Day 3247

I closed out my account at the old storage warehouse and said goodbye to the place. I never would have made the deadline without the movers help. I don't know why I thought I could make the move on my own. I didn't even come close. The deed is done though. I hope I won't need to move anything else for a long, long time.

I also hope this cold wave we've been having is over soon. It makes life difficult. It was 27 degrees when we woke up this morning. Dash still needs to go out at night, but he doesn't like the cold. After I let him out to pee last night, he started shivering violently. We went back to bed, but he continued shivering even after I wrapped him in a blanket. It was almost an hour before he was calm again. Tomorrow Dash has another big exam at the cancer center. Hopefully they can tell us what these night tremors are all about. The shivering is almost a nightly occurrence now and it seems to be getting worse.

I'm amazed that Dash still enjoys walking. He does OK if he keeps moving forward, but he stumbles a lot at home and is having trouble getting up on the bed. I wish I could convince Dash to sleep on the floor, but he is very stubborn. It's sad seeing him going downhill like this. He definitely doesn't want to give up, but with each passing day he seems a little slower and weaker.

I got my first payment from an auction house today. This was reassuring. Maybe this whole process is going to work after all. You have to be patient when you are consigning things. I started this journey last June and the final auction won't take place until next June.

I watched another episode of Mars on the National Geographic Channel this afternoon. I wonder who's idea it was to combine a science fiction story with a lot of present day interviews with people like Neil deGrasse Tyson and NASA astronauts? I find the back and forth structure distracting and wish I could watch the story about the 2033 Mars landing all by itself. I've never liked multi-tasking, even if it's just watching a TV show. A simple little adventure is all I want at this point.

The sky was clear today, but there is still rain in the forecast. It's strange that Texas gets all the rain these days and California is in the middle of a multi-year drought. The wildfires in California keep getting worse and worse. The last time I spent time in Northern California I never would have dreamed that one day entire towns like Paradise would end up burning to the ground. I used to live on the West Coast and always thought that Texas was the place with terrible weather. I know I complain a lot, but with every passing year Texas is looking better and better.

The only thing I've got to complain about today is a paper cut on my left index finger. It's hard to type. Otherwise, things are looking good. Dash did well today. My back is feeling better. The roof is drying out. I was even able to get back to sleep after taking Dash outside last night. A few more days like this would be welcome.

Puppies are today's Dalmatians of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1180

Rain, rain, go away. Come again...well, never would be nice. On rainy days like today, I like to speculate about more hospitable climates where we could live. I love the dry, desert air around Las Vegas. I don't like the snakes and scorpions typically found in the desert, however. I went to high school in Alaska. There were no bugs whatsoever in the Winter. Somehow, they made up for lost time in the Summer though. The temperature was perfect in Seattle, but it rained even more there than it does here. Nothing seems right. I'd probably be a good candidate to colonize Mars. I could live in a hermetically sealed building for extended lengths of time and don't mind solitude. It wouldn't be solitude though. There would be other colonists. I guess Mars wouldn't work either. I don't do well in groups.

When I was sweeping the water off the roof this afternoon, I smelled what appeared to be burning insulation. I thought there was an electrical fire and I went back in the house to make sure nothing was burning. Everything was fine. Nothing seemed amiss and I couldn't smell anything at all. As soon as I went outside again, I caught another whiff or the burning insulation smell. Then, I saw smoke coming off my neighbor's front porch and thought their house was on fire. Just before I called the fire department, I saw my neighbors on the porch as well. They were barbecuing something on their grill. This was the worst smelling barbecue I've ever come across in my life. It smelled like they were burning old tires instead of charcoal in their grill. To each his own, I guess.

We photographed Sarge today at the Dalmatian Rescue kennels. Luckily, the kennel had a room we could use, since it was raining outside and I don't think a wet dog would make a very good portrait. Sarge was a very friendly boy and I had trouble getting him to stay still long enough to take his picture. He should find a new home quickly. The real question is why a great dog like this lost his home in the first place. I don't think Sarge was a stray. I think his previous owner surrendered him. I just don't understand how people can abandon their pets this way. There was probably a divorce involved. A lot of dogs come into the program as a result of a divorce. So many people trying to run away from everything. I bet some of them would drop their kids off at the pound too if they could get away with it.

Tomorrow doesn't look like a very auspicious day to go to the dog park. Even if it does stop raining, the dog park is likely to be muddy, and that means it will be closed. A muddy, wet day isn't much good for giving a dog a bath either. Maybe I'll finally have to get started on getting all my tax information organized. April 15 will be here before you know it.

Val is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 964

I'm looking forward to watching live coverage of the Curiosity rover landing attempt later this evening. This landing seems incredibly difficult compared to the bouncing beach ball landings of Spirit and Opportunity in 2004. Even though I have a short attention span, I was utterly fascinated by these two earlier rovers and would visit the JPL website just about every evening for at least three months to look at the new pictures that had been transmitted to earth. I cheered the unstoppable Opportunity on as it made its epic journey toward the Victoria Crater. I rooted for the intrepid little Spirit as it slowly climbed through the Columbia Hills. When I was in college, I was convinced that there'd be humans on Mars by now. I never dreamed we'd channel all our creative energy into making smart phones instead. At any rate, even though the space program has slowed to a crawl, I still welcome any sort of forward progress. If the Curiosity makes a successful landing later this evening, maybe we'll still make it to Mars in my lifetime.

It was so hot today that I didn't even attempt my normal Sunday to-do list. The dogs got their walks and a little off leash time at the dog park, but that was about it. The yard chores will just have to wait until a cooler day. Since I couldn't find anything good to watch on TV this afternoon, I was forced to do a little website work. This was probably a good thing, because I finally finished the loathsome online form revisions I've been avoiding for weeks. Forms have always been problematic for me because I'm not very good with tedious details. All you have to do is mistype one little thing in an online form and it won't work properly. Hopefully the seven new forms I created today will work perfectly when the client tests them on Monday.

I was eating dessert tonight when something came on TV saying that sugar was increasingly being linked to many forms of cancer. Damn! I've known for years that sugar isn't good for you, but this show made it seem worse than tobacco. According to the doctors being interviewed, you just shouldn't consume any sugar at all. This probably wasn't the best show to be watching while eating chocolate gelato and peach pie. So far, alcohol, salt, sugar, white flour and of course my beloved bacon are all to be avoided. What's next?  Personally, I miss the days when everybody smoked cigarettes and nobody wore seatbelts.

I don't really know what's on the docket for tomorrow. Maybe I'll just wait and see which of the squeaky wheels squeaks the loudest.

Morgan is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day