Day 2928

This is the time of year when TV stations create short retrospective tributes featuring famous people that have died during the past twelve months. Jeez, these aren't old people anymore. They're my age. Quite a few are even younger than me. How did this happen? I've seen these memorial segments for most of my life and with the exception of musicians who always seem to die young, I always remember these people as being my parent's age. Growing old kind of creeps up on you. One day you're young, and in the blink of an eye you're older than the actors they're showing on the year end memorial clips. I wish everybody were remembered like actors and musicians. My parents deserve to be remembered. So do all my neighbors who have passed away since I moved here. I wonder if I'll be remembered? Probably not. Nobody remembers anything very long these days.

I got a thank you letter from my sister today. She's old school and still sends hand written thank you notes. I probably shouldn't have gotten her a cookbook for Christmas since her chemo treatments give her nausea and she has little interest in eating. It's hard to break with tradition though. I've always given her cooking related things because she's loved cooking for most of her life. Maybe it was an optimistic gift. I can't really imagine her not cooking anymore.

I can't imagine Dash not walking anymore either. He still seems to enjoy his walks, but he's so slow now. The arctic cold front that has gripped most of the nation is headed our way and it kept getting colder by the hour. I was freezing on our afternoon walk, but Dash seemed fine. He actually took a longer walk than he normally does, pausing to sniff every bush along the way. I dressed warmly, but apparently not warmly enough. By the time we returned home I felt like I'd spent the afternoon in a deep freeze. I think I've lived in Texas too long. I don't know how northerners survive these temperatures.

It's hard to believe that tomorrow is New Year's Eve. It just seems like yesterday when we were partying like it was 1999 and wondering if the Y2K bug was going to wipe out the world's computers.   Janet and I haven't gone out on New Year's Eve since I played in a band many years ago. Until recently, we always cracked open a bottle of champagne and toasted the New Year. These days we rarely even stay up until midnight. If I'm up at midnight tomorrow night, I'm probably just taking Dash outside to pee.

The Cerenia pills have stopped Dash from vomiting. They are not meant to be a long term solution, so we only give them to him for four days at a time. Some vets say it is OK for dogs to take Cerenia indefinitely, but I'd rather play it safe. Usually after a four day course of the anti-nausea pills, Dash won't throw up again for at least a month. He certainly seemed normal today and had a lot more energy on his walk than I did.

Janet's friends brought back the dog crate they borrowed this afternoon, so I returned it to the storage warehouse. This large crate used to always be in the back of my Defender. It won't fit in my current car though, so I fold it flat and keep it in storage. It didn't seem so heavy when I used to transport rescue dogs. Now, everything seems heavy.

I hope you guys have a Happy New Year. Almost everybody hopes that 2018 will be better than 2017. Maybe it will be.

Penny is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2918

There always seems to be more bills to pay in December. Instead of spending my time with Dreamweaver and Photoshop today, I found myself staring at Quickbooks. It looks like I survived another year, but I still hate paying all these bills. Since I was thinking about financial matters anyway, I began wondering whether this new tax bill was going to be good or bad for me. Depending on who you're listening to, this bill is either the best thing since sliced bread or one of the seven signs of the apocalypse. There is no middle ground here. In our polarized society, you either love something like this. or you hate it. Actually understanding the bill doesn't even seem to matter.

At first I thought the bill was going to be terrible for companies like mine because I heard that a lot of common Schedule C deductions were going away. Then I heard that small businesses could take advantage of new pass through provisions that would tax business profits at a much lower rate. That would be good. Who knows. It's all speculation at this point. I won't really have a clear idea of how this affects my own business until I start doing my 2018 taxes in the Spring of 2019. I'll be over 70 then and probably won't even have any clients, so I doubt that it matters much.

I finally got some feedback on the website project I finished a few weeks ago. The client likes it. That's a relief. Without this project hanging over my head, it will be a lot easier to throw myself into my new website project. I'd like to do something bold and original, but I think the client would be better served by just picking a readily available website template tailored to their specific industry. There are very sophisticated templates available now that cater to the needs of just about every type of industry. You don't need me anymore. Jeez, what am I doing? It's become way too easy to talk myself out of work.

The weather was much better today. It was foggy this morning, but there was no rain. Foggy days are great for photography, but I really didn't have the time. I had bills to pay, prescriptions to pick up at the pharmacy for Dash and myself, and a dog crate to find in the storage warehouse. Janet had loaned the crate to a friend of hers and they wanted it today. Since the large collapsible metal crate got relegated to the storage warehouse after Petey died many years ago, it was buried under tons of other stuff by now. I did manage to find the crate, but it would have been easier to buy Janet's friend a new one.

