Day 4536

Today's big event was giving Dawn a bath. I didn't think Dawn was too dirty and probably neither did Dawn, but she likes to roll in the dirt and Janet likes a clean dog. We always take Dawn to a self bathe place in the neighborhood. She hates getting in the tub, but always seems to relax when we apply the shampoo and rinse her off with warm water. By the time we dry her with a couple of bath towels, she seems like a happy dog. I kind of feel the same way about taking a shower. I hate getting wet, but it does feel better being clean.

It was surprisingly cold when we took our sunrise walk this morning. The furnace was on when I woke up and I actually needed a coat when we went outside. I thought I was done with Winter coats for the year, but maybe not. The weather here is full of surprises. Dawn approved of the cooler weather and really enjoyed her walk this morning. I thought she might want to take a longer walk, but she was more interested in returning home for her breakfast.

I always take Dawn outside around 11 AM to pee. I sat outside with her for about fifteen minutes and she did nothing, so we went back inside again. I then went out in the front yard to pull weeds in a little garden area and when I returned not more than ten minutes later I discovered a trail of pee leading to the back door. Dawn never does this. I wonder why she didn't go when I had her outside a little earlier. I hope she isn't getting senile or has some kind of medical issue. She's been fine the rest of the day, but it's something to keep an eye on.

My long walk this afternoon was curtailed by foot pain again this afternoon. I was lucky to get 10,000 steps today. It's a shame that my feet have been bothering me when the weather has been so nice. This would have been a great afternoon for a long walk. As much as I hate driving in city traffic, I'll probably have to start going back to the gym soon. I have a feeling that my feet need a rest and I probably need to start doing some alternate exercises anyway. My upper body strength is terrible now. It's a shame that it is so easy to lose muscle mass as you get older, but so hard to gain it back again. 

I've got to stop using Facebook. It's become totally irritating lately. Whenever I see an interesting story, it always ends up being hidden behind a paywall. I hate those paywalls and steadfastly refuse to subscribe to anything. Newspapers and magazines are the worst. Now that nobody reads the printed page anymore, all these publications seem to be trying to recreate their subscription models online. Even in the old days I used to read magazines in libraries. I guess I've always thought that information should be free. Almost as irritating as paywalls is the proliferation of sponsored articles on Facebook. These are all clickbait. If you click on an interesting headline and picture, you are led through an endless series of pages filled with ads and other nonsense, all trying to get you to hit the next button that will lead you to your destination. Usually I realize that I've been scammed after hitting the next button a few times. I should have learned by now that these sponsored posts are all worthless clickbait.

Where has this week gone? I've already taken the trash out to the curb and and am contemplating going out for breakfast on Friday again. Maybe I will one of these days. I think the magic is gone unfortunately. I don't enjoy eating as much as I used to. Exploring new restaurants used to be a big adventure. Now eating a perfunctory bowl of shredded wheat is just the easiest way to get some food in my belly.

Chief is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1230

I got up this morning and then all of the sudden it was dinner time. It wasn't a particularly busy or stressful day. It just all went by in a blur. The dogs got their long awaited visit to the dog park. There was no need to dress as warmly as I did, because when we arrived at the park, it was already hot. Dot is well aware of the rising temperatures. She tires much more easily in the heat. As a result, we didn't stay at the park as long as we usually do. Dash could have stayed longer, but Dot gets to call the shots these days. It just isn't fair to push an older dog too hard.

Dot didn't get to choose whether to get a bath today however. I'm pretty forgiving about dirty, smelly dogs and even I had to admit that Dot and Dash were filthy. They both clean up well though. After a bath at Vhea's LaundroMutt, their coats shine and they smell wonderful.

Janet had to run some errands after we returned from our dog excursions and I used the afternoon to finish an overdue writing assignment. Ordinarily, I would do something outside on such a nice day, but the outdoor alternative was mowing the grass, so writing seemed the lesser of two evils.

It's hard to believe that April is almost over. We've probably got one more month of decent weather before another Texas summer rears its ugly head. I don't like the heat any more than Dot does. When the thermometer starts to hover around 100 degrees for months at a time, I start to questions my sanity for ever moving down here in the first place.

