Day 3400

I like round numbers. 3400 seems reasonably close to 3500 and 3500 makes 4000 seem possible. I still don't know if I can reach my goal of writing something every evening for 5000 consecutive days, but I haven't given up yet. The thing that keeps me going is that I really don't know what is going to happen in the future. Anything could happen. Maybe the future will be worth reading about. I certainly hope something interesting occurs in the days ahead. Right now there isn't much of a story line. The blog has always been the story of two special dogs. Now that Dot and Dash are gone, so has a lot of my reasons for blogging.

We'll see what happens. Right now, I'm just trying to clean up the house. I took another load to the storage warehouse today. With Dash's support system gone, the house is stating to look bigger. I kind of miss the dog beds and kiddie gates, but there's far too much clutter around here already. It's time to restore some order to the place.

Janet brought an old computer home and wanted me to remove the hard drive so she could donate it. Nobody really wants old computers, but we've found a place that will take them. This was one of those Apple computers that looks like half of a bowling ball with a screen on a swinging chrome arm protruding from the top. I thought it would be easy to remove the hard drive, but apparently Apple didn't think this was a good idea. I had to disassemble the entire machine to access the cleverly hidden drive. It's a good thing I had a complete set of Torx screwdrivers. You couldn't even open the case with regular screwdrivers. Eventually, I finished the task, but I'm still wondering if it was worth the effort.

I got a voice message from the crematorium saying that they were unable to meet our request for a Saturday cremation. WTF? Dash's cremation is scheduled for Thursday morning. When I called to find out what was going on, the receptionist apologized immediately and told me she has been trying to reach someone else named John and had called me by mistake. "I'm so sorry," she said. "We'll see you tomorrow morning." "Tomorrow is Wednesday," I told her. "Our appointment is for Thursday morning." "Oh, I'm so sorry," she told me again. "I don't know why I even said that. Your appointment is definitely scheduled for Thursday." Somewhat reassured, I hung up the phone and continued my housecleaning.

I'm continuing my efforts to keep walking. Walking without a dog is just exercise, but at least Mr. Fitbit is happy. Somehow I've convinced myself that I need to take at least ten thousand steps a day. Ten thousand steps is easy with a dog. It's a little harder when you're just wandering around the house.

This is going to take a while. Dogs of ours have gone to the Rainbow Bridge before, but there was always another dog waiting to greet us when we returned to pick up the pieces. This is the first time there have been no dogs in the house for a very long time. It's awfully quiet around here.

Becker is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3159

Unfortunately, I didn't get a repeat of yesterday's restful sleep. Dash got me up in the middle of the night again. The diarrhea is back. We were outside quite a while last night. At least I was able to get back to sleep. I got to sleep in too. The weekend does have its fleeting benefits.

The toilet I thought I'd fixed for good a few months ago has started running again. My goal for the day was to fix the thing, but I failed. I don't know what went wrong. I repeated the procedure I used last time to the letter, but it didn't work this time. Go figure. Sometimes old houses can be infuriating. One thing is certain. I will never buy another French toilet. Finding parts for this Rube Goldberg contraption is almost impossible.

I can't keep up with Texas weather. This morning it looked like we were going to have clear skies for the next week. Around dinnertime, I started hearing thunder. When I looked at the weather radar, I saw a severe thunderstorm headed our way. I was glad that Dash got a nice morning walk, because he certainly wasn't going to get an evening one. It's still raining now, but luckily the thunder has quit. Oh, well. I guess I really didn't need to turn the sprinklers on this morning.

While we were eating dinner this evening, Dash got one of his frequent urges to go outside. We both raced for the back door, but we didn't make it in time. Dash slipped on the bricks as he was starting to poop and ended up falling in the poop. He was a smelly mess. I took him outside and hosed him down while Janet cleaned the brick floor. After Dash was clean and dry again, we resumed our dinner. Incidences like these don't even faze us anymore. Loose stools might be an unwanted consequence of finding a diet that Dash will actually eat. I don't have a clue at this point. There are way too many moving parts to this puzzle.

