Day 4806

Dawn had her annual exam today. The lab results haven't come back yet, but it looks like she is in good shape. Dawn, like many Dalmatians, has had problems with crystals in her urine, but hopefully changes in her diet have helped eliminate that problem. The only other problem was her ear. About a month ago we noticed that she had developed a hematoma on her left ear. She shakes her head a lot, which either caused or aggravated the problem. 

The vet recommended a special pet headwrap called the No Flap Ear Wrap that will help the hematoma heal without the need for surgery. The device actually seems to work, although she looks like a little babushka now. Dawn is still shaking her head, but her ears don't flap around any more. Hopefully this will help. I'm not sure how long she will have to wear this contraption, but she seems to tolerate it well. We're not sure why she shakes her head so much. Dash did this too and developed a hematoma as well. It's definitely not an ear infection. Her ears look good..

It took me a while to realize that today was a holiday. I kept wondering why we didn't get any mail and why the park was so full of people. President's Day is kind of a weird holiday, but if you're working and get the day off, I guess you'll take what you can get. Other than Dawn's vet appointment, the day was exactly the same for me. We took Dawn on a sunrise walk, I had my shredded wheat for breakfast, and then I took my long walk.

There was a pretty sunrise and sunset today. I should have taken more pictures. I've spent so many years documenting things in the park a that I'm not very interested anymore. I didn't even take a picture of Dawn at the vet today. I used to do that with Dot and Dash a lot. There's always a phone in my pocket, but I rarely carry a camera with me these days. I used to always carry a little Lumix DMC ZS40 with me. It was about the size of a pack of cigarettes and had a long Leica telephoto lens that collapsed flat when the camera was off. This was the perfect camera to carry while taking long walks in the woods but I can't be bothered anymore. I just spend my walking time daydreaming these days.

I was expecting to hear from the roofer today and was hoping to learn whether I'd been credentialed for the Crew-6 launch as well. I guess nothing happens on holidays. We'll see if anything happens tomorrow. I won't be that disappointed if I don't get credentialed for this launch. Life will be simpler without having to arrange a last minute trip to Florida. Life would be simpler if the roof didn't leak too, but you can't have everything.

I need to remember that it's time for bulky trash pickup this week. There are still leaves that need to be raked in the side yard. Raking leaves is not my favorite activity, but these leaves don't seem to be going anywhere on their own. There have been several really windy days and I was hoping that they would just blow away. No luck there. If anything, more leaves seems to be blowing into the side yard.

It was unseasonably warm today and almost got up to 80 degrees. I think it's supposed to be even warmer tomorrow. That's fine by me. As long as it doesn't rain, the weather can do what it wants.

Odie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3343

Winter is just a process of continually adding layer after layer of clothing so I won't be too cold when I go outside and then removing layer after layer of clothing as soon as I come back inside so I won't get too hot. I'm always trying to shortcut this lengthy process, so I'm usually too hot or too cold. Maybe some of you find all these seasonal changes invigorating, but I wish mother nature would make up her mind. 72 degrees all the time would be nice.

I thought that Dash might want a later walk this morning because he was still sound asleep when I woke up. This was just wishful thinking on my part. Dash was waiting at the door and ready to go before I finished getting dressed. I'm always amazed at how empty the park is on cold windy days. There are all these young, healthy dogs in the neighborhood and it's always the old dog who can barely move who is still out there. I admire Dash's tenacity, even though on days like today I'd rather just stay inside myself.

Dash's vision has been getting worse for some time. Occasionally, I think he navigates entirely by his sense of smell. To a casual observer he seems to meander all over the place, but maybe he is just smelling his way from one familiar landmark to the next. Every once in a while he will stop and smell the air for a long time and then turn around. It's frustrating when he does this when we're almost home. "Don't do this to me buddy," I think. "We're almost home and I'm getting cold." I've learned that if something doesn't smell right to Dash, it's better to just change our route and forget about it. Getting Dash to change his mind is not an easy task.

