Day 3174

I went to a Labor Day sale at REI on my way to the gym. I don't need anything, but I've spent so many years as a consumer that I still find these sales hard to resist. I ended up buying another Goal Zero emergency back up power supply that that can be charged with solar cells if necessary. Hey, it was half price. I already have a larger model of this type of product and have only used it once. You never know though. These things might come in handy. I guess deep down I'm a prepper at heart. I always expect the worst and want to be prepared. I also just like gadgets.

Janet's been looking for a new gym and I've been telling her that I like mine, but there weren't any classes. How did I know this? Well, I stopped seeing a schedule of classes on the bulletin board. Today, the lady ahead of me while I was checking in asked about classes and the receptionist reached in a drawer and pulled out a brochure. I guess the place still has classes after all. I guess it wouldn't kill me to ask questions now and then. Janet has already found a gym with the classes she wants, but I think mine had them too. Oops. This should have been a teaching moment, but I didn't talk to anybody today either. I never talk to anyone at the gym. They should have put that brochure on the bulletin board.

A firetruck went by with sirens wailing while we were walking Dash this morning and we started hearing coyote pups howling nearby. It seems a little early for the local coyotes to be having pups, but maybe not. There seems to be a new litter every year. We don't see coyotes much in the Summer, but they're out there. As the days grow shorter I'll have to be on the lookout for them when we're walking around sunrise.

The only thing we were on the lookout for today were loose dogs. I usually recognize the dogs we see in the park, but on holiday weekends there are a lot more dog walkers. There's almost always someone who can't control a large aggressive dog. Sure enough, we saw one of these people today. They're easy to recognize. The dog is usually on one of those long flexi-leashes and often races toward other dogs as the owner tries in vain to reel the dog in. I hate those flexi-leashes. We kept our distance and there weren't any problems.

I saw a baby snake on the porch while I was taking Dash out to pee last night. Where was the mother snake? Since snakes lay eggs, maybe the mother had long gone. I hate to take chances though. I'm always nervous about snakes and dogs.  Dash wouldn't stand a chance with a snake. This little snake looked harmless, but I snagged it on a stick and flung it out of the yard anyway. I don't like snakes.

I watched a show about eating healthy on PBS this afternoon while Dash was taking a nap. I've heard this information before and I'm sure it's true. Bread and pasta are the enemy. Refined flour converts to glucose almost immediately in your body and causes blood sugar spikes. Fruit and vegetable are good. Lean meat in moderation is good. But bread is bad. So what did I have for breakfast this morning? Two big country biscuits with bacon and egg inside. To make matters worse, I had pasta for supper. Oh. well. There's always tomorrow.

Daisy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2892

On television, Black Friday looked like a madhouse, but from my vantage point it just seemed like another normal day. Janet and I went out for breakfast this morning and there wasn't even much traffic on the road. I don't know what made us think we even needed breakfast. We were still full from yesterday. We should have just ordered one item and split it. Neither of us could finish our meal and ended up taking the rest home for tomorrow.

On the way home, Janet wanted to stop at Old Navy and get a coat she'd seen on sale. No mob of Black Friday shoppers here. Everything is already so cheap at Old Navy that I wondered why they even bother with giant sales. The clothes aren't made in China here. The labels come from places like Haiti, Vietnam, and Bangladesh. Who would have thought you'd have to go to stores like Bloomingdales or Nordstrom to find clothes from China? Made in China is reserved for upscale retail now. So where do you go to find clothes that are actually made in the United States? You'd probably need a time machine.

I think a lot of people must have gone out of town for Thanksgiving. The roads weren't really crowded. The park was virtually empty yesterday and wasn't very crowded today either. That's fine by me. Any day that I can walk Dash without worries about being attacked by a loose dog is a good day. I am going to have to worry about coyotes this winter. When we were walking Dash this afternoon, a firetruck went by and the siren caused our local pack of coyote pups to all begin howling at once. From the sound of things, this is a large litter. I haven't seen these coyotes yet, but it's pretty easy to tell where they live. We had a bad problem with coyotes several years ago until they ate all the small animals and moved on. I have a feeling that it is going to be a bad year for bunnies this Winter.

