Day 4707

The house was very cold this morning. Luckily we had lots of blankets on the bed. I wish the furnace didn't decide to break on a weekend, but it is what it is. It actually got below freezing last night, so after we got finished taking Dawn on a chilly sunrise walk, our cold house seemed a lot warmer. 

I tried without much success to get the furnace running again. At one point the blower kicked in for a few minutes and warm air was flowing through the vents but it didn't last long. Something is seriously wrong with the fan and it doesn't take long for a circuit breaker to shut the furnace down. I really hope that I can get someone out here to fix this tomorrow morning. I hate being cold.

After breakfast I went walking at the mall. The car started easier this morning, so that was encouraging. I'm still a little nervous that it won't start when I need to go to the airport. The mall is already in full Christmas mode. Christmas trees are everywhere. The house where people bring their kids to see Santa is up. And most of the stores already have Christmas themed window displays. It's almost like Thanksgiving has been completely forgotten.

I walked my 2.5 miles and came home. Dawn was waiting for her Sunday outing, so off we went again for another walk. I kept falling behind on this third walk of the day. I was tired and my feet hurt. It was a nice day for walking though. The temperature rose quickly once the sun came up and it felt like a brisk Fall day. By the time we finished our ice cream cones, I was ready for a nap.

I tried without any success to find a better hotel for my Artemis trip. I finally gave up and confirmed my reservations at the hotel I've been trying to avoid. So far, it appears that the launch will take place on schedule. I still wonder why I am doing this. I don't really like night launches. If I stayed home and the launch was successful, I'd be kicking myself though. I guess I'm still going because I can. Press credentials for this thing were hard to get.

I should have started packing today, but I couldn't get motivated. It will be a busy day tomorrow. I hope the furnace repairs aren't too expensive. Who am I kidding. Of course they will be expensive. On a more positive note, I don't think there is anything left in the house to break. Maybe it will be smooth sailing for a while after this. One can always hope.

Puppies are today's Dalmatians of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4706

Good grief. Our furnace went out on the coldest night of the year. It wasn't the flame sensor this time so I couldn't fix it myself. The gas was coming on, but the fan wasn't working so no air was reaching the vents. Since there was no air circulating through the furnace, it would quickly overheat and shut down. 

As luck would have it, the HVAC guy I've been using for over twenty years retired a few months ago. I didn't know who to call until I remembered that the plumbing company I've been using has a HVAC division. I called their emergency number and about a half hour later one of their on-call technicians called me back. He said he could come over, but advised against it, telling me that the company's overtime and weekend rates were ridiculously high. He said that if we were cold, we could stay in a nice hotel for the weekend for a lot less than their emergency rates and asked if I could wait until Monday. The rates definitely were ridiculously high and I asked who would pay this kind of money. Hospitals, commercial companies, and others who absolutely could not afford to have their heating and cooling interrupted evidently. This company is good but they don't do much residential work. I decided to wait until Monday.

We bundled up for our sunrise walk this morning. Dawn, like all of our Dalmatians, seemed to like the cold. I was warm enough because I was wearing two down coats. Winter arrived rather suddenly this year. Only a few weeks ago I was wearing a t-shirt and shorts. A hot breakfast warmed me up a bit, but the house has stayed cold all day. I have resisted the urge to monkey around with the furnace because I would probably only make things worse. The technician I talked to this morning said that I probably need a new fan motor and capacitors. I wished the guy could have come out today but I wasn't about to pay $700 extra for a weekend service call. 

I had a hard time starting the car when I went to get groceries this morning. WTF? I have a brand new battery. The battery is still under warranty, but I'll have to find time to go to the repair shop that sold me the battery on Monday. At any rate, the saga of broken stuff continues and I can't seem to catch a break. Once the car was warm it started fine, but I don't want an unreliable car if I've got to get up early to go to the airport.

I probably will need to go to the airport soon. I got a message from NASA today saying the the Causeway bridge has been repaired and that the Titusville entrance to Kennedy Space Center is usable again. Damn. This took away my best excuse to scrap the trip and stay home. I guess I should just go through with the trip. I've already committed to write an article for SpaceFlight Magazine and I'm a bit worried that if I skipped this launch it might affect my ability to get a press pass in the future. Oh, well. Like it or not, I'm headed back to Florida.

It never did get warm today but I took my walk in the park anyway. This was a winter walk with a sweater and a warm coat. There are a lot fewer cyclists and joggers in the winter. The weather was nice this afternoon, but I was still a bit chilly. Tomorrow I'll go mall walking and start to pack for the Artemis launch. I'd better get some warm blankets out for tonight. I't s going to be very cold in the house.

