Day 3671

There was an indoor triathlon underway when I went to the gym this morning. The cycling segment took place on stationary bicycles set up on the basketball court. The swimming segment took place in the indoor pool. Finally, the running segment took place on treadmills. Somehow, this didn't seem like a real triathlon at all. Contestants only spent ten minutes in the pool and twenty minutes on treadmills. Most of the people I see at the gym do a much more strenuous workout than this anyway. I think the contestants did get a special t-shirt though. Unfortunately, I didn't get to shoot baskets today since the court was filled with stationary bicycles. I spent my hoop time on the rowing machine instead.

I looked for winter coats at REI on my way to the gym. I wasn't impressed. Most of the coats looked like they were made of plastic. These high tech materials were supposed to keep you warmer than down, but they didn't look like they'd last more than a single season. I wish the old Eddie Bauer coat I wore while we were living in Alaska wasn't so heavy. That very old monster of a coat still keeps me warmer than anything I've purchased recently. I guess I could take this coat to the Davis Mountains, but it would double the amount of luggage I need to take.

Luckily, I didn't need a heavy coat on my walk today. It was only 34 degrees when I woke up, but the sun was out and it warmed up rapidly. I got my 20,000 steps, but I wasn't winning any races. Even young mothers pushing baby strollers were passing me today. The park is really popular on weekends. During the week the place can still feel like a nature preserve. On a weekend when the sun is out, it feels more like going to the state fair.

Although I managed to keep moving, I certainly didn't accomplish much today. My one household chore was changing the sheets on the bed. There is so much that needs to be done around the house but none of it is appealing. There is nothing pleasant about painting or repairing sheetrock. We haven't even finished raking all the leaves. I guess it will all get done eventually. Maybe not the sliding glass door though. I can't find anybody to fix that thing.

This week has gone quickly. It's almost time to visit the Dalmatians again. We need to take Larry to the vet while we're up at the kennel. It's just a routine exam, but it will be interesting to see how he rides in the car. Hopefully, all the dogs are doing well. I really enjoy seeing these guys.

I'm debating whether to take a better camera with me to Florida. It's a battle between my desire to up my photography game and my aversion to taking a lot of luggage. I usually take a little pocket camera with a long optical zoom. It's great for website pictures, but not so great for magazines. If I take a DSLR, I have to take multiple lenses and all the sudden I'm taking twice as much luggage. I'd rather take no camera at all, but I am a photographer. A camera is expected.

Suzie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3564

Nothing appealed to me this morning, so I just had a bowl of cold cereal at home. This was actually a good thing because it allowed me to get an early start on today's walk. I should walk earlier every day but it's hard to get organized. The temperature was only in the seventies and there was a hint of Fall in the air. A few of the trees are already starting to turn yellow. There was a nice breeze this morning and the walk was quite pleasant until the sun got higher in the sky. By the time I finished my five miles, I was still hot and sweaty, but it feels like the worst of Summer is over. Pretty soon we'll have our two weeks of nice weather for the year.

This afternoon I wrote some letters and took them to the post office. It's getting harder for me to do chores around the house, but it's always easy to write. I can see a time where all I do is walk and write. Walking is exercise for the body and writing is exercise for the mind. All in all, I think I'm doing pretty well.

This Sunday is the annual Dalmatian Rescue Golf Tournament. Since I will be taking photos at this event, I started checking out my cameras today. Step one is choosing which camera to take. Lately, I always opt for the lighter cameras. These cameras seem to get heavier every year. I need to make sure all the batteries are fully charged. Since I don't use my cameras much anymore, the batteries are usually completely dead. They take a lot longer to charge than you'd think when they are fully discharged. Sometimes I find a battery that has died and I need to replace it. Hard to believe that I used to use these cameras almost every day. The last time I used the one I'm charging now was last Christmas when I was taking Santa Paws pictures for Dalmatian Rescue. Mostly I just use my phone to take pictures now.

