Day 3436

I need to call the plumber. The leaking shower head is getting worse. I put a bucket under the drip after I took a shower today and it only took a couple of hours for the bucket to become full. I was surprised. It just seems like a little drip, but it is relentless. I don't think I can fix the faucets myself. I took the handles off today to look at the mechanism and it looked unfamiliar. I'd better leave this alone.

Since I couldn't fix the leak, I defrosted the little refrigerator instead. Melting ice is more my speed. I don't know why we even use the little refrigerator anymore. There's plenty of space in the big refrigerator. I guess I just like to be prepared. The little refrigerator can run off a generator. We may need it someday.

I keep wondering about the White Pelican I see on my walks. It is apparently never going to migrate. The bird seems content to live by itself on a quiet little bay at the lake. There are probably no other Pelicans within 1000 miles right now but the bird seems happy enough. It catches fish in the lake, sits on logs for hours at a time observing things and occasionally flaps its wings and flies. Maybe this is my spirit animal.

I tried out some different shoes today with thinner socks. Maybe this combination is better. I had very little foot pain on today's walks. The Vibram soles get caked with mud easily, but that's a small problem. Muddy boots clean up easily with a garden hose. I'll wear these for a while and see if they encourage me to walk longer.

I wrote a letter to my sister this afternoon and paid a credit card bill. Credit card bills are frustrating because they are always larger than I expect. It's amazing what you can forget during a month. My Webflow account auto renewed this month. I forgot about that one. I wonder if I even still need this? I subscribed to this advanced web development tool so I could build mobile ready websites for my clients. They all got really nice sites, but eventually left anyway. I haven't built a new website in almost a year.

I wish my plumbing problem would magically go away overnight. I hate dealing with plumbers. Somehow, little problems always end up turning into big problems. In theory, fixing some leaky faucets shouldn't be a big deal, but I've been wrong before. We'll see what tomorrow brings. I have a feeling that it's going to be a lot like today.

Rosco is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 2426

My Friday morning breakfasts are kind of a reality check. I don't spend much time around people anymore, so it's kind of interesting to see what's on their mind. I sit in my corner and mind my own business at the restaurant, but people are loud. I hear everything they say. If you listen to TV a lot, you'd probably think that everyone spends their day talking about politics. I never hear people talking about politics. They talk about real estate a lot. I think everyone in Dallas is either buying a house, selling a house, or remodeling a house. People in this city are obsessed with real estate. The conversations float around me like bird songs. People are planning weddings. The are thinking about upcoming vacations. The are looking for assisted living facilities for their parents. Some are interviewing for a new job. I've learned that most people cannot say five words in a row without using the word "like."

If restaurant conversations are any guide, I think that most people are basically good hearted and that few of them spend much time dwelling on the events of the day. I never hear people talking about terrorism or immigration. I did hear two young guys talking about quantitative easing once, but I don't think they were moguls. After a few minutes their conversation shifted to whether it was better to shop at Kroger or Albertsons. I tend to think that the things I hear at the restaurant are real and the things I see on Facebook aren't. I could be wrong though.

I paid a few bills today and did a little bookkeeping. The bills never end. I always pay my bills on time, but I hate being practical and frugal. It doesn't come naturally. I wonder if I would have done things differently if I'd known thirty years ago that my skill set would eventually become worthless and that the stock market would become volatile and unreliable. I genuinely thought that I wouldn't have a care in the world by now, but life is full of surprises. At least I'm still reasonably healthy. Maybe taking another path wold have been more financially lucrative, but I can't really complain. Until very recently, the company did very well. I just didn't anticipate getting old.

I took my hiking boots to the shoe repair shop today. For some reason I really wear down the heals of my shoes quickly. Why don't they make shoe soles out of the same type of rubber they use to make car tires? The tires on my car will last a minimum of 40,000 miles, but the soles of my shoes are lucky to last six months. When I was younger I had a pair of Italian Vibram soled boots that easily lasted ten years. I don't think they use the same type of rubber anymore. Those boots were indestructible.

My fitness tracker says I was asleep from noon to 2 PM yesterday. Excuse me? I have no memory of this. I thought I was mowing the grass. The troubling thing is that I'm really not sure. Maybe I was taking a nap and completely forgot about it.

Morgan is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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