Day 4301

Today was beautiful. It's hard to complain about clear blue skies and cooler temperatures. Dawn was ready for a walk as soon as we woke up this morning. She doesn't really approve of sleeping in on weekends. One of the many nice things about cooler weather is that we don't really need to walk before sunrise anymore. It's cool enough now to walk a dog any time of day.

After a breakfast of pancakes and sausages, I took my long walk. I wanted to be finished in time for Dawn's Sunday outing. The park was full of people this morning and the roads were crowded. I think everyone with a convertible had their top down today. I saw a beautifully restored Porsche 356 Speedster and a Shelby Cobra on my way to the park. There were lots of convertible Mustangs and Cameros as well. I've never understood the appeal of a convertible. I've never even opened the sunroof on my car. I prefer as much insulation from road noise and exhaust fumes as I can get.

I'm surprised that the lake level is still way down after the big rain we got the other day. The little bay where all the ducks and geese used to gather is still mostly dry. I see lots of photographers with long telephoto lenses in the park on weekends. I don't think they were very successful today. There were lots of people taking advantage of the nice day, but the animals were elsewhere.

When we took Dawn on her Sunday outing, there were crews taking down lots of tents. I think there was a big Octoberfest event yesterday. As you might expect, there was trash everywhere. People don't seem to be able to throw their trash in a trash can even if there are receptacles every ten feet. I have no desire to attend festivals like this. I'm not even sure I want to go to the fair. There are way too many people for me. 

Dawn doesn't know how to pace herself. She gets too excited on these Sunday outings and it wasn't long before her tongue was hanging out and we needed to rest under some shade trees. The weather was cool and we weren't walking fast. Dawn couldn't relax though. She seems to really like these outings, but she is still a very anxious dog. The ice cream cone at the end of our walk did calm her down. We all love ice cream.

After three walks I was done for the day. Since the weather was nice I thought I'd try to clear some weeds out of the gravel pathways in the back yard. That didn't last long. My knees are terrible now and weeding is no longer something my body seems to approve of. Never mind. I convinced myself that the weeds were going to die soon anyway and went back into the house.

I can't get the new sleep tracking features on my watch to work, but the watch talks to me now. Who thought that was a good idea? I've got to figure out how to turn this off. There is too much noise in the park already. I don't need to listen to my watch telling me how slow I'm going.

Tomorrow we'll visit the Dalmatian kennels. We always do this on Mondays. I'm not sure if Oliver is back from the vet yet, but Charlie will be there to greet us. 

Hobbs is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1026

It's jacket weather again. For the first time since last Spring, I needed to put on a coat when I went to run my weekend errands. I like jacket weather myself, mostly because jackets and coats are the only form of clothing that I actually enjoy buying. I've got more jackets than I know what to do with, but if I pass by the right sort of store on a chilly day, I'll probably get another one.

Unfortunately, I'll be wearing my jackets indoors soon if I don't get the furnace replaced. I tried to turn on the heat today, but I couldn't get the pilot to light. This doesn't really surprise me, since the furnace wouldn't work late last Winter either. I just didn't want to deal with it then. It was almost time to start using the air conditioner and I didn't want to spend the money. I guess the time has arrived. It's going to be chilly this evening.

I stopped by the neighborhood Oktoberfest this afternoon and had a beer and a bratwurst. The Weizenbier I tried was quite good. I initially thought it was imported until I looked on the label and realized it was a product of a little microbrewery in Plano, Texas, only a few miles down the road. When I used to work in Germany a lot, I remember that every town had its own local brewery. With the increased popularity of craft beers and microbreweries, it's getting to be that way here as well. Too bad I can't enjoy these tasty brews as much as I like anymore. I can survive without beer, but I'm not going to make it very long without a liver.

The dogs were wild on their walk this evening. I don't know whether they were enjoying the cool weather, or were cold and wanted their sweaters on. They certainly had more energy than they did yesterday. I guess it makes sense that the dogs would act diferent today. The temperature dropped at least 35 degrees overnight.

I got another assignment to write about the oil and gas industry today. I used to do a ton of these jobs and then they all disappeared for a while. Now, they're coming back again. The opposite is happening with my watch industry assignments. I'm not writing as many watch articles these days. This is the way it's always been. When one thing picks up, another thing slows down. I feel like I'm treading water instead of making any real forward progress. Hey, I'm still in business though and paying my bills. I know a lot of people who can't say that anymore.

