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 2651

It's hard to believe that it's still snowing in some parts of the country. The temperatures reached the high 80's here in Dallas. Unfortunately, this is already too warm for Dot. I'm dreading this Summer. Dot never liked hot weather even when she was young and healthy. Now, high temperatures are punishing. Even though there was a nice breeze, Dot had trouble on her afternoon walk. She seemed exhausted. We had to stop and rest several times, even though all we did was walk to the end of the block and back. We probably should have just stayed home, or waited until dusk when the temperature started to drop.

It looks like working on weekends is going to be a regular occurrence. I don't really mind. It just seems odd. Years ago when I was busy all the time, I never worked on weekends. Now, when virtually nothing happens at all, weekend gigs are common. It's not so much that my clients have changed. The entire workplace has changed.

The park was full today since the weather was so nice. There were hammocks everywhere. I still don't understand the popularity of hammocks. To me, enjoying the outdoors means taking a hike or paddling a kayak. Apparently, an entire generation thinks that enjoying the outdoors means lying in a hammock while looking at Snapchat on your phone. Older people still hike and bike, but the young ones are all lying in hammocks.

I'm surprised at how predictable Texas wildflowers are. Often if I look at a previous years blog post, I'll find a picture of exactly the same flowers I'm seeing now. Today, the Blue-eyed Grass emerged. The little blue flowers were everywhere. I don't know who named these things. They aren't in the grass family at all and the eye in the center is yellow instead of blue. Next week there will be a whole new batch of wildflowers to photograph. Things are starting to get colorful.

It was overcast this morning, but the sky cleared completely by sunset. This was a pretty good evening to look at the stars. Tonight there was a conjunction of Mercury and Venus that was visible right after sunset. After dinner, I took my binoculars to a nearby hill to look for the planets. I found them both, although if I'd waited another ten minutes they would have been lost in the haze near the horizon. Venus was a thin crescent and Mercury just looked like a bright star. I need to start looking for Saturn now.

It just occurred to me that I hadn't seen any White Pelicans this Winter. These large migratory birds are a common site at the lake and usually arrive in late Fall. I didn't see any this year. It's probably too late for them now. They usually continue their migration and move somewhere else in late Spring. I wonder where they went? I haven't seen the green Monk Parakeets this year either. It's probably a sign of the apocalypse.

It's time to go to the gym again. I should be developing some serious upper body strength, since I'm having to support more of Dot's weight as her legs become weaker. I used to just guide and steady her as she walked. Now, I need to lift the rear part of the harness a bit to keep her rear legs from crumbling under her. I need to take weight off her legs while still letting her feet touch the ground to provide tactile support and encourage her to move her legs. It takes a while to learn to do this so she can still walk naturally, but we're getting there. We'll do a lot better tomorrow if we get some sleep tonight.

Nick 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

Day 2140

Poor Dash can't seem to catch a break. Just when his back legs were getting back to normal, he gets stung by a bee on his evening walk and now he's limping on his front leg. Actually he was doing a lot worse than just limping at one point. I was worried that he was having an adverse reaction to the sting and managed to get him to the vet five minutes before they closed for the day. Dash can't take antihistamines or Benadryl because he is still taking Phenobarbital to control his seizures. The vet removed the stinger, which I had been unable to find, and gave Dash a steroid shot to reduce the inflammation and pain. He is resting now and should feel much better in the morning.

Before all the bee sting drama, it was just a normal Sunday. For the most part, a normal Sunday involves vacuuming the house and going to the gym. There are always a lot more steps on my activity tracker on Sunday than on any other day of the week. There was a police car in the parking lot when I arrived at the gym and it was still there when I left an hour later. It made me wonder if the gym was having problems with crime in the area. Just about every other part of town is having problems, so it wouldn't be that surprising if this area had an incident as well. Whatever the cause, I was glad to see the police presence. I just wish they'd patrol the park a little more frequently.

There were quite a few people working out today and many of the machines were occupied, so I had to do my normal workout in reverse order. Surprisingly, I burned up more calories doing things backwards like this. I usually do the difficult routines first to get them out of the way. Maybe doing the most strenuous exercises toward the end of my workout when I was already tired burned up more energy. Who knows. I wasn't as good at basketball today either.

The temperature was in the low fifties for most of the day. Shouldn't the bees have moved on to someplace warmer by now? Maybe the bee that stung Dash was a straggler. I usually don't see many bees this late in the year. It would have been hard for a bee to sting me today. I wore my Winter coat for the first time this season. It seemed a little much at first, but I ended up being glad I overdressed. The air was damp and there was a brisk wind. This always makes it seem even colder than it really is.

I hope there is a break in the clouds early tomorrow morning. There is a rare conjunction of Jupiter, Venus, and Mars in the morning sky called a planetary trio that won't occur again until 2021. I've been watching these three planets move closer and closer together for the past month now. If the sky is clear, I should set up a tripod and try to get a decent picture of the event. Usually there's no time to do this sort of thing, since it takes so much time to get the dogs walked and fed before Janet leaves for work.

At this point, I don't think Dash will be going on a walk tomorrow morning, and it is questionable how far that Dot will walk without him. Dot was barking during dinner because she smelled the Beef Stroganoff that Janet had cooked for our evening meal. I told Dot that she had to be good, because she was the therapy dog today. For the first time in a long time, Dot was actually in better shape than Dash. To say we have high maintenance dogs would be an understatement.

Patch is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2023

I was hoping to see the conjunction of Jupiter and Venus this evening, but the Western sky was obscured by clouds. If you were looking for the Moon though, everything was fine. The Eastern skies were clear, so I did see a bright, almost full moon rising and a very nice sunset. I try not to miss comets, eclipses, meteor showers and other astronomical events. The constant haze and glare from all the city lights makes most of these night sky events almost invisible, but at least I make an effort to see them.

The weather continues to be unpredictable. If you remember, I was complaining about how hot it was getting yesterday. An unexpected thunderstorm blew through town around 3 AM this morning and cooled things down by at least thirty degrees. When we took our morning walk with the dogs just before sunrise, the air was crisp and cool again. What a nice surprise. According to the calendar it is the last day in June, but for a little while this morning it felt like early April.

I keep hearing about how today is a "leap second" day where an extra second is added to the year to keep our slightly imperfect calendar from getting out of whack. How will anyone ever know if this little slice of time has really been added? I have a couple of watches that are set by signals from the atomic clock in Colorado. I wonder if they'll reset themselves while I'm asleep tonight to add this extra second? If they don't, I'll probably be one second behind for the rest of my life.

I got a message from a cousin today saying that one of my aunts had died. She was 96. There is one aunt left who is 99 and still going strong. Amazing. The men in the family didn't do so well. An uncle died at a relatively early age from Alzheimer's Disease and my Dad has been gone for over a decade now. I wonder how I'll fare? They say genetics has a lot to do with it, but I think it has more to do with living a stress free life. People I've known who were under a lot of stress for a sustained period of time never lived very long.

We had a surprising amount of rain last night, so I had to get the water off the roof again. I think keeping the roof dry and cleaning up dog poop are starting to define my life. Oddly, I don't find these things stressful, so maybe I'll live to be 96 too.

Tucker is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day