Some of my new exercise routines are starting to become habits. I find myself using the small hand weights around the house during the day. I continue to do planks on a daily basis too. Making something a habit is the key to success with me. I really can't depend on desire or passion to get me anywhere.

Lucky is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1041

Sunday is cleaning day at our house. The floors get cleaned. The cars get cleaned. Even the dogs get cleaned. Although I could daydream in the shower until the hot water runs out, the dogs don't share my sentiments about getting clean. Dot and Dash both hate getting a bath. When we pull up in front of Vheas LaundroMutt, Dot glues herself to the back seat of the car and won't come out. It's quite an effort to get her out of the car, because she's gotten quite good at turning herself into an immovable object. Dash doesn't resist going into the bathing tubs, he just howls the entire time the water is running. Despite all the protesting, the dogs seem to enjoy being cleaner. They don't scratch as much and at least for a little while, their coats feel silky smooth.

I thought I had finished mowing the grass for the season, but our Indian Summer weather has caused the grass in the front yard to start growing again. The grass in the back yard would probably be growing too, if there was any grass. Maybe I ought to thank the armadillo for cutting my mowing chores in half. I can't imagine the warm weather staying around that much longer. Maybe this will finally be the last time I have to get the lawn mower out for the season.

I bought a DVD of that science fiction movie Prometheus when I was shopping this weekend. If you remember, this Ridley Scott film was finally going to get me back into a movie theater again. It didn't. Maybe nothing will ever get me back in a theater again. Movies look pretty darn good on a big flat screen in your house. I've gotten to the point where I just don't like dealing with crowds anymore.

It wasn't always this way. I used to love going to concerts. Crowd certainly didn't bother me when I saw The Who, Bruce Springsteen, Aerosmith, and the Stones. Of course, this was some time ago. Keith Moon was still playing drums when I saw The Who. Liv Tyler wasn't even born yet when I saw Aerosmith. Springsteen wasn't playing stadiums shows when I saw him. I think the theater in Seattle where I saw that concert only seated 3,000 people. I think the last live concert I saw was on August 20, 1983 when Simon & Garfunkel came to Dallas during their reunion tour. That was a good show.

Now, I just watch British comedies on PBS with the dogs. We like Reggie Perrin, Black Books, and Outnumbered. I think I've seen enough of Are You Being Served, however. I'm pretty sure that's what's on later tonight.

Lance is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 943

We almost got struck by lightning today. The lightning strike was so bright that it seemed like studio strobes going off directly overhead. The thunderclap came just milliseconds later. I would think that the lightning strike was less than a 1000 yards away, since the sound of the thunder arrived so quickly. The thunderclap was so loud that it set off car alarms on a nearby street. It goes without saying that the dogs totally panicked. I had a hard time controlling them as we tried to get back to the house before the real downpour started. This storm just came out of nowhere. Luckily, we returned home safely about two minutes before the skies opened up and the rain began in earnest. I usually look at the weather radar on my iPad if I'm going out in questionable weather, but the radar wouldn't have helped me in this case. The storm didn't blow in from the West or the North; it just materialized directly overhead. When I looked at a time lapse view of the weather radar later, it appeared that the storm didn't even exist when we started our walk. The storm cell just suddenly formed right over the lake in less than five minutes. That's Texas weather for you. It's always full of surprises.

The storm apparently wasn't through with us when we got home. About ten minutes after the rain started, our power went out. Three hours later, the power is still out. I'm making today's post using my laptop and a portable 4G hotspot.  Reporting a power outage is frustrating now because everything is automated. It is impossible to talk to a real person. After you answer enough automated questions using your cellphone keypad, you eventually get an ETA for when the lines will be repaired, but you can never find out what is actually wrong. According to the phone message, it will be another three hours before power is restored. I'm sure the laptop battery will be dead before then.

As you can see, Dot and Dash got a bath today. It definitely wasn't a very auspicious day to give the dogs a bath, but how were we to know? They both got soaked all over again when we made our retreat from the park and tried to get home before the next lightning strike. At least the weather was nice when we went to the dog park earlier this morning.

