Day 3267

Brrr. It was really cold this morning. I couldn't clean off a poop stained dog blanket right away because the garden hose was frozen. Dash didn't want to wear his sweater this morning either. He's usually pretty patient when we suit him up for his walks, but I could tell that he was letting us know that enough is enough. I don't know how Northerners put up with this stuff. Everything takes longer in freezing weather.

Today was much messier than yesterday. Maybe I just got lucky yesterday. While I was cleaning up poop on the porch, I didn't notice that Dash was near the back door and apparently needed to poop again. In warmer weather I would have just left the door open while I was working so he could come and go freely, but as I said, it was very cold this morning. Dash pooped on the floor next to the door while he was waiting for me, slipped and fell in the mess, and smeared it all over himself as he was struggling to get up again. I had to give him a bath to clean him up. Dash wasn't happy about that either. It took a while before the floor, the dog, and several assorted blankets were all clean again. This wasn't really how I wanted to spend my morning but I didn't have anything better to do anyway. By the time I finished breakfast it was almost time for a meeting I had scheduled at the bank.

The bank recently upgraded my account in an attempt to sell me more stuff. I like having an account with no fees, but I've never been interested in buying securities from a bank. To be polite I said I would listen to their proposals, but after today's meeting they probably wish they'd never given me the special account. To me a bank is a place to have a checking account. It's not a place to buy and sell stocks. Jeez. I've got a stock broker for that kind of stuff. After a long conversation I think they finally realized that I know more about the market than they do. I get to keep my no fee account though. That's all I wanted in the first place.

Today wasn't a good day to talk about the market anyway. Yesterday everybody was optimistic about a trade deal with China and the market went up. Today everybody was pessimistic about Trump's angry tweets about tariffs and the market went down. I hate this volatility. It would probably be safer to just bet on the NFL. Of course, I never would have guessed that the Cowboys would have beat the Saints last week, so a safe bet on anything probably doesn't exist these days.

I've finally gotten a few bids on my lots in the online auction. Maybe I should have put a reserve on my lots, because the bids are quite low. There's one day left before the auction concludes. Maybe there'll be some activity in the final hours. That's usually the way it works on eBay. People often don't start to bid on eBay items until the final seconds. We'll see how the auction goes. This online auction was an experiment anyway. I still think I like live auctions better.

What was I thinking? I had leftover pizza for dinner tonight and I've already got heartburn. I seem incapable of throwing away leftover food. This pizza was a leftover from dinner on Friday and I was determined to eat it before it went bad. There are still leftover sandwiches from last weekend's photo shoots too. Hey, they were good sandwiches from Panera Bread, so I'm sure I'll eat them as well. I think my stomach is in for a rough ride this week.

I'm glad now that I didn't apply to attend the Space X resupply mission launch that was supposed to take place today. The launch got postponed because some mouse food in the cargo had gotten moldy and needed to be replaced. What are they sending mice to the space station for anyway? At any rate, if I had gone to the launch, I would have had to reschedule my return flight and extend my hotel stay for at least another day. Watching a launch is complicated and it can get expensive quickly. Maybe I need to rethink my retirement hobbies. I really can't leave Dash right now anyway. I've got poop to clean up.

Camp is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3249

It's been quite a challenge getting Dash's paws to heal while still continuing to walk him. The least little scrape causes them to bleed again. Even walking around the house is starting to cause problems. I found some extra soft socks and we are only using new boots now. Mostly the bleeding has stopped, but I still see little drops of blood on the floor from time to time. The cuts are minor and will definitely heal over time, but cuts like these are much more problematic when you are taking blood thinners.

Even though Dash doesn't stay still at night, I'm going to try placing a puppy training pad under his butt before I go to sleep. It couldn't hurt to try. It's really getting old cleaning blankets and bedding every day. Dash didn't even wake up when he pooped in the bed last night. This is actually a good thing. If he starts staying asleep when he poops, I can put a puppy pad under him and cleanup will be easy.

It was a little warmer this morning, which made our morning walk chilly but pleasant. I'm enjoying this weather. For the second day in a row there wasn't a cloud in the sky. After checking to make sure Dash's paws were OK after our walk, I left for breakfast. Even though I almost always order the same thing, I'm still enjoying going to the hotel. It's pleasant there. The staff knows me by name now. Since most customers are travelers, I'm one of the few regulars.

A trip to the bank was on my to-do list today. I had to clear up a snafu that I probably caused myself by not listening carefully when I opened a new account several months ago. I thought I had one kind of account, but I actually had another. I could have sworn that I opened an account that had no fees associated with it. Nope. I've started noticing fees and charges I wasn't expecting. Eventually I managed to get the fees removed but they shouldn't have been there in the first place.

Getting my bank account straightened out was easy compared to getting a new TV remote from AT&T. I don't know why you can't get a TV remote at an AT&T store. That would be too easy. I had to talk with an offshore customer service representative who couldn't speak English very well. At first he tried to change my U-verse plan. Then he tried to sell me a TV remote. It took forever to explain the my remote was broken and he needed to send me a replacement for free. Who knows if I will get a new remote in the mail. I'm not counting on it. I could barely understand this guy.

I wrote a letter to my sister this afternoon and watched another episode of Mars. I was hoping that this series would be like The Martian. The script isn't nearly as good as Andy Weir's novel. This is definitely not something i could binge watch. After a single episode, I was ready to start repairing dog boots again.

I'm still tired a lot, but I'm sleeping better now. I don't know what has changed. Dash continues to wake me up every night. I'm just getting back to sleep a lot quicker.

Alvin is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day