Jada is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4682

I knew this was going to happen. We woke up this morning and there was no heat on the coldest day of the year so far. I was pretty sure I knew what was wrong because this happens every year. The furnace flame sensor gets dirty and the burners won't light. A repairman taught me how to fix the problem myself and it has saved me a ton of money over the years. That being said, I still don't enjoy doing the repair. It's an easy fix that involves sanding the flame sensor with fine grit sandpaper. The problem is that I have to dismantle part of the furnace to access the sensor. It is located down near the floor which is hard on my knees as well. At any rate, I got the furnace working again before breakfast, because I hate being cold while I eat.

It was really chilly this morning. I had to put on some extra layers for our sunrise walk. Dawn didn't need to wear a sweater yet, but if it gets any colder that's next. The park was really empty this morning. The colder it gets, the fewer runners and cyclists we see. Dawn really enjoys this cooler weather and I'm happy with it as well. I've got plenty of warm coats and I don't sweat much on a chilly day. The stars were out when we got started this morning. It reminded me that I ought to spend a little more time stargazing. Maybe not though. It's just not that much fun here in Dallas.

Once I finished breakfast and was satisfied that the furnace was running properly, I took my long walk. I didn't do as well this morning. My pace was slower and my feet hurt. There is no way to predict how I'm going to feel until I start walking. I thought this was going to be a good day when we took our sunrise walk with Dawn. Apparently not. By the time I returned home I felt like soaking my feet in a bucket of warm water. It was a beautiful day for a walk. My feet just weren't having any part of it.

After lunch I got out my video gear and checked everything out while recharging a bunch of batteries. I discovered that I'd forgotten how to use my wireless microphones and had to download a PDF document to relearn how to use the transmitter and receiver. Will I ever use this equipment again? It's doubtful. Making corporate videos was an important part of my business back in the day. I had a little editing studio and did everything myself. I still have the tape machines but I doubt that anything is done on tape these days. Oh, well. The equipment paid for itself and most of it is sitting in the storage warehouse now.

Dawn graduated to the advanced group at her training class this week. Janet said she did well, although she didn't bring home any ribbons. Next week the class is having a Halloween party and Dawn is going as Cruella de Vil. Janet made her a cute costume, but we don't know how long she will keep the Cruella wig on.  

I've got to get up early and take my car in for a service appointment tomorrow morning. We'll see how expensive the repairs are before I move on and get the dryer fixed. There's always something that needs to be fixed.

Diva is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4409

Yay. We've got heat again. Our gas was shut off for most of the day while a work crew repaired a gas leak in the alley behind our house. I didn't give the outage much thought at first because the repair people had already told me that they would be finished before the end of the day and that service would be restored. As the day progressed and the cold front got closer and closer I started to get nervous. The house was starting to get cold and the two things you need the most during freezing weather are a working furnace and hot water.

Toward the end of the day a gas company technician arrived and hooked up our gas meter again. I asked if he could come in the house and start the water heater and furnace again. He said he wasn't allowed to come inside. What? "But that's where the gas appliances are," I said. He said it was gas company policy and he could get fired for violating it. He did call me a plumber though and said I wouldn't be charged. Very weird. Why was it OK for a plumber to come inside, but not a gas company technician. I'm pretty sure that I could have restarted everything myself, but I didn't want to screw up and burn down the house. I've always had a healthy respect for flames. 

Surprisingly, the plumber arrived quickly and restarted the old and cranky water heater. I actually restarted the furnace myself because I was cold and impatient. I was a lot more familiar with the furnace as well. I've had to restart it numerous times to clean the flame sensor. The furnace has sophisticated shut-off features as well. I wasn't so sure about the water heater. Oddly, the water heater flame has never gone out before. The water heater has been one of the few totally reliable things in the house. 

I still don't know what was wrong with the gas line. Whatever they fixed was buried at least four feet underground. How did they even know the pipe was leaking that far underground? I don't know why they replaced my gas meter either. I suspect that the new meter allows them to read the meter remotely and I was due for a replacement anyway. All is well though. We are headed for one of the coldest nights of the year and the house is nice and warm again.

I really didn't get a lot done today. I took my long walk in a light mist, but didn't get very wet. My feet were terrible today, so maybe the foot pain does have something to do with the humidity. The weather is definitely getting nasty. Janet and Dawn didn't even go to training class tonight. I'm tired of winter already although I know that the worst is yet to come. Often February is our coldest month. At least we haven't gotten snow yet. I hope we don't. A winter without snow would be a blessing.