While I was charging batteries this afternoon, I thought it would be a good time to defragment my hard drives. This takes a long time as well with a 4 terabyte drive. I'm not even sure you need to defragment hard drives anymore. You don't hear much about it these days. Old habits die hard though and periodically I go through the lengthy process of defragmenting all the drives. I never notice any performance differences when I'm finished, but at least I'm trying to keep things from getting scrambled.

Janet wants to go to the fair this year. It's been years since we've been to the fair. I'm not sure a lot has changed. The fair has always been about fried food, farm animals, and Fall weather. One thing that has changed is that we can go for free now. There is a Senior Citizen's Day every Thursday. Many years ago we used to take our first Dalmatian to Fair Park a few weeks before the fair started when everybody was setting things up. One of the vendors really liked Spot and they would always give him a hamburger when we visited their booth. This became a ritual and Spot would look forward to this visit every year. I remember writing a story about this once called Dog Day at the Fair.

I still find myself fantasizing about going back to McDonald Observatory, which probably means I'll be making the trip sooner rather than later. It take me so long to plan things though that sooner could be next year. I wish there was a better way to predict the weather. I'd hate to travel all that way just to arrive on another rainy day.

I'm still hoping to get my roof patched before we have another rainy day here. At the rate I'm going, I might make it back to the observatory first.

Sophie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2343

Wouldn't it be nice if there was someone you could call who always had the answers you were looking for? I'm continually faced with situations where something should work, but just doesn't for some unexplained reason. Instead of asking a nearby knowledgeable friend, I am forced to spend hours searching the Internet for the advice of strangers. Today, I was having trouble getting a camera to connect to the WiFi network so I could control it from my phone. This shouldn't have been a problem in the first place, since I've done this many times before. Today it just didn't work. According to Google, lots of people seemed to be having the same the same problem, but opinions varied widely. Some people thought the camera was at fault. Others though the app on the phone was worthless because it hadn't been updated in our years. Then there was those who said that nothing was wrong at all and that their camera was connecting to WiFi just fine.

You have to resolve these problems through a process of elimination. Is there something wrong with the U-verse connection again? Did my latest IOS upgrade ruin all the older apps on my phone? Did I just not read the instructions correctly? After a lot of fruitless experimentation, I discovered that I needed to reboot my phone. I should have tried this first, since it seems to be the universal solution for all electronic problems. I am constantly rebooting the WiFi router, the DVR, the computers, the phones, and even the thermostat. Why are these connections to the cloud so fragile? I never had to do this five years ago.

Janet and I both think Dot is getting stronger, but I wonder if we are imagining things. The differences we are seeing are subtle at best. I've always believed in the placebo effect. If you really want to believe something, you generally can. Dot does seem a bit steadier this week. On the other hand, she is still senile and poops all over the place. I had a big mess to clean up last night, but strategically placed disposable pads are making the process easier. I don't think there's a lot we can do medically at this point. Instead, we provide a kind of doggie hospice care. We're not going to make Dot well again, but we can keep her happy.

It didn't rain as much as I expected today. Actually, it hardly rained at all. This doesn't mean that we've got clear skies ahead unfortunately. The long range forecast says it's going to be a wet and stormy week. We'll see. The forecast was certainly wrong today. Whatever is going on definitely appeals to the butterflies. I hardly saw any butterflies last year. This Spring, they are everywhere.

I suppose I'll go to the gym tomorrow. It all depends on whether I can go to sleep tonight. I'm ready. All I need to do is empty the water out of the dehumidifier, brush my teeth, and try to slip a puppy training pad under Dot's butt without waking her up.