It's so quiet in the house when the power is out. Usually, there is always the hum of the air conditioner, which is frequently augmented by the sounds of the dishwasher, the washing machine, or the dryer. Even the main computer makes a lot of noise. Now the house is silent. All I hear are a million cicadas outside. I have a feeling the the television won't work when the power is eventually restored. That's what happened the last time the power went out.  The U-verse box lost all it's programming and we ended up having to call AT&T to get everything working again.

Oh well, tomorrow's another day. I wouldn't be surprised if it's dry as a bone again by noon.

Gypsy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 887

What a busy day. We tried to finish landscaping the back yard this morning and almost succeeded. The yard looks good now. All the grass is in place and appears to be growing. All we need now is a little more ground cover and we'll be done. After breakfast, we took Dot and Dash back to the new 22 acre dog park in far North Dallas. This is a great park since the grass hasn't been ruined yet and the dogs have plenty of room to roam. The drive is a little longer, but it's worth it.

On the way home, we stopped by Vhea's LaundroMutt and gave the dirty pair a bath. We've got clean dogs now, a clean house, and I even mowed the grass. Since I noticed some of the other neighbors hauling brush out to the curb for big trash day, I figured that now was the time to cut down the dead tree in the front courtyard as well.

The tree wasn't large, but it took me a while because I was using a reciprocating saw instead of a chain saw. Years ago, a friend of mine almost took off his face when he slipped while using a chain saw. That accident put the fear of God in me, since I'm fairly clumsy. I haven't used a chain saw since. It's surprising how much you can cut with a big electric reciprocating saw and the right blade though. In two hours, I had the tree cut into small enough pieces that I could drag it out to the curb with all the other neighbor's landscaping debris.

Dash's birthday is tomorrow. The little guy will be seven years old. I don't know if we'll have time to take the dogs out to dinner again, but we'll do something special. Years ago, I took a cake decorating class and Janet and I used to make special birthday cakes for the dogs on their birthday. Life has become way too hectic for hand decorated dogs cakes lately. Janet and I don't even have birthday cakes for each other anymore. Usually birthday celebrations just involve some wine and a few cupcakes from Sprinkles.

I hope I can get caught up with all my work projects this week. I'm way behind right now. I'm tempted to just turn the phones off until I get caught up on everything. That wouldn't be wise though. The minute I turn the phones off, someone is bound to call me with the job I've been waiting for all year.

Harley is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 886

I've gotten way behind on photographing the new Dalmatians that entered the rescue program this month. To make amends, Janet and I went up to The Velvet Snout this morning to say hello to the newcomers. We photographed Hershey, a handsome young liver spotted male, and Dottie, a sweet twelve year old female. It still astounds me that people will dump a loyal friend at the pound just because they're getting old, but that's what happened to Dottie. We're hoping she'll find a new family who will let her live out her remaining years with the dignity she deserves.

When I finished photographing the dogs, I went back home and generally wasted the rest of the day. I spent way too much time trying to fix a delicate brass thingy that I accidentally dropped off a six foot high shelf a few years ago. The proper way to fix this object would be for someone with exceptionally good brazing skills to use a micro torch to weld all the little pieces back together. I used Superglue. My repair looks good from a distance, but it is so fragile that the whole thing will fall apart if a mouse steps on it. Sadly, since the brass collectible thingy is destined for the storage warehouse, a mouse probably will step on it pretty soon.

After doing my weekend grocery shopping, I returned home again to discover more real estate documents in my inbox that I needed to sign. I've gotten spoiled with those Docusign documents that you can electronically sign using a web browser. The documents I received today were a little more difficult. I had to print them out, sign them all, scan the signed copies and then turn the whole mess into a single PDF file, so I could e-mail everything back to the real estate agent. When did selling a house become so difficult? The last time I was involved with buying or selling real estate, the whole process seemed much easier.

The dogs are filthy. I don't know how they got so dirty, but it probably had something to do with me neglecting to clean them up while Janet was out of town. They didn't look that bad to me. They didn't smell that bad either. It didn't take Janet ten seconds to notice how dirty they were however. They're both scheduled for a bath at Vhea's LaundroMutt as soon as we get back from the dog park tomorrow.