I was going to resume testing the star tracker today since there has been another update to the software. I decided to wait however, because I didn't want to be aggravated by two things at the same time. Dealing with the natural gas outage was enough for one day. I have absolutely no faith that things will go as planned anymore, so I was actually expecting to be sleeping under a big pile of blankets in a very cold house. The gas company actually did pretty well today. Much better than I expected.

I hope tomorrow goes smoothly.  I don't like surprises and I've grown weary of dealing with problems. A boring day is a good day as far as I'm concerned. Dawn is a good role model for me. All she does is eat, sleep and walk. Basically, that's all I do as well.

Daisy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4379

It was raining when we woke up this morning, so we had to wait to walk Dawn. Janet went to the gym. I started the pumps on the roof, did a load of laundry and ate breakfast. Eventually the rain stopped and we resumed our regular schedule.

When I checked my Fedex account this morning I saw a note that the barcode on my package was unreadable and a new shipping label had been applied. Jeez. It took them a week and a half to discover this? Maybe they just wore the original barcode out by scanning the package so many times. Apparently Fedex only does one thing each day because there has still been no delivery scheduled. I didn't bother to call again. I have nothing left to say.

When the rain stopped we took Dawn on her morning walk. After she completed her one mile loop, Dawn and Janet returned to the house and I continued walking. This was a terrible day for foot pain. I still don't know what makes things so different from one day to the next. I probably should have cut today's walk short, but I finished my entire route. This might have been my slowest day ever. I keep walking because I don't know if the foot pain is ever going away and I'm not ready to be housebound yet.

Janet got some special Christmas cookies for Charlie and Oliver when we went to visit the kennel today. The dogs were glad to see us and we played until each dog got tired. Nobody wanted to go outside in the yard because it was still very cold. This will be the last time we get to see Charlie and Oliver until the holidays are over. Holiday travelers will start boarding their dogs soon and we would just be in the way. I thought we might meet the two new puppies that entered the rescue program recently but they are still at the vet.

Yesterday I had to figure out why U-verse wasn't connecting to the new TV. Today I had to figure out why my new Fitbit was draining my iPhone battery. As is typically the case with these type of problems, I found a lot of people online who were experiencing the same battery drain frustration. I was able to slow down the battery drain by turning off background app refresh on my phone but then I discovered that the Fitbit wouldn't sync anymore. This is still a work in progress. It's too bad that I am hooked on steps and tracking stats. Today the Fitbit was just a giant nuisance.

The dehumidifiers have prevented moisture forming on the windows in the Winter, but the house still gets cold. My office is always the coldest room in the house since it is the most distant from the furnace. I've had to break out the little ceramic heater again to keep warm while I'm at the computer. I still spend a lot of time at the computer because old habits are hard to break. I'm not sure what else I'd do around the house anyway. At least our current cold wave will be a short one. I think temperatures will be up in the 80's again by Christmas Eve.

I have a dental appointment on Thursday and then I'm done with medical visits for the foreseeable future. I hope I'm not done with everything. The NASA folks have been strangely silent lately and I haven't heard from my friends at the observatory either. Janet keeps wondering when I'm going back to the space center but I just don't know. Until something develops, I'll keep walking every day and looking for my lost package.

Lexi is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3962

I knew it was going to happen sooner or later. I felt cold when I got up this morning and I decided to turn up the heat. Nothing happened. The furnace wouldn't light. This seems to happen every year. I used to call the HVAC guy to come out, but I've learned over the years that I can often fix the furnace myself. It's not a fun job, but it beats sitting around freezing until the furnace repairman gets here.

Often there is nothing really wrong with the furnace. There are a few parts that tend to get dirty and can prevent the pilot light from igniting. I unplugged the furnace, took the covers off and got to work. Since the utility room where the furnace is located is small, it is hard for me to reach the parts that need to be cleaned. I'm not as agile as I used to be. When I'm down on the floor in a confined space, it can be hard to get up again. I felt really old this morning. My tools are basically sandpaper and Windex. I try to clean the parts in place, because I don't want to reassemble anything improperly. The last thing you want to do with a gas furnace is cause it to explode. Cleaning everything was tedious, but it worked. When I was finished I plugged the furnace back in, reset the thermostat, and turned it on. Thirty seconds later we had heat. 

I got a late start on breakfast because of the furnace mishap, but it didn't matter. We weren't walking early anyway. It wasn't raining today, but it was very cold. We thought if we waited to walk until after lunch it might get warmer. I guess it did get a little warmer, but it was still very cold when we left the house. Dawn wore a winter coat for the first time. She wasn't sure about the coat at first, but got used to it quickly. I'm never sure if dogs really like their coats and sweaters. I hope so. They're bound to get cold too.