Lady is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2303

Why is it so hard to find a birthday card? I had to get a card today, so I stopped at the Hallmark store on the way home from the post office. As always, none of the thousands of cards in the store seemed remotely appropriate. The humorous cards didn't seem funny. The emotional cards expressed the wrong emotion. I found one card that had the kind of picture I was looking for, but the message said Happy Birthday from your Grandmother. These cards all must be designed for a reason, so maybe I'm just not their target audience. After spending way too much time looking at cards I hated, I did what I always do. I got a blank card with a picture of a dog on the front.

I followed the landscapers instructions and watered the new grass for several hours this morning. Maybe this is why the grass always dies. If I water enough to get a root system established, the yard is a soggy mess and I'm constantly having to clean the dogs paws every time they go outside. If I don't water enough, the grass never has a chance. If I'm lucky, the Spring rainy season isn't quite over yet, and I won't have to worry about watering schedules at all. That's what happened last year. We had weeks and weeks of rain right after the grass was installed and although I hated the rain just as much as I usually do, the grass looked great.

I just noticed a new feature on my Apple Watch.  When you are using the maps app, you can quickly find nearby restaurants, coffee shops, grocery stores and gas stations with a tap of your finger and then get turn-by-turn directions to the place from wherever you happen to be. This would be real handy if I ever left the neighborhood. As it is, I already know where all these places are. I'm not sure how useful turn-by-turn directions are on a tiny one inch square map, but you never know.  If I can't figure out where to go for breakfast this Friday, I'll ask the watch.

I'm getting tired of all these presidential primaries. There was another one tonight. Can't we just go ahead and have the election now and get this over with? I can't get very excited about anyone. I saw a yard sign the other day that said "Everybody Sucks 2016." Maybe I'll get one of those signs. It pretty well sums up my sentiment.

I noticed that Dot only has three more Palladia pills left when I gave her the chemotherapy meds this evening. So far, she's handling the pills pretty well. There are days when it even seems like she's getting stronger. It's probably just an illusion though. I wouldn't be surprised if Dot's staying the same and I'm getting weaker. After she takes the remaining Palladia pills, we'll do another ultrasound scan and see whether the tumor is getting smaller. As long as it isn't getting much bigger, we're OK.

I got an e-mail from B&H today notifying me that a camera I've had my eye on for some time is on sale. Hmm. I definitely don't need another camera. I can't even afford another camera. Why am I even thinking about this? I'm always seeing these memes on Facebook saying that memories and experiences are far more important than stuff. I don't believe them. Maybe dogs are more important than cameras, but for the most part, stuff still does it for me.

Angel is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2233

It's a good thing I had my movie today. Absolutely nothing happened. It was cold and grey outside. The phone didn't ring. There were no deadlines to meet. It was a perfect day to watch The Martian. It was a long movie so I waited until the dogs took their even longer morning nap after breakfast. Coincidentally, this is also when I tend to get the most work done. Almost like clockwork, both dogs sleep soundly from about 9 AM until 1 PM, when they wake up again for lunch.

I'd already read Andy Wier's book, so I was wondering how a story with very little dialog would work as a film. Drew Goddard leaves out quite a bit in the screenplay, but still managed to transform one of the best books I've read in a long time into a nail biting and compelling script. I'm old enough to remember when Ridley Scott and his brother Tony directed television commercials at RSA. If you were in advertising during the late 1970's and early 1980's, Ridley Scott Associates was the gold standard for commercial production companies. Before he went on to direct groundbreaking movies like Alien and Blade Runner, he created the famous 1984 commercial which ran once during the Super Bowl and launched the Apple Macintosh computer. I loved that commercial. With all this in mind, I was expecting a lot from this movie and I wasn't disappointed. I really should have seen it in a theater, but for me a large, high resolution monitor in a dark room was almost the same thing.

I hope The Martian does something to rekindle interest in space. I remember clearly the excitement that the race to land a man on the moon generated. It was one of the few things in my lifetime that genuinely seemed to unite people around the world. A few years after Apollo 11 landed in the Sea of Tranquility, the real life drama of the the failed Apollo 13 mission seemed to capture the world's attention in much the same manner as Mark Watney did when the world learned he was stranded on Mars. We are explorers. I think we need to direct our energies outward again. We're spent far too many years looking inward.