Cassie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1025

The Cormorants and Coots have returned to the lake again. I find these seasonal migrations reassuring. At least something in this world stays the same from year to year. Truthfully, not very much in nature stays the same. I've noticed this year that Johnsongrass is slowly but surely erasing the beautiful native prairie near our house. Sparrows have occupied all the Martin Houses in the area as well. I wouldn't call these two things a sign of the apocalypse, but it's not exactly good news either.

I got lucky when I stopped by the cool restaurant for breakfast this morning. The place was virtually empty. I got to enjoy a delicious meal without overhearing a bunch of trendy people salt and pepper their conversations with words like sustainability and codependency.

Since some of my clients pay me in Euros, I never know quite what I'm going to make until I exchange the money for dollars again. I think I picked a good day today, since the Euro was down. Things were much better though before the Federal Reserve started printing money again and caused the dollar to weaken. It's way too complicated for me. Life was so much easier when I just went to work at an ad agency and collected a paycheck every two weeks.

One of Janet's charities is having an Octoberfest fundraiser this weekend. Janet will be working the event, but for me it will be a good excuse to have a rare special occasion beer with a bratwurst. I think my liver will forgive me for the occasional special beer. Honestly, I haven't had a drink since the last special occasion. Regular readers will know that these things don't happen all that often.

Lightning is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 655

We went to the Lake Highlands Octoberfest this afternoon. This event is put on by the Lake Highlands Exchange Club to raise money for the scholarships it provides to the local high school. This year's event took place at the never completed Lake Highlands Town Center. The Town Center is a beautiful development that was supposed to revitalize the entire neighborhood. Unfortunately, the project ran into financial problems during the big financial meltdown of 2008 and was never completed. There is a beautifully landscaped urban park, nice streets and plenty of parking, but no buildings whatsoever. It's a good place to have a neighborhood fundraiser though. I had a grilled bratwurst and a Weizen beer and enjoyed the Sunny Fall afternoon.

We also ordered our new mattress at the Design Within Reach store. Janet liked the same firm mattress I did, so hopefully we'll be getting a little more restful sleep in a few weeks. We didn't ask the dogs which mattress they'd like best. They'll sleep anywhere. Usually right on top of us.

I'm still trying to get caught up on one of the animal rescue websites I manage. After months with no updates whatsoever, these guys decide to send me a ton of new animals they want on their site all at once. There must be twenty-five or thirty new animals and each one needs a page of it's own. It's going to take me four or five days to get everything updated.

I think the physical therapy is actually working. Even after one session I found it was easier to get out of bed this morning and the pain in my neck didn't seem as bad when I walked the dogs this afternoon either. I'll cross my fingers and hope that after a few weeks of these sessions, I'll be able to get back to a normal schedule again.

Tori is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 654

It hard to believe that it's been a full year since my Paypal photo shoot in San Francisco. That's what I was doing a year ago today. Being a spokesperson for Paypal certainly hasn't changed my life much. Very few people I know have even seen the ads. A lot of the people who actually have seen the ads still think that the Dalmatians in the photos are Dot and Dash. I have to explain that they only flew me to San Francisco for the photo shoot, not Dot and Dash. The dogs in the photos are California show dogs who are used to being in photos. They are very nice, but they are not mine.

I had my first physical therapy session today. I learned that I don't have a pinched nerve, or my neck pain would be even worse. What I have is a condition called encapsulated soft tissue. What this means is that some tissue has been caught between the vertebra in my neck and is being pinched. Evidently traction therapy can pull the vertebra apart just enough to release the tissue. I'm a bit sore after the first session, but it all makes sense to me.

When I arrived at the physical therapy offices I was surprised to see that my own doctor was there getting physical therapy himself. I heard him tell a nurse that he was just going to ride the stationary bicycles till the therapist was done with me. My therapist heard this and told someone to go watch him, because he "didn't know when to stop." The therapist turned to me and told me that the doctor was in a lot worse shape than I was. I guess this is good news, but I certainly like a healthy doctor too. At any rate, it looks like several weeks of therapy sessions ought to get me back to normal. I certainly hope so.

Janet's is helping with a big neighborhood Octoberfest tomorrow, so I guess that's where we're eating lunch. Hopefully we'll be getting our new mattress ordered tomorrow as well. It looks like a very busy weekend, since I've still got work that I didn't manage to get completed today. Tomorrow is a brand new month. We need to remember the dogs heartworm pills in the morning.

Thelma is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day