Day 3323

I forgot what day is was again. It's easy to do. Every day begins the same way. I wake up at some point to take Dash outside or clean up poop. If the cleanup is easy, I go back to bed for a while. If it is more extensive, I just stay up. Dash always gets a walk before breakfast. When we return, I pop a Community Coffee Dark Roast pod in the Keurig and start making my smoothie. Turning on the television seldom gives me a clue about what day it is. It's always just something about the ongoing Russia Probe. Enough already. Dash usually poops again just as I am getting ready to eat. Today he made a mess in the office. I wish he'd stay on the bricks, but the bricks are slippery. I can't really blame him for preferring the carpets.

Not that it mattered, but I eventually figured out it was Tuesday instead of Wednesday. I called in some prescriptions for Dash and when they were ready to pick up, I stopped by the hardware store on the way to the vet and got another tube of Shoe Goo. I think I'm keeping the Shoe Goo company in business. The stuff really does help to extend the life of Dash's protective boots.

I guess I'll go ahead and renew my web hosting account, even though it has become too expensive. Truthfully, I don't even know why I have a website anymore. If I shut everything down, I doubt that anyone would notice. There are a few animal rescue sites on the server that are important, but I could care less about my own site. I haven't updated anything in years.

I didn't always feel this way. There was a time when I had a really high Klout score and lots of Twitter followers. I was even listed as one of the top photographers on Google+ for a while. I'll miss Google+ when it disappears in a couple of months. This was the only social media network I actually liked. Too late now. Google+ is going the way of AOL and floppy discs. It's a shame. Back in the day, it was so much better than Facebook. Sadly Google+ never became popular which it probably exactly why it was so good.

The gas company repair crews are still in the neighborhood, but they've moved further away from the house. I'm curious about what they are doing, but not curious enough to go up and ask them. I'll wonder for a while until Spring growth in the park covers all the backhoe tracks in the dirt. Eventually, a neighbor will tell me what has happened long after I've forgotten the entire incident.

I've got to stop taking pictures of Pansies at the hardware store. I can do better. Unfortunately, these are the only flowers I've seen lately. It's Winter and wildflowers won't start appearing in the park again until late March or early April. How did I used to take interesting pictures every single day? It's a mystery now. Maybe I was just more interested in my surroundings.

Tomorrow actually is Wednesday. I'll keep that in mind as I follow a routine that is almost guaranteed to be remarkably similar to today's. Venus, the Moon, and Jupiter will be grouped together in the morning sky tomorrow. If Dash gets me up early, maybe I'll take a look.

Spirit is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3061

Lots of errands today. I had to get new halogen bulbs for the living room lamps. These little bulbs cost ten dollars each and I'm lucky if they last a month. It's ridiculous. Why doesn't anyone make a really bright LED bulb with a candelabra base? I couldn't be the only person who uses these type of floor lamps.

Next on the list was something to relieve the itching from chigger bites. I seem to get bit every time I walk Dash now. There used to be a product called Chigarid that worked pretty well, but you can't find it anymore. I use clear nail polish now. Chigger bites itch a lot worse than mosquito bites, but at least you can't catch Lyme Disease from a chigger.  I can tell that Summer is on the way. The bugs are biting and the seasonal allergies are terrible. I kept sneezing and my eyes were watering all day long.

I needed coffee pods today. Coffee pods are almost as overpriced as halogen light bulbs. I could save a lot of money on coffee if I went back to buying beans and grinding them myself. Sadly, I've become hooked on the single serve pods. It's so convenient to make coffee this way that it's worth the extra expense. You don't even have to clean the coffee maker if you always fill it with distilled water. I've seen ads trying to make me feel guilty about using coffee pods. I don't really understand these ads. Plastic containers can be recycled 7 to 9 times to make more plastic. The reason this plastic winds up in the ocean is that too many people don't even bother to reuse it. So there you have it. I want to be lazy and use the pods, but I don't want other people to be lazy and throw them away.

We gave Dash a Rimadyl last night, but it was hard to tell if it is working. He had a lot of energy this morning, but his rear legs are still very weak. Dash is having increasing trouble getting up and down and it often appears like he might be in pain. We'll try the Rimadyl until his next exam at the cancer center in June and then do new blood work to see if his liver enzymes have become elevated. I always worry that Rimadyl can cause liver or kidney damage. If we see anything abnormal in the lab work, we'll discontinue the drug.

