Day 3575

I got a request to make a minor change on a website this morning. Not a problem. I made the changes and got ready to upload them to the server. I couldn't connect. Was the server down? Had the client changed their password again? Was my version of Dreamweaver so old that it had finally stopped working? I did some checking and discovered that some other accounts on the same server still worked fine. Somebody had changed the password. I called the client and got transferred to voicemail. Eventually I got a text with a new password and ID. I tried the new login information and still couldn't connect. Finally, after a long call with customer service we determined that the information the client sent me was only partially correct. The magic combination that let me connect was a mix of old and new information. My ten minute fix took me three hours. Is it any wonder that I have little interest in doing websites anymore. Very few people want me to design anything these days but there are still a lot of lost passwords.

Today was a catch up day. I made an appointment to see the eye doctor. I called the people who fix sliding glass doors again. I wrote another letter to the roofer asking when I was going to get my container of silicon elastomer. The weather is very nice so thought about calling the carpenter about greenhouse repairs. I chickened out at the last minute. I'm still not ready to spend the money.

The most significant thing I did today was call McDonald Observatory to ask some questions about their on-site volunteer program. I had a nice conversation with the director of the visitor center and I'm definitely still interested in living at the observatory for several weeks. I told them to go ahead and begin the background check process. If I am approved, I may return to the observatory to help with Star Parties and other events this Spring. They still prefer people who own an RV or travel trailer, but I could stay at the astronomer's lodge if space was available. The director seemed interested that I now have connections with Sky and Telescope and had been working on an article. I'm going to see if I can interest him in doing some communications projects for the observatory as well. Working out the logistics for an adventure like this is going to take some time, but it will give me something to do over the Winter.

The furnace came on for the first time last night. I guess Fall is officially here. I'm glad that the furnace seems to work perfectly. There were no problems lighting the burners at all. Now that the heat is back, on my gas bill is going to be higher. The electric bill is going to be a lot less though. Air conditioning is the bulk of the electric bill during the Summer.

Not only are things changing at the house, they are changing at the park as well. As soon as the temperatures became cooler, the Pelicans returned. There are at least a dozen of them now. I think a group of Pelicans are called a pod. The birds always return to the same spot, which is now called Pelican Bay. Turtles seems to like the cooler weather as well. When I was walking today I saw water turtles basking on almost every submerged log. I even saw a Hawk swoop down and pick up an unlucky mouse today. You don't see many raptors in the Summer but they are abundant at the lake during the Winter.

Life goes on. The security light stayed on all night yesterday. That hasn't happened in a while. The problem with the light sensor must be temperature related.

Madison is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3458

Janet and I temperament tested a dog this afternoon. I think I've already told you about Xander. He's got a good home if he gets along with other dogs. With the help of the kennel staff we introduced him to a variety of different dogs and he passed his test with flying colors. Some dogs tolerate other animals. Xander really seems to like them. He was curious, playful, and gentle with everyone we introduced him to. Now we just need to see if his potential companion is equally friendly. Xander is not dog aggressive. He doesn't appear to be food aggressive either. Somebody is going to get a wonderful companion and friend.

I went ahead and ordered tires today. The good news is that they will be here tomorrow. The bad news is that since they were a special order, I had to pay for them in advance. At least these tires weren't as expensive as the OEM tires that came with the car. I was glad to hear that they'd been discontinued and replaced with a more reasonably priced tire. Keep in mind that 'reasonably priced' is a relative term when it comes to Land Rover parts. In my experience absolutely nothing has been reasonably priced.

It was weird to be working again. I finished my client's website updates this morning and uploaded the changes to the server. Amazingly, I remembered the client's old passwords and remembered most of the HTML code I needed. It takes a little longer to do this stuff if you don't do it every day, but I guess I passed my temperament test as well. Could it be that coding is like riding a bicycle? I might remember some of what I know forever. At any rate, I think I did a good job. Hopefully, the client will agree.

I took the money I made selling the guitars to the bank. It won't stay there long. My homeowner's insurance is due, I just had a large tree removed, and then there are those pesky Land Rover tires. Everything is so expensive now. I still have prices in my head from the 1970's. Unfortunately those days are gone. I think my favorite year was 1969. It definitely isn't 2019.

I saw a Purple Passionflower today. I haven't seen one of these bloom in years because they grow in a section of the park that wasn't accessible to Dot and Dash after they became sick. As the dogs became older and less mobile, we had to limit our walks to safe, relatively flat areas where they wouldn't fall. Walking was more difficult for me as well, since I was holding up their rear legs using the Help 'Em Up Harness. I've started walking the old trails again. They bring back memories. We'll see how long this lasts. My feet are telling me that I'm going to need a Help 'Em Up Harness myself some day.

This week went amazingly fast, considering that we spent most of it without electricity. Janet and I stayed surprisingly busy during the power outage. Even though we both seem to have good survival skills, I'm glad the power is back. I'm certainly sleeping better now. Everything is more or less back on schedule. I just finished taking the week's trash out to the curb. I hope the trash truck can find everybody's cans. They look insignificant next to the huge piles of tree branches and logs stacked along the street.

