Day 2563

I'm exhausted. My cold should be over by now, but it still persists. By Texas standards, the cold weather should be over by now too, but temperatures were still in the teens when we woke up this morning. I feel like I'm in some weird kind of boot camp. I get up early and go to bed late. In between, I clean up pee and poop, do laundry, and tend to the needs of a crippled dog who seems to have more energy than I do. It's very tiring.

I thought I'd try to write my remaining article right after breakfast, when Dot and Dash typically sleep. This was a good idea, but I guess I didn't write fast enough. Dot woke up before I finished and the last paragraph took longer to write than all of the preceding paragraphs combined. I didn't have a lot of luck with Dot today. She pooped while I was getting her food ready and was so excited to get to her bowl that she stepped in the poop and tracked it all over the kitchen. After I got this mess cleaned up, I thought she'd be safe for a while, but when I returned from walking Dash, I discovered that she'd pooped again.

I got a letter from Social Security informing me of my 2017 cost of living adjustment. I'm going to get an additional ten dollars a month. $10? What kind of cost of living adjustment is that? I don't know why they even bother. I'm almost certain that it cost the government more than $10 just to inform me of the news. I wish that Social Security didn't even matter, but it does. It matters to most people my age. As I grow older, I'm sure it will matter even more in the future.

I eventually did manage to finish my article and send it off to the client. I paid a few bills that were stacking up on my desk and that was it. The day was gone. I think I'm caught up now, so maybe tomorrow will be a little easier. I always think that tomorrow is going to be a little easier, but usually I'm wrong. I try my best to relax, but I'm not very good at relaxing. Today I thought I'd try some controlled breathing exercises while I was helping Dot wander around in the back yard. One channel of my brain was calm and serene, but there was still a back channel that was silently screaming "For the love of god, can you hurry up and pee. I'm freezing out here."

Tomorrow is the shortest day of the year. I guess that's why I've been taking so many sunset pictures lately. It's dark when we start on our morning walk and it's dark by the time I finish taking Dash on his evening walk. There was a pretty sunset tonight, but I liked the early morning picture of Dash in his Winter duds better. I suspect that I'll be taking more sunset pictures tomorrow evening. There really isn't enough light to photograph anything else.

I can't believe that Christmas is this weekend. I'm dreading Christmas this year. Janet leaves to visit her family soon and I'm still trying to figure out how to manage the dogs morning and evening routines myself. Janet has made me a labeled packet of the dog's pills for each day she is gone. That will help. I've been practicing walking Dot by myself. She's even slower without Dash to follow, but she is willing to walk by herself. That's good too. I'm already an expert at cleaning up poop. I guess we'll be fine.

Lexi is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2516

It rained a lot last night. Dash slept through the storm, but Dot became frightened and I had to sleep on the floor with her for a while. This usually calms her down, but now I'm a little nervous that she'll poop on me while I'm asleep. Everything worked out fine and by morning life was back to normal.

When I went up on the roof to reconnect the sump pump and clear away the standing water, I was pleasantly surprised to see that the material the roofers applied last Friday had not self destructed. Everything still looked good. This doesn't mean much for the long term, but at least the elastomer didn't dissolve in the rain and wash away. That has happened before. Maybe I'm good for another year. I'm going to be cursed with this roof for as long as I own this house. There doesn't seem to be any way to automate the process of removing the standing water either. The house is old and has settled in spots. This makes lots of little puddles. I'd probably need ten pumps if I tried to keep the roof dry using pumps alone.

I finished the rest of yesterday's website updates, but this didn't keep me busy very long. It was a slow day that was mostly spent cleaning up after Dot. She peed on a rug while she was eating her lunch. I wasn't expecting that. Later, she pooped in her bed while I was up on the roof and then ate the evidence. Some days you just can't win.

I thought I'd look for an astronomy app for my new iPad and was amazed at how sophisticated this type of software has become. The better apps not only showed you the constellations and planets, they also made it possible to track the International Space Station, various other satellites, and even comets and asteroids. A couple of the high end apps could even control a telescope. If you tapped your finger on an object you were interested in on the screen, the telescope would automatically point to the corresponding object in the sky. All these bells and whistles made me wish I had a telescope and some really dark nights.

Today, when my watch urged me to take a deep breath, I touched the begin button instead of just dismissing the message. I guess this is some sort of meditation app. The interesting thing was that when I did the controlled breathing the way the app was telling me to, it seemed exactly the same as the way I normally breathe anyway. Maybe I'm calmer than I think I am.

I've already taken the trash to the curb and I'm looking forward to going out for breakfast tomorrow. Unless something unforeseen happens, I should actually get to go. It's weird that this simple outing is often the high point in my week. I'll go to sleep wondering whether to have cinnamon pancakes, biscuits and gravy, or something I've never tried before.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day