Day 4537

Another cool morning that turned hot in the afternoon. Dawn wasn't eager to take her sunrise walk. I don't know why because it was really nice outside. We bribed her with a couple of dog biscuits and made it around our little one mile loop. Maybe she was just pretending about not wanting to walk to get the biscuits. Dogs are sneaky that way.

When I was eating breakfast this morning I noticed a stain on the brick floor in the kitchen. When I went to investigate the bricks felt damp. I hadn't spilled anything recently, so this seemed weird. I sure hope there isn't a water leak under the slab. This happened once before and it was a nightmare to get repaired. I'm beginning to hate older houses. Maybe the damp bricks are nothing, but I'm suspicious. Something is always breaking or falling apart in this 65 year old modern house.

At least there was a little bit of good news this morning. I upgraded the software on the Polaris star tracker and it still works. I ran a lengthy test and everything worked perfectly. The camera didn't disconnect at all, so maybe my problems are over. I felt pleased when I put the troublesome tracker back in its box. I may not be using it any time soon, but it's always there when I need it.

Dawn seems to have reverted to being nervous around me again. Somehow I must remind her of the two men who ran the puppy mill where she spent most of her life. Dawn is totally devoted to Janet but will probably always be a little suspicious of me. It's understandable, given the life she's had, but it's still kind of sad. 

I should have gone to the gym today, but I just keep walking in the park. It's becoming close to impossible for me to try something new. Going to the gym isn't even that new, since I used to go frequently before Covid hit. It's just so much easier to get up every morning and do exactly the same things every day. I have two places I like to visit and that seems to be plenty. I have a routine that mostly consists of walking and eating. I still spend time on the computer even though there is no real work to do and I always end the day with a blog post. Sometimes I'm bored, but not as often as you'd think. It's really not a bad life as long as nothing breaks.

I wonder about things when I'm walking. There are big signs in the park telling people not to feed the ducks. There are also educational posters explaining why it it is bad for ducks and geese to eat bread. Apparently nobody reads these messages because I still see people feeding bread to the ducks every single day. Often they are feeding them right next to a sign telling them not to feed the ducks. These are probably the same people who leave litter all over the place after having a picnic. It's not that surprising that I am a solitary person. I like animals better than people. Except for snakes. I'm not very fond of snakes.

It's time to make a grocery list again. I'm beginning to dread these Saturday shopping excursions. Traffic is terrible and driving skills seems to have deteriorated precipitously in the past several years. Maybe I'm imagining things but people weren't as rude and seemed to drive a lot better before Covid. Maybe it's just all the new people moving into the area. We'll see how it goes tomorrow. Grocery shopping still beats mowing the lawn.

Libby is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4498

There was one less dog when we visited the kennel this afternoon. Julip has gone to her new home. Things are looking up for the Dalmatians. Potential adoptors have been looking at Candy and Oliver as well. Not surprisingly, there is a huge amount of interest in Sammy's puppies, but it's nice to see the adult dogs getting some interest as well. Hopefully more of our rescues will find their forever homes soon. Every one of of these dogs would make a great addition to some lucky family.

It's nice to see the progress the puppy mill dogs are making. Each week we visit they appear more well adjusted and normal. Rocket is much less fearful than he was when he entered the rescue program. He's become friends with one of the kennel attendants and is starting to show a playful side. Rocket won't play with Janet and I yet, but he will take cookies from us. He's definitely making progress and his skin is getting better too.  Candy is definitely calmer than she was last week. I think the person who has been thinking about adopting her has really helped. Basically, all these guys are decompressing, learning to trust, and starting to realize that life is much better than they ever thought it could be.

It was my turn to drive to the kennel this week and I tried to imagine seven hours of this on my upcoming drive to West Texas. Freeways are horrible now. The traffic is relentless and most of it consists of eighteen wheelers going as fast as they can. It is unnerving to be on a multi-lane freeway and have one of these huge trucks on either side of you. All things considered though, driving in town is still probably worse than the open road. On a busy day, even the supermarket parking lots are worse than the open road.

The weather was weird today. When we took Dawn on her early walk it was cold enough for winter coats again. The furnace was running when I woke up this morning. It warmed up quickly though. I only needed a light jacket when we visited the rescue dogs at the kennel and by the time I took my long walk later in the afternoon, I had to change to shorts and a t-shirt. Just another normal Texas day, I guess.

