Day 3149

When I was walking Dash this morning, I saw our neighbor walking the dog that bit me. We were both careful not to approach each other, but I was still apprehensive. I know that this dog would bite me again if he ever had the opportunity. I wish there weren't so many things that frightened me like this, but I'm a practical guy who learns from experiences. I don't like driving at rush hour anymore. There are way too many wrecks. I won't take my telescope into the park at night even though there are some excellent viewing areas. The park is no longer safe at night. I never go to concerts anymore. Crowds are too unpredictable.

Has the world changed, or have I changed? It's probably a little bit of both. Leave It To Beaver is as much of a fantasy as Harry Potter these days. It's hard to believe that I hitchhiked all over the country while I was in college. I backpacked alone in wilderness areas. I thought nothing of packing up my musical instruments at 2 AM on a deserted city street after the clubs had closed. None of these things seems very wise anymore. When I hear sirens at night, I am content to stay inside behind a locked door. I hope it never becomes worse than this. The world is still full of interesting things and it would be a shame to feel like a prisoner inside your own house.

I still walk Dash every day but I'm more careful than I used to be. I watch for Type-A cyclists intent on mowing us down. I watch for loose dogs. I watch for poison ivy and snakes. I definitely keep an eye out for the neighbor's dog. Being observant has its benefits though. I see lots and lots of interesting birds, rabbits and wildflowers.

Today was slow. I need to find a hobby. Without the steady stream of articles and website updates that used to keep me busy, the days can get really long. I wrote my sister and paid a few bills. I checked my brokerage account and did some laundry. I cleaned up dog poop and looked in vain for something interesting to watch on TV. It was a pretty typical Wednesday.

Rain is on the way. It's supposed to be raining by tomorrow morning. Even though we really need the moisture, I'm very apprehensive about the roof. If the repairs the roofers made don't work, I don't know what I'm going to do next. I believe the crew made a good faith effort to repair all the damaged areas. If the roof still leaks after all this, I'm probably going to be faced with putting on an entirely new roof.

Dash pooped in the house again while I was fixing breakfast. He almost made it to the back door. Hey, at least he's still trying. Despite the boredom, I'm still trying too. One way or another, we're going to make it through this long, hot summer.

Lilly is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3112

I heard the neighbor calling his dog this morning. This was the dog that bit me. The voice wasn't coming from the neighbor's yard. It was coming from down the street. Damn. The dog had gotten loose again. Luckily, I had already finished walking Dash, but I didn't feel comfortable going outside for the rest of the day.

I called the electrician again to see when he was coming to fix the security light. He said he tried to call me last Thursday. I never got the call. Who knows what happened? Maybe the call got intercepted by Nomorobo and was never put through. Maybe the phone actually rang and I didn't answer because I thought it was a telemarketer. This happens a lot with service people. They use their personal cell phones now to call customers. If I don't see a company name on caller ID or I don't recognize the number, I don't answer. The guy could have left a message, but he probably don't want to come over anyway. He promised that they would still fix the light, but didn't say when.

My second call was to the guitar store to let them know I was on my way. Oops. I should have read the website more carefully. The place isn't open on Mondays. It isn't open in the mornings either. Actually the place isn't open much at all. The guys did say that a lot of their business was out-of-state. I guess having a retail storefront isn't all that important. I really shouldn't complain about any of this. My appointment was for tomorrow anyway. I just wanted to go today because I was bored.

Since I couldn't get my guitars appraised, I decided to fix the crack in the sheetrock instead. I would never make a good tape and bed guy. I can't seem to apply the drywall mud smoothly. I'll let the stuff dry and try to sand it smooth tomorrow. This will make a lot of dust, but I can't see any alternative. I've seem people apply mud so smoothly that you don't even need to sand. This type of finesse is out of my league. Oh, well. At least the joint compound is easier to clean up than glue.

I heard on the news that the raw sewage crisis has been averted. The city managed to divert the sewage spill to storm drains so the mess will never reach the lake. Who knows where the storm drains go. I think the lake is being reopened for recreational use tomorrow. I'm really glad that the lake won't be filled with dead fish and disease. This little oasis is one of the nicest things about this part of town.

The truck with my art should have arrived in New York by now, but I still haven't heard anything. I'm trying to avoid making a worried call to the auction house. The stuff is insured, so I should just forget about it. It's hard to do though. It doesn't matter if it is the post office, UPS, or some fancy fine art shipper. I always think something disastrous is going to happen during shipping. I'm sure the auction people will give me a call later this week. I just hate to wait.

Tomorrow, I'll probably paint the wall I patched today if the surface looks smooth enough. If Dash is doing well, I'll go to the guitar store too. He was a little shaky today. This heat is tough on him. I think it's tough on everybody.

Bud is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2886

It was so windy today that I kept expecting one of our trees to topple over. It has happened before. I see old growth trees fall in the park all the time, but luckily nothing happened to ours today. The wind did signal a change in the weather. A cold front moved through town this afternoon and it's currently about twenty degrees colder than it was this morning. Dash seems to like this chilly weather. I can't say that I agree.

The only thing I accomplished today was to catch the cockroach that eluded me yesterday. This time I had my flyswatter ready. The bug didn't have a chance. I hate to think how many of these things might be lurking around the house. There are certainly plenty of places for them to hide in the office. The office was full even before I brought all the paraphernalia home from the storage warehouse for Santa Paws pictures. Now, it's a total mess.

