Day 3194 - Autumnal Equinox

I woke up to an ominous dripping sound this morning. The roof was leaking. I guess if I had to have a leak, now would be the time. We've had a tremendous amount of rain during the past 24 hours. I think we set some kind of all time record. I'm glad we live on a hill, because there was lots of flooding in town. When the rain subsided and we were able to take Dash for a walk, it was amazing to see how high the lake was. Most of the boat docks and piers were completely under water. Not only was the lake over its banks, the water completely covered a road that circles the lake.

It's so discouraging to realize that all the work the roofers did toward the end of the Summer basically proved nothing. The roof still leaks. I went up on the roof and made an obligatory inspection, but couldn't find an area where the water might be getting in. The house needs a completely new engineered roof with a slight pitch so water will drain off quickly. Redesigning the house is not in the cards unfortunately. It would cost a fortune and wouldn't really add any value. People want larger homes now. If we ever moved, our house would probably be scraped and replaced by another McMansion. It just doesn't make sense to put a lot of money into a tear down.

Truthfully, nothing makes a lot of sense right now. Someday, historians will look back and realize that this was the time when the second civil war started. Nobody knew what was happening at first. It wasn't a conventional war. The North wasn't fighting the South. There were guns of course, but the really dangerous weapons were words. It was neighbor against neighbor. Parents against children. Brothers against sisters. Worst of all there were no winners. Everybody lost.

Have our divisions become this great? Is this how the world ends? I hope not. When I watch the news I'm not encouraged. Polarization prevails and it seems like the war has already started. Maybe that's why I prefer cooking shows these days. I watched a show about making fish tacos this afternoon. Very tasty.

The weather forecast says it's going to rain all next week. It's officially Fall now. It always seems to rain a lot in the Fall. Jeez. How am I going to stop this roof leak? How am I going to be able to even get the roofers to come back? I think they're done with me. The drip finally stopped right after lunch. I got some bleach and cleaned the stains off the living room ceiling. A few hours later another storm arrived and the roof started leaking all over again. It's hopeless. I'll leave a big bucket out tonight to catch the water. There isn't much else I can do at this point.

Tomorrow's another day. Maybe I'll get some sleep tonight. The water from the roof is still dripping into a bucket in the living room. I'm not hearing the drips as frequently though. That's good. Dash hasn't pooped since early this morning. That's not so good.

Sadie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 2596

I was working out today and was surprised to notice that I had a three inch gash on my right leg. Where did that come from? You'd think I'd notice a cut like that, but I have no idea where it came from. I didn't even notice until I was doing some cardio work that got my heart rate up. With my blood pumping faster the cut stung a little, but it wasn't bleeding anymore. I don't remember dropping anything on my leg or bumping into anything sharp. The cut just seemed to appear out of nowhere. I mentioned this to Janet when I got home and she said it happens to her all the time. I guess the older you get, the more you bump into things. Dot still has a mysterious cut on her leg too. Dot falls so much that she needs a coat made out of bubble wrap. I'm going to start falling too if I don't get to the gym more often. I'm not a person who makes goals, but I really need to figure out how to go to the gym at least three times a week.

On my way home today, I stopped at an Office Depot store to get a monthly accordion folder for my 2017 receipts. I do this every year, even though my accountant told me that he never actually looks at the receipts when I bring him the folder at tax time. I don't go to office supply stores very often and I was surprised at how empty the place was. Half the store was bare with nothing in it at all. The same thing seems to be happening when I go to the local Fry's Electronics store. I think retail is dead. It's just so easy to order anything you need online. I think in five or ten years most of the traditional big box stores will be gone. It's a shame that this transformation has been so complete. I used to like shopping. Small independent camera stores were great places to talk shop and learn things from the shopkeeper and other photographers. There were lots of weird little stores that couldn't even exist today. Two of my favorite stores when I first moved to Dallas sold nothing but electric trains.

I actually threw some things away today. This is almost unheard of for me. When I moved the garment rack to my office yesterday, there were a few things that wouldn't fit after I reconfigured the room. A cheap Ikea shelf that I'd been meaning to toss for years had to go, along with a bunch of old magazines, catalogs, and books. Admittedly, you could hardly call this downsizing, but at least it's a start. I need to do this again sometime. When I look around the office, I hardly see anything I actually use anymore. Most of the stuff is here just for the nostalgia value.

We've reached the point where we need to start decreasing Dot's Incurin dose. Starting today, she only gets half as much as she's been getting for the past two weeks. It makes me a little nervous that her incontinence hasn't been completely cured. There's been a definite improvement, but it wasn't like the first time we tried this treatment two years ago. I'm going to have to talk with Dot's vet, but I have a feeling that she's going to end up being on a much higher maintenance dose than she was before.

Is the political infighting and acrimony ever going to end? I'm getting sick of it. It's almost like we're engaged in a lazy man's civil war. In this new age civil war, we don't battle over territory. We just say nasty things about each other on Facebook and then go home to a nice dinner and a movie on Netflix. I don't think anything will get fixed this way, but what do I know. I'm just a guy who would like to take a time machine back to 1955.

Raider is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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