Day 2059

There were heat advisories in effect today. How did we go from an unusually cool June to an unusually hot August? I'll have to admit that this dramatic change kind of caught me by surprise. I was so ready for a mild Summer that it took a while to sink in that it wasn't going to happen. This is just another beastly hot August in Texas. The only difference between this August and last August is that the dogs are a year older and are having a harder time coping with the heat. Let's just hope the air conditioner keeps working.

I did manage to make it to the gym today. They keep the temperature at the gym quite cold. I don't think I could afford to keep my own house this cold, but it felt nice. I had a good workout, which although it didn't make up for a lack of work at the office, did fill up an empty afternoon pretty well. This time the baby monitor worked. It was reassuring to see the dogs sleeping while I was sweating. I think the Apple Watch is actually shaming me into exercising more. I like to see lots of activity on the health app that tracks my movements, and the only way to keep the activity levels high is to keep moving.

I'm glad we got up extra early this morning. There were still stars in the sky when we left on our morning walk, but you could see the sky start to lighten minute-by-minute. There was a nice breeze and the temperature was only eighty degrees. This may still seem hot to some people, but it was a lot better than the 104 degree temperatures we had to deal with later in the day. I'm not looking forward to next month's electric bill. The air conditioner runs non-stop now and since most air conditioning systems only create a twenty degree difference between the inside and outside air, it's pretty hard to keep the temperature at 72. I'm settling for 76 now. It's about the best the air conditioner is able to do under these circumstances.

Dot didn't get an evening walk tonight since Janet had to work late, but I don't think she was unhappy about the situation. Even after the sun had set, it was still way too hot. When I took Dash out right before I ate dinner, he pooped quickly and then turned around to go home. Dash isn't stupid. He knew it was too hot to be outside. I thought I was home free with Dot, since she did her business in the yard just before I took Dash out. Apparently she thought she was still getting an evening walk though, since she pooped again all over the living room right when I was starting get everything ready for bedtime. I hosed everything off and I'm running a load of soiled blankets now. Sadly, dog poop has become a metaphor for my life.

Tomorrow will be busier whether I have any writing jobs or not. I've got to run down to the UPS service center and pick up a package and then Dot has her physical therapy session in the afternoon. I've given up on having UPS deliver to the house. So many things seem to need a signature and I'm never here when the truck arrives. It's less frustrating to just divert the package to the service center and pick it up there. I hope I can find a parking place when I take Dot for therapy tomorrow. A hair salon moved in next door to the vet clinic and now there are no parking places. As you might imagine, when I take Dot somewhere in the car, we need to be very near our destination when we arrive. We'll see if I get lucky tomorrow. They say that exercise relieves stress and frustration. I don't believe it's true, but if it is, I should have stayed at the gym all day.

Morgan is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2014

Today was all about the weather. Things got off to a very early start when I smelled poop as I got up to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night. Dot had pooped in the house again. I kind of suspected this might happen when she refused to stay outside long enough to do her business before we went to bed last night. Who could blame her. The yard was wet and she was tired. I cleaned the mess up, put the soiled dog blankets in the washer and we went back to bed again. The rain continued sporadically throughout the night, but when daylight arrived, it had stopped. Since the radar showed that more storms were on the way, we dressed quickly and used the opportunity to give the dogs their morning walk. Dot and Dash were in no hurry, so we barely made it home again before the next round of rain started.

Whenever Dot poops in the house, it sets off a clean frenzy. We start by cleaning the soiled blankets and rugs. Then we notice how dirty everything is surrounding these areas and the vacuum comes out. It doesn't take long for the house to get dirty with two dogs and the seemingly endless rain we've been having. I'm glad the new Dyson has a five year warranty, because we're going to wear the thing out. By the time I was finished cleaning today, I had emptied the Dyson several times. I'm glad I got the yard taken care of yesterday, because today would not have been a good day for yard work. It wasn't a good day to fix the screen door either. That will have to wait.

The skies had cleared quite a bit by mid-afternoon, so we decided to take Dash to a new dog park in the neighborhood. Since everyone in the house has been having cabin fever lately, it seemed like a good idea to let Dash do something fun for a change. We hadn't been at the park for five minutes before I noticed some ominous looking black clouds to the South of us. We made several circles around the park perimeter to let Dash smell things and then headed home again. On the way home, the rain started again. It was like this all day long. There would be a short torrential downpour, followed by a dry spell of an hour or so, and then the rain would start again.

It was just as well that I was mostly housebound today. I had a huge website update to complete and rainy days are generally good for this type of thing. I added over 60 new dogs and cats to a rescue website I manage. It's hard to keep these type of sites current. By the time the photographer has time to take pictures of the new animals, half of them have already been adopted. I imagine that I will get a call in the near future asking me to remove many of the animals I just finished adding today. It's not an entirely futile effort though. The dogs and cats do get homes and sometimes it is the website that brings people and pets together.

When I finished working on the rescue website, I started writing another article. By the time I managed to come up with a decent headline, I realized I was very tired and took a short nap. That was it for writing today. When I woke up, it was time for dinner and a brief evening walk with the dogs. Dot pooped right on schedule this time, so maybe we'll all be able to get a good night's sleep tonight.

Next week is already looking pretty busy.  There are two vet appointment, a doctor's appointment for me, an appointment to get a haircut, and then there is a meeting I really ought to attend even though I detest meetings. Of course there are still all the usual articles to write and websites to update. I often feel like a hamster with one of those exercise wheels in their cage. I'd like to get caught up on everything and have absolutely nothing to do, but I don't think it's going to happen.

Barley is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day