Day 4957

There's a Falcon Heavy launch next week that I'll almost certainly get credentialed for. I don't think I'm going to go. Hmmm. This is new. I never turn down a chance to go to a launch. I just don't feel like it this time. Florida in July is not pleasant and I get eaten alive by bugs on night launches. That's not a good excuse though because Texas in July is not pleasant either. Flights are always fully booked now and I always have to pay a lot more to get a seat when approval notices go out at the last minute. Sometimes it's hard to find a hotel as well. I've already been to a bunch of Falcon Heavy launches and it's getting harder and harder to come up with something to write about. I'm also feeling poor. I've had a lot of large expenses this summer and these launch trips aren't cheap. Do I even really need an excuse? I started doing this for fun, and if it doesn't seem fun anymore, why bother.

When I'm sitting here doing nothing next week I might regret my decision, but there are plenty of other launches to think about. I'm sure I'll return to Kennedy Space Center again. I still kind of envy the guys who live in the area and can easily go to any launch they want on very short notice.

Hey, I can still go to the gym on very short notice. It's open seven days a week now. Unless the temperature cools down a bit, a daily trip to the gym is going to be my summer. No complaints though. I'm staying in shape inside an air conditioned building and keeping the car filled with gas is a lot cheaper than a plane ticket. 

Today was uneventful. The only thing that happened out of the ordinary was that Dawn threw up on the bed and we had to wash all the bedding. She wasn't sick. Sometimes when Dawn drinks a lot of water right after she eats, she regurgitates things. This certainly isn't the first time this has happened. It would be nice if she threw up on the brick floors where it is easy to clean things up. She prefers the bed for everything though. It is her safe space.

I prefer the bed too for afternoon naps. It's more comfortable than napping on the sofa. Dawn must have been in a good mood because she seemed happy to share the bed with me this afternoon. It's supposed to be a bit cooler tomorrow. That would be nice. It's already time for me to make a grocery list again. Janet did her grocery shopping today and of course that made Dawn happy. Dawn loves grocery day.

Katie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3211

What's up with Google? Remember when their motto was "Don't Be Evil?" Good times. Now it appears that they just don't know how to be good. Google had one of the most massive security breaches in history and they don't even bother to tell their users. Maybe they thought nobody would notice. They agree to build a totally separate censored search engine for China. Maybe no one would notice that either. There are all kinds of rumors that Google search results are biased. Who knows. They probably are. Google certainly isn't talking. I used to get most of my news and information from Google Reader until Google abruptly discontinued the clever feed aggregator. I was fascinated by Google Glass. I was even thinking about buying a pair until the innovative augmented reality spectacles quietly disappeared. Now, Google+ is going to be discontinued as well. I loved Google+. It was the only social media site where I actually took the time to interact with anyone. Come on Google. Would it have killed you to keep this platform going? What is Google going to abandon next? I hope it isn't Blogger. I've spent so much time using Blogger that I can't even imagine starting over someplace else.

Remember when I thought the little circus in the park would wind up in the water if we had another heavy rain? When we were walking Dash this evening I noticed that the circus tent was in the lake. I feel sorry for the circus performers. There won't be a show tonight, unless it involves ducks. Yep. We had another day of record rainfall. So far my own roof isn't leaking again, but I think we missed the worst of today's storms. At least we aren't in the path of a hurricane. One of my relatives lives on the Florida coast. Things don't look good for them.

I called the roofers again today, but I got a message saying "Mailbox Full" and my call was not accepted. This has happened before. If my roof is leaking, chances are that thousands of other roofs all over town are leaking as well. I imagine the roofers are pretty busy today. October is traditionally the rainy season here in Dallas. It sure would be nice if we got our rain in the Spring when the grass was starting to grow, rather than in the Fall when it is beginning to go dormant.

I finally contacted the last auction house on my list. They agreed to evaluate all the remaining items I'd still like to consign. I never realized that decluttering would be such a huge task. Inch by inch, I'm getting there though. I wish I was faster. My storage warehouse comes up for renewal at the end of the month and it looks like I'm going to have to rent the unit for another year. I was hoping that I'd be able to thin things out enough so that I could get a smaller storage space, but that's not happening. Maybe next year.

