Day 2561

This was easily the coldest day of the year. I think the temperature was only fifteen degrees when we woke up. Everyone wanted to stay under the covers except for Dot. She needed to pee. I threw on a coat, got her outside, and quickly realized that it was going to be a long day.

After feeding the dogs breakfast, we all bundled up in warm coats and hats and went on our regular morning walk. Dash wasn't very enthusiastic, but Dot seemed to love the cold. She had enough energy to make it all the way to a tennis court on the edge of the park, about a half mile away. The old girl is pretty amazing.

Several people suggested that I just take it easy today because of my cold, but I don't even understand the concept anymore. Chores, obligations, and a feeling that I've just got to keep moving have taken over me. I don't even feel like reading a book or going to a movie anymore. Dot always needs something. I'm always doing laundry, cleaning up poop, or walking Dot around with her special harness. It's a lot of work, but it's good to feel needed. There are not a lot of people who actually need me anymore, but I can tell that Dot appreciates having me around. Needless to say, I didn't relax and watch a movie this afternoon. I went to the gym like I always do.

There was a story on the news today about several people in a wedding party getting killed when a large tree fell on them at an outdoor reception. There are so many old trees the park, that I always worry that a tree will fall on me while I'm walking the dogs. Several years ago a tree actually did fall on a cyclist in the park and severely injured him. I have seen large limbs fall off old growth trees while we were walking, but luckily we were always out of harm's way. At least twice in the past ten years, large limbs have fallen off our own trees. One landed on our roof and the other narrowly missed falling on Petey, an earlier Dalmatian we had. I'm probably living on borrowed time.

Am I the only one who is really getting tired of hearing that everything is Russia's fault? If Russia is such a huge problem, why didn't you whiners bring it up before your candidate lost the election. I seem to remember that Hillary took a lot of pleasure in pressing that Russia reset button a few years ago. And didn't Obama whisper in Dmitry Medvedev's ear that "After my election I will have more flexibility." How quickly we forget. It's weird to hear anyone on Capitol Hill get bent out of shape because Russia allegedly meddled in our election. For years, the same CIA that broke this news has been one of the world's worst offenders at meddling in other people's elections. Ask Benjamin Netanyahu how how he feels about US interference in his own election campaign. The CIA has a long history of installing puppet governments all over the world. Karma is a bitch guys. The United States has been meddling in other people's elections for decades. Personally, I don't care whether the Wikileaks information originally came from the Russians or a DNC insider. These leaked e-mails were just about the only truth that was revealed during the entire election campaign. Almost everything else on both sides was fake news. To me it is a bit ironic to hear democrats whine that their candidate lost because some information that was completely true was leaked to the public.

I'm not a political person. I've had conservative friends, progressive friends, and friends who never bothered to vote. For the most part, I've always respected my progressive friends. It's getting harder now, because you guys are such irritating whiners. Get over it. Your candidate lost. If you want to win next time, you might try listening to what people actually want instead of always trying to force feed them what you in your infinite wisdom think they need. Moral superiority is not a winning proposition. Hey, what do I know though? I never voted until I was 40.

Alvin is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1483

It was cold enough to dress in layers this morning. I wore two warm coats, and so did Dot and Dash. One coat is usually plenty for the dogs, but when the temperature is in the single digits, you don't want to take chances. It's still hard for me to believe that Dallas is actually warm, compared with other parts of the country, but that's what I'm hearing on the news.

I've experienced much colder temperatures in my lifetime. I went to high school in Fairbanks, Alaska where it would often remain twenty degrees below zero for weeks at a time. It didn't seem colder though, because everyone was prepared. The windows in our house were all double glazed and there was a huge coal-fired furnace in the basement that kept the house toasty warm even in a blizzard. The cars all had electric crankcase heaters that you plugged into parking meters whenever you went out. When I went to school, I wore an Eddie Bauer parka that looked like it would keep you warm at the South Pole. The lesson I learned was that if you took the cold seriously, you were almost always warm. It's hard to take the cold seriously in Texas. As a result, I've experienced more dead batteries on cold mornings and more malfunctioning furnaces here in Dallas than my parents ever did in Alaska.

Today was one of those doctor appointment days that makes it difficult to get anything done. By the time you drive to the appointment, find a parking place, sit in the waiting room for an interminable amount of time, and take all the tests the doctor wants, you've wasted half the day. Luckily, today's tests went well, and this particular doctor gave me the green light for another six months.

