Day 1177

When the estimator came over this morning to look at my roof, I was pleasantly surprised at how knowledgeable he was. He seemed familiar with all the options available and I am confident that he can give me an accurate price. I'm not so confident that he'll be able to give me a price I can afford, however. I don't have any numbers yet, but when we were talking about what was needed to prevent my roof problems from reoccurring in the future, it became apparent that the new roof was going to be expensive. I am going to get several estimates, but the chances of getting a bargain and a good roof at the same time are slim.

My car started acting up again today. I called the Land Rover dealer and asked if I could bring it in for service tomorrow morning. Nope. They're all booked up for the next several days. It's just my luck that I have a doctor's appointment that is very difficult to reschedule tomorrow. If the car won't start, I'm really out of luck. It would take me half a day to get to the hospital by bus, and I don't really trust taxis around here either. Hopefully, the Defender will decide to work properly tomorrow.

I stopped by the Unrefined Bakery today to get a loaf of Paleo Bread. I wanted to see what the wheat free bread tasted like, because I really like my eggs on toast. The bread, which is baked using almond flour and flax seeds, was actually quite tasty. The small, freshly baked loaf cost me $13 however. A bit pricy for morning toast, I think. We'll see if there's any more Paleo Bread in my future. Maybe I'll save enough by keeping my liver healthy and diabetes at bay that I can afford little extravagances like this.

I figured out how to hook up one of my cameras to a WiFi network today. Pretty cool. Now, I can control the camera and take pictures using my iPhone and send the pictures directly back to my computer, or even to the web. The installation was far from intuitive, but eventually I got everything working. Unfortunately, this geeky task put me behind on everything else. I wasn't able to finish all my writing assignments today, which is a rarity for me.

No dog training class tonight. It's still pretty chilly outside and Janet had to work late anyway. Dot and Dash don't seem to mind that this is the third week in a row we've skipped class. They'd throw a fit if we ever skipped going to the dog park on Sunday, but missing training class is just fine.  I think I know exactly how they feel.

Anne is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 1173

When I was out shopping today, I stopped by a gluten free bakery to look for alternatives to wheat. I'm supposed to seriously cut back on my consumption of wheat. There's only one problem. I love bread. For most of my life my favorite meals have included French Toast, BLT sandwiches, and all forms of Panini. I don't even know what I was looking for at the new age bakery, but I definitely discovered something I'd never seen before. It was called Paleo bread. The stuff is gluten free, grain free, yeast free, dairy free, and soy free. The loaf looked like bread, but it definitely wasn't. There wasn't a single bread-like ingredient in it. I learned later that the odd bread took its name from the Paleolithic diet, which is basically eating like the cavemen did. None of this stuff is new. It's all been going on behind my back while I've been eating cheeseburgers.

I've noticed that my little activity tracker wristlet has started challenging me to walk further. What's that all about? How stupid do these app designers think I am? Do they think I'm just a Pavlov's dog who will walk longer because a silly iPhone app tells me to set a goal of 12,000 steps a day. Jeez, isn't 10,000 steps enough?  I did take a longer walk with Dot and Dash this evening though, so maybe I am just a Pavlov's dog. I'm secretly irritated that Janet somehow manages to take 20,000 steps a day. That's much more than me. I think she just takes smaller steps.

Wasn't all hell supposed to break loose today when sequestration went into effect? So far, I haven't noticed any changes at all. Personally, I don't think much is going to change whether the folks in Washington ever come to an agreement or not. I don't even know why this thing is even a big deal. Just about everyone in America has had to trim 2% off their family budget as a reason of this dismal economy. You just give up a few things and life goes on. If ordinary people can trim their household budgets, why can't the government do the same thing?

Do any of you guys use Angie's List?  I joined the website several months ago, in hopes of finding a first rate roofer. So far, I've never used the list though. I've become suspicious of the whole thing after I started receiving booklets of Angie's List coupons in the mail every few weeks. How can Angie run ads on TV saying that no amount of money can buy a good review on the list, and then turn right around and sell ads to anyone who wants one in her magazine. I may be forced to use the list anyway though. I still can't find the roofer I'm looking for. I've had plenty of friends recommend friendly roofers, honest roofers, and reputable roofers. So far, nobody has actually recommended a good roofer though.

Tucker is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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