It's weird that two of the most common drugs that vets give dogs for pain are in the news for having adverse effects on humans. Tramadol and Gabapentin are both getting a bad reputation for abuse and overdose problems. I wonder if dogs get addicted too. I never want a dog to be in pain, but there are so few problem free pain medications. I won't even take an Advil myself.

Jupiter is closer to earth right now than it's been in two years. I took a pair of binoculars out last night to look at the planet and it definitely appeared larger. I could see all four bright moons and was even able to detect a little cloud banding. If you have any interest in this sort of thing, you ought to go outside just before you go to bed and take a look at the planet. A month or two from now it won't be as bright or large in the night sky.

I'm pleased that the new manual focus app on my phone actually works. I can take pictures of flowers now without the camera always trying to focus on the grass behind them. I've never liked the way the iPhone's autofocus mechanism worked. Maybe I won't have to take a real camera with me on walks now.

I'm either gaining weight or the earth's gravity has increased. I'm definitely going to have to go to the gym tomorrow.

Dixie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2072

Dot got scared going to the vet for her annual exam and immediately pooped in the lobby. This was actually convenient, since we needed a stool sample for the exam anyway. Her vet told me that other than having cancer and severe neurological problems, Dot was looking pretty good. Dot sees so many vets for so many different reasons that these annual exams really are just a formality. She didn't need a rabies shot this year, but did get a leptospirosis vaccination.  This disease has become a real problem in our area. It is spread by the urine of rats, raccoons, and possums, which all seem to wind up in our yard, so it's better to be safe than sorry. Since Dot has three different vets, I always need to make sure that everyone is on the same page. I usually spend a good portion of every exam telling the vet what all the other vets think. Today, we didn't even need to do the regular annual exam blood work, because Dot's oncologist at the cancer center has already taken care of this just a few weeks ago.

A box of Keurig coffee pods arrived in the mail this morning. "Don't you already have plenty of coffee pods," Janet asked me? Well, I guess I do. I don't really feel guilty about buying an excessive amount of Keurig pods though. Janet does the same thing with soup. It's hard to resist a good bargain. I'll find a place to store the new pods until I need them. They definitely will get used. I drink a lot of coffee.

I'm trying to remember if August was always this slow. Traditionally, the end of the Summer has always been slow for me, but this year absolutely nothing is going on. The odd thing is that even though I have no business to speak of, I'm still busy every day. It's amazing how quickly taking care of the dogs, tending to the yard, paying bills, and running the occasional errand can fill up a day. I had to run to the mall and pick up something this morning, but this quick trip and Dot's vet appointment were my only excursions today. It seemed like they took up the entire day.

I need to pick up a few books to read. I've been meaning to read Andy Wier's new novel The Martian and this would probably be a pretty good time. What else have I got to do? Dot likes having me nearby during the day and sitting next to her reading a book probably makes a lot more sense than getting up and down every five minutes to check social media on my computer. I wonder why I lost the desire to read? I used to read books voraciously. Of course, I used to do everything with a lot more gusto than I do now. I still make sure to take a new photograph every day for the blog, but a camera is no longer my constant companion. I don't play guitar all that much either. Maybe this is just the natural order of things as my interests change over time. Or maybe I'm catatonically depressed. I really don't know.

Everyone says it is going to rain tomorrow. I am so ambivalent about rain.We really need the rain. The yard is dry and the air is hot and dusty. On the other hand, Dot and Dash are terribly frightened of storms and make life difficult every time it rains. I never really trust the roof either. What this means is that I'll be really happy when the rain first starts, but will become increasingly irritated if it doesn't stop within thirty minutes. If the power goes out, all bets are off.

Lucy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2069

A year ago, Dot was still having problems with incontinence after her first surgery. Now, she's still having problems with her rear legs. After a year and a half of serious medical problems, she hasn't given up. Despite cancer, abdominal surgery, a ruptured disk, spinal surgery, and chemotherapy, Dot is still a happy, stubborn, and very resilient girl. I wish I was half as tenacious as she was. Little things still get me down. Absolutely nothing seems to get Dot down. Of course if dogs could talk, I might hear a different story, but I think I know her pretty well. She continues to be an inspiration.

The temperature seemed a little cooler on our morning walk. Maybe the worst of Summer is over. I asked Janet how long we'd been doing these pre-dawn very slow walks with Dot. Neither of us could remember. It seems like we have been doing them forever. It also seems like we've always has a huge collection of non-skid throw rugs scattered throughout the house. I've almost forgotten what the house looked like before. So much has changed and yet we still have the same armadillo tearing up the yard and and the same spiders building a huge network of webs on our back porch. I guess it's easier to remember the things that stay the same than it is to remember all the changes we've made along the way to adapt to our aging dogs.

