Day 2728

I spent most of the day cleaning. Janet has to have surgery later this month and she wants the house spotless to reduce the risk of getting an infection when she returns. The chances of making our house spotless are about the same as you'd have of riding a unicorn to the moon, but I'm giving it my best shot anyway. Today I cleaned inside the air conditioning vents, which were full of dust and dead bugs and under the bed where I found an enormous accumulation of dog hair. I don't know how our house gets so dirty. We never open the windows and always use the best HEPA filters on the HVAC system. Dalmatians do shed a lot, but dog hair is only a small part of what I vacuum up every week. When I was a kid we lived across the street from a mechanical engineer who designed a special positive air pressure system for his house. When you opened the front door inside air flowed out, but outside air never flowed in. His house was always dust free. I wish I had something like that. I suspect that the engineer's custom made system was pretty expensive. I've never seen anything else like it.

Now that the envelope printer is working again, I finally managed to get my invoices in the mail. It's not like it matters much anymore. Every month I seem to bill out less than I did the previous month. The last time I saw my financial adviser, I asked him to run a projection to see what my odds were of outliving my money. I didn't like the results. I suppose I'll be just fine if I'm real frugal, but who wants to be frugal. I'll have to stay reasonably healthy too. That's always a problem.

I'm worried more about Dash's health now. I made an appointment to take him in for his triglyceride test early tomorrow morning. The last time we did blood work on Dash, his triglyceride levels were through the roof. I'm hoping that the last test results weren't accurate. Dash didn't fast for 12 hours before the previous blood tests and that can often skew the results. This time we'll do it right, even if it means that Dash will have to wait until later in the morning for his breakfast.

I'm having a hard time deciding what to do about the solar eclipse. Should I fly to Kansas City and rent a car? Should I take some camping gear and drive up from Dallas so I can stay flexible? I'd really like to go out to Wyoming where the chances of clear skies are better, but that's either a very long drive or a very expensive flight. I need to be more optimistic. Right now I keep thinking that whatever destination I choose will be the one place where it rains all day.

I was surprised to get a comment today from someone who used to read my posts on Usenet back in the early 90's. Am I the only one who misses Usenet and dial up modems? I liked the Internet a lot better when it was a quiet text-only place that only a few like minded nerds bothered to visit. It's like a ten lane freeway at rush hour now. I think we've become too connected. OK, I'll admit that I look at Facebook every day just like you do, but I think I could live without it.

Marcie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2186

This morning was busy. We walked the dogs a little earlier so I could take Janet up to the Land Rover dealer before work to get a loaner car while hers was in the shop. Dot and Dash were a little miffed that they had to wait for their breakfast, but all was well as soon as I returned. By the time I finished fixing my morning smoothie and had my requisite two cups of coffee while watching the morning news, it was already time to take Dot downtown for her weekly physical therapy session. I don't know whether I'm unusually slow, or if time is running faster these days. Whatever it is, it's getting harder and harder to get anything done.

There are so many daily rituals that just didn't used to exist. It takes forever to sort through my e-mail each morning. Most of it is spam and junk, but there's always something important from a client buried in the spam folder, so I have to look at everything. I have to move all Dot's dog beds from their nighttime to their daytime positions each morning and wash anything that got soiled. Now, emptying the dehumidifier bucket is a regular ritual too. The machine has an automatic shutoff when the bucket gets full, but I've discovered that it is quite heavy and easy to spill on the floor if you let it fill to the top with water. There are so many little things like this that it is often 10:30 AM or even later before I get around to doing any actual work.

Dot did great at her therapy session today. She even rode better in the car on the way to the vet and I didn't have to stop and re-position her this time. Dot's vet was one of our locations for Santa pictures this year and I was happy that everyone enjoyed the event and was pleased with their pictures. Now, they want Dalmatian Rescue to come back and do another photo event later in the year. We used to shoot photos on all the major holidays, but everybody was younger then. Now, we mostly just work during the Christmas season. Valentine's Day pictures were surprisingly popular though. A lot of people think of their pet as their favorite valentine.

I got my December invoices in the mail today. Billings were pitiful this month. The declining nature of my business is a big reason why I was upset with my financial adviser yesterday. I always expected that as I eased into retirement, my investments would replace the lost income and allow me to maintain my lifestyle indefinitely. It's not working out that way. I never dreamed that interest rates would drop to 0%, that the entire middle class would start to disappear, and that my hard earned skills would become a somewhat worthless commodity. At least I'm not burdened with debt. I'd hate to have a lot of debt at my age. A lot of my friends still do.

It's all about the little things now. I'm pleased that I've temporarily outwitted the bird who poops on my car with my clever rubber snakes. I'm pleased the the dehumidified continues to suck water out of the house. I'm pleased that the bananas we bought last weekend lasted all the way through the week. I'm especially pleased that Dot pooped outside after dinner. Enough time has passed that I've almost forgotten the mess she made in her bed this morning.

Princess is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day