Day 3190

The art conservator threw me a curve today. The restored lithograph actually looked very nice, but as I was leaving the studio, the conservator told me to be sure to store the art horizontally until I had it framed again. Where? The print is very large and I knew immediately that it wasn't going to fit anywhere in the house. It wouldn't fit under the bed, since there is a support post right in the middle. I tried, but the print was way too large to fit under the bottom half of the bed. The closets aren't deep enough and I couldn't even put the thing under a large rug on the living room floor. The bricks on the floor absorb moisture, so floor storage wasn't really an option anyway. This sucks. The conservator specifically warned me against taking art back to the storage warehouse. "You're asking for trouble," she said. I guess I could re-frame the picture and hang it back on the wall, but I've already replaced the art I sent to the auction houses with pictures of dogs I took myself. I think I like the dog pictures better anyway.

I took a better camera on our morning walk and managed to get a decent picture of a Great Egret and a Coot together. It was hardly worth bringing the camera unfortunately. Dash wouldn't stay still and most of the pictures I took while moving were out of focus. I have to concentrate on Dash to keep him from falling. We walk on a very short leash now and his harness has a big handle on top that I can grab to keep him from falling. I walk directly alongside of Dash so I can easily lift him up or steady him without knocking him over. I've practiced this technique with Dot and other older dogs. It works pretty well, but walks aren't very relaxing.

I listened to a show on RadioLab recently about how efforts to save the Kirtland’s warbler inadvertently burned down a Michigan forest and killed a young wildlife technician. The efforts to save the bird from extinction were eventually successful, but now cost almost a million dollars a year. The locals now hate the bird, but birders fly in from all over the world just to catch a glimpse of it. I think the show was called Weighing Good Intentions and it was mostly about unintended consequences. I wonder if people realize that there are unintended consequences to almost everything we do. Whenever I turn on the TV these days, my first reaction is "this isn't going to end well." There are very few winners here and a few years from now, there are going to be a lot of unintended consequences. I think everyone is acting badly. Maybe I should just quit watching TV while I have my morning smoothie. It might be better to take up knitting instead.

I received a printed copy of one of the auction catalogs in the mail today. My art looked pretty, but I'm still nervous about the auctions. I'm sure there are unintended consequences to unwinding a lifetime of collecting things. I think I'm doing the right thing, but like most things in life, I won't find out what it all means until much later.

Puppies are today's Dalmatians of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3189

Mondays are just like any other day, except slower. I woke up trying to remember whether I'd taken Dash out last night. It seems like I did, but maybe not. Dash wasn't telling. He was sound asleep in the middle of the bed. He eventually woke up and took his morning pills, but we got off to a slow start.

We should have started our walk earlier, because the temperature has warmed up again. We were both hot and tired when we returned to the house. I need to remember to bring my camera on morning walks. The Egrets and Cranes have returned to the lake and I could have taken some great shots today if I had a telephoto lens. The wide angle lens on my phone is really only good for flowers.

I must not have done all my chores yesterday, because the house was a mess. The dishwasher was full. There was laundry to be done. And most of the wastebaskets needed to be emptied. I'm still amazed that tiny little tasks like these can consume my entire day.

When I got caught up on household chores, I paid the first batch of September bills and took them to the post office. When I got home, I checked the mailbox and there were more bills. You'd think my bills would diminish, since I don't do much of anything these days. Apparently, doing nothing can still use a lot of water and electricity. All my utility bills are way higher than they were five years ago. I don't know why I get a phone bill at all. The phone company should be paying me. All I get is a never ending barrage of telemarketing calls.

Dash has become very needy. He mostly just sleeps during the day, but he doesn't like to sleep alone. He gets mad when he wants to be in the bedroom and I'm in the office. We have a ritual now. I'll go curl up with him on the bed, and then get up and sneak away to do some work as soon as he falls asleep. It works pretty well since he goes to sleep very quickly. After a few hours, Dash will wake up and want to go outside to pee. Then we'll repeat the entire process all over again. It's a good thing I'm a patient person. These days can get pretty long.