Dash wanted to eat grass and leaves again tonight. He hasn't done this for several months and I was hopeful that we had finally found a diet that agreed with him. Now, we're on vomit watch again. He hasn't thrown up yet, but he could at any time. It's frustrating that none of this is apparently under our control. Dash just has good days and bad days.

I hope we both have a good day tomorrow. The unrelenting rain is giving me cabin fever again.

Maverick is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3124

Friday the 13th. arrived a day late. Dash woke me up around 5 AM heading for the back door. He didn't make it and pooped all over the living room. After breakfast, he drank too much water, started coughing, and ended up throwing up everything he ate on the bedroom carpet. We were out of Nature's Miracle, so I went to the pet store to get some more to help clean up the mess. The bottle leaked in my car. That was enough bad luck for me, but later when I went to get groceries, the lids to both the blueberry and strawberry containers popped open, spilling the fruit all over the back of my car. All this happened before noon. The afternoon was actually pretty normal.

I don't think it was the vestibular disease that made Dash throw up today. He wasn't disoriented and didn't seem to have vertigo. He just burped and all his food came out. Accidents like these are becoming our new normal. Often, I will take him outside to pee and after wandering around aimlessly for a while, he will come back inside and immediately poop on the floor. Actually, he did this right after dinner this evening, making it two for two in the indoor pooping sweepstakes. It's hard to be mad at the little guy. He's trying his best to be a normal dog. Age is a bitch though. The body just doesn't cooperate anymore.

I definitely sympathize with Dash. Age hasn't been kind to me either. I went up on the roof this afternoon to prepare things for the roofers and my shoulder hurt for the rest of the day. An hour of pushing water off the roof with a push broom was all it took. I was going to mow the grass today as well, but I'll save that for another time. Enough is enough.

We must have got a lot or rain last week. The water level in the lake was about two feet lower than usual earlier this month, but this morning I noticed that everything was back to normal. Flowers have started blooming again as well. I spotted some Jimson Weed this morning. The blooms are pretty, but they are poisonous. I never want to let the dogs get too close to these plants.

I went to pick up a prescription yesterday and the pharmacist told me it wouldn't be ready until Monday. This morning, the same pharmacy called me and asked why I hadn't picked the pills up yet. Go figure. I suspect the pills were actually there yesterday but just didn't show up in the computer. It's getting harder to have faith in the pharmacy. Like anyone else these days, they make mistakes from time to time. I'm always looking up pills on Pill Finder to make sure I'm taking the right drug. Same thing for Dash. There are so many generic versions of most drugs that the pills often don't look the same. Dash had some odd looking Enalapril today. The pills were oval instead of round. They turned out to be the correct medication. These just happened to come from a different manufacturer.

I wish life hadn't become so complex. I didn't used to look up all my meds on Pill Finder to make sure I wasn't taking something that was going to kill me. I didn't used to look suspiciously at the Caller ID every time the phone rang. I remember when it was still OK to click on the links that appeared in e-mail messages and open your door when someone knocked. Not anymore.

I've decided that the best thing to do in a dystopian world is mind your own business. There is craziness everywhere, but you don't have to go looking for it. I try to walk Dash when the park is empty. I do most of my shopping when other people are at work. I never talk about politics with anyone.

Dolly is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2998

Thirty minutes after I finished bragging about how good Dash was doing last night, he threw up. It's hard to predict these things. I didn't see any of the usual signs of a vestibular event, so I have a feeling that Dash may have just eaten too much. He certainly seemed unusually hungry yesterday. At any rate, I got dressed, cleaned up the mess on the carpet, took Dash outside to make sure he wasn't going to throw up again, and then we all went back to bed.

That wasn't the only strange thing that happened last night. I woke up twice with cold sweats again. Maybe I overdid things yesterday as well. I thought my cold was completely gone. I hate to look up symptoms on Google because the results are so alarming. Evidently, night sweats can signal low blood sugar, cancer, heat attacks, and severe anxiety. Luckily, night sweats are also common when you have a cold or flue. I don't think it's a big deal, but it is irritating to have to change the sheets so often. If things don't return to normal soon, I can always call my doctor next week.

The weather was so warm today that the air conditioner came on. I wasn't expecting that. The good news is that the air conditioner still works. The bad news is that if this warm weather continues, our electric bill will start going through the roof again. I'm not a big fan of Winter, but it is nice to get a break from high electric bills for a while.