I decided to go back to taking Benicar because the other blood pressure medication I had selected as a substitute has been giving me a nagging cough. When I renewed my Benicar prescription, I was irritated to discover that the cost of had gone up even further. I used to pay $40 for a thirty day supply and now the cost has jumped to over a $100. Medicare Part D apparently wants everyone to take a generic ACE inhibitor to control blood pressure. It's three or four dollars a month for the drug the government likes and a $100 a month for the drug my doctor prefers. Oh, well. Maybe that cough isn't so bad. It is frustrating that these rules are so arbitrary. I'm sure it's all more about money than it is about health. Medicare Part D doesn't seem to like Welchol either, even though it a safe and effective way to lower high cholesterol. I'd rather take Welchol than statins, but once again, you pay a big penalty if the government doesn't like the same meds your doctor prescribes.

I've gotten hooked on buying Keurig coffee pods. Every time I see a new dark roast flavor, I want to pick up a box and try it out. I saw some Cuban Roast pods today and bought a box, even though the kitchen cabinets are already overflowing with Keurig pods. It's too bad you can't buy these things a few at a time. Generally I've been lucky, but if you buy a box of 80 pods to get a bargain price and then discover that don't like the flavor, you're kind of stuck. I think I'll like the Cuban coffee though. Maybe I'll brew some tomorrow morning. I wonder if you can brew espresso using the Keurig machine?  Some mornings I feel like having an espresso, but I don't feel like dragging the old espresso machine out of the storage warehouse and bringing it home again.

I was bored this evening and watched the "Blink" episode of Dr. Who again. I think I've seen this show four or five times now but I still like it. Blink, the tenth episode in the third series, was one of the best scripts that Steven Moffat ever wrote. The Weeping Angels are certainly strange monsters, but they are still pretty creepy. I think this show, along with the one where the Doctor visits Vincent Van Gogh, are my favorites.

It's time to give the dogs their evening meds, but they are both sleeping so peacefully that I hesitate to wake them. Janet is still at a party with friends. Maybe I'll just wait until they hear her car in the driveway. That will wake them up. Hard to believe that it's already time to go to the gym again. A week goes by pretty quickly these days.

Freckles is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2007

When I went to the gym this afternoon, I thought I'd try to resume the strenuous workouts I used to do this time last year. I was exhausted. Somehow, being one year older, dislocating my shoulder, and going to the gym on Sunday afternoons instead of three days a week have taken their toll. I made it through the routine, but I'll be sore tomorrow. Perhaps I should have skipped getting the water off the roof and vacuuming when I got home.

I was pleasantly surprised to learn that the little Philae spacecraft that landed on a comet seven months ago has come alive again. The space geeks among you might remember that Philae's batteries went dead after just 60 hours because it landed next to a cliff and wasn't receiving enough sunlight to recharge the batteries. The comet kept moving though and as the sun got closer and closer, the solar panels began receiving more sunlight and the batteries slowly recharged. It amazes me that we know how to build things this well, and yet we rarely do it. I'm lucky if I can get the equipment around the house to run for two weeks without some sort of mishap, and yet the Philae comet lander and several incredibly durable Mars rovers just keep on working. It's a shame that we've almost lost the concept of things that last a lifetime. People seem strangely content to buy something amazingly cool and just throw it away when it inevitably breaks. I wonder how long our cool new Keurig coffeemaker and Dyson vacuum cleaner are going to last?

The dogs had a good day today. They seem much more content on weekends when everybody is home and the pace is a little more relaxed. The recent rain has cooled the air down a bit too. When you're walking old dogs, every degree counts. It's a shame that Dot is so fragile. She had a playful moment today where I could tell that she wanted to race around and play with Dash like she did in the old days. I quickly put her harness on and tried to follow her around so she wouldn't fall and break a hip or something, but I think I spoiled the moment. All the vets have warned me that Dot will injure herself if she tries to run without assistance. Watching her move slowly around the house, I believe them.

Protecting dogs from harm while still allowing them to be dogs is difficult. Instincts are strong and Dot would still like to chase after anything that comes down the alley, while Dash continues to follow his nose to the most appealing smells, even if they lead to something dangerous. Since Dash likes to walk along the shoreline, I have to keep a sharp eye out for poisonous snakes in the Summer.  Today, Dash stubbornly wanted to go down a street where I knew there was a dangerous, aggressive dog that sometimes gets loose. We did walk home the safe way, but Dash wasn't happy about it.