I made an appointment to pick up the art I had restored. I'm not going to display the piece again, so the conservator is just going to box it up. I hope I can get the rest of this stuff to an auction house before I run out of energy or lose interest. Truthfully, I'm already starting to lose interest. When I look around the office, I just want it empty. It seems like a monumental job. Basically, I'm still a packrat at heart. I guess I could start by throwing away boxes and boxes of old video tapes. I still have all the camera masters for most of the corporate videos I've produced over the years. I don't have the clients anymore, so there is little use in hanging on to the tapes. Few people could play these tapes anyway. Try finding a working 3/4 inch Umatic machine. Even the newer BetsSP tapes are getting pretty old.

Dash just finished eating a large and very late dinner. I wish he get hungry a little earlier. Eating this late just about guarantees that I'll be taking him out at 3 AM to poop.

Princess is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3185

I've learned to be very patient with Dash. It took about five tries to get him walking this morning. He would go out on the back porch, sniff the air for a while, and then come back inside. I used to think that Dash was too tired to walk when he did things like this. Sometimes he actually is tired, but not always. Today, he just wanted a certain treat we keep in the refrigerator. When I finally figured out what he wanted and gave him the special treat, he turned around and headed straight for the back gate.

Living with Dash is complicated. You have to know the difference between stubbornness, dementia, fatigue, and pain. This morning Dash was being stubborn, but other days he is simply exhausted. I dread the day when Janet and I reach this stage of life. My Dad acted a bit like Dash in his final days. It must be very difficult to realize that your body and mind are deteriorating and know that there is nothing you can do to stop the process. Dash might not be fully aware of what is going on, but animals are smarter than we think they are. He's got to know that he isn't the dog he used to be and I'm sure it is frustrating.

Today was slow, but what else is new. Truthfully, today was exactly like yesterday and the day before. Tomorrow will probably be the same as last Friday. It might be exactly the same, because I'm planning to go back to the same restaurant I went to last week. I might try the French Toast this time.

I wonder why it is mandatory for TV weathermen to do live shots in the middle of a hurricane? Every time there is a bad storm, all the weathermen race to find the most dangerous spot they can and make their reports buffeted by wind and rain. I must have seen six different weathermen waiting on the beach for Florence to arrive today. I'm sure there will be even more tomorrow. Personally, I think living on the beach is overrated. With hurricanes, algae blooms, shark attacks, rip tides, and rising sea levels to worry about, I think I'd rather live in the mountains.

I have to go pick up the lithograph I took to the art conservator soon. The restoration is complete. I'm not looking forward to this. I don't really want to bring the art back to the house and I'm not sure the auction houses want it. Now that a lot of the other art has been consigned, this piece has become an orphan. It seems weird to spend a lot of money just to get a piece of paper to lie flat again, but what are you going to do. If I ever want to sell this thing, it's got to be perfect.

I don't know why I'm making such an effort to fix my mistake. I've bought plenty of stocks that were a mistake. I've accepted jobs that were a mistake. I probably need to accept the fact that storing art and guitars in a storage warehouse was a huge mistake and just accept my losses.

I hope I don't make any big mistakes tomorrow. I'll try my best to keep Dash happy. If it doesn't rain, I'll go out and have a nice breakfast. I'll probably take a few bills to the post office. That's probably enough for one day.

Molly is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3182

Sometimes I think going to the doctor is a waste of time. I'm rarely in a doctor's office because I'm sick. Most visits are routine checkups that were scheduled whenever I had my last checkup. The doctor mostly just asks how I've been feeling and if I need any prescriptions renewed. I keep hoping my doctor's will be proactive and discover something early that I am completely unaware of, but that rarely happens. I didn't learn anything new today with this particular doctor. I guess I'm good for another year.

I'm so slow these days that I barely had time to get ready for a 1:15 PM appointment. It takes at least an hour to walk Dash in the morning. It takes another hour to eat breakfast. Sometimes it feels like it takes an hour to just clean up the poop. I try to never schedule anything before noon unless it involves Dash. The daily routine just takes too long.