Since Dash seemed back to normal this morning, I didn't bother to give him a Cerenia pill. I think I need to save the anti-nausea medication for when there are clear signs of a vestibular event. It looks like periodic vomiting is going to be part of our life for the foreseeable future. At least it doesn't happen very often. A large portion of our house has brick floors. Why does Dash always vomit on the carpets? The mess would be so easy to clean up if he would just learn to throw up on the bricks. Jeez. Last night he would have only had to move ten feet to reach a safe, easy to clean area. Sadly, it wasn't meant to be.

I washed the car today because it was much easier than fixing Dash's rubber shoes. The protective shoes are getting pretty worn and it's time to reinforce them again with more tire patch material. I bought more Shoe Goo and a tire patch kit to make the repairs, but it's a messy job and I keep postponing it. Maybe tomorrow.

I've had this cold for a week now. That seems long enough. I do feel like I'm getting better, but I'm impatient to put this all behind me. I'll probably go to the gym tomorrow no matter how I feel. I'm not contagious and I definitely need the exercise.

Ely is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2925

Not a great day. I had a feeling that Dash was getting sick again when I had to take him outside repeatedly last night. He was a little shaky this morning, but he ate his breakfast and took a morning walk. Around midmorning he began drooling excessively and proceeded to throw up all over the living room floor. I'd like to think Dash just had a few too many Christmas treats, but this sure looks like another vestibular disease episode. We still don't know how to prevent these episodes or predict when they will happen next. The only good thing is that Dash always seems to recover. Dash seemed very tired after he threw up so I got some blankets and made a safe space in the hallway for him to sleep. It's much easier to throw a blanket in the washing machine than it is to clean vomit off the bed.

After a few hours, Dash was back to normal again. Hopefully, he took his morning meds early enough so that they were in his system before he vomited. I wish Dash didn't have these periodic episodes of vertigo and nausea, but I'm afraid they will become the new normal for the rest of his life.

We saw a coyote on our morning walk. Another couple walking their dog warned us about it and sure enough, the coyote appeared ahead of us on the path a few minutes later. It is not uncommon to see coyotes on very cold mornings. Although this one was very close, it didn't appear to be interested in us. I also saw what appeared to be a stray dog down by the lake, but it was much further away than the coyote. I worry about dogs out in the cold like this. It was below freezing when we woke up this morning and the forecast says it will remain cold for the rest of the week.

It was so cold today that I ordered another pair of down booties online. I've been wearing these things to bed lately and they do a great job of keeping your feet warm. The down booties I have now are so old that the feathers are starting to fall out. I figured it was time for a new pair. All the winter coats in my closet were purchased on very cold days. I think the only things on my mind in the winter are eating and staying warm.

I know there is water on the roof, but I'm resisting the urge to remove it. I've learned over the years that the elastomer coating gets very brittle in cold weather and several times I've managed to tear it while sweeping the water away with a push broom. I'm going to need to have faith that the coating will keep the water out as intended and just wait until the weather gets warmer. This is Texas, so I'm sure there will be a warm day within the next several weeks. For now, I'm not even going to look at the roof. I'm sure I'd be alarmed at how much water is actually up there.

I hope Dash is feeling better tomorrow. I had some errands I needed to run today, but didn't feel comfortable leaving the house while Dash was having a vestibular episode. The cold days give me cabin fever, so maybe I'll get out tomorrow. If the weather is bad, I'll watch Bladerunner 2049. I finally downloaded the film today, but didn't watch it. I thought the movie would be more enjoyable if I wasn't distracted by dog vomit.

Taylor is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2902

Dash threw up again today. This has to have something to do with his vestibular disease. Otherwise the symptoms just don't make sense. Everything will be fine and then all of the sudden he will appear very distressed and throw up everything he has eaten recently. Lately, this seems to happen about one a month. This morning Dash ate his normal breakfast, took a nice walk and then retired to the bedroom to take a nap. This is what he does every day. When he woke up from his nap, he went straight to the back door and scratched to get out. After eating some grass, he came back inside, took another short nap, and then puked all over the carpet. While I was cleaning up the first mess, he puked again in the living room. After that, he was fine for the rest of the day.

