Day 2657

Another night of interrupted sleep. For some reason Dot woke up about 3 AM and tried to turn around in her bed. The effort unfortunately caused her to pee. We got up, cleaned her up, changed her bedding, and did a load of wash. The weird thing is this just seems normal now. We take it all in stride. I went back to sleep, but it seemed like it was morning almost immediately.

I thought there would be a new supply of blueberries today, but the produce guy told me they were actually coming in tomorrow. The trip to the grocery store wasn't a totally waste though. On the way home I went to the bank and then stopped by the vet to pick up some meds for Dot and Dash.

Dot has lost her taste for bananas. These used to be one of her favorite things. I'm thinking that she's losing her sense of smell. If she can't smell something, it probably doesn't seem like food anymore. Dot just sleeps while I drink my smoothie now. Without Dot nearby to compete for treats, Dash isn't as interested in banana slices either. He'll eat a few and then go back to the bedroom to sleep. It's kind of odd to eat my breakfast without a barking dog on either side of me. Breakfast has been peaceful lately, but I miss the companionship of the dogs.

I hate to see Dot start to lose her appetite. I know where this story ends. Our first dalmatian began getting picky about food toward the end and eventually would only eat finely chopped bits of boiled chicken breast. When he no longer would eat the chicken, we tried feeding him a cheeseburger. That cheeseburger ended up being his final meal. Luckily, Dot still enjoys the diet we've been feeding her for years, but that could change at any time.

The weather was beautiful today, so I washed the car. Now the cleaning trifecta is done.The house is clean. The grass is mowed. And the car has been washed. When I was washing the car, I noticed that there was a leak in the hose. The back yard hose has had a leak for months. Now the front yard hose has sprung a leak as well. I guess it's time to go to Home Depot and start over. Garden hoses aren't made very well. I can't even tell you how many I've bought over the years. The worst were those retractable hoses that were advertised on TV for a while. Those didn't even last a month.

I'm seeing a lot of Scissor-tailed Flycatchers in the park. These birds feed by catching insects in flight and it's kind of amazing to watch them fly. They can change directions so quickly that they almost seem like little helicopters in the air. As much as birds irritate me when they shit on my car, I do like to watch them in the park. I think I like the owls the best. We have lots of owls near where we live.

My accountant called today to tell me that my taxes are done. One more thing I can check off my list. That's how I go through life now. I dread things and then feel relieved when they are over with and I can check them off my list. Anticipating or looking forward to things is starting to seem like a foreign concept. Surviving things seems much more normal. That's OK though. I've always thought of myself as a survivor.

Lexi is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2541

The dogs wore me out today. Usually they sleep enough during the day so I can get my work done. Not today. Dash had an upset stomach and needed to go outside frequently. Dot was just restless. Every hour or so she would start barking for me to lift her out of her bed. We'd walk around aimlessly for a while and then she'd go back to bed again. We did this over and over again for most of the day. Dot is forgetful now. She'll go to her water bowl and then she'll go outside, and as soon as we come in, she'll go to her water bowl again. When she's restless, she'll repeat these simple activities over and over again. I can't just leave her to her own devices, because she'll quickly fall over or get herself stuck in a corner somewhere. She can also poop at any time without warning, so I'm always following behind her, holding up her rear end with the harness. I guess it's a good thing when Dot feels active, but sometimes I wonder if her restlessness is caused by pain or discomfort.

I'm used to a routine. When the routine changes I get worried. What does it mean when Dot gets restless and agitated? There have been times in the past when restlessness was the first sign of a serious illness. Usually, it just means that she's bored and wants more activity. She didn't have a fever today and seemed calm when she was sleeping, so I'm assuming that she just had more energy than usual. I could be wrong, but I can't take her to the vet every single day.

I've got to figure a better way to manage my own stress. It's hard caring for a dog that could die at any moment. There are so many things that could go wrong. Although Dot's dementia is getting worse, she still seems happy. She loves her slow walks and she eats her meals with gusto. I don't think she's even aware that she's pooping all over the place. I do my best to make her feel normal and that's really all I can do.

Now that Black Friday is over, I was inundated with a second wave of Cyber Monday e-mail this morning. I think every store I've ever shopped at in my life offered me some sort of discount or special coupon this week. Some of the deals are amazing. I bought a few little things because why not? My days of reckless consumerism are over though. I just don't have the money anymore.

I lost my reading glasses again. I think I could have a pair in every room and I'd still manage to lose them all within a month. The house is small, but when I lose these glasses, they're gone for good. I searched for almost an hour this morning and turned up nothing. Where did they go? Usually, I can never find these glasses until I buy a new pair and then they'll miraculously turn up again, often in plain sight. Some days I'm not sure whether Dot has dementia or I do.

I got a couple of website assignments toward the end of the day, so I should be busy tomorrow. Hopefully, the dogs will be calmer so I can get some work done. At the very least, it would be nice if they could just chill out while I eat my own breakfast. I don't bother them while they're eating, so why do they continually bother me when I'm eating? I never should have introduced them to bananas.