The doctor said I was well hydrated, which I've wondered about since I don't drink much water during the day. I guess drinking an entire blender container full of liquified fruit every morning gives me all the water I need. My blood pressure was a little high today, which was odd. I think the nurse just placed the cuff in the wrong place on my arm. The phlebotomist had trouble finding a vein too, which was even odder. My veins are like roadmaps on my arms and legs. They're super easy to find. Oh, well. At least I won't need to see this doctor for another year. He appears to think I'm in good shape.

We'll find out what kind of shape Dash is in tomorrow. Truthfully, I don't think we'll find out anything that we don't already know. If there was a cure for Dash's vestibular disease and leaking heart valve, someone would have told us by now. The most important thing that takes place tomorrow morning is getting Dash's nails trimmed. I'm always worried that he's going to rip a dewclaw out again and bleed to death. Maybe we'll find out something new about ending Dash's loose stools. We're tried just about everything, but I'm always open to suggestions.

I thought the weather was going to clear up today but we got more rain instead. At least a hurricane isn't headed our way. I feel sorry for those people on the East Coast. They seem to get hit almost every year. We always get a lot of rain at this time of year, but so far there has been no flooding. Knock on wood.

The art that I took to the conservator is ready to pick up. Now, what do I do with it? I shopped the piece around and the auction houses don't seem that interested. I definitely don't want to take it back to the storage warehouse because it will just get damaged by humidity again. Maybe I can delay picking up the art for a while until I come up with a plan.

Coming up with a plan is an ongoing problem these days. I really don't know what I want to do next.

Cleo is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3123

Not a bad day for Friday the 13th. I had a nice breakfast. Dash seemed in good spirits. Even the weather improved. You'd think with such an auspicious start, I might have done something amazing. Nope. It was Friday, after all. On Friday, I'm happy enough to just make it through the day.

Today, I had an appointment to take my damaged lithograph to the art conservator. I wonder how someone becomes an art conservator? It's a strange occupation. You learn intricate details about how paper and fiber behave and are somehow able to turn back time and make something old look new again with damaging it in the process. These people are often hired by museums to restore old maps and documents. In my case, I needed someone to take some art that has become wrinkled by humidity and make it flat again.

The whole process seems like a black art to me, but the conservator came highly recommended. I learned something during my visit today. Evidently the reason that my lithograph had become damaged has a lot to do with the way it was originally framed. Paper and even the metal frame itself naturally expand and contract over time. Art it supposed to be framed to allow the paper to breathe. The frame didn't allow this to happen. Evidently, the paper and the aluminum frame expanded at different rates, causing the paper to curl and wrinkle when it pushed against the edge of the frame. The whole process took decades, so it was very hard to notice at first. It didn't help that I bought the art in Seattle and it is now in Dallas. These are two very different climates.

The good news is that the Ellsworth Kelly can be restored to it's original condition. the bad news is that the restoration process is very slow, expensive, and when everything is finished, I will need a new and different type of frame. Oh, well. My bad. I never should have stored art in a storage warehouse for twenty years. I shouldn't have stored my guitars in the warehouse either. Three of the four guitars are fine, but one is in even worse shape than the damaged lithograph. The finish has cracked and some of the hardware has rusted.

The ironic thing is that I placed a lot of things in the warehouse because I was worried about humidity and water damage in the house. We have had water problems in the house for as long as I can remember. It questionable whether everything would have fared better if I'd left it at home. I guess I'll never know. A lot can happen in forty years. I guess it could have been worse. My sister's house burned down once and she lost a library of books she had spent a lifetime collecting.

The auction house in New York is already featuring one of my photos on their website. I guess this means they like it. Hopefully, it will do well at auction. It's weird that as objects continue to disappear from my life, absolutely nothing has changed. I don't miss these things. My life has been focused around dogs for many, many years. Dogs still matter. The art, model trains, and guitars seem like they were from a parallel universe that doesn't even exist anymore. I kind of wish I'd discovered this a long time ago.

Watson is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day