I took advantage of the warmer weather today to continue my work on the roof. This is one of the more discouraging projects I've undertaken yet. There was a small tear in an area I had patched last month and when I began peeling away the damaged elastomer coating, I discovered that water had seeped under a much wider area than it looked like on the surface. The roof really needs to be fixed in July when it is hot and dry. Unfortunately, it always becomes damaged during the Fall and Winter months when the weather is cold and damp. I didn't re-coat anything today. All I managed to do was remove about a square yard of elastomer in hopes that the asphalt underneath will completely dry out before it rains again.

Dash must have known it was a holiday today. He didn't want me to walk him alone like I normally do on Friday and insisted that Janet and I both go with him. This wasn't a problem in the morning, but he could have made life easier if he'd taken his normal walk this afternoon. By the time Janet returned from running errands, it was almost dark. It's hard to explain these things to a stubborn dog though. Dash knew that Janet hadn't gone to work because she wasn't wearing work clothes when she left the house.

It seemed like Saturday today, so it will probably seem like Sunday tomorrow. I'm not sure what I'll do tomorrow, but I won't be able to ignore everything. I got a new writing assignment today. There is a big website project to work on. And sometime very soon I am going to have to test all my ancient equipment prior to next week's first Santa Paws photo shoot. I sure hope everything works. One of these years it won't.

Maggie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2869

I thought I'd fix breakfast early this morning, so I could finish eating before Dash wanted to walk. All this accomplished was that Dash decided to walk earlier than usual. Apparently, it is not the time of day that motivates our boy. It is how much he can disrupt my schedule. Truthfully, it doesn't really matter when I eat breakfast or run my errands. I'm just happy that Dash is walking again. We were out for over an hour this morning. Dash was slow, but he was walking normally and seemed comfortable. I'm always worried that something will happen with Dash's heart when we're far from home, but the only alternative is to do nothing. Doing nothing would frustrate Dash and a frustrated Dalmatian is not good for anyone's health.

A firetruck went by with sirens blazing while we were walking today. Joining the siren was a cacophony of howling coming from a thicket of trees about a quarter of a mile away. I knew this sound well. We have a den of coyotes in the neighborhood again. From the sound of the howling, the pups are still very young. This Winter, they'll be old enough to hunt though. I wish I could warn the bunnies and the ducks. I made a mental note not to let Dash get too close to the coyote's den. I don't really trust urban coyotes. They have lost their fear of people.

The weather was nice today, but there was still water on the roof from yesterday's rain. As I expected, the patches I applied yesterday were ruined. I swept the water away and hopefully the roof will dry in time for me to make my repairs before it rains again. I had trouble mixing the viscous liquid yesterday, so I went to a hardware store and bought a paint stirring tool that I can attach to a power drill. I don't think I mixed the coating completely when I opened the bucket because it didn't have the same consistency as the first batch I used. The silicon compound is much thicker than paint, so it is hard to mix. I also got a ladle so I could transfer the coating from the large heavy bucket to a smaller can without making a huge mess. Hopefully, if I'm better prepared, I'll have a greater chance of success the next time I try this.

I had some website revisions to make today. The jobs are so few and far between now that it almost seems like I've gotten the assignments by mistake. Today's revisions took a couple of hours, but it certainly wasn't enough to fill the day. Recently, I was listening to NPR in the car and an author was being interviewed about a book they'd written about aging. Part of the conversation was about finding fulfillment by continuing to work. Website design was mentioned as one of the jobs that old people are well suited for. I had to laugh. The only way old website designers are going to find work is if their clients are even older.

The refrigerator is working great now. Too bad it is almost empty. I didn't feel like grocery shopping, so I picked up some Thai take-out again. I thought I had enough reward points for a free meal, but the    lady at the check out counter said that you have to use the points within thirty days or they expire. This happens to me all the time. I'm always throwing away Bed Bath and Beyond coupons and forgetting that I have accumulated reward points somewhere. Everyone has some sort of loyalty program these days. I'm a very loyal person, but these programs don't seem to benefit me.

I need to remember to get the lab work for my annual physical done tomorrow morning. I won't be able to have breakfast before I leave the house. Hopefully, this temporary change of schedule won't throw Dash off his game. I wonder if he'll still walk if there isn't a meal he can interrupt?

Jeda is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day