Day 4316

It was a pleasant, very normal Monday. I walked and visited the Dalmatians. That was about it. It became clear this morning that the reason I felt better yesterday was largely due to the Tylenol. I didn't take any today and the foot pain quickly returned. The arthritis that doctors started showing me years ago on x-rays has finally reached the point where it is impossible to ignore. All my joints ache and right now it is my feet that want all the attention. It was a nice day and I took my long walk, but I didn't set any records. I still don't like pain medications. I'm reluctant to take strong meds like Tramadol at all and even over the counter stuff like Tylenol bothers me. If your body is trying to tell you something, you should listen. Maybe I should slow down for a little while. I always prefer lifestyle changes to meds, but sometimes this doesn't work. When you reach a certain age, your body just starts to wear out.

We met the new girl at the kennel today. Pepper is a livewire. She's three years old and full of energy. Playing vigorously for 45 minutes didn't wear her out at all. She knows how to sit, but it isn't her favorite thing. It made me dizzy trying to follow her around with the camera. Eventually, we had to put a leash on her to get her to sit still for her website photo. I have a feeling that Pepper is going to get adopted very soon. She is small, very pretty, and super friendly. She doesn't listen very well, but that's what training is for. When we left the kennel today, we took Pepper with us and dropped her off at the vet to be spayed. All the rescue dogs have to be spayed or neutered before they can be adopted. For such a wild, playful girl, Pepper rode extremely well in the car. She just sat quietly and looked out the window. I suspect that we'll see Pepper next week, but she isn't going to be around long. There's often a waiting list for dogs like this.

Each dog has their favorite toy. Pepper and Charlie like the green octopus, while Oliver prefers the red Kong ball. He'll bring you the ball and drop it at your feet so you'll throw it again. Cooper would never do this. He always wanted you to play tug with him. Charlie likes to thrash the toys around and kill them. If a squeaker is gone from a toy, Charlie probably had something to do with it. We're convinced that playing with these dog helps to socialize them. If Pepper is still around in the coming weeks, we're going to try to teach her some simple commands.

Apple has certainly changed from the Steve Jobs days. Each time I update my watch and phone, they become more intrusive. The watch talks to me now. It frequently asks if I'd like to record a walk. If I'm sitting at the computer for a long time, it will encourage me to do breathing exercises or meditate. I finally figured out how to disable the fall detection feature. I toss and turn in my sleep and one night it automatically dialed 911, thinking that I had fallen and wasn't responding. This is all a little much for me. I don't need a watch to be my friend. It's just a tool. I think Steve Jobs would have agreed with me, but clearly the young people that are running the company now have other ideas.

Do I take two Tylenol tonight or just roll the dice and see what happens? Wearing better shoes makes sense to me. Taking pain meds without figuring out what the underlying problem is doesn't make sense. Maybe I'll just wait and ask the next doctor I see. It looks like there are plenty of those on the calendar.

Little Petey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4205

Every once in a while I do something unpleasant just because it needs to be done. Today I bought a bunch of St. Augustine sod and covered all the bare areas in the back yard. Today seemed like a good day to put in new sod because the ground was still very wet and made it easier to prepare the soil for the new grass. I haven't put in sod for a while and had forgotten that this is a tiring, messy job. I used to put in a new turf almost every year. Then we started using a landscape company for a while. Lately we have done nothing and I just mow the weeds. Wet, muddy sod is messy stuff to carry around in a car. The old Land Rover Defender was certainly easier to clean up afterwards. It was probably good that the sod was wet though bacause it won't dry out as fast when we are trying to get it established. Wet sod is very heavy. Each square seemed to weigh twice as much as I remember.

I think I did a good job. The yard looks presentable now and Dawn will be a lot less likely to roll around in the dirt. Like other outdoor chores I've attempted recently, installing the sod reminded me that I'm well past my prime. My hands still hurt from carrying each piece or the heavy, slippery sod from the car to the back yard. I thought it would be easy to carry a square of sod in each hand while I was moving the stuff to the back yard. I must have been dreaming. I had to carry one square at a time. I definitely have some arthritis in my fingers now. The old joints don't move like they used to. I got the job done though and now there is one fewer item on my to do list.