I get the rest of my dental work done later this week. Hopefully when this is complete, the onslaught of ridiculously high bills will abate somewhat. It would be nice to have a Summer without any medical emergencies, car problems, or major appliance meltdowns whatsoever.

Daisy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1954

Slowly but surely, life is getting back to normal. Dash still has a limp, but he is walking better than he was yesterday. Dot is still a little unsteady, but she is getting stronger everyday. I let her walk around the house without her harness for a while today and she seemed to enjoy it. It's a bit of a problem walking the dogs now, since both have leg problems, but we're doing OK. The big breakthrough is that Dot is confident enough now that her separation anxiety has subsided. I can leave her alone for several hours at a time and she is content to just rest on her dog bed. This allows me to run small errands like going to the post office or bank without worrying so much. To be on the safe side, I always leave Dot in a gated section of the hallway and take her harness off, so she can't get tangled up in something. I put a comfortable bed in this safe area and Dot is fine. She slept a lot before her injury and she still sleeps a lot now.

My website revisions have slowed down this week, but I'm trying to use my time wisely.  I'm still working on getting up to speed about responsive design, so when clients eventually discover that they've dropped in the search rankings, I'll have a solution for them. I learned how to apply transitions and animations across several platforms today. All I have to show for my several hours of study is a single line of type on my company website that slowly fades in and grows to its final size as the site loads. Although this doesn't really prove anything, it's the principal of the thing. I can move objects around and the effect stays the same whether it is viewed on a large desktop monitor or a small phone. Cool. If I contine to learn one new thing a day, I should be pretty good at this responsive design stuff by Summer.

An insurance guy came out to take pictures of the house this morning. He said that needed pictures to substantiate that the construction was load bearing brick. Jeez. I told them that house was constructed using brick bearing walls almost twenty years ago. They must not have believed me. It's weird that it took them twenty years to come out and take a picture though.

I got some more K-cup coffee pods in the mail today. I had written Keurig a while back and asked them what to do if one of the cups split during brewing. One of the cups actually did split and I ended up getting coffee grounds in my cup, but I didn't expect to receive a whole box of K-cups for a single defective cup. I wasn't even mad when I wrote Keurig. I just wondered if I needed to clean the machine after the pod broke. I like this company. It's a nicely designed product that's made in America. The coffee tastes great. And the service is pretty good. What's not to like?

I've got to stop listening to weather predictions I see on my Facebook page. They're almost always wrong. According to my Facebook friends, we were supposed to get huge storms and maybe even tornadoes tonight. I walked the dogs extra early to avoid this ominous storm. I also ate early to avoid a potential power outage. I'm not complaining, but so far it is still dry outside. I think the entire storm system passed about fifty miles south of us. Of course, things could change by morning. This is Texas after all.

Mindy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1932

Today was so much different than yesterday. Days like this serve to remind me that everything does get sorted out eventually. Despite yesterday's dubious start, the yard looks great. The huge piles of dead Winter leaves have been removed. A new St. Augustine turf has been installed. Patchy areas in the ground cover have been filled in. Even the dog poop seems to be gone. It's too bad we have to do this almost every year, but it's nice while it lasts.

There was no need for drugs today. I don't think the dogs even heard the landscapers. The crew didn't arrive until Dot and Dash had gone back to sleep after breakfast and since there were no loud leaf blowers to wake them, they continued to sleep for the rest of the morning. By the time their internal clocks informed Dot and Dash that it was lunchtime, the landscapers had finished and gone.

The FedEx guy arrived right on time, so I didn't have to waste half the day waiting to sign for the packages. Even work went smoothly. I finished two more new articles and shipped them off to the client before deciding to call it a day. If it weren't for the fact that I still have to hold on to the rear handle of the Help 'Em Up Harness whenever Dot goes somewhere, today seemed absolutely normal.

Dot continues to get stronger on her short walks down our street each morning. We walk her about 50 feet further each day, watching carefully to make sure she isn't getting too tired or dragging her feet. These short walks have really improved Dot's spirits. I think she sees the light at the end of the tunnel now. She may never be able to navigate slippery surfaces again, but at least she can walk. I don't think even Dot's surgeon thought she would do this well.

