Day 3085

The landscapers work late. They're in the back yard right now installing the St. Augustine sod. It will be nice to have a decent looking yard again. I've grown accustomed to the fact that grass doesn't last long in our back yard. The extensive root network for our big Oak trees immediately sucks up all available water. I'll probably have to replace the turf again next year. That's OK. At least things will be nice for Dash this summer. Hopefully, he will start pooping in the grass, instead of venturing into the thick Asian Jasmine ground cover at the back of the yard. Dash's rear legs are so weak that he occasionally gets stuck in the ground cover and I have to go extricate him.

I never dreamed that selling art at auction would be so complicated. I got a contract from one of the big New York auction houses and it was page after page of fine print. From all appearances, it would be much easier to sell a house. I'm glad and somewhat surprised that there is interest in the things I've collected. I've never thought of art as investment. I just bought things that I could afford and made me happy. I certainly never thought of the model trains as an investment. I had every intention of building a big model railway someday and just never got around to it.

It was sad to hear about Kate Spade's suicide. I remember listening to an interview with her on NPR while I was driving to the gym a few months ago and she certainly seemed like a happy, well adjusted person. She and her husband built their business from nothing and lived to see it become an international success. Why wasn't she happy with her life? I was equally surprised when I learned of Robin William's death. It just goes to show that depression has nothing to do with success or failure. Rich or poor, famous or obscure, depression seems like an equal opportunity curse.

I wish I could find some more durable dog boots for Dash. We've tried three different brands and all of them are wearing out. Even the indestructible Ultra Paws boots we got recently are starting to wear out. If a dog scuffs their feet while they walk like Dash does, nothing is going to last that long. The ToughTek material on the Ultra Paws boots is no match for Dash. It has completely worn through to the nylon shell below. The dog booties may not last that long, but they definitely do their job. Dash's paws haven't bled since he started wearing them.

I wish I'd remembered to ask my doctor about my irritating cough when I had my exam last week. It feels like I've got cracker crumbs caught in my throat. Maybe I do have cracker crumbs in my throat, but this feels more like when I used to take Zestril for high blood pressure. When I switched to Benicar, the coughing stopped. When a generic equivalent for Benicar was approved, I started taking that instead. I didn't have a choice. I've always wondered if generic and brand name drugs were the same. Maybe there is a difference that's causing this cough. It probably doesn't matter anyway, since my insurance won't pay for brand name medications when there is a generic available.

I'll read the contract from the auction house tomorrow. If I'm lucky, maybe Janet will just read it for me. Trying to understand legal documents makes my head spin.

Scooby is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2562

I feel like we're embarking on a journey to the South Pole each time we get ready for our morning walk. There are so many layers now to ward off the cold. Dash wears a snug black sweater under his red service dog harness. Dot wears a modified puffy coat over her Help ‘Em Up harness. Both dogs have fleece lined hats that actually fit properly on their heads, so they don't immediately shake them off. It's always easier to dress the dogs first. I wear a lightweight technical climbing jacket under a heaver goose down coat. I'm not sure what Janet wears, but she looks warm. I have to remember to pee before I pull on the compression pants that go under my regular pants. I hate that compression pants don't have a fly. My hiking boots go on last, so I won't track mud through the rest of the house. This all might seem a bit excessive, since the temperatures aren't below zero or anything, but you have to remember that we're Southerners.

I"ll be glad when warmer weather and a sense of sanity returns. I don't know about you, but I've had enough of this polar vortex. Everything seems to take longer when it's cold. There are so many leaves on the ground now that I have to drop brightly colored plastic markers when the dogs poop at night, so I can find the stuff the next morning. The outdoor faucets are frozen, so it's gotten a little harder to clean Dot up after she's made a mess. On a more positive note, there's hardly any condensation on the windows this year. The dehumidifier is really doing its job. The furnace is running constantly, so I think I made a good repair. Even though the thermostat says the temperature is normal inside the house, I still feel cold most of the day. I'm just not a Winter person.

I had a couple of articles to write today, but I only managed to finish one of them. Before Dot got sick, I could easily finish four articles in a single day when it was necessary. Those days are gone. When Dot wakes up from her morning nap, she tries to stay on her feet the rest of the day. Sometimes she barks when she needs help and other times I just find her stuck in a corner somewhere. I have to remember to gate her out of bathrooms with tile floors, because she'll immediately fall on the slick surface. For the most part, I try to walk behind her and hold her up while she meanders around the house. She likes her independence though, so when she's feeling strong, I still let her try to walk on her own. If I ignore her for even ten minutes, she's almost certain to poop or pee on something. It makes for a busy and somewhat stressful day.

