Day 3719

Having an extra day in February always seems kind of weird. Of course, February is a weird month anyway since it is so short. I kind of wish every month has twenty eight days. Four complete weeks each month would make things easier to remember. Unfortunately, the Earth's orbit doesn't work out that way. I'm always impressed that our ancestors were able to divide up the year so accurately even back in Roman times. Caesar's calendar wasn't all that different than ours.

Breakfast was interrupted this morning by a visit from the roofer I met yesterday. He seemed very knowledgable and his company had good credentials. Not surprisingly, his bid was just as high as the other reputable roofers I've talked with. There are no bargains here. Basically a flat roof is always going to cost about three times more than a shingle roof.

While I was up on the roof this morning I was pleased to see the the silicon patches I applied yesterday had cured properly and looked ready for the next rain. I was a little worried about this batch of silicon because it didn't seem quite as thick as the previous batch. Probably I just didn't stir the stuff enough. Silicon is a lot harder to mix than paint because it is so thick. You can't shake the bucket either because it is too heavy. Probably I should have bought one of those paint mixers you attach to a power drill. I just stirred the stuff with an old drumstick I found in the storage warehouse. I guess mixing the silicon coating isn't rocket science, because the batch I applied yesterday dried just fine.

Janet walked Dawn by herself today to see whether her nervousness was because of me or if she just always want both of us to accompany her. Evidently, Dawn was still a little apprehensive, but they completed their walk successfully. Probably it is just a matter of getting used to new situations. We try to introduce Dawn to new experiences and it seems to be working. She seems more relaxed with each passing day.

Something is wrong with Facebook again. For the past several weeks I've been having problems uploading the preview picture that accompanies my daily blog post. When you post a link, the preview pictures are supposed to be uploaded automatically. It usually takes several tries now to get a preview picture to load with the link. I guess it wouldn't matter if I wasn't such a stickler for consistency. I had to try twelve times last night before I could get Facebook to find the preview picture. Hopefully, things will be easier tonight.

I wish the media would quit talking about the coronavirus. I've always been a bit of a hypochondriac and all it takes is a ten minute Google search to convince me that something is terrible wrong and I'm going to die. That's the trouble with having an imagination. It's easy for it to run wild. Now, every ten minutes I'm hearing that I should never touch my face and eyes with my hands. Jeez. I've got terrible seasonal allergies and I'm always rubbing my eyes. Visine doesn't really help that much and my eyes are always watering on walks. I probably don't wash my hands enough either. I hate that Purell stuff.

Should I apply more silicon to the roof tomorrow, or have I done enough? It's impossible to know. I wish I could get over my obsession with taking at least 20,000 steps on Sundays. It would be much more enjoyable to just stay home and take a long nap with Dawn.

Holly is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2267

The last thing we need is an extra Monday. I know how leap year works mathematically, but still it seems weird to add an extra day to the year every four years. Personally, I wish all twelve months had 28 days. If each month was divided into four equal weeks, it might be easier for me to remember when to give Dot her pills. It might be easier to remember my own meds as well. It's all about remembering things these days.

I think a set a record for doing laundry today. Dot pooped while she was eating her dinner. Food was simultaneously going in one end and coming out the other. It didn't seem to bother Dot as all. Luckily, I was holding up her rear end with the Help 'Em Up Harness, so the mess wasn't that bad. About an hour after she ate, Dot went back to sleep on her blanket and threw up. I actually think she just burped after drinking too much water, but it was a mess just the same. Once again, it could have been much worse. She hadn't taken her expensive Palladia pills yet, so her chemotherapy wasn't wasted. I waited another hour before giving her the pills, and so far everything seems fine.

The road repairs in the neighborhood seem to reach some sort of crescendo today. There were lots of new people on the job and several pieces of heavy equipment I hadn't seen before. Maybe all the preparations are done and they are finally ready to pave the road. Whatever they were doing, it sure was noisy.  Dash and I avoided the road on our evening walk. If tar was involved in today's activities, Dash would inevitably get some on his paws. I've already had enough messes to clean up today. I certainly didn't want to have to remove road tar from a dog's paws.

There were more website updates to make today. Most companies have finally realized the futility of putting their employees on the company website, but animal rescue websites still change on a weekly basis. There are always new animals to add and others to remove as they become adopted. It is simply astounding how many homeless animals there are. I only work with a few rescue groups in a single city, but I must have created thousands of pages to bring attention to abandoned dogs and cats who were waiting for their forever homes.

I got an e-mail today telling me that a mutual acquaintance had died. We were about the same age. People my age seem to be dying with disturbing regularity now. I'm always glad when someone takes the time to let me know. I'm not a member of any tight knit group of friends, so a lot of people I've known over the years simply disappear. I hope someone will take the time to let people know when my time comes. Nobody wants to be forgotten.

I sure wish I could get more sleep. Everything from taking care of the dogs to writing this blog takes longer now. By the time I've finally caught up with everything, it's usually near midnight. This would be fine if I could sleep until 8 or 9 the next morning, but we always get up early. Last night I couldn't get the blog to syndicate properly and had forgotten to put the spare dog blankets in the dryer. There always needs to be a spare set ready to go in case there is an accident during the night. For some reason, I couldn't find the retainer I need to wear while I sleep either. There's always something. Did I turn the dishwasher on? Did I empty the dehumidifier? Did I remember to run a test print to keep the big printer from clogging? I'm sure I'll forget something tonight. I always do.

Holly is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 806 - Leap Day

Leap Year is a weird concept for me to wrap my head around. This extra day inserted right in the middle of things pushes everything else out of whack. I'm not very hard to confuse. The watches I have with perpetual calendars usually aren't smart enough to compensate for leap year either, so tomorrow they'll need to be reset. I used to actually reset all the errant watches, but that's become too anal even for me. These days I just don't worry about what time the watch says until I actually wear the thing again.

It turned out to be really convenient to have Fedex hold my package for me. They sent me an e-mail when the package was ready to be picked up and then I just drove over and got it. This was much more convenient for me than waiting for the truck to arrive. I discovered at the Fedex office that you can only request a package be held if it was shipped by air. If it was shipped Fedex Ground, you're stuck with waiting for the truck. If you wonder why this is a big deal, you probably don't live in a large city. There are people who follow the trucks around and routinely steal unattended packages left outside.

I'm beginning to think we may have avoided Winter entirely. So far, there have only been a couple of days where the temperature even got close to freezing. Today it was over eighty degrees again. I'm delighted by the mild weather. The only downside to the unseasonably warm temperatures is that it never got cold enough this year to kill the bugs. The dogs are picking up more fleas and ticks than usual. Wasps and Mud Daubers are beginning to build their nests again. Worst of all, some nasty looking roaches have made their way inside. A few days of below freezing weather usually puts an end to this invasion of pests, but I don't think it's going to happen this year.

The weather this evening was perfect for training class. The lack of wind and nice temperatures didn't seem to impress Dash though. He barked continually and disrupted the rest of the class. I have no idea what he was barking about, but I did hear some of my classmates complain. Eventually, Dash did settle down and we did pretty well with the remaining exercises.

Tomorrow is March 1st and that means it's time to start looking for a new tenant for my rental property. I hate interviewing renters. I just don't seem to be able to pick a good one.

Holly is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day