The only thing I explored today was how to use my old Olympus camera lenses on a new Panasonic camera. Manufacturers have virtually stopped making digital cameras with optical viewfinders. Everyone is migrating to the new smaller mirrorless cameras. Since I like the Panasonic GH4, I've been trying to salvage some of my favorite older lenses and use them with this micro 4/3 format. With the right adapter, you can use just about any lens manually, but I wanted to keep using the auto-focus and image stabilization features of newer lenses. I tested an adapter today that was supposed to let me do this, but I was disappointed. The auto focus of my favorite Olympus lens still worked, but it was so slow. I think it's back to square one with this idea. It's too bad that expensive technology becomes obsolete so quickly. Back in the film era, my Nikon cameras and lenses served me for decades. It doesn't work that way anymore.

Dot seemed kind of shaky today. I always worry a lot when she's having a bad day. There's no way to stop this slow, degenerative process she's going through, but I sure wish there was a way to slow it down a bit more. Dot seems to react to sunlight and warmth the same way I do. I'm hoping that when the weather improves, she'll get her mojo back.

Jazz is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1694

It has become clear that instead of training our dogs, they have trained us instead. Both dogs are so stubborn that it is almost impossible to get them to adapt to different sleeping arrangements. Since we are going to have to live with Dot's incontinence for the next month or so, it is important to come up with a plan to keep our sanity. Doggie diapers didn't work. Neither has sleeping on the floor. Dot and Dash are convinced that the big king sized bed in the bedroom is theirs and they just allow us to sleep with them. It has become easier to turn the bed into a waterproof fortress each night than deal with the other alternatives.

I prepared the bed well last night and we remembered to set the alarm for 2:30 AM, so we had a relatively trouble free evening. It takes forever to get everything ready. There's the long ramp at the end of the bed so Dot won't try to hop up and hurt herself. There's the fail-safe rubber sheet on top of the people's bedding, but under all the dog blankets. There are strategically placed pee pads for Dot to sleep on and Dash's favorite blanket at the foot of the bed, so he won't try to steal Dot's place in the middle of the night. Occasionally, this Rube Goldberg arrangement actually works.

I used to think that Dot woke up and moved about when she wanted to go outside and pee. I've been watching her behavior during the day and it has become clear that she only get's up after she's peed on something. She isn't trying to give me a warning signal. She's just trying to get out of the wet spot. I need to remember that dogs live in the moment. Dot has no idea why all this is happening to her.

I had quite a bit of website work to complete today. It was good to be busy, because without the work, I'd probably go stark raving mad. I've already got a long list of errands to do on Saturday when I can finally get out of the house again.

Actually, I'll be getting out of the house on Thursday, but I'll be taking Dot with me. We got the green light from the cancer center doctors to resume Dot's physical therapy. Hopefully, some gentle workouts in the underwater treadmill will help her regain some of the muscle tone she's lost in her rear legs. Dot is certainly doing her part to get stronger. She doesn't stumble as much now, and we are able to walk a little further each morning. As hard as it seems now, we are definitely making progress.

When I got my website revisions done today, I decided to relearn how to operate one of my cameras remotely using WiFi. I've had to learn this three times already, because I never use the feature. In theory, it seems really cool to be able to control every aspect of the camera remotely using my iPhone, but in practice I still prefer looking through the viewfinder. Maybe I'll use this fancy feature some day, but it won't be tomorrow. I'm sure when I find a reason to control my camera using my phone, I'll have to look up the instructions all over again.

It's raining now and both dogs are huddled under my desk. Life has almost returned to normal.