Dash seemed to want a walk around 3 PM this afternoon, but when I looked outside I noticed a mobile grooming truck parked in our neighbor's driveway. We would have to walk right by this truck to get to the park. It would be just my luck that the groomers would open the door just as Dash and I were walking by and out would come the dog who bit me. I wasn't going to risk it. I'm still very apprehensive about that dog.

I waited about an hour until the truck drove away and then we took our walk. We encountered another loose neighborhood dog along the way, but luckily this one was friendly. These people let their dog out in the front yard without a leash all the time. Over and over again, it races out in the street to greet me and Dash. One of these days it is going to get run over. I really don't understand how people can pay so little attention to their dog's safety. Is it that hard to keep your dog on a leash? The streets are busy. There are coyotes in the area. There are snakes. There are just too many unpredictable things that could happen.

I tried to sweep the leaves off the front porch today. It was impossible. Prevailing winds tend to blow leaves onto the porch where they pile up against the front door. When you open the door on a windy day, the leaves blow inside. This is one of many things that make me wish I lived in Arizona with a big cactus and a swimming pool in the yard. At any rate, I swept the leaves away three times today and the wind blew them back again every time. It's futile to battle against nature. Nature always wins.

I wonder how Black Friday got to be such a big deal. We are being inundated with Black Friday flyers in the mail and Black Friday e-mail messages. I don't think I've ever bought anything on Black Friday. I guess it's a good deal if you want to stand in line for a cheap big screen TV, but how many televisions do you need? I think everybody already has a big screen TV by now. I guess I'm not the target market. I'm so out of the loop that I thought Black Friday was yesterday.

Puppies are today's Dalmatians of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2780

Today wasn't bad. Nothing exciting happened, but nothing bad happened either. I got a good night's sleep. Dash was eager to take his morning walk as soon as Janet left for work. The weather was warm, but not oppressive. By the time I got dressed to go out for breakfast, I was convinced that it was going to be a good day.

I've started going back to the very first restaurant I discovered when I began eating out on Friday mornings. The place has been through half a dozen management changes over the years, but the food is still pretty decent. Although the novelty of eating out has worn off, it still felt good to get out of the house for a while. I picked up some food for the weekend at the grocery store after breakfast and was back at the house before 10 AM.

I thought today might be a good day to get the lawnmower out. My legs are almost back to normal and the grass definitely needed mowing. Like my experience at the gym last Sunday, I quickly realized that I was still out of shape. It's disappointing that you have to work so hard to stay fit as you age. When I was in my 30's, the whole process seemed effortless. I guess it can be done. There is an old man I see almost every morning when I walk Dash. He runs back and forth on the streets surrounding the park for hours. He was in horrible shape when I first noticed him four years ago. Now, his muscles are well defined and he looks much better. I don't have that single minded resolve, but I do walk. My fitness tracker says I'm back to 10,000 steps a day again.

I watched the last episode of The Expanse today and now I've got to wait until sometime in 2018 to see season three on the Syfy Channel. I really enjoyed the first two seasons of this show. Too bad it only took me three days to watch them all. I looked on Netflix to find something else like this, but all I found were dystopian post apocalypse movies. Apparently it is much easier for filmmakers to stay right here on earth than to create realistic simulations of life in space. The CGI work in The Expanse is pretty amazing. I've seen a lot of science fiction and these are the most realistic computer generated images I've seen yet. Hey, I wasted three days, but I'm glad I saw this show. I was genuinely impressed by the effort it took to put this all together.

I saw something on the local news today about a group of cyclists getting attacked by dogs while training for a race. They showed pictures of some of the bite marks and they looked exactly like mine. The riders got bitten in a rural area north of Dallas where there are no leash laws, so the owners of the dogs won't even be punished. It's ironic and a little sad that I love dogs and yet I am somewhat fearful of them. I have good reason to be. I've been bitten five times in my lifetime. I was even nervous about taking Dash to training class. Most of the dogs in class were wonderful, but fights did break out occasionally. Once or twice a dog had to be banned from participating in class. I had hoped that dog class would be a relaxing experience, but it never was. I felt the same way that I do when riding DART trains. You have to remain alert and aware of your surroundings at all times.

Sadly, the world is not a very relaxing place anymore. I used to hitchhike all around the country when I was in college. That would be insane now. Our national parks are overcrowded. Road rage is a fact of life. Airline delays are normal. And entire cruise ships can get food poisoning. No wonder people buy 70" flat screen TVs and have HelloFresh meals delivered to their house. I'm probably not the only one who prefers to stay inside.

Pebbles is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2774

The only thing memorable about today was the heat. I was hot when we woke up. It was even hotter when I began running my weekend errands after breakfast. It was so hot that even our sunrise walk with Dash was uncomfortable. On days like these I'm really thankful that we have a working air conditioner. I've gotten used to the heat over the years, but I still remember the day I stepped off a plane arriving in Dallas from Seattle for the first time in the mid 1970's. I was interviewing for a job that I subsequently took, but as I stood in front of the Dallas airport waiting for a taxi to take me into town, I wondered if I'd made a huge mistake.

We are totally at the mercy of the weather in the summer. Cars seem to break down more frequently in the summer. I see them on the side of the road all the time in July. I don't even care about the huge electric bills. All I want is for the air conditioner to keep running. Once, a summer thunderstorm knocked our power out for almost five days in July and it was like camping out in hell.

Luckily, everything is working like a charm this year. The car has just been serviced and seems reliable. The air conditioner has a fresh filter and can still keep things twenty degrees cooler than the outside air. The dehumidifier faithfully sucks the moisture our of the air. We are all pretty comfortable as long as we stay inside.

