Day 3434

It looks like the bad weather everybody was predicting is well to the North of us. We might not get any rain at all until the whole severe weather scenario repeats itself tomorrow. It's easy to forget that this always happens in the Spring. We get all our rain for the year in one or two months. At least we don't live in the Tornado Alley corridor where the bad storms are headed tonight. When the weather is bad in Dallas, it always seems to be worse in Oklahoma.

It's amazing how different the park is on a weekday. Yesterday the place seemed like a carnival. Today it was just me and a few ducks. I like quiet, overcast days like today. I keep my eye out for interesting animals and new flowers although very little changes from day to day. I did see something new today. The Texas Thistle is starting to bloom. When you start seeing thistles you know that Spring is ending. These drought tolerant plants seems to thrive during the Summer.

I don't know if I'm going to thrive during the Summer. It's already starting to seem too hot and humid for me. Long walks aren't nearly as enjoyable when you're sweaty and sunburned. When Dot and Dash were young there was an indoor dog park where we used to take the dogs on hot days. The place was huge and it was air conditioned. People with active dogs loved the place. We were regulars. Dot and Dash even had special electronic tags on their collars that let them inside. Unfortunately the fancy indoor park didn't stay in business all that long. The city uses the building to park school busses now.

Dallas is a thriving, successful city but nothing I really like seems to do well here. My favorite restaurants, furniture stores, camera shops, and art galleries have all gone out of business. I was convinced that the indoor dog park would be a huge success. The facility was well thought out and dogs loved it. Apparently their owners liked free dog parks better.

I've been thinking about emergency power lately since I put most of my devices to good use during our recent power outage. I've been thinking about buying more Goal Zero generators since you can easily chain the smaller 400 watt units together to achieve higher output. Do I actually need a higher output solar generator? Probably not. If I ever get the urge, there are plenty of YouTube videos showing me how to hook everything up. I'm amazed that there are YouTube videos explaining how to fix or install just about anything. Who makes these things? Some of the subjects are so strange and esoteric that you wonder if anybody actually watches them. Hmmm. I guess I answered my own question. I watched a bunch of these videos this morning.

The drip in the shower is getting worse. Do I call a plumber or try to fix things myself? I'm almost certain that the faucets for the shower just need new washers, but I'm equally certain the I tend to screw things up when attempting plumbing repairs. I hate to pay a plumber $100 to replace a fifty cent washer, but on the other hand I hate to break a pipe trying to remove a rusty frozen bolt. Decisions, decisions.

Harley is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2098

Strangely, I actually enjoyed going to the gym today. There's no danger of me becoming a CrossFit fanatic, or buying a bicycle, but it is nice to feel in control of your own body. My dislocated shoulder is very gradually becoming stronger. I'm not gaining weight, even though I'm starting to eat normal food again. I still see some muscle atrophy in my arms and legs, but there is no flab. I'm just thin. I've still got a long, long way to go. Even though I have a much greater range of motion than I did a year ago, my shoulder is still very shaky and I can't even do a single push up without knocking my shoulder out of joint.

I spend most of my time at the gym using the arm crank and an elevated treadmill. The arm crank, or hand bicycle, is often a lonely and largely unused piece of equipment in many gyms. That's good, because there's always one of these machines available for me. The arm crank is a great way to get an intense cardiovascular workout while strengthening your upper body. I always spend at least 20 minutes on the hand bike and another 20 minutes using a treadmill that lets you walk at a steep incline. These two exercises are not for fun. I do one to help stabilize my shoulder and the other to avoid losing bone density. For fun, I shoot, baskets at the free throw line and occasionally punch a heavy bag for a while. Add in several miles of dog walks each day and I'm really not in bad shape for an old geezer.

Sunday is definitely the physical day of the week. We typically attempt to clean the house on Sunday, which usually involves lots of vacuuming and scrubbing things. The house doesn't look much better when we're done, but the Dyson is full of dust, so we must have accomplished something.

Today's chores included writing a bio that Janet needed for her new company. "What do you want me to write," I asked her. "Oh, just make something up," she said. Hmm. Every time I'm asked to do this, I realize that I don't really know much about Janet after thirty years. She seemed happy with the result though. Just another advertising job with zero input from the client. 

After I wrote her bio, I fixed Janet's activity tracker. She said it was broken and was going to throw it away. I suspected that there was nothing wrong and did a soft-reset on the band and plugged it into my computer to recharge. Two hours later, it was as good as new. I've done the same procedure many times on my own Jawbone activity tracker. I like the little UP bands, but Jawbone's quality control is terrible. Jawbone has already replaced three defective bands for me and Janet has had several lemons as well. If Apple can ever come up with a way to get their watch battery to last overnight and add a decent sleep tracker app, I may stop using the Jawbone wrist band entirely.

Dot had a really good day today, although she didn't poop on her evening walk, which probably means we are in for trouble tonight. She is noticeably stronger than she was a month ago and is even starting to walk at a faster pace. I may be imagining things, but I think she is even starting to gain a little muscle mass back on her left rear leg. While we are working to help Dot get stronger, we are also working to help Dash gain confidence. We take him to the small dog park at least once a week, hoping that he will start to play with other dogs again. Progress has been slow, but at least he isn't running away from the other dogs now. He is the largest dog in the small dog park, but the other dogs seem to accept him. Everything is baby steps these days, but I think we're making progress.

