Day 3520

It rained this morning. The temperature was noticeably cooler and I should have taken my morning walk as soon as I got up, but of course I didn't. I slowly drank my smoothie as I always do while watching the morning news. The news was pretty dismal. The stock market was crashing. Police were in the streets in Hong Kong. And there were predictions that a recession was on the way. None of this was all that surprising, but it would be nice to have some good news for a change.

There was a light rain when I started my walk. It was actually kind of pleasant. Instead of being drenched in sweat, I was covered in rainwater. The morning shower didn't last long. As soon as the sun peeked from behind a cloud the water turned to steam. For the rest of the day it was extremely humid.

There were a ton of things I needed to do today, but I had an excuse for most of them. It was too wet to mow the grass. There wasn't much point in going up on the roof, since there was still rain in the forecast. I finally ended up vacuuming the house because I felt guilty for doing nothing. The carpets were certainly dirty. I haven't vacuumed in a while.

I'll be glad when the new dehumidifier arrives. For a while last night I thought that the old dehumidifier had turned into a humidifier. I turned it off for a few hours and watched the humidity in the house actually become lower. The only thing that I can think of is since the defrost circuit is coming on frequently now, the dehumidifier must be blowing moist air back into the room.

I took another bill to the post office today. Seems like I just did this yesterday. I could easily save these bills and pay them once a week, but going to the post office gives me something to do between my walks. I've lost interest in shopping and I don't eat lunch anymore. I guess this is all the reason I need to go to the post office.

I should be getting more sleep. In theory I could sleep till noon, but I keep waking up early. Maybe it's the weird dreams. I woke up last night when I found myself being chased by the neighbor's dog. I went back to sleep and woke up again when I found myself lost in a huge hotel again. When I eventually found my room, it was filled with strangers. Somehow in a dream this all seems normal.

I was hoping for some cooler weather for tomorrow, but it looks like we're going to have triple digit temperatures for the foreseeable future. Oh, well. At least the water on the roof will evaporate.

Elliott is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3510

24,000 steps today. Part of this total was spent up on the roof unclogging the pumps and clearing the water away. July was dry, but so far August has been pretty wet. I was surprised at how much higher the lake was this morning. Just two decent rains and the water level had risen over a foot. As always, the rain is a giant nuisance for me, but we certainly needed it. The grass in the back yard is already looking greener.

After all this activity I am pretty tired. I don't think I could have done this two months ago though. Walking is good for you. I'm starting to feel stronger and my legs definitely feel firmer. My average resting heart rate has decreased as well. I wish I enjoyed exercising since it occupies a lot of my day now. Walking is not really a joyful experience but it's not depressing either. All in all, it's probably a much better way to spend time than sitting at the computer.

I went back and got strawberries today. A shipment must have just arrived because the berries looked really fresh. The fruit always seems to look better on Sunday. Of course if I switched shopping days, the fruit would look better on Saturday. At any rate, I'm all set for another week of smoothies.

AT&T was supposed to come out and bury the new fiber optic cable this morning, but nobody showed up. Am I surprised? Not really. Since there is no easy way to check on scheduling, I will have to call the irritating offshore customer service line again and spend a long time on the phone with someone who doesn't have a clue about what is going on. Maybe I'll just do nothing. Everything works fine with the cable laying on top of the ground.

I'm starting to think about renting a car for the trip to McDonald Observatory. This isn't really rational thinking because I've already got a perfectly nice car that has just been serviced. I just got new tires too. The problem is that I don't really trust the car. Things have gone wrong for no reason at all when I least expected it. I hate surprises. Memories never fade either. Once on a road trip I threw a rod in rural Oklahoma and had to have an earlier car towed all the way back to Fort Smith, Arkansas. It was there over a month getting the engine completely rebuilt. When the repairs were finally finished I had to drive up from Dallas during an ice storm to retrieve it. Of course rental cars aren't free from problems. When I went out to Vandenberg Air Force Base to watch a launch a few years ago somebody hit the rental car and it took months to get all the insurance issues resolved.

There's a new Dalmatian up at the boarding kennels so Janet and I are going up for a visit tomorrow. I'll take some pictures of this liver spotted boy for the website and we'll spend time playing with all the dogs. Visiting the dogs on Mondays has become a regular part of our week. Truthfully, these visits are just as important as my daily walks.

I can't figure out what is wrong with the security light. It comes on every evening around sunset, but shuts off again around 10 PM. This doesn't make sense because the photo cell is obviously working. The light will come back on again tomorrow evening. The bulb is fine too. I could turn it on again right now by going out and flipping the breaker switch. It isn't worth the trouble to go outside and do this but I'm still wondering about this very odd behavior.

