Day 3378

We got some severe weather last night. I'm usually well prepared for bad weather, but this storm caught me by surprise. I knew there was severe weather north of us because I kept seeing pictures of hail damage on Facebook. It looked like we were in the clear on the weather radar, so I went to sleep without taking the usual precautions. Some time after midnight I woke up to the smell of poop and started hearing thunder as I was replacing Dash's puppy pad. When I went outside to clean the harness that I had forgotten to take off before I went to bed, I noticed the wind was picking up. I checked the radar on my phone and we were directly in the patch of a swiftly moving storm front.

Where did this come from? I quickly moved some furniture, put buckets in strategic locations and started the pumps on the roof. The storm didn't last long, but it dumped a tremendous amount of water. Dash never even woke up. I went back to bed, thinking that the next time Dash pooped in the bed, I would go turn the pumps off again. That's exactly how it worked out. There were no water leaks in the morning, so maybe my diligence paid off. I wish I could turn the pumps on and off from inside the house, but the circuit breaker that controls the outlet the pumps are attached to is on the same zone as the furnace. You really don't want to disconnect the furnace just to avoid going outside in the rain.

Dash seemed to have more energy today. We took a surprisingly long walk this morning. We moved very slowly, but I could tell he wanted to keep going. Since the weather was cool and clear and we were in no hurry, Dash didn't overexert himself. He even ate his breakfast when we got home. My own breakfast was pretty late today but I'm getting used to these weird schedules. It really doesn't matter when I eat anymore. It's not like I've got anywhere I need to go.

I still turn on the computer right after breakfast like I've done for decades. There are no appointments  on my calendar though. There are no deadlines to meet. I've even forgotten the passwords to most of the websites I used to manage. I wonder why the computer even matters anymore. I seldom need it. The only thing I did today was defragment a hard drive.

Dash got another bath this afternoon because I didn't do a great job of cleaning him up last night. Sometimes we get lucky and the poop never touches anything but the puppy pad. Things can get messy though if Dash has a dog dream and starts moving his tail around before I wake up and can remove the mess. There are so many variables involved in these night poops that I'm surprised we do as well as we do. When I attempt to remove the mess without it touching anything I sometimes think that this would be good training for being on the bomb squad. If you do everything right, you can be back in bed in three minutes. If you slip, you have to change all the bedding.

I probably need to go up on the roof and remove the remaining water tomorrow. I forgot to pick up some prescriptions at the pharmacy as well. Since my morning routine with Dash seems to last until noon, that's probably enough for one day

Petey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3291

Today started oddly. As I was getting ready to go to breakfast, I noticed that the garbage truck was parked right next to my can on the street. The driver appeared to be texting someone or maybe he was having an Egg McMuffin for breakfast. When he finished he drove away, completely forgetting to pick up my trash. Damn. I was the only can of the street he skipped. I quickly ran out to the street and pushed my can to an adjacent street to catch the truck on it's return through the neighborhood. I'm glad my hastily improvised plan worked because I have no place to store two week's worth of trash.

A little later at the hotel restaurant I noticed that a well dressed older man sitting next to me was eating a meal that definitely wasn't on the menu. I was intrigued, because this guy's breakfast looked really good. I asked my server if I could order something off the menu too. She gave me an odd look and just said no. How did the old guy get to order whatever he wanted when I couldn't? I'll probably never know because I didn't want to make a scene. The old gentleman was very polite and clearly was accustomed to privilege. This odd little incident made me realize that I'd love to live in a world where I could walk into a restaurant and ask the chef to whip up whatever I wanted. "Menu? We don't need no stinkin' menus," I'd say.

I've totally lost track of what day it is. Probably everybody else has too. The time between Christmas and New Year's is an amorphous mess. I only remembered it was Friday because of chasing the garbage truck this morning and I only remembered to take the trash out last night after Janet reminded me. Basically every day kind of feels like Saturday.

Cleaning up poop doesn't help me remember what day it is because it happens all the time. It's almost easier that Dash poops in his sleep now because I can place a puppy training pad under him. The poop has been landing on the pad pretty consistently now. When I change the pad and put a fresh one under his butt, he often wakes up and decides he needs to pee. I'm still getting up in the middle of the night but the whole process seems more organized.