I guess today was a holiday. President's Day never seems like a real holiday to me. Today was just a day when I couldn't go to the post office or listen to the market news on the business channel. I don't buy or sell very often anymore, but I still like following the market. When I hear politicians talk it all just sounds like blah, blah, blah to me. Market moves are easier to understand. The market operates almost entirely on fear and greed. When investors are scared, the market goes down. When they are confident, the market goes up. If you follow these sentiments, you can get a pretty accurate picture of what is going on in the world. It's certainly a more accurate picture than listening to politicians.

Without any market news to follow, I watched Jay Leno's Garage instead. I'd love to have a huge collection of cars like Jay Leno or Jerry Seinfeld. I don't think either of these guys are trying to impress anyone. They are just rich and really like cars. I've had some interesting cars in my time, but I can't imagine being a collector. Cars take up a lot of space and they can be quite expensive to keep running. One at a time is plenty for me.

I tried going without antihistamines this morning. It didn't work. Within an hour or two I was blowing my nose again. I wonder if I'm going to need to take the antihistamines all Winter. I have seasonal allergies every year, but they've never lasted this long. Is something weird going on with the pollen count this year, or am I just becoming more sensitive? Of course there are always the conspiracy theories. Maybe the Chemtrails are starting to get to me.

I haven't used my laptop or iPad in so long that the batteries in both were completely dead. When business travel was a part of my life, I used to depend on the laptop. Not anymore. The only time I use it now is during power outages. Be prepared is my motto, so I charged the batteries and updated software on both devices. Hey, you never know. I may need an old laptop someday.

Bailey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2978

I need to find a better time to go to the gym. For the past two weeks there has been a full court game underway when I arrived, so I haven't been able to shoot baskets. This is disappointing, since my time on the basketball court is the only real fun I have at the gym. The rest of the time is just burning calories and trying to raise my heart rate.

Dash was listless today. He did take a walk, but wasn't very interested in eating. I had to try several different varieties of dog food before I could get him to eat anything. Usually, Dash's appetite returns after a walk, but not today. I don't know what was wrong. He didn't seem nauseous or  show the usual signs of a vestibular event. Dash just wasn't hungry. A Dalmatian who won't eat is always alarming. Typically, they are always hungry.

The rain continued today. There was only a light mist when we took our morning walk, but there were several downpours later in the day. Now that the rain has returned, the dehumidifier is struggling to keep the house dry. I have to empty the water reservoir twice as often as on a dry day. Rain seems to amplify all the other problems in the house. When I think about it, every single house issue is related to water.

There is standing water on the roof. There is a leak that allows water to accumulate under the shower tiles. One of the toilets runs and I can't find parts to fix it. Even the ailing refrigerator is basically a water problem. If the evaporator coil didn't freeze, everything would be fine. I wish the rain would quit so at least the air would feel dry. I'm losing my patience with water.

I could really tell that I had shoulder and knee problems while I was at the gym today. Maybe rain makes my arthritis worse. My shoulder still aches. I wonder how bad things need to get before I consider surgery? Lots of people I know have had knee replacements. Some recover completely and others don't. I've always been fearful of surgery. Most of the surgery the dogs have had was unavoidable, but they never made a full recovery. Surgery is very invasive. I had knee surgery back when I was in college and my knee continues to feel weird to this day. I had something called Slocum's Procedure, which has since fallen out of favor among orthopedic surgeons. It is amazing how many types of surgery have fallen out of favor over the years when doctors discovered that the proceedure basically didn't work.

Tomorrow is one of those holidays that doesn't really feel like a holiday. Janet gets a day off and we won't get any mail, but other than that, it's just a normal day. There aren't even any President's Day savings on the refrigerator I still need to buy. Washington's birthday is really on February 22, but in 1971 we decided that it was easier to give people the day off on a Monday, so a lot of minor holidays began being celebrated on Monday. It was also easier to just take away Lincoln's holiday and call combined birthday celebration President's Day. Not that is matters, but I remember when Washington and Lincoln each had their own holiday.