It looks like another hot and humid day tomorrow. At least the rain is over for a while. I'm done with Summer. Bring on the cooler weather.

Pebbles is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3098

I was surprised that Dash and I got caught in the rain this morning. I'm obsessive about checking the weather and I wasn't expecting rain at all. Although we both got wet, it was a gentle shower and ended up taking the edge off the Summer heat. When Dash was younger, he hated walking in the rain. Today, he didn't even seem to notice. He maintained the same slow pace he does on dry days.

I'm continuing to look for things to consign at auction. Today, I took a small picture out of its frame to see if there was a signature on the back. In the process, I discovered how dusty a nearby bookcase had become. One thing usually leads to another around here and pretty soon I was carefully vacuuming all the nik naks on the shelves. Nothing has changed in the office for years. I need to throw away a lot of useless, obsolete stuff and give the place a thorough cleaning. Given the extent of the clutter, it seems like an impossible task. I always wondered how my Dad's place became so cluttered in his later years. He and Mom were neat as a pin when they were younger. So was I. In my early thirties, I was a devoted minimalist and nothing was ever out of place. I guess there is a little Grey Gardens in all of us as we age.

I sent the landscaper a text message today. Nothing else has worked. I hate to be a pest, but I hate being ignored even more. It continues to amaze me that so many people in the service industry provide terrible service. When my business was active, I tried my best to be responsive. I usually avoided making promises though. Promises can be hard to keep. It's OK to say you're not going to be able to get to something for a while. Just don't say you're coming over tomorrow and never show up.

I wonder if future generations will ever collect old computers. I have lots of old computers. Most things that are collectible now were considered worthless at some point. Who ever thought that baseball cards and school lunch boxes would become valuable? My Mom threw away a big box of baseball cards I had as a kid. She just thought they were junk. I wish I still had every guitar I ever purchased. I got rid of a few that later proved valuable. As I survey the office now, it's hard to tell the treasures from the junk. It's very tedious to research everything too. That's probably why the bookshelves are so dusty now. I still want to downsize, but it is a lot of trouble. I bet I'll still be thinking of downsizing next year when things are even dustier.

Rugby is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2759

Janet and I both thought it was Saturday this morning. It was an easy mistake to make, since all the days are blurring together. Luckily, I did remember that it was Thursday yesterday and took the trash out. I didn't feel like going out for breakfast this morning. Somehow, the ritual of going to a restaurant for breakfast every Friday morning seems buried in a distant past. Maybe I'll look forward to doing this again sometime, but other things seem more important now.

My legs continue to improve. When I look at them together, it's easy to see that the left leg is still swollen, but it is so much better than it was a week ago. The pain has subsided to a dull ache and my wrist is slowly becoming more flexible. I don't even wear the splint all the time anymore. The one thing I'm still careful to do is elevate my legs every time I sleep or take a nap. I wish I'd done this the very first night after getting bitten. If I had elevated my legs and rested more in the beginning, maybe the swelling wouldn't have become so bad.

I was promised that my car would be finished today, but when I called to check, they hadn't even started working on it. I guess I wasn't surprised. Ever since the Land Rover and Jaguar dealerships merged, service has slowed down to a crawl. They just don't have enough mechanics anymore. When people complain that there aren't any jobs, I wonder if they've considered becoming an auto mechanic. Large dealerships always seems to be short on mechanics. Luckily, there was someone who could help me today. A warning light came on in the loaner car and I didn't want to get stuck without a car this weekend. Everything is fine now, but waiting at the dealership made my errands take a lot longer than expected .

Dash was much better behaved today. Maybe he's finally getting used to this amorphous new schedule that Janet and I have adopted. We don't plan ahead very well anymore. We just buy food one day at a time and one of us is always running to the store to pick up something for dinner. We are bored and tired at the same time and still spend a lot of time resting. No wonder Dash becomes frustrated at times.

When I was running errands today, I got caught in a brief thunderstorm. It's weird to have so much rain in the middle of July. I guess it's a good thing, especially since the landscaper is coming on Monday. Usually we put in new grass in March, so it is well established by mid-Summer. It will be nice to have grass again, but one way or another, I bet my water bill is going to go way up next month.