Molly is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2056

I saw something on the news this morning that today is the thirtieth anniversary of the Delta Flight 191 crash at DFW. It seems impossible that it has already been thirty years since this happened. I flew a lot on business then, and I remember driving by the wreckage on my way back from the airport several times. It doesn't seem that long ago.

It would be five more years before I would leave the ad agency world and start my own company, but I'd already been living in Dallas a quite a while. I moved here from Seattle in the Summer of 1977 after working my way up to Senior Writer status at several well known Seattle ad agencies. The Delta crash and the continuing parade of historic anniversaries is making me feel really old. Woodstock and the moon landings remind me of my college years. The assassination of John Kennedy in Dealey Plaza and the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan show remind me of high school. Sputnik, bomb shelters, and cars with huge tail fins remind me of grade school. It's been a long, long journey and it's easy to forget that most of it took place before the Internet even existed. I thought we'd be on Mars by now, but the Internet caught me by surprise. Who would have thought that I'd end up spending my evenings talking to the world this way.

Sleeping in on weekends is a thing of the past. We don't need an alarm clock. The dogs know that they get an early morning walk now and they wake up up well before the sun comes up. Even in August it's reasonably nice outside at 6 AM. Dot seemed strong and steady this morning and hasn't pooped in her bed for several days. It's always nice to get the day off to a good start. Our new routine involves taking Dash to a nearby dog park right after we return from Dot's morning exercise walk. Dot is tired after her walk and just sleeps while we are gone. Again, doing all this before breakfast is mainly to beat the heat that comes later in the day. We didn't stay long at the dog park today. Vandals had broken the latch on the airlock style gates where you can safely get your dog in and out of the park without all the other dogs escaping. Dash never misses an open gate, so he noticed the broken latch right away. It was so much trouble keeping him from making a quick exit though the easily opened door that we just packed up early and went home. It's a shame that this newly refurbished park has only been open a few months and vandals are already doing their best to ruin it. That's Dallas for you though. I often wish we lived in Wyoming.

There was an extra loaf of bread in the refrigerator, so I made French Toast for breakfast. French Toast with real maple syrup and a side of sausage patties are comfort food. I can't eat this way all the time,  but it's a nice treat on weekends. To burn off the extra calories, I went to the gym later in the morning. My workouts are more focused now and I think they are doing some good.

When I vacuumed the floors later in the day, I noticed that the rotating brush on the Dyson wasn't working. I took the machine apart and put it back together again after cleaning the really dusty bits. It must have just been a loose connection, because the vacuum worked fine after I reassembled everything. The only problem I have with the Dyson is that it is made of plastic. The whole thing feels flimsy. You should be able to bang a vacuum cleaner into walls and furniture without worrying about it breaking. I can't imagine building a car out of plastic. Why would you make a vacuum cleaner out of plastic with a bunch of fragile snap together components? If the thing was made out of aircraft aluminum, it would be fabulous.

The house is reasonably clean. I've more or less caught up on all my work projects. The dogs are happy and sleeping, and Janet fixed some delicious pork chops for dinner. I think I'm ready to start a new week.

Scout is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2049

Dash seemed more comfortable at the small dog park this morning. He politely greeted several other dogs and there was even a brief moment when he ran from one end of the park to the other, just like the old days. Taking Dash to the dog park, as well as walking both dogs together first thing in the morning, has pushed breakfast back a bit, but it's worth it. Life around the house has changed a bit since Dot's spinal injury and it's important that Dash still has a chance to feel like a normal dog now and then. A trip to the dog park on Sunday isn't much, but it seems to help.

A trip to the gym on Sunday isn't much either, but it seems to help too. I've started going right after breakfast, since I've noticed that the longer I wait, the more excuses I come up with for not going. Since this token gesture to health and fitness actually seems to be doing some good, it has occurred to me that maybe I ought to designate a special day for other activities as well. If I devoted one day each week to practicing the guitar, I might actually become a decent player again. I used to play pretty well in my younger days when there always seemed to be a guitar in my hands. The old Stratocaster isn't going to play itself. Sometimes I think I just use carpal tunnel as an excuse not to play. I'm good at making excuses.

If we continue this theme, I could definitely benefit from spending one day each week honing my video editing skills. I used to immerse myself in film projects for weeks at a time and became an excellent editor in the process. Now, I edit video so infrequently that I've almost forgotten how to use Media Composer. Ironically, I tell people to "use it or lose it" all the time. Maybe it's time that I practice what I preach.

I'll be the first to acknowledge that priorities change. When I was a documentary filmmaker and guitar maven, I didn't have dogs. My late in life love affair with dogs led to having veterinarians as clients and then expanded to animal rescue. I wouldn't change anything for the world, but I still wish I could play guitar like I used to.

There isn't enough time and there isn't enough energy anymore. Instead of writing a new song, I vacuumed the house with the Dyson and got out a bottle of bleach and a scrub brush to clean the soap scum and mildew off the shower stall walls. The shower stall had been getting worse and worse for months and it finally reached the point where I couldn't stand it anymore. There you have it. Keeping Dot moving, keeping the house from falling apart, and keeping my aging body from deteriorating even further had used up the entire day.