By the time I was finished with the yard work it was way too hot to take my long walk in the park. I did a load of laundry, took a short nap, and then went to the gym. I got a notice the other day that my gym no longer has a mask requirement. Nobody was wearing masks today. This was quite a change from a few days ago and seemed to prove that everybody had just been following the rules without any strong feelings about whether masks actually worked. One old fool was wearing a loose fitting cloth bandana while he was running around the track but that was about it. Now that the mask mandate is history, I hope that the gym brings back the basketballs soon. I really used to enjoy shooting baskets on the court. They said I could bring my own basketball, but it would be a lot easier to just use one of theirs.

Dawn had a day of beauty at the vet while I was putting in the new sod this morning. Janet discovered that the price included a nail trim and getting Dawn's anal glands expressed, so the deluxe bath was actually less expensive than taking Dawn to one of those self-bathe places and then having a vet do the nails and anal glands as separate items. We still need to figure out why Dawn is obsessively licking her feet, but that's going to be a lot more complicated than getting a bath.

I watched the Space X Transporter 2 launch this afternoon on the streaming channel. The launch got scrubbed with ten seconds on the clock. There was a range violation and apparently there was a boat or an airplane in the restricted zone. Every time a launch is scrubbed it reminds me that a trip to Florida is never a sure thing. When a launch gets delayed, suddenly your trip becomes much more expensive. This has happened to me several times already and I haven't even been to that many launches. I guess nothing is a sure thing. There's been a lot of rain out at McDonald Observatory recently, so this wouldn't have been a good time for a visit out there either. The Davis Mountains really needed the rain though. It has been very dry this year.

I'm not sure what I'm going to do tomorrow. I'm definitely not going to do any more yard work. Hopefully I won't be dealing with roof leaks either. A day with absolutely nothing on the agenda is perfectly fine with me.

Sparky is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4081

I managed to get most of the leaves bagged and out of the yard before it started raining. This was quite an accomplishment, since there were a lot of leaves. I'm starting to understand why there are so many ads on TV for products claiming to reduce arthritis pain. You've seen the ads: Voltaren, Australian Dream, Blue-Emu, Capsaicin, Infrared light therapy, Salonpas, the list goes on and on. The sad fact is that at a certain age, your joints start acting like a rusty hinge. I can't recall raking and bagging leaves ever being this troublesome before. My shoulder bothered me. My wrists bothered me. My knees bothered me. Of course, my foot wasn't going to get left out of the pain parade either. Maybe that lawn care service actually was worth the money.

I was pleased to see a package from England in this morning's mail. Inside were two copies of the October 2020 issue of SpaceFlight with my article about the Artemis program. It's been a long wait. I wrote the article a year ago last February after a visit to the Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans. My joy was short lived unfortunately. Where was the February 2021 issue with my article about the Space X Crew 1 mission? The magazine forgot to send the second article. This means that I'm going to have to ask them again, which I hate to do since everyone at the magazine is working from home and dealing with all sorts of Covid problems. I'm determined to get a copy of the Crew 1 article though, even if it takes me another year to do it.

Dawn really surprised us today. When she finished her one mile loop, she just kept walking. She wasn't reluctant at all and seemed to be really enjoying herself. Maybe it was the weather. It was a lot cooler this morning, but the rain hadn't arrived yet and it was still dry. There were lots of new smells as well, because the city workers had just mowed the grass along our trail. By the time Dawn decided that she'd had enough and headed for home, she'd walked over two miles.

By the time I'd finished my longer walk, I'd gone over five miles. I wasn't trying for distance today. I was just trying to beat the rain without destroying my feet. I've developed a peculiar flat footed style of walking that seems to work. Flexing the foot causes the most discomfort. If I can just lift the left foot up and down without a lot of heal and toe flex, I'm usually OK. Janet says I should go back to the gym and try exercises that don't involve walking. She's probably right.

My seasonal allergies started early this year. I've had a runny nose for weeks now. It got so bad today that I took an Allegra. Of course this pill did nothing. It never does. I hate adding a mask to seasonal allergies. Sneezing and blowing your nose constantly just doesn't work very well. I've ruined more than one mask by sneezing into it. I can't really recall when the seasonal allergies go away, but May comes to mind. It's going to be a long Spring.