I'm just about finished taking my antibiotics. Hopefully there is no risk of infection anymore. The strong antibiotics have given me an upset stomach, so maybe my appetite will improve once I'm finished with these pills. Antibiotics have been known to cause dental problems and I've noticed that my teeth are more difficult to get clean this week. I'm tempted to blame a recurrence of hemorrhoid problems on the antibiotics too. I'll be glad when I don't have to sleep with my feet elevated anymore. I usually sleep on my side and it has taken a while to get used to sleeping on my back. The best thing about a return to health is that I won't be wasting time Googling medical problems anymore. I'm sure Google has me listed in its hypochondriac file by now.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1312

Sometime I wonder how people with small children cope with all the uncertainties that come along with the inevitable childhood illnesses and injuries. Just dealing with one sick dog is more than enough for me. I had a lot of errands to run today and I was still worried that Dash might have another seizure. I found myself checking the nanny cam feed on my phone every five minutes or so. Dash was fine. The only thing I observed was that he is a very lazy dog. He didn't move an inch the entire time I was away. I wish I could say the same thing for Dot. There were scattered showers again today and Dot was a nervous nellie. Even though I was watching the camera to check on Dash, it was Dot who forced me to return home. At some point during the afternoon, I could tell she was going into her storm phobia mode. I looked at the weather radar app on my phone and sure enough, there was a storm directly over our house. I knew what to do. I curtailed a trip to the gym and came home. The dogs spent the rest of the afternoon huddled under my desk until the rain stopped.

It would have been nice to go to the gym, but I probably got enough exercise today anyway. I swept the water off the roof again this morning after another overnight rain. So far, the new roof is exactly like the old roof except that it doesn't leak. I'm surprised at how much rain we're getting in July. Most of my efforts to get the standing water off the roof have been an exercise in futility. Usually it is dry as a bone at this time of year. Since the roof doesn't leak anymore, I'm actually kind of happy to have the rain. It keeps the temperature lower, which means that Dot can still take her walks.

The garbage disposal quit working this morning. It didn't get stuck or jammed. It just won't turn on anymore. I can't find a circuit breaker on the disposal either. Do I call a plumber, an electrician, or an appliance repairman?  It could be a mechanical problem with the disposal itself. It could be an electrical problem. Or maybe there's some sort of internal fuse that burned out. The only thing I'm certain of is that I'm not going to try to fix the garbage disposal myself. Years ago, I tried to fix one of these things and ended up with such a bad leak under the sink that I had to call a plumber anyway.

I still haven't picked a recipe to send to the film festival recipe book. I think the deadline is tomorrow. My few original recipes are so simple and boring that a child could make them. I asked Janet what I should do and she told me to just pick something I liked out of one of our many recipe books and change it up a little. Wouldn't that be cheating I asked? She said that most recipes originate from other recipes anyway. This is probably true. There are literally thousands of recipes for lasagna, but they are all just different kinds of stuff layered between lasagna noodles and cooked in a baking dish. Omelets are all pretty much the same too. Beat some eggs, pour them into a skillet, and fold in whatever you want. Maybe I'm just not cut out to be a cook. I'd still like to be featured in that cookbook though.

Jade is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1304

Dot's weather predicting nose told her that there was rain in the vicinity today and she made sure that I was properly warned. It never did rain in our neighborhood, but that didn't stop Dot from barking. The girl is loud. I feel like I've been sitting in the front row at a rock concert. Although I'm never a big fan of rain, I'll admit that we could have used a little moisture. It's been hot and dry for several weeks now and the plants in the back yard are starting to droop and wither.

I finally got around to sanding last week's Sheetrock repairs. The ceiling looks pretty smooth now, so I might just skip the subsequent steps and paint it now. The older I become, the less of a perfectionist I am

Dash's Allopurinol finally arrived this morning, so I made a trip to the vet to pick it up. Since I was already out and about, I drove over to Culwell & Son afterwards and picked out a new pair of Hiltl jeans for myself. I've lost enough weight recently that most of my existing pants are starting to look a little baggy. I'm not getting rid of the old pants though. I have a feeling that my waistline could easily revert to its old dimensions the next time I'm invited to a good barbecue.

One of the things on today's to-do list was fixing one of Janet's watches. A few years ago, I convinced myself that I'd make a good watch repairman and bought some watchmaking tools. It didn't take long to discover that I wasn't cut out to be a watch repairman. I'm just too clumsy. Watch parts are extremely tiny and delicate. All it takes is a random sneeze to scatter tiny screws everywhere. I pretty much limit myself to replacing batteries now. Even something as simple as changing batteries has its perils though. Once you take the back off a watch, all sorts of small things can fall out and disappear forever.

I've found that writing about watches is a lot easier than repairing them, so that's what I did today. I used to write a whole lot about the oil and gas industry and very little about luxury items. Now, its the other way around. As long as the writing jobs keep coming, I don't really care what I write about. I need to do something and I think I proved today that I'm not really cut out for tape and bed work or watch repair.