Marcie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3191

I hate when I fail to notice that a prescription has run out and I have to scramble to get new pills before they're all gone. This happens to me and it happens to Dash. I called in a renewal for Dash's Plavix this morning and the automated message said that no more refills were available. Not good, because no more pills were available either. I called the vet at the cancer center and asked if they could refill the prescription in a hurry. I still don't understand why pills that need to be taken for a lifetime are generally only renewed for six months at a time. I should have noticed the tiny type on the bottle that said there were 0 refills available, but I never notice tiny type. I can't even read small type anymore without my reading glasses.

I managed to get the prescription refilled in the nick of time, but I know this will happen again and again. It's equally hard to remember to change the air filters in the furnace. I appear to have a very selective memory. I always remember to give Dash a walk. I never forget to pay my bills on time. There are some things I'm oblivious to however. I need to pay more attention to those pill bottle labels.

One of the auction houses wanted more information from me today. It seems like they have plenty of information already, but I dutifully printed the forms they sent, filled them out by hand, and then scanned everything so I could convert the forms to PDF files and send them back. It seems like in this day and age, you'd be able to fill out and sign just about any type of form on your computer, but it seldom works that way. I wonder what people do if they don't have a scanner? It seems like I'm scanning documents all the time.

For the past couple of nights, I've been waking up when Dash typically needs to go outside, only to discover that Dash is still asleep. I woke up twice like this last night while Dash continued sleeping through the night. He didn't wake up at all. I felt like waking Dash up myself, but that would have been silly. I've been hoping that Dash would get to a point where he was sleeping all night again. Now that he is, I've just got to start sleeping better myself.

I formally ended another client relationship today. It was kind of sad. I've worked with these folks for decades. Things change though. I guess I could still pretend that we were working together, but I haven't had a project for almost a year. I think there's only one client left now and I haven't been doing much for them either. It's time to to face reality. This stage of my life is over. I have retired.

At least Dash had a good day. He was fairly strong on his walks and he's still eating well. I made sure he has a new supply of Plavix and we broke in some brand new boots and socks. I think we're ready for another day.

Rhett is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3157

Today was disappointing. Yesterday I thought I'd already sold one of my guitars. Today I learned that the guy who put it on layaway changed his mind. That wasn't the only surprise. I also learned that the guitar store wants me to take care of repairing the broken synthesizers. Originally, they were going to handle this themselves, but I guess they got cold feet. I can understand. It's difficult to estimate the cost of repairing old things. It wouldn't be hard to invest more money in repairs than the synthesizers were worth. I'll go ahead and get the instruments repaired on my dime, but it sure would have made life easier to let the store handle this.

Maybe life just isn't meant to be easy. When I went up on the roof today, I discovered a small defective area that the roofers inexplicably failed to fix. The roofers may have missed this bad spot, but the rain found it easy enough. Now I've got to convince the roofers to come out again. That won't be a a pleasant task.

A client that I'd thought I'd lost about six months ago now wants me to do more work for him. Strangely, I have mixed feelings about this. I'm getting used to the idea of being fully retired. It's also good to have an income, so I'll definitely do the work. I just wasn't as happy to get this new job as I should have been. I guess I don't know what I want anymore. When I'm idle, I think that work and deadlines would add structure and a sense of purpose to my life. When I actually get a job, it just seems like a giant nuisance.

Dash has added a new wrinkle to his bag of tricks. He wakes me up at night, acting like he really needs to go outside and pee. As soon as he gets outside he just stands there looking confused. He'll wander around aimlessly for a long time and then come back inside without doing anything. We repeated this process three times last night before he actually peed. When I finally thought I might be able to get back to sleep, he got me out of bed again. This time he needed to poop. I was outside at least 45 minutes with Dash between 2 and 3 AM. Needless to say, by the time he had finally done his business I was wide awake. I don't know what makes Dash seem dazed and confused at night, but it seems to be getting worse.

This morning he was fine, even though I was exhausted. If Dash does his business quickly, I can usually get back to sleep very easily. When he keeps me up for hours at a time, it's hardly worth the trouble to go back to bed. Once I'm fully awake I might as well just stay up.

Hopefully things will be better tonight. I don't know how much more sleep deprivation I can take. I don't think Dash is really worried about losing sleep. He sleeps all day.

Pogo is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3122

I'm getting closer to getting the roof repaired. I talked to the job foreman today and discovered that the crews weren't always being paid when they came out to make repairs. That certainly explains why this job has been slow walked for several years. After more conversations with everyone involved I tried to make it clear that problems between the contractor and subcontractors weren't really my concern. I just want a roof that doesn't leak. Hopefully, this issue is finally resolved. All we need now is for the rain to stop. I got a verbal promise that the repairs will be made as soon as we get some dry weather.

Jeez. Why am I dealing with all this during the wettest July I can remember? It is usually bone dry in July. It seems like I'm always talking to the roofers during the middle of a thunderstorm. It certainly rained a lot today, even though is was sunny this morning. I even got soaking wet taking the trash out to the curb. Dash didn't get his evening walk either. I doubt that he minded. He was busy hiding under my desk.