Scooter is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2473

The trouble with credit cards is that a month or so after you buy something, you actually have to pay for it. I feel poor today, because in addition to the usual charges for gasoline, groceries, prescription medicine, and miscellaneous junk I thought I needed at Home Depot, there was the humongous yearly rent for my storage warehouse on the latest credit card bill. So why didn't I write a check for the rent when it was due? Well, it was just easier to postpone the pain until next month. It can be confusing paying for things that you've already forgotten about buying using money that you've already forgotten about earning. I delay paying my bills as long as I can and my clients delay paying me as long as they can. The net result is that there is no cause and effect anymore. It just feels like I'm broke all the time.

I watched a crew pouring concrete in the park while I was walking Dash this morning. I've been watching this sidewalk being constructed for three months now. The crew would grade a path with a bulldozer and then put wooden forms and re-bar in place so the concrete could be poured. They did this three separate times this Summer until they were apparently satisfied with their work this morning. I asked one of the guys whey they kept tearing up their work and starting over? They said their previous efforts weren't up to code because the grade was too steep. This was a bike path, mind you. The city could have saved a ton of money if they just let the cyclists pedal a little harder. The city probably had some rule that said that no bike path could have more than a ten percent grade. If someone created a path with a twelve percent grade, they had to start over. It all seems silly to me.

I finished writing my latest article and once again had difficulty sending it to my client. It appears that their IT department wasn't able to Whitelist me after all. I keep getting identified as a spammer, even though I've never sent spam in my life. These difficulties make me wish I had my old private ISP back. I never used to have these problems until I moved to a large ISP with thousands of servers. My little local ISP stayed under the radar until the owner retired and shut down the company, forcing me to go somewhere else. Once again, the old days were better.

My bananas were still green this morning, so I went to the store and got some ripe ones. I never realized that bananas were so cheap, since Janet usually picks them up. I got a pound of bananas for fifty cents. On the way home I stopped to pick up some Chinese take-out for dinner and they said they were out of the Thai noodle dish I had ordered online. I'm easy. I just asked what they had that was real spicy and substituted something else. Anything to avoid cooking is fine by me.

Dot seemed to enjoy not having to go to physical therapy. Her limp is a little better, but she is still pretty shaky. For the second day in a row, she made a mess and pooped all over her special harness. We have a spare harness now for these occasions. I felt like taking her outside and cleaning her with the garden hose, but she hates this, so I cleaned her up with warm wet towels instead. Dot is as sweet as she can be, but she wears me out.

Tomorrow is the first day of Fall. It certainly doesn't feel like Fall yet. It has been unseasonably hot all week. I can tell the seasons are changing though, because the days are getting shorter. I saw Orion in the pre-dawn sky as we walked Dot and Dash around the block this morning. Pretty soon it will be even darker. I won't miss the hot weather as Winter approaches, but I will miss the sunlight. I do better with lots of sunlight.

Rowe is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2472

The bananas didn't ripen at all this weekend and were still green this morning. I thought about chopping them up and throwing them in the Vitamix anyway, but after tasting one, I decided against it. There must be a chemical change that goes on in bananas as they ripen. These didn't taste like anything I was familiar with. The taste was somewhere between a raw potato and wood chips. My smoothie didn't taste the same without the bananas. Bananas are tricky. If you pick bright yellow ones that are ready to eat, they go bad quickly. If you pick green ones, you're never sure when they are going to ripen. I'll try to do better next time.

You probably think green bananas aren't even worth mentioning, but they kind of became the theme for the day. Nothing really went as expected. Dot stumbled three times on her morning walk. All we did was go around the block, so the walk wasn't strenuous at all. I made sure she rested when we got home and sometime later in the day she pooped all over herself and made a huge mess.

The roofer finally called me back and said he hadn't forgotten about me. He told me that they were so busy fixing actual leaks that potential leaks had to wait in line. I hope they hurry. My potential leak is going to become an actual leak if the repairs get delayed much longer. The house I owned before this on had a flat roof too. It's hard to believe that I've spent almost 40 years dealing with one frustrating roof problem after another. Don't ever buy a house with a flat roof. No matter how cool the house looks now, you're going to regret your decision later.

The power went out for about thirty seconds early this morning. Even though the electricity came back on almost immediately, it took forever to reset all the devices that immediately lost their memory. Just about everything has a clock inside it these days. All the internal clocks needed to be reset. I reset the coffee maker so it would turn itself on and be ready for me when I woke up. I reset the timer that turns the living room lights on at sunset. I turned the washer and dryer off, because somehow they both turn themselves on after a power outage. I reset the humidity threshold on the dehumidifier so it wouldn't turn itself off when the humidity reached 50%. There were several clock radios that had internal clocks and probably a few other things that I haven't even discovered yet. Electricity can be complicated.

I got a new writing assignment today and finished several small website updates. The work I do now tends to keep me busy, but the budgets are so small that I never make any money. One more frustration in a long list of frustrations. There is no point in turning these little jobs down, because what else would I do? It would be nice if I would get a job with a decent budget every once in a while though. I have a feeling that this has something to do with Karma. I must have done something terribly wrong years ago when I was making a lot of money.