I feel like today went well. Everything on the to-do list got done. The lawn has been watered. Even the trash has been taken out to the curb for tomorrow's weekly garbage pickup. It's time to start daydreaming about what to have for breakfast tomorrow. I'm in an adventurous mood. Maybe I'll even look for a new restaurant.

Sophia is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1281

I needed to pick up a paint pen today to repair some gear. Paint pens are handy little tools for touching up nicks and scratches on camera lenses and just about the only place you can find them is in a hobby shop. Have you been in a hobby shop lately? I'm always amazed when I go into one of these places on a normal work day and discover it is filled with grown men who appear to have never worked a day in their life. They are all busy contemplating the latest radio controlled cars, or busy buying a new paintball gun. I think the only time women venture inside a hobby shop is when they are buying a birthday present for small boys. The rest of the time, these places are filled with grown men. I found my little paint pen and left, but it was hard to resist the urge to buy some sort of model myself. Hey, all guys like model cars, don't they?

While I was working this morning, I heard a loud noise outside, followed by flickering electricity for a moment. I though maybe another electric transformer had failed in the neighborhood. It wasn't until a few hours later that I discovered that the source of the noise was one of the large Oak trees in our back yard. Wind and rain had weakened one of the limbs and it had come crashing to the ground. I didn't notice the limb immediately because it landed vertically and looked like another tree had suddenly appeared inside a patch of ground cover. It's a good thing the dogs were inside when the tree limb fell. It landed right where Dot usually pees.

It rained again this morning. It's been raining so much lately that mushrooms are starting to grow in the new backyard landscaping. I'd really prefer grass to mushrooms, but I guess you can't have everything. I'm going to have the landscaping guys come over tomorrow and haul away the broken tree limb. Maybe they can tell me why the grass still isn't growing very well after all the work they did. I suspect they will tell me that a few more tree limbs need to fall, so the yard can start getting some sun.

I had quite a bit of writing work to finish today. I kind of envied those guys at the hobby shop with nothing better to do than play with radio controlled cars and helicopters. I've never bought a radio controlled car, but I'd probably have fun with one. I could attach a GoPro camera and photograph squirrels in the backyard. I remember years ago I had a fashion shoot at the home of Ozzie Osborne's drummer. When this guy wasn't on tour, all he did was play with radio controlled cars in his driveway. I kind of envied him too. Of course at the time, I had the job most guys wanted. I photographed fashion models.

Today, it's just me and the dogs in a quiet room with a powerful computer. I finished all my writing work and went up on the roof to clear away the rain water. The roof doesn't leak anymore, but it still doesn't drain well. I'm disappointed that after all the money I spent that I still have to climb up on the roof at all. Tomorrow is my birthday. I suspect that it will be a lot like today.

Rugby is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1280

Janet is home again. The new roof has been paid for. I didn't even get stung by a bee today. For the most part, all is well with the world.

The day did start off with a humongous Summer rainstorm, but the dogs and I are learning to adjust to these storms. Instead of walking the dogs right after I get up, as I usually do, we all had our breakfast instead. Dot and Dash love to eat, so postponing their walk was no big deal to them. I am so slow fixing my own breakfast that by the time I was finished eating and had done the dishes, the rain was over. Problem solved. The sudden downpour cooled things down by at least fifteen degrees, so we actually had a very enjoyable walk. Our afternoon walk was another story entirely. Once the sun broke through the clouds, the moisture in the ground turned to steam and the air became a sauna.

Considering that it was a Monday, I was surprisingly busy today. I completed a couple of website revisions and wrote an article or two. I remembered to pay my quarterly estimated taxes too, so I can cross that off my list. I was actually so productive today that I feel I should be entitled to take Tuesday off. That will never happen though. There is always work to do on Tuesday.

Janet's flight was delayed by weather this evening, so I found myself out at the airport watching the bags go round and round at the baggage claim carousel. I like bags and it's always interesting to see what other people are carrying. At least half the bags are dull, utilitarian looking Samsonite models, but occasionally I see something interesting. My favorite bags are made by PortaBrace. These distinctive blue bags are made by hand in Bennington, Vermont and used almost exclusively by film and video production crews. I frequently use mine as suitcases. They are almost indestructible.

I wish tomorrow was Friday. It's not like the workload is all that terrible this week. I think I'm just getting tired of oatmeal for breakfast. Even mixed with strawberries and blueberries, it's still oatmeal.