Tomorrow, it's Dash's turn to go to the doctor. I'm worried that something might be wrong with his kidneys, since he's peeing all the time now. I've seen a noticeable change in the past six months. He also has some bad looking rear molars and his teeth need to be cleaned. I worry about this too, since Dash doesn't react well to anesthesia. The vets call his response "waking up hard" and it doesn't sound pretty. I'm hoping that his vet can come up with a more gentle way to bring him out of the anesthesia after his dental procedure is complete.

With Dot's physical therapy, Dash's seizures, and my own multiple medical problems, it often seems like life is just one extended doctor visit. If you count the trips to the gym and the pharmacy as health related outings, there is something medical going on just about every day. I guess it's worth the effort though. They say an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure and I'm all about prevention these days. The dogs are both still very active, and when I'm sitting in the doctor's waiting room, I still seem to be in a lot better shape than most of the other patients. I must be doing something right.

That stupid bird is still pooping on my car every night. I wish there was an accessory I could buy that would electrify the entire car whenever I turned on the car alarm. Birds that used the car as a pooping post would get fried. Of  course, knowing me, I'd probably forget to turn the thing off one morning and fry myself instead. Better leave things the way they are.

Nellie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1455

We've got power again! It's definitely been a long four days. Last night the temperature got so cold in the house that we gave up and went to a hotel for the night. It's hard to find a place that will take two 65 pound dogs, but the people at the Palomar couldn't have been nicer. They treated Dot and Dash just like any other guest. Dash was scared of elevators, but other than that, both dogs seemed to enjoy their night away from home. The dogs enjoyed sleeping in the big, fluffy hotel bed so much that I think they were disappointed when they returned to our own house today. We almost had to spend two nights in the hotel, but the power finally returned about 6 PM this evening. The house is still cold, but the temperature is steadily increasing at about three degrees an hour. By morning, we should be back to normal.

Since the house was still ice cold this morning, Janet let me use an empty cubicle at her office to work and we took the dogs to board for the day with our vet. Dot and Dash were disappointed that we weren't taking them to another posh hotel, but they'll survive. They are always well taken care of at the vet. Dash even got his antigen shot today, so I won't have to take him back again tomorrow.

Here's the difference between doctors and ordinary people. The last time I went to see the doctor I had an appointment with today, I had to wait over an hour and a half in the lobby because he got tied up in surgery. Today I was the one who was late. I was fifteen minutes late because of bad traffic and when I arrived, the doctor had already left for the day. So, I guess it's acceptable for me to wait an hour and a half and he can't wait fifteen minutes. I don't get it. I'm always the one who is expected to wait.

When I was driving home from my aborted doctor visit, I got a call from a friend in the neighborhood saying the power was back on. About five minutes later I got another call to say "never mind." The power had flickered out again. It appears that getting the power back on line is a tricky business. When I arrived home, the power was still out, but there were power company trucks everywhere. It was a power company crew from Alabama who eventually turned the lights on again. I asked one of the guys what it took to get all these people to Dallas on such short notice. He said it was just professional courtesy. He said if they got in trouble, Dallas crews would come down to help them. It's nice to know that the concept of professional courtesy still survives. It disappeared from the advertising world years ago.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1126

I took my car to get a new catalytic converter today. The mechanics banged on the exhaust system with a wrench for a while and then told me there was nothing wrong. Although they didn't solve my problem, they did like my car. The muffler shop wasn't busy and I could have spent the rest of the day talking with the guys about Jeeps and 4-wheeling if I didn't have better things to do. I asked the mechanic what was making the rattling sound if there was nothing wrong with the catalytic converter. He told me that it could be anything and sent me on my way. In a way it was refreshing dealing with folks who were so open about not knowing what they were doing. In my experience, very few people really know what they are doing, but most of them try to fool you into thinking they know.

Today was the coldest day of the year so far. Since layering works well with me in cold weather, I tried the same thing with the dogs. First, I put on their black sweaters, which fit quite well and cover their bellies better than most dog coats. Then I added a thicker quilted coat on top. Dot and Dash get quite a bit of attention wearing this Winter garb. I think they are the only dogs in the neighborhood who wear two coats in cold weather. Most people think these coats are quite ingenious. The rest think they are ridiculous.

I had quite a bit of website and writing work due today, so I spent most of the day sitting at my desk, trying to stay warm. The heating vents don't distribute air very evenly, so when the office is comfortable, the rest of the house is unbearably hot. I'm sure this problem could be resolved by restricting the air flow to the living room and kitchen, but it's just not worth the trouble. I've never thought work was fun anyway and somehow having an uncomfortable work environment seems appropriate. When I finish my work, I can reward myself by fixing something to eat in the kitchen, or watching TV in one of the warmer rooms.

