Day 4448

It was a little chilly this morning but it certainly was a beautiful day. It was hard to believe how nasty the weather has been for the past several days because it was all blue skies today. Dawn got a nice early walk, plus another later in the afternoon. We didn't take our Sunday outing today for a variety of reasons, but Dawn didn't seem to mind. She doesn't like to ride in the car and it was too cold for ice cream anyway.

I didn't do much of anything today and was amazed that the day went so quickly. I paid some bills and finally got around to updating the Dalmatian Rescue website, but that was about it. I still waste too much time looking at Facebook even though there is little to see. Mr. Zuckerberg seems to think I like reading about aging rock musicians and exotic cars. I'm really just checking up on my favorite dogs. My Facebook feed is 90% dog pictures these days.

A few of the Dalmatians I regularly see online are located in Ukraine. I guess I never realized this until the war started. I hope these dogs and their owners are OK. It is really sad to see what is happening because it is all so pointless. In an odd way Putin has done the impossible. He has united the entire world against him. Democrats, Republicans, and just about every country on the face of the earth condemns the invasion. Even the Russian people are not in favor of what Putin is doing. Volodymyr Zelenskyy has become a worldwide hero overnight and Putin has become a pariah. I may be wrong, but I think that whatever happens, Putin is done.

The Benro company wants me to document some of the problems I'm having with the Polaris star tracker. Communication has been difficult with this Chinese company and I'm not entirely sure what they want me to do. I'll try to work on this sometime next week although I'm really not that interested. My inclination is to just put the tracker back in the box and wait until someone else solves the problem. I'm sure there will be several more firmware updates in the coming months and one of them will probably take care of the crashes I am currently experiencing. I doubt that I'll be attempting any night sky photographs in the near future anyway. It's too cold outside. What a wimp I've become. It's a good thing I've got the blog. Blogging give me the perfect excuse not to go outside at night.

Speaking of blogging, my Google blogspot theme seems to have fixed itself. I noticed last night that the old layout is back and everything is just like it used to be. This is all a mystery to me. I was never given any notice when the theme and layout broke and there was no notice when things were fixed again. I did learn when things were broken that my theme is considered obsolete and is no longer supported. This makes the fact that it was repaired seem even stranger. At any rate, I hope my theme keeps working for at least 500 more days. I have no desire to change it at this point.

February is almost over. March is a transition month and we still may have some bad weather ahead, but I'm already looking forward to Spring. Oddly I have seen no flowers. Often I start seeing the earliest wildflowers in late February. Maybe it was too cold this year. I haven't even seen any daffodils or grape hyacinths yet.

Princess is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4114

The arboretum got hit pretty hard during the big freeze. I don't know why I thought this place would be exempt from all the carnage, but mother nature definitely had the upper hand here as well. As Janet and I walked through the gardens we kept saying "look, their's died too." Strangely, I felt a little better about our own pitiful yard after seeing that even dozens of skilled gardeners couldn't save these plants.

Even though almost all the Azaleas and Rhododendrons died, the Spring celebration was still pretty spectacular. Thousands of seasonal flowers made the well manicured gardens seem even more colorful than usual. Janet and I always get lots of ideas for our own yard when we visit the arboretum. Somehow we never follow up on these ideas though. When you have large dogs and thousands of squirrels in your yard, it's easy to lose interest in gardening. Usually we never get beyond cleaning up all the dog poop.

I didn't bother to take a long walk today. After stopping for a beer and a cup of tortilla soup at a patio restaurant inside the arboretum, a stroll through the gardens seemed like all the exercise I needed. Maybe it was good to take a break. My foot didn't hurt at all today. It's too bad you can't take dogs to the arboretum. Dawn would have enjoyed this afternoon's outing.

While I was eating breakfast this morning, one of the TV stations I was watching showed a supposedly live broadcast of the latest Starship launch at Boca Chica. Something seemed vaguely familiar about this launch, but I couldn't put my finger on it. Later in the day I realized that the broadcast I was watching wasn't live at all. It was footage from several weeks ago with a "live" caption pasted over the top. The real launch today was much different. It was very foggy outside and the rocket blew up in midair. This makes four Starships in a row that have blown up. I have a feeling that the first person to ride in one of these things is going to be pretty nervous.

Although I didn't take my long walk today, Dawn did get her shorter walk. She always seems eager to take these walks, but some days we don't get very far. Today was a good day. We completed our short one mile loop with no strange behavior at all. Some days Dawn walks like a normal dog. Other days, she freezes in place for no apparent reason. We still can't figure out her many moods. She certainly doesn't seem sick. Every time we take her to the vet, everything checks out fine.

I thought about taking a good camera to the arboretum, but I'm glad I didn't. I find that a lot of experiences are more enjoyable without a camera. I always have my phone in my pocket, but that's a lot different than lugging heavy professional equipment around. I find that I remember things better if I just take the experience in with my eyes instead of constantly trying to compose a scene for the camera. Oddly, I still haven't used my new camera. Maybe I should have just got a better phone.