I was getting ready to go to the doctor when Dash got sick, so I got out some soft blankets and confined him in the hallway while I was gone. It was hard enough cleaning vomit off the carpet the first time. I definitely didn't want to do this again today. This seemed to be a fairly major episode, so I also gave him a Cerenia pill. When I returned from my doctor's appointment, Dash was sleeping calmly on his blanket and everything seemed fine again. I wish someone could tell me exactly what is going on, but we may never find the answer. I'm pretty sure that this is not another hidden cancer, because we have had him scanned from nose to tail. There are no suspicious growths or tumors anywhere. The vertigo that accompanies a vestibular event can definitely cause a dog to vomit. There's a good chance that this is what is happening. Since there is no real cure for vestibular disease, Dash's doctor says to expect periodic vestibular seizures for the rest of his life.

When I switched primary care physicians, I decided to switch the specialists I see as well, so everyone would be affiliated with the same hospital. Today I had an initial visit with my new urologist. This guy was so much better than the doctor I was seeing previously that it made me wonder why I stayed loyal to my old doctors for so long. All doctors aren't the same and the differences between a good doctor and a bad doctor are enormous. So far, I think my decision to upgrade the quality of my medical care has been a wise one. I just should have done this sooner.

Janet and I went to a Christmas party at the presidential library this evening. As usual, I didn't know anybody at the event, but the food was excellent. I even had a glass of wine. Janet volunteers as a docent at the library one day a week, so that's how we wind up on the guest list. I was a little worried about leaving Dash at home, but he was perfectly fine when we returned. With any luck, we'll have at least a month before we'll have to deal with the vestibular disease again. Even though each episode can be scary, the symptoms don't seem to last very long. I just hope he never has another serious incident while I'm gone.

It never did rain today. I wonder where the weather app on my phone gets its information? It never seems to be right. I'm glad we had another dry day. The repairs I made to the roof yesterday will have another day to cure properly. I'll be so glad when I finally get these roof repairs finished. I'll be even happier to see Dash get better. He had a rough day today.

Camp is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2852

It was one of those 20,000 step days. My mind doesn't get a lot of activity on Sunday, but my body certainly does. After breakfast this morning, I moved the big pile of wood in the alley out to the street so the city would pick it up on Bulky Trash Day. When I was removing the Elm tree branches from the roof a few weeks ago, I scratched myself up pretty bad. This time I made sure to wear long pants, a jacket, and gloves. Wood is pretty heavy. It took me over an hour and a half to get everything moved to the curb. Hopefully, no more trees will fall on the roof for the foreseeable future.

Dash threw up again last night. He threw up a lot. This was surprising, since he had acted perfectly normal all day and didn't seem to have an upset stomach. This was the first time he's thrown up for well over a month. I was beginning to think we had gotten past this hurdle. Throwing up periodically must have something to do with Dash's vestibular disease. There is no real cure for this disease and several vets have told us to expect episodes of vertigo and nausea for the rest of his life. I'm used to solving problems and it's frustrating to have so few options with Dash. Many of the ailments he is suffering from just don't have a cure.

When Dash vomits, it is always very late at night, after he's been asleep for a while. He acts frantic and wants to go outside and eat grass. After he throws up, he goes back to sleep as if nothing had happens and is usually good the next day. We didn't give him a Cerenia pill last night. We'll see what happens tonight. With any luck, he'll be good for another month.

My beloved weather radar app quit working on my old series one iPad this morning. I tried again tonight and it still wasn't functioning. I haven't been able to update this app for over three years, so I suspect that the company finally quit supporting the older hardware. This happens a lot on my phone, tablets, and computers. You are basically forced to update hardware because the software quits working. The weather radar app still works fine on my phone, but I liked checking the weather on the iPad. Probably my phone is the next to be rendered obsolete. I just noticed that I can't update the system to IOS 11. The phone is too old.

Even though I was tired from lugging heavy logs around, I decided to go to the gym anyway. I'm much older than my phone and a trip to the gym is the closest thing I can find to a software update. I thought I had a pretty good workout, but my fitness tracker said otherwise. I did the same routines, but I didn't burn nearly as many calories as I did last week. I'm sure it was the yard work that made the difference.

I haven't turned on the large format printer in over a month. It may be impossible to unclog the thing now. I'll give it a try tomorrow and order some more ink if I succeed. I've basically grown tired of buying expensive ink for this thing just to make test prints to keep the printer from clogging. Maybe it's finally time to take the printer to the curb. This printer made beautiful very large Giclée prints in it's day, but I think that ship has sailed. If I could bring myself to part with this obsolete printer and the equally obsolete Beta-SP tape machines, I'd have a lot more space in the office.

