Day 3866

We were looking for a place to photograph Dawn this morning and I discovered some Buttonbush trees. Buttonbush flowers have always seemed strange to me, but now they remind me of the coronavirus. I guess there is good reason to be cautious of this plant. It's poisonous. Native people have used the Buttonbush tree for medicinal purposes for centuries, but don't let your dog get near it. One of the only reasons I started learning about Texas plants was to keep our dogs away from the poisonous ones. There's quite a few around here.

We got a late start on our walk this morning, but at least it was overcast so the heat wasn't so bad. It was very muggy though. Sometimes I think Dawn wishes we were lazier and just slept in on weekends. There are always a lot more people out walking on Saturday morning. The coronavirus had definitely gotten more people interested in exercising. We see a lot more joggers and cyclists in the park than we did this time last year. I preferred things when the park was empty, but I guess it's a good thing that people are finally starting to take fitness seriously.

I never can find everything on my shopping list anymore. There were plenty of blueberries today, but I couldn't find raspberries. I finally remembered to get air filters for the furnace and was surprised to see that the new ones were much more expensive. When I looked at the label when I got home I noticed that these filters had a fancy new layer that trapped even microscopic particles. I guess with all the interest in air conditioning systems and clean air these days, the store thought people would go for a more expensive filter. It might help if I looked at labels before I bought things.

I wasted most of the day trying to fix little things around the house. Janet had a battery powered fan that had sat around so long that the batteries had corroded and started leaking. I thought I could clean up the battery mess and fix the fan, but I failed. The fan motor had gone bad as well. There was a flickering light in the bedroom and I couldn't figure out whether the problem was the bulb or the fixture. Something was causing the LED bulbs to get too hot and they would shut off for a while and then come back on after they had cooled. Why now? This lamp has worked perfectly for years. There was also a clogged drain in the shower. Yuk. I hate pulling hair out of clogged drains.

Dawn seems really tired after our morning walks. I hope we aren't pushing her too hard. She is always eager to walk and never shows any of the warning signs of heat exhaustion. She kept up a good pace this morning and wasn't even panting, but as soon as we got home she went straight for her dog bed. Maybe this is normal. I kind of felt like going back to bed myself.

I doubt hat I'll do anything productive tomorrow. I don't feel like going back to the gym yet. Actually, I'm amazed that the gyms are still open. Things look like they are finally starting to improve in Texas but I don't put a lot of faith in these charts anymore. Some of the tests are notoriously inaccurate and it takes so long to get results that you could be negative when you take the test and positive by the time you get the results. Everyone measures things differently as well. Each country, each state, and even each city has a different method of keeping track of things. It would be nice if there was a little consistency.

No comet tonight. Our skies are very cloudy. Even if we do get clear skies in the next few days, the comet is going to be very hard to find. It's getting fainter every day. It still makes me mad that the one clear day I had, all my pictures were slightly out of focus. Hey, that Buttonbush flower is nice and sharp though.

Puppies are today's Dalmatians of the Day

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Day 3292

I spend my Winters wishing it was Summer and my Summers wishing it was Winter. I was definitely wishing for warmer weather today. Everything takes longer when it's cold. I'm slow anyway, but dressing in layers on a cold day takes me forever. Making the bed takes longer when it is piled with blankets. You've got to let the car warm up before you leave the driveway. You can't even depend on the weather forecast. Yesterday I was looking at a week of clear skies. Now the forecast says it is going to rain tomorrow.

I had lots of errands to run today. There were prescription to pick up and groceries to buy. The car needed gas. I had to retrieve a few things from the storage warehouse. I needed strawberries for my smoothies, clorox wipes to help clean up dog poop, halogen bulbs for the sconce lamps in the living room, and salicylic acid for my oily skin. Each of these things came from a different store. No wonder so many people shop on Amazon.

I can't seem to catch up on sleep anymore. When I returned from my errands, all I wanted to do was sleep. Since Dash spends most of his day sleeping anyway, it's always easy to take a nap with him. If I lie down on the bed, he'll be curled up next to me within a matter of minutes. I just need to stay alert until he navigates the dog step at the foot of the bed. Occasionally, he falls and I have to catch him.

I used to start projects on weekends, but not anymore. I just take care of the bare necessities now. Instead of making Giclée prints for gallery shows, I unclog drains. You really can't ignore a clogged drain for very long. I thought I still had some 'instant plumber' stuff that uses compressed gas to clear gunk out of pipes in seconds, but I guess I'd left the can standing in the utility room too long. All the gas had escaped. I had to clear the drain the old fashioned way using a plunger. What a mess. You'd think by now that someone would have invented a coating that prevents gunk from accumulating on the inside of pipes, but apparently not. I have to clear slow drains much more often than I'd like.

I repaired another pair of Dash's Ultra Paws boots and did a few loads of wash. I was going to watch some of the afternoon cooking shows on PBS, but I fell asleep instead. Dash did get two walks today. He was slow and stumbled a lot, but he definitely enjoyed himself. His sense of smell is one thing that hasn't deteriorated. Dash wants to smell everything these days. I'm glad he still has something to look forward to.