I've finally had to hook up the little ceramic heater in the office. Just because I fixed the furnace doesn't mean that this room gets warm. The office is the most distant room from the furnace and I think the air in the vents cools down before it even gets here. Cold days in the office have always been a problem in the Winter. It's not a big deal now though. I'm retired. I don't even know why I spend time in this room.

It was a slow day. There were things I needed to do, but I just couldn't get motivated. I need to work on processing more of the pictures I took out at the observatory. I need to add Colt to the Dalmatian Rescue website as well. He's not ready for adoption yet, but I guess he needs to be up there anyway. Who knows. Colt might be exactly the dog someone has been looking for.

This week has really gone quickly. I was kind of surprised that it was already time to take the week's trash out to the curb. I wonder if I'll ever start going out for breakfast on Friday's again. I'm in no hurry. I've started buying a little more fruit so I can have my smoothie all week long now. If the weather is a little warmer tomorrow I need to go up on the roof and remove the standing water. I'm in no hurry to do this either, but water doesn't evaporate in the Winter.

Dakota is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2983

Dash gave me a scare today. We had just gotten started on our morning walk when I noticed that something seemed wrong. Dash was unsteady on his feet and didn't want to move. I suspected that he was having a mild vestibular event and immediately tried to get him back home. Luckily, we had not gone very far, so he was able to wobble his way back to the house. When we got inside, Dash seemed very tired and almost immediately went to sleep. He had no interest in food. Sleep must have helped because he woke up feeling fairly normal around noon.

I always worry that Dash might have a vestibular seizure when we are away from home. In the Summer, the best thing to do would be to sit with him in the grass and let him rest until someone could come for us. This probably wouldn't work very well on a rainy day in the Winter though. If a seizure is severe, I need to get him to a vet immediately. For mild seizures it is best to just keep him calm and wait until the symptoms subside. Luckily, major seizures are very rare. Dash has had several, but the vet said he may never have one again. Of course, he could have a bad episode tomorrow. Vestibular disease never really goes away.

The rain wasn't as bad today. There was a storm when we got up this morning, but things got better as the day progressed. It never really quit raining, but for most of the day all we got were light showers. I was able to take Dash on a short mid-adfternoon walk and later in the afternoon I was even able to inspect the roof. I was hoping to find the source of the leak on the back porch, but finding a leak is hard when everything is underwater. I plugged in the sump pump and began sweeping away water. I knew I wasn't going to be able to clear away all the water. I just wanted to reduce the load on the roof. Dealing with the roof is very discouraging in the Winter. Mother Nature always wins.

When the rain subsided a bit, I went to the grocery store and got some food for the weekend. I hate a muddy car, but there is no way to avoid driving in the rain when the rain never quits. I have to remember that the rain will stop eventually. Maybe I can go to a carwash later this Spring. Maybe the roof will be dry enough for the roofers to fix things by Summer.

The post office needs to get its act together. Today's mail looked like it had been dropped in a puddle. Everything was so wet that the envelopes had all come unglued. Even though there was a big pile of soggy mail, it was mostly just catalogs and political flyers. Nothing of significance was ruined. One of the reasons that I always take letters directly to the post office is that I have no faith in our mail carrier. This certainly isn't the first time we've received a box full of soggy mail or letters addressed to our neighbors.

The house always seems cold in wet weather. According to the thermostat, the temperature is the same as it always is, but it sure doesn't feel that way. I wonder is it's psychological? I just can't get warm enough on day like this. I've got the little ceramic heater going in the office and I'm wearing my down booties, but I'm still cold. Maybe I've just got poor circulation. If I don't keep my feet really warm, I feel like no blood gets to my toes at all.

We've had far worse Winters in the past, but this this extended rainy spell has got me nostalgic for Summer. Sure, it gets too hot, but we've got air conditioning. Somehow, our air conditioner always seems to work a lot better than our furnace. Not to worry though. The weatherman says it's going to warm up this weekend. I hope he's right.

Joey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2931

I think I'm becoming a wimp. We have had much colder winters, but this one seems to be getting the best of me. I just can't seem to get warm. I wear sweaters and down booties around the house. I even bought a spare pair of down booties because they looked so warm in the catalog. I've got the little ceramic heater running in the office now in an attempt to warm up this perpetually cold room. So far the furnace is running great, although our gas bill is going to be pretty high next month. I'm sure it will warm up eventually, but until it does I am very reluctant to get out of bed in the morning.