Today seemed like Sunday for some reason. I hope that won't make tomorrow feel like Monday. One Monday in any week is plenty. I have no idea what I'll be doing tomorrow. I"m still trying to avoid climbing up on the roof. Maybe if I wait long enough, the water will just evaporate.

Sparky is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3713

I must have forgotten the letter B at the grocery store yesterday. I had to go back to the store this morning for blueberries and beer. I didn't make this mistake at the gym. My regular routine always includes some time on the basketball court and at least twenty minutes on the arm bicycle.

I try to keep moving on Sunday. A good workout is just the start. When I returned from the gym, Janet and I took Dawn on a walk. Today, I tried to teach her to sit whenever we come to a street or crosswalk. She actually did pretty well. She doesn't sit automatically yet, but it only took a small correction for her to get the idea. Teaching her to heal might be a little harder. She still likes to follow her nose wherever an appealing smell takes her. I'm glad Dawn enjoys walking. The exercise is just as important for her as it is for me.

Our early Spring has disappeared again. Every nice day seems to be followed by a dismal, rainy day. We didn't get a lot of rain today. Just enough to be irritating. It stayed dry while we walked Dawn, but a little later when I went out to walk again, I got wet. I thought the light sprinkle would stop, since there was nothing on the radar, but I was wrong. The light showers continued and by the time I returned home I was very wet. I got my steps though. It was a 24,000 step day.

Spring is getting closer. I'm starting to see lots of Daffodils in the park. These usually appear right after the Grape Hyacinths bloom. I think the Wild Iris blooms next. After that, all bets are off. There are over 5,000 different flowering plants in Texas. It looks like we're going to have a good wildflower season this year. It's amazing that these flowers continue to appear year after year. I used to think that all wildflowers were perennials, but many of the most popular Texas wildflowers are actually annuals. Both can come back year after year, but annual wildflowers are a brand new plant that grows from the seed of a plant that died. Perennials don't die. The roots stay alive over the Winter and begins growing again the next Spring.

I think I will buy that wide angle lens. I guess I really do want to take spectacular night sky pictures. It would be a shame to go to a place that has some of the darkest night skies in America and not take pictures. It's probably a little late to become a world class astrophotographer, but I can certainly learn to take better night sky pictures than I have in the past. Occasionally, I try this in Dallas, but the light pollution is so bad that the pictures are pitiful.

I started the pumps after dinner tonight, but no water came out. Hopefully, this means there isn't much water on the roof. It also might mean that the pumps aren't working correctly. I'll probably find out tomorrow morning. There is no roof leak now, but it would probably be smart to put a bucket under the suspicious spot before I go to bed.

It's supposed to be clear tomorrow. I hope the forecast is right. On a nice day I get a lot more done.

Joey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3350

Is it just me, or have simple things become more difficult in recent years? My ambitions are modest and my expectations are low, but it is becoming harder and harder to get caught up on things. Life has become a game of Whack-a-mole, where new problems continue to arise faster than you can deal with the ones you already have.

Nothing went wrong today. This is just an observation. I used to feel on top of things and was almost always ahead of schedule. Now I'm not. I don't think I've slowed down all that much. I just think the world has changed.

When I woke up this morning, I noticed that one of Dash's nails was bleeding a bit at the base of the nail. Not good. Has the nail become loosened as a result of Dash continually dragging his feet when he walks? Who knows. Now I've got to figure out how to protect the nail so it doesn't become even looser and fall out. If Dash lost a nail again, it would be very difficult to stop the bleeding. I was half asleep when I had these thoughts. When I woke up fully, Dash already had his boots on and was ready to walk. Janet is a morning person and sometimes has Dash ready to go before I even get out of bed. You've got to seize the moment with Dash. There is a window of opportunity where he is eager to walk. If you miss it, he just sleeps for the rest of the day.

We had a nice walk this morning. The skies are still clear and although it was cold at sunrise, things warmed up quickly. On days like these, it's hard to believe that my roof was leaking a few days ago. So far, the roofer who made the repairs recently hasn't returned my call and another roofer who was going to give me an estimate for replacing the roof hasn't had time to put together a bid. I called an architect friend to get some suggestions. He said it was imperative that a flat roof have at least a 1/4" per foot slope to ensure that the water would drain after a rain. This might be easy to achieve with new construction. Not so much with a fifty year old house. I've had the usual settling you get with old houses. Without some elaborate structural modifications, I'm stuck with standing water.

The Redbud and Dogwood trees in the neighborhood are already starting to bloom. It seems a little early, but maybe not. In less than a week it will be March. I've started seeing a few grape hyacinths and crow poison flowers in the park. They say the wildflower season will be good this year. I hope so. Walking through wildflowers is a lot more pleasant than walking through mud.

I wrote a letter to my luddite sister and paid a few more bills this afternoon. I think I'm caught up on February bills now, but it won't be long before the March bills start arriving. It never ends. I didn't used to think about recurring bills when I was working and had a good income. Now these bills seem like a huge nuisance. How are you supposed to live on a fixed income if the prices of all the things you use everyday keep going up?