Morgan is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1576

It was hard to remember what day it was. It was supposed to be Dash's radiation day, but it turned out to be Dot's acupuncture day instead. I drove to one vet to get Dash's thyroid medication renewed and to another vet for Dot's physical therapy. Dash still took his Paladia chemo pills tonight, but won't be going in for radiation treatment tomorrow, because the radiation machine is still broken. I try to keep all this straight, but I never had a good grasp on what day it was anyway. I'll be glad when all this is over. The longer the treatment continues, the more I worry about side effects. I'm one of those fools who reads all the fine print that comes with pharmaceuticals these days. There is almost always something dire hidden away in the tiny type on these product description and warning sheets that will make you wonder how these new miracle drugs ever got approved in the first place. All that being said, Dash is still doing very, very well.

There weren't many website revisions today, but there was plenty of writing work to catch up on. I finished two articles and started on a third. The writing will never win a Pulitzer Prize, but it does make the day go quickly. With several articles to write and several dogs to transport various places, I never have much idle time on my hands. I always try to make time to fix myself a decent breakfast every morning, but I'm starting to fall behind on a host of other things that used to be part of my daily routine. The house hasn't been vacuumed in a while and I'm sure there's still water on the roof from last week's rain. That's the way it is these days. I take care of the dog's needs, do enough work to pay the bills, eat as healthy as I can, and spend the remaining five hours sleeping.

I wish I had a better camera with me this morning. We walked earlier than usual and there was a fine mist on everything. I'm fascinated by the way water droplets tend to form on some plants and not on others. This morning all the while and yellow Primrose flowers has miniscule water droplets all over their petals. Other nearby flowers were completely dry. I only managed to grab a few quick shots with my phone however, because the dogs had plans of their own.

I suspect that tomorrow will be a lot like today. One of these days I need to go have lunch with some of my old work friends again. It's been at least six months since I've met anyone for lunch. Basically, I don't even eat lunch anymore. I'm never that hungry during the day and I find that it's a lot easier to keep my weight under control if I just skip lunch entirely. Essentially, no lunch equals no social life, but I don't really feel like I'm missing much. It's kind of like those cable channels I eliminated yesterday. If I'm not actively looking for the missing channels, I don't even realize they're gone.

Livy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1449

I got a phone call from a client today. This used to be a daily occurrence, but today's preference for text messages and e-mail have made the old fashioned phone call exceedingly rare. I've actually started to fear these calls, because nobody calls you on the phone anymore unless something has gone very, very wrong. I use caller ID to screen all my calls. 98% of them are from telemarketers. The other 2% make me nervous. As it turned out, this particular call was nothing to fear. It was just someone who likes to talk.

I wish I'd taken a real camera with me on our morning walk today. For about ten minutes we were engulfed in fog and my familiar surroundings turned into a wonderland of misty imagery. Most fog lifts and quickly dissipates as the sun burns it off. This was different. A thick low cloud just blew right over us. I took a few shots with my phone and then it was all over.

I had plenty of time to go to the gym today. Although I've been pretty good about maintaining my three-day-a-week workout routine, I've got to come up with some way to make the gym more interesting. Boredom is always my worst enemy. I'm already bored with my healthy diet, even though it is showing tangible results. I'm afraid that going to the gym is going to be next on my growing list of boring activities. I'll be the first to acknowledge that exercise is good for you. In just a few months, I can already tell that my muscle tone and core strength has improved and I don't get as tired anymore. I just wish these activities were fun. Luckily, I'm very familiar with boredom. Boredom doesn't slow me down a bit.

I'm scheduled to unveil a new website I've been developing for the Wednesday morning networking group at tomorrow's meeting. Truthfully, this site is a little boring, but I think it meets the needs of the group perfectly. I could probably make the site more exciting if I just focused on why I come to these early morning meetings. Maybe I should scrap all the business stuff and make the site about bacon.