I worry about Dash getting cold, but so far he seems to enjoy his chilly walks. For the most part we have the park to ourselves. Very few of the other neighbors are out walking their dogs. I do make an effort to keep Dash warm. He wears a snug fleece sweater under his Ruffwear Webmaster harness. Since the service dog harness covers most of his back, it is kind of like a second coat. Add socks, rubber boots and the knee brace and you've got a well protected dog. I've gotten much better at putting on this gear by myself. It used to take forever to get Dash suited up, but now I can get him ready in less than five minutes. I think he understands that all this paraphernalia keeps him comfortable on cold days. He used to run away when he saw the sweater, but now he waits patiently for me to put everything on.

Janet and I must be tired. Neither of us heard Dash last night when he woke up and wanted to go outside. Eventually, I heard him scratching at the door, but it was too late. He had already pooped next to the door. I felt bad because Dash almost never makes a mess in the house. He tried to wake us and he obviously really had to go bad.

2018 certainly isn't getting off to a roaring start. I was slow fixing breakfast. Dash was slow taking his morning walk. And then things slowed down even further from there. I blame it all on the weather. It's hard for me to focus on anything other than staying warm when the temperatures are well below freezing. I did eventually make it to the bank and the post office. It seemed a sign of things to come that the first thing I did in 2018 was pay bills.

I'm curious how things are looking up on the roof, but I'm not going up there until the temperature gets about freezing. Been there, done that. The roof is really treacherous when it is covered with ice. There are no leaks or damp spots inside, so I'm going to assume that all is well.

I've got to get my website project finished this week. I've let this thing drag on way too long. I'm afraid that the new site is just going to be the existing site rearranged differently. I've come to the conclusion that there's nothing wrong with the way things are. The current site is fine. I really hate to fix something that isn't broken. Other people don't always adhere to this rule. The most common reason that people update their websites is that they have become bored with it.

I am very familiar with boredom and have learned to respect it. Boring isn't always bad. Boredom provides me with a sense of stability. Unfortunately, if my clients shared this view, I probably wouldn't have any work at all. They want something different that isn't really that different. Hey, I can do that. If it would warm up a bit, I'd be done already.

Lilly is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2914

The weather turned nasty today. As the day progressed, it continued to get colder and around mid-afternoon it started to rain. Since it rarely snows in Dallas, this is how I remember Winter. There is something about a cold winter rain that is particularly miserable. It's hard to warm up on days like this. Since Janet doesn't like me to crank up the heat, I'm walking around the house wearing a wool skullcap and duck down camping booties. I need to find the little ceramic heater I keep under my desk in the winter. The little electric heater works like gangbusters but I've become reluctant to use it as I grow older. I'm much more forgetful now and I'd hate to start a house fire by forgetting to unplug the thing when I go to bed at night. Dash is also a problem. He likes to sleep under my desk during the day and I don't want him to inadvertently burn himself. For the moment, the wool hat is doing a fine job of keeping me warm.

What's the one thing you should never do on a rainy day? Maybe you should avoid washing the car. Well, that's exactly what I did this morning. In my defense, it wasn't raining earlier in the day, but I kind of knew the rain was coming. What can I say. I like a clean car. I'm definitely less likely to go anywhere tomorrow. The car will probably just sit under the carport until everything is dry again.

We had a nice walk this morning, but Dash and I got caught in the rain on our afternoon walk. We should have made it home before the rain began, but I keep forgetting how slow Dash has become. Dash used to speed up when it started to rain. Now, he just keeps poking along, smelling every wet bush along the way. Rain must intensify smells, because Dash spends a lot more time smelling things on rainy days. When we got home, I dried Dash off and threw our wet gear in the dryer. I still haven't warmed up yet.

One of the many things I dislike about winter is that it's much harder to find the dog poop in the yard. The poop blends in with all the leaves on the ground and just disappears. When Dash goes out at night, I have to mark the spot with a colorful piece of plastic. Otherwise, I'll never be able to find it in the morning. There's always one surefire way to find poop in the yard. Just wander around the yard for a few minutes and it will inevitably wind up on your shoes. Yes, I got dog poop on my shoes today. It kind of fit the mood of the day.

I used to watch movies on cold winter days, but the only thing I'm even vaguely interested in seeing is Bladerunner 2049 and it won't be available for streaming until sometime next year. Remember how excited I used to be about Dr. Who? I'm not even interested anymore. I didn't watch the last season at all and I doubt that I'll watch the new season either. I don't know if the show has changed or I have changed, but the writing seems terrible now. The show doesn't seem whimsical or inspired. It just seems stupid. Of course, the shows I do watch seem stupid too, but I just use them to go to sleep. Nothing puts me to sleep quicker than an old episode of Perry Mason or The Twilight Zone that I've seen ten times already.

