Day 4940 - Independence Day

Today seemed like any other day. If I didn't turn on the television I might never have known it was Independence Day. It's a shame that the country is so divided. This should be a day that we all celebrate the many things we have in common. Instead we seem like a country divided right down the middle. It's not just politics either. One half of the country doesn't agree with the other half about anything. It kind of feels like we are in the middle of a lazy man's civil war.

I keep to myself and try to steer clear of all the arguments and division. A simple life is a good life as far as I'm concerned. We started the day as we always do with a sunrise walk. Dawn loves these walks, but she's not a very energetic dog. As soon as we return home she goes back to bed.

After my regular breakfast of shredded wheat and fruit, I gathered the tools I will need to fix the screen door. I didn't get around to actually fixing the door though. It already felt too hot outside. I wonder why this still feels like the hottest summer on record. Last Independence Day was much worse. I think it was 102 degrees at this time last year. This morning the temperature was only in the high 70's on our early walk. I think the older I get, the less I'm able to tolerate a normal Texas summer.

Since I didn't feel like doing anything useful this morning, I wrote a letter to my sister before getting ready to go to the gym. The post office was closed today, but I'll mail the letter tomorrow. I thought the gym would be empty today but it was surprisingly crowded. It didn't seem like I would be able to shoot baskets because people were playing pickleball on the basketball court. The pickleball game finished long before I completed my three miles on the indoor track, so I ended up doing the same thing that I did yesterday. A three mile walk and fifteen minutes on the basketball court seems to be my workout these days. I really ought to be doing more.

I've added lunch to my daily schedule but it doesn't change much. I still run out of things to do by mid-afternoon. Today I tested the Polaris star tracker again. I wanted to make sure it still worked with my new phone. The phone wasn't a problem but the tracker still isn't very reliable. It take forever to get the camera to connect with the app on my phone and I still haven't figured out how to do panorama shots. I'm sure I'm doing something wrong, but there still isn't a proper instruction manual for this thing. Will I ever use the little tracker for astrophotography? That remains to be seen. I certainly don't have any plans to go back to McDonald Observatory any time soon.

I haven't heard any fireworks this evening. That's strange. Usually it feels like a battle zone by this time of night. Maybe the big city sponsored shows got canceled. Maybe they are later this year. Who knows. At any rate we're lucky that Dawn isn't scared of fireworks. She doesn't seem to notice them at all.

Tomorrow will be another hot day. Maybe I'll finally get around to fixing the screen door, or maybe I'll do nothing at all. 

Matao is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4575 - Independence Day

Our summer heat wave continues. It got up to 102 degrees today and there wasn't a cloud in sight. It was already in the mid-80's when we took Dawn on her first walk in over a week. The temperature didn't bother her this morning. She was eager to walk. Dawn has become a different dog now that Janet has returned. She's bolder, more energetic, and her tail wags a lot. It's pretty clear that Dawn views Janet as her companion and me as some sort of kennel attendant. 

It all makes sense in a weird way if you know about Dawn's past. She was born in a puppy mill and lived her entire life there as a breeding dog until she was rescued. A couple owned the kennel, but the wife died at some point, leaving the kennel operation to the husband and their son. I think that Dawn liked and trusted this woman, but was mistreated by the two men after she died. It's really all she knows. Even after several years with us, this is still all new to her. She trusts me a lot more when Janet is around. Probably the kennel was run better and the dogs received better care when the man and his wife owned and operated the place together. I'm just guessing here, but the couple might have even been responsible breeders when they were younger. That was a long time ago though. I'm glad the puppy mill was finally shut down and the remaining dogs were given a second chance. If anyone deserves a second chance in life, it's Dawn.

I'm not the world's most patriotic person, but I do have some thoughts about Independence Day. I find it terribly sad that some in this country seem to hate what the founding fathers created and actively want to tear everything down and start over. I don't think many of these people understand the differences between a republic and a representative democracy or the founders belief that that individuals should control the state rather than the state controlling the individual. If these leaders were alive today they would seem more like libertarians than democrats or republicans. They believed in very limited government and created a republic rather than a representative democracy specifically to prevent the federal government from becoming too powerful. I guess you could call me a libertarian as well. I still think that the people who started this country had a brilliant idea that has lasted for over two hundred years. Our government has become too powerful and you are not going to improve things by making it even more powerful. You can tear everything down if you want, but a phoenix is not going to rise from the ashes. All you will be left with is a hollowed out empty shell. 

