Day 3541

I got an e-mail from the electric company today encouraging us to use less electricity because we are under an extreme heat advisory for the next few days. I wonder what makes Thursday and Friday special? As far as I'm concerned, we've been under an extreme heat advisory all Summer. I don't think we're big offenders anyway. Our house is small and I usually keep the temperature around 78 degrees. Anything colder and I feel like I need a sweater.

I sometimes feel a little chilly while I'm having my morning smoothie, but the feeling seldom lasts long. As soon as I take my morning walk, I'm complaining about the heat for the rest of the day. My body must be adjusting to the high temperature. I no longer feel exhausted after my first three miles and have been continuing to keep moving for an additional two miles. So far, a five mile walk is plenty.

Most of the people I see walking are wearing earphones. I prefer visual stimulus. This is why I continue to walk outside despite the unpleasant weather. There are animals to watch and plants to identify. To me, this is much better than listening to music.

Considering that I used to play in a band, I rarely listen to music. Silence is my friend. Today I saw a Great Blue Heron and several Red Eared Slider turtles. Of course, the lone White Pelican remaining in the park was there as well. It will be months before his companions return to join him for the Winter.

We saw our first pictures of the new Dalmatians that recently entered the rescue program. I believe the dogs were obtained by the Texas humane society from an elderly breeder who could no longer care for them. Most of the dogs were underweight and several had bad skin infections. I'm sure a few have heartworms as well. Dalmatian Rescue will return these dogs to good health and find them great homes. Janet and I are looking forward to meeting the newcomers when they finish their initial treatment at our vet. It's sad that these dogs arrived in such bad shape, but it's good that they now have a second chance. By the time I photograph them for the website, they will be looking great.

One of the benefits of taking a single long walk instead of several shorter ones is that I have more time to write. I'm almost halfway finished with my Sky and Telescope article now. I learned a lot from the observatory staff while I was at Mount Locke, but I'm also doing some necessary research to make sure I have my facts straight. Astronomers read this magazine. I doubt that the editors will accept the finished article if I am vague or confusing about how the telescopes work. I'm determined that if I ever return to McDonald Observatory, I will be an expert on the place.

There will be more writing tomorrow and I'm sure there will be more walking as well. It's amazing how quickly the day goes by with these two simple activities. I'm not making money writing ads anymore, but writing is still a useful skill. Each new experience I have can generate a new story. Looking ahead, it's not really a bad way to spend my remaining years.

Domino is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3229

I didn't even try to go back to sleep after cleaning up the mess Dash made in the bed last night. There's nothing like cleaning up poop in the middle of the night to wake you up in a hurry. I got dressed and went outside to look at the stars for a while. Orion was rising in the East and there was a gibbous moon overhead. It's peaceful at 3 AM, but there was still too much light pollution to see very much. I returned to the house, brewed some coffee and watched TV while doing several loads of wash. Needless to say, I was tired for the rest of the day.

The weather remains beautiful. Dash, who went back to sleep immediately after his accident in the bed, woke up rested and was ready for a walk. This time I was the one who was walking slow. We took our time and returned just in time for breakfast. I'll probably never get to sleep tonight because I followed my middle of the night coffee with even more coffee.

On the way to the grocery store I stopped by the new storage warehouse and made arrangements for a move in early November. I'm going to have to rent a truck because it will take forever to move everything in the car. It still seems like a good idea to hire someone to help me with the move, but I'm not sure who to call. I have a feeling that I'll just end up moving everything myself.

After making sure that Dash ate his lunch and had gone outside to pee, I returned to the old storage warehouse to continue my efforts to thin things out before the big move. I found some things that I could donate to an animal charity and filled the car again. I continue to be amazed that my efforts are having such a small impact. The warehouse still looks pretty full.

When I dropped my items off, the organization was having a volunteer appreciation party. Technically I'm still a volunteer, even though I haven't done much lately. I hung around for a while and helped folks clean up. I wish I'd come a little earlier, since the food truck was just leaving as I arrived. The volunteers were eating some delicious looking sliders.

Today would have been a good day to wash the car or remove the water from the roof. I was too tired to do either. Hey, at least I got something done. Thirty more days like this and the warehouse will be empty. There are a bunch of old typewriters in the warehouse, so I looked online to see if people collected these things. Yep. Tom Hanks is an avid collector of old manual typewriters and apparently so are a lot of other people. There are several websites for collectors where people buy and sell these machines. Now there is one more category of things I can consign and try to get rid of.

I don't know what to do about Dash's incontinence. He can't wear diapers and he never stays in one place at night. Often his efforts to get up and move to a new position are what causes him to poop in the first place. Dot's incontinence was a piece of cake compared to Dash. Dot would stay in one place all night, so it was much easier to protect the house.

I shouldn't have any problems getting to sleep tonight. I'm exhausted. None of this makes any difference to Dash. Lord know what he has planned for me tonight.

Dash is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3187

We enjoyed meeting the new rescue dogs this morning. Dot and Dash have been dealing with serious medical problems since 2014, so it's easy to forget how much fun a young, healthy Dalmatian can be. The dogs we photographed today were all super friendly, very active, and loved to play. I don't think it will be long before each of these pups finds their forever home.