I rescheduled my service appointment with Land Rover today. They kept trying to explain that no loaner cars were available because people weren't returning them. How was this even possible? You have to return the loaner car to get your own car back. Janet, who still works, explained what was going on. "People take the loaner car to the airport when they go on business trips," she said. "Their own car gets fixed before they return and the dealership thinks the loaner is missing." I guess this makes sense. I haven't taken a business trip in so long that this is a whole different universe to me. I always take the loaner car back as soon as the repair is finished.

I noticed today that I forgot to bill a client several months ago. This client used to keep me busy but there has been so little work in the past year that I almost forgot they were on the roster. I wrote them a letter asking if they wanted to terminate my services. It seemed like the right thing to do. Years ago I would have worked hard to restore the relationship, but the effort seems futile. These guys don't even use their website anymore. They might have forgotten they even have one.

I listened to some of the Peter Strzok testimony today. Sad. This country has become so divided that we are never coming together again. This is a Humpty Dumpty scenario. All the king's horses and all the king's men couldn't put the country together again. I think we should face facts and just split the country in two. Give everyone a moving allowance so they could move to the country of their choice and then build a wall between the red country and the blue country. Everyone would probably get behind that wall.

I tried to tie up some loose ends this week, but I'm not sure what I accomplished. The roof still isn't fixed. My car repair has been pushed back to August. The security light in the back yard has been "fixed" but I'm not sure if it was ever broken. Probably the most important thing that happened this week was that Dash's dewclaws got trimmed.

Winston is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3042

The appliance repairman said that there was nothing wrong with the stove. He agreed that the stainless steel countertop got pretty darn hot when the burners were on high for a while, but could find nothing wrong with the wiring. He suggested that we stop boiling large pots of water on the stovetop, but I don't think Janet is going to like this idea. Sadly, the stove repair was a failure, but I was able to get the washing machine fixed.

All front loader washing machines have a thick rubber gasket that seals the door when you are doing a load of wash. Unfortunately this gasket retains water after you've finished doing a load and since it never gets dry, eventually the rubber starts to mold. Almost all front loader washing machines do this, which is why they are not as popular anymore. A YouTube video showed me how I could replace this gasket myself, but I'm glad I didn't try. The repairman had to to use a special tool to unlock the clamp that held the gasket in place. The YouTube video never mentioned this tool. He also had to remove a large and very heavy concrete counterweight that keeps the metal drum in balance while it is rotating. You basically had to take the machine apart to remove the thick rubber sleeve. I guess the effort was worth it though. I now have a brand new door gasket that probably won't begin to mold for another three years.

Dash slept through the entire two hours the repairman was here. Actually, he continued sleeping for an additional hour after the guy left. Dot would have spent the entire time barking. I don't know if Dash is really tired or he just doesn't care. Either way, repairmen just don't seem to bother him.

I was surprised to get a call about a very old invoice that I'd almost given up on. Apparently, the bookkeeper quit and nobody was aware of the invoice. The owner's wife was doing the books now and asked if I took credit cards. None of this sounded normal, but at least this February invoice might finally get paid. I wonder if I'll ever get any more work from this company? They used to keep me pretty busy, but these days they seem in worse shape than I am.

I got a post card from my sister thanking me for a voicemail message I'd left on her birthday. She never returned the call, but the cryptic message on the postcard was reassuring. I'm not terribly close with family, but when someone has cancer you start to worry if they disappear for a while. I guess we can go back to sending letters back and forth every few months.

I wore the silicon fitness tracker band I repaired today and it didn't immediately fall apart. In my book, that's a success. So far, there's no skin irritation either. I'm already looking for more broken silicon stuff to repair. I'm sure the Jawbone tracker will break again eventually. It might break tomorrow. For now, I am satisfied that both the tracker and the front loader washing machine will live to see another day.

Wyatt is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2938

Today was surprisingly normal. As a result, I got quite a bit done. We got started with a walk through the fog. I love foggy mornings. The world seems very private and intimate in the fog. Dash didn't feel like going down by the water, so I didn't photograph sailboats obscured by the mist. There were plenty of other ghostly shapes however, and no loose dogs or bicycles. It was a very enjoyable walk.

After breakfast, I took a check to the bank, picked up some more enalapril for Dash at the vet, and returned home to get started on a new writing project. The word count on the e-mails concerning this project are already equal to the length of a normal finished article. I've done these type of things many times before, but I have a new contact now and we're off to a rocky start. I hope that things improve because I don't have a lot of patience for quibbling about prices. News flash. If you think I'm too expensive, you don't have to use me.

It was such a relief that Dash wasn't acting weird today. He ate normally, took nice long naps when I needed to work, and didn't have any stressful temper tantrums. Dash needs to be calm and relaxed because of his heart problems, but he seldom is. I'm always afraid when he's agitated and barking a lot that one of the blood clots in his heart will break apart and it will all be over. Dash is literally a ticking time bomb, but he doesn't know it. From his point of view, he's just acting like a normal high strung Dalmatian should.