I wonder if my refrigerator part will arrive tomorrow? Promises apparently don't mean much in the appliance repair business.

Lucky is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2788

Dash threw up again last night. It's always the same. He has a completely normal, uneventful day. He goes to bed at the usual time and then wakes up again an hour or two later with an upset stomach. Usually he goes outside and throws up and then goes back to sleep again. You'd think that if he was having digestive problems, they would show up after his morning meal as well. He eats exactly the same thing for breakfast as he does for dinner. Nothing really makes sense. Sometimes we think this periodic vomiting is related to his vestibular disease. Other times we thing he ate a June Bug. Since Dot vomited occasionally before we discovered that she had intestinal cancer, we worry about that too. Today we gave him his evening meds early, so that at least he won't throw up his phenobarbital if he vomits again tonight.

Today was busy. I decided that I really couldn't postpone fixing the leaking shower stall any longer. I got out the wet/dry vacuum and adapted an attachment so that I could suck out all the water that has seeped between the shower pan and the underside of the tile floor. It took several hours to extract about a quart of water through a crack in the tile. While the vacuum was running, I went to Home Depot and looked for some sanded silicon caulk that would match the tile grout. This won't last as long as completely re-grouting the shower, but it is much easier and if I can remove enough water from under the tiles, the repair should last at least a year. Hopefully, Janet and I will remember to not take a shower tomorrow morning, or then I will have to vacuum the water out all over again.

I woke up last night around 3 AM and though I'd go outside and look for meteors. This was supposed to be the ideal time to view the Perseid meteor shower. Surprisingly, the sky was mostly clear, but I didn't see any meteor trails. When I looked to the East where the meteors were supposed to be, all I saw were two very bright security lights on a house across the street. The combination of an almost full moon, the headlights from a stream of cars returning home after the bars had closed, and the glare from the security lights made seeing a meteor trail virtually impossible. After ten minutes of futile looking, I went back to bed.

We finally got that rain today. There was a pretty good downpour around mid-afternoon and It looks like we are going to get even more rain tonight. The last time I looked at the weather radar, it looked pretty ominous. I hope we don't lose power. It's always a pain to get this posted when there's a power outage. I hear thunder now, but at least Dash is sleeping soundly. The last thing I wasn't is to have him needing to go outside and throw up during a major thunderstorm.

Assuming that the roof doesn't leak and that we still have power in the morning, I'll probably go to the gym. Oh, wait. I need to finish caulking the shower stall before I go anywhere. Removing the water is only step one. The most important thing is making sure that the water doesn't seem back under the tiles again.

Ellis is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2668

Dot wouldn't settle down this morning, so I skipped going out to breakfast. I don't know what has changed, but she is more active now after we return from our morning walk. It's a good thing I stayed home, because she needed to go outside to pee twice while I was sitting in the kitchen eating my frozen toaster waffle. I walked her around half a dozen times before she finally settled down around 10 AM.

While I was waiting for Dot to go back to sleep, there was a knock on the door. The roofers had arrived. I wasn't expecting the roofers at all today. Truthfully, I wasn't even expecting them this month, so it was somewhat of a happy accident that I decided to stay home this morning. I went up on the roof with the crew to show them where the damaged areas were. There was still water on the roof, but the guys said they would blow it away with a leaf blower before they made their repairs. I would have picked a sunny day to come out, but beggars can't be choosers. I was glad they were here.

The repairs only took a couple of hours and then the roofers were gone again. I was a little worried that it would rain this afternoon before the patched areas had completely dried, but the skies cleared and the temperature got warmer as the day progressed. I think the patches will have plenty of time to cure properly and maybe I won't have to worry about leaks again for the rest of the Summer.

Dash has started throwing up again. This has happened periodically for years. I take him to the vet and they can never find anything wrong. They either tell me to give him a Pepcid, or if he vomits more than once they prescribe some Cerenia. Usually this takes care of the problem. I used to think that Dash had just eaten something bad in the park, but this has been going on so long that I now suspect that there is something else involved. Intermittent problems like this are very hard to diagnose. I'll talk to Dash's oncologist the next time we go in for a check up, but I think he just suggested taking a Pepcid too.