I've got some websites to modify tomorrow. Several Dalmatians got adopted this weekend, so I need to see how hard it is going to be to update the new mobile ready site I designed a few weeks ago. Responsive websites are turning out to be a lot harder to modify than I expected. It's not a terrible problem since I don't have a lot of clients anymore, but small changes do take more time. The need to keep working is another reason why I don't practice the guitar as much as I should. I need to send a note to my primary writing client and ask why the article assignments have dropped off again. I don't have nearly as many writing assignments as I did last Summer. I'm not complaining though. Janet bought a fresh supply of bananas and peaches, so I'll have a delicious smoothy for breakfast tomorrow. Dot actually had a great day today and was even able to walk about the house without her harness for a while. One way or another, we're going to make it through this hot Summer.

Smokey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2042

We took Dash to a dog park for small dogs this morning in hopes that the little dogs wouldn't scare him and he would have more fun. Since Dash isn't that small, we were a bit worried that somebody might object to him being there. Nobody had a problem with Dash. It quickly became apparent that he was the most timid dog in the park. Pretty soon a bunch of Yorkies were chasing him around with his tail tucked between his legs. It's a shame that Dash has lost his nerve. He used to love going to the dog park and would frequently find other timid dogs to play with. I think Dot gave him confidence. They always used to do everything together and as long as she was around to protect him, he had a lot more confidence. Sadly, Dot's dog park days are over. Dash will have to find another way to build his confidence back. It's not going to be easy. Dash was attacked by an aggressive dog when he was young and almost died. I don't think he will ever forget the experience.

I took some more stuff to the storage warehouse on my way to the gym this afternoon. Most of the stuff that gets relegated to storage these days are things that Janet wants out of the house. She is trying to declutter. I have little interest in decluttering. I just fantasize about having a huge place where I could spread out and never have to put things away. There would be a big room for music and another even bigger room for photography. I would have a quiet room for writing, a room with powerful computers for developing websites, and a huge kitchen with lots of shelves for pots and pans. We don't have any of these things, so I am constantly taking things out of closets and putting them away again when I'm done. I don't understand the tiny house movement at all. I want lots and lots of space.

My Sunday workouts must be doing me a little bit of good, because they don't seem quite as onerous  as they did a month ago. I still feel like packing up and going home during the first ten minutes, but then my heart rate starts to increase, I begin to sweat, and everything settles into a rhythm. After about an hour, I begin to think that just maybe, going to the gym isn't as bad as I thought it was.

Our U-verse service has gotten flaky again, so I'm going to need to have a service technician come over and check things out tomorrow. I hate it when the cable guy comes over. When I have plumbing or HVAC problems, the repair people usually stick to one room. The cable folks are all over the place though, and the dogs hate it. Now that Dot is weak and has trouble walking, having service technicians of any kind at the house is an even bigger problem than it used to be. When Dot gets upset, she poops. I'm sure she's going to poop in the house tomorrow.

When we were walking the dogs this morning, I noticed that all the neighbors had stacks of brush and trash stacked near the curb in their front yards. It must be time for big trash day again. If I've got time tomorrow, I need to gather up the fallen tree branches, dead bedding plants, and other junk that has accumulated in the yard since the last big trash day and take them out to the curb myself. With only one bulky trash pickup a month, it can be easy for things to get out of control. Monday's aren't usually very busy, so I should have plenty of time to do this. Oh wait, the cable guy is coming over. I won't have any time at all.

Jade is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2035

I should sleep well tonight. For one reason or another, I managed to keep moving all day long. We got up early because Dot had another accident in bed. She managed to get herself stuck in an awkward position when she repositioned herself during the night and I think struggling to stand up caused her to poop. There is no real way to prevent this. Like most dogs, Dot gets up, circles around, and then lies down in a different position several times a night. Sometimes she doesn't land quite where she expected to. Since she only pooped a little bit, we got up early and took the dogs on a walk so she could finish the job outside.

When we returned, I threw the dog blankets in the washer and we sat down for breakfast. It was actually a fairly normal morning. After breakfast, I went to the gym. I usually don't go this early, but why not? If I had stayed home, all I would have done was vacuum or work on another website. I can do those things any day of the week. I think all the activity trackers I'm using now are shaming me into having a more effective workout.

I really like the Apple Health app. It aggregates information it receives from my watch and the Jawbone UP band and presents it all on an easy to read dashboard. Even though I'm basically a lazy person, I got my heart pumping this morning and burned a respectable number of calories. I'm thinking of adding a WiFi scale to the mix. It certainly isn't necessary, but I just like tracking things.

On the way home from the gym I stopped at a nearby nursery and bought some Liriope plants to replace the ones that had died in the back yard. When I was replanting the Monkey Grass, it became clear why the plants had died. The soil in this part of the yard was just too dry. Actually, we should have planted grass instead of ground cover in this section of the yard, because it is one of the few areas that receives direct sunlight during the day. The combination of sunlight and tons of small roots from a nearby Oak tree had caused the ground to dry out twice as fast as the rest of the yard. Large, mature trees can really suck the water out of the soil. I love the trees though, so it will always be difficult to keep the grass and landscaping looking nice. It looks nice again now though. We'll see how long this lasts.

Dash got a trip to the dog park as a reward for helping Dot with her walks all week. He has become timid again after we quit going to training class when Dot had her spinal injury. Now, just about anything scares him. Today, a basically friendly dog wanted to play a little too rough and it spooked Dash. He was ready to go home way earlier than he should have. It's a shame that dogs are scaring him again, because going to the dog park used to be one of his favorite things. Dot used to love the dog park too. She will probably never go again though. She is just too fragile.