I've got an appointment for a haircut tomorrow morning. I won't have time for my regular huge smoothie, so I'll just have a bagel and a cup of coffee instead. I'm sure it will still be raining in the morning. It's supposed to rain all the way through the weekend. I'm glad I took care of the leaves before the rain started. I'll be glad to get a haircut too. I'm long overdue.

Cookie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2773

Much to my surprise, I don't have Carpal Tunnel Syndrome after all. The orthopedic specialist I saw this morning told me that I wasn't having the symptoms that you would normally associate with Carpal Tunnel. He says the problems I've been having all these years are caused by arthritis. I guess it makes sense. Arthritis is common in my family. I wonder why I was so convinced that the pain and lack of mobility in my left wrist was caused by Carpal tunnel? The good news is that my sprained wrist has healed nicely. The bad news is that my arthritis will probably get worse.

I need to start doing my range of motion exercises again for both my wrist and my shoulder. The orthopedic specialist said he would be happy to recommend  a physical therapist, but that they would probably just tell me to do exactly the same things that my last physical therapist suggested. I know what to do. I just grew tired of continuing the stretching exercises after the first year.

It was so hot outside today that I didn't feel like doing much of anything. I went to the doctor and picked up something for dinner. That was about it. I've been watching Janet binge watch television shows all month and thought I'd give it a try myself. I downloaded season one of a series I meant to watch several years ago but never got around to it. I only meant to watch one episode today, but I can see now how easy it is to get sucked into watching an entire season in one sitting. Without commercials, each episode isn't really that long. TV drama episodes usually end on a cliffhanger, so you naturally want to see what happens next. When you finish one episode, it's easy to say "Well. I guess I've got time to watch one more." All the sudden it's dinner time and you've watched half a dozen shows.

Maybe I'll do something more useful and productive tomorrow. Then again, I might just finish season one of my show. In a world without deadlines, there isn't a compelling reason to overexert yourself. I kind of wish I had deadlines again. They add a certain structure to your life. At least from what I see on Facebook, most of my former co-workers seem content with traveling and spending time with grandchildren. Travel is good. Taking classes is probably good too. I just need to get over the idea that I always need to be making money. If I can find something challenging that I enjoy, it will probably turn into money anyway. That's certainly how it always worked in the past.

This is the time of year when it gets harder to illustrate the blog. The vegetation is drying up and the wildflowers are almost gone. Most of the animals are in hiding too. It's just too hot. Our walks are much shorter now, because we don't want Dash to become overheated. It upsets me when I see people jogging with their dogs in July. Dogs don't sweat and can't handle this heat as well as we can. People don't handle it all that well either. I see the EMT ambulances in the park a lot more often in July than I do in January. At any rate, I still take a new picture every day, but you might have to be content with seed pod images
 for a while.

I've stopped sleeping with my feet elevated. There's really no need anymore. Pretty soon I'm going to start going back to the gym again. Dash is eating well and seems to have fully recovered from his last vestibular episode. Janet is going back to work while she waits for the final minor surgery she needs to complete the reconstruction process. It's hot, but I think we all are going to survive the summer.

Queen is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1990

I'm torn between a desire for more work and an equally strong desire to just pack it in and formally retire. It would be nice to be able to buy a new car whenever I felt like it and acquire new cameras and watches with reckless abandon, but I'm not sure it is worth the effort any more. When I started my company, I used to tell students and freelancers to never work for anyone who paid you out of their own pocket. Things were much easier when all my clients were large corporations and the bills went to the accounts payable departments instead the owner of the company. Now virtually all my customers are small businesses and nothing is ever fast enough or cheap enough. It becomes tiring after a while.