After a multi-million dollar ad campaign featuring Hollywood celebrities, protests in major cities, and even death threats, only two electors failed to vote for Donald Trump. Meanwhile, seven electors tried to defect from Hillary Clinton. Jill Stein's expensive recount effort actually ended up netting Trump hundreds of additional votes in Wisconsin. I really don't understand why it is so hard for some people to be pragmatic and accept reality. You lost. Contrary to what some might think, the Electoral College wasn't created to prevent Donald trump from becoming president. It was created to prevent a few people in large population centers from imposing their will on the entire country. The Electoral College is a good thing. Without it, many states wouldn't have a voice at all. I'm happy that the people of Vermont, North Dakota, and Wyoming have a voice. We need this balance. Lord help us if the people of San Francisco ever started making the rules for everyone.

The election is over and I'm ready to move on. I'm also ready for this nagging cold to be over. When I was running errands today, a checkout clerk asked me if I wanted a printed or e-mail receipt and when I started to answer it triggered a horrible coughing fit instead. It was embarrassing to say the least. Since I couldn't speak, I just grabbed my bag and ran coughing from the store. Here's hoping that the weather will be warmer tomorrow and my sore throat, cough, and chest congestion will miraculously disappear.

Ranger is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2144

When I was getting Dot suited up in her harness to go to physical therapy, Dash woke up from a nap and immediately started coughing and choking. I took him outside to see if he was trying to throw up or eat grass. He actually seemed pretty calm, but continued coughing. What was this all about? I called Dot's vet and asked if I could postpone her appointment until I figured out what was going on with Dash. I considered putting both dogs in the car and taking Dash to the vet with me, but I knew that wouldn't work. It's hard enough to transport Dot by herself. Since Dash wasn't frantic, I thought that he might have gotten some dog hair stuck in his throat while he was licking his fur. Maybe the hair was irritating him. Dalmatian hair is short and surprisingly sharp. I got a dog hair stuck in my eyelid once and it was very uncomfortable. To test my theory, I fed Dash some canned dog food in hopes that it would moisten his throat and cause him to swallow the loose hair. Gradually, the coughing subsided and I resumed getting Dot ready for her appointment.

Dot had her own little crisis in the car. I always fold down the rear seat to give Dot a nice big flat area to ride in, but instead of staying in the middle of the car like she should have, she moved directly behind the drivers seat and managed to get one of her front legs stuck in the small gap between the folded rear seat and the door. Why does this always happen when I'm on a freeway? Dot was squeeling and I was stressed. I got off the freeway as soon as I could, pulled into a nearby parking lot, and repositioned her in the center of the cargo area. Dot was fine, but she could have injured herself if she struggled too hard to free her leg. We arrived about an hour late, and I was thankful that Dot has such a nice and accommodating vet. I try my best not to be late, but sometimes events are out of my control.

On days like this, I often feel like everything is out of my control. I'm still hearing water flowing in the pipes when all the faucets are turned off, so I made an appointment to have our plumber come out and figure out what is going on. Unfortunately, he can't come until next Tuesday. There's got to be a leak somewhere, but I can't find it. I hate plumbing problems. Plumbers are quite comfortable cutting a hole in your wall to access a pipe, but they never fix the damage they've made. After the leak is fixed, you have to go out and find your own carpenter or tape and bed guy to repair the walls. Then you have to find a painter to repaint them. The whole process often takes weeks. The dogs don't like having repairmen in the house either and bark continuously while they are here. I'm not looking forward to next week at all.

The weather report says it is supposed to start raining about 5 AM tomorrow morning and continue raining for the rest of the day. I really hope this forecast is wrong, because a sustained rain almost guarantees that Dot will poop in the house. I received five new writing jobs this afternoon, so there will be plenty to do tomorrow if we're housebound. I need to wait for the FedEx guy to deliver a package too, so maybe staying at home all day isn't such a bad idea. I should have done a better job of planning ahead for days like this. There is no more fresh fruit or bananas to make my morning smoothie tomorrow. I think we're out of the cream I put in my morning coffee too. Why do I obsess about food so much? If worse comes to worse, I'll make an omelet, fry up some sausage, and then spend the rest of the day fretting about the mystery plumbing leak while I write my articles.