I'm glad I finished my Saturday errands before the rain started. I would have felt compelled to wash the car when there were way too many other things that needed to be done. I did my best to complete my weekend to-do list, but Dash had other idea. He was being very needy today and wanted me to nap with him. After a while, I was happy to oblige.

I noticed on Facebook that one of my favorite dogs is nearing the end of her journey. It made me sad. Janet and I fostered this dog for a while a long time ago. She has had a long and happy life with a nice family, but dogs never live long enough. Enjoy your remaining days sweet friend.

I don't like to dwell on sadness, but it seems to be everywhere. It's time for something uplifting to happen. I'm a very pessimistic person, but I still believe in good things. You just have to look a little harder for them.

Lucy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2896

I made a lot of progress on my website project today. It was a nice day and I know I should have worked on the roof, but this was more of a challenge. I wasn't going to let a silly template defeat me. After spending the morning dealing with all the things that baffled me yesterday, I feel confident that I can finish this thing. All I've got to do now is add the rest of the pages. With any luck I should be done by the end of the week.  It's a shame that all I'm doing is replicating a perfectly good site that I build two years ago. The objective is to create something that anybody can update. I even offered to continue updating the old site myself, but people don't want a website manager anymore. Godaddy Website Builder, Wordpress, and a host of other drag and drop website tools have made people like me obsolete. I'm sure there are other sites I'll be asked to convert, but I can see the writing on the wall. My coding days are over.

I'm impressed that my new doctor called me this afternoon to go over the results of my Calcium Score Screening. He reassured me that things weren't as bad as they looked. "These scores are frequently over 2000 for someone your age," he said. "You're less than 250."  I was hoping for a score of 0, but apparently that is very rare. My old doctor never called me on the phone with test results in the twenty years I was his patient. I always had to make an appointment and go to his office for a visit. To be fair, I eventually did get the test results and was able to ask questions, but only after spending forever sitting in a crowded waiting room full of sick people. Things are much more efficient and accessible now. I may change my mind later, but so far concierge medicine definitely seems to be worth the money.

I'm glad I have plenty of time. Dash is so slow now that I would never have time to walk him if my business was still busy. He still likes to walk and seems to move freely wearing the knee brace, but he just inches along. He'll walk ten feet and then stop to smell something or pee. Then we'll walk another ten feet and he'll stop to smell something else. For a while I was worried that he might be having trouble moving, but that doesn't seems to be the case. He just isn't in a hurry anymore. Actually this is a good thing. The specialist who treats him at the cancer center said that long, slow walks were good for him. We're definitely taking long, slow walks.

I spent so much time working on the website today that I didn't get around to all the other things on my list. How did I used to be able to get so much done?  Either I'm really slowing down, or life has become more difficult. Fixing breakfast and taking care of Dash seems to eat up half the day. If I can accomplish one other thing with the time I've got left, I'm lucky. I did balance my checkbook today, but that was only because I didn't want to go up on the roof or unpack all my photo gear to test the strobe lights. Guess what I'll be doing tomorrow?

A friend's dog died today. It's so sad that our pets don't live longer. They become such an important part of our lives and then they're gone. I always see Gracie when we take Santa Paws photos. I was hoping that I'd see her again this year. Rest in peace sweet dog. I hope you say hello to Dot at the Rainbow Bridge.

Scooter is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2104

Mercifully, the dogs let us sleep in a bit longer this morning. The sun was almost up by the time we left the house. Dot was relaxed and didn't even poop until we were halfway down the street. No accidents to clean up today. Janet and I were even able to enjoy our breakfast without a lot of loud barking. For the first time in a long time it seemed like an absolutely normal day. I needed a normal day. Caring for a sick dog does give you a real sense of purpose, but it is very tiring. I seem to be assimilating each new level of perpetual tiredness, but sometimes I wonder how much energy I have left.