Janet and I have gotten to know hundreds of these dogs over the years. They all had their own unique personality. It's surprising how many of these dogs I still remember. It's hard to remember the names though. Especially since there were a lot named Domino, Lucky, Spot, Patches, and Oreo. The older we get, the harder it is to remember all these names. We both forgot the name of one of our favorites today. After ten minutes of guessing in the car, we finally remembered the name was Spirit. How could we have forgotten Spirit?

When we walked Dash this morning, we found ourselves right in the middle of a big charity race. There were thousands of runners, but Dash still wanted to criss-cross the road from one side to the other like he always does. The runners definitely didn't want to slow down for an old dog, so we tried to find a new route. I wonder how well Dash can see? He seemed oblivious to the runners. Luckily, we managed to stay out of the way. I always wonder why so many people like to jog? Over time, running is terrible on the knees.The high impact exercise isn't great for the feet either. I guess this is one reason why knee replacements have become one of the most popular surgeries for people my age.

Dash got me up in the middle of the night again. Actually, he got me up three times. I don't think there is anything wrong. Dash has just changed his schedule. He doesn't care if he wakes me up. If I'm not fast enough, he'll just poop on the floor. He's hungrier now late at night than he is in the morning. I guess it's no surprise that he needs to do his business at 3 AM. I don't even remember what uninterrupted sleep feels line anymore. I need to ask my doctor whether catnaps count. I rarely sleep more than three or four hours at a time, but I nap a lot. All in all I probably sleep more than you do.

I'm really tempted to get the latest version of the Apple Watch. I still wear the original version every day, but this new watch adds the capability to take your own electrocardiogram and will automatically dial 911 if you fall and can't get up. The watch also has it's own internal GPS and cellular phone. Pretty amazing to a gadget geek like me. Probably in the future, all I'll need are the watch and a phone. I'm finding fewer and fewer reasons to turn on the computer every day.

It's back to the gym tomorrow. Janet already goes to her new gym at least four times a week. I see no reason to compete. Once a week is plenty. Hey, I still walk Dash twice a day. We're slow, but we're consistent. If I were walking one of those young Dalmatians we photographed today, I bet I would be in better shape than those runners we saw this morning. I can tell you from experience that keeping up with a young Dalmatian is the best exercise you can get.

Spot is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3080

We had a good day. Dash seemed to have a lot of energy this morning. We had a nice morning walk. He ate all his meals and took his pills without incident. He had enough energy left over to pester me as I tried to watch the new episode of The Expanse after breakfast. I'm glad the DVR has a pause button, because every five minutes Dash wanted to go outside. I was glad to see Dash in good spirits. Maybe someday he'll start wagging his tail again.

This week's episode of The Expanse captured my interest again. I still think there's way too much going on with three different sub-plots on three different ships, but I'll definitely keep watching. This is probably the best science fiction series since Farscape. Firefly was really good too, but the show got canceled way too soon. I think The Expanse could easily run for four or five seasons. Here's hoping anyway.

Janet took Dash on his evening walk because I had to go to an evening meeting. Meetings of any sort seem weird to me now. It rare for anything to be accomplished in your average meeting, but they are still an essential part of keeping a group together. It's the intangible things that are important in meetings. If the group feels good about working together, the details can usually be worked out later. Hopefully, I'm still in good graces with this group. I don't get out much, but I still care a lot about helping dogs.

Now that I'm in the process of selling one collection, I've started to think about getting rid of other things as well. I discovered the Artsy website today. I don't know why I never noticed this sooner. It's a great idea, connecting buyers, sellers, and other interested parties with great galleries and auction houses around the world. Instead of buying or selling art directly, you are dealing with very reputable galleries. The website is just a facilitator, bringing people together. I need to learn more about this concept. It might be exactly what I've been looking for.

The tree trimmers are supposed to come over tomorrow. I wonder how long this is going to take? There's really only one big branch that might be dangerous to leave as is, but I'm sure the tree guys will find more dead wood when they arrive. The last time they came to the house they took down twice as much as I had anticipated. I hope this all goes smoothly. I'd hate for one of these limbs to fall on the roof while they are cutting it down.

I probably should stay home and have my regular smoothie tomorrow. I have no idea when the tree guys are going to arrive, so it wouldn't be a good idea to go out for breakfast. Of course if I do stay home, they won't arrive until after lunch. That's just the way it goes.

Amy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3040

I enjoy visiting the rescue Dalmatians. I often wonder how these wonderful dogs wind up stray, in animal shelters, or being surrendered by their owners. They all deserve better. The great thing about rescue organizations is that dogs like these get a second chance. For many, many years the dogs that Janet and I share our lives with have come from the Dalmatian Rescue group that we both volunteer with. This group has found good homes for hundreds of dogs like the ones we visited today. When they become part of the rescue program, the dogs are often scared, abused, and in poor health. It is our job to make sure that when they find their forever home, they are all healthy, happy, and well adjusted pets. I don't spend as much time with rescue as I used to, but I still think it is one of the most important things you can do. Even if you are not fond of people, you can still make a dog's life better.

It was a good day to visit the kennel. The weather was dismal today, so most weekend chores were out of the question. We did manage to give Dash his morning walk before the rain started, but after that it was better to stay inside. I guess this is normal Spring weather, but it sure seems wet to me. The trouble with Texas is that as soon as the rainy season is over, it's going to be hot and dry for the rest of the year.