I have several articles to write, but I though one was enough for today. I finished the day revising websites. I was working on an old school static site, so I used Dreamweaver for the first time in months. Much to my chagrin, I had already forgotten some of the menu shortcuts I used to use everyday and had to re-learn how to do simple things like change font sizes. I've always been a believer in the well known "use it or lose it" adage, but I'm just starting to realize that it's much easier to "lose it" as you grow older. It's becoming harder and harder to remember things that I don't do every day.

I have an appointment scheduled with my financial adviser tomorrow. For the first time in years, I don't have any complaints. A rising market lifts all boats and I've finally recovered most of the losses I sustained in the big crash of 2008. The goal now is just to avoid losing everything in the next big crash. I don't think I'll live long enough to recover from another market crash like we had in 2008. Realistically, I don't think the current rally could possibly last another ten years, but I sure wish it would. It would certainly make my life a little easier.

I should have taken a camera down to the lake and photographed sailboats before the fog lifted. Oh, well. You can't do everything. I also missed the conjunction of Jupiter and Mars on January 7 because of rain, but the two planets were still pretty close together when Dash needed to go out and poop around 3 AM this morning. It's almost worth getting up in the middle of the night for your dog when you can see something interesting in the sky.

Jordan is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2937

Our power went out again this morning. This is the second time in less than a month that we've had a power outage. Just like the last time, it happened on a clear, windless day. I don't know what's going on, but it's certainly frustrating. This time, I was working in Photoshop and lost the file I was editing when the power went out. I have been lulled into thinking power outages were a thing of the past since we haven't had many problems for the past several years. I guess the lesson here is to never get complacent. Random, unexplained outages are back.

Even though the power outage was inconvenient, it was the least of my worries this morning. Dash's back paws had gotten cut during his morning walk and I was having trouble stopping the bleeding. With the two different blood thinners Dash is taking, even a minor scrape can turn into a major problem. I guess we're going to have to go back to wearing the rubber boots all the time. It was the front side of his paws that got scraped. He doesn't lift his rear legs very well when he walks and when his nails drag the pavement, the paw sometimes turns under and he ends up scraping the front part. The socks and boots he wears are pretty effective at preventing this damage, but now we'll need to figure out how to trim his nails.

I had big plans to complete the initial phase of my new website project today and by the time the power was restored, I was already way behind schedule. I didn't bother to create HTML documents yet. It's way too early. I'll show the client a Photoshop layout first and see if they respond favorably to the basic idea. I've learned from experience that it's a huge waste of time to create a fully functioning website if the client hates the way it looks. Hopefully, I'll get some feedback soon, so I can finish this thing.

When I finished shipping the website layout off to my client, I reluctantly returned a phone call from another client. How weird that someone actually wants to talk to me on the phone. This is almost unheard of in this day and age. It turns out that I'm talking to my new contact at the client who gives me most of my writing assignments. I sure wish my old contact hadn't quit and decided to become an accountant. After talking to this new person for a few minutes, it became clear that we were starting over. I could have finished the entire article in the time it took to go over the input information. Oh, well. We'll get things straightened out eventually. I guess I got spoiled by working with the same person for four years. I should have realized that nothing good ever lasts.

I still haven't reset all the clocks and timers in the house. Every time the power goes out, I need to reset the internal clocks in the land line phone, the coffee maker, the little gizmo that turns off the living room lights at night, the dehumidifier, and several clock radios. For some reason the washing machine automatically turns itself on when power is restored too. You can see why people like WiFi. Everything connected to the WiFi network just resets its clock automatically.

I hope Dash has a normal day tomorrow. After dealing with bloody paws, runny poop, and a mysterious episode where Dash spent ten minutes barking at an empty bed, I need a rest.

Mack is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2911

I spend way too much time dealing with some minuscule website problems just to avoid going up on the roof. The weather was perfect. I just didn't feel like dealing with the messy elastomer today. I'll probably regret this later because we don't get that many really warm days in December. Maybe I'll deal with the roof tomorrow, or maybe I'll just decide that it's already good enough to survive the winter.

Dash had a great day. His appetite was good. He was eager to go on a walk. And there were no signs of vertigo or dizziness. You never know from day to day how he's going to feel, but I'm always happy when he has a good day. The only problem we encountered today was another loose dog we saw on our walk. Dash usually notices these dogs before I do and we change our route to avoid them. It's a shame that so many people refuse to keep their dog on a leash. You can't even talk to most of them. They're convinced that they are doing the right thing.

I can't decide whether to go out and look for meteors tonight. This is supposed to be the best night for viewing the annual Geminid Meteor Shower. If I lived in a place with dark skies, the Geminids would probably be spectacular this year. I live in Dallas though and the light pollution in town is terrible. I've only seen one or two meteors the entire time I've lived here. You never know though. Maybe I'll see something when I take Dash out to pee just before we all go to bed.

Today was so uneventful that I looked forward to taking the water bill to the post office. I could pay almost all my bills online, but I still like going to the post office. I haven't even started shopping yet, but there was already a long line of people waiting to mail their Christmas packages. I dropped my envelope in a mail slot and left. I may enjoy mindless trips to the bank and post office, but I hate standing in lines.

