Day 2240

I felt something bite me on the neck while I was sitting at the computer this morning. When I looked in the mirror, I discovered it was a tick. Damn. This is the second time this year I've found a tick crawling on me. Ironically, the dogs are completely free of ticks. Now that we've finally found an effective flea and tick preventative for the dogs, I think the ticks have started looking for greener pastures. Apparently, I look pretty appetizing.

The adapter I ordered arrived today, but unfortunately it didn't fit very well. It was supposed to snap into place on top of a battery plate to allow a different type of battery to be used. The connection was just too snug for a reassuring snap. I could press the thing halfway into place, but that was it. I called the manufacturer and the service representative told me to press harder and that if the adapter broke, he'd send me a new one. This wasn't very reassuring. I suspect that if I look very closely, I will find the words Made in China stamped on the poorly fabricated piece of junk.

This must have been my day to talk with customer service representatives because when I finished talking to the guy from the lighting company, I got a call from the company that makes my fitness band. "Are you still having problems," she asked. Of course I was still having problems, so we spent the next twenty minutes talking about possible solutions. I'd already tried most of the things she'd suggested, so the conversation basically went nowhere. After we'd talked for a while, she told me that my fitness tracker was out of warranty and she couldn't replace it anyway.

Dot was panting more than usual today. We almost didn't give her a walk this morning, but she quit panting and seemed perfectly normal once we were outside. Later in the day, she started panting again, just walking around the house. I was going to take her temperature, but I couldn't find the dog thermometer. Eventually, I found two digital thermometers, but I wasn't sure which one was for people and which was for the dogs. I got this wrong once before and all the sudden we had two dog thermometers. You kind of hate to put a thermometer in your mouth after it's been in a dog's butt. 

I was confused about an upcoming photo shoot, so I called the client to get some clarification. She didn't really know what was going on either and told me to just show up on the specified day and go with the flow. OK. I can do that. That's basically what I do every day. It would be nice to know what I was supposed to do, but in all honesty it won't make a big difference. Sometimes work is actually easier when you don't know what you're doing.

Dot pooped in her bed twice today. She didn't even wake up when she had the accidents, which is definitely a new development. In the past, Dot was always aware of what was going on and made an effort to get up and move away from the mess. If this happens in her sleep now, it probably means that something is getting worse. There are all sorts of subtle signs that Dot is slowly going downhill, but since she still has her good days, it's easy to convince yourself that everything is fine. Every week, I make a list of new developments for the vet, but there not much more I can do to slow down the aging process. We just do our best to keep her comfortable and happy.

Maybe I'll have something exciting to tell you tomorrow. Nah. Just kidding. Nothing ever happens on Wednesday.

Jasper is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1179

Well, I discovered why my car had been leaking oil. Virtually all the engine seals have gone bad. Rubber is a great invention, but very old rubber is virtually worthless. My service representative at the Land Rover dealer called me today and told me that the head gaskets, the oil pan gasket, the transmission seals, and a couple of other things that leak on the Defender all needed to be replaced. The gaskets themselves aren't very expensive, but the engine and transmission have to be torn apart to get at everything. This definitely isn't very good news.

The one thing that old houses, old cars, and old people all have in common is that they all deteriorate with age. It's a bitch when all this deterioration starts happening at once. If there is a general theme to my life right now, it is that everything is falling apart.

It wasn't always this way. Janet and I lived in the house for over ten years before there were any problems with the roof at all. The Defender used to run flawlessly for years at a time when it was newer. Most telling of all, I used to be able to have a beer with lunch, two or three glasses of wine with dinner and eat bacon for breakfast every day. Those days are gone. Things are falling apart.

The one bright spot amid all this dry rot and deterioration is that I'm actually starting to feel better as a result of my new diet. I have more energy now and I've actually lost eight pounds in the last two months. I really shouldn't lose much more weight, since I wasn't fat to begin with, but it's nice to be getting back to the weight I maintained for the first forty years of my life.

I got a little adapter in the mail today that allows me to use the headphone jack with my new indestructible iPhone case. I'll add the adapter to the shoebox of weird adapters and plugs I've already bought to resolve awkward connection issues. I could take my phone to the South Pole now, although I doubt that it will ever leave the neighborhood. The phone used to look like a sleek BMW roadster. Now it looks like a H1 Hummer.

Lots of dog activities on tap for this weekend. Dot and Dash get a bath. There's a new dog to photograph at the Dalmatian Rescue kennels. And of course there's always Sunday's trip to the dog park.

Bacardi is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day