is going to rain all weekend.

We're getting better at changing bandages. Luckily, Janet goes back to the doctor on Monday so somebody who knows what they're doing can review our work. I'd hate to think that we were doing something wrong day after day. You'd think that after complicated surgery, doctors wouldn't want to leave anything to chance. Changing dressings yourself seems fairly universal though. Unless you go home in a cast, you'll eventually have to change a bandage or two.

Hurricane Harvey looks pretty bad. I'm watching the Weather Channel now and wondering why whenever there's a hurricane, reporters like to stand out in the rain and get blown around by gusts of wind. It seems like a broadcast tradition. I'm always amazed that people like to live in low costal areas. Hurricanes are nothing new. They occur over and over again. Towns get flooded and they just rebuild in the same place and start over. Hopefully, everyone will stay safe, but I have a feeling that a lot of people are going to have some serious flood damage tonight. Here I am worrying about a few inches of water on my roof and there are thousands of people dealing with a nine foot storm surge.

When Janet is home I forget what day it is. They all seem the same. Today seemed a lot like Saturday. You can't tell what day it is by the traffic anymore. There is horrible traffic everyday. I actually did think it was Saturday for a while when I was grocery shopping this afternoon. Maybe I'll think it's Sunday tomorrow.

Pinky is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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