I couldn't find anyone to talk about my newly completed website project, so I just went ahead and launched it. I've done this before and it usually takes clients at least a week to even notice that something has changed. Sadly, websites aren't a big deal anymore. They're kind of like Yellow Pages ads used to be. Eventually I'll get some feedback on the site. Hopefully, everyone will like it. It's always nice when people appreciate something you've spent weeks putting together. So, what happens if people hate the new site? Who knows. I guess I could always put the old site back up.

I tried to think what to get people for Christmas this year and I'm coming up with nothing. My mind's a blank. It's too bad that I have no faith in gift cards anymore. Gift cards used to be such an easy solution but I don't think I'll ever buy one again after we got scammed last summer. I asked Janet what she wanted for Christmas and she said she'd like me to clean out my office. That's about like asking me to grow wings and fly.

Cookie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2692

I've never spent so much time focused on eating. It takes an entire day to feed Dot. She eats tiny amounts and then turns away. An hour or two later she'll eat a little more. I'll feed her whenever she shows any interest in food. Dash has become obsessed with Dot's food, but it makes him sick. Getting both dogs to eat is proving to be quite a challenge. Dot's appetite often returns while I'm eating breakfast or dinner, so my own meals are continually getting cold, or in the case of my morning smoothie, becoming warm. Dash is moody and often I have to trick him to eat. When he won't touch his breakfast, I transfer it to Dot's bowl. Oddly, this works sometimes, because Dash thinks he is stealing Dot's food.

Eating a relaxed meal used to be the favorite part of my day. Cleaning up poop during breakfast, or keeping a constant eye on Dash to make sure he doesn't wander off and vomit in the office has changed things though. There is nothing relaxing about mealtime. Typically, it has become one of the most stressful times of the day.

Dot must be feeling a little better, because she's starting to remember how much she hates taking pills. It's harder to get the pills down her throat, because she knows the routine. I try to find something she really likes to feed her after each pill, so she gets some positive reinforcement. You never know when she's going to be hungry, but amazingly she still has an appetite a couple of times a day. I really have to work on becoming more patient. Hand feeding a dog a couple of kibbles at a time can take forever.

It was a long day, but we're all still here. Dot has eaten about 3/4 of her daily quota and Dash finally ate his own food without throwing up. Hopefully, Dot will eat a little more when she takes her final set of pills at the end of the day. I never dreamed that eating could become so complicated. Often Dot will refuse to eat something she seemed to love the day before. We need to keep a wide variety of choices available for her. Today, she's back to eating dry food again. To reward her for taking her pills, I've been giving her little bits of sliced turkey today. Who knows if she'll like turkey tomorrow.

I need to rearrange the refrigerator. It is so full of options for Dot, that leftovers I need to eat myself often get misplaced.  I really need a shelf for each day of the week in the refrigerator. I would put the oldest food on the Monday shelf, so I would be sure to eat it first. I hate it when food goes bad simply because I've forgotten about it.

I wrote some friendly letters today to clients who have seemingly forgotten about me. If they don't reply to these messages, I will conclude that they actually have forgotten about me. I hope these folks aren't reading the blog and concluding that I'm too preoccupied to meet their deadlines. I still need the work. I never miss deadlines either.

I wish I had a better understanding of what is going on in Dot's body. She's not giving up, but these days have got to be tough on her. Her activity level changes from day to day. Last week I thought she was becoming nocturnal because she was still active when Janet and I were ready to go to bed. Today, she was active all morning and is sleeping soundly now. Some days I think she isn't going to eat at all, and then an hour later, she'll be hungry again. I think this is a learning experience for all of us.

Daisy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2495

I carefully filled the new garbage can today and took it out to the curb. I did my best to make sure that each black trash bag wasn't too heavy or too full. If the truck still fails to empty my trash tomorrow morning, I'm going to conclude that someone is fucking with me. I know there are probably better things to do than fret about my trash, but it beats fretting about whether Dot's poop is too hard or too soft, or wondering why the bananas for my smoothie aren't ripening faster.

I've got a lot of questions for Dot's oncologist tomorrow when we go to the cancer center for another ultrasound scan and recheck. Dot seems to be getting weaker, but the problems don't appear to be related to her cancer. There are just too many things going on at once. The liver cancer is still there and probably contributes to how tired she is at times, but the real problems are with her legs. The neurological damage in her rear legs has caused her to compensate and transfer more weight to her front legs. Now her front legs go out occasionally and I have to be real careful and try to provide some support for all four legs when I take her outside. Today, she slipped and cut her nose when she fell on a stick on the ground. The cut was minor, but it reminded me of just how fragile she's become.

Janet had to work late tonight, so I had to walk Dot on my own. Even simple things like trying to lock the back door while holding Dot upright seemed problematic. I need two leashes to walk her now: one for the front legs and another for the back legs. There are so many strings that it probably appears like Dot is a marionette as we slowly walk down the street. Without Dash to guide her, Dot's pace was even slower than usual. We inched along making our way down the alley behind our house. Eventually she pooped when a neighbor dog got her barking. Sometimes barking does the trick when nothing else works.