Spot is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1339

My photo shoot went well today. Taking pictures of a giant industrial machine wasn't the most exciting thing in the world, but I think my client will be happy with the images. The only thing that went wrong during the shoot was that I got grease stains on a nice new pair of shoes.  I should know by now that proper attire for taking pictures in a factory is always something you wouldn't mind being ruined. It's hard to teach an old dog new tricks though. I always try to wear something nice when I meet a client. I spend so much of my life in ratty clothes only the dogs ever see, that I find myself actually looking for situations to look presentable.

When I was driving around today, I noticed something new about the Evoque. Not only does this car have a rear view camera, it has a total of five different cameras, including one pointed straight down at the road to make sure you are driving between the white lines. I found all these cameras more than a bit distracting. Shouldn't you be spending your time looking through the windshield?

I was so busy with work today that I didn't even bother to sweep last night's rain accumulation off the roof. That's one of the nice things about having a roof that doesn't leak anymore. The water can just stay up there until it's convenient for me to remove it. Granted, this is an odd way to look at the whole situation. It would be much nicer if the water just drained off the roof all by itself. I guess that's too much to ask though. I've never seen a flat roof in my life that really drained properly.

After I made some changes to a client's website this morning, I noticed that the new content we added was already there. I looked at the date stamp on the files I discovered and was a bit chagrined to realize that they had been sitting in plain view for over two years. The client and I had both just forgotten they were there.

I was having trouble making a restaurant reservation tonight and Janet told me to use Open Table instead. Sure enough, even though the person I talked to on the phone said they were completely full, I quickly and easily made a confirmed reservation at exactly the time I wanted using Open Table. Obviously somebody is wrong about how full the place is, but I guess we won't find out who it is until we arrive.

I have another doctor's appointment tomorrow. If things go according to plan, I'll spend my time describing real and imagined side effects of the meds I'm currently taking, while the doctor writes out new prescriptions for even more meds. I'm not nearly as enamored with prescription drugs as most doctors are. I'm convinced that some of the stuff I'm taking now will eventually wind up on one of those "1-800-BAD-DRUG" commercials twenty years from now. I'll be the first to acknowledge that some medications do exactly what they ware supposed to do. I just don't know which ones I can trust.

Freckles is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1300

I woke up this morning to a quiet house. Janet likes to walk the dogs on weekends and she had taken them on a morning walk before I'd even gotten out of bed. I don't know how the rest of the family can get by on so little sleep. No matter what's going on, I always feel like I could sleep a few hours more.

Once I did get out of bed, I tried to make myself useful by watering the lawn, making the bed, and doing some laundry. This was just the warm up act for the task I'd been dreading: repairing the Sheetrock in the living room. It's a shame that most of the drywall mud I applied today will just be sanded off a few days from now. It will probably take about three coats of the compound, each sanded smooth after it dries, before the repair starts to look decent. I'll be glad when I'm done. I'm not fond of messy work, and doing anything with Sheetrock is definitely messy.

The dogs had a great time at the dog park today. Dot had plenty of energy for a change and Dash even managed to find a playmate. I don't know how Dash chooses the dogs he wants to play with. He often rejects shy, gentle dogs like himself in favor of larger breeds that end up scaring him. Today, he found a young Irish Setter that he took a fancy to and the two dogs had a great time racing up and down the park. By the time we got home again, Dot and Dash were content to snooze for the rest of the afternoon.

I spent some of my afternoon re-learning how to use the WiFi function on one of my cameras. I like the idea of being about to completely control the camera with my phone, but I can never remember how to create a ad hoc network linking the phone with the camera. I need to remember how to do this, because I'll never be able to impress clients with my remote control camera skills if can't even remember how to sync the camera with the phone. When I finally figured out how to tap my phone and take a picture, it was time for dinner.

The day ended pretty much as it began; with a nap. I probably could have done more today, but Sunday is best enjoyed as a day of rest. Janet fixed a great dinner tonight. The dogs are happy. All is well with the world. Too bad tomorrow is Monday.