I'm not sure what we'll be doing tomorrow, since I canceled Dot's physical therapy appointment. Maybe I'll go buy some new bananas. I don't think the ones I've got are going to turn yellow overnight.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2459

It's amazing how a few simple things can eat up an entire day. I don't ever plan anything on Dot's physical therapy days anymore. It seems to take forever to get her down to her appointment and back again. No matter how early I get started, I always seem to arrive late. Dot did well in the underwater treadmill this afternoon, but she didn't do so well in the car. I had to stop several times because she squirmed around and got herself stuck in an awkward position. When she gets stuck, she whines and cries and I have to look for a place where I can stop quickly so I can re-position her. I really try to avoid freeways now. Sometimes I wonder whether the rehab is even worth it, but I try to stay optimistic.

I got a couple of new writing assignments today. When I was looking through the input material, I noticed that the client misspelled the name of one of their products again. This has happened before. Nobody pays attention to details anymore. You'd think getting the name of your own product right would be a no brainer, but apparently not. It probably doesn't even matter. I suspect that people's inability to spell accounts for a lot of the really weird product names out there.

It was so hot today that Dash didn't even want to go outside. When he doesn't want to walk on a day like this, I figure that he knows best. Heatstroke in dogs is very common here in Texas. It's better to just let your dog rest on a hot day. Dot actually got the best deal today. The water in the treadmill was nice and cool. She was a little slow this afternoon, but I think she enjoyed being in the water.

I certainly didn't accomplish much today. Breakfast wasn't relaxing at all. Dot was sleeping nicely, but Dash woke her up barking for his banana. Pretty soon both dogs were barking and by the time I fixed their treat and got them quiet again, my smoothie was too warm and I had to put it in the freezer for a while. The temperature has to be just right for breakfast to be enjoyable. I'm always warming up my coffee in the microwave and putting my smoothie in the freezer. Dot and Dash never did stop barking. By the time I finished washing the breakfast dishes, the dogs were tired and so was I.

I"m going to try to get both my articles written tomorrow. I thought I'd have time to get started today, but it wasn't meant to be. If the dogs are cooperative, completing two articles should be a piece of cake. My big task tomorrow is figuring out how to load the garbage can so the robotic garbage truck empties it properly. I think I filled the big plastic trash bags too full last week and they got stuck in the can. I'll try twice as many half full bags this week. It's hard to outwit a robotic truck. I hate that truck.

There are so many little things I need to do. It's time to get a haircut again. The large printer has run out of ink and is probably clogged. Janet says the electric element in the oven is starting to fail. Where do you find a part for a fifty year old oven? The shower is starting to leak again too. I thought I did a really good job of sealing the shower stall, but my repairs didn't even last six months. I can't forget to call the roofer too. I found new areas that need to be patched. No wonder just taking a nap seems so appealing.

Bailey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2364

I took Janet to the airport this morning. The road to DFW has been perpetually under construction since the day I moved to Dallas. I don't think they'll ever finish it. They keep making the road wider and wider, but it never seems to be wide enough. I drove carefully today. I'm always worried that I'll get in a wreck and the dogs will starve to death before anyone notices I'm gone. Taking care of the dogs has always been a team effort and it still makes me nervous to operate without a backup.

I promised Janet I wouldn't go up on the roof while she was gone. It would definitely be bad news if I broke my neck and nobody noticed. There are still plenty of things that could go wrong, but I think we'll do OK. All the dogs meds have been neatly organized in little packets with the date and time to give them marked on the front. The refrigerator is well stocked and the dog walker is coming tomorrow morning to help with Dot's morning walk. Dot and Dash are so set in their ways that they always act a bit restless the first few days that Janet is gone. They're dogs though, and as soon as they settle in to a new routine, everything is fine.

Unfortunately, we haven't reached that transition point yet. Whenever they hear a noise, they run to the front door to see if anyone is there. Well, Dot doesn't run anywhere, but she whines for me to lift her up and take her to the front door. If I get the dogs settled in one room, five minutes later they want to be in another.  Their routine has been broken and they're not happy campers at the moment. I try to be accomodating, but there's only so much I can do. Things are going to be different for a while.

I don't know why the dogs are so upset. Things aren't actually very different at all. Our life is always pretty much the same. I went to the grocery store today, like I always do on Saturdays. Dash got a long afternoon walk and they both got their dinner right on time. Maybe they want the television on. As soon as they both settle down and go to sleep, I'll have to wake them up again to give them their evening meds. Then we'll go through this all over again.

I was going to try to get to bed earlier and get some additional sleep, but I'm not off to a good start. Despite the best of intentions, I ate dinner when I always do and couldn't get started writing the blog until the dogs settled down and went to sleep. By the time I reconfigure the dogs beds in their  nighttime mode, give the dogs their pills, brush my teeth and empty and clean the dehumidifier, it will be close to midnight. An hour after I go to sleep, Dot will poop in her bed and I'll be up again.

I hope that Dot and Dash cooperate with the dog walker tomorrow. Life will be so much easier if we can get their regular morning and evening walks out of the way without a giant hassle. I tried to take Dot on a short walk by myself this evening and that didn't go all that well. She really has very little interest in walking unless Dash is walking in front of her. The dogs don't know it yet, but they're going to be getting a banana tomorrow. We usually have a big breakfast, with bacon, eggs, biscuits, and fresh fruit on Sunday mornings. I think I'm going to revert to my weekday banana and strawberry smoothie tomorrow, which means sharing a banana with the dogs. Anything to make life a little easier.