I need to remember that tomorrow is Tuesday. Tuesdays have been so uneventful lately that I tend to forget them and think it is already Wednesday. Truthfully, it doesn't matter what day it is. It's still just a game of Whack-a-mole.

Cookie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2281

After months and months of watching the seasons slowly change, it seemed weird to be plunged back into darkness again. There was an artificial feeling to our morning walk. It was as if all the gains we had made since the Winter Solstice had been erased in a single day. I still don't know what this arbitrary time change means. What does it prove to pretend that it is an hour earlier? At any rate, we're going to have to start walking a little later in the morning until the days get longer. The darkness felt a bit uncomfortable this morning.

The recent time change wasn't the only uncomfortable aspect to the day. It was also unseasonably hot. The temperature climbed above 90 degrees this afternoon, which seemed just as strange as walking the dogs in the dark again after watching the days grow longer since mid-December. The air conditioner is running now, although I bet the furnace will be running again tomorrow morning. At least Texas weather gives me something to talk about on days where very little happens.

The Prairie Verbena is starting to bloom alongside the trails in the park.  These perfect little circles of tiny purple flowers are usually a reliable sign that Spring has arrived. Maybe there will be one more cold front before we can finally say goodbye to Winter, but I doubt it. The trees are getting green. The ducks are starting to nest again. It won't be long before I have to get out the lawn mower and begin the weekly ritual of making the front yard look as nice at the neighbors yards.

I think the neighbors are already ahead of me. We have a new neighbor who seems to love lawn equipment. Almost every day my peace and quiet is interrupted by the sound of lawn mowers, leaf blowers, and chain saws. They apparently haven't learned that the effort is futile. If you live near the park, the prevailing winds will ensure that your yard is soon filled with weeds. It's not like my minuscule writing schedule needs that much quiet time anymore, but the noise is still irritating. I'm probably the quietest person on the block. My lawn mower is electric and hardly makes any noise at all.

There were a ton of things I needed to do today, but the only things I actually accomplished were making an appointment to get a haircut later in the week and picking up two prescriptions at the pharmacy.  It is becoming increasingly difficult to stay motivated and engaged. I used to jokingly tell people that I worked for praise. Now that I live in a world with very little feedback and direct encouragement, I realize that this statement wasn't a joke. A lot of things seem utterly pointless when nobody notices.

I still take new pictures every day, although I've lost interest in exhibiting in galleries. I still write everyday, although I no longer try to get published. Maybe this is enough. I do know that Dot appreciates me, although it would be difficult to explain my new found poop cleaning expertise on a resume. You're reading this, which gives me all the reason I need to continue writing.

Humphrey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2266

It was a normal Sunday. The dogs got a more leisurely walk than they do on weekdays. We had bacon and eggs with biscuits for breakfast, which is a weekend only treat. Janet went to the gym and I vacuumed the house. I updated another website while trying to decide what to do with the rest of my day. With the remnants of a stubbornly persistent cold, I really didn't feel like doing much.

I used to watch the Oscars religiously, but I haven't bothered for the past several years. Tonight I had no interest in the award show whatsoever. The only event I made an effort to watch was the Space X SES-9 launch, but the mission was aborted for the third time in less than a week due to a boat that had wandered into a restricted area downrange. It must be really expensive to scrub a launch just because a boat wandered off course.

When I was out in the yard this afternoon, I saw a squirrel that looked like it was wearing a collar. On closer examination, it appeared that the squirrel had stuck his head through some rope netting and gotten stuck. It had managed to chew itself free from the net, but still had a piece of the mesh stuck around his neck. I tried to think of how I could free the squirrel but came up with nothing. It certainly wasn't letting me get close enough to catch it. The only plan that made any sense was to set out a live trap and trap the squirrel so I could take it to a vet to remove the rope. Since there are dozens of squirrels in the yard along with assorted rats, possums, and racoons, it would be pure random chance if I managed to catch the right critter. I would probably end up trapping lots and lots of rats before a single squirrel entered the trap. I'll ask Dot's vet what to do if I ever see the squirrel again. It's probably miles away by now.

I hope the weather stays warm, because everything is already starting to bloom. The Redbud and Dogwood trees are in full bloom and I'm starting to see lots of Daffodils and even a few Wild Iris blooms. What typically happens in Texas is that all the flowers start to bloom and then there is one final hard freeze that kills everything. It is amazing how frequently we have a hard freeze sometime in March.

If I ever make it back to the gym, I'm going to have to start over. I've been feeling under the weather for so long now, that I just shuffle through the day, making as little effort as possible. Even the mild stretching exercises I do to keep my shoulder from freezing up, require more effort than I want to give. Sure, I actually did do some chores this weekend, but I pushed the Dyson very slowly and going up on the roof was a mistake. I'm still coughing a lot and still feel tired.

