Day 1958

We went on a home tour this afternoon. Every year a local school PTA sponsors a tour of mid-century modern homes in the neighborhood and it's always fun to compare our house with similar houses that have been kept in much better condition. Seeing these cool houses used to be inspiring. Now it's a little depressing. Our house will never look this way. It seemed pretty obvious that none of the homeowners on today's tour had dogs. Well, they didn't have large dogs anyway. The hardwood floors were scratch free. The windows weren't caked with dog slobber. And the furniture wasn't coated with dog hair. Several of the homes had dangerous open stairwells where there weren't any risers between the treads to keep a smaller dog from falling through the opening. I sure have changed. I used to measure a home purely on design esthetics. Now, my prime concern is whether it is convenient and safe for dogs. Practical or not, it was fun seeing these immaculately preserved examples of 1950's architecture. With an unlimited pile of money and a year's worth of rehab work, our house could look just the same.

I never did make it to the gym today, but I did get the grass mowed in the front yard. It's kind of an unwritten rule that when all your neighbors mow their grass, you have to mow yours too. It's been so wet this Spring that the grass has been growing unusually fast. I thought I could wait to mow until next week, but the fast growing grass makes the yard stand out like a sore thumb. On close inspection, a lot of the greenery in the front yard turned out to be Chickweed and Henbit, but I'm not particular anymore. As long as it still looks green after its mowed, I'm fine.

The weather was nice today, but it doesn't look like it's going to last. I'm already tracking a bad storm on the weather radar that looks like it's going to arrive here about 11 PM. Tornadoes have already touched down west of Fort Worth and large hail has been reported in several places. I hope the storm dissipates before it arrives in Dallas. I'm really tired of the volatile and exceptional wet weather we've been having this Spring. I'm sure in July I'm be begging for rain again, but right now, enough is enough.

We finally found a sock that will stay on Dash's leg. We've got a whole pile of baby and dog socks that didn't work, but he managed to keep the latest pair we bought on his feet for his entire evening walk. It's not a big breakthrough in the whole scheme of things, but it does make life a little easier. I still keep thinking that it shouldn't take this long for his foot to get back to normal, but since three different vets have told me that Dash's limp could persist for up to two weeks, I guess I'll take their word for it. He does seem a little better today though. That's a good sign.

It looks like I've got a ton of work to do next week, but it's hard for me to focus on it. All I can think about is my upcoming dental surgery. I'll sure be glad when that's over with.

Brady is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 849

I'm making progress. I called a plumber today. I made an appointment to meet with a real estate agent next week. I even made a few new business calls. I think I've come up with a cunning plan to solve my plumbing problems. I'm going to fix the plumbing problems at the rent house first and while the plumber is working, I'm going to see if I can get some free advice about what is happening at my house. I don't really know whether I've got a plumbing problem or an appliance problem. If I call an appliance repairman, it will turn out to be a plumbing problem. If I call a plumber, it will turn out that the dishwasher needs to be repaired. That's always the way it works. Maybe if I describe my situation to the plumber while he's at the rent house, he'll help me make the right decision. One can only hope.

I'm really hoping I can sell the rent house soon. The real estate agent I talked to today specializes in mid-century modern architecture and was quite familiar with the architect who designed the house. He sounded very interested in getting the listing for the rent house. Janet says that none of this stuff matters when you're selling property, but I still like to think it does. Unless someone really likes the architecture, nobody is going to buy this house. I need to find another fool, just like me. I've heard that there are people who collect architecture, just like collecting cars or watches. Maybe I can find one of those guys.

I got a lot done today, but all I really remember is the French Toast I fixed for breakfast. Thursday is becoming French Toast day. I have a leisurely breakfast while watching old Top Gear episodes on TV. Today they ran the episode where Jeremy, Richard and James tried to turn a Reliant Robin into a space shuttle. I love this show and would probably watch it all day if I didn't have so much work to do.

I noticed that Google+ has changed its layout so that it looks more like Facebook now. Why did they have to go do that? The old layout was just fine. I don't know why Facebook changed to their new timeline either. I hate the timeline. I have to deal with change every day. My whole business is about change. Coping with change keeps your mind active and it's probably better than doing those Sudoku puzzles, but I still wish that everything would stay the same for a while.

Nellie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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