I tried to take care of a few things in the yard today but it was probably a mistake. It was just too hot to be working outside. I tried to get rid of all the wasp and mud dauber nests under the eaves of our house. I almost got stung several times. There was actually a hornet's nest inside the step ladder I was using. After I sprayed, the wasp and hornet spray got all over the windows and then I had to clean the windows. I watered the Japanese black bamboo in the atrium as well as the small tree in our front courtyard. I forgot the name of this tree. It's not a crepe myrtle or a dogwood, but it's about that size. Jeez.  It wasn't that long ago that I knew the names of all the plants in our yard.  Now I'm forgetting everything.

Forgetting bills is worse than forgetting the names of ornamental trees. I forgot to pay my storage warehouse rent this month. Luckily I remembered the bill on my long walk this morning and I was still within the grace period so I didn't have to pay a penalty. I probably should set everything up on auto-pay, but I like to pay my bills at the last possible minute and most companies prefer to suck the money out of your account as early as possible. 

I did take my long walk this morning, but I'll probably just go to the gym for the rest of the week. It's going to be even hotter tomorrow. A short sunrise walk with Dawn is all the outdoors we need until things start to cool down again. I'm starting to hear fireworks now. I'm not a big fan of fireworks, but luckily Dawn isn't afraid of them. The only noise that seems to bother her is the dishwasher.

Matao is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4210 - Independence Day

It was unusually quiet for a major holiday. The streets were empty. Neighborhood cafes didn't seem busy. Even the park wasn't very full. It really felt like the entire city had left and gone to the beach. Bad weather or the pandemic certainly weren't keeping people indoors this year. They were just someplace else. I have a feeling that every lake, sandy beach, and National Park was pretty crowded today.

The weather was actually very nice this morning and we tried to take advantage of it. Dawn got a nice early walk after we got up. We slept in a bit this morning, but it was still cloudy and cool when we left the house. I'm glad that Dawn is eating normally again. It makes life a little less stressful. When we returned from our walk, Janet and I had a holiday breakfast of pancakes and bacon and then took Dawn for her Sunday outing. Dawn expects this trip now and gets really excited as we get ready to go. Janet works on Dawn's training exercises while we are walking and I can already tell that Dawn is getting better. We both think the training class has been good for her. She is becoming much more confident now. 

When we took Dawn for her ice cream cone on the way home, we were the only customer. This was really strange because the place is usually packed on weekends. As we ate our cones in the car, we didn't see a single car go through Andy's drive through. Today was perfect ice cream weather too. Where did all the people go this year? It felt more like last year's lockdown Fourth of July than a normal Independence Day.

I still think Independence Day is worth celebrating. If you read the Declaration of Independence and think about what it says, it is a remarkable document. The founding fathers were brilliant and thoughtful men who were able to create something that has lasted for over two hundred years by recognizing that individuals should control the state rather than the state controlling the individual. If these leaders were alive today they would seem more like libertarians than democrats or republicans. They believed in very limited government and created a republic rather than a representative democracy specifically to prevent the federal government from becoming too powerful.

The United States has grown and evolved over the years, but the goal has largely remained the same. There has been a strong desire to provide equal opportunities that would allow individual exceptionalism to flourish. Individualism is what made this country great. Individual states and individual communities were free to chart their own path as long as they operated under the umbrella of a rule of laws that were outlined in the constitution. It's a shame that all this is in jeopardy now. There are those who want to diminish the importance of individualism and substitute the collective will of the state. There are those who think equal outcomes are more appropriate than equal opportunities. I find this very sad. When you destroy the individual and reduce everything to the lowest common denominator you basically destroy civilization itself.