To stay cool, I ran my errands right after breakfast this morning and then came home and vacuumed the house. This was the first time I'd touched the vacuum cleaner since the dog bite and the house was definitely dusty. By the time I'd finished cleaning both bedrooms, the canister on the Dyson was completely full. Janet had already mopped the brick floors in the living room yesterday, so the house is probably as clean as it's going to get.

I was pleased that pushing the heavy Dyson around didn't seem to bother either my wrist or my legs. There will be some scars on my legs for a long time, but I think I'm getting back to normal. Normally, I would have mowed the grass today, but it was just too hot. Hey, the house was clean and I felt like I'd accomplished something. It was a good time to binge watch a few more episodes of The Expanse.

So, how does this show compare with Babylon 5, Farscape, Battlestar Galactica, Lexx, Dr. Who, or Firefly? Most of these shows are kind of like Westerns with space ships, but I enjoy them. Somehow, when the future arrives, I doubt that it will be like Dodge City on a different planet, but it does make a good story. I think Firefly was my favorite sci-fi series because it really was a true space Western. Star Trek never appealed to me because the writers made it a morality play. Hey, don't preach to me when I'm trying to be entertained. Just show me cowboys in space.

The neighbors brought over a gift basket this afternoon. I know they are trying to be nice, but it made me a little uncomfortable. They didn't need to do anything. I'm not mad at them and certainly don't blame them for anything. The whole thing was just an unfortunate accident. If anything, the dog bite was my fault. I should have just minded why own business and left that credit card in the alley.

Think is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2769

We had a terrible storm last night. The lights flickered on and off for twenty minutes and I kept hearing the thump of small branches hitting the roof. For a while I thought I smelled something burning, but I must have been imagining things. I looked everywhere and couldn't find a problem. We lost our internet connection for a while, but never did lose power. The storm was kind of a surprise after a succession of hot dry days, but at least I didn't have to worry about watering the grass today.

The overnight rain brought cooler temperatures along with it, so our morning walk with Dash was actually very pleasant. I noticed that Jimson Weed is blooming in the park again. I'm always surprised that the city doesn't destroy these beautiful plants, because they are very poisonous.

After breakfast, I wasted way too much time trying to figure out how we had become victims of a gift card fraud. I guess I'm still surprised that nobody was in any particular hurry to refund our money. It turns out that the kind of fraud we experienced is fairly common. It often originates at the facility where the cards are manufactured. An employee copies the numbers off the cards before they are packaged and shipped to a retail outlet. After an unsuspecting person purchases the card at a grocery store and has it activated, the person who copied the numbers at the manufacturing facility is able to receive a notification that the card is activated and then uses the card to make online purchases. There is an entire Consumer Reports website devoted to warning people about this scam. Scammers also sometimes steal batches of cards from a retail outlet, remove the cards from the packaging, copy all the card information, and them replace the cards in counterfeit packaging and return them to the retail outlet where they are purchased by unsuspecting customers. According to the Consumer Reports website, the only way to protect yourself from this kind of crime is to never buy a gift card at a grocery store or other retail outlet where the cards are displayed on an unsecured rack.  Live and learn. I suppose that we'll eventually get our money back, but I'll never buy a gift card again.

I wonder how long it's going to take for my legs to completely heal. I'm taking normal walks with Dash everyday now and the swelling hasn't returned. That's the good news. The bad news is that my left leg is still very sore. I still feel a hard knot in my calf that might take months to disappear. The slow progress is frustrating even though my doctor says that everything is proceeding normally. I'm ready to put this whole unfortunate episode behind me.

Maybe I'll go renew my passport tomorrow. My current passport expires next month and I've heard that the renewal process sometimes takes longer if you wait to renew until after your passport has expired. When did the cost of renewing a passport become so high? I remember paying somewhere around $25 to renew my passport. Now the cost is well over $100. Sign of the times, I guess. There is no place I particularly want to visit right now, but experience tells me that if I let my passport expire, I will need it almost immediately. I used to need a passport frequently when I worked overseas a lot, but somehow I don't expect that I'm going to get many jobs in Germany these days.

The closer we get to the solar eclipse, the more I'm reading that travelers must prepare as if they are entering a disaster zone. You are encouraged to bring your own food, arrive several days ahead of time, and make sure to bring your own toilet paper. It is anticipated that there won't be nearly enough porta-potties available to accommodate the huge influx of visitors. If huge traffic jams, no food, and and absence of toilets is what I've got to look forward to, seeing this "once in a lifetime" event is becoming less appealing every day.

Molly is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2761

It's weird to feel bored and tired at the same time. I want to get out and do something, and yet I don't feel like doing anything at all. Resting with my feet elevated is completely mindless, but it sure beats walking around for any length of time.  My legs still hurt. The swelling in my right leg is almost gone and the swelling in my left leg continues to subside. Even though the inactivity is driving me nuts, I'd better not tempt fate at this point. Judging by the way things are progressing, I have a feeling that I'll be good to go after one more week of rest and limited activity.

The neighbors mowed my grass this morning. This was a nice gesture and I really appreciate it. I'm glad they were able to quarantine their dog at a veterinarian's office instead of being forced to take it to the city pound. Although it was painful being bitten, I'm not mad about the whole incident. It was just one of those things. If the neighbors were home at the time instead of an inexperienced house sitter, I doubt that anything would have happened. If you have a dog, you need to remember that any dog can bite, given the right circumstances. This is why I'm nervous whenever I see loose dogs in the park. You never know what might happen. Years ago, I was responsible for a foster dog who bit somebody. I had the dog well controlled on a short leash while I was talking to a friend about fifteen feet away. For some unknown reason, the dog suddenly ripped the leash out of my hand, lunged and bit my friend. It was all over in less than a second. To this day, I am super cautious around dogs. I wish everybody was.