Since Dot has switched her nap time to the afternoon, I waited until she was asleep to go to the store and pick up something for dinner. On my way to Central Market I stopped by my doctor's office to ask why I was no longer receiving reminders to come in for lab work. I used to get lab work done every three months, but the nurse I talked to today told me that Medicare will now only cover once set of labs per year. Did I really ever need the extra blood tests when the doctor was able to bill them out? I'll never really know. Maybe once a year is enough, but I'd have a blood test every week if I could. Frequent tests allow you to chart the results and see if a change in diet or meds is making a difference. Once a year isn't really enough. An annual test will warn you if something really alarming is happening, but it doesn't let you monitor subtle changes. The neighborhood health food store used to offer low cost blood tests several times a year. The tests only cost $25 and I would always take advantage of them. It was really disappointing when one of the guys administering these tests unexpectedly died of a heart attack and the testing service was discontinued. The fact that these $25 tests went to the same lab as the $400 tests my own doctor gave me told me everything I needed to know about the health care system. As soon as insurance gets involved, things suddenly get very expensive.





The dogs are both quiet now. Nobody is pooping or throwing up. I hope it stays that way. Whenever Dot and Dash are having problems at the same time, I realize that one high maintenance dog is really all I can handle. I'm glad the roofers finally made good on their promise. That's one more thing I can cross off my list. Now, I just need to get the landscapers to come out and take care of the back yard.

Flash is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2651

I found a website update request from four days ago that I hadn't gotten around to yet. I was surprised that I'd forgotten about this because I'm usually very prompt. When I took another look at the e-mail, I saw the fatal words "there's no rush on this" and immediately knew what happened. I have to approach every job as a rush job or I'll just forget about it. I made the changes the client requested and apologized for the delay. Don't ever tell me to take my time. You may not hear from me for a year.

Dot threw up again this morning. She's been throwing up more frequently now and that's never a good sign. I'm not sure what's going on, but I think she's drinking too much water. When she gets restless, Dot goes back and forth between her bed and her water bowl. She doesn't seem to know what to do, so she does this over and over again. I'm right there with her, holding up her rear legs, but I hate to take her away from the water. She takes such tiny sips now that maybe she's not actually drinking too much. I'd hate for her to get dehydrated.

I guess I've got one more question to ask the oncologist. Does the vomiting have something to do with her cancer? Is she just drinking too much water? Or is this something else entirely? It only seems to happen about once a week, but when she was healthy she would only throw up about once a year.

I'm not doing so well myself. When I woke up this morning my neck hurt and I could barely move my right arm. I did my stretching exercises and things got a bit better, but I'm thinking that I need to go back for another round of physical therapy. My physical therapist would probably be horrified at the way I'm using my arm these days. Holding up Dot's rear legs tends to pull straight down on my shoulder joint, which is weak already. I hope I don't have a rotator cuff injury. It's all speculative at this point, because I don't really have time to go in for physical therapy anyway.

It's getting harder and harder to get anything done during the day. Dot is increasingly restless and I need to spend more time attending to her. When Dot is moving around, there is more chance of a mess, so I'm doing more laundry and cleanup as well. It's all very tiring. I've started taking short naps when Dot is asleep. Sometimes it's the only rest I get.

I forgot what day it was again. For most of the day I thought it was Wednesday. I guess it doesn't really matter. All these days seem the same. I still haven't watched The Expanse. I haven't downloaded Arrival or Passengers either. Maybe I'll skip Passengers, since it got terrible reviews. Maybe I'll skip all these movies. Dot doesn't stay asleep long enough to watch a movie anyway.

Doc is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2653 - Vernal Equinox

Dot threw up today right after the took her afternoon pain medication. Dogs throw up for hundreds of different reasons, but it always makes me uneasy when a dog with cancer starts vomiting. Sometimes Dot throws up simply because she drinks too much water. I didn't want to accidentally overdose her, so I didn't give her any additional Gabapentin. I watched her for the rest of the afternoon and by dinnertime she seemed back to normal. When Dot threw up on her bed, I'd just finished washing all the rugs she peed on this morning. The washing machine got a lot of use today.

I'm such a creature of habit. Even though I've almost convinced myself that it would be smart to start using electronic payments, I took another batch of bills to the post office this afternoon, just like I always do. Old habits die hard. I guess I just like going to the post office. On the way home I stopped by the vet and picked up some more phenobarbital for Dash. The dogs take so many meds now that it's going to take a spreadsheet to keep track of them soon.