It isn't surprising that people like Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos are almost desperate to get off the planet and start over. They know what's coming. There are too many people in the world and globalization, along with a benign world government run by the United Nations will only makes things worse. Global corporations would love to turn the entire world into affluent consumers. The more we consume the quicker we all become extinct. The planet simply cannot support a world full of affluent people cutting down all the trees for homes and eating all the fish in the sea. Why don't people understand this? If your spirit animal is a unicorn, you're doomed. Humanity's goal should be reducing the population rather than increasing opportunities so everyone can consume more. Ahh, but maybe somebody does understand. Maybe the pandemic was just a practice run. Maybe the next one will wipe out everyone except the Chinese. The Chinese win the long game you know. They don't have to deal with this messy little moment in time that the founding fathers created. Have a happy Independence Day.

Matao is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3845 - Independence Day

I guess I'm sort of a lazy patriot. I never served in the military. I seldom fly a flag, although we did have one on our house for a while right after 9/11. I'm proud to be an American though. I like it here. I've visited and worked in other countries and none of them even comes close to this one. I really hate to see people tearing this country down for things we either did or didn't do in the past. You've got to put historical events in context. Everything happens for a reason. The journey from the Stone Age to the Rolling Stones has taken us three million years. Humanity has only been keeping track of this journey for around five thousand years, but still that is a lot of time. When the founding fathers wrote the Declaration of Independence they had already learned from the Mesopotamians, the Greeks, the Romans, the Italian Renaissance, the Industrial Revolution, The Protestant Reformation, the establishment of parliamentary democracy in England and much more.

It's not really fair to condemn the founding fathers for owning slaves. The practice was commonplace at the time and in fact has been commonplace throughout human history. You can throw a dart at any civilization and you will find slaves. The Romans had them. The Aztecs had them. Many countries still have them today. It was commendable that John Quincy Adams rejected slavery, but he was the exception rather than the rule.

I think we should remember Washington, Jefferson and the others who signed the Declaration of Independence for their brilliance in creating a system of self governance that has lasted far longer than most. The history of the world is mostly a history of war and revolution. Generally the citizens haven't ruled. When you look at the United States through the lens of history, we come out looking pretty good. The founding fathers designed a system that was durable and flexible enough to adapt to a world that none of them would have recognized. Hey, we only had one civil war. The French had at least four.

While I'm sitting here musing about history, everyone else seems to be outside shooting off fireworks. It sounds like a war zone in our neighborhood. I don't know what it proved to eliminate public fireworks displays this year. Everyone seems determined to have their own. I think fireworks became cheap and abundant this year when so many municipalities decided to cancel their public displays because of the coronavirus. Apparently people have been shooting off fireworks every night in major cities for weeks now. I think this is happening in Dallas too, but I live far enough away from the city center that I don't hear what goes on downtown. I'm sure Dawn hears the fireworks, but she certainly isn't bothered by them. She's just sleeping calmly on the bed now.

It was a little cooler today and the park wasn't as crowded as I expected. There were the usual Saturday morning runners and cyclists, but there weren't many picnics and barbecues. Actually Fourth of July celebrations have been declining for several years. Cinco de Mayo is the big day for picnics in the park these days. Sign of the times I guess. Independence Day doesn't get as much respect anymore.

I removed the remaining water from the roof today. I'm not sure what I'll do tomorrow. My gym has been open for several weeks now, but I think I'll wait a while before returning. Gyms still seem to wind up on the list of most dangerous list of things to do while walking in the park appears to be the safest.

Matao is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3498

I noticed a big brown blotch on my arm today that wasn't there yesterday. It didn't hurt and it didn't look like a bite or infection. At first I thought the blotch was just grease but it didn't wash off. Was this an age spot? I recall that my Dad had blotches like this all over his arms and face when he got old. Was it melanoma? I doubt it, but melanoma is very common. Was it just some minor internal bleeding? Maybe I shouldn't be taking low-dose aspirin anymore. The weird thing is that this just happened overnight. I swear the blotch wasn't there yesterday. Getting old is full of surprises.

I kept switching between the morning news and an old rerun of Independence Day on TV as I was eating breakfast this morning. It became apparent after just a few minutes that just about the only thing that could ever unite humanity would be aliens. Humans have been fighting each other over ridiculous differences for centuries. It's impossible to turn on the TV these days without being bombarded with news about some sort of conflict. If only aliens would invade us. That would probably be the only thing that might actually bring people together.