Holly is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 761

Even though virtually nothing happened, it still seemed like a busy day. Sundays are always like this. We get off to a late start, and by the time breakfast and the weekly trip to the dog park are finished, it is mid-afternoon. Today, the dogs got a bath at Vheas Laundromutt after the dog park. Last week, the dogs that drooled all over Dash while he was playing caused his coat to turn brown again and the vet suggested a bath after being slobbered on by other dogs. Dash seems allergic to just about everything, apparently including dog spit.

I asked our vet about the strange stains on Dash's coat last week and she said this sort of thing wasn't that uncommon. It seems that some dogs have a lot of bacteria in their saliva that can cause a reaction if other dogs are exposed to it. Even stranger, if a dog has been recently vaccinated, traces of the vaccine can show up in the saliva as well, causing a reaction if the other dog is sensitive to the vaccine. Now we have to add dog spit to the long list of things Dash needs to avoid.

Every weekend, I've been trying to print some new images on my large printer and put them aside for a future gallery show. This activity helps keep the printer lines from getting clogged and may even help me get another show down the road. The new images are actually better than the ones I displayed at my last show. I just need to get my butt in gear and pack them in a portfolio case and take them around to some gallery owners. So, when will I find the time to do this? Maybe next year sometime. It certainly won't happen any time soon.

Janet is off work tomorrow. Her office exchanged getting off on Good Friday for getting off on MLK Day instead. This seems a bit strange to me, but it certainly shows the direction the country is headed. I wonder what Martin Luther King would have thought? He was a religious man. I bet he would have wanted people to keep Good Friday as a religious holiday.

Tomorrow isn't a holiday for me. I've got a stack of website and writing work to finish and I need to drive up to North Dallas for my quarterly review with my financial adviser as well. I hope my financial adviser has some good news to report, but that isn't very unlikely.

Betty is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 648

We went up to The Velvet Snout this morning to photograph our two newest Dalmatian Rescue dogs. Emmy, shown to the left, is a cute little deaf female who has orthopedic problems with her hips. Suki, our other new girl, is still learning about people, since she was chained to a tree in someone's backyard when we found her. Both these dogs are sweet and very friendly. Each of them will be a wonderful addition to some lucky person's family.

If neck problems weren't enough, now I've got a toothache as well. Janet thinks I might need a root canal, since the tooth seems real sensitive to cold. I'll add a call to the dentist to my to-do list for next week. I feel like I'm just falling apart. It's disgusting. Hopefully, I'll get a good night's sleep tonight and be ready for a long day of photography tomorrow at the golf tournament. I'm charging up batteries right now and have plenty of memory cards, so everything should be just fine.

I did the usual Saturday errands. I went to the grocery store. I filled the car up with gas. And I got a new coffee filter at Bed, Bath and Beyond. My grocery store has stopped carrying my favorite breakfast cereal. I don't know why this bothers me, since I don't even eat cereal all that much, but it does. One by one, all my favorite things are slowly disappearing from stores. Retailers have gotten so sophisticated about tracking buying habits these days, that if you don't like what the masses buy, you're eventually out of luck.

Dot and Dash both got a bath today, so they'll look good as golf tournament ambassadors tomorrow. Neither dog likes a bath, but Dot has added a new trick to her arsenal. Lately, when we arrive at Vheas Laundromutt, she refuses to get out of the car. She's actually pretty hard to get out of the car, since she'll flatten herself to the seat and try her best to become an immovable object. Eventually, we got both dogs clean.

Scout is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 579

Dot and Dash got a bath today, I got a few more people added to my Google+ circles, and we all made our regular pilgrimage to the Wagging Tail dog park. When we were getting in the car to go to the dog park, I noticed that there was water dripping from the underside of the carport roof again. Janet said it had rained last night, which kind of amazed me. The skies were clear and blue this morning and the dogs didn't even wake me up during the night, like they usually do when it rains. If it wasn't for the standing water on the roof, there was no proof that it rained at all.

