Day 3658

We introduced ourselves to the new Dalmatians today. They are a good looking, friendly group of dogs with ages ranging from nine months to six years. Two of the newcomers are already in the process of being adopted. I'm glad that most of the new dogs are finding homes quickly. They all deserve a chance for a normal life. We spent quite a while playing with the dogs this afternoon, but it was time well spent. Ginny went to her forever home over the Christmas holidays. Hopefully, when we return next week, a few more will have found homes as well.

Before going to the kennel, I went up on the roof. It must have gotten really cold last night because there was ice on the roof this morning. Removing standing water in the Winter is depressing because it never evaporates. If I ignore the water after a rain, it just sits there forever. Eventually, it will find a way inside. So far, all the patches I've made are holding up well, but I keep finding new areas that need attention. My five gallon bucket of silicon is almost empty now. Hopefully, my recent repairs will take me through the rest of the Winter. The silicon material seems to do better when you apply it in the Summer.

I got off to a slow start this morning. I felt tired, but Fitbit said that I got a good night's sleep. Sometimes I wonder what Fitbit and the Apple Watch actually measure. The readings don't always correspond to the way I actually feel. I dream a lot. I have a feeling that my dreams are more stressful than my day-to-day life. I'm always lost in my dreams. I seldom feel this way when I'm awake.

We got home from the kennel fairly late and I ended up taking my walk in the dark again. It was such a clear day that I thought I might be able to do a little stargazing while I was in the park. No such luck. It certainly got dark enough, but the light pollution in Dallas is so bad that it's hard to see much of anything. An hour after sunset, all I could see was Venus, the Moon and two stars.

I wonder whether Janet and I will be able to stay awake until midnight tomorrow. For the past several years it's been difficult. Midnight is well past our bedtime these days. I can't imagine going out for New Year's Eve anymore. It seems like an eternity ago when my old band used to routinely play New Year's Eve parties. I usually wouldn't get home until 2 or 3 AM. How did I do this? Staying up late is the one misgiving I have about getting more involved with astronomy again. Unfortunately you can't see stars in the daytime.

Tomorrow I'll add the new dogs to the Dalmatian Rescue website. Maybe I'll use this picture of Larry.  He looks pretty handsome here.

Penny is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2574

I can safely say that I've mowed the grass for the last time this year. The grass has been dormant for some time now, but I always mow it one last time so it looks nice for the winter. Since it was a pleasant warm day, I thought I'd tackle the leaves as well. The trees are bare now and all the leaves are on the ground. There are an enormous number of leaves on the ground in the back yard, making it difficult for Dot to walk. It would have taken me a week to bag them all up, so I just used the leaf blower instead. Leaf blowers are a silly invention. You don't really get rid of the leaves. You just move them around. Maybe there's a temporary sense of victory, but sooner or later a big wind will just blow them all back.

Hey, at least I tried. The house has been vacuumed, the grass has been mowed, and at least Dot has a fighting chance to make it to the back of the yard to pee. There is a certain futility to all this. It is almost impossible to keep Dot, or anything else, clean for very long. Literally two minutes after I got Dot's blankets out of the dryer this morning and placed them back on her bed, she pooped on them again. I always wanted to acquire more patience, but this is not the path I thought I'd be taking to get there. You just have to understand that Dot has no control over what happens anymore.

I keep hearing a lot of people says that 2016 was the worst year ever. Mostly this was just because their favorite singer died, or they didn't like the election results. Those kind of things seem so distant to me. Singers and celebrities die every year. I'm almost certain that a lot more will die next year. I measure each year by what happens much closer to home. I've known that Dot is dying for a long time. The fact that she is still here, barking and pooping, and sharing her life with us is definitely something to be happy about. I know that my working years are just about over too. This was the year I finally learned to accept it. It's OK. If somebody wants to hire me for something, I'll be happy to take the job, but I'm not looking for business anymore. I'm not seeing as many doctors as I was several years ago. My health seems to have stabilized. That's good. Sure, I liked David Bowie too, but my dog and my health are far more important.