Since it was such a hot day, we had a great  dinner of sushi and cold salads. Cold food on a hot day is really satisfying to me. The only thing that would have made the meal better would have been a couple of glasses of wine. I can probably drink wine again in moderation, but I an scared to tempt fate after making such tremendous progress recovering from Hepatitis C. I feel extremely lucky to have a fully functioning liver again and foregoing alcohol seems a very small price to pay for staying healthy. That being said, I still think a good wine makes a great meal even better.

It has been a pleasant weekend, but it's back to work tomorrow. I will begin development on my latest website project and I expect the flow of writing assignments to begin again soon. Hopefully, I can find the right balance of exercise and rest with Dot. The Summer heat is tough on her, but she still needs to keep active to prevent her leg muscles from atrophying further. One way or another we'll all make it though the remainder of the Summer and then you can listen to me complain about Winter again.

Winston is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2021

Sunday's are often the busiest days of the week. The dogs get longer walks because there are fewer work constraints. The lawn gets mowed, because what better is there to do after breakfast than mow the lawn. Sometimes the house gets cleaned, but not today. I was pleased the Dot had more energy today. She always walks better when Dash is with her. Since Dash was so good about walking slow for Dot's benefit, we took him to a nearby dog park as a special treat later in the morning. You can tell that Dash is getting older too. He used to race around the dog park with wild abandon. Now, he just walks slowly from tree to tree, smelling things and looking for new places to pee. He still enjoys being off leash though. I'd take him to the dog park more often if people were more responsible. There's always someone who brings an aggressive dog. Today we saw one dog get in a fight with several others. The dogs that got attacked didn't appear to be injured, but the whole episode was totally unnecessary.

Mowing the grass with a non-self propelled mower definitely burns up a lot of calories. I think I'm just about the only person in the neighborhood who still mows their own grass anymore. Most of the other neighbors have a lawn care service. I still do a lot of things that other people have given up on. I'm kind of a throwback to an earlier era, except when it comes to technology. I may still mow my own grass, vacuum my own floors, and fix my own refrigerator, but I'm not shy about adopting the latest technology if it will do the job better. This year I have become a huge fan of Keurig coffee makers, Dyson vacuum cleaners, and even though I collect vintage mechanical watches, I'm going to add the Apple Watch to my list of really useful technical innovations.

I watched the Space X Dragon 9 launch on NASA TV right after breakfast and was shocked to see the rocket explode two minutes into its flight. Space X has had a remarkable success record, so this was very unexpected. This is a major setback, since this same rocket is scheduled to start carrying people to the space station in a little over a year. The astronauts on the station must be getting nervous. This is the second supply rocket failure in a row and the third in less than a year. In a way, I'm glad I didn't go to this launch. I'd much rather cheer on a success than witness a failure.

There are some pilings in the lake that Double-crested Cormorants and Gulls like to roost on in the Winter. I've probably photographed these pilings hundreds of times. They look completely different in the morning than they do in the afternoon. On foggy days they look spectacular. Sometimes each pole has a bird sitting on top, and other days, like today. they are all empty. I find these pilings strangely beautiful, but the city wants to demolish them. Some neighbors love these things and others think they're an eyesore. There's no accounting for taste I guess.

I listened to a Ted Talk on the way to the gym where the speaker was talking about how technology is fundamentally changing what it means to be human. The guy's point was that people are slowly becoming more comfortable interacting with their phones and robots than they are with other people. I guess this is true, but from my perspective it's not necessarily a bad thing. I'll always use the automated checkout kiosk in a store instead of going to a cashier. It's quicker, easier, and you don't have to talk with anyone. I would probably never use a personal trainer at the gym, but I felt strangely motivated today when my watch told me that I only had a few minutes to go before I'd burned 300 calories.

Patch is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2014

Today was all about the weather. Things got off to a very early start when I smelled poop as I got up to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night. Dot had pooped in the house again. I kind of suspected this might happen when she refused to stay outside long enough to do her business before we went to bed last night. Who could blame her. The yard was wet and she was tired. I cleaned the mess up, put the soiled dog blankets in the washer and we went back to bed again. The rain continued sporadically throughout the night, but when daylight arrived, it had stopped. Since the radar showed that more storms were on the way, we dressed quickly and used the opportunity to give the dogs their morning walk. Dot and Dash were in no hurry, so we barely made it home again before the next round of rain started.

Whenever Dot poops in the house, it sets off a clean frenzy. We start by cleaning the soiled blankets and rugs. Then we notice how dirty everything is surrounding these areas and the vacuum comes out. It doesn't take long for the house to get dirty with two dogs and the seemingly endless rain we've been having. I'm glad the new Dyson has a five year warranty, because we're going to wear the thing out. By the time I was finished cleaning today, I had emptied the Dyson several times. I'm glad I got the yard taken care of yesterday, because today would not have been a good day for yard work. It wasn't a good day to fix the screen door either. That will have to wait.

The skies had cleared quite a bit by mid-afternoon, so we decided to take Dash to a new dog park in the neighborhood. Since everyone in the house has been having cabin fever lately, it seemed like a good idea to let Dash do something fun for a change. We hadn't been at the park for five minutes before I noticed some ominous looking black clouds to the South of us. We made several circles around the park perimeter to let Dash smell things and then headed home again. On the way home, the rain started again. It was like this all day long. There would be a short torrential downpour, followed by a dry spell of an hour or so, and then the rain would start again.