Since it was kind of a slow day, I went ahead and wrote my monthly article for my writer's group, instead of waiting until the last day of the month like I usually do. The assignment this month was to write something about the subject of celebrations. I wrote about kids birthday parties. I'm amazed at how elaborate children's parties have become. It is not uncommon for kids in Dallas to have bounce houses and petting zoos at their birthday parties. When I was a kid, I was lucky if I got a slice of birthday cake.

I have a meeting with my financial adviser tomorrow. I'm sure that the discussion will center around whether an agreement will be reached on the debt ceiling before the August 2 deadline. It's such a crap shoot. Everyone says that the congress has to raise the debt ceiling, but I can easily imagine them digging in their heals and doing nothing. How do you plan for things like this? If you start shorting things in anticipation of a meltdown, it almost guarantees that everything will work out fine and the market will go up. I'm still long, but I hate the market these days. I watched this interview with legendary gambler Billy Walters tonight on 60 Minutes. Billy told Lara Logan that he was convinced Las Vegas is a much safer bet than Wall Street. I think he's right.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 537

I slept in late this morning. Apparently, nobody else did, because when I woke up, everybody was gone. Janet likes to get the dogs out early on weekends, so she had taken Dot and Dash on their morning walk. I was moving so slow, that by the time I made the bed and put fresh water in the dogs bowls, everyone was back again.

Since the Summer heat is officially here, we went up to the dog park earlier than usual as well. I don't think we'll need to worry about finding a parking place for the rest of the Summer. The crowd was definitely lighter today. There were only a small handful of dogs at the park, but luckily Dash still found someone to play with.

On the way home, we stopped by Vheas Laundromutt and both dogs got a bath. Even though neither of them have had a bath in at least three weeks, they still remembered that it was something they mutually hated. Dash disrupted the place with his trademark shrill bird noises, while Dot just shivered and shook. It was all over in ten minutes though, and then we all went home and had lunch.

I find myself working on weekends a lot more than I used to. Since the hourly rates for what I do keep declining, I need to make up the difference in volume. As a result, I'm constantly busy, but I still feel broke most of the time. In between today's paying jobs, I managed to get all three of the new dogs we've picked up recently on the Dalmatian Rescue website. These dogs should all find homes quickly. They are friendly, easy going, and most importantly, healthy and free of heartworms. Scooby, one of the three is today's Dalmatian of the Day.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 445

It's amazing how the smallest of tasks can escalate into a big mess. When we go to take the dogs for their bath this morning, the coolant level light comes on in Janet's car. I check, and sure enough, the overflow tank is a little low. I look at the manual for the LR2 and it says the car needs to use Texaco antifreeze. Why? I don't know. Where did all the Texaco stations go? There used to be a Texaco station on just about every street corner. I drive around looking for a Texaco station and notice that everywhere there used to be one, there is now a bright yellow Shell station instead. When did this happen? Was it last month, or three years ago that this big switch happened. I haven't really been paying attention. Ever since gas started getting expensive, I stopped buying gas at Texaco and started filling my tank at Sam's Club instead.

Eventually it dawned on me that there weren't any Texaco stations in our neighborhood anymore and I got some generic antifreeze at a Chief Auto Parts store and went home. When I opened the hood of Janet's car to fill the reservoir, I noticed that there was a dent right in the middle of the hood. Under the hood I saw some weird shards of glass up near the windshield wiper motors. When I asked Janet why there were strange looking pieces of glass inside her engine compartment, she said that a street lamp had fallen off a pole last week and landed right next to her car while she was at work. "I'm sure glad it didn't hit the car," she said. "Uhhh, you'd better come look at this," I say. We notice different things. I would notice a dent in my hood instantly, but I never seem to notice when something has gone bad in the fridge.

Dot really didn't want a bath this morning. She refused to get out of the car when we pulled up in front of Vhea's LaundroMutt. When I finally had to resort to lifting her out of the car, she growled at me. Strangely, Dash was actually pretty good about his bath. He had one of his quietest, most uneventful visits to the LaundroMutt in several months. Tomorrow, the dogs take part in the city of McKinney's annual Krewe of Barkus parade. The theme for this year parade is "The Wild West." Dash will go as a cowboy and Dot will go as a horse...complete with a tiny leather saddle that I found on eBay.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day