The Jewish holidays have sidelined one of my clients for a while, but I don't know what has happened to the others. It was completely silent today. No e-mails. No phone calls. Nothing. This never used to happen. I guess I better get used to it. It's a collaborative world these days and my lone wolf style of working has gone out of fashion. I used to think it might be fun to go back and work for a large agency again sometime. No one would hire me now. Even if age weren't an issue, I don't seem to play well with others.

I really hope I don't have to load the car up with garbage tomorrow and look for a dumpster again. It kind of spoils my Friday breakfast ritual. Life has become very stressful and I need a couple of hours each week to eat something tasty while I pretend I'm taking a break at roadside cafe in rural Wyoming. Wyoming sounds real nice right now.

Puppies are today's Dalmatians of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2488

I had to move a client's website from one hosting company to another today. In theory, this should be an easy process, but it never is. There is always some weird configuration issue when I'm trying to access a new server with my FTP application. I spent hours on the phone with technical support trying to figure out how to upload the site. We finally figured out that the login information the client had provided me with was incorrect. This happens a lot. I finally got everything working correctly, uploaded all the files to the web server, and was getting ready to point the DNS to the new name servers when I got an e-mail from the client. He told me that he had just gotten a better deal from his old hosting company and he didn't want to move after all. What a wasted day.

Sometimes I think that my Internet clients are just trying to drive me crazy, but in reality, they are nice people who just aren't very technically savvy. That's all I've got left. My sophisticated clients left long ago, moving their complex and growing sites to big interactive agencies that provided all kinds of fancy services I wasn't able to offer. This consolidation within the industry has just about destroyed small shops like mine. When I hear politicians say they are going to bring back jobs, I wonder how they are going to do it. Big companies continue to swallow up smaller companies that don't have the same economy of scale. Customers aren't very loyal and continue to take their business to whoever can offer the most for the least. If service jobs like mine are disappearing, manufacturing jobs are never coming back. People are so eager to get a huge flat screen TV for $200 that they don't care how many jobs are destroyed in the process.

Maybe it's just as well that my business isn't what it used to be. Taking care of an incontinent, senile old dog who can't walk anymore is an enormous effort. I could never leave the house for half the day to go to meetings like I used to. Business travel is out of the question. As much as I hate to admit it, my little writing jobs and the few remaining website clients I have left are just about all I can handle.

Dot got a lot of rest today, but still had trouble standing and walking. She was very shaky on her morning walk around the block and stumbled several times. The accidents are getting more frequent too. When I ask the vets how to slow down this inevitable decline, they sometimes suggest pain pills, but seldom offer any real solutions. You just can't stop the aging process. I still wonder if the water therapy might help, but I hate to keep dragging her around town and making her miserable.

I wonder if my trash will get picked up tomorrow. I switched to a different garbage can and tried not to pack the big black trash bags so tightly. I have no idea if this will work, but I'm getting tired of taking my trash to a dumpster. Complaining to the city is worthless. They just ignore you. As far as they're concerned, the new robotic garbage trucks are great. It's a brave new world out there. I can't depend on the garbage man. My mail carrier doesn't bother to deliver the mail at least one day a week. Nobody seems to give a shit anymore.

Cassie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2471

Apparently, I'm not the only person dealing with frustration. Every call I got today involved some sort of frustration. Information wasn't correct on a website. Paypal deposits weren't being transferred properly. Responsibilities weren't being delegated. None of these problems were caused by me, but I did my best to fix them. In one case I had to get a new set of passwords to access a problematic website. Apparently I had been replaced and I didn't even realize it. The person who replaced me did a sloppy job and now the client wanted me back again. Sure, whatever. I had been completely oblivious to all the drama going on behind my back.

I'm glad I'm nearing the end of my working career. The work world seems so chaotic now. All my clients seem more stressed out than they used to be. Everybody is being squeezed. Customers are demanding more. Employees are becoming less reliable. The pace of change is definitely accelerating.  I haven't been responsible for hiring people for a long time. If I were faced with hiring millennials today, I think I would just throw up my hands in despair.

None of my own frustrations were work related today. Most of them involved my deteriorating roof. It must have rained a lot harder than I though the other day, because there was still a ton of standing water up on the roof. When I pumped the water away and swept the roof dry, I discovered even more damaged areas where the elastomeric coating had peeled away from the roof's surface. There are more than a dozen serious bad spots now. The roofer is ignoring me too. I've called several times and sent multiple e-mail messages, but have yet to get a response. I don't know where this is going. The patches don't seem to be working and the roofer clearly doesn't want to give me an entirely new roof.

Dot still seems tired and sore. She is slowly recovering from her fall last week, but I don't think she's ready for physical therapy yet. It's looks like I'm going to have to cancel our Wednesday appointment. Dot would probably still benefit from acupuncture, but it's difficult to travel with her in the car. Unless she's feeling pretty good, the adverse effects of the car ride negate any benefits she might receive from therapy.

I would like to think that tomorrow will be different than today, but it probably won't. I'll turn on the television in the morning and hear the same news about terrorism and political circuses. I'll fix the same fruit smoothie for breakfast, hoping that the bananas have ripened a bit. Dash will interrupt my breakfast with non-stop barking and Dot will poop when I least expect it. There will probably be websites to update, but none of the changes will be of any consequence. I'll look for something to photograph for tomorrow's blog post. My shoulder will hurt and I'll think about taking a nap, but the day will be over before I get around to it. Then it will be Wednesday.