To be fair, I don't think animals are much nicer than we are. Mockingbirds are horrible. They are always fighting with other birds. I've been dive bombed by angry Mockingbirds several times and poor Dash suffered a direct hit once. Raptors and Owls look magnificent but whenever I see them they always seem to be grabbing smaller animals with their talons and eating them. Don't even get me started about ducks. I've seen ducks do things during nesting season that should land them in jail.

Today was pretty uneventful. I paid a few bills and wrote a letter to my sister. While I was at the post office I asked the postmaster if they had any of the new Apollo 11 commemorative stamps. He said that local post offices didn't sell commemorative stamps anymore. You had to buy them online. This kind of sucks. I'm not a stamp collector, but I always liked to pick up some interesting new stamps while I was at the post office.

I sent friendly reminder messages to several of the repair people who have been ignoring me. So far none of them have replied. I don't know why this always has to be a battle. The first battle is finding someone good in the first place. The second battle is getting them to show up. And the third battle is getting them to come back when you discover that they didn't do the job properly.

I'll bug a few more people tomorrow but I don't really expect anything dramatic to happen. These are the dog days of summer. Nobody wants to deal with problems. I don't want to deal with problems either but I sure would like to get the torn spots in the roof fixed before it rains again.

Jewel is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3479 - Independence Day

For the first time in ages Janet and I went and watched the fireworks displays. A succession of dogs that were terrified of fireworks made this impossible in the past. We couldn't take them with us and we didn't want to leave them home alone. Missing the fireworks was no great loss, but it was kind of nice to see them again.

When I took my walks through the park today I was surprised at the lack of crowds. The park used to be packed with people on the Fourth of July. Often you could smell the smoke from dozens of barbecue fires all the way up at our house. Times have changed I guess. There were still some large family picnics but the crowds were nothing like I remember in the past. Actually, Cinco de Mayo celebrations seem to attract more people than Fourth of July celebrations these days.

If you felt like grilling something, today was a good day to do it. It was typical July day with billowing white puffy clouds dotting the sky. Although it was hot, there was a nice breeze and it didn't feel oppressive at all. Some parts of town got a little rain late in the afternoon, but the park stayed dry and no picnics were ruined. We even did a little grilling ourselves. All we cooked were hot dogs, but somehow hot dogs seemed appropriate for the Fourth of July.

Every Fourth of July I am thankful that I am still in one piece. I cringe when I think of all the dangerous things my friends and I did as kids. We would take the powder out of firecrackers and combine it to make bigger explosions. You could buy cherry bombs and M-80s everywhere and it's a miracle that one of us didn't blow off our hands. I remember making cannons out of steel pipe and filling coke cans with sand to use as shells. A couple of M-80's and a heavy rock blocking the end of the pipe would send those cans traveling a long way. We would also put cherry bombs in the center of  full rolls of toilet paper and throw them up in the air. It was great fun, but I still wonder why no parents intervened.

I enjoy petting a dog a lot more than lighting a firecracker these days. Solitude and quiet is preferable to noise. There are still some Independence Days I remember however. In 1976 I remember sailing into Seattle harbor at night after spending the day in Vancouver. The bicentennial was being celebrated and the fireworks overhead were awesome. I remember selling glowsticks to a huge crowd that had gathered in downtown Dallas to watch the fireworks. We were raising money to help the Dalmatians and I don't think anyone in the group would have the nerve to do something like this today. Dallas seemed a lot safer back then. The whole world seemed safer when my young friends and I were tossing cherry bombs around in the late 1950's. Maybe that's why we felt no danger doing very dangerous things.

I think I'll go try out the new neighborhood breakfast restaurant tomorrow morning. It would be nice if this place were good. It's so close and convenient. The rest of the day is up in the air. I need to start getting bids on fixing some things around the house. I hate to spend the money though. I'd rather go to another rocket launch.