I took a raggedy pair of jeans to the tailor this afternoon to get some sturdy knee pads sewn on. These pants are so worn that I should have thrown them away a long time ago, but they are still my favorites for walking the dogs. When the pants are repaired, they will be a perfect match for the old rubber boots that I've repaired using shoe goo and tire patches. Never say die. Years ago, I had a client who was one of the best menswear retailers in the country. He would be embarrassed to see me now. I have gone from sartorial splendor to a haphazard hobo look. Ugly but serviceable. That's me these days.

I don't have any plans yet, but I'm sure tomorrow will be just as exciting as today. I really need to find a good book to read.

Lexi is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1922

Weekends were always busy. Now, they're becoming impossible. When you try to add a week's worth of postponed activities to your normal weekend errand list, not everything gets done. Janet and I both had lots to do today and neither of us got everything finished. I guess this is the new normal, just like the mismatched rugs covering the floors, the dog beds in every room, and the metal playpen in the living room.

Dot is sleeping much better now. Since we've discontinued the prednisolone, she doesn't have to go outside to pee in the middle of the night anymore. I need to help her when she wakes up and wants to circle around and change positions, but I can almost do this in my sleep. I still had to get up early, so I could walk Dash, mail some bills and go to the bank before Janet had to take her car in for service, but all-in-all, I think everyone got a good night's sleep.

The pet store was nice enough to let us return the crate we got for Dot immediately after surgery. As soon as she got strong enough to protest, she refused to sleep in it. It was a nice, sturdy crate, but if Dot refuses to use it, it is just something else to trip over in the bedroom. Now that we have the circular pen in the living room, we probably don't need a crate anyway. Janet bought some sort of a hammock thing while she was out today that she says is a safe way to transport Dot in the car. I'll read the instructions and install it tomorrow and see if it works. About half the things we get for Dot's rehabilitation work and the other half don't. At least the pet stores have been pretty good about taking back the things that didn't work.

I don't know how much more of this rain I can take. It rained again today. Our yard is as soggy as a wet sponge. The park is a mud pit. And if you don't pick up the dog poop immediately, you can never find it the next day. I got a new pair of waterproof boots, but I continue to wear the old leaky pair and throw my wet socks in the wash as soon as I get home. This doesn't make any logical sense, but I hate to ruin a new pair of shoes before I even get them broken in. At least Dot's incision has healed nicely and I don't need to worry about it getting wet in the rain anymore.

Maybe I'll get more done tomorrow. I certainly hope so. There is still some shopping that needs to get finished, there is lots of water on the roof, I never made it to the post office, and I haven't been to the gym in a long time. I've noticed that the grass is starting to grow in the front yard too. This means that mowing the grass will soon be on my weekend chore list as well. I wonder if the lawn mower battery survived the Winter? Maybe next week I'll find out.

As you can probably tell, I'm totally burned out. Dot's amazing ability to bounce back makes it all worthwhile though. After all she's been through this year, I never would have dreamed that she would have responded so well to the risky surgery. Nobody, not even her surgeon and neurologist, can believe Dot is fourteen years old. She is definitely the Energizer Bunny of Dalmatians. I wish I had Dot's energy. Unfortunately, everybody can believe I'm in my mid-sixties. I might as well wear a sign that says "Grumpy Old Man."

Big Boy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1917

We've got a new schedule now. We get up several hours earlier than we did yesterday. The dogs get fed. Dot's nighttime bedding gets put away. And I take Dash on a walk, while Janet is getting ready for work. This is pretty much the same schedule we had before Janet's brief retirement, but when Dot was healthy, the dogs and I just stayed in bed while Janet was getting dressed. Now, we need to coordinate things, so Dot is always under supervision.

On days like today, getting up early isn't so bad. The temperature was warm and there was a beautiful sunrise that changed colors minute by minute as we made our way through the park. When we returned, I traded placed with Janet and was in charge of the dogs for the rest of the day.

Dot is a handful. If you crate her, or contain her in her safe area, she barks continually. If you let her stay nearby, you have to watch her like a hawk. Dot has already learned to stand up on her own again. I was sitting right next to her at breakfast and when I turned my head for one second, Dot was standing on all fours, and drinking from her water bowl. Another time, when I was loading the dishwasher, she was walking down the hall toward the bedroom. You may be thinking that if Dot can stand and walk, the problem has been solved. Nope. Dot is still very wobbly and can't stand for very long. If I'm not there to support her rear legs using the Help 'Em Up Harness, she will quickly fall over and hurt herself. Since it will take up to a month for her to heal from her extensive surgery, she's going to feel better before she actually is better.