Bali is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 977

Dot is sitting shivering under my desk, wrapped in a blanket. It's raining again. I wonder how she knows it's going to rain. She's better than the weatherman. Over an hour before the rain started, she was nervously pacing around the house, trying to tell us that the world was about to end. I've gotten to know her mannerisms so I checked the weather radar on my iPhone. It didn't look so bad. Dot knew better. Almost on cue, the rains started immediately after she went to her protected spot under my desk. It's a good thing I got my chores done earlier. I mowed the grass and got all my weekend shopping done before the deluge started. I hate rain at this time of day though. By the time the storm passes through, it will be too dark to go up and get the water off the roof. It will be another night of listening for leaks.

I got a good example of why Apple is so successful this afternoon. I needed to buy an audio cable, so I went to Guitar Center because they have tons of cables. "Oh, you've got to go to the Apple Store for Apogee cables," the sales guy said. "Apple owns Apogee, so they'll have all the cables there."  I stopped by Radio Shack first.  The Apple Store is always crowded on Saturday and Radio Shack has lots of Apple stuff too. The Radio Shack manager told me that I needed to go to the Apple Store too. "That's not a very common cable," he said. "We don't carry those." So, I fight the mall crowds and go to the Apple Store. "That's a specialty item," says the Apple sales guy. "You'll have to order that from our online store." Two different stores, who probably had this particular cable online too, just lazily sent me to the Apple Store instead of trying to get me to buy from their online stores. Apple got the sale.

I'm trying to decide which gear to take on an assignment next week. The assignment involves taking both video and still images. Since DLSR cameras take pretty good video these days and many video cameras can capture high quality JPEG stills, it's not an easy decision anymore. Of course, I could just pile everything I own in the car, but I'd rather travel light and take no more than I need. I wish these companies would make it a little easier for me. My video camera captures sound better, but I like the picture on the DLSR the best. Writing jobs are so much easier. All I need is a laptop and a ten year old copy of Microsoft Word.

I wonder if all the rain we've been having is going to wash away the mosquito spray? It's been bone dry around here for weeks, but just as soon as the city began its aerial spraying program to combat the West Nile Virus, it began raining cats and dogs. Mosquitoes love the rain, so probably this wasn't exactly what the city had planned. So few things go according to plan for me personally, that it's kind of reassuring to know that they don't go according to plan for anyone else either. I wonder if the city has a Plan B if the mosquitoes come back? I learned long ago that you've always got to have a Plan B.

Lucy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 967

Do you know what you get after an August rain in Texas? You get steam. After an unexpected downpour this morning, I climbed up on the roof to remove the water and was greeted by clouds of steam rising from the rapidly evaporating water. I guess I should thank the sun for helping me get the water off the roof, because it wasn't all that long before the roof was completely dry again. Although I usually dread rain, today's shower was welcome. The grass and shrubs in the yard got some much needed attention. The areas on the roof that I patched last month appeared to hold and there were no discernible leaks. Since the rain came without the usual thunder and lightning, Dot and Dash weren't even all that upset. Although today's shower was welcome relief, it's going to take more than a single day of rain to turn things green again. It's still very hot and dry.

I saw this new website called Instacanvas this morning that claimed it could take all your Instagram pictures and turn them into large frameable canvases that you could sell online. Cool! Since passive income is the holy grail of most bloggers, I immediately requested to join this site. They couldn't have made it more complicated to set up a gallery if they tried. First, you had to send a message to your Facebook friends and ask them to request to see your gallery of photos.  Then you had to do the same thing on Twitter. Finally, you had to take a photo of their invitation to join and upload it to Instagram. Phew! Suddenly this whole thing wasn't nearly as interesting. Something this complicated will probably never work. I'm still hoping to set up a gallery on this site though. I take a ton of Instagram pictures and I never expected that any of them would earn me a dime of income. If it turns out that a few people actually want to buy prints of these pictures, that would be great.

This morning's rain cooled things down by at least fifteen degrees, so I was hoping that dog training class would be pleasant tonight. No such luck. The temperature was cooler, but there was absolutely no wind and the air was so humid and muggy you could cut it with a knife. Once again, the dogs thought we were crazy for taking them out of a nice air conditioned house for something like this.

I'm still fascinated by the new pictures coming from the Curiosity rover. Did you see the picture of Curiosity floating to the surface of Mars at the end of its parachute that was taken by another satalite orbiting the planet? Amazing! They say that if this picture was snapped even one second later, it wouldn't have captured anything. I used to love astronomy when I was in high school. I never was good at physics and math though. That's probably why I ended up in advertising. You don't have to be good at math to excel in advertising. Truthfully, you don't really have to be good at anything.

Lilly is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day