Next year I have to renew my passport and my driver's license. Every time I renew my passport, it looks like I've aged 10 years. Of course, this is because I actually have aged ten years. I've had quite a few passports by now. I liked the old ones before the creation of the European Union best. Each country had it's own distinctive stamp and many of my passport pages were filled with stamps from countries I will probably never visit again. My current passport looks like I haven't been anywhere.  I'm a bit more apprehensive about my driver's license. My vision has deteriorated over the years and I'm afraid they might make me wear glasses. I don't particularly want to wear glasses. A slightly fuzzy world is fine by me.

We haven't gone out for New Year's Eve in ages, but I probably will stay awake until midnight and have a glass of champagne with Janet. Years ago when I played in a band, New Year's Eve was always a work day. We made our best money playing big New Year's Eve parties. I loved the various bands I played in, but I don't miss those parties at all. There were too many drunks and too few people to help pack up the equipment when it was all over.

I hope you have big plans for the year ahead. I'm not sure what I'll be doing, but there are a few things I'd like to do. Did you know that there is going to be a total eclipse of the sun next August that crosses the entire United States? It's going to be one of the best opportunities to see a total eclipse in this century. I almost saw a total eclipse when I was going to high school in Alaska but the sky clouded over at the last minute. Maybe I'll get another chance. The eclipse is a big deal, but if Dot is still around on her birthday next August, that would be an even bigger deal.

Dot is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1477

Here's how badly I've lost track of what day it is. I went to my Friday breakfast restaurant on a Tuesday, because it felt like a Friday. I guess the end of the year and the end of the week all seem pretty much the same. The surprising thing was that the restaurant was actually busier on Tuesday than it normally is on Fridays. Who would have thought?  I did remember that it was Tuesday when I went to the gym later in the day. Unfortunately, I forgot that it was New Year's Eve, and the gym was already closed when I got there. All was not lost however. I stopped by an office supply store on the way home and got a new accordion folder for my 2014 receipts. The 2013 folder will be on its way to my accountant soon, so I guess it's time to start over again.

It's hard to get very excited about New Year's Eve when you can't drink anymore. I'll stay up till midnight and welcome in the new year, but the celebration will be pretty sedate. Maybe I'll have some apple cider and a piece of pie. Years ago when I used to play bass in a rock band New Year's Eve was always a big deal. We always played our biggest parties of the year on New Year's Eve. I didn't drink much then either. It wasn't from lack of desire. I owned the PA system and was responsible for packing it up and taking all the heavy speakers home again after the gig. Hauling the PA system around was hard enough when you were sober and impossible to do when you were drunk.

It was interesting to see how many people I know on Facebook who posted something today about how terrible they thought 2013 was. Most of them thought that 2014 couldn't possibly be worse. I think it probably will be worse, but I'm not going to let that stop me. If I was waiting for a good year, I think I would have given up a long time ago.

I still had writing assignments to complete today, but it still felt more like a holiday. The dogs got extra long walks and I found myself turning on the TV a lot, hoping to be entertained. There wasn't anything interesting on TV, so it was actually good that I did have some writing work to do. I should make a New Year's resolution to clean my office next year. Oh wait, wasn't that last year's New Year's resolution? Maybe it was the year before last. It's been a long, long time since my office was really clean.

There will be another big meal tomorrow and maybe a little football on TV. Since the weather still looks nice, the dogs will get the gift they've been waiting for all December: a trip to the dog park. With rain and ice storms and holiday travel, it hasn't been easy to get to the dog park this month. Hopefully tomorrow we will make amends.

I hope that all of you have a fulfilling and prosperous year in 2014. If you can't think of a New Year's resolution, you could always resolve to introduce a friend to this blog. If each of you brought one new reader, my audience for this ongoing story would double. Hey, it never hurts to think big.

Dot is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day