Rhett is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2416

There was a knock at the door while I was eating breakfast and after I got the dogs calmed down, I greeted a supervisor from the roofing company. We went up on the roof together and looked at the damage. He agreed that the roof definitely shouldn't look like this. It was product failure, he said. Finally. Of course, the roof couldn't be repaired today, because it rained last night and the roof was still wet. At least we're making progress. I told him I didn't want to wait another three months and he said the repairs would be made next week as long as it was dry.

I actually had a telephone conversation with a client today. This just doesn't happen anymore. I get my marching orders almost exclusively through e-mail these days. I wish more people would use the phone. It's so much easier when you can ask questions without having to type. After a ten minute conversation, I knew exactly what I needed to do. It probably would have taken days to arrive at the same conclusion using a chain of e-mail messages.

I talked to Dot's vet on the phone today as well. I described her symptoms and she said we might be dealing with canine dementia, along with Dot's many other problems. She wants me to bring Dot in next week so she can evaluate her again. She also wanted me to consider giving Dot a low dose of Trazodone before transporting her in the car. This drug is commonly used in dogs to reduce anxiety and is generally well tolerated. It is also used as a human antidepressant and I have an almost irrational fear of all antidepressants. I said I'd do a little research and think about it. Whenever I research drugs, it usually makes me fear them even more, so I end up just asking Janet what she'd do.

I have a new writing project that should keep me busy through the end of the week. Busy is good. The days don't seem nearly as long when I'm working. I used to have an endless stream of projects and was booked months in advance. Not anymore. These days, I hope I just have enough work coming in to pay the monthly bills. July is taken care of now, but just like June, there isn't a lot left over. I anticipated some of the changes that take place as you grow older, but I didn't really anticipate missing work. I thought I'd love having nothing to do, but that's not the way it turned out.

I'm probably a terrible voter. As soon as the Democratic Convention appeared to settle down and function normally again, I quit watching. I did the same thing with the Republican Convention. Apparently, it takes a circus to get me engaged. I don't like either one of these candidates, but I don't think the world is going to end when one of them gets elected. We are still going to be a divided nation and we are still going to keep kicking the can down the road.

The dogs have added a new twist to my already busy day. Now, when it is time for them to go to bed at night, one of them will get restless and start barking as soon as the other one is settled down. This gets them both active again and I'll have to take them outside to make sure they don't need to pee. I've done this three times already. Dot still doesn't look very tired. Of course, she's been sleeping all day.

Smokey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2402

I discovered today that one of my own clients was blocking me for sending spam. Am I a spammer? Definitely not. Do I share an mail server with someone who is? Probably. This is the problem with all shared mail and web servers. You don't know who your neighbors are. I called my hosting company and asked them to fix the problem. It's not that easy, they said. Thousands of customers could be using the same IP address and most blacklist e-mail filtering software will block the entire IP address instead of an individual user. Is there a solution to this irritatingly common problem? The hosting company said to just wait ten minutes and send my mail again. "If you send the mail again, it will probably be routed through a different mail server," said the tech support guy. OK. You would think that they could come up with a better solution than that. About half my mail went through today and the other half didn't. It would have been easier to just call my client on the phone.

This is why many doctors and hospitals still prefer to Fax medical records and apparently why the Defense Department still runs our nuclear missile system using a very old IBM computer and 8" floppy discs. Simple is often more reliable.  The more complex a system is, the more likely it is to break. My AT&T U-Verse service is spectacular when it works, but it really doesn't work all that well. Apparently the same can be said for my new e-mail account.

Dot still can't walk, but she is beginning to put weight on her left front leg again. This is a very good sign. I'm taking things very slow and giving her plenty of time to rest. She's a difficult patient, because she still wants to be active. You can tell she's frustrated when I hold her up using her harness and inch her around the house. That's all she can do at the moment though. If she keeps making progress at her current rate, we should be walking again in two to three weeks. It is very tiring dealing with a sixty pound dog that only has one good leg. I'd gotten used to supporting her back end, but it's much more complicated to provide effective support for her front and back legs at the same time. Today she peed on my foot when I took her outside, because I couldn't figure out how to get out of the way in time.

Dot is calm as long as Dash is calm, so I'm having to spend extra time with him to avoid the usual barking episodes that prevent Dot from getting the rest she needs. I've started giving Dash extra long walks in the morning, which seems to help. There are no easy solutions though. At this point in time, these are very high maintenance dogs.

I tried to get caught up on writing assignments today, but since most of them were going to the client who was blocking my e-mail, I have no idea whether they received the files or not. The client didn't even know they were blocking me. It was the anti-virus software they were using that is causing all the problems. The tech support guy I talk to this morning said that they monitor all outgoing mail using a special algorithm to detect spam messages and eventually the offending spammer will be identified and their account will be terminated. How long will this take? Who knows. I never realized how good I had it when my mail and web sites were hosted on a small secure private server. It's too bad that my friend who ran the company retired. Now that I've joined the modern world, I've had nothing but problems.