I have a ton of bills to pay tomorrow, but they will all have to wait until Tuesday. There is no mail delivery tomorrow. It would be nice if there was no rain as well.

Bailey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2625 - President's Day

Holidays that move around from year to year confuse me. I'm old enough to remember when Washington's birthday was celebrated on February 22, which happened to be the day he was actually born. Now, in an effort to give people more three day weekends, this birthday is celebrated on the third Monday in February. We don't call it Washington's birthday anymore though, because Lincoln's birthday and Washington's have been rolled into a single postal holiday, simply called President's Day. If it weren't for the fact that we didn't get any mail today, I would never have realized that today was a holiday at all.

I definitely realized that we were having a thunderstorm last night. The thunder and lightning woke up Dot and Dash but I think it was the wind that woke me up. I checked the weather radar and quickly realized that it was going to be a long night. Dot calmed down when I closed a door that gave her a view of the storm. After I covered Dash with a blanket, he seemed to relax as well. I think the dogs weathered the storm better than I did. I was nervous until the wind subsided because I was afraid that one of our trees would come crashing down. I stayed on the floor with Dot until she went back to sleep, which was probably a mistake, since I woke up with a sore shoulder. By morning, the storm was largely over, but I was very tired.

The storm wasn't the only strange thing that happened last night. When I woke up this morning I noticed what looked like a pile of dirt on the bathroom floor. Where did this come from? On closer inspection, the dirt turned out to be a small ant hill, populated with hundreds of tiny sweet ants crawling around. Apparently the ants invaded the house through a small crack in the tile floor. I found some bug spray, killed the ants , and cleaned up the mess. Hopefully, they won't come back. I have a feeling that last night's torrential rains flooded the ants home and forced them inside. Either that, or the ants were already in the house and just waiting for the right time to cause havoc.

There isn't much to do on a rainy day, so after making a few minor website updates, I was faced with vacuuming the house. Why not? I knew I couldn't avoid this unpleasant task forever, so I got to work. The canister filled with dirt quickly and the house still looked dirty. Cleaning things would be much more satisfying if they actually looked clean when you were finished. I was temped to leave the vacuum cleaner running in the bathroom in hopes of sucking up all the remaining ants, but I knew the ants would outsmart me anyway. They're probably already plotting their next move.

Janet brought home burgers tonight. They were delicious, but I'm always surprised that what would have seemed a normal sized meal ten years ago, now leaves me stuffed. I need to start ordering children's meals. I don't know if it's natural for your appetite to decrease as you age, but mine certainly has. I should have cut the burger in half and had the other half for tomorrow's dinner.

I'm sure Dash wishes we were feeding him cheeseburgers. He was still finicky with his food today. I have no idea what is going on. Janet bought a different brand today to see if he liked that. He ate the new food just fine, but we now have four different brands of food for Dash. It's getting confusing. Dot will still eat anything, even if it takes her all day to chew her meal. The food goes in one end and comes out the other. That's how I spend my day.

I think the weather is supposed to clear up tomorrow. If it does, I may actually get something done.

Odie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2252 - Valentine's Day

We got to sleep in until almost 8 AM this morning, which is almost unheard of. Both dogs slept soundly. There were no accidents during the night. And best of all, after our morning walk, we had bacon for breakfast. Who could ask for more. I didn't make it to the gym today because I had to catch up on a lot of Saturday errands that got postponed by yesterday's photoshoot. It was no great loss though. I didn't really feel like going to the gym anyway.

When I was out running errands this afternoon I noticed that I had another nail in one of my tires. Damn. It's almost impossible to avoid getting nails and screws in your tires in Dallas. Janet has had three nails in her tires during the past year and I've had two. I don't know where these nails come from, but they're everywhere. The situation has gotten so bad that I've even thought of investing in a set of run-flat tires. I can't imagine changing a tire on the side of the road in this city. The traffic is so bad that you'd probably get killed. The tire is still holding air, but getting it fixed is the first thing on my to-do list for tomorrow.