I got a tracking number on the camera part I ordered from China. It's coming by FedEx again. I hope I have better luck than I did with my last shipment from China. The star tracker was lost for so long that I thought I was never going to receive it. This time I am definitely not going to change the delivery location in route. In retrospect, that blunder played a big role in why the package was lost for so long.

My long walk was pretty short today. I think I overdid it yesterday. My feet bothered me quite a bit this afternoon and I saw no reason to punish myself. I only got 16,000 steps today and probably should have stopped when I passed the 10,000 mark. It's hard to stop on a nice day though. Although it was cold this morning, this afternoon was almost perfect.

Our Easter dinner tastes just as good as leftovers. Since there are only two of us, there are lots of leftovers. I"ll probably be eating Easter dinner all week. It's a good thing I like ham. I guess it's a good thing I like shredded wheat and berries as well. I might be eating this for breakfast forever. For some reason I just can't bring myself to go out for breakfast anymore. I can't bring myself to cook either. I used to cook elaborate breakfasts and even got one of my recipes in a cookbook once. Not anymore. Shredded wheat is just fine.

There's not much on the agenda for tomorrow. Sleeping in sounds good to me, but Dawn probably has other ideas.

Mattie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4377

The temperature keeps bouncing back and forth between Winter and Summer. Today it felt a lot like Winter. We took Dawn on a chilly sunrise walk, came home and ate a hearty breakfast, and then I did my grocery shopping. The traffic seems to get worse every time I leave the house. I don't know where all these new people are coming from, but it appears they are here to stay. Parking lots are even more hazardous than roads at this time of year. Cars are always racing around looking for that last available parking spot. I almost got hit while I was at the grocery store this morning.

I finally saw one of the new Broncos on my shopping run this morning. I was kind of disappointed. After all I've read about this new 4x4, I was expecting something amazing. This particular Bronco looked pretty ordinary to me. The new Land Rover Defender looks a lot better to my eye, but of course it's more expensive too. Bronco vs Defender certainly isn't something I need to fret about at the moment. I'm not planning on a new car any time soon.

I didn't even bother to call Fedex today. What's the point. It's pretty clear by now that my calls are not accomplishing anything. Maybe I'll eventually get the package. Maybe I won't. There's a support group for the Polaris Astro Edition on Facebook and I've noticed that I'm not the only one with delivery problems. Several other Kickstarter backers currently have their shipments in Fedex limbo as well. It is apparently not uncommon to see delays of ten days or more. Delivery problems are becoming national news, so I suspect that it is not just me or this particular product. If your Christmas gifts are being delivered by Fedex, there's a good chance they might arrive late. I do wish that Benro hadn't decided to launch their highly anticipated automated tripod head during the Christmas rush. That's just asking for trouble.

It's hard to believe that I wore shorts on my long walk yesterday. Today I needed a down jacket and a wool hat. The wind was blowing so hard near the lake that I felt chilly even though I dressed warmly. I shouldn't complain though. Our weather still seems a lot better than the rest of the country. The severe storms all seem to be to the East of us. I hope we have a mild winter. I don't look forward to snow at all. Snow is just a nuisance when you live down South. Nobody knows how to drive in the snow and most houses aren't insulated well.

I wish I could get excited about something. I've been away from the observatory too long and my interest in astronomy is starting to fade. I didn't even try to look for Comet Leonard this month. Even though the launch schedule is picking up at Kennedy Space Center again, I don't have any trips planned. It's complicated and expensive to follow launches. I'm not sure if my NASA contacts even remember me anymore. Maybe I should have picked an easier activity. The birders at the lake looking for the eagles look happy enough. So do the people at my gym for that matter. We'll see what happens next year. Maybe all it will take is one good launch to get me excited again. 

I guess we'll still take Dawn on her Sunday outing tomorrow. It's going to be very cold, but Dawn doesn't seem to mind the cold. She has a lot more energy than I do on days like these. I'm not so sure about the ice cream though. A cup of hot chocolate sounds a little better right now. 

Alvin is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4370

It was a busy shopping day. I'm having to go to more stores now to find everything on my list. I don't think this has anything to do with Covid. Stores just aren't restocking items that don't sell well. Only one store sells my favorite beer now and I even had trouble finding the seasoned croutons we like to put on our salads. I did manage to find the right sized metric screws to mount the new TV on the stand we bought, but then decided not to use the stand after all. I remembered that I had some extra white storage cubes in the the storage warehoue that matched the ones already in the bedroom. The TV is set up now, programmed, and everything works. I was able to get rid of a huge rat's next of wires and cables when I got rid of the large duplicating VCR and other obsolete attached devices.