I'm trying to spend a little time every clear night looking at the stars. It's a bit of an uphill battle. I found a little meadow in the park with a clear view of the sky. It's near the house and there aren't a lot of streetlamps or car headlights to spoil the view. The only problem is that all the neighborhood dogs sense me standing in the meadow and start barking at me. When one dog starts barking, pretty soon they all start barking. I looked for the Andromeda Galaxy tonight. I should have started looking last winter when it was higher in the sky. This thing is big enough and bright enough that it should have been easy to see with binoculars. I couldn't find it though. Like many other things, it was lost in the haze and glow of city lights that obscures everything near the horizon.

It actually did seem like the first day of Spring today. The weather was beautiful. I waited until sunset to walk Dot and she seemed to enjoy herself, even though she had thrown up earlier in the day. I wish Dot wasn't so frail, but we do the best we can. Even though Dot's appetite is still good, she is having trouble chewing certain things. She won't eat rice cakes anymore, even though she used to love them. Slices of banana sometimes fall out of her mouth. I don't know why she has trouble chewing a banana. Luckily, she's still fine with the Hills ID that has become her regular diet. Slowly all her favorite things are becoming more difficult. The dog that used to run like the wind now moves at a snail's pace. She's becoming finicky about what she eats and can no longer control her bladder. The scary thing is this is my future too. It's hell growing old.

I still haven't called the landscaper. I'm not even sure it's worth replacing all the Asian Jasmin and Liriope I've trampled taking Dot out to pee. As long as I'm walking behind Dot, holding up her rear legs, I'm going to continue to trample the ground cover. The yard looks terrible though. I need to do something.

I thought today was going to be uneventful. I guess it was. Dot gave me a little scare, but she's fine now. I cleaned four large rugs today, although it was far from a record. I think I've cleaned seven in one day once. The house shoes I use to take Dot outside tore apart at the seams, so I glued them back together to avoid the hassle of looking for another pair at a shoe store. Tomorrow I'll get up early and try to get Dot outside before she pees all over the place. I'll make my morning smoothie and put it in the freezer for a while so it's nice and cold. Eventually, I'll open my e-mail and hope to find an exciting new project to work on. There won't be any work, but there will be lots of spam. If I'm lucky, Dot won't throw up.

Baxter is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2627

I'm feeling a little overwhelmed. I've mentioned that Dash was becoming a finicky eater. Well, last night he threw up his dinner and this morning he refused to eat at all. We walked the dogs to see if this would settle Dash's stomach and then tried to feed him again. He still wasn't interested. We got him to eat a small amount of canned dog food so he could take his morning meds and then an hour later, he threw this up as well. This was not good. I called his oncologist as well as his regular vet and arranged to take him in so they could give him an injection of Cerenia to stop the vomiting. After waiting an hour, I had to give him a second phenobarbital pill, because he threw up the first one we gave him this morning. The other pills can wait, but the phenobarbital is essential.

Dash's vet thought that he was still experiencing symptoms from vestibular disease and when the oncologist contacted me later in the morning, he agreed. They both said that it could take from two weeks to three months to fully recover from a bout of old dog vestibular disease. So, here we are. I've got two sick dogs with very different needs. Both need a lot of attention and it's hard to deal with one without something happening to the other.

Dash seemed out of it for most of the day, but when I eventually fed him some bland food the vet gave me for a sensitive stomach, he held it down. Since Dash is still feeling some vertigo or motion sickness as a result of his vestibular seizures, we may have to put him back on an anti-nausea drug. Hopefully the Cerenia will stabilize him, since it is pretty mild and has few side effects.

I took Dash on a short walk later in the afternoon. Although he walked slowly and seemed a bit tentative, he showed no signs of another vestibular event. This was good. I walked very slowly and let him relax. When we returned to the house, I immediately noticed that Dot had knocked over her protective fence and was sitting in a pile of poop. Like I said, I've got two sick dogs with very different needs.

I hope we can get Dash stabilized quickly. While I was cleaning up vomit on the carpet last night, Dot decided to poop in her bed. It was hard to decide which mess needed my attention first. Needless to say, it was a hectic day. A continual barrage of poop, pee, and vomit can generate a lot of laundry and even more worry.