I guess the president was in town today but I never noticed. I was too busy cleaning up dog poop.

Winston is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2390

If I told you that there was a blog that only talked about eating breakfast, dog poop, and the hidden dangers of globalism, would you read it? I didn't think so. Sometimes I feel like apologizing about the monotonous state of my life. I could make this narrative a lot more interesting if I just started making things up. Alternately, I could just post something whenever I had a fascinating insight. Life isn't always full of fascinating insights though. I guess that was my point when I started this. I wanted to show what life was like on a day-to-day basis when you didn't edit out the uneventful and insignificant days. Like it or not, there are a lot of days just like today.

I managed to get Dot outside this morning before she peed on the floor, but my luck ended there. She came back inside and proceeded to poop while she was eating her breakfast. This happens so frequently that the area around her food bowl is well protected. I took the waterproof mat under her bowl outside, hosed it down, threw it in the washing machine, and replaced it with a fresh clean mat. If she could have only waited five more minutes, we would have been on our way, taking our morning walk.

When I ate my own breakfast after we returned, I noticed that the bananas were getting mushy and there were were a few bad spots in the strawberries. The fruit still tasted fine, but it had seen better days. Thursday is the end of the road for my morning smoothies. Tomorrow, I go out for breakfast, and this weekend I start all over again with the freshest looking fruit I can find. This routine is kind of monotonous, but it is also delicious. I wouldn't change a thing.

Work consisted of a series of conversations where my client would tell me that their website wasn't working and after running some tests, I would tell them that everything was fine and that the website worked perfectly. We went back and forth like this for hours and I'm still not sure what their problem was. There was nothing wrong with the code on the site, but there could have been all sorts of other problems. Maybe something was wrong with their network. Maybe they were looking at the site using an out-of-date browser. Maybe they just didn't understand what I was telling them.

I went up on the roof this afternoon to remove the standing water that had accumulated after our recent thunderstorms. It's been so hot that a lot of the water had already evaporated. The water that remained had started to turn green. This meant that little things were growing in it. One day, I'm going to find tadpoles swimming around in this water. Nature is a beautiful thing, but I'd just as soon not have so much nature up on my roof.

While I was walking Dash this evening, I watched a squirrel carry a large horse apple that must have weighed more than he did up a tree and then proceeded to eat the entire thing. I guess humans aren't the only greedy animals.

Tucker is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2141

Dash is much better today. The swelling has gone down on his paw and he's walking more or less normally again. He remembers where the bee stung him and won't walk in that section of the park. He's a nervous dog, but he's a very smart dog who learns from his experiences. I wouldn't walk on that trail either if I'd been stung yesterday. I had been thinking about making another vet appointment because Dash had been having some digestion issues last week, but that problem seems to have resolved itself. Dash is eating normally again. He's about as normal as he's going to get.

I didn't see the cluster of three planets this morning, because the sky was very overcast. It wasn't raining though. That's always a good thing. By around 10:30 this morning the blue sky I was hoping for suddenly materialized and it was nice for the rest of the day. Since it was a typical slow Monday, I used this opportunity to clear off the roof again. You would think that I could find better things to do with my time than to spend it perpetually removing water from the roof. Maybe. I can tell you one thing. Once you've had a bad water leak with sections of wet sheet rock falling from the ceiling, you never really trust water or your roof again. I'll always be looking over my shoulder when it rains.

Although my website business has slowed down quite a bit, I still get update requests every couple of days. Most of these updates are simple and don't provide much of a challenge. Sadly, they don't provide much of an income either. I keep hoping that these maintenance clients will spread my name around and one of their friends will eventually bring me a big new project that will keep me busy for months. That probably isn't going to happen though. Everybody has a website these days, but not everybody needs one. Some of my clients look at their website like an electronic Yellow Pages ad. Others have forgotten that they even have a website until I remind them. It can be discouraging to realize that you're not exactly setting the world on fire. On the other hand, it's kind of nice to have clients who still keep using you even though they don't need you at all.

I'm getting to the age where I see far too many obituaries. I see most of these notices on Facebook, because that's where you see everything these days. I haven't subscribed to a newspaper in years. Most of my college teachers have died by now. Many of my former ad agency bosses and early mentors have passed away as well, including one more today. It's kind of sobering to realize what a limited amount of time we have on this planet. Whenever I read that a friend or co-worker has died, I renew my resolve to put my remaining years to good use. This resolve usually lasts about an hour and then I revert to my old ways.

Apple is really getting sloppy about its upgrade program. During the past two weeks I have installed three different IOS upgrades to my phone plus another two upgrades for my watch. I just installed another Apple Watch upgrade this afternoon. Each of these upgrades was designed to fix a series of flaws and omissions found in the previous upgrade. I wish they'd tested these patches before they released them. I'd rather wait a little longer than hurry to install software that is full of bugs.

There will be one more chance to see Mars, Jupiter, and Venus packed into a tight little triangle tomorrow morning. The best viewing time was today, unless you had a sky full of thick clouds like we did. Maybe we'll get lucky tomorrow. Clear skies, no dog poop in the house, and a new job in my morning e-mail: that would be my tight little triangle.

Pearl is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day