Daisy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2340

I knew today was going to be a problem. The HVAC guy wanted to come out at 8 AM to service the air conditioner. 8 AM is when the dogs normally eat their breakfast, so they are both active and energetic. Dot and Dash weren't in the mood to sleep through anything this morning. Dot didn't poop when we walked her around the block right after sunrise, so she was primed and ready to go. As soon as she started barking at the repair technician, there was poop everywhere. It is best if Dot is asleep when repair people are in the house, but this wasn't going to be one of those days. She got upset, stepped in the poop and tracked it all over the bedroom. Dash didn't help matters when he started barking too. He could care less about the repair technician, but he was mad that he had to wait for his breakfast banana. I always give the dogs half a banana when I make my morning smoothie, and they are not very patient about waiting. The technician eventually finished the system check and left. It took me the rest of the morning to clean up Dot's mess.

By the time I finished cleaning various rugs, carpets, blankets, and Dot's soiled harness, it was time for lunch. I have no idea what the HVAC technician actually did, because I was preoccupied washing Dot and cleaning up the huge mess that she had created. I hope the air conditioner doesn't give me any problems this Summer. It would be really frustrating to have gone through all today's carnage for nothing. One good thing about dogs is that they totally live in the moment. As soon as the repair guy was gone, life returned to normal. Dash got his banana. Dot went back to sleep. And I finally finished my breakfast, accompanied by the competing sounds of the washing machine, dishwasher, and dehumidifier.

When we were walking this morning we noticed that the city had painted a series of green, blue, and yellow guidelines on the streets in the neighborhood. I'm not positive, but these appeared to be location lines for underground utilities. It would be ironic that after literally waiting decades to get the streets fixed in our neighborhood, the city was just going to dig them up again. One of the streets with the utility location lines was repaved less than a month ago.

It was time to get the water off the roof again. I know it's probably going to rain again soon, but it's not wise to leave the standing water up there for too long. Whenever I'm up on the roof, I keep noticing that the areas that need to be patched are growing larger. I'll call the roofer again, but I'm not optimistic. My roofer has his own priorities, and evidently I'm not very high on his list.

I finished updating the firmware in all my cameras and lenses. It was surprising that so many things were out of date. I have lots of exciting new capabilities now, but since none of them are listed or described in the manual, I wonder if I'll ever use them. A month from now, I'll forget I even updated all this stuff.

There was a  car parked on the street where I usually put my garbage can on Thursday night. I had to put my can in a strange new place and now I wonder if the truck will pick it up. This is the kind of stuff I worry about. I can't decide where to eat breakfast tomorrow either. It's been that kind of day.

Dixie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2317

There was a pile of mail on our doorstep early this morning. It obviously didn't come from the post office, so I will have to assume that it was another batch of misdirected mail that our mail carrier left at a neighbor's house instead. This has happened before. Luckily, our neighbors are usually more reliable about returning the mail than the post office is in delivering it. We used to have a fabulous mail carrier, but things have gone downhill in recent years. I suspect that the post office has become mired in bureaucracy, just like the veterans administration and other government agencies. It's hard to fire bad mail carriers too. They probably have a job for life.

It was difficult to focus on anything today. I had some websites to update, but there wasn't enough work to keep me occupied for long. I kind of drifted aimlessly through the day. I paid some bills, took a small check to the bank, picked up a prescription, and bought a big bag of Cheetos. I really try to eat healthy, but I've become addicted to Flaming Hot Crunchy Cheetos. I hope the red dye in these things doesn't give you cancer, because it sure stains your hands when you eat them. I don't know what happened to the guy who studiously avoided wheat products and dined on Kale and Quinoa for over two years. I hate to admit it, but I've become a culinary backslider, trading fish and fresh veggies for bacon cheeseburgers whenever I can.

My big production printer is out of ink again. Do I buy eight more expensive cartridges, or do I just give up on the thing? The printer is a relic from another era. I used to make beautiful very large Giclée prints. I sold the prints and had several gallery shows. After a while I lost interest. Now, I just make a small test print every evening to keep the printer from clogging. I've run through two complete sets of ink cartridges making the same test print over and over again. The printer is ready if I need it, but I doubt that I will ever need it again. I haven't made a large exhibition quality print in three years.

I don't take as many photos as I used to either, although I keep checking the B&H website every few days to see if the camera I want is still on sale. The camera has been discounted quite a bit, so I suspect that it is being discontinued. That doesn't matter to me. Practically everything I own has been discontinued. Truthfully, I don't need a new camera any more than I need a huge commercial ink jet printer. It's frustrating. I'm just as addicted to gear as I am to Flaming Hot Crunchy Cheetos, but the cameras and computers are much more expensive. There was a time when these things were just normal business expenses, but that ship has sailed. I'm going to have to come up with a less expensive way to spend my remaining years.

I've got lots to remember tomorrow. It's time for Dot to take her next batch of Palladia pills. Our physical therapy session is also tomorrow, even though I still keep thinking it's on Thursday. My leather jacket is ready to pick up at the tailor shop. I'm sure there are other things as well. I'll try not to take the trash out a day early like I did last week. It's hard to remember what day it is when you keep track by how many bananas are left in the kitchen. If it's four bananas, it must be Wednesday.