I ought to look forward to going to the gym tomorrow, but the weekly workout is just one in a long list of weekend chores. I'm lazy at heart and fit out of necessity. I may be 70 but there are still drains to clean, standing water on the roof, and poop on the floor. I need to keep moving.

Petey & Greta are today's Dalmatian's of the Day

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Day 2714

There were plumbers at the house today. The slow drains in the kitchen finally reached a point of no return and I had to do something about it. Plumbers and dogs aren't usually a good combination, but I was happy to have them over today. Dot hasn't paid much attention to strangers lately. She used to bark at the neighbors, people we encountered on our walks, and any and all service people. She's been pretty quiet lately, but somehow the sight of two plumbers in the house caused her protective instincts to kick into gear and she began her "stranger danger" bark. I haven't heard this bark in months.

The more Dot barked, the more she began to remember she was a dog again. I could tell she was enjoying herself. Maybe it was a jolt of adrenaline. Maybe it was some vivid old memories she managed to resurrect. I don't know. Something happened though. Protecting me from the plumbers stimulated her appetite and as soon as the plumbers left, she ate a full cup of her dry kibble. Later, she ate a grilled chicken breast while Janet was having dinner and then we took a nice walk. It was almost worth the $237 bill the plumbers left me with.

I thought snaking out the pipes would be an easy and inexpensive job. Unfortunately, nothing is easy at our house. It turned out that the problem wasn't in the main drain lines. The clog was in a hard to access line in the brick wall behind the kitchen sink. The plumbers has to remove the garbage disposal and several supply lines in order to reach the line they needed to clear. Everything works fine now, but the two plumbers were here almost three hours.

I wonder why there are always two plumbers now? One plumber used to be enough. The same thing happens with electricians and HVAC repairmen. There are always at least two people on any service call. I'm sure this is a big reason why most home repairs now cost twice as much. I wasn't going to quibble about the price though. I was delighted that the plumbers arrived so quickly. In a house where the washing machine is running constantly, I can't afford to have clogged drain lines.

I know there are people who think I'm not being realistic about Dot. They worry about her quality of life. I know life isn't what it used to be, but days like today make me realize that Dot still has the capacity to enjoy being the family dog. Yes, I know yesterday was a bad day, but that's how it goes. I saw this with my Dad as well toward the end. Things fade in and things fade out. You've got to give the memories a chance. There will be other bad days and sometime in the not too distant future, we will run out of time. All I know is that I'm not forcing Dot to stay with us. She wants to stay with us. At least for a while today, she was a very happy dog.

Ollie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 1895

I took my morning shower armed with a plunger and drain cleaning tools. Before the hot water ran out, I managed to unclog the slow moving shower drain, do several of my shoulder stretching exercises, and wash my hair. This is as close to multitasking as I'll ever get. Later in the morning, I changed the furnace filters and discovered that, much to my surprise, there was nothing wrong with the Anton Bauer camera batteries after all. Silly me. For weeks I had thought I was going to have to buy new Pro Pac batteries because they would no longer power my LED lights. I completely forgot that the Gold Mount adapter I had added to the lights actually had to be plugged into something. Oops. When I plugged in a little cable I found in my camera bag that connected the battery adapter to the power input, the lights worked just fine.

It was nice to have a free flowing bathroom drain and some movie lights that actually work, but I couldn't rest on my laurels. As the day progressed, it kept getting colder and colder. The dreaded Icemageddon storm is on it's way. I did a big load of laundry to make sure that we didn't have a washing machine full of dirty towels if the power went out during the ice storm. I started systematically charging up my electronic devices. I wish there was a way to store up heat in advance, but there isn't. We have lots of single pane glass in the house and no fireplace. Once the power goes out, it gets cold almost immediately.

I dread taking Dot out to pee during the night if the ground ices over as everybody expects. It's hard enough to choreograph our short walks as it is. The goal is to keep Dot upright using the special harness without falling over myself. It's pretty easy to step in poop in the dark as well. Maybe we won't get freezing rain and sleet tonight after all. That would be nice. I'm not counting my chickens before they hatch though. It's currently raining outside and the temperature has already dropped to 32 degrees. This sounds like a recipe for an ice storm to me.

Even with her crippled legs, Dot is still better about doing her bathroom business in bad weather than Dash. When she needs to go, she takes care of her business quickly and immediately comes back inside again. Dash, on the other hand, freaks out whenever he gets wet. I tried to use a brief lull in the rain this afternoon to take Dash on a walk. It was still sprinkling a bit though, so Dash thought the sky was falling. He didn't pee or poop at all and we both came home wet. This means that he will probably whine at the back door tonight, but refuse to go outside when I open it. He still seems to think I have the power to stop the rain and gets mad when I don't make the bad weather go away.

Janet is listening to the Oscars in another room. I can't sit through these award shows anymore. They are just too long. The Oscars and the Grammys both make the Superbowl seem short. If you count all those red carpet fashion shows that precede the Oscars, you could easily spend the entire day watching this event. I did manage to see two movies that were nominated for an Oscar this year. That's two more than I saw last year.

Jeez, I hope we wake up with electricity and heat tomorrow morning and don't see any downed trees in our back yard. Ice storms have not always been kind to us.

Maggie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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