I inadvertently took my evening meds this morning. So, do I take my morning meds before I go to bed, or do I just skip a day?  These are the problems you have as you get older. I fell asleep after dinner, thinking that the Oscars were just about over. When I woke up again, the show was still going on. Some things never change, I guess. You could watch the entire Superbowl and still have time to catch up on several episodes of Dr. Who before Hollywood could finish handing out those gold statues. I don't have the patience to watch a show this long.

Connor is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1962

We're making progress. Dot walked in the underwater treadmill without her special harness for the first time today. Dash managed to keep his protective sock on during his entire walk and hardly limped at all. The bleeding has almost stopped from the empty socket where my wisdom tooth used to be. I fixed a fairly normal breakfast of scrambled eggs this morning and since I still can't drink hot liquids, I let my morning coffee cool down to a lukewarm temperature before drinking it. It wasn't the best coffee in the world, but lukewarm coffee is still better than no coffee at all.

I wisely postponed climbing on the roof to remove standing water until I'm finished with my dental surgery meds, but I'm pretty much up to speed on everything else. I completed all my writing assignments today, went to the bank, and made a few website revisions. I did most of this in the morning, because the afternoon was reserved for Dot's physical therapy.

I hope I sleep better tonight. Last night, I woke up about 3:30 AM and couldn't get back to sleep again. I spent the rest of the night listening to the two dogs snoring on either side of me and counting the times the furnace went on and off. Ideas often pop into my head when I have insomnia like this but they are usually wasted. I recall thinking of several clever ways I could improve my responsive website experiment, but I forgot them all by the time I turned on the computer the next morning. I worried about getting a dry socket and got up and drank some water. By the time I got back to bed, Dash had stolen my covers. It wasn't worth waking him up to get the bedspread back so I grabbed the nearest dog blanket, pulled it over my head and tried to get to sleep again. Luckily, I don't have  insomnia very often, because I don't enjoy it.

Our rainy Spring weather been good for the wildflowers this year. The meadows in the park are becoming more colorful by the day. I see a new variety of flower coming into bloom just about every time we go on a walk. Today I noticed that the Milkweed plants are starting to bloom. I've always liked the symmetry of these odd little spherical bundles. We call the little five sided green blooms Antelope Horns down here. I don't know why. The Milkweed flowers will last about a month and then they'll be replaced by something else. It's a nice time of the year for a visual person like me.

Tomorrow I have a photoshoot. Dot is doing well enough now that I'm comfortable leaving her for two or three hours. I'll be able to go out for my Friday morning breakfast as well. I'm not sure what I'm having yet, but I'm sure there's something on the menu that's easy to chew. Most of the forbidden foods are back in play after 48 hours anyway. I've already taken the trash out to the curb, but I still need to remember to charge up the camera batteries for tomorrow. I think I'm ready fora good night's sleep this evening.

April has already come and gone. This month was tiring and a bit stressful, but it went quickly. It's hard to believe that it's the first of May tomorrow. May is usually when it starts to get hot here in Dallas. Let's hope our unusually cool Spring lasts a bit longer.

Bea is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1934

I enjoy going to the vet with Dot on Thursdays. It gives me a chance to talk with some real people instead of just sending e-mails back and forth. Even more importantly, I can get an objective opinion on whether Dot is actually improving. It's hard for me to tell sometimes. She is definitely better than when we brought her home from surgery, but she still has good days and bad days. In my mind, everything in life should be a steady, even progression, but of course life isn't like that at all. I tend to get alarmed about the bad days, so it's nice to get an objective opinion.

I'm glad Dot's vet confirmed what I'd been thinking. She felt that Dot was definitely stronger than when she saw her last Thursday. We did a little more strenuous workout in the underwater treadmill today and everyone seemed pleased with her progress. We're still a long way from the finish line however. Dot has already lost over two pounds of muscle mass. That might not seem a lot for you or me, but it is quite a bit for a dog. We're got to slowly build her muscles back with exercise and physical therapy. Without strong leg muscles, she'll never be able to walk normally. So far, we're doing all the right things. It's just going to take time.

I understand the process all too well. I've been faithfully doing my own physical therapy exercises for months now and have still only managed to add a few inches to my bad shoulder's range of motion. In my case, my physical therapist told me that it could take up to a year before I noticed any substantial improvements. I hope it doesn't take that long for Dot. I think I've got a lot more time to get back to normal than Dot does. I could be wrong though. Dot is amazing. She may outlive me.

I was sleepy all day today. The combination of lack of sleep and acting as Dot's rear legs have taken their toll. I guess I could sleep in tomorrow, since it is a holiday, but I'll probably get up early anyway. It's Friday tomorrow and my desire to get out of the house will override any thoughts I might have about sleeping longer. I've been looking forward to my special breakfast all week.

It's amazing how quickly the vegetation has returned this Spring. A few weeks ago the park was still in the last grips of Winter. Now, there is new life everywhere. The trees are green. New flowers are popping up in the meadows every day. I'm even starting to see some baby ducks. I find it comforting that nature is so consistent and predictable. The same flowers and baby animals appear every year at almost exactly the same time. Humans are continually trying to reinvent themselves. Ducks and flowers seem content to stay as they are. I like that.