It was just as well that I was mostly housebound today. I had a huge website update to complete and rainy days are generally good for this type of thing. I added over 60 new dogs and cats to a rescue website I manage. It's hard to keep these type of sites current. By the time the photographer has time to take pictures of the new animals, half of them have already been adopted. I imagine that I will get a call in the near future asking me to remove many of the animals I just finished adding today. It's not an entirely futile effort though. The dogs and cats do get homes and sometimes it is the website that brings people and pets together.

When I finished working on the rescue website, I started writing another article. By the time I managed to come up with a decent headline, I realized I was very tired and took a short nap. That was it for writing today. When I woke up, it was time for dinner and a brief evening walk with the dogs. Dot pooped right on schedule this time, so maybe we'll all be able to get a good night's sleep tonight.

Next week is already looking pretty busy.  There are two vet appointment, a doctor's appointment for me, an appointment to get a haircut, and then there is a meeting I really ought to attend even though I detest meetings. Of course there are still all the usual articles to write and websites to update. I often feel like a hamster with one of those exercise wheels in their cage. I'd like to get caught up on everything and have absolutely nothing to do, but I don't think it's going to happen.

Barley is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1999

For the second night in a row, Dash woke me up at 3 AM to go outside and poop. Something isn't normal. He doesn't have diarrhea, but he can't hold it till morning either. He also began taking doxycycline for Lyme Disease today. I don't think these two events are related. They are just part of a never ending saga of dog problems. I'm still not sure whether Dash actually has Lyme Disease, or whether the antibiotics are just a precaution. We'll probably never know. The test just said that he was exposed to the disease.

The replacement part I ordered for the refrigerator arrived this morning. After a quick repair, the ice maker works again. It's probably too early to celebrate though. I still don't know what actually caused the auger inside the ice maker to break. I read on the Internet that there is a special sensor in the freezer that periodically triggers the automatic defrost cycle. This is why you don't have to defrost modern freezers anymore. If this sensor goes haywire, the defrost cycle can stay on too long, causing ice in the ice maker tray to melt a bit and then freeze back together in a clump. This big clump of ice is usually too much for the plastic auger which moves the ice to the dispenser on the freezer door. Big clumps of ice probably caused the auger in our refrigerator to break. If the new auger I bought breaks too, I'll probably wish that I had just called the appliance repairman. For the moment, everything works perfectly.

Things dry up quick in Texas as soon as the rain stops. I noticed that the ground wasn't wet and mushy anymore, so I ran the sprinklers for the first time in over a month. It would be a shame to let the lawn wither and die after it got off to such a great start in May. I don't think I have to worry about yellowing, dried up grass quite yet though. Everything in the yard is still growing nicely. Things are growing so nicely in fact that is was already time to mow the grass again.

With the grass mowed and the yard looking better, I went and ran my regular Saturday errands, stopping to pick up Dash's doxycycline at the vet on the way home from the grocery store. Dot was feeling stronger today, but neither dog wanted to spend much time outside. Dalmatians don't like the heat, and it was over 90 degrees this afternoon. The dogs were smart to spend most of the day napping on their dog beds. Just mowing the grass in the unfamiliar heat wore me out.

I followed the dogs lead and spent the rest of the afternoon indoors, getting started on my fifth mobile friendly website. I'm becoming familiar with this new landscape now and am designing in a much more structured way. I have to be much more methodical about coding than I was before. All-in-all, it is much harder to put together a website using this new responsive design methodology. What Google wants, Google gets though. I just don't see many other alternatives. One surprising bonus from my new found consistency is that my designs actually look better than they used to. Consistency was never one of my strong points, so the forced discipline of structured HTML is actually very beneficial.

Lets hope that Dash sleeps through the night this evening. It would be nice if whatever is giving him the runs turns out to be something simple like eating horse poop. If it is related to Lyme Disease, it could be more serious. I saw on TV that the new dog park in our neighborhood is finally open. I bet Dash would like to try out this new park. He's been so good at walking very slowly with Dot in the mornings, that he deserves a chance to race around like a nut in the dog park.

Wendy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1808 - Thanksgiving

It was such a nice day. We slept in late and then took the dogs on a leisurely walk along the lake. Entire families were walking their dogs this morning. Maybe this has become a Thanksgiving ritual for some. It was certainly a nice day for walking your dog. The sky was blue and the air was crisp and cool. Dot and Dash loved it. While the dogs took their afternoon nap, we went down to the Warwick Hotel for our Thanksgiving dinner. The service was great and the food was delicious. There was a table filled with fresh shrimp, crab legs, and sushi. Another table was filled with over a dozen delicious salads. We could have made a meal out of the appetizers, but we needed to save room for prime rib, candied yams, cornbread dressing, cranberry sauce and all the other stables of a Thanksgiving feast. As Thanksgiving buffets go, this was one of the better ones. Everyone has lots of meat on Thanksgiving, but the Warwick made a point of making sure that the vegetables and side dishes that went with your meal were exceptionally fresh and creative. They didn't rush you either. Our leisurely meal lasted until almost 3 PM.