Dash didn't seem to mind that we were gone today, but he was really interested in smelling our clothes when we returned. I wish he would get his eating habits sorted out. I had to open three different cans of food before I found something that he would eat for dinner. I wish I knew if he always felt symptoms from his vestibular disease. I'd hate to think that eating has become unpleasant, because every Dalmatian I've even known lives to eat. This was certainly true of the dogs we visited today. It would have much more difficult to photograph them if we didn't arrive with a pocket full of dog treats.

I think the silicon wrist band I repaired the other day has fully cured, but I still haven't had the nerve to wear it. Maybe tomorrow. It certainly didn't take much glue to fix things. If this stuff works, I have enough glue on hand to repair silicon watch bands for the rest of my life.

Janet made spagetti for dinner tonight. I love Italian food, even though it almost always gives me heartburn. I wonder how Italians deal with this? Tomato sauce is a well known trigger for acid reflux. If you have problems with acid reflux, the first thing your doctor will tell you is to avoid acidic foods. It's a shame that pizza and pasta are often at the top of the list. I could live on this stuff.

The best time to view the Leonid Meteor Shower is tonight. That's not going to happen. It's still raining. Dash didn't even get an afternoon walk today. I hope the weather clears up tomorrow. I need to go to the gym and it's time to start doing some serious yard work.

Joe is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2879 - Veteran's Day

Every year at this time I see an enormous number of pictures of men and women in uniform on my Facebook feed. These are my friends parents and grandparents. I did a little looking and found my own picture as well. My Dad served in the Navy during World War II. So did my Mom. It doesn't take long to realize that something in this country has fundamentally changed. Although almost everybody I know has a picture of a parent in uniform, almost none of the people posting these pictures has served themselves. I wonder what it means when we all say "thank you for your service," but haven't spent any time in the military? Do we even know what service means?

I'm not being critical. I never served. I had a low draft number, but I fell rock climbing in college and was reclassified 4F. To this day, my injury seems like a lucky accident. I'm glad that I never got sent to Vietnam. I didn't understand why we were there at the time, and after watching the Ken Burns documentary recently, I still don't understand. What did this needless loss of life prove? Vietnam is a tourist destination now. We consider the country a trading partner. I have shirts and shoes in my closet that were made there.

Even though I think most wars are pointless and never seem to bring lasting peace, I still admire the generation before me that believed in service. There was a sense of honor and integrity about my parent's generation that we seem to have lost. My Dad was always proud of his service in the Navy. I'm proud of him as well.

Maybe there were parades and ceremonies somewhere in the city, but I didn't see any. There was a lot going on today. I saw people getting ready for a classic car show in the park this morning while I was walking Dash. This evening, I saw people attending an art fair in another section of the park. After doing my grocery shopping, I stopped by a big animal rescue event that I always try to attend. It seemed like there were fewer people than normal, but maybe this was just because I didn't recognize as many. There is a new generation rescuing dogs and cats now. They actually seem to be rescuing everything. I saw groups dedicated to rescuing pigs, rabbits, ferrets, and even fish. Maybe this is what service is all about today. We had a dog when I was a kid, but nobody I knew had even thought about the idea of rescuing them. Since I believe war is a bad thing and saving animals is a good thing, maybe our whole concept of service has evolved into something different.

I'm not sure about what this means for the future. Personally, I care about animals more than I do about people. For the most part, I think people are horrible. I don't think my Dad would have shared this sentiment.

It was still cold today. It didn't rain, but it looked like it could at any point. I'm not sure when I'm going to be able to finish my work on the roof. Since this time of year is often rainy, I'll probably be spending every clear, dry day between now and Christmas making repairs one square foot at a time.

We received our advance copies of the 2018 Dalmatian Rescue calendar. Dot looks wonderful on the cover. It really feels like an honor that she was selected. I'll have to show you guys the picture when I get a chance to scan the book.

Dolly is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2860

The refrigerator repairman arrived right on time. The first words out of his mouth were "We've got a problem." He showed me the box with the part I've been waiting for. "This control board is for a Bosch refrigerator," he said. "You've got a GE." Good grief. The part arrived last Thursday. They had four days to notice that it was the wrong part. They even put the wrong part on the truck and nobody noticed.

I'd already taken all the food out of the freezer and put it in an ice chest before the repairman arrived. I'd even taken all the shelves out of the freezer so the guy could get started right away. I really wasn't expecting him to arrive with the wrong part. I told the repairman I was getting tired of this. I showed him the parts I had ordered myself and said I could have a control board shipped to the house overnight if I need to. There was just no excuse for this level of ineptness. The guy went back to his truck and called his supervisor. He came back a while later and said his company could have a new part shipped overnight as well. He could come back Wednesday and install it. I didn't believe him, but I said "Sure, go ahead."

The repairman left to go to his next job and I took the freezer apart and defrosted the evaporator coil with a hair dryer again. I also installed one of the parts I bought. The other part was more difficult to install, so I'm going to have the repairman replace it when he returns on Wednesday. Why do I think I'm going to get a call on Wednesday morning saying that the control board hasn't arrived yet.

Dash wouldn't walk again this morning. Maybe if Janet hadn't had to go to work early, we could have tricked him into leaving the house, but it wasn't meant to be. I really don't understand this new aversion to leaving the house in the morning. When Janet returned this evening, Dash was eager to walk. I wish this dog could tell me what's wrong. The vets can't explain his behavior, but something has definitely changed.