I'm apparently not the only one who has made Sprinkles Cupcakes a Valentine's Day tradition. Every time I go to the store on this day there is a huge line out front waiting to place their order. The wait wasn't so bad today, because it looked like it was going to rain any minute and even though the cupcakes are delicious, they are not worth getting wet for. I didn't even have to pay for the cupcakes today because Janet discovered a gift certificate she won in a charity silent auction quite some time ago. I thought the certificate had probably expired, but the store honored it and even told me that I could redeem the gift certificate a little bit at a time since I really only wanted four cupcakes today, plus another two small ones for the dogs.

I received an e-mail from a veterinarian this afternoon asking if I was still interested in designing a website for him. I had initially contacted this guy over two years ago and then just assumed he wasn't interested because I never heard back from him. This just goes to show that some things take time. I'm always delighted when these sleeper cell jobs come back to life. I've made tons of contacts over the years, but I just don't have the energy or inclination to make cold calls anymore. There are certainly a lot more people out there that I haven't heard from in a long time. If even half of them still remembered me, I could be busy for a long, long time.

Dot is ageless. I took this Valentine's Day portrait of her quite a few years ago, but she still looks absolutely the same today. Dash looks pretty young too, but that's probably because he actually is a lot younger than Dot. We're all getting older though. Now Janet is the only one in hte family who isn't taking blood pressure medication.

Tomorrow is President's Day. Is this a holiday for all the presidents, or just the ones like Washington and Lincoln who used to have their own holidays? It's a weird holiday. The post office is closed, but FedEx and UPS are still making deliveries. Some banks are closed, but others remain open. Mattress stores seem to love this day, because they always seem to have huge President's Day sales. For me, it's just another day, I hope I can get my tire fixed.

Dash is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1525 - President's Day

Yup. It did turn out to be a cleaning day. I kind of figured it would. I spent the day doing a host of little things that I've been putting off for months. I cleaned soap scum off the shower tiles. I took the handles off the bathroom faucets so I could clean off the accumulated soap and mold that had gotten inside the fixtures. I cleaned the toilet. I went to Home Depot and bought a new garden hose and spray nozzle to replace the leaky one in the back yard. I cleaned the bird shit off my car again. None of this was very exciting, but since I have the same degree of affection for cleaning toilets as I do for most recent presidents, I guess it made sense to do these things on President's Day.

I finally figured out were to find the serial number on my UP band, so I could write Jawbone and ask them to send me a new one. Then I saw something on the Internet about how to revive a dead Jawbone battery. I followed the instructions and amazingly the band started to charge again. I'd already sent the letter saying that the band was broken, of course. It remains to be seen whether they'll send me a new one.

I don't know whether my shoulder is ever going to get better. I was so worried about walking the dogs and working out at the gym, but it is the simple, unavoidable things that are the problem. Making the bed is a problem. Putting on socks is a problem. I climbed up on the roof today to sweep off some water, and that was definitely a problem. I've had a shoulder that tended to go out of joint for at least ten years. If I was careful, it never really hindered me much. My recent injury was definitely the worst I've had, but there have been others. I can make the muscles around the shoulder stronger, but that's about all. The ball and socket joint has been loose for a long time and will probably always be loose.

The dogs are finally learning to sleep in late. Now that they are mastering this new routine, it's back to work. Janet will return to getting up at the crack of dawn tomorrow and the dogs will be confused again. Maybe we'll all go back to sleep for another hour after Janet leaves for work. It's hard for me to come up with a good reason to get up early. What is the point? I usually have lots to do, but I can set my own schedule. Hey, why get up early when you have the option of staying up late?

I saw my first Daffodils today. I bet they won't last long. This always happens in Texas. The flowers get confused and then Mother Nature lets them know who's boss with one final blast of arctic weather.

