Day 3152

We're getting a lot of rain. I know it's been dry and we really need need this, but I'm starting to worry about the roof. I can't leave all that standing water up there forever. The new elastomer coating had plenty of time to dry, so maybe there won't be a problem. My experience says otherwise unfortunately. For the time being I'll just wait and hope. There is no point in removing the water while it's still raining.

We had to wait until mid-morning to give Dash his walk because it was raining pretty hard when we woke up. The showers we've been having are sporadic, but they never stop long enough to get anything done. We got a little break in the weather after breakfast, but by the time we finished walking Dash, it was already raining again.

On days like these I have to forget about keeping the car clean. Ther's no avoiding Saturday errands. Today, I needed coffee and fresh fruit a lot more than I needed to stay dry. At least the strawberries looked good today. I hate to brave the weather just to find some rotten fruit.

Dash had a really good appetite today. Go figure. He ate all his meals without having to bribe him with peanut butter and dog treats. He still seemed hungry after his regular breakfast, so we fed him a little more. I can't figure out these daily fluctuations in appetite and energy. It doesn't make sense. Everything is so consistent in Dash's life that you wouldn't expect dramatic changes. All that being said, I'm really happy whenever Dash has a good day. He needs a lot more good days.

There isn't much to do on dark, rainy days. I tried to diagnose a problem with Janet's laptop. I watched a cooking show on PBS. I read a long online article about how the dinosaurs died out. I'm fascinated by theories of how the universe began or how the dinosaurs died. Basically a lot of really smart people are just guessing. I know of at least three distinctly different theories of how the dinosaurs became extinct. They all sound plausible to me.

Dash slept well last night, but I didn't. I woke up every time I heard rain on the roof. My Fitbit says that I experience normal periods of deep sleep, but I don't believe it. I'm such a light sleeper that the slightest noise always wakes me up. This is good when I've got a sick dog that needs attention. It's bad when I'm tired and really need to sleep.

If I can't sleep tonight, I might turn on the computer and watch the Parker Solar Probe launch. This launch has been delayed several times but it is scheduled to lift off around 2:30 AM this morning. I almost applied to NASA to view this launch in person, but I can't bring myself to leave Dash. It's not a big deal to miss this one. I'm sure they'll be launching plenty of satellites for the rest of my lifetime. It is a pretty audacious idea to send a spacecraft right through the sun's corona without burning it up. I hope they succeed, but it will be seven years before we find out whether the mission is a success.

I guess today was a success. Dash is happy. There are no signs of roof leaks. And the refrigerator is full again. Pretty soon it will be time for another trip to the gym.

Hannah is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3086

Some of the grass the guys installed yesterday looks dead. The landscaper said the sod was fine and would turn green after I watered it for a while. I doubt it. I've seen dead grass before. To add insult to injury, the grass was more expensive this year, even though it looks worse than last year's grass. I'll water the new turf faithfully for a few weeks. If the brown squares don't turn green, I'm going to demand a replacement. Believe it or not, I really don't enjoy complaining and wish that people would just do things right the first time.

I went to retrieve some art from the storage warehouse and was dismayed to discover that one piece had been damaged by humidity. The paper wasn't flat anymore and has developed some alarming ripples. I should have kept this lithograph at the house, but I ran out of space a long time ago. I called a good art conservator and explained my problem. She was convinced that the art could be saved, but warned me that the process took a long time and could get expensive. What a shame. I don't think this piece is going to the auction house.

Water is my enemy. I'm always fighting water. I had a really nice vintage guitar ruined by moisture several years ago. The shower pan leaks. The toilet runs. And I'm worried that I'm going to need a new water heater soon. If I water this new grass too much it will die. Conversely, if I don't water it enough, it will also die. Don't even get me started about the roof. My ongoing problems with the roof are all about water.

There are still a lot of e-mails going back and forth between me and the auction house. Consigning the model train collection was much easier. One of the hardest things about selling art is providing appropriate provenance for each piece you are planning to sell. It's not easy to find detailed records for things you bought forty years ago. My memory isn't that great anymore. I have no idea where some of this stuff came from.

I have an opportunity to apply for a chance to provide social media coverage for the launch of NASA’s Parker Solar Probe at the end of July. This sounds like fun, but it's probably too soon to participate in another one of these NASA social media events. I can't afford the three day event for starters, and taking care of Dash is still a team effort. I'm glad that NASA is still providing these opportunities for bloggers, because one of these days I'm definitely going to go cover another launch.

I think that this is the last day that NetworkedBlogs is in operation. If the site hasn't already shut down, it will tomorrow. I signed up for a new blog syndication service, but I don't know if it works yet. We'll see. The blog will still be published on Google's Blogger platform, but it you don't see it on Facebook or Twitter, it means that I haven't figured out how to use the new syndication service yet. I guess I could just share each night's post manually, but I haven't really figured out how to do this either. I'm sad to see NetworkedBlogs disappear. It's been a useful tool for many years.

Dash has his big follow-up exam at the cancer center tomorrow morning. Wish us luck. Tomorrow's test will determine if the blood clot in Dash's heart is really gone. Hopefully, this final echocardiogram will confirm that the clot has completely dissolved and is gone forever.  It's always good to have one less thing to worry about.

Wendy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day