Breakfast is not a peaceful interlude anymore. There is lots of barking and I have to lead Dot back to her bed again and again when she tries to get up. If I let Dot be a part of things during mealtimes though, she will reward me by sleeping peacefully for the rest of the morning. When Dot is asleep in her safe area, I take a shower and get started on my work for the day. Generally, things went pretty well today, except when I needed to go to the bathroom and was in the wrong end of the house with Dot. It is surprisingly difficult to lead a dog around by the tail. We're learning though. I have to get a little better at planning ahead and Dot needs to get a little better at listening to me.

I'm not sure that my new single serve coffee maker is any better than the old one. It's very easy to make a cup of coffee, but if you decide your want two or three cups, you have to clean out the filter, add more beans and start over again. I think the solution is to just get a bigger coffee cup. This machine will fill up to a 16 ounce cup at a time, and that's usually plenty for breakfast. You can wash all the parts in the dishwasher, so the machine is easy to clean, but the parts are plastic, so they will probably break, just like every other coffee maker I've had. They do make durable, all metal automatic coffee makers, but they are ridiculously expensive. I'm not a barista. I just want a nice, trouble-free cup of coffee with breakfast. I really should have just got one of those glass French Press coffee pots and filled it with boiling water from the tea pot. That seems easy.

During the dogs afternoon nap, I was able to get up on the roof and start patching the trouble spots. On close inspection, I discovered three more areas where the white elastomer top coat had torn and exposed the black adhesive below. This is not supposed to happen. I'm going to call the roofer, but roofers always have an excuse. I doubt highly that they will put on an entirely new roof because of a few tears in the elastomer. Making the best of a bad situation, I patched all the bad spots with the same tough elastomer the roofers used. Hopefully, my patches will have time to dry completely before the Spring rains resume later in the week.

Tomorrow, and every day for the rest of the month, will be a repeat of today. Hopefully Dot will continue to get stronger as the month progresses and I won't go insane trying to manage this odd three-ring circus. We made it through day one. Now it's on to day two.

Ruthie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1909

We got a nice collapsible soft canvas crate to we can transport Dot back and forth to physical therapy after her stitches come out. When we tried to introduce her to the crate, she got scared and pooped in it. Oh, well. So much for taking the crate back to the store if it doesn't work out. This crate is smaller than a normal crate on purpose, because we want her to stay secure and in one place in the car. Dot fits in the crate just fine, but we didn't count on her having claustrophobia. So far, she hates the thing.

Although we struck out on the soft crate, we did figure out a good place for Dot to stay while I'm working around the house. Instead of a crate, I put a comfortable dog bed in a hallway that I can see from my desk in the office and used two wooden kiddie gates on either side to turn the bed into a pen. Dot seemed fine with this arrangement and slept peacefully for several hours while I worked on getting caught up on my website assignments. I put another dog bed right next to this fenced in area for Dash to sleep and everyone was happy for the first time in days.

I don't usually do website work on Sundays, but taking care of Dot has put me behind on several things. It was nice to have a quiet afternoon to get caught up on work while the dogs slept peacefully. This tranquility didn't last long unfortunately. We had burgers for dinner and Dot was mad that she couldn't sit under the table like she used to do and wait for table scraps. Even though we placed a dog bed as close to the dining table as we could, it wasn't close enough for her. Every time we would sit down at the table, Dot would try to get up.

The better Dot feels, the harder it becomes to look after her. It's OK for Dot to walk with assistance.  It's not OK for her to try to walk on her own yet. She can stand on her own for short periods of time now, but she still can't get up without assistance. Although she moves her legs well, she can't walk without assistance either. If I wasn't steadying her rear legs with the harness, she would quickly stumble and fall. All this would be very discouraging if it weren't for the fact that Dot seems to get a little better each day. The neurologist told us that recovery from this type of surgery was a long slow process. We've just got to be patient and make sure that Dot stays out of harm's way while she's learning to walk again.

Just as I predicted, there is more water on the roof now. It rained again today. It's not that bad though. All we got today was some drizzle and light showers. I think I'm going to wait until the weather clears up for at least a week before I go up on the roof again. It's just not worth the trouble to do this every other day. I'm beginning to think it's not worth the trouble to move every clock in the hour an hour forward either. Every time Daylight Savings Time rolls around I'm amazed at how many clocks we have around the house. I mush have spent an hour resetting wall clocks, table clocks, clocks in the television, clocks in the phone, and a variety of wristwatches. The computers, the phones, and even the new thermostat all managed to reset themselves this morning.

My teeth didn't hurt today. Maybe I've been grinding my teeth at night. I do that from time to time when I'm stressed. It's funny how wonderful a good night's sleep can seem when you're not sleeping well. Maybe tonight will be the night. It all depends on Dot. When Dot is sleeping well, we all sleep well.

Bacardi is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1907

It was nice to get out for a while this morning. The snow is gone and the weather is warming up. It seemed like a perfect day to get a haircut, enjoy a delicious breakfast and do a little shopping. None of these things took that long, but they were important. With a full belly, some new jeans for Spring, and a decent haircut, I felt ready for anything.