I had an animal rescue meeting tonight. I thought I wouldn't be able to attend because of the refrigerator repair, but since the repairman didn't actually do anything, I had plenty of time. Not much was accomplished at the meeting, but at least I made an effort to show up. Janet was able to come home early, so Dash got an evening walk as well. It wasn't the kind of day I expected, but I really can't complain. The refrigerator will be fine for another week after I defrosted the coil. Dash ate his dinner and seems happy. I even have plenty of time to finish tonight's blog entry.

I meet my new doctor tomorrow. At least I assume he'll be my new doctor. Who knows. Maybe I won't like the guy. I hope this transition goes smoothly. The last thing I need right now is one more unexpected hassle. I've been postponing my annual physical since last Summer in anticipation of this switch. If I become a patient of this new clinic, I'm going to be immediately due for a lot of tests.

I need to figure out how to get the roofer out here before it rains again. There's an alarmingly large hole in the elastomer that needs to be patched. The house is wearing me out. The roof needs attention, the shower still leaks, and the refrigerator is driving me crazy. I wish everything would return to normal, but does normal even exist these days? I don't think so.

Freckles is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2825

Dash is getting so weird about meals. Today, he turned up his nose at everything I offered him. We still have quite a variety of dog food on hand, since we had to switch Dot's diet quite often toward the end. We always feed out dogs high quality, nutritious food, but I think Dash would prefer a Happy Meal from McDonalds. Dash was never a picky eater while Dot was around. If he didn't eat quickly, Dot would eat everything in his bowl. I guess he can relax now and contemplate what he'd really like.

Today was worse than usual. Dash didn't finish his breakfast until well after lunch. I began to think that he might have some sort of medical problem, but eventually he got real hungry and ate everything in his bowl as if it was his favorite treat. Dinner was the same way. He had barely touched his dinner by the time I had to leave for a meeting, but somehow Janet convinced him to eat while I was gone.

At least Dash isn't fixated on his dewclaw anymore. The only time he had to wear the cone was when I left the house to take some mail to the post office. I still don't completely trust him. In fact, I'd better go check on him now. He's been awfully quiet for the past thirty minutes.

It was a quiet day, but surprisingly I did manage to talk with a few people. I went to an animal rescue meeting this evening to begin planning for the group's next big event. Most of the volunteers in this group have known each other forever and it's always nice to see everybody. We don't seem to meet as often as we used to, but maybe we've just become more efficient.

I wish I could become more efficient. Without the deadlines that forced me to be productive for so many years, I don't get nearly as much done. Other than my meeting tonight, I seemed to spend my entire day watering the grass, paying a few bills and trying to get Dash to eat. There just isn't much incentive to do things fast anymore. Sometimes I even look for ways to slow things down. I think I've almost perfected slowing breakfast down. Often, it's almost lunch time before I am finally finished.

The roofers haven't come over yet. The refrigerator repairmen hasn't returned either. I don't even want to call the watch repairman, because I'm certain he hasn't fixed my watches either. Jeez. We haven't even gotten our refund on the Visa gift card yet, and that problem started months ago. I wonder if anything works smoothly anymore. I haven't seen much evidence that it does.

We'll see how tomorrow goes. I'm not expecting much. I think I'd be happy is Dash just eats his breakfast.

Puppies are today's Dalmatians of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2649

 

My taxes are done. Well, they aren't really done, but they aren't my responsibility anymore. When I dropped the files off at the accountant's office, I made sure that they could open the CD with my Quickbook records before I left. I use such an old version of Quickbooks Pro that I'm always afraid that my accountant won't be able to import the files into their system. I hate to switch accounting programs. I was probably the last person in the world who still used MacMoney. When I finally switched to Quickbooks, I never bothered to upgrade. The first version was fine.

It was kind of chilly this morning. When I put on my favorite winter coat to walk the dogs, the zipper broke. The last time the zipper broke on this coat, I asked the tailor to replace it with a heavy duty indestructible zipper. Apparently indestructible zippers last two years. I took the coat back to a different tailor and asked them to put in a third zipper. I'm so tired of fixing things that are poorly made. Nothing lasts very long anymore. I still have a parka that my Dad wore when we lived in Alaska. The coat is over fifty years old and looks like it will last another fifty years. I doubt that I'd ever have to replace the zipper in this sturdy coat. So, why don't I just wear my Dad's coat and forget about all the shoddy imitations I've bought over the years? It's a nice coat, but something designed for Alaskan winters is a little warm for Texas.

I actually went to an animal rescue group meeting tonight. It's rare that I'm able to attend these meetings anymore, but Janet came home early, so I felt safe leaving Dot for a while. I didn't contribute very much to tonight's meeting, but at least I stayed the entire time. Several people had to leave early this evening, so the meeting was shorter than usual. It still seemed long to me though. I've spent the better part of my life sitting in long meetings, but I think my meeting days are over. I just don't have the patience for them anymore.

We saw another coyote on our walk this morning. Somehow the subject of coyotes came up at our meeting tonight and almost everyone had seen one recently. One guy even said that they were coming into his yard. I guess urban coyotes are a thing now. I sure wish that Dash was a little more wary of the critters. He is sometimes terrified of other dogs, but he seems oblivious to coyotes. He was literally walking right toward one this morning. I would think that he could have smelled the coyote, but Dash didn't seem to care. I didn't want to take chances, so we changed directions and took the long way home.