Lexi is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1522 - Valentine's Day

To a dog, Valentine's Day is just like any other day, except that sometimes you get dressed up in silly costumes, and other times you get an extra treat after dinner. Ours usually get a Sprinkles dog cupcake. These look exactly like the Sprinkles cupcakes for people, except that they are for dogs. I hope they are made with dog safe ingredients and aren't packed with sugar. I've never really asked. Dot and Dash sure like them though.

This morning, when I was driving home from my breakfast restaurant, I noticed a lot of men washing their cars, so I decided to wash mine as well. Men seem to like to wash cars, especially on a nice day. There is something satisfying about a clean car. It is well within the realm of possibility. A clean house is nothing but a pipe dream. With two Dalmatians and clutter everywhere, I've given up on ever having a clean house.

Dot is just about back to normal now. Her eyes are bright and her energy has returned. The only problem I'm having now is figuring out where to keep her, so she'll be safe when I have to leave the house. When I look around the house, there are lots and lots of cloth or leather things a dog could chew on if they got in one of those frantic chewing moods. For now, I put up some dog gates and confine her in a hallway area where there are brick floors. There is no need to confine Dash, but since he likes to sleep on the bed when we're gone, he ends up being confined too. Dot's temporary hallway pen blocks his exit. Neither dog seems to mind this arrangement since they sleep most of the day anyway.

The complex boarding arrangements add even even additional time to my daily dog care routines. Now that I'm walking each dog separately and creating separate spaces for them every time I leave the house, there doesn't seem to be much time for anything else. No sane person would spend this much time being a dog butler, but you guys probably figured out that I'm not entirely sane quite a while ago.

I paid a bunch of bills this afternoon and now I feel poor again. Money seems to flow in and out of my hands like the tide. I need more lucky breaks like I got at the grocery store this morning. I ended up getting a $30 Filet mignon for $9 because somebody mistakenly mislabeled it. I didn't even realized that I had selected such an exclusive little piece of beef until I heard two butchers conferring about the price. They were good to their word and let me have the price marked on the case. I think they took that $9 sign down as soon as I left.

It looks like we've got a three day weekend with decent weather coming up. I'm still not sure what President's Day is all about, but I'll take any excuse I can get not to work. Who knows, the dogs might even get two trips to the dog park.

Dash is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1160

It was a good day to go to the dog park. The weather was nice and all the dogs were playful. We stayed quite a while at the park because it is much more enjoyable to watch dogs play than it is to clean the house. Since Janet and I both have the little activity wristlets now, we were probably looking for an excuse to boost our step count too. I feel compelled to walk 10,000 steps a day now. I've probably always walked that much, but now that I'm being measured, I hate to be a slacker.

When we got home from the park, the dogs did the smart thing and took a nap. I decided to clean the bathroom instead. I don't know why it's so hard to get soap scum off the shower tiles. In those Scrubbing Bubbles commercials, the tiles are glistening in just a few seconds. In real life, it never works that way. It's harder to clean shower tiles than it is to clean a barbecue grill.

It's supposed to be a holiday tomorrow, but it doesn't look like I'm going to get any time off. I've already got several jobs on tap that I need to work on in the morning and then I need to go over to Baylor and have an MRI done in the afternoon. I filled out a big stack of pre-admittance paperwork this afternoon, but I'll bet there's more paperwork for me tomorrow. An MRI is pretty painless. The only thing I don't like is when they inject you with dye. It leaves an odd metallic taste in your mouth for some reason.

I'm glad Janet approves of my new diet. It would be much harder to maintain my resolve if she wanted to continue eating cheeseburgers. Luckily, she's been eating healthy all along. All I have to do it eat the same things she does. Well, almost the same things anyway. I'll have to forgo the scotch and red wine.

Too bad I've had to give up alcohol. Drinking all that extra water I'm supposed to have would be a lot easier if I could add a little single malt scotch and a few ice cubes to every glass.