I wasn't terribly surprised that the FedEx truck never showed up. I received an e-mail this afternoon saying that the package will now be delivered tomorrow, even though the FedEx website still says it is scheduled to be delivered today. The delivery progress map on the website shows that the shipment is still in California. FedEx is my least favorite delivery service. UPS and Amazon are both better. Even the Post Office is better than FedEx. I tried to get the package held for pickup at a convenient FedEx printing center that I've used on the past, but inexplicably it wasn't on the list. When I called the local store to see if they could help me, they just transferred my call to an offshore call center. I finally just put a vacation hold on the package and will deal with it later. Tomorrow is our next Santa Paws event and it's not a good day to leave a package sitting on the porch all day.

Today wasn't a good day for walking. My feet hurt so much that I had to cut my long walk short and head for home. I only made it a little over three miles today. I still can't figure out why my feet hurt on some days and not on others. There should be a logical, predictable reason for this but I can't figure it out. I wear the same shoes and walk the same route every day, but some days are definitely better than others.

The traffic in Dallas has gotten terrible. I guess people are Christmas shopping now, but I don't ever remember it being this bad in early December. A lot of people are moving here from other states, but this is getting ridiculous. This town is full of aggressive drivers too. Why people will race to get ahead of you in a city full of traffic lights is beyond me. Even if you manage to beat the light, the next one is going to get you. I really miss the empty roads of West Texas. 

There's a Cajun Seafood Casserole at Central Market we both like, so I picked up some for dinner tonight. At least I thought I picked some up. "This looks kind of different." I told Janet at dinner time. "That's because you bought the Chicken Carbonara Casserole," she said. Have I mentioned that I'm not very observant? I could have sworn I got the Seafood Casserole, but sure enough it clearly said Chicken Carbonara right on the label.

I hope our Santa Paws event goes well tomorrow. Everything is ready to be loaded into the car again. All the equipment worked last week, so there's a good chance it will work this week as well. 

Emmitt is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4257

Dawn is fine. The vet was able to flush a large number of stones from her bladder and no surgery was needed. I was a little worried when the vet called while I was fixing breakfast and told me that Dawn's bladder was empty. He wondered if we had let her go pee before we brought her over. Nope. We did everything exactly as we were instructed. It turned out that Dawn had peed in her kennel run while they were getting ready to do the procedure. Plan B was to give her intravenous fluids and let her bladder fill again. This worked and a few hours later the stones were removed. Her teeth were cleaned as well while she was under anesthesia so she wouldn't have to be anesthetized again a few months later for her scheduled annual teeth cleaning. A sonogram after the procedure confirmed that all the stones are gone and Dawn was able to come home early this afternoon. The vet told us to expect blood in her urine for a day of two, but that the procedure had gone very well.

I'm sure today's events won't do much to alleviate Dawn's fear of riding in the car. Is she going for an ice cream cone at Andy's, or a trip to the vet? Both destinations are in the same general direction. Being anesthetized today certainly didn't ruin her appetite. Dawn was really hungry this evening and I had to feed her a little early.

I was planning to get my car safety inspected today, but the two places I tried both had long wait times and wanted me to leave the car. I used to be able to go to the Land Rover dealer and get an inspection done in fifteen minutes. Those days are gone. When I called Land Rover today they told me that a state inspection would take at least five hours. What this really means is that the dealership is short handed and there aren't enough mechanics. Apparently, nothing works smoothly in a post Covid world. So many things I used to take for granted just don't function the way they used to.

This morning was pleasant, but by the time Dawn was safely home again and sleeping on the bed it had become far too hot for a walk in the park. I went to the gym and discovered that even more treadmills had broken since my last visit. Another example of a dysfunctional world. Why is it proving so hard to fix these machines? There must be over a dozen broken treadmills now. Since we didn't take a sunrise walk with Dawn this morning, I had to work a little longer to get today's steps. Three miles inside always seems a lot longer than three miles outside.

Now that school is back in session, I've had to change my route to a number of locations. You definitely don't want to get stuck in a line of cars waiting to pick their kids up from school. If you are near a school zone, the right hand line is often completely blocked with cars and the other lanes become even more crowded. Drivers in Dallas are rude on a nice day. When school is in session they become even worse.

It would be hard to find someone less interested in politics than I am, but I'm horrified at what's happening in Afghanistan. Why won't Biden just admit that he screwed up royally? It was his decision alone to remove the military before protecting the civilians. He keeps doubling down, blaming everyone else, and looking befuddled and senile while he's doing it. If this is what 'having an adult in charge' looks like, we're all in big trouble.