When we got home, we took the dogs to their favorite dog park. Dot and Dash hadn't been to the dog park since they had cancer. That was almost a year ago. I think the last time we went to the dog park was last January, just before Dash's thyroid surgery. I had forgotten how much Dash loves to be off-leash and play with other dogs. You could tell he really missed the park and was delighted to be back. He raced around to show us how fast he was and quickly found another dog to play with. Dot was more sedate, but she had fun as well, quietly smelling things and following us around. There were many reasons we waited so long. While Dash was having radiation and chemo treatments, he was quite weak and we were afraid some of the other dogs would sense the weakness and attack him. Dot is just too frail to roughhouse with other dogs anymore, but we knew the park wouldn't be crowded since it was Thanksgiving and there was also a Cowboys game in the afternoon. All in all, it was a perfect day to return to the dog park. Dot and Dash were certainly happy, especially when they discovered we had saved them some turkey from our Thanksgiving meal.

Janet doesn't have to work tomorrow, so I suspect that we'll have another leisurely day with the dogs. From the number of e-mails I received this morning, I suspect that some of my workaholic clients were actually working today. At least they weren't pressuring me with deadlines. I do have work to do, but I'd like to savor the holiday a bit longer. There's plenty of time for work, but it isn't everyday that you get to enjoy seeing your once shy dog rediscover how much fun it is to play with other dogs.

Janet and I talked a bit about retirement during dinner. She'll be retiring soon and is looking forward to it. I can't decide whether I retired twenty years ago, or will keep working forever. My life is pretty amorphous. I quit actively looking for new business quite a while ago, but continue to work with clients who have become friends over the years. It's not a bad life. When Janet retires, I imagine that we'll spend more days like today; eating out a lot and playing with dogs. More days like today is OK.

Scooter is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1528

OK. We're making progress. I've scheduled a consultation with an oncologist first thing Monday morning. After this initial evaluation, Dash will get a CAT Scan later the same day. If necessary, we've arranged for a joint consultation between the oncologist and a soft tissue surgeon. My philosophy for just about everything is to hope for the best while preparing for the worst. That's what I'm trying to do here.

It turns out that they didn't check my viral loads when I went to the hepatologist today. The nurse said that I hadn't been taking the pills long enough to see whether they were helping me. All they wanted to do today was to make sure they weren't harming me. I guess that makes sense. I would be very surprised if the pills were actually harming me. I feel fine. Dash seems to feel fine too, so maybe things aren't always as simple as they seem.

Dash has reverted to getting us up in the middle of the night again. Just when I think his digestion is back to normal, he has another of these episodes. We certainly aren't getting much sleep this week. I asked the vet if Dash's loose stools could have anything to do with his thyroid issues and she didn't know. She said anything was possible. I think both dogs have been going to the vet so frequently this month that everyone is starting to get Dot and Dash's stories confused. We thought we had some recent x-rays to send over to the oncologist today, but it turned out they were Dot's x-rays.

After a short break, I have returned to my insane writing schedule. The constant writing, plus all the website updates and dog issues are starting to take their toll. I'm tired. There are a lot of things that just aren't getting done the way they should. Ordinarily, I would have fixed the faulty can light in the bathroom by now. Not even close on that one. I still haven't gotten the damaged Oak tree in the back yard cleaned up after December's ice storm. I ended up fixing the hole Dot that ate in the carpet with Duct Tape. It looks like crap and Janet says we're living in Honey Boo Boo's house now, but at least there are no more dangerous loose edges that the dogs might eat again. It's going to take a while to get a new carpet put in. Getting the dog health issues resolved has to come first. There's so much furniture that would need to be moved before a new carpet could be installed that I dread even dealing with the whole thing. I don't know who to call anyway. My favorite carpet company went out of business five years ago. Nothing is simple anymore.

I was really hoping to get Dash in to see the oncologist tomorrow, but maybe waiting until Monday is for the best. He still acts and feels pretty normal. At least now, we'll have a chance to take him to his favorite dog park over the weekend and spend some quality time with him. If he does end up needing surgery and radiation therapy, he's going to have a pretty rough Spring.

Odie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1523

I got a pleasant surprise this morning. I received a publisher's proof of my entry in the upcoming SXSW Cookbook. I was amazed. My recipe looked really good. Somebody had actually followed the directions and cooked the recipe, just so they could photograph it for the cookbook. I didn't know they were going to do that. I also didn't know that they were going to give me a really nice write up that made me look like much more than a reclusive guy who works at home with his dogs.

Maybe I was more back in the days when I routinely used to attend SXSW. I couldn't even afford to go to SXSW anymore. The festival wasn't a star studded event like Sundance back then, but it was still a big deal. The year they asked me to be a speaker at the event, fellow speakers included folks like Steven Soderbergh and Matthew McConaughey. I'm without a doubt the least famous person to have a recipe in this illustrious cookbook, which includes recipes by luminaries like Guy Kawasaki and Randi Zuckerberg. It's an honor to be included. I felt kind of the same way when Paypal selected me to be a spokesperson for their advertising a few years ago. I'm kind of a ghost now, but it's nice to be remembered.

It felt like Spring today. Temperatures were in the seventies and there was a nice breeze. Weather like this always brings a ton of people out to the park behind my house. For years, the place used to be a quiet wooded area and then one year the city passed a big bond issue to revitalize the park. Now the park is a popular destination for people from all over the area. With people come problems. Almost every time there's a really nice day I see fire and rescue folks on the lake rescuing swimmers and unlucky folks who managed to sink their kayaks. I don't know what happened today, but while I was giving Dot and Dash their evening walk I saw a large firetruck with seven firemen, a fire department rescue boat, a police car, and an ambulance. I hope everybody was OK, but it didn't look good.