Marley is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2311

It's amazing how much time can be wasted trying to get electronic devices to play nice with each other. Everything is connected these days, but the connections don't always work. Sometimes Bluetooth is the problem. Other times it is the WiFi network. Occasionally the electricity goes out and everything goes down. Today I couldn't access one of my clients websites. I was about to call the hosting company when I decided to try an alternate WiFi connection and discovered that everything was fine. Why was T-Mobile working and AT&T U-Verse wasn't? It was weird that most websites appeared to be functioning normally, but a few appeared to be blocked on U-Verse. I unplugged the router, re-booted everything and five minutes later, I was up and running again. I never did figure out what the problem was.

Later in the day, my weather radar app quit working and I had problems syncing my new activity tracker. Life was much simpler when the most complicated machines I had were an IBM Selectric typewriter and a Leica rangefinder camera. Mechanical things used to break too, but the failures were much more predictable. Now, the problem could be anywhere. Is there something wrong in the cloud where your data is being stored? Is there something wrong with your security settings? Is the pet cam causing interference with the WiFi router? Usually I can fix things myself while I am waiting on hold for thirty minutes to talk with someone from tech support. Life in the digital age is still frustrating though. I make my living online, but I was happier before the Internet existed.

For the third week in a row Dot pooped in the car on the way to her physical therapy appointment. I walked her around in the yard forever before we left, trying to avoid another accident, but to no avail. She wasn't ready to go. Two things seem to make Dot poop; excitement and stress. A ride in the car can cause both. It wouldn't do much good to give her a sedative before we left the house, because it's not a good idea to be sleepy when you are walking in the underwater treadmill. I really don't know what to do. Chemotherapy, acupuncture and exercise help, but you can't fix old age.

I usually know the names of the flowers I photograph, but I'm drawing a blank on the clusters of tiny white blooms that pop up in the grass seemingly overnight when it rains. It's been a rainy week, so these things are everywhere. I'll figure out what they are eventually. By June they'll all be gone. Until then, I hope it stays cool. Dot is enjoying her morning walks again now that the weather has cooled down a bit. She walks very slowly now, stopping every few feet to smell things along the way. It takes Janet and I forever to make our one mile circuit through the park each morning, but I think Dot still enjoys being outside.

One problem with moving Dot's therapy appointment to Wednesday is that I don't know what to do on Thursdays now. When I wake up on Thursday lately, I initially think it is Friday. It's disappointing to realize that I've got to wait another day to go out to breakfast.  I supposed I could go out to eat two days a week, but there are still bananas and strawberries in the kitchen to use up before they go bad. I'm so structured that a single banana can keep me from doing something spontaneous.

Valli is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2122

I had an actual deadline today, so things were a little busier than usual. I met the deadline and even had time for a revision. We'll see if the deadline was real when I find out whether there are further revisions tomorrow. I've learned from experience that a lot of deadlines are imaginary. I'm not complaining though. It was actually a good thing that I had something to keep me busy while I waited for the guy from Dent Zone to come out to the house and fix the dent on my car.

The technician from Dent Zone arrived right on time and in less than ten minutes the dent was gone. I'm always amazed at how this process works. I used to think that they used some sort of vacuum process to suck the dent out from the outside of the car. They actually push the dent out from the inside. There's definitely an art to removing dents this way. The guy had some special tools that he inserted through the rear door window and gently pushed the metal back in place. I asked him how long it took him to learn this odd skill and he told me it took him three years. The guy was good though. There is absolutely no sign that a loose shopping cart ever hit my car.

Dash is still having problems with his leg. The limp is very sporadic and there's no telling when it is going to occur. Today he walked absolutely normally for about fifteen minutes, hopped on one foot for about five steps, and then resumed walking normally the rest of the way home. The more I watch Dash walk, the more I'm convinced that the vet was right. I think he did strain a ligament and the knee is loose right now. I know from experience how easy it is for a knee or shoulder to go out of joint. I injured my knee in college, and even after surgery, it still occasionally goes out of joint today. I've learned to anticipate many of the things that cause my knee to go out of joint, and for the most part, it doesn't cause me a lot of problems. This is probably harder for a dog. I'm sure Dash doesn't know what is going on when his knee pops out of joint and just starts hopping as a reflex. The vet says the ligament is not torn and should heal by itself. I hope she's right.

I got an e-mail from Jawbone today telling me that there was a new firmware update for my fitness band that would double the battery life. I wonder how they managed that? The UP band still has the same battery and I would assume that the capacity is the same as well. It's quite a trick to extend the battery life from seven days to fourteen days with a software patch. I downloaded the update because I appreciate longer battery life as much as the next guy. I still wonder what they did though. Maybe they just turn the band off periodically and use an algorithm to estimate what I'm doing while it's off. I'm not sure how accurate these things are anyway. The UP band and my Apple Watch never agree about the number of steps I take during the day.

I wish I could go back to afternoons for Dot's Thursday physical therapy appointment. Believe it or not, I'm having trouble getting out of the house in time to make an 11 AM appointment. My simple routines apparently take an enormous amount of time. I'll have to make sure to keep things moving along tomorrow. I can always save some time by not dawdling over breakfast. We bought too many bananas this week, so this morning I put an extra one in my smoothie. I won't do that again. Two bananas is definitely one too many. I'm going back to my original recipe tomorrow.