Dot woke up feeling great this morning. I think that her acupuncture session yesterday evening really helped her. She's walking faster now and doesn't crisscross her legs as much. Today, for the first time, I noticed that she's learned to redistribute her weight when she starts to slip to one side. I'm still providing support for her rear legs using the Help 'Em Up Harness, but I can tell that each passing day, she is doing more of the work herself. The challenge is to encourage her to walk without leaving her unsupervised or letting her walk on her own. Dot is an obedient dog and if I constantly told her to lie down or stay in her crate, I think she'd become discouraged and wouldn't even try after a while. I let her sleep as long as she wants, but when she's active, we do a lot of physical therapy.

I forgot to take the trash out to the curb last night and by the time I woke up this morning, the truck has already come and gone. There's just too much to remember these days. I forgot my morning meds as well. You guys need to remind me about this stuff. I don't know what to do about the trash. Since the can is almost full already, we'll never make it until next Thursday. It sure was nicer when the city picked up trash twice a week. Older neighbors say that a long time ago the trucks came three times a week. Probably the next step will be for the city to eliminate trash service altogether.

Dot was indignant today when I put her in her crate so I could take a shower and get a little house cleaning done. She hadn't been in the crate more than thirty minutes when I started to hear loud persistent parking. Dot was mad. She's perfectly willing to take a long nap, if she gets to pick the place. So far, I haven't been able to convince her to take her naps in my office. I'm glad that Dot is more active, but I'm still trying to figure out how to stay active myself. Being a good dog nurse is almost a full time job.

If the weather stays nice this weekend, I'll wash the car, get the water off the roof, and clean up the back yard a bit. I need to start looking for a soft dog crate that I can put in the back of my car. The sooner I can start transporting Dot in the car, the sooner we can begin her water therapy again. There's going to be so much to do this Spring, but on a sunny, warm day like today, anything seems possible. Let's hope there are a lot of sunny days in the weeks ahead.

Anne is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1903

Dot is home again. The hospital released her late this afternoon along with a lengthy list of post-operative instructions and a big bag of meds. Dot was eager to return home, as you might expect. She was a little too eager in my opinion. Dot still can't walk on her own, but apparently she thinks she can. She's going to be a handful in the weeks ahead. Considering the complexity of her surgery and the fact that she's still on a lot of meds, I was absolutely amazed at how much more mobile she appears today. After just a few days of recovery, she is already moving her feet much more confidently than she did before the operation.

The Center for Veterinary Specialty and Emergency Care is an amazing place, but I sure wish it were closer to Dallas. I wouldn't recommend trying to transport a sick dog back and forth to this place during rush hour traffic. All is well though. We arrived home safely and Dot is now resting comfortably on one of many dog beds strewn around the house. Since Dot can still injure herself by trying to walk on her own, we're going to have to crate her whenever we leave the house. Dot never enjoyed going into a crate even when she was healthy, so this ought to be interesting. As soon as we got home, Janet went to a nearby pet store and bought a new crate that had two doors, one on the back, and an additional door on the side. Hopefully this additional door will make it easier to get Dot in and out of the crate when necessary. At least Dot likes to sleep a lot. When she's sleeping, life can continue like it normally does.

When I had the accident in California, the rental car company assured me that the minor incident was absolutely routine and that their insurance would take care of everything. Apparently this was wishful thinking. Over a month later, the other driver's insurance company still doesn't seem to know that the rental car company is handling the claim. I have received repeated calls from a subrogation specialist asking me to pay damages. The accident wasn't my fault either. Now it appears that I'll have to track down the information about the claim myself and put the two parties together. I'm convinced that absolutely nothing is easy anymore. Sooner or later, just about everything in life turns into a complicated mess.

At least the weather is improving. It was still a grey, rainy day, but there was no ice. It was actually quite a bit warmer today. It will be even warmer tomorrow, but unfortunately there are thunderstorms in the forecast. Then later in the week, another cold wave arrives and the temperatures dip below freezing again. The plants and trees are already totally confused. I saw some early blooming daffodils in the park the other day and when I saw them again today, they were wilted and frozen. By early April, nature will have sorted everything out, but March is usualy pretty crazy in Texas.

Last night, a European friend left a blog comment making fun of all the attention I was paying to Dot. She was "just a pet" he said, implying that I should be spending my energies saving the whales or helping Palestinians or something. I was genuinely offended and deleted the commend even though I rarely delete anything. For the rest of the evening I felt irritated that there are people out there who still don't realize that a good dog makes a far better companion than most people. "Just a dog," my ass. I think I've got my priorities straight. It's people who suck.

Tucker is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day