Day 3434

It looks like the bad weather everybody was predicting is well to the North of us. We might not get any rain at all until the whole severe weather scenario repeats itself tomorrow. It's easy to forget that this always happens in the Spring. We get all our rain for the year in one or two months. At least we don't live in the Tornado Alley corridor where the bad storms are headed tonight. When the weather is bad in Dallas, it always seems to be worse in Oklahoma.

It's amazing how different the park is on a weekday. Yesterday the place seemed like a carnival. Today it was just me and a few ducks. I like quiet, overcast days like today. I keep my eye out for interesting animals and new flowers although very little changes from day to day. I did see something new today. The Texas Thistle is starting to bloom. When you start seeing thistles you know that Spring is ending. These drought tolerant plants seems to thrive during the Summer.

I don't know if I'm going to thrive during the Summer. It's already starting to seem too hot and humid for me. Long walks aren't nearly as enjoyable when you're sweaty and sunburned. When Dot and Dash were young there was an indoor dog park where we used to take the dogs on hot days. The place was huge and it was air conditioned. People with active dogs loved the place. We were regulars. Dot and Dash even had special electronic tags on their collars that let them inside. Unfortunately the fancy indoor park didn't stay in business all that long. The city uses the building to park school busses now.

Dallas is a thriving, successful city but nothing I really like seems to do well here. My favorite restaurants, furniture stores, camera shops, and art galleries have all gone out of business. I was convinced that the indoor dog park would be a huge success. The facility was well thought out and dogs loved it. Apparently their owners liked free dog parks better.

I've been thinking about emergency power lately since I put most of my devices to good use during our recent power outage. I've been thinking about buying more Goal Zero generators since you can easily chain the smaller 400 watt units together to achieve higher output. Do I actually need a higher output solar generator? Probably not. If I ever get the urge, there are plenty of YouTube videos showing me how to hook everything up. I'm amazed that there are YouTube videos explaining how to fix or install just about anything. Who makes these things? Some of the subjects are so strange and esoteric that you wonder if anybody actually watches them. Hmmm. I guess I answered my own question. I watched a bunch of these videos this morning.

The drip in the shower is getting worse. Do I call a plumber or try to fix things myself? I'm almost certain that the faucets for the shower just need new washers, but I'm equally certain the I tend to screw things up when attempting plumbing repairs. I hate to pay a plumber $100 to replace a fifty cent washer, but on the other hand I hate to break a pipe trying to remove a rusty frozen bolt. Decisions, decisions.

Harley is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3091

We're making progress. The landscaper said he's coming over and will replace the dead grass. The roofer contacted me and said they were very busy with hail damage, but hadn't forgotten about me. The art auction house sends me about three e-mails a day and we are inching closer and closer to a deal. All this stuff will get taken care of. It just takes time.

There was blood on the bed again this morning. I don't know where Dash is bleeding. When I look in his mouth, there are no obvious signs of bleeding and all of his paws look fine. The blood is obviously coming from somewhere. Maybe Dash is coughing it up. When I mentioned the bleeding to the vet at Dash's last big exam, he didn't seem very alarmed. The bleeding is sporadic and only seems to happen about once a week. I guess I'll just keep an eye on things. It's probably nothing. Plavix can make even minor cuts seem alarming.

I got some Thai food the other day that was way too hot. Janet suggested rinsing the noodle dish with warm water in a colander to remove a lot of the spicy sauce. Surprisingly, this worked great. I had the noodles for dinner. They were still tasty, but were only half as hot as they were yesterday. Live and learn.

I like the picture of the purple thistle I took this morning. You may be seeing a lot of thistles. The park is full of them this year. There isn't a lot of variety in this years crop of wildflowers, but there are a ton of Texas Thistles, Engelmann Daisies, Native Sunflowers, Yucca Flowers, and Horse Nettle. I wonder what happened to the other flowers this year? Sometimes the meadows are a carpet of colorful plants. This year, not so much.

I'm watching the coverage of the big summit in Singapore. It appears like every reporter in the world is over there. Non stop coverage and nobody has a clue about what's actually going on. It's non-stop speculation. Kim went sightseeing. What does that mean? Why is Dennis Rodman wearing a pot crypto currency t-shirt? Kim is smiling? What does that mean? It's a circus. I wouldn't be surprised if something significant actually does happen. Why not? It would be pretty easy for the two leaders to formally end the Korean War. If it were up to me, I'd start with a meaningful symbolic gesture like this and leave the hard stuff for later.

I'm all for leaving the hard stuff for later. That's why I didn't do much of anything today. It's weird not having websites to update. For years and years I had websites to update and articles to write every single day. Now I spend my days figuring out how to dispose of things I acquired during the busy years. Working is winding up a watch and retirement is watching it unwind.

The roofer and the landscaper didn't show up today, but at least they called. There's always tomorrow. Maybe I'll see these guys tomorrow.

Willa is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day