I only mention this because some new work came my way today and all of it seemed about as interesting as cleaning up Dot's dog poop. Truthfully, I have been interested in learning how to design responsive, mobile friendly websites, but I'm not making any money doing this. I actually gave away my first two mobile friendly sites because I felt vaguely guilty that my clients didn't have this capability already. I'm just not very aggressive about making money anymore. When people ask me to do something these days, my first response is usually to try and talk them out of doing the job. It's only when they're persistent that I agree to take on new work. I usually know in advance that the job isn't going to pay very well and the client is going to be picky anyway. It's hard to get excited about all this because I still remember the days when corporate clients used to fly me around the world and pay me large sums of money for just coming to their meetings and talking a good game.

I still put in a good days honest work, but what matters to me now are the dogs. They both got a long, rain-free walk this morning and Dot spent the afternoon with me at her physical therapy session. She did great today in the underwater treadmill and seemed to enjoy her acupuncture therapy. Even the vet was impressed at how much she'd improved since last week. I think last week's lethargy might have been weather related. At her age, Dot is bound to have arthritis, along with all her other problems. Muggy, rainy weather just isn't good for anyone's arthritis.

I got a lot done today. The roof is clean and dry again. The dogs prescriptions have been renewed. The trash has been taken out to the curb for Friday morning pickup. Dot got a good workout at her therapy session and I paid the last of the recurring bills for May. Tomorrow I've got several new articles to write and I've got to decide whether to pursue these new jobs that are being dangled in front of me. All in good time. The most important thing tomorrow is going to my favorite restaurant for a leisurely breakfast. It didn't rain today. Maybe it won't rain tomorrow either. There's always hope.

Sam is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1863

I'm going to miss going to physical therapy. It's nice having someone telling you what you are doing right and doing wrong. I don't need help with writing or taking photographs, but apparently I do need people to remind me not to destroy my body. It should be easy to continue on my own. I've got enough exercises now to last me for a year. Success is pretty easy to measure too. If I can move my shoulder more, I have succeeded. We'll see how it goes. They want to re-evaluate me this Summer. You can't cheat with physical therapy. Your progress is surprisingly easy to measure. The therapist actually takes a protractor and ruler and measures how much further I'm are able to move my arm. At any rate, I've got my marching orders. Hopefully, when I reconnect with these folks later this Summer, I won't shame myself by revealing my many lazy tendencies.

Our extended string of beautiful, warm days is sadly coming to an end. Our early morning walk was nice, but the temperature began to drop right after breakfast and conditions continued to deteriorate throughout the day. The dogs and I were both disappointed to get rained on this evening. It's been almost two weeks since we've been caught in the rain. It looks like I'd better get out some bath towels to dry the dogs off tomorrow morning and be prepared to clean the mud off my boots again. It's going to be wet.

The small group of bloggers and social media mavens I will be joining at Vandenberg Air Force Base seems like an interesting bunch. Some are coming to the launch from as far away as London and one guy is even flying his own small plane to the event. I think the only thing that ties us all together is an unabashed inner geekiness. Everyone I've heard from so far seems absolutely delighted to have an opportunity to get close to a rocket. As much as I hate to travel, I really think I'm going to enjoy this.

I've got a big video shoot coming up this weekend, so it's time to get out the instruction manuals again. I've gotten so used to shooting with GoPro's and automated consumer cameras that I've kind of forgotten what some of the dozens of cryptic buttons on my big production camera do. There is no auto-focus on most cinema lenses either, so I'd better practice the fine art of keeping things in perfect focus as well. If I shot as much video and film as I used to, none of this would be a problem. Unfortunately, the old adage use it or lose it still applies. I've got some work to do.

It's raining pretty hard now, but I hope the weather improves a bit before I take Dot to her physical therapy session tomorrow. Cold rainy weather makes Dot's arthritis act up and she doesn't do as well in the underwater treadmill on rainy days. The vet can warm up the water in the tank though, so maybe that will help. Nothing will help me until I see the sun again.

Molly is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1832

This is weird. I was raking leaves in the front yard this morning and I see a letter blowing across the yard in the wind. I pick up the letter and it is addressed to me. What are the odds of that happening? Probably the mailman dropped the letter, or maybe I even dropped it myself when I picked up the mail yesterday. There was no mail delivery today though, so why was the letter still here? If it got lost yesterday, it should have blown ten miles down the road by now.