It's time to make a grocery list again. Whenever I'm out and about, it's become increasingly apparent that merchants and their customers have grown sick of all the conflicting social distancing and mask mandates. It's a free for all now and everyone is just doing what they want. 

Blackjack is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2283

It took forever to get home from Dot's therapy session today. There was an accident on the freeway that shut down all four Northbound lanes. I knew something was wrong when I got on the access road and a couple walking on the sidewalk kept passing me every time a stopped at a traffic light. The traffic was so backed up on the access road that pedestrians were going faster than I was. The access road was still better than the freeway though. At least we were moving. The freeway was completely gridlocked. Every time I get stuck in traffic like this, I wish I lived in a small rural town with a population of 300. Of course this little town would have to have high speed internet, dependable FedEx delivery, and a very good vet, so it only exists in my imagination.

Dot did very well on the treadmill today, considering the uncertain way we started the day. I woke up early this morning to the distinctive sound of a dog trying to throw up. I quickly got Dot in her harness and we took her outside. Once outside, she seemed to calm down. She didn't throw up at all and pooped and peed instead. After that, we all went back to bed. For the rest of the day she seemed completely normal. Odd little episodes like this are one reason I get very little sleep these days. There's always something unexpected going on.

Even work is full of unexpected surprises. A client wanted me to remove a page from his website because he said it contained a virus. The page was just a simple HTML document and nothing was wrong with it. I didn't argue though. It was much easier to remove the page than to explain why it couldn't possibly contain a virus. Was the website infected a virus? Nope. Did the client have a virus on his own computer? Probably.

I picked up Dash's blood pressure medication today. I was initially confused, because I could have sworn that I'd just picked up blood pressure meds two days ago. Janet reminded me that I'd picked up Dot's prescription and that the two pills were completely different. I still don't know why Dot and Dash are taking two different pills for exactly the same condition. The fact that I take a third medication to control my own high blood pressure makes things even more confusing. There are literally dozens of medications that have been approved to treat hypertension. Each doctor or vet has their favorites and nobody seems to agree on anything. I hope the dogs pills have fewer side effects than my own. I will say that all three pills work. Dot, Dash and I all have normal blood pressure now.

After several years of taking Dot to physical therapy on Thursday, I keep thinking that tomorrow is Friday. Nope. Eventually I'll get used to our schedule change. Sooner or later I'll get used to Daylight Savings Time too. I wish I could get used to rain. It's supposed to rain again tomorrow.

Ruthie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1955

I had lots of small problems to resolve today. Individually, they were trivial, but together they wore me out. I was jumping back and forth between Microsoft Word, Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, and Dreamweaver all day. As many of you know, I don't multitask well. I would always rather have one complex project than a bunch of little easy projects that share the same deadline. Although some of today's projects seemed meaningless, they were all important to my clients, so I jumped back and forth until it was time to take Dot for her weekly physical therapy session.

I've got to come up with a better way to transport Dot to the vet. Traffic was bad today and twice I had to put on my brakes hard enough to cause Dot to slide forward in her hammock and get stuck in the foot-well between the rear seats and the back of the front seats. The hammock keeps her from actually falling into this hole, but she can still get stuck if her weight pulls her forward and the hammock dips into the foot-well. She got stuck at a busy intersection today and I had trouble crossing three lanes of traffic so I could pull over and move her out of the foot-well and back to her seat. Dot was squealing and whining the whole time I was stuck in traffic. It was stressful for both of us. I'm thinking of abandoning the hammock and just putting the rear seats down again and having a large flat surface in the back of the car. She's getting strong enough now that I think she's just about ready to start riding in the car again the way she used to.

I've got to find time to go to a Babies R Us store and get some of those baby tube socks with rubberized feet that Dash can wear on his walks. The torn paw pad is still tender and he walks a lot better when I put a sock on the injured foot. The problem is that the short dog socks we got at a pet store don't work very well. Every time Dash scratches the earth with his rear feet, the sock falls off. Longer socks would definitely stay on better. One more thing to add to my "to do" list.

This has been a long week. I'm beginning to understand responsive website design. Dot is beginning to regain her independence. It's still tiring though. All the new knowledge in my head is starting to give me a headache and even though Dot is able to walk around the house without her harness, I've still got to watch her like a hawk. Dash is still limping too. There's more rainwater to remove from the roof, but I'm not even going to bother with that until this weekend. What's the point? It might rain again tomorrow anyway. Our excessive amounts of rain this Spring has caused me a lot of trouble, but the wet, muddy weather definitely has a silver lining. The new landscaping in the back yard looks great and I haven't had to use the sprinklers very much.