Dakota is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1824

Today was pure misery. My cold was worse than ever. I don't have a fever anymore, but I seem to be having all the other symptoms concurrently. My nose was running, my throat was sore, I had a headache, and my sinuses were congested. I kept sucking cough drops all day long so I wouldn't break into coughing spasms and frighten our customers. After a while the sweet cough drops started making my bad tooth hurt. Yikes! Then my shoulder started to hurt from holding the heavy camera for such a long period of time. Santa wasn't in much better shape than I was. He claimed that he was all over the cold he gave me last week, but I didn't believe him. If he didn't have a cold anymore, why was he still coughing? Even our imaging wizard, who crops and prints the photos on the spot, was coughing and wheezing. He claimed that he just partied too hard last night, but I think he caught Santa's cold too. We were a mess today.

The photos looked just as professional as they always do, but I think everyone was dying to get home and take a long nap. I was so loopy that I took several photo sequences without a memory card in the camera. I had to go back and do the photos all over again. Santa had his beard on crooked several times and we had several computer crashes that might have just been operator error. We were all tired. At least tomorrow is our last event for the year. One more of these to go and we're all finished. I hope nobody books us for Valentine's Day. I don't think I will have recovered by then.

I've noticed that we're doing a lot more family portraits this year. It's probably a sign of a bad economy when people decide to go to a pet photographer for their family Christmas pictures. Several families didn't even bring a dog with them. I'm curious about these families and wonder why they ended up choosing me. I don't ask questions though. That would be rude. I just try to take a family portrait that would make their grandmother proud.

When I was complaining that I kept waking up at night with a terrible sore throat, by doctor gave me this nasal spray and told me to takes it every evening just before I went to bed. I still don't know what the stuff is, but it actually works. Every night I've been taking it, I've slept soundly and didn't have much of a sore throat when I woke up. I though about using the stuff today while I was shooting photos, but I wisely decided to read the warning label first. "Causes Somnolence" the label said. "Do not drive or use machinery while using this product." Well that explains why I slept so well. Reading further, I noticed that the clinical trials for this product weren't even finished yet. Jeez. I don't think my doctor has ever met a pill he didn't like. I'm not going to be taking this stuff much longer.

Tomorrow's location is traditionally where most of the Dalmatian owners go for their Christmas pictures. I'll probably see some old friends tomorrow, but I'm still glad that it's our last event for the year.

Cookie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 991

How do you keep a Dalmatian completely calm? I think it's impossible. Dot woke up sick this morning. She seemed to be having some trouble breathing and was coughing a lot. When she was completely calm, she appeared just fine, but as soon as she got excited about anything, she started coughing, gagging, and throwing up what looked like mucus. I made an appointment to take her to the vet right away, but it wasn't easy to keep her calm until her appointment. It just isn't in Dot's nature to be calm. When she looked out the living room window, she got excited and started choking. When she thought she was getting breakfast, she started coughing. Of course, she still wanted her walk too, even though she really needed to be sleeping.

The vet agreed that Dot had a nasty cough, but didn't think it was anything serious. She didn't have bordetella. She didn't even have a fever. It appears that she severely irritated her throat last week while the dogs were being boarded. I think she just barked all the time at the kennel. We left the vet with some antibiotics and a cough suppressant. Hopefully, she will get better soon. I tried my best to be a good nurse today, but Dot is not a very good patient.

While I was trying to keep Dot calm this afternoon, I did get a chance to watch a couple of Dr. Who episodes I hadn't seen before. The new season premiers later this evening and there was an all day Dr. Who marathon on the BBC Channel leading up to the big season opener. I wonder how I completely missed two of last season's shows. I've seen virtually ever episode of Dr. Who at least five or six times. At any rate, as soon as I post tonight's blog entry, you know what I'm going to be doing.

It doesn't look like Dot will get to go to tomorrow's rescue event. She needs the rest anyway, but we couldn't take her to a public event when she was coughing like crazy. People would think she had kennel cough and probably wouldn't even come near our both. Dash will probably be happy that he'll have all the attention to himself while I stay home and nurse Dot.

At least all the dog activities today allowed me to postpone mowing the grass a for a whole. The grass in the front yard is getting pretty long after last week's rain. I guess I get a reprieve. Nobody expects you to mow the grass when a you've got a sick dog around the house.

Spot is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day