Day 3873

The park is so busy on Saturday mornings now. It never used to be this way. We got an early start today, but apparently not early enough. It was way too crowded on the trails. Is the pandemic turning us into a nation of fit and healthy people? Naw. Probably not.

I ran my usual Saturday errands after breakfast and on the way home a warning light came on saying that I had a low tire. Typically I would have gone to the dealership because the tires are filled with nitrogen. I didn't have the patience to sit around for several hours, so I went home and got out the air compressor. Ordinary air will do just fine. I couldn't find any nails in the tires, so I filled them up to the required pressure and called it a day. I used to do this all the time with the Defender, but I haven't used the compressor in so long that I was surprised that it even worked.

Dawn took her monthly heartworm pill this morning. I'm glad that she's relatively healthy and doesn't need a lot of meds. Giving the dogs their pills eventually got very complicated with Dot and Dash. So far, I take the most pills in the family. Nothing exotic, but they all are necessary. If you aren't taking any meds at my age, you probably aren't seeing the doctor enough.

I wonder why it took me so long to warm up to online banking? It sure is easier to pay bills this way. It only took me a few minutes to pay my utility bills this morning. I haven't gotten around to depositing checks using my phone yet, but it's only a matter of time. If the pandemic has caused me to change ingrained habits like going to the post office every few days, I imagine that other people's habits have changed as well. I read an article the other day that said ice cream sales are up and deodorant sales are down. Somebody is certainly selling a lot of bicycles in town. I've never seen so many cyclists in the park. Life is changing and some of the changes are going to be permanent.

Sadly, a lot of jobs will never return. Companies are already discovering that they can do just as well with fewer people. So many of us were always non-essential and just didn't realize it. I've been non-essential for most of my life. I was just lucky that my clients and employers seemed to find me useful.  I'm sure the pandemic is already creating a wide variety of brand new jobs. Change always creates new jobs. Actually, this probably isn't a bad time to be a web designer. Everything takes place online these days. I'd have to know a lot more if I was starting a web design shop today. Things were a lot simpler back when I started my company. Life in general was simpler then. It's not that surprising that I would like to find a time machine and go back.

I picked up Chinese food for dinner tonight. When I went to the restaurant to get my order, there was an entire section reserved for DoorDash, Uber Eats, and Grubhub deliveries. There seemed to be a constant stream of drivers picking up orders. There seems to be a lot of people in grocery stores doing home delivery or curbside pickup shopping as well. This is probably why I can never find Clorox Wipes. I got a mailing from one of the New York auction houses that sold my art a few years ago. It was about an upcoming sale of one-of-a-kind face masks created by well known artists. I wonder if all this strangeness will just seem normal next year? We're not in Bladerunner territory yet, but we're definitely headed in that direction.

Snoopy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1607

I took Janet to the airport again today. Sometimes I think she travels a lot. Other times, I think she's the normal one, and I've become a hopeless recluse instead. At any rate, travel's loss has become the dogs gain. It's been years since we've had to board Dot and Dash. I'm just about always here; to walk them, feed them, and nap with them. Before she left, Janet typed up an elaborate list of medication instructions for the dogs. I give Dash his chemotherapy meds on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. She usually give the other regular morning meds while I'm still asleep and the evening meds while I'm writing the blog. I don't think I'll have much problem keeping things straight. I really don't have much else to remember this week.

It was a beautiful day. The mud from Thursday's storms has mostly dried up, but the grass and foliage are still lush and green. I wish things would stay this way all Summer. Everything dries up quickly when the temperatures are in the 90's for months at a time though. It actually got up over 90 this afternoon. I keep the Summer heat at bay by paying my utility bills. Water and electricity bills can get ridiculous in Dallas in the Summer. Later in the year, there are often water use restrictions, but this early in the season, people run their sprinklers like there's no tomorrow. Ditto for electricity. If I'm having my coffee outside on a Summer morning, I'll always hear a low pitched hum that's almost as loud as the ever-present Cicadas. It's the collective noise of all the air conditioner compressors, working hard to cool the neighborhood.

I can either clear the water off the roof tomorrow, or go to the gym instead. Both activities probably burn roughly the same amount of calories. Both are necessary, and neither is particularly fun. I'll just have to see what kind of mood I'm in. Many of you might think that pushing tons of water off the roof would never be the winning choice. Overpowering the forces of nature can be oddly satisfying though. We'll see what the weather is like. If it's really hot tomorrow, I'm going to the gym. The water on the roof will evaporate on a hot day and the gym is air conditioned.

Whatever I did with the ants yesterday seems to be working. I didn't see any ants today. I was hoping that since we had quite a few hard freeze days this winter, bugs wouldn't be as much of as much of a problem this Spring. Maybe this was just wishful thinking. So far, those cold days haven't made much of a difference at all. There's always some sort of bus related crisis in Texas in the Summer. Last Summer it was mosquitoes and West Nile Disease. This year, it's conenose bugs and Chagas disease. The conenose, or "kissing bugs," as they're known in many places, carry a protozoa that is already killing dogs in South Texas. The protozoa circulates in the blood until it takes up residence in the heart and begins damaging the tissue. Often, the first clinical signs of Chagas disease in dogs is sudden death from heart failure. Yikes! One more thing to worry about. As if heartworms, lyme disease, and leptospirosis weren't enough already.

It's time for the dogs evening round of meds and a snack before bed. After that, we'll all pile on the bed, watch a little TV, and sleep in late. Sounds like a plan to me.

Chief is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1087

What a weird world we live in. Our phones can do all manner of miraculous things with the wave of a finger, yet when getting something done depends on another living, breathing human, everything grinds to a halt. Sometimes I think 50% of the population is completely incompetent. If we limit our survey to the people I actually deal with on a day-to-day basis, that percentage is probably even higher.

Today I tried to find out why I've been receiving two identical phone bills for the same account for the past six months.  No luck there. Then I tried to find out why all my prescriptions ran out today, when a nurse specifically told me just last week that they had been renewed for another year. Nope. Didn't solve that one either. Simple, routine things don't seem simple anymore. Day after day, I attempt to rectify blunders and track down the source of inevitable human errors. It's futile. Most people won't admit to making a mistake in the first place. And if you do get them to admit that something is wrong, they will almost always blame the mistake on someone else.

I guess I would put paying bills in the same circle of hell as dealing with incompetence. I hate paying bills. Today I paid the big property tax bill I've been avoiding for the past month or so. Why does Dallas County need so much of my money? I don't use their roads very much. I've never been in one of their hospitals. I've never had children in one of their schools. It just doesn't seem fair to me. At least I don't have two property taxes to pay anymore. I don't regret selling the rent property one bit. That thing was an expensive albatross around my neck for way too many years.

The neighbors hired someone to repaint their house earlier this week. For the past three days I've been listening to a loud and ever-present air compressor right outside my office window. Couldn't they have painted the house with rollers or brushes instead of spray guns?  The noise is driving me nuts. Maybe when they finish painting, my posts will be more coherent. With all this racket, I'm extra glad it's Friday tomorrow. I think I'm going to spent a long time at the breakfast restaurant.

Emma is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day