Day 1609

More rain today. The rain came as no surprise, but I was hoping that we might be able to at least get the morning walk under our belt before the downpour started. I was wrong. We got wet on the way home and the rain never really stopped after that. After I got the dogs dried off, I ate breakfast and tried to figure out how to make the best of a very soggy day.

The dogs aren't much help on days like this. They go back and forth between storm induced panic and cabin fever induced boredom all day long. Whenever there's thunder and lightning, they compete for the coveted "safe" spot under my desk. If they knew how to share better, they would both fit under the desk, but usually the first dog to arrive will stretch out and hog all the space for themselves. When it gets quieter again, the dogs will scratch at the back door to go out. I open the door, they sniff the air, discover it's still raining, and refuse to leave the house. This happens over and over again. Things have to be just right before they will even consider doing their business. This usually means that sometime in the middle of the night they won't be able to hold it any longer and will wake me up demanding to go outside. After about three tries, they finally decide to poop and all is well.

Luckily, the power didn't go out today and I got a fair amount done. The rain isn't over yet, unfortunately, so I'm still keeping my fingers crossed. I charged up the laptop, the phones, and the WiFi hotspot just in case, but that only buys me a couple of hours. It's rare that the power company fixes things that quickly. There's a good chance that the power won't go out this time. There wasn't a lot of wind associated with this storm. Just a lot of heavy rain. Oh, and the dogs wanted me to remind you that there was lots of thunder and lightning too.

I wrote several articles, fixed a website animation, and most importantly, cleaned the spiderwebs off the back windows with a broom. I didn't get to all the windows, but the back of the house is well protected by a long porch, so I could clean these windows during the rain. Like the dogs, I get cabin fever as well, and need occasional diversions on rainy days that take me away from the computer for a while. I'm surprised that the spiders arrived so early this year. I'll be needing to clear away the webs on a weekly basis from now through the end of the Summer.

I'll probably just go to bed early tonight after giving the dogs their evening meds and making one more attempt to get them to go outside and pee. Here's hoping that things will return to normal tomorrow. At this time of year, maybe this is normal though.

Dixie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1511

Today was everything you'd expect from a Winter Monday. Cold. Wet. Not really worth getting out of bed for. Although I am reluctant to start any new week, a chilly, damp Winter day makes the hibernating instinct even stronger. I'm still getting used to living with one hand. Walking the dogs has turned out to be easier than I thought and getting dressed is harder than I thought. Things are getting better though. Each day the pain subsides a bit and the shoulder feels a little more stable. I'm trying to be as careful as I can, but you do have to continue going about your normal day-to-day life. When you get up, you make the bed. And when you go outside in the cold, you pull on as many layers of clothes as possible. Hopefully, tasks like these will soon become simple again. Creaky, arthritic joints actually look pretty good when you can't move them at all.

My work load continues to increase. The changes aren't dramatic, but each week I seem to be doing a little bit more than I was the previous week. So far, I'm still managing to get everything completed, but my current schedule sure doesn't leave much time for reading books or watching old movies on Hulu Plus. I guess it's always been this way. I either have way too much to do, or nothing at all. It's almost impossible to find that mythical happy median where you make enough to pay the bills and still have plenty of free time to yourself. That's the problem with working. You're always on somebody else's schedule.

I sure hope some of my stop loss orders kicked in today. With a 300 point drop in the DOW compounding last week's losses, it looks like the overdue correction analysts were predicting is finally here. Most people think the occasional 10% correction is a healthy thing, but I don't agree. It sucks to watch three months of steady gains disappear in a few days. I have a disciplined approach to investing, just like I have a disciplined approach to working and walking the dogs. None of this is any fun though. It's kind of like slogging up a muddy hill on a rainy day. Maybe that's why on days like this, I find myself envying those delusional people who think that life is nothing but rainbows and unicorns.

Dash is still having digestion problems. He goes to the vet tomorrow for his antigen shot, so that will give me another opportunity to ask how to get this dog back on a normal schedule where he isn't scratching at the door at 3 AM every morning to go outside. I don't know what is wrong. The stool sample we took in last week was normal. He's eating very high quality food. His blood work is just about perfect. Dash should be a healthy dog.

I'm supposed to start my Hepatitis-C treatment tomorrow. Since I am one of the early recipients of a brand new drug, I have no idea what the side effects will be. I'm hopeful and a bit wary. The experience ought to be interesting though. I hope I look back at all this as a giant step forward. It could just as easily be another thorn in my side.

Casey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day