If the weather clears up, I'll go to the gym tomorrow. If the weather gets worse, I'll take a nap with Dash. Sounds like a plan to me.

Hannah is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2558 - Blogiversary

Today didn't go well. It was cold when I woke up this morning and I quickly discovered that the furnace had gone out. Perfect timing, since the temperature is supposed to be in the low teens this weekend. It's really hard to get my HVAC guy to make a rush service call at this time of year, so I decided to try to fix the furnace myself. I always watch what the repair guys are doing when they come out to the house. I'm certainly no furnace expert, but I have learned a few things over the years. One of the most common reasons that a furnace goes out is a dirty flame sensor. I got out my tools and of course I couldn't find the right ones anymore. The utility room seemed a lot smaller than it did the last time I attempted a furnace repair. I felt too old to do this sort of thing anymore.

Eventually I got the cover off the furnace, but I didn't have the right tool to remove the sensor. The prospect of spending the day in a very cold house with two demanding dogs wasn't very appealing, so I tried to come up with a creative solution. After some experimentation I discovered that I was able to reach my left hand behind the panel where the flame sensor was attached and feel the sensor itself. I got a small piece of sandpaper and used it to polish the sensor probe. Although I couldn't see what I was doing, it felt right. After struggling in the small room for about forty minutes, I put the furnace back together and turned on the heat. The furnace lit like a charm and I saved $100. I wish I knew more about furnaces. There are hundreds of things that can go wrong, but I am only capable of fixing two of them.

UPS lost the package that I was supposed to pick up today. This is the third time this has happened this year. I redirect the packages to a convenient customer service center about four miles away so I won't have to wait for the UPS man all day. According to the UPS website, this process is foolproof, but the website lies. I'll get an e-mail saying my package is ready to pick up and then when I arrive at the will-call desk, the package isn't there. This drives me nuts, because the people at the service center are never in a hurry to find the package. I've never lost a shipment entirely, but sometimes it takes them days to track down the missing package. I've never received a good explanation for why this happens so often.

Janet had to leave for work really early this morning, so had to walk the dogs myself in the morning and then again in the afternoon. This takes a really long time, since Dot's walk is so slow. I could easily spend all day walking these dogs. Even though I took Dot outside again and again, she still managed to make a mess in the house. At least we still had running water so I could do laundry. There was a big water leak at the other end of our street and some of my neighbors have had their water turned off all day.

My cold is getting worse. I've added nasal congestion and laryngitis to the sore throat I had yesterday. Basically, when you add a bad cold to all the other problems I deal with on a daily basis, it makes for a pretty bad day. I had three articles to write today, but I only managed to finish one of them because the dogs were constantly interrupting me. There wasn't even the usual sleepy period this morning. They kept me busy all day long.

Tomorrow is probably going to be even busier than today. I still have two more articles to finish and I know I'm going to continue fretting about the lost package until I get an acceptable answer from UPS. Dot has a big exam at the cancer center too. We'll be doing an ultrasound scan, x-rays, and some additional blood work. I"m almost certain that Dot will poop in the car.

I hope I still have time to go out for breakfast tomorrow morning. I need a little time to myself and another Big Boy breakfast sandwich like I had last week sounds really good.

Jasper is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1889

If I were starting a blog today I would probably title it What New Kind of Hell Is This instead of Some Assembly Required. The current title is entirely too positive for my present frame of mind. I don't have a lot held in reserve anymore. Small setbacks are starting to bother me much more than they should. Case in point. Our power went out again last night. Actually, we lost power twice. Yes, it rained, but it was only a light rain. So far this year, the power has gone out almost every single time it has rained. You would think the power company could do better than this. Clearly, something in the system needs to be upgraded. We have had notoriously unreliable electric power ever since we moved to this neighborhood, but I think the outages this year are worse than ever.

I was dreading spending the day in a cold house with a sick dog that can barely more. Luckily, the power was restored this morning, the furnace kicked in, and pretty soon we were back to normal. Taking Dot out to pee in the rain was problematic. The ground was wet and slick and I had to be extra careful not to fall myself. On cold days I have to position things around the house so that I'm ready to go when Dot lets me know it's time to pee. Once I'm holding her hips up with the harness, it's hard to turn her around to look for a coat or a missing pair of shoes. I'm trying to remember to leave a pair of easy to slip on shoes sitting by the back door, but half the time they're still in another room when I need them most.