Hershey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2071

A busy day is not always a productive day. I was very busy today, but I don't feel like I accomplished anything. Dot seemed weak when she woke up this morning, but we still managed to finish our pre-dawn walk. I made my breakfast smoothie and listened to the dogs bark at me as soon as I began to peel the bananas. Eventually the loud barking stops but it's not an atmosphere where you'd want to linger over your last cup of coffee. I can tell that Janet is eager to get out of the house and off to work. Early mornings can be pretty chaotic.

After breakfast, I went and found a place where I could get my vehicle registration sticker. They didn't even ask to see my safety inspection results, or my proof of insurance card. All that information was already on their computer screens. You'd think since they've made the registration process simpler, that prices would come down. Nope. They actually went up quite a bit. I remember when the annual vehicle registration sticker was in the $30 range. Then it was $50 for a long time. Today I paid over $75 dollars for my sticker. Oh, well. At least I'm legal for another year.

The second of my Dad's two sisters died this morning. She was 99 years old. My parents both passed away quite a while ago, but now all the Aunts and Uncles are gone as well. We were not a very prolific family. To the best of my knowledge, I'm the last remaining male Sealander. For years I used to think that the family name would die out with me since I never had children. Now I'm not so sure. The rules for marriage and gender have changed so much in recent years that maybe one of the Sealander girls will decide to keep the name going.

A lot of people are saying that it's going to rain later this week. I'll believe it when I see it. There actually is rain in the forecast though. I'm glad that the roofers finally came out and made all the patches I requested. I'll have to take a look tomorrow and make sure they dried properly. There is nothing that could turn these highly anticipated showers into my old nemesis again like another roof leak. The roof is actually in pretty good shape, but roof leaks have been a part of my life for so long now that it's still hard to believe that I've managed to put these problems behind me.

Dot has her annual exam tomorrow. I still can't decide whether she's going to be fourteen or fifteen years old on her birthday. You never know for sure with a rescue dog. Today Dot seemed more like 25 years old, but that was probably just because I was feeling pretty tired myself. It's been a long, hard journey this year. I'm glad my family has good genes. It's going to take some hereditary magic if I ever make it to 99 years old.

Toby is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2032

Dot did well during her physical therapy session today. We talked about what was causing her to limp and came to no firm conclusions. The vet agreed that the limp could be caused by a wide variety of things, including an underlying neurological problem, too much exercise, or the Palladia pills she's taking. I'm going to ask Dot's oncologist if it would be OK to discontinue the pills for a month after her next ultrasound scan. If there are no adverse effects from postponing the chemotherapy for a while, at least we could determine if this was the cause of her lameness. For the time being, we will decrease the distance she walks slightly, while still having her climb small hills each morning to strengthen her leg muscles.

I finally finished editing all the images for my client's multi-media project. We've got enough pictures now for a nice slide show or a short Ken Burns style movie. If they want a slide show, I'm going to try to convince them to get one of those little Chromecast streaming sticks and just link it to pictures in a Google album. I've tried this and it's a super easy way to make a quick, professional looking slide show. When you select the Chromecast stick as the input source on your TV, the Google photo album you select will end up being the default screen saver. I used to spend days creating lobby presentations for clients and the first time I tried using Chromecast, I had a great looking presentation up and running in less than five minutes. I never thought it would happen, but I'm I'm finally willing to admit that I don't really need a DVD drive anymore. Netflix, Chromecast, Apple Music, and a host of other cloud based solutions are just so much better.

I traded my Apple Watch for the larger model. Why? Who knows. Truthfully, probably the only reason I exchanged the watch was because I could. I was perfectly happy with the smaller watch, but I like this slightly larger version too. Really, they're both pretty much the same. Hey, it gave me something to do after I brought Dot home this afternoon, it didn't cost very much to upgrade, and now I've got a bigger watch. I'll have to figure out something else to occupy my time tomorrow.

The reason it's been a slow week is that my writing assignments have dwindled to almost nothing. I finally discovered why today. The person who sends me most of the writing assignments is on jury duty. She must have gotten selected for a trial because she's been out of the office for quite a while. At any rate, when I resume cranking out articles, I'm be just as busy as I ever was. I actually ought to be grateful for the opportunity to take a breather. It's been nice not having much to do for a while.

This week has gone really quickly. I'm looking forward to going out for breakfast tomorrow. It will be nice to eat in peace without two barking dogs on either side of me. I created a monster when I started feeding Dot and Dash a banana while I ate my breakfast. Now, if the don't get their banana, they bark and howl until I peel and slice one up for them. Are these dogs spoiled? Of course they are. I've got to figure out another way to deal with this breakfast commotion though. Dot is gaining weight again. With her weak rear lags, we've got to be especially careful about her weight. She really doesn't need to be eating bananas and extra kibble after she's finished her regular breakfast. I've thought about solving the problem by just going out for breakfast every morning, but then I'd be the one gaining weight.

Greta is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2024

My unfocused Monday is rapidly turning into an unfocused week. I thought I'd get started on a new website project today, but ran into a major snag almost immediately. Instead of just using text for navigation buttons, I've always liked to use images instead. Having a photo that turns into a negative of the same photo when you roll your mouse over the link always looked kind of cool to me. This simple image swap behavior was always easy to do using Dreamweaver and Fireworks, but I still haven't figured out an effective way to accomplish the same thing using a responsive design framework like Webflow or Macaw. Basically, I wasted a lot of time experimenting with things that didn't work very well, and finally ended up erasing everything and starting over toward the end of the day. These trial and error exercises are usually how I learn things, but there are times when I think there's got to be an easier way.