I really hope I can get my car back tomorrow. Dash has an appointment at the cancer center on Tuesday and the dealership frowns on having dogs in their loaner cars. If I'm forced to take a dog to the vet while I've got a loaner car, it takes forever to carefully remove all the dog hairs so you can say there was never a dog inside. Dash rides better in my car anyway. Truthfully, Dash doesn't ride well in any car, but he is familiar with my car and we've learned to make things work.

With any luck, the landscapers should arrive tomorrow morning. Dash will have to stay inside, because even though I tell the landscapers a million times to keep the gates closed, they always tend to leave them open. We'll just put Dash on a leash and take him down to the park when he needs to pee. We should be able to handle this, even though we are becoming forgetful. The landscapers are very noisy and hard to ignore, and since Janet and I are both home, we can remind each other not to let Dash outside unsupervised.

I worry too much. Worrying isn't very productive, but it is hard to avoid. I don't worry about nuclear war and global warming much because I think the human race is doomed anyway. The planet will survive. We won't. On a good day I think we've got maybe 30,000 years before we become extinct. On a bad day, I think 300 years is optimistic. We have become an invasive species, just like Kudzu Vines. In just a few years, there will be more plastic in the ocean than fish. Think about that for a minute. Unless we can all agree to quit having babies for a couple of generations, I think the planet is doomed. If I can't get you to change your mind about something so basic, I think I'll limit my worries to things much closer to home. Will Janet and Dash stay cancer free? Will I stay healthy? Did I save enough money to survive whatever lies ahead? Why knows? Life is such a mystery, but I do feel blessed to have the opportunity to think about what it all means while I'm drinking my fruit smoothie tomorrow morning.

Laura is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2760

I continue to be amazed at the human body's ability to repair itself. Medical advances have made a huge impact on our lives, but the body is still there in the background, doing the lion's share of the work itself. Cuts heal. Bones fuse back together. White cells surround bacteria and viruses. And our liver and kidneys work tirelessly to filter out all the bad stuff we ingest. Wouldn't it be amazing if everything else worked the same way? We would have cars that repair themselves and computers that get smarter as you use them and never crash. As my own body continues to heal, I am reminded how important it is to take care of it.

I've always been reasonably healthy, but I could do a lot better. If I had eliminated sugar from my diet years ago, I would probably never have to worry about diabetes. If I hadn't been so fond of cheeseburgers and bacon, I probably wouldn't have to be taking statins to manage my cholesterol. It's not that it is terribly hard to do the right thing, it's that we receive very little encouragement for making the effort.

Hey, why have a plate of beans and rice when you can go to the Cheesecake Factory and eat enough to feed a family of four in a single sitting. I spent a lifetime in advertising encouraging people to drink Pepsi and eat cheeseburgers. It was my job to glorify all the wrong things. Now, I wonder if it is even possible to reverse all this. When you go to the supermarket, most of the things on the shelves aren't even real food. When you go to a hospital, you still see nurses and technicians standing outside smoking cigarettes. I don't even understand why substance abuse is a problem. Why would you want to punish your body like that?

When my body has finally finished repairing the dog bite damage, I need to resolve to take better care of it. Fewer prepared foods and restaurant meals would be a good place to start. Even the best restaurant chefs are in love with sugar and salt. Admittedly, salt does make food taste better, but there's got to be a better way. It wouldn't kill me to give up red meat entirely. Some of my favorite dishes don't have any meat in them at all. I think I eat a lot of meat just out of habit.

I need to be careful about falling and I should quit climbing up on the roof entirely. One fall off the roof would probably do a lot more damage than a dog bite. I shouldn't become fearful of living though. Too many people my age have become fearful of the world around them. They probably should just turn off the television.

I'm full of good intentions, but we'll see how much of this turns into reality. I still had bacon with my breakfast this morning and spent way too much time looking at Facebook. I'll start walking again as soon as I can because I love to walk. It will take a little longer to give up cheeseburgers and go to the gym three times a week.

I take my last antibiotic pill tonight. Hopefully, that will be enough to eliminate the risk of infection. The hematoma has subsided enough on my swollen leg that I can start to see veins again. I even wrote tonight's blog post without using the splint on my wrist. These are all good signs.

Lizzy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2759

Janet and I both thought it was Saturday this morning. It was an easy mistake to make, since all the days are blurring together. Luckily, I did remember that it was Thursday yesterday and took the trash out. I didn't feel like going out for breakfast this morning. Somehow, the ritual of going to a restaurant for breakfast every Friday morning seems buried in a distant past. Maybe I'll look forward to doing this again sometime, but other things seem more important now.

My legs continue to improve. When I look at them together, it's easy to see that the left leg is still swollen, but it is so much better than it was a week ago. The pain has subsided to a dull ache and my wrist is slowly becoming more flexible. I don't even wear the splint all the time anymore. The one thing I'm still careful to do is elevate my legs every time I sleep or take a nap. I wish I'd done this the very first night after getting bitten. If I had elevated my legs and rested more in the beginning, maybe the swelling wouldn't have become so bad.