Dot and I are learning to establish the new routines and rituals that will get us through the day. She sleeps a lot anyway, and I've learned that if I'm patient and hold her up while she wanders around aimlessly for a while, she will quickly find a comfortable place to sleep and I can get some work done. It works better if I try to adapt my life to her schedule, rather than the other way around. Since she can't move on her own, I need to make the short amount of time when she still feels like trying to walk as relaxed and comfortable as possible. I've learned how to massage her legs and at least three times a day I manually work her leg muscles in a gentle bicycle motion to help prevent atrophy. When Dot is resting and lying down she actually seems to like this.

The Withings Baby Monitor only covers one room, but I've discovered that I can use the camera in my laptop as a petcam to watch her if she wants to sleep in a different room. I just move the laptop to wherever she happens to be. Despite the unfortunate power outage and my duties as a watchful 24-7 pet nurse, I was able to get quite a bit done today. My big objective was getting a major website update completed. There is a new team responsible for this website now and we are still figuring out the best way to work together. Since I managed to get the updates online, I guess we are doing something right.

I hope the weather warms up and dries out quickly. Rain certainly complicates things. I definitely don't want to get Dot's special harness wet, because she is helpless without it. I am already resigned to the fact that I'll probably have to replace a lot of the landscaping later in the Spring. As I tramp around in my work boots, holding Dot up as she looks for the perfect place to pee, I am destroying the bedding plants and ground cover. This happened once before when I was helping Petey walk during his final year with us. When Spring arrived that year, most of the Asian Jasmine was completely dead. It's easy to re-landscape though. It's going to be a lot harder to get Dot walking again.

Joshua is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 1792 - Veteran's Day

I thought I'd try to put the greenhouse back together today. As you might expect, the job was a little more difficult than I would have hoped. This greenhouse began life in the 1950's as a cleverly designed prefabricated kit. The Fort Worth company that made the greenhouse hasn't existed for decades and the thought of finding spare parts is laughable. I've always been impressed with how precisely everything fits together, but you just can't go to to Home Depot when something breaks. I decided to salvage the damaged roof segment instead of replace it. There wasn't anything comparable to replace it with anyway. The main problem I had was that since I couldn't actually crawl up on the translucent fiberglass roof, I could only reach four of the sixteen anchor points. I tried to see if I could attach the segment from the inside, but it became obvious that this was not how the roof was designed. I did the best I could and eventually secured the segment in place, but I suspect that another big wind will just blow it down again. What is even worse, I discovered on closer inspection that many of the anchors that hold the other roof segments to the frame had broken as well. Probably the big wind storm that knocked out our power last month and landed a piece of our neighbor's roof in our yard, damaged this greenhouse as well.

The strenuous work of repairing the greenhouse roof left me hungry, so when I finished my repair work, I went to the grocery store to look for something tasty to eat. With Thanksgiving approaching, Central Market is filled with an abundance of tempting treats. I filled my buggy with enough stuff to last me until the weekend and then went home again to see how the dogs were doing.

Dot and Dash had the good sense to stay inside today. They had absolutely no interest in joining me outdoors while I repaired the greenhouse and preferred to huddle together on a pile of blankets in the bedroom instead. The cold front that arrived during the night served as a reminder that the house is always harder to heat in the Winter than it is to cool in the Summer. The furnace does a good job, but with all the single pane glass in the house, the heat dissipates quickly. Moisture is already starting to condense on the inside of the glass and I need to wear a sweater to stay comfortable. I'd keep the temperature at 80 degrees if I could, but 70 is about all the furnace can manage. This suits Janet and the dogs just fine, but I'm already missing our mild Indian Summer Fall weather. The three weeks of nice weather in the Fall is the only time of the year in Texas I really like.

Tomorrow, we get the new WiFi thermostat installed. This means that Dot will be barking non-stop while the HVAC guys are here. Dot's a good little watchdog, but she makes no exceptions for repair people and service technicians. It will be an interesting day. The temperature is supposed to dip below freezing tonight. I need to start remembering to set the outside water faucets on drip so they won't freeze. I guess it's time to bring the heavy lawnmower battery in for the Winter as well.

Dolly is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 1514

When I looked out the window this morning, there was snow on the ground. Although there are some people in Dallas who get excited about our rare snowfalls, I'm not one of them. Snow just means more dirty laundry to wash, more dirty dogs to clean up, and a very chilly office to work in. I didn't even bother to go anywhere in the car today. Every time I'd turn on the news, I'd hear reports of traffic delays and icy wrecks. It just wasn't worth going out.