I almost forgot to take out the trash tonight. Somehow going to the meeting after dinner made me forget it was Thursday. When I finally hauled the trash can out to the curb, someone else had already taken my favorite spot. I'm superstitious about the trash truck missing my can, so I reluctantly placed the can somewhere else and hoped for the best. I don't know why I worry about stuff like this, but it's probably not going to change. Lost mail, broken zippers, and forgotten trash cans are all pretty normal these days.

Ruthie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2525

I stopped by a popular animal rescue event today. There was a big crowd and the weather was perfect. I used to work with this group a lot. Someone else does the marketing and promotions now. He does a good job. I saw a lot of new faces and a few familiar ones. It was nice to see that the group has prospered over the years. As I said hello to old friends, I kind of missed being involved. It was my choice though. There are other priorities now.

Maybe it wasn't a good idea to withdraw from almost everything. There's also the possibility that taking care of an old, sick dog has been the best thing that ever happened to me. Seeing Dot survive and even thrive long past her expected expiration date has certainly been its own reward. I'm working on becoming more patient and understanding. Everything seems to happen in slow motion now. The dogs control the flow of the day and how long I feel comfortable being away. The visit to the rescue event, grocery shopping, and filling the car with gas took a little over two hours. That was about right.

It was really cold this morning when I walked Dash. I've stopped wearing shorts on these morning walks and I'm going to have to start wearing a warmer jacket soon. I'm looking forward to cooler weather. I've got waterproof boots, several warm jackets, and some leggings for really cold days. The dogs love cold weather, so it should be easier to get them to walk. It costs less to run the furnace than the air conditioner too, so maybe our electric bill will go down a bit. I'm not going to get too enthusiastic though. Cold weather is fine. Snow, not so much. I'm not looking forward to snow at all.

I wonder if Obamacare is really going to get repealed? It would be easy enough to roll things back to the way it was before, but then a lot of people would lose their coverage and there would be a big outcry. Health insurance has always been confusing and a lot of the current narrative is just untrue. There have always been ways to get insured if you have a pre-existing condition. High risk pools were set up in most states for exactly this purpose. When I started my company, I was able to find good, reasonably priced health insurance. Then, five years later, my insurer pulled out of the Texas market because they thought they weren't making enough money. I had to start all over again and look for new insurance. I was older and it was much harder the second time around. To make matters worse, my doctor had discovered that I had Hepatitis C, which was considered a very expensive pre-existing condition at the time. This made it much harder to find new insurance. I was advised to join the Texas high risk pool, but I really wanted something better. I finally ended up leasing myself from an employee leasing company and then was able to get on the employee leasing company's group plan. As a leased employee, I paid myself minimum wage and was able to get pretty good insurance in return. The whole thing was an accounting nightmare, but it worked. The weird thing is that I thought I was paying a small fortune for this opportunity to join a group plan, but it was actually much less than most people are paying for Obamacare today. Good insurance has always been available, even to self employed people like me with pre-existing conditions. You just had to pay for it. It was only when the government decided to insure everybody, whether they could pay or not, that things began to get weird. Somebody had to pay, and in many cases, it turned out to be you.

I hope this nice weather continues tomorrow. The roof is dry, I don't have to empty the dehumidifier bucket very often, and the air conditioner isn't running constantly. In my world, it doesn't get much better than this.

Jada is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2458

Today was busy. By the time I finished breakfast and our two regular morning dog walks, it was almost time for my dental appointment. I took a quick shower and headed up to North Dallas to get my teeth cleaned. I do this every six months now, which I guess is a lot better than once every ten years. The dental hygienist said that other than a moderate amount of plaque, my teeth looked pretty good. How could I have any plaque at all? I use one of those sonic toothbrushes every day and then follow up with a water pik. I still wish that I never had to have one of my wisdom teeth removed. I'm such a symmetrical person that it bothers me to have an asymmetrical number of teeth.

When I got home, I got started writing a new article. Some of my writing assignments don't really provide much input. I had to do some serious Google searching to find enough information for today's subject. It's all OK though. This is one of the few ways I can make money while keeping an eye on Dot to make sure she doesn't get stuck in a corner or poop all over herself.

I used to go to animal rescue meetings quite a bit. I'm still a member of several groups, but I seldom go to the meetings anymore. I just don't have the time. For some reason I thought I'd go to one of these meetings this evening. The meeting started a little later than usual and Janet was going to be home with Dot, so I thought everything would be fine. I'd forgotten that any sort of meeting takes longer when wine is served. By the time I thought the meeting would be over, it was actually just getting started. I stayed as long as I could, but evidently I was the only one who had a blog to write. I felt bad about leaving early, since I don't go to many of these meetings anyway, but I could either finish my article and write the blog or stay and chat. I'm not very good at chatting anyway.

Dot seems stronger today. It's a mystery why her condition seems to change so much from day to day, but I suspect that this is just a part of the aging process. I have good days and bad days too. Maybe the extra rest she got yesterday helped. At any rate, Dot didn't stumble as much today and felt like moving around more than she did yesterday. Hopefully, her renewed energy will continue thru tomorrow, when she had another appointment with the underwater treadmill.