You certainly couldn't accuse me of being idle today. The dogs got their morning and afternoon walks. I removed all the standing water from the roof. I even made it to the gym. I should have dealt with the roof a lot earlier. It was a mess. Not only was there three inches of standing water, there were all the leaves from two large oak trees, an elm tree, and the neighbor's pecan tree. I was surprised that there wasn't a flock of ducks to greet me, because the wind and the leaves had combined to create little duck ponds all over the roof where the water would probably stagnate forever. Several readers have wondered why I don't just use pumps to automatically remove the water from the flat roof. Been there, done that. It doesn't work. The abundant leaves and tree dirt quickly clog even the most robust pump and it doesn't take long for the motor to burn out. The roof isn't really level either, so if you use a pump, you have to continually keep moving it around to get all the puddles. Believe it or not, it is actually easier to take a big push broom and just push all the water and debris off the edge of the roof. It's good exercise too, although I suspect that this activity isn't helping my shoulder much.

I wish the weather would clear up. The dampness and cold is aggravating Dot's arthritis. Her rear legs seemed a bit shaky today and we didn't end up going very far on our evening walk. I don't want to push her too hard, but it's not good to let her just sleep on a soft dog bed all day either. Both my vet and my own human doctors have emphasized the importance of staying active. I think the dogs and I both have the same attitude towards exercise. It's hard to get started, but once we get the old joints moving, we feel better. It's hard to get Dot and Dash out the door on a cold day, but they're both wagging their tails and enjoying all the smells once we're underway.

I was hoping that my physical therapist could just direct me to the machines I could use to build up my shoulder while I was  doing my regular workout. It turns out it doesn't work that way. The stretching exercise I need to do to free my tight shoulder capsule are completely different that the things you normally do at a gym to build strength and endurance. It looks like I'm going to have to do both.

I've still got a small amount of Christmas shopping to finish and I'm trying to figure out how to get everything done without fighting the mobs at the shopping malls. The only thing I've come up so far is to arrive at the mall right at 9 AM when it first opens. It might still be crowded, but at least I'll be able to find a parking place. If I wait until later in the day, I think it will be hopeless. The malls used to be almost empty on Christmas Eve, but I think there has been a sharp increase in procrastinators like me. I tried Christmas Eve shopping last year and it was just as crowded as any other day. I won't be doing that again.

Willow is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1451

I've done everything I can. The car has a full tank of gas. I bought a bunch of D-Cell batteries for the emergency lanterns. I got some food at the grocery store that we can eat either hot or cold if the power goes out. The roof has been swept clear of falling leaves. All the electronic devices have been charged up. I've got the outside faucets dripping a bit, so they won't freeze. The dog's warmest sweaters are clean and ready to go. I guess that's it.

As much as I hate to admit it, I'm as irrational as any other Texan about cold weather. We take our tornadoes in stride, but if there's even a hint of snow in the forecast, the shelves will quickly be emptied in every grocery store in town and portable generators and batteries will be on back order at Home Depot.

Dot and Dash love the cooler temperatures that Fall weather brings to Texas, but when the thermometer dips below freezing they don't like going outside any more than I do. Dot has problems with arthritis on cold days as well. I could tell she was really stiff today and had trouble getting up and down from her dog bed in the living room. To keep my own joints from getting too stiff, I made sure I got to the gym before the weather got really bad. When I left the house, the roads were still dry, but by the time I returned, there was already a light freezing drizzle that stuck to your windshield. I may skip my normal Friday morning restaurant outing and just fix something here at the house tomorrow instead. There just aren't many good reasons to drive on icy roads.

If the weather is as bad as they say it's going to be, I ought to get a lot done tomorrow. Maybe I'll get caught up on my writing. Hey, what else is there to do on an icy morning? If the power goes out, all bets are off. Falling tree limbs cause power outages in our neighborhood fairly frequently. Once we lost power for three days in the middle of Winter. I don't look forward to repeating that experience any time soon. When the power goes out, you're basically just camping indoors. There's a good chance that the city's worries about an impending ice storm are overblown. The weather reports are often wrong in these parts. We'll know how it all turns out by morning. If there is a lot of ice, I think the dogs and I will just stay under the covers.