I certainly had plenty to keep me busy. One of my clients asked me if I could build a complex interactive form for them today. Damn! About the only thing worse than a snow day to me is a day where I have to deal with forms. I don't like to fill out forms and I don't like to create them. I'm sure a lot of my antipathy toward forms comes from filling out the same lengthy forms over and over again in doctor's offices. You'd think doctors would learn to share information that they keep in the cloud somewhere, but they all seem to prefer antiquated metal file folders full of hand written forms.

The interactive application form I created today was five pages long. If I had to fill out a form this long, I'd seriously think twice about whatever I was applying for. I did finish building the form and getting it online however. There wasn't much else to do on a cold, snowbound day. Once I finished taking each of the dogs down to the park to do their business, I plugged in the little ceramic heater under my desk and got to work. It was a long day. Dot and Dash seemed happy enough sleeping on their warm dog beds strategically positioned near a heating vent. I think I would have been happier if I was asleep too.

So far, I have experienced none of the dire side effects that my pharmacist warned me about with my new Hepatitis-C medicine. I actually didn't expect any side effects. These are just pills. I take so many pills already and I can't imagine a few more would make any difference.  It's good news that I don't feel dizzy or lethargic though. I'll be taking these new pills for quite a while. I don't know if I could tell if a pill made me feel lethargic anyway. I always feel lethargic.

Tonight is the last Jay Leno show. I still remember the last Johnny Carson show. It's a shame that the network had to bump off Leno is its quest for a younger demographic. Jimmy Fallon is funny too, but you'd think there'd be a place for both of them. I guess it doesn't really matter, since I mostly just watch ancient black & white Perry Mason episodes while I'm going to sleep.

Will the roads be clear enough for me to go out for breakfast in the morning? That is the burning question of the moment. I imagine the roads will be fine. It will just be irritating to get my car dirty in my crazy quest for poached eggs and pulled pork. It would definitely be nice if the park wasn't so icy. Dot tends to fall over on the slick ground and Dash tends to knock me over. With a bad shoulder and a geriatric Dalmatian, I can't really afford either of these possibilities.

Landry is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 1496

We woke up this morning to a cold house. Yup, the furnace has gone out again. I know exactly what is wrong. The flame sensor has gotten dirty  and it no longer senses the gas flame. The pilot light ignites the burners, which shut down again two seconds later when the flame sensor doesn't detect anything. This used to happen seven or eight times a year with the old furnace. Surprisingly, it still happens at least once a season with our relatively new furnace. When the HVAC folks come out to fix things, they always tell me that the flame sensor shouldn't be getting dirty like this and blame the gas company for delivering bad gas. As you might expect, the gas company denies this and tells me that there is absolutely nothing wrong with their gas. The furnace always seems to go out on a weekend or holiday too. It never fails. Hopefully, I can get a repair crew out tomorrow.

I managed to get my two large poster projects printed. Unlike the furnace, the printer seemed to be working fine today. Most of the problems I had with these posters originated in the computer, not the printer itself. Back when I was doing a lot of print work for clients, I had a full suite of professional monitor and printer calibration tools. Unfortunately, none of this sophisticated hardware and software works with my current computer. Pre-press software is expense and I just don't do enough print work anymore to warrant upgrading to the latest versions of all this stuff. I wing it now, and it's harder to get a really good looking print. Today's prints aren't perfect, but the color looks pretty close to the original photo and I did finally figure out how to force the printer to make borderless prints again.

Dot and Dash loved their trip to the dog park today. We ran into a friend from our Wednesday training class, and Dash seemed delighted to see a familiar face. The dogs all played for a while while Janet and I walked around enjoying the sunny day. At least it was nice today. On a really cold day, it would have been a lot worse to have the furnace go out.

I finally made it back to the gym this afternoon. I was so busy last week that I only had time to go once during the week. The running track at the gym has a sign that says you are supposed to go one direction on even days and the opposite direction on odd days. Nobody knows why this rule is in place, but everybody follows directions. Today, one woman started walking around the track in the wrong direction and everyone else followed suit. I jogged in the even day direction too, even though it was clearly an odd numbered day. I think people were just embarrassed to tell the first woman to change directions, and admit they took the stupid rule seriously. By the time I left, there were dozens of people running in the wrong direction. Maybe this is how revolutions start.

You know all those list of things you see on your Facebook timeline? Yesterday I clicked on a list that said "17 things that a depressed person should never do."Yikes! I was doing all 17. Don't expect me to change my ways any time soon though. I've grown very comfortable with my grumpy behavior.

Daisy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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