I got a lot of things done today, but none of them were important. I repaired several of Dash's boots with Shoe Goo. I calibrated and unclogged the large printer. I updated software on my laptop and recharged a bunch of batteries. By the time I was finished it was time for dinner. Janet is always dusting things around the house and told me that refusing to dust is a sign that you've given up. That hurt. I never dust. I actually think dust protects things from scratches.

As a sign that I never give up, I thought I'd go to the gym tomorrow. Hey, in my own dusty way, I'm determined. This plan lasted about thirty seconds because I eventually remembered that tomorrow isn't Sunday. Everything needs to happen on the correct day whether I can remember it or not.

Dot & Petey are today's Dalmatians of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3231

I started moving stuff from one storage warehouse to another today. Everything seems so much heavier now. I guess muscle atrophy is real. This stuff certainly didn't seem this heavy when I was younger. I made three trips today. At this rate, it will take at least thirty more to get everything transferred. I had thought about renting a truck so I'd only have to make a few trips, but now I'm wondering if there is any point to this. The little loads I was able to fit in my car today tired me out. I don't think I'd have the energy to fill up a truck by myself.

Yesterday, my plan was to get everything moved before November 1 so I wouldn't have to pay another month's  rent on the old warehouse. This seems unrealistic now. It takes a long time to sort through things. Some stuff goes to the new warehouse. Some stuff gets donated to charity shops. And other stuff gets thrown away. I'm going to have to get rid of some things. My new storage unit is actually smaller than my old one. I don't know why I thought they were the same size. Now that I'm starting to fill the new unit up, it is obviously not quite as deep as the old one. No wonder I got such a good deal on the price. I actually rented a smaller unit.

I couldn't get back to sleep again after taking Dash out to poop last night. I can usually get back to sleep fairly easily when he just pees and goes back to bed. When I have to clean up poop though, I'm fully awake. There's no point in going back to bed when you're wide awake. I made some coffee, unloaded the dishwasher and did a load of laundry while I watched middle of the night television. By the time Janet and Dash got up, I felt like I'd been up all day.

Dash's right rear leg has become noticeably weaker. He does OK if he keeps moving, but if he stands in one place too long the leg starts to give way and he has a tendency to fall. I had to hold him up while he ate his dinner today. We had a good walk this morning, but I couldn't get him to leave the house this evening. It's frustrating when Dash won't move after I've spent fifteen minutes getting his leg brace and boots on. He's got a mind of his own though. Tonight he was determined to wait until Janet came home. I tried to tell him that she was working late and he wouldn't get a walk at all if he kept waiting by the front door. As usual, Dash didn't listen.

I'm going to move as much as I can tomorrow. There is rain in the forecast for Wednesday, so tomorrow might be the only good day I've got before November 1. It will be almost impossible to empty the old warehouse space in a single day, so I guess I'll just rent the unit for another month. If I move a little bit every day, it should be no problem to transfer everything in a month.

I wonder if I'll ever get organized? Once I get the storage warehouse taken care of, there's the even bigger problem of cleaning out my office. How did things get this way? I started my adult life with a zen like clarity. For years I was Mr. Minimal.  Everything was always organized and perfectly in place. Now, I've turned into my Dad. I guess we all turn into our parents eventually.

Dakota is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3168

Things got off to a slow start today. When we woke up there was poop everywhere. Dash woke me up around 2 AM when he needed to go out and pee. Jeez. Why didn't he wake me up again when he needed to do this? This morning, Dash was sleeping beside me on the bed. Nothing seemed wrong at all. This brown trail leading to the back door was particularly hard to clean up. When the liquid mess dried it seemed to turn to concrete. To make matters worse, some of the poop had gone down one of the furnace floor vents. Yuck. We didn't notice until we cleaned up everything on the bricks and still smelled poop.

Sadly, this is just the new normal. Dash can't help himself. I can tell he tries because he is always heading toward the back door when the explosion happens. Senility and incontinence are a bad combination. By the time Dash remembers he needs to poop, it is almost always too late.

The city finally mowed the meadow behind our house today. If they'd been one day earlier, we might have avoided yesterday's unfortunate encounter with the bees. Dash and I took a different route on our morning walk, but we'll return to our regular route tomorrow. There's no point in being superstitious. The bees are everywhere. Dash has actually been stung at several other locations in the park, so it's just luck when we manage to avoid the bees. I just hope we never encounter a snake.