I'm still not finished with my article, but I'm getting close. I'll definitely be able to turn it in tomorrow. I don't think I'll be going to any evening meetings for a while. I'm just too slow and have lost most of the flexibility I once had. I made it through the day though and everything got done. Well, almost everything. I still have to take Dot outside to pee. Lord knows how long that will take.

April is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2267

The last thing we need is an extra Monday. I know how leap year works mathematically, but still it seems weird to add an extra day to the year every four years. Personally, I wish all twelve months had 28 days. If each month was divided into four equal weeks, it might be easier for me to remember when to give Dot her pills. It might be easier to remember my own meds as well. It's all about remembering things these days.

I think a set a record for doing laundry today. Dot pooped while she was eating her dinner. Food was simultaneously going in one end and coming out the other. It didn't seem to bother Dot as all. Luckily, I was holding up her rear end with the Help 'Em Up Harness, so the mess wasn't that bad. About an hour after she ate, Dot went back to sleep on her blanket and threw up. I actually think she just burped after drinking too much water, but it was a mess just the same. Once again, it could have been much worse. She hadn't taken her expensive Palladia pills yet, so her chemotherapy wasn't wasted. I waited another hour before giving her the pills, and so far everything seems fine.

The road repairs in the neighborhood seem to reach some sort of crescendo today. There were lots of new people on the job and several pieces of heavy equipment I hadn't seen before. Maybe all the preparations are done and they are finally ready to pave the road. Whatever they were doing, it sure was noisy.  Dash and I avoided the road on our evening walk. If tar was involved in today's activities, Dash would inevitably get some on his paws. I've already had enough messes to clean up today. I certainly didn't want to have to remove road tar from a dog's paws.

There were more website updates to make today. Most companies have finally realized the futility of putting their employees on the company website, but animal rescue websites still change on a weekly basis. There are always new animals to add and others to remove as they become adopted. It is simply astounding how many homeless animals there are. I only work with a few rescue groups in a single city, but I must have created thousands of pages to bring attention to abandoned dogs and cats who were waiting for their forever homes.

I got an e-mail today telling me that a mutual acquaintance had died. We were about the same age. People my age seem to be dying with disturbing regularity now. I'm always glad when someone takes the time to let me know. I'm not a member of any tight knit group of friends, so a lot of people I've known over the years simply disappear. I hope someone will take the time to let people know when my time comes. Nobody wants to be forgotten.

I sure wish I could get more sleep. Everything from taking care of the dogs to writing this blog takes longer now. By the time I've finally caught up with everything, it's usually near midnight. This would be fine if I could sleep until 8 or 9 the next morning, but we always get up early. Last night I couldn't get the blog to syndicate properly and had forgotten to put the spare dog blankets in the dryer. There always needs to be a spare set ready to go in case there is an accident during the night. For some reason, I couldn't find the retainer I need to wear while I sleep either. There's always something. Did I turn the dishwasher on? Did I empty the dehumidifier? Did I remember to run a test print to keep the big printer from clogging? I'm sure I'll forget something tonight. I always do.

Holly is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2160

We went to a rescue event today. Dash was an ambassador for Dalmatian Rescue at Pet Fair. We told him he need to be on his best behavior. This meant no excessive loud barking, no knocking over other vendors booths, and no pooping in front of a crowd of little children. Generally, Dash was pretty good. He was a little too eager to sample the treats at the Hills Science Diet booth, but he let everyone pet him and was very friendly with all the other dogs.

Dot used to go to rescue events like this all the time. Sadly, she had to stay home today. These type of public events are simply too tiring for her. I drove home midway through the event to check on her and she was sleeping peacefully. I took her out to pee and she immediately thought it was dinner time. It was actually only 2:30 in the afternoon, but how was Dot to know? When she wakes up from a nap, she usually eats.

It was good to give Dash an opportunity to do something social today. It has become so difficult and time consuming to care for Dot, that we don't get out much anymore. He was still a little timid, but he seemed to have fun, making friends with other dogs and begging for treats from anyone who would feed him. When the days start to get longer again, we should probably start taking him back to our Wednesday training class. He was never that wild about the training exercises themselves, but he loved seeing the other dogs.

Now that I've had a chance to look around, I realize that we've got quite a mess to clean up in the back yard. Although the tunneling crew did a good job of backfilling their tunnel, there is still leftover dirt and mud all over the yard. I naively thought that the cleanup would be so good that there wouldn't be a trace that anything had happened. They did lay a bunch of 4x8 plywood sheets on the ground to protect the grass, but a lot of the excavated dirt seemed to land elsewhere. I'm probably going to spend the rest of the Winter cleaning mud off my shoes. When I take Dot outside to pee at night, I inevitably step in mud now. I guess stepping in mud is better than stepping in poop.

If I have time tomorrow, I'm going to reassemble the screened in porch that I had taken apart to give the tunneling crew access to the leak. I had thought about replacing the aluminum screen panels and buying some new wood for the finishing trim. In theory this would have been a simple task, but nothing is simple with this house. The extra wide screen material is not generally available in hardware stores anymore and standard dimensions for lumber have changed over the years. To exactly match the existing trim, I would have to buy lumber and have it milled to the proper size. It's not an ideal solution, but I think I'll just reuse the old aluminum screen wire and try my best to replace the old wood trim without cracking or splintering the wood.