I'm looking forward to going out for breakfast tomorrow. It's nice to have a little quiet time with no barking dogs, irritating telemarketing calls, or dishes to wash. It's amazing how that little hour and a half of tasty tranquility can make the entire day seem better.

Wyatt is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1443

Dot had a really good physical therapy session today. The water therapy and acupuncture has already resulted in an improvement in her balance and muscle tone. It's kind of amazing. Although she will never be a young dog again, she seems much stronger on her daily walks and doesn't stumble nearly as often now.

I wish my own day had gone as well as Dot's. UPS still hasn't found my misplaced package. The overhead light in the office is still blinking on and off and driving me nuts. The temperature turned cold again and it's supposed to get down to 26 degrees tonight. The weather changes so quickly here that it's hard to adjust. Yesterday, I was convinced the cold wave had moved on to the East and now it's back again.

The roads were unbelievable crowded today. I think everybody in town left work early and was out buying a turkey at the same time. I went to a nearby Albertsons this evening to pick up a prescription and was amused to see a long line of people at the checkout stand with big frozen turkeys in their buggy. Jeez, Thanksgiving is tomorrow! They'll never even get those turkeys thawed out by then. There was no frozen turkey in my buggy. We're going out to eat.

Even though this was a short week, there was still plenty of work to do today. I guess I should be thankful for the work, but I'm even more thankful that I'm looking forward to a few days where I might not even turn the computer on. Don't worry, faithful readers. There will still be a blog post tomorrow, but that's about it.  Janet gets two days off this week, so we might even do something fun.

This year has gone by so fast. It will be Christmas before you know it. I'm already writing Christmas ads and articles. When I was taking Dot to her physical therapy session today, I saw three cars with Christmas trees strapped to the roof. Maybe some people put their tree up the day after Thanksgiving. The Christmas tree definitely won't be going up that early in our house. With two Dalmatians, the later the tree goes up, the better.

Spots is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1354

I decided to make a kitchen cutting board today. You would have thought this endeavor would have involved a quick trip to Home Depot, or better yet, an even quicker trip to Bed Bath and Beyond for a ready-made cutting board. Nope. Nothing is this easy with me. We've had trouble with cutting boards warping or splitting apart in the past, so I wanted something that was impervious to water. I thought mahogany would be a good choice, because people make boats out of the stuff. I discovered very quickly that not many companies sell select quality mahogany lumber here in Dallas. Even fewer will sell you a single small piece of wood about the size of a cutting board. After much searching, I finally found a specialty lumber company that said I could look through their scrap bin and see if I could find a piece of mahogany that met my needs.

Too bad this odd little lumber company was a long way away.  I'm glad I still have the loaner car. My Defender would have never made the journey in this heat. School is back in session and the route to the lumber company was peppered with school zones. Throw a few broken stop lights in the mix and traffic just crawled along. Eventually, I reached the lumber company and found a nice looking piece of mahogany. I'm glad I wasn't building a boat. Select grade mahogany is a lot more expensive than I'd thought. Now I've got to sand the board, round the edges, and then cut an oval hole in the center so I can fit a small colander to drain food when I place the board over the sink. Alternately, I could forget all this and just use the board like it is.

It's always something with the dogs. When I was walking the pair through some tall grass, Dash let out a yelp and acted like something had bit him. I looked at his paw and found nothing. There were no cuts or abrasions and he hadn't stepped on a thorn either. When I extended his leg, there was no sign of pain or discomfort. I don't know what happened, but Dash limped periodically during the trip back home. The boy seems fine now. Maybe he's just a big baby.

I think most of my clients have already started their Labor Day holiday. Work was non-existent today. I didn't even have any website updates to do, which is rare for me. I'd like to tell you that I did something exciting with my free time, but all I've got to show for myself is a 10x21 inch piece of mahogany. I did try something new for breakfast though. That was nice.

Tessa is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1290

I had a couple of gift cards burning a hole in my pocket, so I went to one of the few remaining camera stores in Dallas to look for a carbon fiber tripod. I typically buy gear for work online these days, but I never got around to figuring out how to use gift cards for online purchases. It was actually kind of fun to go to a real store where I could see and touch things, but I definitely didn't pick the best day to be driving around town.