Delaney is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1029

It's been almost a year since I started taking a camera with me when I walk the dogs. During my first three or four months as a dog walking photographer, I would see something new and interesting almost every day. Now, I've started to notice that nature repeats itself with remarkable regularity. Flowers appear and disappear with clockwork precision. Birds return to exactly the same logs and pilings where I photographed them last year. Squirrels seem to be perpetually digging up the same nut. I feel like I've documented every square inch of my tiny little world. There must still be new things happening all around me, but I'm just not seeing them. I guess I'll have to look a little harder.

An estimator came out this morning to measure the utility room and recommend a new furnace. The room is so small and cramped that I have no idea how everything got in there in the first place. The furnace, the washer, the dryer and the water heater all seem too large to even fit through the door. The estimator assured me that installing a new furnace would be no problem. This was reassuring, but I think he was being overconfident. Everything about this house ends up being a problem. Problems or not, we should have a new furnace installed by the end of the week.

I'm glad the Jewish Holidays are finally over for a while. I've had some camera equipment on order from B&H in New York City since before Rosh Hashanah and it still hasn't been delivered. I completely forgot how many holy days there are during September and October. I had thought about ordering from Adorama instead, but it wouldn't have done much good. They follow exactly the same holiday schedule. Basically, it's just not a good idea to buy a camera in October.

Since I wasn't having much luck with the camera, I went and bought an iPhone case instead. Why doesn't anyone make the kind of case I like anymore? I loved the soft Griffin perforated silicon case I had for my old phone, but nobody makes these things anymore. Now, big clunky cases like OtterBox are popular. Boo. I finally bought a trim looking white Speck case, but it wasn't what I really wanted. Maybe I'll get one of those fancy LunaTik cases when they start selling them later this Fall. It would be just like me to get a case that costs more than the phone.

Maverick is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 662

Our neighborhood health food store was having another of their periodic cholesterol screenings this morning, so Janet and I decided to go early this time and beat the long lines of old people who are usually there ahead of us. When we got to the store, there wasn't a line at all, which surprised me. I opened the door and went inside and all of the sudden all these car doors opened in unison and a bunch of old people got out of their cars and started walking slowly toward the store. We weren't even close to being the first people to arrive, we were just the first people to open the door. I still don't know what everybody else was waiting for. The store was supposed to be open when we arrived. The lights weren't on yet though. Maybe that stopped them. If there is a lesson in all this, I guess it would be that when you come to a door, you should always try opening it. We did end up being the first in line for the blood tests.

After eating a big breakfast as soon as we finished the cholesterol test, we went up to the Velvet Snout to photograph another new Dalmatian Rescue dog. This dog's name is Madison and she is cute as a button. I went ahead and made her today's Dalmatian of the Day, because some of you might be getting tired of seeing dogs that found their forever homes years ago. We don't get as many dogs in the rescue program as we used to. That's a good thing too! Back when the Disney movies were popular, there were more abandoned Dalmatians than we could handle.

I spent the rest of the day getting groceries and doing the usual Saturday errands. Added to today's to-do list was a trip to Competitive Camera to pick up some gear I had ordered a long time ago. I love spending time in camera stores. I'd like to scoop up everything and take it home with me, which is probably why I have more equipment than I actually need. I noticed that more and more display screens on the back of digital cameras are touch screens now. Some will focus and take an exposure when you touch a specific area of the screen. Hmm. Where have I seen that before? It's weird when high end DSLR cameras are starting to copy features off the iPhone.

Halloween is right around the corner. Every store I went to today was full of pumpkins and other Halloween paraphernalia. We'll have to start thinking of costumes again for the annual dog training class Halloween party. Last year Dash won a prize. We put a baseball cap on him and called him a Texas Ranger. The Rangers happened to be playing in a World Series playoff game that evening and when they won, Dash got swept along to victory as well. We may have to try a little harder this year.

Madison is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day