I still like my Keurig coffee maker. I even ordered some more coffee pods today. It's nice being able to have one variety of coffee for my first cup in the morning, and they try a completely different variety for my second cup. There needs to be more inventions like this. I get all the enjoyment of drinking good coffee with none of the preparation or cleanup. What I need now is a machine that I can put in a pod to fix breakfast or dinner in two minutes. You can kind of do this using a microwave, but microwave meals are terrible. I'm looking for gourmet food in a pod.

Until that day arrives, I can still fix omelets. Omelets are easy. Cast iron skillets are a snap to clean if they are well seasoned. This simple breakfast is also a great way to use up leftovers in the refrigerator. Just dump them in the omelet and you've got a whole new meal. This sounds so good, I think I'll have an omelet tomorrow.

It would be nice if tomorrow went as smoothly as today. Every day is different though. Something as small as a cat in the back yard, or a spider in the shower can change everything.

Smiley is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1925

I love my new Keurig coffee maker. I don't know why I didn't get one of these things earlier. It's quick. It's easy. The coffee tastes good. And there's no cleanup whatsoever. This machine, with it's touch screen menu and ability to brew almost anything is the iPhone of coffee makers. I'm not usually impressed by kitchen appliances, but this one is a keeper. One of the first things I noticed about this 2.0 version was that it will only accept it's own brand of K-cups. I didn't think this restriction would go over very well with people and a quick Google search confirmed my initial suspicions.

Even though this version of the coffee maker is fairly new, there were already 100's of hacks that would let you use old style K-cups and those reusable containers that allow you use your own ground beans with the system. Since the only reason I bought the machine in the first place was to avoid grinding beans and cleaning up the mess later, it baffles me why people would go to so much trouble to convert their machine into an old style drip coffee maker. I guess it is human nature when someone tell you you can't do something to try and do it anyway. I'm not going to try any of these hacks. I'm not going to jailbreak my iPhone either. Why bother. It seems a wasted effort to fix something that works already.

I forgot to give Janet the folder with my tax information to take to the accountant on her way to work this morning. As luck would have it, she forgot her phone and came home to retrieve it, so I was able to give her the tax folder anyway. It takes a lot of coordination to get things done when you can't leave the house. It doesn't help that we are both becoming more forgetful too. Lord help us ten or fifteen years from now. Dot is forgetful too. Half the time when I take her out to pee, she forgets why she's outside and just comes in again. As soon as I sit down to do something, she remembers that she needs to pee and we repeat the whole process.

Since work was slow today, I tried to get some other stuff done. I made arrangements with the roofer to come over and repair the roof. When I got off the phone, I noticed that the day the work was scheduled to be done, it was supposed to rain. Sounds about right. I also contacted the landscaper and made arrangements to replace the dead grass in the backyard. Keeping the back yard looking nice is an exercise in futility. We've put in new sod every single Spring for the last five years. It looks nice until about August and then it dies. I water the grass, treat the ground for grubs, and apply fertilizer, but there just isn't enough light. In the Summer, the tree canopy overhead blocks almost all the direct sunlight and the tree roots suck up all the water. The grass doesn't stand a chance.

Dot continues to get stronger. I provide very little assistance when I use the harness now. I'm trying to encourage her to support her own weight again. When her legs are placed correctly, she does great, but it is still easy to slip. Dot must be getting more feedback from the nerves in her legs now, because she can balance her weight much better. She'll automatically shift her legs and re-balance when she is starting to slip. I have a feeling that the ugly rugs are going to remain in the house for a long time, but we're definitely making progress.

This housebound existence is a weird way to live, but hopefully in another month or so Dot will be able to move around on her own. Dot just needs to get better before I go crazy.

Chelsey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1924

I got quite a bit done today. My taxes are finally ready to go to the accountant. I finished writing two more articles and sent them off to the client. I made an appointment to resume Dot's physical therapy later this week. And I contacted the roofer and told him about the problems I've been having with the peeling elastomer. Considering that today is Monday, this was pretty good.

A small piece broke off the grinder component of my new single serve machine when I was making coffee this morning. This was actually a good thing, because it gave me an opportunity to take this worthless thing back to the store and exchange it for something else. I boxed up the coffee maker and as soon as Janet came home to watch Dot, I took it back to the store and got a Keurig instead. All I want is a nice cup of coffee in the morning without having to spend half an hour cleaning the machine. Who knows if the K-cup pods will be as tasty as the beans I'm currently grinding, but the whole process will certainly be easier. I don't think you have to clean these K-cup coffee makers at all.