Matao is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3114 - Independence Day

The park was surprisingly quiet today. If park attendance is any indication, Cinco de Mayo has become a bigger holiday in Dallas than the Fourth of July. There are still neighborhood parades in several parts of town, but we haven't gone to one in a while. Janet used to be a judge at a local Fourth of July parade. I think we even walked with the dogs in one of these small parades when they were young. It's been a long time since we watched fireworks. Most of our dogs have been terrified of the noise. All I remember about watching fireworks in the park is getting bitten by ants.

These days we just watch the holiday concerts on TV. The Beach Boys always seem to play at these type of concerts. I was wondering how The Beach Boys were even still alive and then I noticed that the band is really just Mike Love and a bunch of much younger musicians. Listening to The Beach Boys brought back memories of Independence Days many decades ago. I'm really lucky to still have both hands after all the cherry bombs and M-80's we used to play with as kids. Fireworks weren't regulated at all back in the day. Now, these things are considered explosive devices and are illegal. I wonder how I survived cherry bombs and learning to drive without seat belts?

We were thinking about going out for dinner tonight, but it was too hot. Sometimes we have ribs on the Fourth of July, but neither of us was very hungry tonight. We still have a grill, but haven't used it in ages. Barbecue for us means driving to a good barbecue place and getting take out. No barbecue today. No burgers and beer either. We just ate left overs.

The wall I've been fixing finally looked smooth enough to paint, so I applied a coat of primer today. I was real careful, but still managed to spill paint within ten seconds after opening the paint can. I just don't seem to have any dexterity anymore. I'm always tripping over things and making a mess. I used to have perfect vision and a very steady hand. Not anymore. Using my watchmaking tools has become a joke. I don't even attempt to change batteries anymore.

It didn't seem like Wednesday today. I almost went to the gym, because it felt like Sunday. Then I remembered the place was closed. I'm really going the be confused tomorrow. I'll probably think it's Monday. Dash knew it was a holiday because both of us were home. We seems happier when we're both around.

Hopefully, he'll sleep through the fireworks tonight. I'm starting to hear explosions now. It's not as bad as it used to be because there aren't as many kids in the neighborhood anymore. I guess I ought to cut these kids some slack. Their fireworks antics aren't nearly as noisy as mine were when I was their age.

Matao is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2749 - Independance Day

Sometimes when I think of what we used to do on the Fourth of July, I'm amazed I'm still alive. When I was a kid, we rode our bicycles all over town without wearing helmets. We staged mock battles in our back yard with BB guns. And on July Fourth, we bought the biggest and most lethal fireworks we could get our hands on. I don't remember our parents giving us any talks about safety. We were on our own. I'm sure children were maimed left and right, but I ended up being one of the lucky ones. I survived putting cherry bombs in the center of toilet paper rolls and throwing them in the air as high as we could after we lit the fuse. Our favorite game was to make a cannon out of a piece of old steel tubing and use M-80s to shoot soda cans filled with sand ridiculous distances. We would also take entire packs of firecrackers apart and use the powder to make much bigger firecrackers. It was all recklessly unsafe but enormously fun.

I lost interest in fireworks years ago. I don't think Janet and I have been to a fireworks display since we got dogs. Our first dog didn't mind the sound of fireworks, but all the subsequent ones have been terrified of them. For Dot and Dash, there was no difference between a fireworks display and a bad thunderstorm. Over the years, I've grown to hate the sound of fireworks because I've seen the fear they can cause in dogs. Apparently fireworks are still fascinating to people, since I've been hearing them for the past three days. There are ordinances against setting off fireworks within the city limits, but I don't think people pay any attention to them. This evening, the park behind our house sounds like a war zone.

It rained last night, so I was able to give Dash a nice morning walk before the weather turned steamy and oppressive. It wasn't long before the temperature went from 75 to 95, but the brisk early morning was nice while it lasted. After breakfast, I decided to wash the cars. Janet's car has been idle for a while and it was even dirtier than mine. The pressure washer is great for cleaning cars. I managed to wash two cars in the time it used to take me to wash one. Janet asked me to take her car when I ran errands today, so the battery wouldn't become run down. I probably should have done this last week, since the car was a little hard to start. Every time I drive a different car I realize that I still like my big V-8 engine. I've always had big cars that get horrible cash mileage and I probably always will. I bet my carbon footprint is still lower than yours though, because I rarely go anywhere.