I looked at the dehumidifiers they had on display in the store at Lowes and most of them were crap. You could never use one of these smaller machines to dehumidify an entire house and since they were all made of plastic, they probably wouldn't last a year anyway. Commercial dehumidifiers cost well over $1000 and are generally made in the USA. The machines at Lowes cost around $200 and were all made in China. Like everything in life, you get what you pay for.

I doubt that I'll make it to the gym tomorrow. I've still got lots of website work to catch up on and the house is filthy. My shower stall repairs didn't really work either. I'd prefer to take a long nap, but it looks like wall-to-wall chores tomorrow.

Puppies are today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2051

Nothing went as planned today. I woke about 4 AM to the now familiar smell of poop. Dot had pooped in her bed again. I cleaned up the mess, took it outside in a plastic bag and found myself face-to-face with an armadillo on the back porch. The armadillo seems to return every August like clockwork to tear up the yard, and here he was, right on schedule. After I put Dot's soiled blankets in the washer, I went back to bed and tried to go to sleep again. Unfortunately, I was wide awake by now.

When everybody else woke up about an hour later, I was already tired. I kept thinking that Dot looked a little unsteady on our morning walk, but probably the only unsteady one in the group was me. I really need to start getting more sleep. When we returned from our walk, the dogs still had enough energy to bark at me as I ate my breakfast.  I can quiet them for a while by feeding them slices of banana, but barking has just become a part of their morning ritual. They think it's fun.

Work is still pretty slow, so I organized files for a while and did my bookkeeping. For some reason I decided to recharge a very old Sony Vaio laptop and see if it still worked. It didn't. I kept getting an error message saying "operating system not found." I did a little investigation and realized that the hard drive had gone bad. It wouldn't have been that difficult to replace the hard drive and install a new operating system, but I wondered it it was even worth the trouble. This was an old, very slow computer that was running Windows 98 the last time I looked. I guess I could install Linux on the thing and keep using it, but why bother. An old, slow computer that won't boot is basically just a paperweight.

Since I failed to resurrect the old computer, I thought I'd try to resurrect an equally old watch. There was nothing special about the watch, other than the fact that I had to remove eight very tiny screws to open the case and replace the battery. The tiny screws were why I had avoided the watch for so long in the first place. I carefully removed each small screw, replaced the battery and just about had the watch back together when I managed to strip the threads reinserting the very last screw. Clumsy me. Now I need an exceedingly small screw extractor so I can try to remove the broken screw from the watch. Again, is it even worth the trouble? It's a cheap watch that I'd only worn twice in five years. With this dismal track record, I didn't even try to fix anything else today.

I managed to fix my dinner without burning anything and got Dot situated in her safe place again, so I could go to an evening animal rescue meeting. We talked about the next fundraising event and it was decided that I'll be taking a promotional picture for the event featuring dogs, cats, a parrot, a miniature pig, and a snake. This ought to be interesting. Tomorrow, I'll look for a source for very tiny screws.

Queenie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2016

Dot almost made it through the night. I recognize the signs now. Whenever she gets up and leaves her dog bed in the middle of the night, she's had an accident. I took her on a short walk down the alley to see if she'd finish what she started and sure enough she did. When we got back inside, I cleaned up her mess, threw the blanket protecting her bed in the washer and we all went back to sleep. It's amazing how almost anything can become uneventful and routine if it happens frequently enough.

When the sun came up a few hours later, we ate breakfast and took our morning walk. Even before sunrise, I could tell it was going to be a hot day. There is nothing consistent about our weather at all.  A few days ago it was pouring rain and a bit chilly. Today was just a normal sunny Texas Summer day.

Since it looked like it was going to be dry for a few days, I decided to get the water off the roof. A lot of it had already evaporated, so the job didn't take long. I'm hoping the roof will stay dry for a while, so the roofers can come over and finish patching the areas where the Elastomeric coating has bubbled up during the May rains. The roofers have been pretty good about fixing these trouble spots, but after what I paid for this roof a few years ago, there shouldn't even be trouble spots.

After I took the outgoing mail to the post office, I stopped by Home Depot and got some wire mesh screening material to fix the screen door. To be on the safe side, I picked up some fiberglass screening material too. One of these items should do the job whenever I actually get around to fixing the door. It's not a fun job, so the screens I bought today could end up sitting around the house for weeks.

I noticed a small mistake in a website I'd finished about a month ago. Nobody has complained yet, but I thought it would be a good idea to fix everything before anyone else noticed. It was a simple mistake, but the bad code was found on every single page in the site. It took me quite a while to get everything back to normal. I could probably have just left things alone, but the mistake was mine and I couldn't let it go. I doubt highly that anyone else even noticed.

I went to an animal rescue board meeting tonight. I've skipped so many of these meetings that I was beginning to feel like they'd kick me out of the group if I didn't start making an appearance now and then. The meeting wasn't bad, and as an added bonus for fighting rush hour traffic to attend, they served pizza. I'd be fat and probably have diabetes if I ate pizza all the time, but it sure is good. I love pizza, but I still don't like meetings.

I'm perpetually tired these days. I'd go to bed earlier, but it's already pretty late by the time I finish writing the blog. I'd get up later, but the dogs wouldn't hear of it. They both like to walk at the crack of dawn, when it's still cool outside. To make matters worse, I've always been a very light sleeper. The dogs wake me up two or three times every night. Today is pretty typical. I can't wait to turn out the lights and go to bed. A little sleep is better than no sleep at all.