Miracle is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1928

I was a model of efficiency today. I got up at 6 AM and walked Dash in the dark. Less than an hour later, I was eating breakfast at my favorite restaurant. By the time Janet left for work, I had already returned home, switched on the computer and was ready to start the day. It's too bad that I'm not a morning person. It's actually quite pretty walking the dogs just before Dawn. I could still see the stars when Dash and I left the house this morning. As the sky slowly brightened, the birds began to sing. By the time  we returned home, the Eastern horizon had an orange glow and the day had commenced. As pretty as this celestial progression was, I'd still rather sleep in.

I had lots of work to do today and the dogs were surprisingly cooperative. They both slept soundly for most of the morning, allowing me to write two new articles and update five websites. Dot didn't even wake up when the roofers arrived around 10:30 AM. I was sure that all the banging around on the roof would startle Dot and start a frenzy of barking, but she slept through the entire repair job. Dot is slowly going deaf and occasionally that's a blessing. I doubt highly that the roof is as good as new, but the roofers were quite nice and took care of everything I pointed out to them. With any luck, the roof is good to go for at least another year, when we'll probably have to patch and repair all over again.

I'm amazed at how well Dot is walking now. Several times a day, I take her out in the back yard with a leash tied to the rear handle of her harness. This way she can walk on her own, while I still have a way to protect her from falling if she slips. Each day Dot's sense of balance and her ability to hold up her own weight improves a little more. We walked around in the yard for almost ten minutes this afternoon and Dot never faltered or slipped. My main job now is to keep her from doing something stupid. She would still run after the neighborhood cats if she could and she hasn't quite learned that the only way to stay stable is to walk on the carpets and stay away from slick surfaces. We're getting there though, one step at a time.

I've already got a long list of things to do tomorrow. There are checks that never made it to the bank, bills that never got paid, and prescriptions that need to be refilled. The grocery list is pretty long as well. The only thing I don't seem to need is gasoline. I don't spend very much time at the pump anymore, since I don't go anywhere. I think I only spent $9 on gas last week.

This would probably be a good weekend to see if the lawn mower works. If I wait much longer to mow the front lawn, the grass will be too tall for the mower to handle. I think all the vegetation has come to the conclusion that Spring is here. Lawns are green again and flowering trees like redbuds and dogwoods are in bloom. The wildflowers are still a long way from reaching their peak, but I see a new variety start to come into bloom almost every day. The only bad thing about Spring is that the wasps and roaches return. It's almost time for the snakes to return as well. Before I get too euphoric about Spring, I need to remember that this is when my seasonal allergies start to flare up as well.

Now that I have the car configured perfectly for Dot, I just realized that I will have to take everything apart again whenever I need to transport Dash. Dash won't let me pick him up and place him in the car. He flays about in a panic whenever I try, so I just let him jump in by himself through the tailgate when we need to go somewhere. I'm not sure where he's going to ride now.

Despite all the difficulties, this month has gone pretty fast. Problems get solved and new problems arise to replace them. I guess this is what life is all about. Sometimes I think it's all a weird game of Whack-a-mole.

Chloe is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1902

Dot looks like a football. Her back has been shaved and right in the middle is a huge eight inch incision that is held together with fifteen surgical staples. Despite her appearance, Dot is doing great. When we visited her at the hospital this afternoon, she appeared happy and alert. She was eager to eat the treats we brought and seemed equally eager to walk on her own. One of Dot's nurses brought her to the exam room for our visit supporting her with a sling under her belly, but you could tell Dot was already doing some of the work herself. I'm amazed that Dot can already stand on her own for a considerable amount of time. She couldn't do this before the surgery. After seeing her today, I am convinced that with the proper physical therapy, Dot will learn to walk again.

Since Dot is making such good progress, she will probably be discharged from the hospital either tomorrow or Tuesday. Once she's home, the hard part begins. Very few Dalmatians know how to take it easy. I will have to monitor her very carefully, so she never tries to do something stupid, like counter surfing, or hopping up on the bed. You know how weight lifters frequently use a spotter when doing bench presses to prevent injury. I will be Dot's spotter for quite a while, using the harness to keep her from slipping until the damaged nerves can  repair themselves and her leg muscles grow stronger.

A friend let us borrow some rubber backed rugs that we can strategically place around the house to keep Dot from slipping on the bricks. I think we've come up with a good way to keep her safely confined to a small, well padded space when I'm taking a shower or taking something to the post office. Since I have little desire to leave the house anyway, the extensive rehab period should work out pretty well. Janet will be going back to work soon, because she hates retirement, but I can walk Dash a little earlier in the morning while she is still at home getting ready for work. I'm sure there will be a lot of surprises and there will be times when I'll wonder what I've gotten myself into, but right now I'm uncharacteristically optimistic. We can do this.

I wish the weather would get better. It continues to rain with the temperature hovering right around freezing. It warmed up enough today to melt all the ice off the roads, but tonight it will refreeze again and there will be another thin layer of ice in the morning. I think the cold spell is just about over though. I certainly hope so anyway.

