Day 2976

I hate waiting for repair people. They never arrive when they say they will. You can wait and wait, but it never makes any difference. It's only when you give up and decide to take a shower or walk your dog that the service technician knocks on your door. I guess I shouldn't be critical. I'm always late myself. I can't even get to a simple meeting on time. The AT&T guy was three hours late today, but at least he showed up. My fiber optic installation is now finished.

I wish they'd told me ahead of time that the technician wouldn't need to come inside the house. This could have saved a lot of waiting. I still managed to get everything done. I got my grocery shopping finished early this morning before the technician was scheduled to arrive. Instead of going out for breakfast, I tried the breakfast buffet they had at the grocery store. I'd never tried this before because it didn't look very good. Surprisingly, the taste of the scrambled eggs, bacon, and biscuits and gravy I picked out tasted much better than they looked.

The refrigerator repair guy called me back today. After talking with him for a few minutes I realized that I now know just as much about repairing refrigerators as he does. The guy agreed that changing out all three thermistors might be a good idea. He also said that the temperature control for the fan might have gone bad. There were no guarantees though. Apparently the way appliance repair works is you just keep replacing parts until the problem stops. I don't know why I'm so surprised. This appears to be the way most car repairs work too.

I wish there weren't so many people walking their dogs during the middle of the day. Dash and I used to have the park to ourselves during the week, but now it's crowded all the time. The dogs on a leash are fine, but almost every day we run into someone who is letting their dogs run loose. I could tell that Dash really wanted a walk this afternoon, but as soon as he saw two dogs running off leash, he refused to go any further. It is so frustrating to have to abort a good walk. These people with their loose dogs have no idea how long it takes me to get Dash suited up in his protective gear and ready to go. I tried again just before sunset and this time there was no danger.

The news was all about Russia today. I don't know why the Russians went to all that trouble to get us fighting among ourselves. We do a pretty good job of that on our own. I think a lot of the outrage about this is bogus. The United States and Russia have been meddling in each other's affairs since the beginning of the cold war. It's not like we don't don't do the same thing to them. Personally, I think that if the FBI hadn't been so obsessed with Russian Twitter accounts, they might have had time to follow up on that Florida school shooters disturbing online profile.

Dash was a picky eater again today.  He'd enthusiastically start to eat something and then ten minutes later he would spit the same thing out. On any given day, I have no idea what is going to appeal to him.  I think Dash takes living in the moment to extremes. One minute he wants a walk. The next minute he refuses to leave the yard. Feeding him is so difficult now. I fed him half a can of dog food around 3 PM. He rapidly ate and then we took a walk. When we returned, I gave him the rest of the can and he wouldn't touch it. This inconsistency tests my patience almost as much as repair people.

It is supposed to rain all next week. I hope the forecast is wrong. You know how I feel about rain.

Joshua is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 2561

This was easily the coldest day of the year. I think the temperature was only fifteen degrees when we woke up. Everyone wanted to stay under the covers except for Dot. She needed to pee. I threw on a coat, got her outside, and quickly realized that it was going to be a long day.

After feeding the dogs breakfast, we all bundled up in warm coats and hats and went on our regular morning walk. Dash wasn't very enthusiastic, but Dot seemed to love the cold. She had enough energy to make it all the way to a tennis court on the edge of the park, about a half mile away. The old girl is pretty amazing.

Several people suggested that I just take it easy today because of my cold, but I don't even understand the concept anymore. Chores, obligations, and a feeling that I've just got to keep moving have taken over me. I don't even feel like reading a book or going to a movie anymore. Dot always needs something. I'm always doing laundry, cleaning up poop, or walking Dot around with her special harness. It's a lot of work, but it's good to feel needed. There are not a lot of people who actually need me anymore, but I can tell that Dot appreciates having me around. Needless to say, I didn't relax and watch a movie this afternoon. I went to the gym like I always do.

There was a story on the news today about several people in a wedding party getting killed when a large tree fell on them at an outdoor reception. There are so many old trees the park, that I always worry that a tree will fall on me while I'm walking the dogs. Several years ago a tree actually did fall on a cyclist in the park and severely injured him. I have seen large limbs fall off old growth trees while we were walking, but luckily we were always out of harm's way. At least twice in the past ten years, large limbs have fallen off our own trees. One landed on our roof and the other narrowly missed falling on Petey, an earlier Dalmatian we had. I'm probably living on borrowed time.