Boo is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1873

Today's photo shoot went well. I think everybody involved was very happy with the results. In a couple of weeks or so, these images will be featured on thousands of posters and postcards. The young puppies and kittens I photographed were surprisingly well behaved. Nobody tried to chew the leather saddle. Nobody peed on the backdrop. And nobody chased the cat. The little kitten was fearless and clearly wasn't intimidated by dogs. Doing a photo shoot with puppies is always a dicey proposition. The won't stay in one place more than two seconds and seem to pee every five minutes. To even attempt something like this, you need a wrangler for each animal. The small cowboy hats were constantly falling off and needed to continually be repositioned. Puppies and kittens get tired quickly too, so there is always an optimal moment between crazy exuberance and deep sleep were you get your best pictures. All in all, I think I did pretty well today.

The SMAP spacecraft had a successful launch this morning. The four or five people from our group who had flexible enough schedules to stay in the area for the launch all said it was spectacular. I wish I could have been there too. I did get up early and watch the launch on TV and everything seemed to go perfectly. The network news channels only showed a few seconds of the launch, but NASA TV broadcast the whole thing live for over an hour. I was mesmerized. I don't think I'll ever look at those short clips of satellite launches on the evening new the same way again. Now, when I see a rocket go up, I'll be thinking of the hundreds and hundreds of people that it took to get it off the launch pad.

The animal rescue community is all abuzz about the new GoDaddy commercial depicting a puppy who falls off the breeder's truck, gets lost, and eventually finds his way home, only to discover he's been sold. It didn't take long for rescue advocates to get this spot pulled. I saw the commercial and agree that this definitely looks like a puppy mill breeder. A responsible breeder would never ship a bunch of puppies of in a truck and wouldn't sell them online either. Many rescue advocates think all breeders are evil and that you should always get your dog from a shelter. I've been involved in animal rescue for many, many years and I don't necessarily agree with this position. Responsible breeders are wonderful people who understand their dogs, keep them healthy, and always find them great homes. It's easier to buy a house than it is to purchase a dog from a very good breeder. They are very particular about who gets their pups. Dot and Dash were both rescued from shelters, but we've gotten dogs from breeders as well. If your have your heart set on a particular breed, there is nothing wrong with getting your dog from a good breeder. Puppy mill breeders are cruel to their animals and should be eliminated, but responsible breeders should be your friend. They are actually some of the biggest supporters of rescue efforts. Nothing is black or white, except Dalmatians of course. I hate to see issues like these polarize people.

I don't know who to root for at tomorrow's Superbowl game. Neither the Seahawks or the Patriots are teams that I'm particularly fond of. If Dallas couldn't be in the Superbowl, I'd much rather root for Green Bay or Pittsburgh. I'll watch the game and eat more than I should like everybody else, but what I'm really interested in is the Culwell and Son Superbowl sale. These guys were a client of mine for many years and once a year they mark everything down up to 75% off for just a few hours on Superbowl Sunday. Since it's the only time I can actually afford these expensive clothes, I never miss this sale.

Cooper is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1862

Dot sailed through today's cancer re-check with flying colors. Her oncologist was delighted with her progress and told me that she was amazed at how much stronger Dot had become since her last visit. Since Dot's ultrasound imaging showed nothing abnormal and all her vital signs were excellent, she's good to go for an other three months. We'll probably have to continue these periodic re-checks for the rest of her life, but as long as Dot stays healthy, that's fine.

While Dot was getting her sonogram, I had my own medical issues to deal with. Today's trip to the dentist was primarily to fit the Essix retainer the dentist made for me last month. I have to wear the retainer at night after my wisdom teeth have been extracted, so the upper teeth won't continue to grow downward to fill the gap. I like this dentist because he is so careful and methodical and convinced him to coordinate my treatment with the other two dentists. I want to make sure that everyone's on the same page. It's driving me nuts to have one dentist tell me that I'll need a bone graft if I have implants, while another dentist tells me this is unnecessary. I'd like all three dentists to agree on whether a tooth can be saved too. It's a little late once the tooth has been removed.

I don't know if I'm ever going to get caught up with work. There are upcoming video production projects, photo shoots, writing assignments, and website designs that all have to be completed before the end of February. I would be a lot happier with all this work if I was making any money. Budgets  have dwindled to the point where they are laughable. If anyone had told me in 1990 that I would be doing exactly the same thing 25 years later for half as much money, I would never have believed them. That's what it's come to though. In a world where even accountants and plumbers are creating elaborate YouTube videos, what I do isn't valued as much as it used to be.

I went to an animal rescue meeting after I walked the dogs this evening. I used to go to this 6 PM meeting every month, but the rush hour traffic in front of my house gradually got worse and worse until it was almost impossible to get out of the driveway. I've pretty much given up on getting out of the driveway at 6 PM, but I thought I'd give it a try tonight just for old time's sake. Not surprisingly, the traffic was worse than ever. I still think all meetings should be at 10:30 AM or 2:30 PM, unless there is breakfast and bacon involved.

I have my last physical therapy session tomorrow. It will be a lot harder to do the exercises without the therapist insisting that I do them correctly.

April is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day