The traffic was unbelievably bad today and it only took me about five minutes to figure out why. About every five miles I would see an overheated car blocking traffic and slowing things down. The stranded cars were everywhere. I'm always afraid that my own car will overheat and cause one of these traffic jams myself. When the temperature is over 100 degrees, I instinctively drive with one eye one the road and the other eye on the temperature gauge. I made it to the camera store and back without incident, but it was a stressful drive. I should have just stayed home.

At home there are other things to worry about. Dot and Dash don't do well in the heat, but they still need their exercise. We take our morning walks much earlier now to avoid the heat and our afternoon walks are much shorter. Dot has gotten quite good at telling me when to turn around and head for home, but I still fret about her. The dogs won't drink water out of a water fountain either. You'd think they'd have learned that skill long ago living in Texas, but they always wait until they get home to drink.

Once we're back inside where it's cool, I worry that the air conditioner will break or the power will go out. These things typically happen several times each Summer, usually at the worst possible times. I rarely give global warming a thought during the Winter, but in the middle of a Texas Summer, it would be easy to make a believer out of me.

Work was slow again today. Probably my clients were having their own problems with the heat. I used the lull to get caught up on my to-do list. With the exception of one small writing job which I can probably complete in the morning, tomorrow is basically a free day. I don't know how free things will actually be if I don't even want to venture outside, but at least I'll start things off with a delicious breakfast. Yes, tomorrow is Friday again.

Rascal is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1102 - Winter Solstice

You can tell Christmas is just around the corner. When I went out for breakfast this morning, the restaurant was filled with people wearing reindeer sweaters and colorful vests with Christmas ornaments embroidered on them. At any other time of year, these outfits would seem ridiculous, but they all seemed pretty normal today.

After breakfast, I needed to do a little shopping and immediately discovered that everybody in Dallas was driving around doing the same thing. The traffic was horrible. When I got to the mall, things got worse. Half the parking spaces had been turned into valet parking lots. The valet parking was virtually empty, but the rest of the parking lot was a zoo. Whoever had the bright idea of  turning most of the mall into a giant valet parking lot should get a big lump of coal in their stocking. It's hard enough finding a parking place on a normal day. With a bunch of holiday entrepreneurs trying to charge you $10 for what was normally free, it was impossible.

Remember when I told you that I lost one of my web maintenance clients several weeks ago. Well, I had my exit interview today. It turns out that one of the reasons I lost the account was that the new guys offered something called "reputation management."  Evidently, if someone writes something bad about my client on Yelp, these guys can make it go away. Whatever happened to reality? Everyone wants to manage reality these days, by putting their own spin on things. It's getting harder and harder to know what's actually real. Somebody says something and then somebody else with an opposing point of view immediately sets up a counter-initiative to discredit what was said. It's all very confusing.

The dogs don't like it when I play my guitar. I can do a lot of other things and they'll stay sleeping on the bed, completely ignoring me. When I get out the guitar though, they immediately start to bother me until I put the thing away again. I don't know if it's my poor playing that bothers them or the fact that I'm having fun without them. I think Dalmatians invented "It's all about me."They want everything to involve them.

Today was the shortest day of the year. I'll look forward to the days gradually lengthening and growing warmer again. I hate to have to rush, just to get the dogs walked before the sun goes down. I know it's a long time until Spring, but I'm ready for it already.

Ariel is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 410

It's hard to believe that people are still shoveling snow in some parts of the country. I could have sworn it was the first day of Spring here in Dallas. The sky was blue. The temperature was 70 degrees. There were sailboats on the water and kites in the air. I saw lots of picnickers as I walked the dogs this afternoon and almost everyone was wearing shorts.

We took advantage of the nice weather and went up to get to know the three new Dalmatian Rescue dogs a little better. Blossom was sick and had to go to the vet, but Emmie and Chloe were eager for a walk. Since several dogs went to their new homes this week, there aren't a whole lot of Dalmatians to look after this month.

When the weather is nice here, the first thing people do is get in their cars and drive. Several roads seemed near gridlock as I tried to navigate the traffic jams to do my regular Saturday errands. I don't know whether traffic has gotten worse, or if I've just grown less tolerant. Now that I do more and more of my shopping online, I just don't seem to have the patience to deal with the inevitable construction delays and races to claim the last space in a busy parking lot. It's much easier to wait for the FedEx man to deliver what you need to the front door.

Dot and Dash got invited on a play date tomorrow. Isn't that what you do with kids? I guess Dot and Dash aren't all that different from kids, except you don't have to put them through college.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day