Emmitt is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1432

It's that time of year again. We did our first Santa Paws photo shoot of the season today. At first I thought it was a little early for Christmas pictures, but so many people make elaborate holiday cards these days that this actually is when you need to get started. We had a good day. Photo sessions were booked solid from 10 AM through 3 PM. Only one dog peed on Santa. One more peed on the set. There were no dog fights or ugly incidents. When you're photographing dogs, you can't ask for more than this.

Since we were photographing city dogs today, our subjects tended to be smaller and a bit more upscale than their suburban cousins. Since most of today's dogs were small enough to sit on Santa's lap, we didn't have to worry as much about a dog inadvertently destroying the set. A single Yorkie is a lot easier to photograph than three full grown Rottweilers.

Somebody told me this afternoon that we've been doing these Christmas pet photos for seven years now. You couldn't prove it by me, but it does seem like we've been doing this for a very long time. I'm amazed that all the equipment still works. I hope that nothing self-destructs this season. We've got four more of these events to do before Christmas. My old Norman studio strobes are kind of like vintage Fender tube amplifiers. They just don't make them like this anymore. Hopefully, these trusty tools will keep working forever. I certainly don't want to invest in new studio lighting. I don't even have a studio anymore.

I have a feeling that tomorrow is going to be even busier than today. Since the photo shoot took the entire day, all my normal Saturday errands got postponed. That means there's a lot of shopping that still needs to be done. The dogs are still going to expect a trip to the dog park as well. If there's time, I'd like to get to the gym, even though I feel like I've already been to the gym after a long day of alternately standing and kneeling to find the best angle for the perfect pet portrait.

I don't think I'll have any problems going to sleep tonight. These marathon photo shoots are tiring. The fingers and joints aren't as flexible as they used to be and I don't believe in pain pills. The arthritis isn't going away, but staying active is probably still the best medicine. You've got to keep moving.

Alvin is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1391

It was a beautiful day to do things that I didn't really want to do. Although the skies were clear and blue this morning, the dog park apparently still hadn't dried out from yesterday's rain and was closed for maintenance. Dot and Dash were disappointed and so was I. Without an outing to the far away dog park to divert me, I had no real excuse to avoid mowing the grass, cleaning the roof, and cleaning up the clutter in my office.

Every time I mow the grass in October, I keep hoping I'm done for the year. I've mowed as late as December, unfortunately. You never know what Mother Nature has in store for you here in Texas. When I was up on the roof today, I noticed that the section under the Elm tree was relatively clean. There was some staining under the two Oak trees, but the the real damage was being caused by the Pecan tree. It wasn't even my tree either. It was the neighbor's Pecan tree that was causing all the problems. One of my fantasies has always been to have no neighbors whatsoever. This will probably never happen though. I like having a vet that's only a mile away and restaurants I can walk to. Actually, the only thing I don't like about urban living is all the people.

It is getting harder and harder to walk Dot and Dash together. Dash is a bundle of energy, while Dot is growing increasing frail. If I walk slow enough for Dot, Dash grows impatient and if I walk fast enough for Dash, then Dot can't keep up. Today, I gave Dash a brisk, long walk near the shoreline he loves to smell and then returned to the house to give Dot a much shorter, slow walk behind the house. I wish I had time to do this during the week, but often it's hard to find time to walk the dogs at all on weekdays. I guess we'll just do the best we can.

I'm increasingly tempted to click on the "go paperless" option that banks, merchants, and health care providers continue to send me. I've actually needed paper back up for record-keeping in the past, but I feel I'm being overwhelmed by paper these days. I get so much junk mail that I hate to even open it and end up throwing most of the mail into a big box and save it for days like today when I reluctantly sort through the mess. Most of this mail is totally unnecessary, but at least with printed information, you don't need to remember a dozen different passwords. Passwords and computer crashes are the main reason that paper isn't dead yet.

I finally got a good night's sleep last night. Both dogs slept soundly and nobody threw up. Sleep is good! Hopefully, tonight will bring more of the same. Dot did have a bit of a limp when the got out of bed this morning, but I think it was just her arthritis. She frequently wakes up with some stiffness in her legs these days. So do I, actually. None of us are getting any younger.

Cassie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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