I've created a monster by feeding the dogs a banana while I eat my breakfast. This worked well for a few days, but now both dogs start barking if I don't feed them a slice of banana every ten or fifteen seconds. Instead of training them to stay quiet and let me eat in peace, they've trained me to feed them the banana at regular intervals. Breakfast has become like a conditioned response experiment run amok. Dot and Dash have become Pavlov and I have become the dog. Now, they're starting to expect something at dinner too. I'm not sure how this is going to end.

I made a repeat trip to the park after sunset this evening to look for Venus and Jupiter and this time I was successful. The two planets weren't quite as close together as they would have been last night, but still it was a sight worth seeing. After walking about half a mile to find a good vantage point, I discovered on the way home that I could see the planetary conjunction just as well from my own backyard. This would actually be a good time to walk the dogs if it weren't so dark. The air cools down surprisingly quickly after the sun sets.

The Apple Health App has been sitting unused on my phone ever since I upgraded to IOS 8. I never really knew what it was for until I started wearing the Apple Watch. Now, I'm learning all sorts of interesting things. One thing I was completely unaware of is that my heart rate is higher than it should be when I'm sleeping. I supposed this has something to do with taking time release Niacin every night before I go to bed. Sometimes when I wake up at night the Niacin flushing drives me nuts. It probably also raises my heart rate. Since I'm taking another pill to slow down my heart rate, something is all wrong here. One more thing to ask my doctor about. I tried to do a little research on Google, but that is seldom a good idea. You can look up virtually any health condition on Google and find ten different plausible answers. If you keep reading long enough, you will inevitably conclude that you are going to die.

Sometimes ideas come to me in my sleep. I hope I discover a solution for my website dilemma while I'm sleeping. I certainly wasted enough time on this today. I guess I could just abandon using rollover images as navigation buttons, but I'm stubborn. I bet I'll find the answer I'm looking for tomorrow. I'll have to find the answer in the morning, because Thursdays are really Dot's day. I hope she does well at her physical therapy session. She seemed kind of shaky today. I'm hoping a good night's sleep will be good for all of us.

Bentley is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1981

My loaner car has a new feature called intelligent start/stop. I hate it. When your car comes to a stop at an intersection, the engine shuts off completely. When you take your foot off the brake and press the accelerator again, the engine starts and off you go. Who thinks of these things? I've spent almost my entire driving life trying to avoid having my engine stall out at a busy intersection with a bunch of angry drivers behind me. Now this behavior is called a feature? It's crazy.

My service adviser  told me that intelligent start/stop systems will be mandatory on new cars starting in 2017. Maybe these things will work for a little while, but what happens when the car gets older and your battery starts to get weak? Dead batteries are another thing I try to avoid. I noticed that all the electronics on the car, even the air conditioner, continue to run while the car is sitting at a stop light with it's engine off. That probably puts a strain on the best of batteries. Call me old fashioned, but I think a car's engine should always be running when you're behind the wheel. I don't know how long it will take to repair my damaged wheel, but while I'm driving this loaner, I'm going to disable the fancy Eco-Start system.

Dot seemed really tired today. I hope she hasn't strained a muscle or injured anything. Progress is much slower now than it was during the initial weeks following her surgery. I need to remember how far she's come. Considering that she was completely paralyzed a few months ago, it's remarkable that she's walking at all. I still hope her legs continue to get stronger and that she will eventually be able to walk without the Help 'Em Up Harness. Maybe that's expecting too much though. Dot is a very old dog. I let her set the pace these days. On a good day, we'll have a nice slow walk in the park. When she's tired, we don't even make it around the block.

I've noticed that Dot is never too tired for breakfast. Janet feed the dogs their regular breakfast when she gets up, and later they get to share a banana with me. Dot and Dash used to get excited when I cooked sausages, because they always got a taste. I think they like bananas even more than sausage though. They're going to be really disappointed if I ever lose interest in having banana smoothies.

I spent a long time today learning how to make responsive objects that you can click with a mouse on your computer and swipe with your finger on your phone. I see these things on mobile websites all the time. Swiping to the left or right with your finger is the primary way you navigate when viewing a mobile site. Mouse-over behaviors don't work at all, since you don't use a mouse on your phone or tablet. It's still seems pretty complicated to me, but I'm slowly getting the hang of it. Each time I update my test site, it gets a little better.

I have an appointment with the dentist tomorrow. This is the dentist that fills teeth and makes crowns. My other two dentists specialize in oral surgery and dental implants. I hope the dentist I'm seeing tomorrow can successfully repair tooth #30 and send me on my way. If he can't, I may have to go back and see the other two dentists. Like I said earlier, I've opened a Pandora's Box of dental misery.
        