It's hard to believe it's March already. It's time to get my tax return started. It's time to start thinking about re-landscaping the back yard. One more month and we won't have to worry about ice storms for another year. I always look forward to Spring. The next few months won't be easy, but I hope when the wildflowers start to bloom in April and May, I'll be able to walk through them again with Dot at my side.

Lucky is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1219

Some days are so vanilla that I have trouble remembering what I actually did at the end of the day. I certainly was busy today, but nothing stands out as significant. There was a little bit of everything. I went to the bank, went to the post office, picked up a prescription for Dash at the vet and another for myself at the pharmacy. I did a load of laundry, made a quart of fresh juice from half a dozen oranges and a whole pineapple, and still found time to update a couple of websites.

I thought we were going to get out of going to dog training class tonight, since we've been on the verge of a thunderstorm all day. The rains haven't arrived yet, however. According the the weather channel, that will come later tonight, right after I've settled into a sound sleep. I can almost guarantee that Dot will wake me up with another storm phobia panic attack. It doesn't even matter if there's thunder and lightning anymore. Even the smell of rain makes her freak out.

I saw a Spring wildflower that I'd never photographed before right in the middle of a big patch of poison ivy this morning. I was tempted to wade in and get the shot, but sanity prevailed and I left the flower alone. I can always come back later with a telephoto lens. A little further down the trail were some Pink Evening Primrose flowers that had just come into bloom. I photographed these instead.

I'm kind of irritated that the Defender is still running rough. After two major repairs during the past 60 days, it should be running like a well oiled sewing machine. Of course, maybe it actually is running like a sewing machine. The old Singer is running kind of rough too. I've called the dealership twice, but they haven't returned my calls. This usually means they have no idea what the problems is and just want me to go away. The problem could be anywhere. One of the motor mounts could be broken. There might be a bad spark plug wire. The carburetor might be dirty. Chances are it's something else entirely. I seldom guess these things correctly.

I've lost fifteen pound since I changed my diet. That's quite a bit for me, since I was never overweight in the first place. Now it's time to get serious about an exercise program before I waste away. A fellow blogger recommended that I start doing planks to build up my core. I like the idea of planks. Basically all you do is hold your body in a straight rigid position while resting on your elbows and toes. You hold your spine horizontal for as long as you can. So far, several minutes seems like a long time to me. Since this exercise involves no movement at all, and is basically doing nothing, I like it.

Bella is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1189

Dot had her first acupuncture appointment today. I wasn't expecting much, since Dot is generally terrified of going to the vet anyway, and I've already tried acupuncture treatments on another dog with largely inconclusive results. It never hurts to try though. Dot was extremely tense at first, just like I expected. She gradually began to relax though as the needles were applied to pressure points. By the time the session was over, Dot was calmer than I'd ever seen her inside a veterinarian's office. She was strong and confident on her evening walk too, so maybe there actually is something to the treatments. We're going to continue with weekly acupuncture treatments for at least a month and see if there is a noticeable difference. I'm not sure that I believe the traditional explanations of why acupuncture works. Although some studies show that the needles are effective tools for alleviating anxiety and some forms of pain, I'm not sure it has anything to do with the flow of qi through meridians. Maybe the needles just relax the muscles.

Although the acupuncture appointment was the big event of the day, there were a ton of other errands to take care of as well. I got my tax files finished and took them over to my accountant. I got some prescriptions filled and went to the bank twice. I also returned a Leica camera to a friend. I've had the camera a long time. I should have returned it over twenty-five years ago when we broke up, but I didn't. Better late than never I guess.

Every day this month I'm starting to see another variety of Spring flower start to bloom. The surprising thing is that most of these flowers return in exactly the same places where I saw them last year. I've taken so many photographs in the park over the years that I can now go back and see if things are blooming earlier or later than previous years. Who knows, maybe in another ten or fifteen years I'll become the Henry David Thoreau of the neighborhood. I'll probably just get bored and quit taking pictures of flowers though.

I hope the calming effects of the acupuncture needles last at least through tomorrow. Dot has never been calm when there are strangers at the house. Tomorrow will be a three ring circus. There will be a landscaping crew removing all the bad soil and dead St. Augustine sod from the back yard. At the same time, one of the roofing companies is returning to tramp all over the roof and complete their bid for a new roof. After all this commotion, maybe I'll be the one needing acupuncture.

Nick is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 1186

My expensive car repair certainly didn't amount to much. The Defender is already back in the shop. This time it didn't even make it back to the dealership under its own power. The car died on me right in the middle of one of the busiest streets in Dallas during rush hour. People honked at me as I waited for the tow truck to arrive. I was almost certain that I'd be rear ended by someone who was texting while driving, but miraculously, I managed to get the car back to the dealership without further damage. I sure wish that the mechanics had solved this problem when the car was in the shop last week. I certainly described the problem clearly enough. When I left the Defender at the dealership the last time, I told them that it stalled out at inopportune times and leaked oil. They fixed the leaking oil part, but obviously did nothing about the stalling part.