Lexi is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 796

We spent most of the day at the Krewe of Barkus Mardi Gras parade in McKinney, Texas. McKinney is one of those beautiful small towns with a town square that has a courthouse in the middle. Most of the shops in the historic town square have been converted into chic restaurants and antique stores, but visiting this town still brings back memories of the town I grew up in. This is what America used to look like. It's kind of sad that towns like McKinney survive by turning themselves into architectural theme parks, but what are you going to do? The industries that used to keep towns like these thriving all across America left long ago. I have a feeling that places like McKinney will become thriving retirement communities. When you think about growing old in a quaint little town like this or a crime ridden city like Dallas, the choice is pretty clear.

Dalmatian Rescue has been coming to this Mardi Gras parade for three or four years now. I don't think the dogs understand the tradition of pre-Lent reveling, but they do seem to enjoy being outdoors and getting to see lots of other dogs. Dot seems to enjoy being in charge of the Dalmatian Rescue booth. As soon as we get the tent set up and are ready for business, there she is, standing tall at our table and greeting visitors. People seem to love seeing Dot take charge this way. She's a bossy girl, but she can be quite charming.

Dash was a hit during the parade. As the procession wound its way around the town square, Dash barked continually at everything he saw. He was wearing a Texas Rangers baseball costume and the crowd would yell "Go Rangers" as we passed. He seemed to enjoy the attention, especially when an endless stream of little kids came up to pet him at our booth. Both dogs were tired at the end of the afternoon and slept on the way home. We didn't hear a peep out of Dash during the entire long ride back to Dallas. Our strange boy is finally starting to mature.

Tomorrow is President's Day. This holiday has become so vague that I can't even remember which president's we are honoring anymore. Janet gets the day off, but I still have to work. I was hoping to get a little writing done today, but the day went by too quickly. Hey, I can write any day of the week. It was nice to get out in the sun today and enjoy a little taste of an early Spring. Tomorrow, I may need to forgo the pleasant weather. I'm behind on everything.

Spot is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 430

I discovered something cool today. Have any of you ever heard of Kickstarter? I never heard of this website until I bought a LunaTik watch kit a few weeks ago and discovered that the entire project had been funded by Kickstarter. This unique site makes it possible for virtually anyone to fund or find backers for their latest project or dream. It's kind of like Kiva or MicroPlace, except that instead of making small loans to businesses in third world countries, it lets people like you and me become venture capitalists and fund new projects that we think deserve to see the light of day. I was amazed to discover that quite a few films and even gallery shows are being financed this way. I wish they had something like this when I was making documentary films. The hardest part of making a documentary is finding the financing. Kickstarter is the first thing I've ever seen that really levels the playing field. After spending about half an hour browsing though an interesting selection of current projects, I began to think that if I ever make another film again, this might be a very viable way to finance it. It's just amazing how the Internet has changed everything. Just about every week I see something that forces me to totally rethink the way I've been doing things. I haven't received the LunaTik I ordered yet, but I assume I will one of these days. They're probably still being made in China.

I wish I could totally rethink the way I'm dealing with my roof problems. I was up on the roof this afternoon and think I found where the water is coming in. The solution is not very high tech though. I still just take a tube of Henry 209 sealant and spread it liberally around all the suspect areas. The next time it rains I get to see whether I was successful.

At least I was successful at getting rid of the rotting pumpkins on the front porch. As pumpkins age, the outer skin gets thinner and thinner. These particular pumpkins were so fragile that if you even touched them, they disintegrated into a wet puddle of pumpkin mush. The three large pumpkins were still as heavy as fresh pumpkins though. Removing the pumpkins proved to be just as messy as patching the roof. At least the pumpkin mush was easy to wash off my hands and clothing. Unfortunately, I can't say the same for the tube of Henry 209.

I'm glad we've got a three day weekend coming up. I doubt that we'll spend much time celebrating past presidents, but it's always nice to have an extra day off.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day