Day 1375

I said goodby to the Defender today. I've had this car for seventeen years and it's hard to imagine life without it. There has always been a full size metal dog crate in the back. Frequently, the crate was used to take Dot or Dash to the vet. Other times it was used to transport recently rescued Dalmatians from the pound. When it wasn't full of dogs, the crate was often full of photo equipment. I got a lot of use out of this fabulous car.

As regular readers are well aware, the Defender also spent a lot of time in the shop.  As the car grew older, the problems gradually became more serious. I finally decided I'd been towed to the dealership one too many times. I knew I had a window of opportunity where the car was still desirable, even though it wasn't all that reliable anymore. I knew it was time to move on. I'm driving a new car now, with all the bells and whistles that people expect in 2013. I doubt that the new car will last for seventeen years though. I doubt that I will even want to keep a car for seventeen years again. Hell, seventeen years from now, they probably won't even allow me on the road.

I'd forgotten how many papers you have to sign when you buy a car. Cleaning out  the old car and getting it ready to trade and then doing all the paperwork at the dealership to get me into the new car took the better part of the day. I wasn't in any hurry though. It was pouring rain when I arrived at the dealership this morning and I was hoping the rain would stop before it was time for me to drive away. I didn't really want my very first trip in the new car to be a rain soaked obstacle course full of stressed out texting Dallas drivers determined to beat every red light. There are lots of accidents when it rains in Dallas.

I got lucky. It took so long to get all the paperwork signed that the skies were already clearing by the time I got behind the wheel and took the new car on its inaugural drive home. I wasn't so lucky with the roof last night. Sometime during the night we were all awakened by the loud crash of a tree limb hitting the roof. It sounded like a large limb and indeed it was when I climbed up on the roof this afternoon to assess the damage. The good news was that this particular branch wasn't dead and still had lots of leaves on it. The leaves cushioned the blow and I don't think the roof sustained any damage. The bad news was that the branch was awkward and quite heavy, so I had trouble getting it off the roof.

So, that was my day. There a is new car in the driveway and a large old Oak limb out by the curb. I hope I made the right decision getting a new car. You never know with cars. The Defender fit my needs and my personality like a glove. I loved that car, but I've also had my share of lemons over the years. We'll see how this new one works out.

Rosie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 1370

There wasn't enough time to take the dogs to the dog park we like in North Dallas this morning, so we went to another one right in the neighborhood. This park wasn't as well manicured as its North Dallas cousin. The dogs were a bit scruffier too. Dot and Dash certainly didn't seem to care. As long as they got to run around and smell things off leash, they were happy campers. It would certainly be easier to take the dogs to this nearby park, but I've seen fights break out when people brought aggressive dogs to the park, and our vet told us that one of her patients caught Leptospirosis from stagnant water in the park. If we can keep the dogs safer by driving a bit further to a cleaner, more polite dog park, it is well worth the effort.

I mowed the grass for the last time this season. Oh, who am I kidding? I'm sure I'll be mowing the front yard for several more months. There is a slight leak in one of the front yard faucets and I startled a few frogs who had made the damp grass around the leak their Summer home. I wish frogs were all I had to worry about in the back yard. The armadillo has returned every night this week and is making a mess of things. I discovered a large hole that the critter had dug under the fence to get in and out and filled it up with dirt again. Maybe this will keep the armadillo out, but I doubt it. If an armadillo can dig one hole under the fence, it can probably dig another.

I thought I'd install a webserver on my laptop so I could show my client the new Wordpress site I've been building. Much to my chagrin, I had to read the installation tutorial all over again. In less than a week, I'd already forgotten how to do the installation. I had a general idea how to do the installation, but that wasn't good enough. Servers and databases just won't work unless you have all the passwords and permissions set correctly. I finally got everything working properly, but as I have mentioned many times before, I'm not really a detail person.

I keep vacillating back and forth about buying a new car. Some days I feel like keeping the Defender and finding someone who could retrofit a new engine. Other days, I feel like taking money out of savings and getting myself something plush and extravagant. Today, I felt like getting a car just like Janet's. Her car is quite nice, somewhat affordable, and it's certainly been more reliable than mine over the years. If I wasn't obsessed with having something totally unique, this whole process would be a lot easier.

I don't know why I went up on the roof today. It hasn't rained in weeks. What I saw surprised me. The entire roof was covered with a layer of broken pecan shells from the neighbor's pecan tree. I knew the squirrels liked pecans, but I didn't know they liked them this much. I must have swept ten pounds of cracked pecan shells off the roof. Doing this little chore now will save me a lot of trouble later. Pecan shells will turn a puddle of standing water the color of iced tea. There are a lot more pecans that are still hanging on the pecan tree though. It is almost inevitable that by by this time next year, my nice white new roof will be the color of iced tea as well.

Spot is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1369

I'm getting closer to buying a new car. I went back to the dealership this afternoon and got real prices on three different alternatives. It's been a while since I've done this, but one thing hasn't changed over the years. The actual drive-away price is quite a bit higher than the price you initially anticipate. By the time the dealer adds tax, title and license charges and an extended warranty, the sticker prices is suddenly thousands of dollars higher. If you're foolish enough to ask for something extra, like a towing package or a roof rack, all bets are off. I still think the time is right to trade the Defender while it still runs and the trade in value is high. I may need to rethink my original plan, however. I might not have the money to get the car I really want.

I don't know why I'm surprised. Given a choice, I'll always choose the most expensive, extravagant thing in the room. If wishes were horses, I'd be shooting all my videos using a Red Epic and stills with a Hasselblad H5D. Should I throw caution to the wind and get what I really want? Or should I be practical? This should be an easy decision, but it's not. On one hand, I could save my money for something more important in the future. On the other hand, if the money sits in the investment account too long, it will eventually find its way to another worthless stock that drops like a stone. At least a car could provide some temporary enjoyment.

Dogs don't seem to have these dilemmas.  Janet and I went up to photograph a new Dalmatian today, and the only thing this friendly girl seemed concerned about was where her next dog treat was coming from. I'm not sure if I got any good pictures. It was a hot day and the more pictures we took, the longer the dog's tongue seemed to get. I told her that she'd look much prettier with her mouth closed, but she didn't seem to agree.

It doesn't look like I can avoid mowing the grass much longer. This is the time of year when I try to convince myself that I'm mowing the grass for the last time this season. It usually keeps right on growing though. Sometimes I'm still mowing the grass in December.

Tomorrow, the dogs get their weekly trip to the dog park. There isn't much grass left at the dog park in September, but the dogs don't seem to care. They'd rather dig holes in the dirt anyway.

Nicholas is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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