I'm really getting tired of everything falling apart on me. Repairing everything all at once will take copious amounts of money, which I don't happen to have at the moment. Unfortunately, repairing things one at a time, as I'm doing now, requires copious amounts of patience, which I'm a bit short on as well. Maybe I should have elevated car problems a little higher on the list. Right now, Dot's health problems seem the most important, followed by my own health problems. Next would probably be my leaking roof. There are carpets that need to be replaced, walls that need to be painted, and quite a bit of obsolete business equipment. Ironically, landscaping the yard, which is the one thing that actually is getting done in the near future, was always near the bottom of my to-do list. The only reason that this project got tapped for completion was that it was easy to do without disrupting everything inside. I can still get my work done. The dogs may bark a bit, but it isn't going to be nearly as bad as it would be if there were people actually working on things inside the house. Fixing the car always gets put off, because there's always something I need to do in the car. Also, I still naively think that when I do take the car to the shop, that everything broken will be fixed. Never happens!

I'm trying to find a new breakfast restaurant that has a delicious menu that isn't based around eggs, sausages, bread, and gravy. A few places have a really good veggie omelet, but for the most part, these omelets are just eggs with a few onions and bell pepper slices thrown in. Today's restaurant choice was a fail. Don't get me wrong. The food was delicious. It was just traditional heavy, gut-buster fare. Honestly, I don't even know what I'm looking for. I don't want yoghurt. I'm tired of oatmeal, because that's what I eat during the week. I'm supposed to avoid sugar, wheat products, dairy products, and cured meats. This pretty well sums up everything I  have ever enjoyed for breakfast.

At least Spring has arrived. The weather has been spectacular for the past several days. Trees are starting to turn green, the redbuds and dogwood trees are in full bloom, and I'm starting to see a whole new crop of Texas wildflowers. Spring doesn't officially arrive until next Wednesday, but someone forgot to tell the flowering plants.

Carmine is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 1174

The leaf blower made its first appearance today. It was a warm and windy day and it seemed like the thing to do. The leaves wanted to blow away anyway and I just gave them a little nudge in the right direction. It's amazing how many leaves the big oak and elm trees in our backyard can drop during the Winter. I wish I could think of something useful to do with all these leaves, but it's not going to be compost. We've tried to plant vegetable gardens at various points in the past, but the neighborhood squirrels, rabbits, possums, and rats relentlessly eat everything we plant. It's just not worth the aggravation anymore. Our yard is next to a large wooded area. Every season, I think the yard is trying to tell us that it wants to be part of the forest too. It just doesn't want to be domesticated.

As we were leaving the dog park this morning, we saw three police cars and an ambulance arrive. I looked around and couldn't see any problems. Nobody appeared to have been bitten by a dog. Nobody had a heart attack. No cars had been broken into. No purses had been stolen. I couldn't see a single reason for such a show of force. The police were definitely there though. Life in the city, I guess. There isn't always a reason for everything.

I can't figure out why our house is so dusty. We seldom open the windows and always use the best available furnace filters. Somehow, the dust continues to get in though. Lots of dust. I tried to dust and vacuum the office this afternoon and it seemed like an impossible task. Layers of dust covered everything. It hadn't even been that long since I'd cleaned the place either. Nature seems to have taken over, inside and out. When I'm fighting these losing battles, I often wish I lived on the the seventeenth floor of a brand new high-rise. Instead of cleaning on Sunday afternoons, I would just take the elevator down to the first floor and have a cappuccino with friends in a nearby coffee shop. This isn't going to happen though. The dogs definitely prefer things just the way they are.

The dogwood trees are in bloom all over town. They are quite pretty. In a few weeks, it will be the azaleas turn to shine. Sometimes I think Dallas has more azalea bushes per square mile than any other city in the world. The entire city turns pink. While the azaleas are blooming, there is often a brief  explosion of bluebells and other wildflowers alongside the major freeways. Then it will be time to mow the grass again. Spring never lasts long enough in Texas.

Maggie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 1166

It was another day that started out cold and ended up surprisingly warm. That's fine by me. All's well that ends well, as far as I'm concerned. There were quite a few picnickers out in the park today. It's probably a good time to have a picnic. The ants aren't out in force yet.

While I was at the grocery store today, I wandered aimlessly through aisle after aisle, looking for something that was completely healthy, could be kept in the freezer, and was microwavable. The illusive, easy-to-fix, healthy meal didn't exist. Oh, there were tons of things that met this description, if you just ignored the word healthy. Everything that looked the least bit tempting was chock full of salt, sugar, and trans fats. Even a bag of Chinese stir fry vegetables, which reminded me of my ill fated attempts to fix simple Thai food in a wok, contained an alarming amount of salt. Too bad I don't like to cook. Cooking meals with fresh ingredients seems to be the only real solution.

With Spring on the horizon, I'm starting to lust after photo gear again. This happens every Spring. I'll see something pretty to photograph and realize that the picture would be much better if only I had a different kind of lens. Sometimes I will actually buy the lens, take the photo I'm imagining, and then never use the lens again. When I'm thinking rationally, I just do nothing and wait for the gear lust to subside.