Am I the only one who is really getting tired of hearing that everything is Russia's fault? If Russia is such a huge problem, why didn't you whiners bring it up before your candidate lost the election. I seem to remember that Hillary took a lot of pleasure in pressing that Russia reset button a few years ago. And didn't Obama whisper in Dmitry Medvedev's ear that "After my election I will have more flexibility." How quickly we forget. It's weird to hear anyone on Capitol Hill get bent out of shape because Russia allegedly meddled in our election. For years, the same CIA that broke this news has been one of the world's worst offenders at meddling in other people's elections. Ask Benjamin Netanyahu how how he feels about US interference in his own election campaign. The CIA has a long history of installing puppet governments all over the world. Karma is a bitch guys. The United States has been meddling in other people's elections for decades. Personally, I don't care whether the Wikileaks information originally came from the Russians or a DNC insider. These leaked e-mails were just about the only truth that was revealed during the entire election campaign. Almost everything else on both sides was fake news. To me it is a bit ironic to hear democrats whine that their candidate lost because some information that was completely true was leaked to the public.

I'm not a political person. I've had conservative friends, progressive friends, and friends who never bothered to vote. For the most part, I've always respected my progressive friends. It's getting harder now, because you guys are such irritating whiners. Get over it. Your candidate lost. If you want to win next time, you might try listening to what people actually want instead of always trying to force feed them what you in your infinite wisdom think they need. Moral superiority is not a winning proposition. Hey, what do I know though? I never voted until I was 40.

Alvin is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 1516

Did any of you watch the opening ceremonies at the Olympics last night? I was blown away. After all the negative press that Sochi has been receiving lately, I didn't really know what to expect. I certainly didn't expect ethereal giant islands floating through the sky like dreamy zeppelins, or majestically moving music. Russia should be proud. They put on one hell of a show. I guess it's not surprising that I was impressed by these opening ceremonies. I love a grand spectacle. I'm fond of Cirque du Soleil, Phantom of the Opera, and Wagner's Ring Cycle. It's too bad all five Olympic rings didn't open properly, but this was one small glitch in a monumental success. I'm still wondering if the horse I saw grazing on one of those huge floating islands was real.

It's too bad that Russia and the United States aren't on the same side. I've always thought that Russia and the United States were natural allies, rather than natural enemies. We ought to learn from the success we've had working together in space and pool our efforts to be the biggest and the best. If you threw Germany into the mix, there would be no stopping us. I know some of my warm-and-fuzzy, pot smoking friends wouldn't agree, but a world where Dostoevsky, Porsche, Proton Rockets, Hunter S. Thompson, Leica, Steve Jobs, and Neil Armstrong set the tone would be fine by me. If we'd spent the past twenty years working together, we'd be on Mars by now.

Our roller coaster weather continues. It not only warmed up today, it warmed up dramatically. By mid-afternoon, the temperature was almost 60 degrees. On Monday, another cold front arrives and the temperatures are expected to dip into the twenties again. I've learned to enjoy the nice weather while it lasts. Not surprisingly, the dogs were just as eager to see the sun as I was. When it was time for their evening walk, neither dog wanted to be left behind. Against my better judgement, I decided to try to walk them together again. Everything worked out fine. Dot and Dash were so interested in smelling things, that neither dog tugged or pulled and I was able to walk them both using one hand. We walked for almost an hour and there was no stress on my shoulder at all. I know this won't always work, but I know my dogs. I could tell that they were in one of those lazy, smell the roses moods before we even left the house.

Since our unseasonably warm weather is supposed to last another day, we may be able to make it to the dog park tomorrow. I guess it all depends on whether last week's mud is drying up fast enough for the city to open the gates. I might even try to go back to the gym tomorrow. It's about time. I haven't attempted a workout since I injured my shoulder and I need to start burning some calories again. I'm not going to attempt any upper body exercises, but the place has a ton of treadmills. I'll just stick with the treadmills for a while.

I can't believe it's almost time to start raking leaves again. After decades of raking leaves, I think I might just let the landscape guys do it this year. They'll probably charge me double when they discover how much dog poop is hiding under the Winter blanket of leaves.

Taylor is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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