By the time I'd finished cleaning the house, I almost didn't feel like having breakfast. The smell of poop does that to me. I persevered though, because without a decent breakfast I knew I'd just snack on crackers all day. I wish I still got excited about food. As other activities have gradually faded, a really good meal had always been one of my few remaining pleasures.

After breakfast, I picked up some more Phenobarbital for Dash at the vet. There aren't many reasons to leave the house anymore. Even though I did nothing of consequence, the day still seemed busy. In addition to cleaning the floors and furnace vents, I also had to wash the comforter on the bed. Unfortunately, Dash doesn't do a very good job of wiping his butt.

I called the auction house this afternoon to make sure they got the information they requested this weekend. Their e-mail said "please confirm by Monday, August 27" and I didn't want to do anything wrong. The two auctions in October are starting to make me nervous. Everyone seems excited and optimistic, but what if nobody bids?

I have about a week to decide whether I want to apply for the NASA trip. I looked up airfares and hotel rates in Pasadena today. Why are flights to Burbank so much more expensive than flights to LAX? The Burbank airport is much closer to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. At first glance, it looks like a three day trip will be fairly expensive. One good thing is that unlike launches, the date for a spacecraft landing is fixed. The InSight lander will reach Mars on November 26. At least I could save some money on a plan-ahead airfare. I'm getting ahead of myself though. There's no guarantee that NASA would even accept my application and even less of a guarantee that Dash will be healthy enough for me to leave for a few days.

At least the market was good today. If I'm going to have a future as a space launch groupie, this bull run is going to have to continue for a while.

Dot is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3156

It was hard to get out of bed this morning. Dash got me up twice last night. After I cleaned up the inevitable poop, I was wide awake. I eventually got back to sleep, but I sure woke up tired. I'm feeling perpetually tired these days. We've been dealing with sick dogs almost continuously since 2014 when Dash was first diagnosed with thyroid cancer. Ever since then, it's been one crisis after another.

After our slow morning walk, I fixed my regular smoothie and made some coffee. Eventually, I woke up and began feeling normal again. This was a surprisingly busy day, considering that nothing happens anymore. I drove up to the watch repairman's office and picked up my watch. He's only got three more left to repair. Maybe I'll see these other watches again before I die. The watch repairman is a friendly and very talented guy, but he sure is slow.

On the way home, I bought another pair of Ruffwear protective boots for Dash. I've got enough of these boots in rotation now that we should be good till Christmas. OK, maybe Halloween. Dash is really hard on shoes.

I think August is the worst month of the year for bills. I took a few more to the post office today. My car insurance is due. My annual August service visit at Lander Rover is always pretty pricy. Summer electric bills are through the roof. And there's always something going on with Dash. This wasn't a big deal when I was doing a lot of website work. Now, keeping this ship afloat is beginning to seem expensive. No wonder selling things is starting to seem so attractive.

I got some more estimates from another auction house this afternoon. I wonder if these estimates mean anything at all. I'm still pretty much of a neophyte in the auction world. After the first auctions take place in October, I should have a much better idea whether this little venture was a good idea. I hope the auctions are successful. They suit my temperament. I could never sell anything on Craigslist or eBay. I just don't want to have any direct contact with the buyers.

Dash must have had an upset stomach this morning. Janet was unable to get him to take his pills this morning. I didn't have much success when we returned from our walk either. I was starting to get worried because he needs to take his Phenobarbital at very specific times. Luckily, the crisis was averted and around 9:30 AM I was able to hide each of his morning meds in a little cube of rare steak. After he took all his meds, I didn't even care about breakfast. Dash went back to sleep, but eventually returned to the kitchen around 11:30 AM and finished his boiled chicken breast. I think this dog eats better than I do these days.

It was surprising to see blue skies again this morning. I think the rain is over. I didn't check the roof today because I was busy running errands. Maybe the longer I wait, the more water will evaporate. I'll probably go up and sweep the standing water away tomorrow. I really don't want to tempt fate. I don't care what the roofers have done. If you leave water long enough, it will find a way inside.

I hope today's weather continues. It felt like Fall when I woke up this morning. Dash can be a very high maintenance dog, but life is definitely a little easier when the weather is nice.

Freckles is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day