Now that I've upgraded my computer, my hard drive is almost full, so I'm thinking of replacing it with a much larger drive. This task was easy when I used to use the old tower Macs. I'd just open the case, unscrew the drive cage and pop in a new hard drive. The whole process took about ten minutes. The one piece iMac I use now is much more difficult to work on. I don't have the nerve to pry off the glass in front of the screen, gently remove the LED display and try to find the hard drive buried inside. To trade the internal drive for something better, I'll need to go to a repair shop. Then I'll have to hope that Time Machine is able to restore my system and files to the replacement drive. It's all much more complicated than it needs to be. It's too bad Steve Jobs isn't still around. Steve had respect for people like me and designed computers you could work on yourself. Times have certainly changed.

The fireworks are getting louder. Dash is still asleep, so I don't think he hears anything yet. Maybe he's becoming deaf like Dot did toward the end of her life. Hopefully, when he wakes up to take his evening pills, things will be calming down again.

Matao is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2394 - Independance Day

My favorite Fourth of July memories took place in Alaska. I lived there when I was growing up and there was a magic about the place that could not be duplicated today. I remember that family and friends gathered together on the Fourth for a large picnic in an abandoned gravel pit that usually involved a fish fry with freshly caught salmon. Fireworks weren't regulated then and teenage boys like myself came to these parties armed with large paper bags filled with cherry bombs and M-80's.

It's a miracle that I still have both arms. We would place cherry bombs in the center of toilet paper rolls and throw them in the air to watch them explode. We made a makeshift cannon from a length of cast iron sewer pipe and fired shells made from aluminum cans filled with sand. The procedure involved putting the can in the tube, throwing a lit M-80 behind it, and then quickly blocking the end of the tube with a large rock. The sand filled cans could easily travel the length of a football field. I'm glad we never hit anybody because these were not harmless projectiles. Thinking back on these occasions, the amazing thing was that none of the parents in attendance did anything to stop us from this mayhem. Of course we were driven to these picnics in cars without seat belts and most of our parents smoked cigarettes. It was a different time and there was a naive innocence to the way we all lived. We were just kids having fun.

Things are much quieter now. I haven't bought fireworks in years and you couldn't pay me to go to a public fireworks show. We used to barbecue in the back yard on the Fourth, but eventually we realized that it wasn't much fun sharing your dinner with fire ants and mosquitoes. This evening, Janet picked up a pre-cooked rotisserie chicken along with some potato salad and baked beans. The older we get, the less we cook. I'm convinced that tonight's meal wouldn't have tasted any better if we cooked it ourselves. Sometimes the easy way is the best way.

Mother nature started her own fireworks show shortly after midnight. Less than an hour after we all went to sleep, a major thunderstorm rolled through town and woke everyone up again. Dot was scared, so I grabbed a blanket and slept on the floor with her for the rest of the night. Storms worry Dot even more than they used to, because she can't quickly run to her safe place under my desk. Things calmed down a bit when I blocked her view of the window. She can't hear the thunder very well anymore, and when she could no longer see the lightning, she eventually went back to sleep. I was a bit nervous sleeping next to Dot, since I thought she might poop on me. We got lucky though and made it through the rest of the night without any accidents. When the rain finally stopped around 9 AM it was twenty degrees cooler. With the cooler air and cloudy skies, we actually had a very pleasant walk this morning.

When I went to pick up the prescription I had forgotten about yesterday, I was disappointed to see that the price had gone up. This happens all too frequently. Healthcare is so expensive already that I hate to think what it's going to be like ten years from now. Truthfully, I hate to think what anything is going to be like ten years from now. We are not headed in the right direction.

Instead of watching fireworks this evening, I'm going to watch the Juno spacecraft being placed into orbit around Jupiter on NASA TV. Talk about pressure. It took five years for the spacecraft to reach Jupiter and if everything doesn't go perfectly about an hour from now, the entire mission will have been for nothing. I'm an unapologetic space geek. This little bit of engineering drama is actually exciting to me.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2027 - Independence Day

We should have gotten up earlier this morning. By the time we got around to walking the dogs around 7 AM, it was already starting to get hot. Dot was a trooper though. We made it around our entire morning circuit, climbing the small hills where Dot strengthens her legs and stopping to smell things when she got tired. We all had a nice breakfast when we returned to the house and then it was time to decide whether today was a holiday or just another work day. I guess we all decided it was just a regular day, because Janet went to get groceries, I went to work on a website, and the dogs took a nap.