Dot continues to get stronger with each passing day.  Today I attached an extension to her Help 'Em Up Harness that lets her support her own weight and just serves as a fail-safe device to keep her from falling if she starts to slip. I was pleased to see that Dot can walk without me holding up her rear legs. On the other hand, I was a bit alarmed to see how awkwardly she walked when I wasn't supporting her. Dot is definitely not ready to walk completely unassisted yet. I'm in no hurry. We'll just continue taking things one step at a time. The stronger she gets, the better she'll be able to walk.

It would be nice if the roofers could come out tomorrow. I'm not going to hold my breath though. They probably won't show up until it starts to rain again. Since there is currently no rain in the forecast for the rest of the week, this would be an excellent time to get things repaired. The roof may be dry now, but it's going to take a lot longer before the park dries out. Dash's favorite routes seem to always traverse the soggiest and muddiest areas. I let hm walk wherever he wants though. He's been really good about dealing with all the extra attention I've been giving Dot, and I don't want to rock the boat. Peaceful, happy dogs make life a lot easier.

It's proving to be quite difficult to keep the house clean with a muddy yard and throw rugs all over the place. The vacuum cleaner doesn't deal with the little rugs very well and keeps trying to suck them up. It may be time for a new vacuum cleaner. For now, the house it just getting dirtier by the day. Dot has always been scared of the vacuum cleaner anyway and I don't have the heart to use it while she's trapped in her pen and unable to move. There are so many elements to this rehabilitation effort that catch me by surprise. I'm getting better at finding the dog poop but there's always something new to deal with. Since it's getting warmer, the wasps have returned and I can no longer just leave the back door open while I take Dot in and out to pee with the harness. The wasps are already starting to build nests under the eaves and if I leave the door open very long, they are sure to fly inside. The only good thing about Winter is that the bugs disappear for a while. Now, they're back again.

Ariel is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1923

None of my roof patches worked. They dried completely and looked like they should have worked, but for some unknown reason the patch didn't adhere to the roof itself. When I went to clean the rainwater off the roof this morning, I discovered that some of my patches were actually floating on top of the water. The rain had loosened them like they were a decal and I could lift each patch by a corner and peel it away, completely intact. I didn't have a patch at all. Just a perfect little one foot square of flexible vinyl. I hung a couple of these detached patches out to dry on a nearby tree limb so I could show the roofer later, and threw the rest away. All my efforts were worthless.

Later, I installed the special dog hammock Janet bought in my car and initially though it was worthless as well. On closer inspection, I realized I had installed the hammock upside down, so I started over again. When I was finished, we all got in the car and made a test run to the post office and back. Dot appeared comfortable and secure. It appears that this is going to work. The special sling that hangs between the front and rear seats is kind of ugly, but now the car matches the rest of the house. Hey, it's all for a good cause. I contacted Dot's vet and told her about this new development and she agreed that Dot is ready to resume her physical therapy again. Hopefully, by this time next week, Dot will be walking in the underwater treadmill again.

I'm really disappointed with my new coffeemaker. I did my research on Google and still managed to come up with something worthless. I think I'm going to scrap the whole thing and try something else. When I was getting groceries this afternoon, I looked at some of those K-cup single serve coffeemakers. I hadn't initially considered them before, because I thought that the cost of coffee pods would be prohibitive, especially since I drink so much coffee. I had forgotten that the beans I use now are pretty expensive as well. When I did the math, I realized that the monthly cost would be about the same. Maybe I'll go get one of those Keurig machines next week sometime. I'm really tired of cleaning up coffee grounds and grinding new beans every time I want a cup of coffee. I should have thought this through a little better.

I've almost got my tax materials ready to go to the accountant. The big stack of papers means almost nothing to me. I have no idea anymore whether I owe money at the end of the year or will be getting money back. It's always a surprise. I wouldn't mind paying taxes so much if I had any faith that the government was using the money wisely. I'm firmly convinced that 90 cents of every dollar I send the government is wasted. They certainly aren't using the money to fill potholes. The streets around our house are absolutely atrocious this year after all the rain we've gotten.

I hope next week will be peaceful and quiet. I've already got some new articles to write. There should be more website revisions by Tuesday as well. I'll call the roofers in the morning and see if I can get them to come out before the next round of rain. I don't think this new roof is even three years old yet. I shouldn't be having any problems at this stage of the game.

Brooke is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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