My second Jawbone UP band has broken. I've gotten hooked on wearing these diminutive activity trackers, but they sure don't last very long. Janet and my stockbroker have had their bands go kaput on them too. I wonder why they can't make the batteries in these things last longer. That's usually what goes wrong. One day you wake up and realize the battery just won't charge anymore and you're just wearing a silly looking loop of rubber.

I'm so happy that Dot has made a complete recovery from what could have been a very serious accident. Dalmatians must have iron stomachs. Spot ate broken glass and lived. Petey ate several birds and some rather large barbecued rib bones. Greta just gnawed on the legs of my prized Palazzetti Tomasa dining room chairs, which didn't hurt her at all, but it sure made me sick.

It definitely looks like a dog park day tomorrow. The weather is absolutely fabulous this weekend. At least temporarily, the ground hog is forgiven.

Lucky is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1515

Breakfast was definitely the high point of the day. It's still cold. There's still snow on the ground. And I'm still bundled up in sweaters while I work. The furnace is working fine. The hot air just doesn't seem to make it all the way to the office in the back of the house. The dogs are smarter than me. On cold days they hang out near the heating vents in the living room, where the air is still toasty warm. I guess I could take a laptop and work in a warm room too, but I can't even write a simple letter without staring at a huge high definition screen anymore. Yes, I'm running Microsoft Word on a high end video editing workstation. Hey, I've got to use this stuff for something.

Much to my chagrin, Dot and Dash seem to love being walked separately. Dot takes sedate ladylike steps along the path, stopping periodically to smell things along the way. Dash charges through the brush, feeling a new sense of power now that he's in charge of his walk. I like seeing the dogs happy, but they are making a shambles of my schedule. I still got everything finished today, but it was only because the weather was so nasty that I wasn't tempted to do anything else.

The stock market continues to confound me. Just a few days ago I was happy to see some stop loss orders kick in, seemingly protecting me from the day's 300 point loss. Now, just two days later, the market has already regained most of the losses from the big sell-off and I'm wondering why I sold some perfectly good stocks. That's the trouble with protection strategies. They may protect you from the next zombie apocalypse, but they don't protect you from human nature. It all comes down too fear and greed. My fear triggered someone else's greed and the market went back up again.

Dash is sleeping through the night again, so maybe the Probiotics we're giving him are working. Dot is visibly stronger on her walks, so maybe the water therapy is working as well. My new Hepatitis-C meds aren't making me sick either, so hopefully they are working as well. Medicine is great when it works. It just doesn't work all the time.

It's supposed to warm up this weekend. I've even heard that we may see a little sunshine. With all the mud that appears after a thaw, it's probably too much to ask for the dog park to be open. It would sure be nice though. Dash is getting cabin fever.

Stortz is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1477

Here's how badly I've lost track of what day it is. I went to my Friday breakfast restaurant on a Tuesday, because it felt like a Friday. I guess the end of the year and the end of the week all seem pretty much the same. The surprising thing was that the restaurant was actually busier on Tuesday than it normally is on Fridays. Who would have thought?  I did remember that it was Tuesday when I went to the gym later in the day. Unfortunately, I forgot that it was New Year's Eve, and the gym was already closed when I got there. All was not lost however. I stopped by an office supply store on the way home and got a new accordion folder for my 2014 receipts. The 2013 folder will be on its way to my accountant soon, so I guess it's time to start over again.

It's hard to get very excited about New Year's Eve when you can't drink anymore. I'll stay up till midnight and welcome in the new year, but the celebration will be pretty sedate. Maybe I'll have some apple cider and a piece of pie. Years ago when I used to play bass in a rock band New Year's Eve was always a big deal. We always played our biggest parties of the year on New Year's Eve. I didn't drink much then either. It wasn't from lack of desire. I owned the PA system and was responsible for packing it up and taking all the heavy speakers home again after the gig. Hauling the PA system around was hard enough when you were sober and impossible to do when you were drunk.

It was interesting to see how many people I know on Facebook who posted something today about how terrible they thought 2013 was. Most of them thought that 2014 couldn't possibly be worse. I think it probably will be worse, but I'm not going to let that stop me. If I was waiting for a good year, I think I would have given up a long time ago.

I still had writing assignments to complete today, but it still felt more like a holiday. The dogs got extra long walks and I found myself turning on the TV a lot, hoping to be entertained. There wasn't anything interesting on TV, so it was actually good that I did have some writing work to do. I should make a New Year's resolution to clean my office next year. Oh wait, wasn't that last year's New Year's resolution? Maybe it was the year before last. It's been a long, long time since my office was really clean.

There will be another big meal tomorrow and maybe a little football on TV. Since the weather still looks nice, the dogs will get the gift they've been waiting for all December: a trip to the dog park. With rain and ice storms and holiday travel, it hasn't been easy to get to the dog park this month. Hopefully tomorrow we will make amends.

I hope that all of you have a fulfilling and prosperous year in 2014. If you can't think of a New Year's resolution, you could always resolve to introduce a friend to this blog. If each of you brought one new reader, my audience for this ongoing story would double. Hey, it never hurts to think big.

Dot is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1468

Not surprisingly, the dog park was closed today after yesterday's downpour. There was no more rain today, but the ground was soft and muddy everywhere. I was disappointed that Dot and Dash missed their workout, but saw no reason why I should miss mine as well. Since there wasn't much else to do anyway, I spent even longer at the gym than usual. I guess it shouldn't seem surprising that something I don't particularly enjoy has become such a regular part of my life. The exercise is good for me and I have a strong sense of discipline. If I only did things that I thought were fun, I'd either be dead or broke by now.