I'm certainly not thinking rationally when it comes to my car. My fear of another random breakdown overcame me today and I filled my tank with premium gas instead of regular. Maybe I thought I was doing the car a favor and it would respond in kind. Who knows? Rationally, filling my tank with premium will make no difference whatsoever. The Defender engine was designed to run on regular.

A friend of mine who also has a flat roof told me recently that the foam roof solution I've been thinking about won't work unless the roof is completely dry, with no residual moisture beneath the foam. That's discouraging. I don't don't think the plywood decking under my roof has ever been completely dry.

Joey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 1161

I had another MRI today. The massive MRI scanners are fascinating. The technology works because our bodies are largely made of water. The hydrogen atoms in our bodies can be aligned using a powerful magnetic field. Then, when radio waves are passed through the body at just the right frequencies, a radio signal is generated that varies according to where the magnet is. The distribution of protons within the body can be mathematically recovered from this signal, allowing the creation of a precise image of the body's inner workings. It would take a physicist to explain how these things really work, but I like to think it's just a giant magnet interacting with a small TV transmitter broadcasting on channel 3. One of the strangest things about the MRI is that early research was largely funded by the Beatles. Yes, those Beatles. British music giant EMI wasn't just a music publisher, it was also an electronics company specializing in medical research. Many say it was profits from EMI's Beatles albums that funded the development of the first commercial scanners.

Although MRI scans are completely painless, I ended up grinding my teeth a bit today. Before they slide you into the long cylindrical tube to begin the scan, you are asked to stretch your hands behind your head. There's only one problem with this. Since I have a dislocated shoulder, my right hand won't go all the way behind my head. I have trouble raising this hand all the way above my head standing up. It's no easier lying down horizontally on the MRI cradle. Somehow they slid me into the tube anyway, but I felt that dislocated shoulder during the entire 45 minute scan. Ouch!

Although the scan went fine, the drive home wasn't quite as uneventful. My car stalled out in a bad part of town a few miles from the hospital. I wasn't looking forward to leaving the car here. Luckily, the problem was just vapor lock. I took the gas cap off, waited a few minutes for pressure to equalize, and the Defender started up again. This is the trouble with driving a 1995 car around in 2013. It isn't very reliable. Wherever I go, there's always some sort of problem that crops up. There are oil leaks, mysterious rattles, and all sorts of minor electrical problems. Most of the problems are minor and easily dealt with, but you never know when your luck is going to run out.

Despite spending part of my day inside a giant magnet, I still managed to get some articles written. It wasn't a bad day at all. Our unseasonably warm weather continues. The dogs are happy and I haven't gotten sick of my austere new diet yet. I saw my first daffodil of the season too. That's bound to be a sign that Spring is just around the corner.

Bailey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 817

It's amazing what a difference a little sunlight can make. While none of yesterday's problems have been resolved, today still seemed much more pleasant anyway. Spring made a surprise return this morning. I think this entire month is a meteorological struggle between Winter and Spring. One day Winter wins, and the next day Spring makes a comeback. There may be a few cold days left, but warmer weather is definitely on the horizon. The wild irises are already in bloom and most of the trees are starting to turn green.

I'm wondering if it's even worth fixing the furnace right now with Winter on the way out. It's only a matter of weeks before it will be time to start using the air conditioner again. In many ways it would be better to just wait until Fall to get a new furnace. I may need the money for taxes anyway.

The dog park was closed today because of yesterday's heavy rains, but the dogs had fun anyway. Spring brings lots of new smells and Dot and Dash ambled along on their walks through the park today, stopping every ten feet to smell something new. Dot loves to smell flowers and almost got stung by a bee when she got too close to one fragrant bud. Dash seems to have no interest in flowers, but he sure loves horse poop. Both dogs had plenty to smell this afternoon.

When I took the useless utility pump back for a refund today, I bought one of those new space-age light bulbs that supposedly took millions of our taxpayer dollars to develop. I don't know why people on TV are ranting and railing against these LED bulbs. I think they're great. Sure they're a bit pricy, but they'll last longer than I will, they don't get hot when they're on, they don't contain mercury like those compact fluorescent bulbs, and the latest models are just as bright as a regular incandescent bulb. I'd rather buy one expensive bulb that lasts forever than hundreds of ordinary incandescent bulbs that continually burn out at the most inopportune moments.

I replaced my client's Google map with a Bing map today. For some reason, Bing maps seem more accurate than Google maps. You'd think that with hundreds of Google photo trucks cataloging every last inch of the planet, these maps would be a little more accurate. This is the second time in less than a year that I've had to replace an embedded Google map because the location was off by more than a mile.

I hope I get a better night's sleep than I did last night. Dash woke me up five times. I finally figured out what he was barking about. He wanted a blanket. As soon as I covered him up in a blanket, he went right to sleep. Dash doesn't like the cold. I think he'd vote for getting the furnace fixed whether it's getting warmer or not.

Tyson is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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