I must be one of the world's most unobservant people. Although the Internet was buzzing this morning about Jodie Foster coming out during her lifetime achievement award acceptance speech, I can't remember her saying anything about being gay. I'd never heard of Ben Affleck's Argo film either. Where did that one come from? I kept thinking that Steven Spielberg's Lincoln would win all the awards. Not that it matters anyway. I probably won't see any of these movies until they eventually wind up on the $9.95 discount DVD table at Fry's.

Kasey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1091

Brr! It's was very, very cold this morning. With the temperature hovering near freezing, the dogs wore their Winter sweaters and I went looking for my down ski jacket before we departed on our morning walk. I always wonder how you Northerners cope with this kind of weather for months at a time. Just a few days of sub-freezing weather are enough to do me in. One problem is that our house just wasn't designed for cold weather. There is a lot of single-pane floor-to-ceiling glass in the house that lets the heat out almost as effectively as leaving a window open. The other problem is that my office is on the opposite end of the house from the furnace. By the time the hot air makes it down to my end of the house, it's already cool again. If I turn the thermostat up enough to warm up the office, the kitchen is way too hot. The house was designed for Summer. Somehow, the air conditioning cools the house a lot more effectively than the furnace heats it.

I had another ambiguous doctor visit today. Somehow, I never find out anything definitive during these visits. Apparently, I am hovering right near the red line for several serious ailments. So far, I've  always been on the safe side of the red line. The doctor tends to congratulate me on holding my ground, but never really explains why I'm so close to the line in the first place. I've always suspected that the medications I take may be causing more harm than good, but this is often hard to prove and even harder to get a physician to admit. One thing about ambiguous lab results. It usually means that you need a second opinion from a specialist. I'll be making appointments with my hepatologist and urologist tomorrow.

I packed up some books in book boxes and took them to the storage warehouse this afternoon. I like the little corrugated book boxes because they aren't too heavy to carry when full. They don't hold a lot of books however.  At this rate, it will take me about five years to clear off my shelves.

I sure hope it is warmer tomorrow. Dot and Dash hate the cold, but it still takes them just as long to poop on a cold day as on a hot day. This extended walk in the cold usually results in two disgruntled dogs and one very cold dog walker.

Princess is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 413

The world was a sheet of ice when we woke up this morning. Dot raced out the back door as usual when we let her out before breakfast and she slid halfway across the yard. When I gave the dogs their regular walk a little later, I felt like I was mounting an expedition to the South Pole. They said on the news that this is the coldest that it's been in Dallas in fifteen years and I can certainly believe it. I put on a down ski jacket over two sweaters and I was still cold. One coat wasn't enough for the dogs today. I put two winter coats on each of them. Not surprisingly, we were almost the only ones in the park this morning. I saw one determined jogger, but that was about it. Luckily, I've been able to keep my balky furnace running, because my repair guy wasn't able to get out on the roads today.

The only time I ventured out on the icy roads was for a quick trip to take Dash to the vet. I could have rescheduled for another day, but my vet is only five minutes away and I do have the Defender 90. I thought I'd take the back roads to avoid the other cars sliding around like billiard balls. This was probably a mistake. Absolutely nobody was driving on the back roads and they were all still covered with a thick sheet of ice. It was like driving on an ice rink. I was surprised that anyone was even at the vet when we got there, but some hardy souls told me that they'd been at work since 7 AM.

To ward off cabin fever, I decided to fire up my old Media-100 video editing system and back up some video files before I retired the thing for good. I guess I waited too long. I couldn't even launch the application today. I did a hardware test and discovered that my Media-100 PCI card had gone bad. When did this happen? I have no idea. I haven't used the system to edit anything for almost three years. It's not even worth repairing at this point. The system paid for itself years ago, but it's still hard for me to throw it away. It's the only video editing system I know well enough that I never have to look at the manual. I guess Final Cut Pro and I are going to have to get to know each other a little better in the months ahead.

The temperature has dropped five degrees since I started writing this post. Either I'm a very slow writer or the temperature is dropping pretty fast. It's going to be in the single digits before morning. Every couple of hours I hear a loud thunk as something falls on the roof. I think that some smaller limbs are falling off our trees as they grow heavy from the ice that has accumulated. Sure hope the power doesn't go out tonight. When tree limbs start to fall, power usually goes out somewhere. Here's hoping that everyone stays nice and warm. I'm going to get out the blankets and make sure I have a warm dog right next to me tonight.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day