I was promised that my car would be finished today, but when I called to check, they hadn't even started working on it. I guess I wasn't surprised. Ever since the Land Rover and Jaguar dealerships merged, service has slowed down to a crawl. They just don't have enough mechanics anymore. When people complain that there aren't any jobs, I wonder if they've considered becoming an auto mechanic. Large dealerships always seems to be short on mechanics. Luckily, there was someone who could help me today. A warning light came on in the loaner car and I didn't want to get stuck without a car this weekend. Everything is fine now, but waiting at the dealership made my errands take a lot longer than expected .

Dash was much better behaved today. Maybe he's finally getting used to this amorphous new schedule that Janet and I have adopted. We don't plan ahead very well anymore. We just buy food one day at a time and one of us is always running to the store to pick up something for dinner. We are bored and tired at the same time and still spend a lot of time resting. No wonder Dash becomes frustrated at times.

When I was running errands today, I got caught in a brief thunderstorm. It's weird to have so much rain in the middle of July. I guess it's a good thing, especially since the landscaper is coming on Monday. Usually we put in new grass in March, so it is well established by mid-Summer. It will be nice to have grass again, but one way or another, I bet my water bill is going to go way up next month.

I'm just about finished taking my antibiotics. Hopefully there is no risk of infection anymore. The strong antibiotics have given me an upset stomach, so maybe my appetite will improve once I'm finished with these pills. Antibiotics have been known to cause dental problems and I've noticed that my teeth are more difficult to get clean this week. I'm tempted to blame a recurrence of hemorrhoid problems on the antibiotics too. I'll be glad when I don't have to sleep with my feet elevated anymore. I usually sleep on my side and it has taken a while to get used to sleeping on my back. The best thing about a return to health is that I won't be wasting time Googling medical problems anymore. I'm sure Google has me listed in its hypochondriac file by now.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2758

My doctor thinks I'm making good progress. There are no signs of infection. The swelling in my left leg is starting to subside. I'm even starting to be able to move my wrist again. My problem now is patience, or more accurately, a lack of patience. The healing process is so slow that it's driving me nuts. I'm still supposed to sleep with my feet elevated for another week and my doctor says it's too early to start walking again. I wish someone had told me to keep weight off my legs in the very beginning. I probably didn't help myself by walking as much as I did right after the injury.

Janet got a good report after her own doctor visit today as well. We are both doing everything we should and are on a trajectory to return to normal one of these days. You don't really realize how critical staying healthy is to a normal life until you're not healthy. So many little day-to-day necessities get thrown off track when all you can do is rest. I certainly couldn't have cared for Dot the way I did unless I was very healthy. I wonder sometimes if Dot might have known what was in the future for Janet and I. They say that dogs can smell cancer sometimes. Dot was very old and very tired at the end, but it was almost as if she made her final exit at the perfect time just to avoid being an extra burden for Janet and I now.

I just hope that Dash will stay healthy until we both get well. We've always known that Dash's vestibular disease could return at any time. He has seemed very agitated for the past two days and occasionally that is a precursor to further seizures. Dash has always been a moody dog and is used to an active lifestyle, so hopefully he is just irritated at Janet and I for spending all our time sleeping. It's ironic that this would bother him at all, since that's what he does most of the time. I do know that dogs like a fixed and regular routine and our routine has been temporarily broken. "Be patient, little buddy," I try to tell him. We'll be back to normal soon.

The doctor talked me into doing a bone density scan while I was visiting about the dog bite today. My bone density is declining, although it is still pretty average for my sex and age. I asked if I should start taking more calcium and he gave me an ambiguous answer. "Too little calcium is bad, and too much calcium is bad," he said. He asked whether I used dairy products and I told him that I loved cheese. Basically, it is hard to tell if you are getting the right amount of calcium to keep your bones strong as you age. Walking is good though. I'll be glad when I can get back to taking long walks.

Our air conditioner quit working for a while this afternoon and Janet and I immediately went into a panic. The last thing we need right now is a hot and humid house while we are both still wearing bandages. Luckily, the air is back on now, so we dodged a bullet. Sometimes in weather like this, the coil can freeze and it will shut the system down until the coil thaws out and the system stabilizes. I'm not sure if this is what happened, but it's happened before. I just shut the AC off for ten minutes and then turned it back on again. This seems to be the universal solution for everything these days. I turn the network router off and on again several times a week when the U-verse TV freezes or goes out.

I don't know whether I'll go out for breakfast tomorrow morning or not. I can drive again, but I'm just not very hungry. All I really want to do right now is get back on my feet again.

Watson is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2757

When I woke up this morning, the swelling in my leg had subsided a bit. This was good news. I've been sleeping with my legs elevated for a while, but this was the first time I've seen any positive results. Of course, after I'd gotten up and walked around for a while, some of the swelling returned, but that was to be expected. I've already discovered that this recovery is going to be a three steps forward, two steps back kind of deal.

After I got dressed, I took my car up to the dealership for a required service appointment. This time, my loaner car was a sedan that sat pretty close to the ground. I've gotten so used to driving a big SUV that this car seemed strange and a bit uncomfortable. I like to be sitting up above the traffic, not down in it. I made it home safely and gradually got used to this new driving position, but I don't think I'll be buying a sedan or sports car any time soon. It's difficult to tell where the front wheels actually are when you turn a corner and more importantly, where do you put the dogs?

I spent the rest of the morning fixing breakfast and cleaning up the kitchen when I returned home. Why hurry? There certainly wasn't a lot on my calendar today. I'll be glad when I finish taking these antibiotics, since they're giving me an upset stomach. I'm hungry, but I don't really feel like eating anything.