There were only three other people in the cavernous gym when I arrived around 2 PM. All the other people must have been Christmas shopping. The traffic around popular stores and shopping malls was unbelievable. Shopping seems to be the one thing that unites the people of Dallas. Everyone seems obsessed with accumulating stuff.

When I went to pick up a prescription this afternoon, I found the wrong pills waiting for me. The pharmacist seemed to take the mistake in stride. He said that sometimes prescriptions just auto-renew themselves in the computer. He gave me the pills I actually needed and told me to come back in fifteen days for the others. Everything related to healthcare has become ridiculously complicated. How did it get this way? When I was a kid, our family doctor actually made house-calls with his little black doctor's bag. The pills he prescribed were so inexpensive that you didn't even need insurance to pay for them.

I don't have much Christmas shopping to do, but I do have some. I'm going to try to outwit the crowds by doing my shopping tomorrow after people have gone to work, but before they take their lunch breaks. This would probably be around mid-morning. We'll see how that goes. There's a good chance that everyone is on vacation already and my careful people-avoiding timing won't even matter. I've got to believe that Monday morning will be better than Saturday afternoon though. One can only hope.

Ziggy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1466

I think I could spend the rest of my life just getting my ducks in a row. Now that I know I'm losing the aircraft hanger where my Citroën SM has been safely ensconced for the past decade, I'm scrambling around trying to figure out what to do next. Can I find parts? Can I find a mechanic? Can I find a buyer? One way or another, I've got to get the car running reliably again. Nobody in their right mind would ever buy a non-running Citroën SM. When you open the hood on this thing, you quickly realize that only the French could come up with something so mind-numbingly complex. The transmission is in front of the engine. There are inboard disk brakes, and you have to take off the right front wheel just to change the battery. The steering, brakes and suspension system all operate from a central hydraulic system. If there is a leak, the car sinks to about an inch above the ground and you can't even turn the steering wheel. After sitting ten years in storage, I'm almost certain that the hydraulic system has a leak.

Breakfast was definitely the high point of this day. I love having two poached eggs, served over a bed of spicy pulled pork, peppers, and hash browned potatoes. I linger over three cups of coffee while I eat this delicious Friday morning treat and then I start my day. For one reason or another, everything moved at a snail's pace today. Articles took longer to write. The grocery store was crowded. And the dogs weren't very interested in walking. I blame this all on the weather. After two balmy days this week where the temperature reached 70 degrees, it is turning cold again. A cold front blew through town around mid-afternoon and I'm afraid Winter has returned. Bad weather slows me down enormously. I don't like inclement weather at all. If I could find somewhere where the skies were always blue and the temperature was always 70 degrees, I bet my productivity would double.

While the rest of the world has probably finished their Christmas shopping by now, I haven't even started mine. It just doesn't seem like Christmas is just a few days away. We've got the tree up and a pretty wreath in the hallway, but some days I just forget they are there. It could just as easily be August or February. Maybe I'll get in the spirit of things this weekend. I certainly hope so, since I'm definitely running out of time.

I hope it warms up enough to take the dogs to the dog park on Sunday as well. With the ice storm and a busy holiday work schedule, Dot and Dash haven't had a dog park outing in almost a month. I can tell that Dash really misses these opportunities to be off-leash and mingle with other dogs. Even though he got to spend the night in a fancy hotel and join us on one of our Santa Paws photo events last week, it's not the same as going to a dog park. To heck with a White Christmas, I just want a warm Sunday.

Lexi is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1419

You never realize how many clocks there are in your house until the time changes. Everything seems to have a clock hidden away inside it these days. There's a clock inside the television. There's a clock in the answering machine. There's a clock in the stove. It's not surprising that there's a clock inside the clock radio, but it is surprising that almost all my cameras contain clocks. If that's not enough, there are plenty of clocks on the walls and in the halls.

The dogs seems to have a built-in clock as well. They did not want to fall back with the rest of us this morning. So much for getting that extra hour of sleep. Dot and Dash insisted on getting us out of bed the same time they got up yesterday. Clocks mean nothing to these guys. In their defense, it was a nice day for a walk. The weather was perfect.

The time may have changed today, but nothing else did. Our Sunday routine went like clockwork. Janet fixed a delicious breakfast, we took Dot and Dash to the dog park, and then I went to the gym. I'm pleased that a trip to the gym has become part of my Sunday routine. I'm not usually that busy on Sundays anyway, and this certainly seems like a better use of my time than watching old science fiction movies on Hulu. Basketball and hitting the heavy punching bag are still my favorite activities. I don't really like free weights that much, and the resistance machines are quite effective, but boring. Now that I'm starting to see some real results from my efforts, it all makes sense though. Exercise will become a permanent part of my personal health triangle, along with weight loss and a better diet.

I thought I might see a nice sunset on our evening walk, now that the time has changed. I even charged up the batteries in the lightweight digital camera that I used to frequently take with me on dog walks. Unfortunately, it was cloudy this evening. It was a lot colder too. I think a front is moving through. There is rain in the forecast now, but that's OK. I have a dry roof these days and I don't think I need to drive or take the dogs anywhere tomorrow. Hey, let it rain.

Wolfgang is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day