It's hard to believe that it's been 39 years since the big Bicentennial Independence Day celebrations. I was working at an ad agency in Seattle at the time and remember returning from a day trip to Victoria Island on a boat and seeing huge fireworks displays directly overhead as we slowly made our way to shore through a sea of other small boats watching the celebration. I had a late dinner at a restaurant called Thirteen Coins after the boat docked and I distinctly remember being happy. Times were different then. I often wish I could go back to 1976, but of course you can never go back. You just keep stumbling forward into an uncertain future.

The only thing I celebrated today was the completion of the new Dalmatian Rescue website. Hot days like this are well suited for website design. After a quick trip to fill the car with gas and pick up a few things at the store, I settled in to refine and debug yesterday's efforts. This particular website was one of the first I ever designed and parts of it are over fifteen years old. It was long overdue for a makeover. Slowly but surely, everything I've done over the years is becoming mobile friendly. The new site is much simpler, has a contemporary look, and works well on phones and tablets. Hopefully, everyone likes the new design, because this ship has sailed.

I can hear fireworks going off in the distance. Apparently, the dogs hear nothing, because they are both sleeping soundly on their dog beds. Years ago, all the neighbors would gather together on the shoreline to watch the fireworks displays on the other side of the lake. Spot, our first Dalmatian, didn't mind the noise, and would enjoy going with us on these twilight excursions. Every dog we've had since has been terrified of fireworks and thunder. I'm not wild about going into the park at night anymore myself. Times have definitely changed. 1976 was great. The 80's and 90's were OK. I'm not so sure about 2015.

Today was a good day. Maybe I should be more optimistic. You really can't really complain when you have cheeseburgers for dinner, you finish a new website, and your dogs are both happy. I'm still patriotic about many things on this day, but I do think we're headed in the wrong direction.

Matao is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1662 - Independence Day

In recent years, I've seen twice as many people celebrating Cinco de Mayo in the park as I do on the Fourth of July. Sign of the times, I guess. There are still plenty of flags on front lawns and backyard barbecues, but something has changed. There just isn't the sense of unity and common purpose I felt on this day as a child. Granted, as a kid, I was much more interested in fireworks  than patriotism, but it was still a special day where neighbors gathered together and everyone smiled a lot.

I'm surprised that I didn't blow myself up on the Fourth of July when I was young. Everything was legal back then. In the weeks leading up to Independence Day we would buy huge stashes of cherry bombs and M-80s from roadside fireworks stands. Makeshift cannons were fashioned from lengths of cast iron drain pipe and contests were held to see who could shoot Coca Cola cans filled with sand the longest distance. This was incredibly foolish in retrospect, but not any dumber than the game my young friends and I made of shooting arrows straight up in the air and seeing how close we could get them to land to us. We didn't wear seat belts either when our parents drove us around in the family car. It's amazing that so many of us survived.

These days, the Fourth of July is much more subdued. I took the dogs on a nice long walk while Janet went to a neighborhood parade that her company helped sponsor. After breakfast, I thought I'd get a couple of more watches running again before I lost interest in this tedious activity entirely. I've already forgotten a lot. I had to look up some information on Google before I could even get the case opened on one obscure mid-70's relic. I did manage to get three more watches running this morning though. That's three down, three hundred to go.

When Janet and I went to the grocery store to get ingredients for this evening's cookout, it appeared that the entire city had the same idea. Central Market was jammed with people buying holiday food. I guess we're not the only ones to wait till the last minute. Dinner was delicious. It doesn't get much better than burgers on the grill, fresh potato salad, and coleslaw. The only thing missing was the beer. I still can't bring myself to drink alcohol after all the effort I've made to get my liver back in shape.