I got my July invoices out this afternoon. This was the first time I'd used my upgraded accounting software for invoicing. I quickly discovered that my custom invoice template was gone. The software had reverted to a generic invoice template without the company logo and custom fonts. I guess I could have just used the generic template and saved a lot of time. I never do things the easy way though. I found another copy of my logo and recreated all my forms from scratch. Everything is fine now, but I still can't figure out why odd and unpredictable things have changed on my supposedly identical cloned hard drive.

Dash is becoming impatient with how long it is taking Janet and I to get back to normal. Our doctors have told both of us that we need lots of bed rest to heal properly, so we spend quite a bit of time just sitting in bed.  Janet watches movies on her iPad and I just sleep with my feet elevated on a stack of pillows. You'd think Dash would be fine with this, since he spends most of the day sleeping anyway. I try to tell him that what's good for the goose is good for the gander, but he's convinced that when we're home we should be either feeding or walking him. He'll usually settle down after a while, but I think he's bored.

If I have another night like I did last night, I might be back to normal relatively quickly. Even after a busy day, the swelling in my leg is still less than yesterday. I still have to change my bandages every day, but only the two deepest cuts haven't scabbed over yet. We are definitely making progress. My bandages are much smaller and easier to manage than they were last week and I don't have to wear the splint on my wrist all the time now. I don't think there is an infection, but I'm seeing a doctor tomorrow morning just to make sure. Maybe one more week and I can put this unfortunate episode behind me.

I haven't even thought about the eclipse for a while. Somehow, watching a solar eclipse seems unimportant compared to getting your arms and legs back in working order.

Winston is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2755

I was disappointed this morning that I wasn't improving faster. I seem to be getting a little better every day, but my wrist still feels shaky when I'm not wearing the splint and my legs still hurt. I thought the swelling in my left leg had subsided, but on further inspection, I've realized that gravity has just caused the fluid to sink down around my ankles. Both ankles are swollen and black and blue now. You're supposed to keep your legs elevated above your heart, but how long can you spend lying down staring at the ceiling?

I need to remember similar injuries I've had in the past and how long they took to heal. I think I was better off before the Internet. Now, whenever you research injuries online, you are presented with dozens of horrendous first-person stories detailing things that might go wrong. Today, I found myself reading about hematomas that had become infected and required surgery. It was not very reassuring. I think everything is going fine, but to keep from fretting all the time, I made an appointment to see my primary care physician when he returns later this week. I also made an appointment to see the orthopedic specialist the emergency room referred me to. Hopefully, I will feel better when they, just like the emergency room doctors, tell me that this is just going to take time.

When I woke up this morning, I was surprised to see that Janet had already walked Dash. She said that she didn't want to wake me up and that Dash was very good and didn't pull or tug at all. I was a little worried that Janet was using her arms too soon, but later in the day when she went to see her doctor, they gave her arm exercises to do, so I guess she's ready.

I was surprised to receive some new writing jobs today. It's been a while. I was even more surprised when I tried to open Microsoft Word and was presented with a screen saying that I needed to enter my 25 digit activation code first. Jeez, this software has been registered for years. What could have gone wrong? I had installed the software in 2011 and had no idea where the activation code was. After a Google search and a call to Microsoft, I received the bad news. Microsoft software activation involves linking the software to the serial number of the physical hard drive or network card on your computer. When I cloned my hard drive, it was physically a different disc, so Microsoft Office didn't recognize me. Even worse, Microsoft keeps no records of these activation codes when you register your software. The only place you find them is printed on the install discs themselves. This was all very frustrating, since I'm dead in the water without Microsoft Word.

I never throw anything away, but that didn't make it any easier to find the illusive install disc. It took hours of searching, which only made my leg hurt worse. Eventually I found the stupid disc. It's a good thing I did, because my only other alternative would have been to purchase Microsoft Office all over again. Actually, I would have had to subscribe to Microsoft Office 365. The company doesn't even sell or support the stand-alone product anymore.

I guess everything is OK. My leg isn't red and doesn't look infected. It's just swollen more than I'd like. I'm back in business with Microsoft Word and can start my new writing jobs tomorrow. I've been so preoccupied with the dog bite that I didn't even tell you that the landscaper is scheduled to put in new grass early next week. I've even made an appointment to get my car serviced.

I"m going to sleep with my leg elevated tonight. Hopefully, it will look a little smaller in the morning.

Keller is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2752

I spent most of the morning at the emergency room. I've had painful wrists for years, but yesterday I noticed that the pain was getting worse. It was excruciating last night and I couldn't even sleep. When I fell after the dog bit me, I must have either sprained or broken my wrist. Even though I rarely take pain pills, I took one of Janet's powerful after surgery pills in hopes that it might help me get some sleep. This morning, I still felt miserable, so I decided to go to the emergency room and get some x-rays.

Yesterday, I was driving Janet to the doctor. Today, she was driving me. Luckily, she got the OK to drive again just this morning. Amazingly, the emergency room wasn't very full. I got admitted within fifteen minutes and my whole exam from start to finish was less than three hours. All things considered, I felt like I was treated very well. I didn't have any broken bones, but I did have a severe sprain along with clear signs that I have osteoarthritis in my hands. I was fitted for a splint, given a few ice packs, a pain killer prescription and sent on my way. The doctor who examined me referred me to an orthopedic specialist to confirm the arthritis diagnosis.