I am definitely not alone. Coping appears to be the new normal. The older I get, the more my Facebook feed has become a litany of woes. It makes me sad to even look at Facebook these days. Almost every day someone's dog has died. Friends are coping with everything from a parent with Alzheimer's to a child with autism. People lose their jobs and discover that their own illnesses aren't covered by insurance. Sure, there are happy pictures of people holding their grandchildren, but it is hard for me to relate to these. All I notice are all the dogs that have gone to the Rainbow Bridge. I also notice friendships that have been torn apart by political squabbling. Maybe we share far too much these days. It should be comforting to know that I'm actually coping reasonably well in the grand scheme of things. Facebook still makes me sad though. It just shows me a world that is broken.

Maybe that's why I like Dr. Who so much. It's not the real world at all. It's just a far fetched fantasy that makes just as much sense as watching the evening news. I've been waiting for the new Season 9 opener all week. The Magician's Apprentice was actually just part one of one of a two part show that I will have to watch again next week to figure out what is going on. The Doctor is summoned by Davros who I'm almost certain was killed by Rose in The Parting of the Ways episode quite a few years ago. No wait, that's all wrong. It was Donna Noble who killed Davros in the Journey's End episode. The Daleks and their creator Davros keep reappearing, no matter how many times they are destroyed. Clara was exterminated by a Dalek in tonight's episode, but she actually was a Dalek when her character was initially introduced. It's confusing. I'm sure she'll be back next week.

Janet is at a meeting tonight and the dogs are restless. They don't like surprises. If their regular routine is interrupted for any reason, they both freak out. I finally got them all in the same room with me so I could watch Dr. Who, but now they are watching the front door and barking at any odd noise. It's going to be a while guys. Maybe if I feed them their evening rice cake a little early they will calm down.

I actually enjoyed going to the gym last Sunday. I'm not so sure I'll feel the same way tomorrow. I've been tired all week. The way today's been going, I have a feeling that I'll feel tired tomorrow as well. I can't let that stop me though. If I only did things when I felt great, I'd probably do nothing at all.

Rhett is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1302

Times have certainly changed. I can remember when an oil change meant thumbing through dog-eared car magazines in the the threadbare lobby of an old garage, waiting while a grease stained mechanic did his best to leave your car smelling like motor oil for the rest of the day. Not anymore. The Land Rover dealer serves you snacks and beverages in air conditioned comfort while they work, and then they wash and detail your car before they return it to you. Of course the oil change itself costs four times more than it should.

I used to scoff at the notion that the middle class in America was being systematically eliminated, but I'm beginning to believe that this is actually the case. As a member of the vanishing middle class, I find this discouraging. I don't need tasty snacks and a car wash when I get my oil changed, but I don't want to change it myself in the parking lot of an Autozone store like the Walmart people either. The gap between the rich and the poor is definitely widening and the territory in the middle is nothing but quicksand.

Another sign that times are changing is that my website clients increasingly ask me to do things that they think are trivial no-brainers, not realizing that these things are actually quite difficult for me. People see things that they like on Facebook or Pinterest and then they ask me to put the same sort of thing on their own websites. I've given up trying to explain that sites like Amazon and Facebook have huge development teams to do all the fancy stuff. I've already learned the hard way that if I protest too much, the client will just take their business to GoDaddy or some other template site and get what they want for free. So guess what I did today? I did some difficult stuff and pretended like it was easy.

I also pretended that it didn't really matter when Dash didn't get his regular nurse at the vet today. I'm equally frustrated when I go to my own doctors and don't get the lab tech or nurse I want. It is often difficult to tell whether a doctor is any good, but at the lower levels of medicine, it is quite easy. Some technicians can draw blood painlessly and others can't. Once I even had an absent minded tech inject me with the wrong shot. Dash had to have his anal glands expressed today and memories of my own colonoscopies made me wish he had the best nurse in the building. Of course like the song says, you can't always get what you want.

I've got to get my July invoices out tomorrow so I'll have some money coming my way in August. Among other things, there's a ritzy oil change that needs to be paid for. Just so you know, today's Dalmatian is a special one. She was one of ours. Greta went to the Rainbow Bridge nine years ago tomorrow.

Greta is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day