It seemed like Saturday today. I'm sure it will seem like Saturday tomorrow as well. That's OK. Two Saturday's in a row is much better than two Monday's in a row.

Matao is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1297 - Independence Day

The best Fourth of July I can remember was in 1976. This was the year we celebrated the country's Bicentennial. I was returning from Victoria, British Columbia to Seattle by boat and just as we entered the harbor, a massive fireworks display began directly overhead. The celebration was beautiful and serene as the boat glided slowly towards the shore. There were no ants or mosquitoes and the crowds of revelers were far away on shore. At the opposite end of the scale was a celebration in Dallas where I was right in the middle of thousands of drunk revelers, trying to sell glow-in-the-dark necklaces to raise money for animal rescue. Ever since that event, I have had no desire to be in a large crowd again.

There was certainly a respectable crowd of people in the park behind our house today. Early in the morning, there were hundreds of runners completing a 10K race while I walked the dogs. Later in the day, the park was filled with picnickers, cyclists, and boaters. The smell of barbecue permeated the air, but even the delicious smell of burgers and brisket cooking wasn't enough to make me want to have a picnic myself.

I kept to myself as I worked my way through a list of chores. I made another week's supply of juice with the juicer. I did several loads of laundry. I even tried to fix a leak in the problematic French Porcher toilet. It is impossible to find parts for the thing, but I do the best I can. When all my chores were done, I thought I'd go work out at the gym, but when I got there it was closed for the holiday. On the way home, I stopped at Central Market and got something that we already had in the refrigerator.  My memory is shot.

Dot has an amazing ability to sense changes in the weather. She was was acting like she usually does when it's about to rain this afternoon. I was initially confused, because there was no rain in the forecast and the sky was clear. As her behavior continued, I turned on the weather channel and learned that a cold front had just passed through town. It is easy to miss a cold front in the Summer. I think the temperature just went down from 95 to 85. Dot knew though. She knew way before I did.

I tried to do a little research in the Internet today and see if I could discover why my liver enzyme levels were continuing to fluctuate. There were so many potential reasons that I just gave up. Even trained hepatologists seem to have trouble coming to a consensus about liver enzyme levels. Oddly, exercise can actually cause liver enzyme levels to rise. I can't imagine that I've been doing enough exercise to move the needle though.

At least tomorrow is Friday. Friday is my favorite day. I like things to be finished, and they very seldom are. At least Friday creates the illusion that you've crossed some sort of imaginary finish line.

Matao is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 932 - Independence Day

It kind of felt like a work day this morning. Janet left the house early to serve as a judge in a neighborhood Fourth of July parade. I tried to get the dogs out on their morning walk before it got too hot outside. When we returned, I fixed myself French Toast for breakfast. After doing the breakfast dishes, I worked on my website chores, just like I usually do. When Janet returned from the parade around noon, we all decided it was a holiday after all.

The dogs got a treat and got to go to the dog park twice in a single week. We got a treat as well, since the weather was cooler and being outside was actually pleasant. I'm a little nervous about being outside though after seeing something on TV last night about a new case of West Nile Virus being discovered in our own zip code.

The city is supposed to be spraying for mosquitoes, but I haven't seen them spray in our neighborhood yet. There is still an abundance of mosquitoes outside. They're everywhere this year. People might have actually outnumbered mosquitoes in the park today however. As is usually the case on holidays like this, the place was packed. There was a 10K race through the park this morning. There were sailboat races down on the lake and there were impromptu picnics everywhere. I saw large swarms of dragonflies for the first time this Summer as well. I'd like to get some good photos of these interesting insects, but they never stay still. It's hard for me to even get the camera focused on them before they fly away.

We had barbecued ribs, potato salad and broccoli slaw for dinner tonight. It was good holiday fare. I even had a beer this evening. I remember similar holiday dinners when I was a kid. The only difference then was that while the parents were eating, the kids went around setting off all manner of fireworks. There were no regulations about fireworks that I can remember. My friends and I bought cherrybombs and M-80's by the dozens. We would put the M-80's inside rolls of toilet paper, throw them up in the air, and watch them explode. It was all a lot of fun, but it's a miracle that I still have all ten fingers.

Matao is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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