Basically I'm a mess right now. My left hand is in splint, I can't raise my right hand very high because of my dislocated shoulder, and both legs are still very swollen and painful from the dog bites. Poor Dash isn't going to get a walk for a while. He doesn't seem very upset though. Actually, I think he likes hanging around the house with us. It's been a long time since Janet and I both spent all day in the house for weeks at a time. We may be going stir crazy, but Dash approves of this arrangement. He likes having the whole family together.

Despite all my problems, I still managed to get my computer upgraded. the employees at the repair place loaded the computer in and out of the car for me. Somehow, I managed to carry it from the driveway to the house with one hand. Amazingly, everything still works. The technicians told me that I prepared the clone drive correctly and I now have a working 4 terabyte internal drive. Probably my computer will be obsolete before I run out of space again.

Animal control didn't waste any time investigating the dog bite. They interviewed Janet while I was in the emergency room and I think they tried to interview the dog sitter as well. I told the owners to expect this when I talked with them yesterday. Physicians are required by law to report all dog bites. The dog will have to be quarantined while he is evaluated. If the owners are lucky, they will be allowed to quarantine him at home. Even though this dog bit me, I'd still hate to see him have to go to the pound.

The doctor sent me home with an ice pack and a splint. Unfortunately, I can't use the ice pack while I'm wearing the splint. You'd think somebody would have designed these things a little better. I've got to decide whether to use the ice pack or take a pain pill tonight. I think I'll opt for the Codeine. The ice I used last night didn't really do much.

Just so you know, it wasn't very easy to type this. I'm not going to let a bum wrist slow me down though. This is Day 2752 and it needs to be documented.

Delaney is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2751

When I took Janet to see the surgeon this afternoon, we were moving so slowly from the car to the lobby that it made us laugh. We were pathetic. She couldn't use her arms very well and I couldn't use my legs. Janet was holding on to a pouch with tubes hanging out of her and I felt like I needed a walker. I'm feeling better than I did last night, but this is going to take a while. Basically, it feels like someone shot an arrow through my legs.

Janet reached a milestone today. Her doctors felt that she had improved enough so that they could take out the remaining drainage tubes. She'll probably be able to drive in a few days. There is still a long journey ahead since it will take at least three months to complete reconstruction. Things are looking good though. My case is much simpler. Assuming I don't get an infection, I should be good to go as soon as the hematoma in my leg is reabsorbed. I'm not sure what to do about the hematoma, since they do tend to heal on their own. It takes a long time though and there is occasionally a risk of a blood clot. Some people say ice packs can reduce the swelling. Other people prefer heat. I'll continue taking the antibiotics and hopefully I'll notice an improvement in a couple of days. I hope that I don't have to have the hematoma drained, but that is always a possibility.

I'm seriously thinking of switching to Janet's doctor. Everything went perfectly on her surgery since they assembled such a great medical team. It's always been hit and miss with me. Sometimes I'm referred to a good specialist, other times not so good. Your realize after a while that it makes a difference where your primary care physician has hospital privileges. Some hospital are better than others. Janet has always seen Baylor physicians. I tend to go to Medical City. If something was seriously wrong with me, I'd feel much more comfortable being treated at Baylor.

Dash didn't get a walk at all today. He seemed a bit confused at first, but then he realized that he had more time to nap. Janet's doctors don't want her walking a dog yet, because it could cause some damage if the dog pulled of tugged on the leash. I just can't walk very well at all right now. Hopefully, things will improve within a week or so. I think I'll try sleeping with an ice pack tonight.

I've got my replacement hard drive formatted and ready to go. I think I'll take my computer to the repair place tomorrow and make the switch to a 4 terabyte drive. That should last me for quite a while. It took me quite a few years to fill up the 1 terabyte drive. I used to be in a panic if I was without a computer for even a day. Now, I could probably be without a computer for a week and it wouldn't make any difference. Work is really that slow.

The neighbors called me today from wherever they're spending their vacation. They seemed very concerned about the dog bite. Since they are lawyers, they were also probably concerned that I might sue them. Not to worry. I have no interest in suing anybody. All I want in life is to be left alone. That sentiment applies to most people and it definitely applies to biting dogs.

Cisco is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2750

Well this sucks. I found a credit card in our alley this afternoon and though it might belong to friends of our neighbor. They'd had a Fourth of July party yesterday and there were a lot of people walking back and forth down the alley yesterday evening. I knocked on the neighbor's door and before the door was even fully open, their German Shepard ran out the door and bit me in the calf. I fell down and before I could get up, the dog bit me in the other leg. I was just trying to do a good deed by returning the credit card and got some bad dog bites for my efforts.

I've been bitten before and know that puncture wounds aren't to be taken lightly. One of those new stand-alone emergency rooms had just opened up in the neighborhood, so I decided to go there. They told me that they didn't accept Medicare and I would have to pay cash. Forget that. I drove down the street to a Primacare and they told me there would be a two hour wait. The lobby was empty, so I don't know what the problem was. I was still bleeding and growing frustrated. Luckily, I remembered that my own doctor was open until 8 PM. I got in the car and drove there, arriving just before the place closed.

A nurse cleaned my wounds, gave me a tetanus shot, injected me with an antibiotic, wrote me a prescription for more antibiotics, and bandaged me up again. If I'd waited for the Primacare folks to do this, I'd probably be sitting in the waiting room until midnight. Something needs to be done about the neighbor's dog. They claim he's friendly, but he's bitten me three times in the last ten years. It's probably time to call animal control.