Holly is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1980

I had to renew some prescriptions today and a bottle of pills that cost me $30 last month suddenly increased to $160. Yes, I've entered the so called doughnut hole again. Part-D prescription drug plans have always seemed overly complex to me. There are six or seven different categories of drugs, each with it's own co-pay rate, and then there are three different benefit stages that plan members must navigate during your plan year. You start out with a reasonable co-pay, then after you've received a certain amount of benefits, you enter the doughnut hole, where rates skyrocket for a while. If you keep refilling your prescriptions, you eventually reach what they call the catastrophic coverage stage, where you pay next to nothing for your meds. I know the government is trying to save money, but do they really need to make things so complicated? Wouldn't it be much simpler to just have a somewhat higher co-pay all year long and keep the coverage constant? I feel the same way about taxes. A simple flat tax would be so much easier for everyone.

It was strange to see blue skies this morning as we walked the dogs. I haven't seen the sun for quite a while, so today's mild weather was a welcome treat. The dogs enjoyed the sunshine as much as I did, and Dot had one of her best days in a long time. We walked up and down several hills and she got some much needed exercise. Since the long range weather forecast is still predicting rain for the remainder of the week, I thought I'd take advantage of this rare clear day to mow the grass. The grass had grown so rapidly as a result of almost a month of solid rain that I had to raise the mower blades a bit. At the regular setting, the thick grass was just too much for the little mower.

It was pretty busy for a Monday. In addition to going to the pharmacy and mowing the grass, I began working on my first mobile website for an actual client. My initial efforts are nothing to write home about, but I'm definitely making progress. Two months ago I didn't even know what responsive web design was. Since I'll probably eventually have to redesign every site I manage, I'm trying to tackle the easy problems first. If this goes well, I'll try something a little more difficult next time.

All the rain we've been having must be causing the foundation to shift a bit. The screen door at the back of the house is getting sticky again and this morning I watched a ceramic tile in the bathroom crack right in front of my eyes. I thought I'd superglue the chipped tile back together again and ended up gluing my fingers together in the process. I need to make a mental note that nail polish remover does not work to remove superglue from skin. Acetone does work though. Luckily, I had a small bottle of acetone in the utility room, or my thumb and forefinger would still be stuck together.

The dogs immediately started barking this morning when they saw me get the bananas out for my breakfast smoothie. They wanted to make sure that I remembered to save a banana for them. I didn't forget the dogs, but in the confusion of the moment, I did forget to add the eggs to my smoothie. Oh, well. This morning's concoction probably wasn't as nutritious as it should be, but it still tasted good. At least the dogs were happy. In addition to remembering to add eggs tomorrow, I need to remember to take my car to the dealership. I have an appointment to get the wheel fixed that I damaged hitting a large pothole. Hopefully, I won't hit another pothole driving up to the dealership. The roads are really that bad.

Skippy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1977

Change of plans. I knew it was going to be a long morning when we woke up to another round of thunderstorms, so I didn't even consider going out for breakfast this morning. It's a race against time when we wake up in the middle of a thunderstorm. The first thing the dogs do every morning is go outside and pee. When it's raining however, all bets are off. Dot and Dash absolutely refuse to leave the house during a heavy rain. Dash can hold it pretty well, but Dot will eventually poop on the floor. Luckily, using the new Minute-By-Minute app on my phone I was able to find two tiny windows where I could get the dogs out to do their business. Dot had a five minute window, which was plenty of time for her. She quickly pooped in the alley and came back inside. About thirty minutes later I was able to find an eight minute window where I could take Dash to the park. Dot must be teaching him about the weather, because he did his business amazingly quickly. One minute after we returned to the house, the deluge began. A few years ago we would have both been soaked, but Dash is learning how the world works. I think he's learned that a short walk is much better than a wet walk, especially when there is thunder involved.

I had another smoothie for breakfast and since the dogs were so good at dealing with this morning's awful weather, I gave them a banana as a reward. I think I agree with Dash. A Friday breakfast at home is much better than getting wet. When I turned the computer on, I discovered that I had new writing assignments and one of my clients wants to build a responsive website. I foolishly told him I could make what he needs, even though I'm not not quite up to speed yet. All he really wants is for customers to be able to call him directly from the website when they're viewing it on a phone. Although there's lots I still have to learn, I do know how to do this, so I think we'll be OK.

I went to the doctor this afternoon to get my Benicar prescription changed to something that wasn't involved in a class-action suit. The doctor still thought Benicar was safe and told me he took it himself. Nevertheless, he did change my prescription. He also did a complete blood panel and gave me a bone density test. I knew I wasn't going to get out of there without some sort of test. At least the doctor seemed happy with the result of all the lab work he's done. He said I was in great shape for someone my age and just told me that I should go to the gym more often. Janet tells me the same thing. Too bad I don't enjoy going to the gym. Since the dogs and I probably won't be doing any more five mile walks, I probably should heed their advise. Taking half an hour to slowly walk Dot around the block probably isn't burning many calories.

I picked up Janet at the airport  this evening and the dogs were quite excited to see the whole family back together again. They were both quite good while she was gone, but you could tell that they didn't like the situation. Dot wants to be able to take family walks with Dash again and Dash just wants everybody nearby. He always gets upset when Janet travels. Maybe he gets upset when I travel too, but I don't travel very much. Dot and Dash are so used to having me nearby all the time that I'm convinced they just think I'm another dog.

If the rain ever quits, I'll mow the grass this weekend and clear the water off the roof. If it continues to rain, we'll just have a jungle in the front yard and a duck pond on the roof. Maybe our landscaping and grass will last longer this Summer. It is really, really wet.

Sadie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day