I was hoping the nurse could stop the bleeding, but she told me that letting the blood flow would help prevent infection. I'm probably going to need to do a lot of bandage changes for a while. Just when I thought that Janet's bandage changes were becoming less of an issue, now I've got my own to deal with. The bad thing about dog bites is that they take a long time to heal. Been there, done that.

The rest of my day was pretty uneventful. I walked Dash, took Janet to a few stores to get her out of the house for a bit, and started cloning the hard drive on my desktop computer in preparation for installing a larger and faster drive later in the week. It was just a normal hot July day until the dog bit me.

I never dreamed it would take so long to clone a terabyte of data. Everything has slowed down to a crawl while the files are being copied. I've been waiting for Photoshop to open for twenty minutes now. I hate to cancel the cloning operation, since it's been running for five hours now. Oh, well. I learned a long time ago that when you start something, you've got to finish it.

Maybe tomorrow will be better. It looks like I've got a hematoma in my left leg since it's swollen quite a bit. Everything hurts, but the nurse said I should be fine. At least Janet is improving. The drainage is subsiding and if she's lucky they'll take the remaining tubes out at her doctor's appointment tomorrow.

I hope I don't bleed on the bed tonight. The nurse did a good job with the bandages, but I don't know if they'll hold all night. I probably should take a pain pill, but Tylenol is bad for your liver and you aren't supposed to take ibuprofen if you're bleeding. Jeez, I really thought this was going to be a good day, but life is full of surprises.

Isabella is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1238

I began the long and probably fruitless task of trying to get the two dangerous dogs removed from the neighborhood by writing a letter to the landlord of the dog's owner explaining the situation, along with the liabilities of continuing to let her tenants keep these dogs on her property. This probably won't do any good, but you have to start somewhere. Since these dogs have already bitten another neighbor's dog, this is just an accident waiting to happen.

It was unusually busy for a Monday. Typically, I don't get many writing jobs until later in the week, but I was certainly busy writing today. I got several requests for website revisions as well, but these will have to wait until tomorrow. You can only do so much in one day.

I'm wondering why it is taking so long to get the Defender fixed. Two weeks for a simple tune-up seems a little excessive. Knowing my luck, they probably found something else wrong with the car that will make the final bill even more expensive. I got the bid in for the landscaping to the front yard today. It was definitely more expensive than I expected. Line-by-line, it all seemed pretty reasonable. There were just a lot of line items. I've come to the conclusion that everything is too expensive these days. I've looked over all the bids for the new roof again and again and can't think of any way to reduce the price any further. It looks like if I want a new roof, I'm just going to have to bite the bullet and pay. I'd much rather buy a new editing system for the business, but a new editing system wouldn't be of much use if water from a leaky roof ended up damaging it.

I've been taking wildflower pictures for so long now that friends have started asking me the names of the flowers. Usually, I don't know. I've never been all that interested in learning the proper names of birds and flowers, but I've started looking up the identity of some of these flowers, just so I won't appear ignorant. Today's image is a small ball-shaped magenta-pink flower called a Sensitive Briar. Some people in Texas call this plant Cat's Claw, or Devil's Shoestrings, because Texans never seem to be satisfied with a single name for their plants.

Tomorrow is going to be a busy day. I need to take Janet to the dentist, because she'll be under sedation and can't drive. I need to add a bunch of new animals to a rescue website. I need to make juice out of a big pile of oranges and pineapples on the kitchen counter. I'll bet I'll need to write an article or two as well.

Patches is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1237

Why do people bring aggressive dogs to a dog park? Why do these same types of people keep aggressive dogs in a quiet neighborhood with small children and well behaved dogs? I think I know the answer. Most of these people are in denial. They think their dogs are just fine and that everybody else is the problem.

Why do I bring this up? Well, there were some aggressive dogs at the dog park this morning and their owners were too busy texting and talking on their phones to even notice what their dogs were doing. There are two types of people who go to dog parks. One group is always aware of what their dogs are doing and spend lots of time throwing balls and playing with their dog. The other type immediately sits down on the nearest bench and begins reading a book or playing games on their phone. These folks have no idea what their dogs are doing, even when they get in trouble.

The people with bad dogs in the neighborhood are even worse. They typically blame everything on the other neighbors and refuse to take responsibility for their dogs bad behavior. Usually you can't do anything about these people until after something bad has happened. Something bad did happen this week. A woman who has large, very aggressive dogs lost control of one of them and it immediately bit another neighbor's dog who was walking on a leash nearby. These two aggressive dogs live nearby and I've been afraid they are going to get loose and come after Dot and Dash for quite a while now. I wish there was an easy way to get people who kept vicious dogs banished from nice neighborhoods. Unfortunately, there isn't. We are a tolerant society and there are no laws that prevent someone from acting like a jerk. Personally, I wouldn't mind a world like the one depicted in Minority Report where crimes are prevented before they happen. Waiting until someone has actually been harmed is a little too late for the victims.

Other than Dot and Dash having a few close calls this morning, it was actually a very nice day. The weather was near perfect and I got a ton of things done around the house. The grass has been mowed, there is a big stack of clean towels in the linen closet, and the carpets have all been vacuumed. I even got a chance to watch the new Dr. Who episode that I recorded on the DVR Saturday night. The crawfish boil yesterday was a big success and we raised a lot of money to help deserving Dalmatians. I haven't seen the numbers, but I assume the wine tasting party for the other rescue group was an even bigger success, because it was well attended and extremely well organized. No a bad weekend at all. We helped some dogs, had some fun, and still managed to complete all our weekend chores.

Dolly is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day