To cap off the day, I heard a giant thud on the roof as I was preparing dinner this evening. I went out to investigate and discovered that one of the dead limbs I've been waiting for the tree trimmers to remove had fallen. The wood was rotten and the tree limb broke apart when it fell, so there was no damage to the roof. I'm really glad the limb fell on the roof instead of in the back yard. It was large enough that it would have injured me or the dogs if we were underneath when it fell. Now, there is an added urgency to get the trees trimmed quickly, but getting anyone's attention lately has been difficult.

Stress eats away at you slowly. I wonder if I'll even recognize when I'm completely burned out. Maybe I'm there already. The past two years have definitely been a challenge. I know I complain too much and that there are many people with far more serious problems than I have. Nevertheless, it would sure be nice to have two healthy dogs and a little peace and tranquility.

Maggie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2616

Dot threw up last night, which put me back on high alert again. There are so many things which can go wrong at this point that it's hard to keep them all straight. Dot has trouble chewing now and might have swallowed some food that she hadn't chewed properly. I'm always worried that the cancer might have spread and she's starting to lose her appetite. She probably threw up for no reason at all. Dog do that a lot. The worst thing about throwing up right after we've all gone to bed is that she threw up her evening meds. You never know how much the body has absorbed, so you can't give her a second dose. As a result, Dot probably didn't get any blood pressure medication last night.

Today was just a typical day of weekend errands, but it seemed busier than usual. Janet had an event to go to, so it was harder to keep track of what both dogs were doing at any given moment. Dot seemed to be having a little trouble with the heat. She doesn't do well in warm weather and the temperature reached over 80 degrees this afternoon. Maybe the slightly labored breathing and the meal she threw up last night are connected somehow. Lots of laundry today. I was talking with a client on the phone when Dot decided to poop in the house again. I think this was the third time today. She wasn't on a protected surface this time and there wasn't much I could do. Just something else to clean up after the call was completed.

Dash has to go back to the cancer center for a recheck on Monday. Nobody mentioned this to me when he was released from the hospital. We just happened to notice an obscure sentence mentioning a recheck when we were reading his discharge summary this morning. I called to confirm and sure enough, he needs to go back for a few follow up tests. I'm dreading this. Dash is a terrible passenger in the car. Whenever I'm taking him home from a vet appointment, I'm hoping that he'll miraculously stay healthy for the rest of his life and I'll never have to transport him in a car again. Traveling with Dash is nerve wracking to say the least.

I wish the dogs weren't so restless in the evenings. Dash gets nervous when Janet isn't around at night and paces around at the front door waiting. This activity gets Dot agitated and she wants to get up too. I think I've taken Dot outside ten times this evening and she still hasn't peed. I'm still cleaning up poop though. Evidently, she kept dropping little plops throughout the house after I got her up to clean up her blankets.

I hope tomorrow's photo shoot goes smoothly. After the pre-light check yesterday, I thought this thing was going to be a piece of cake. Now I'm hearing that there will be lots of costume and hairstyle changes. There have already been changes to the set as well. This could take a very long time. I need to remember to be courteous and not say anything snarky. It sounds like everybody wants to improvise and improvisation is definitely not my cup of tea. At least Janet will be home with the dogs tomorrow and I won't have to worry about that.

It's almost time to give the dogs their evening meds. I hate to wake them up, since they've finally calmed down after a long evening of restlessness and are both sleeping peacefully. I guess it wouldn't hurt to let them sleep another hour. This is the first quiet time I've had all day.

Lady Gogh is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2268

Dot got sick during the night and threw up. By morning, she'd thrown up three times, although it was mostly just bile and water. This happened about a month ago as well. The first time she threw up like this, I was convinced that she drank too much water while she was walking in the underwater treadmill. She hasn't been to water therapy this week though, so something else is going on. We didn't feed Dot any breakfast this morning, but by noon she seemed back to normal again. So far, she has held down her dinner and doesn't appear to be uncomfortable. We didn't give Dot her monthly heartworm pill today because I was afraid she'd throw it up. I'm sure waiting a few days until she's back to normal again won't hurt.

Somehow while I was lifting Dot up last night and changing her bedding I managed to throw my back out. I'm not sure what I did, but I've been in pain ever since. I've done this before and it's usually because I don't lift things properly using my knees. Jeez, my knees are in worse shape than my back. By the time I'd washed all the rugs and blankets that Dot had soiled and finished my morning smoothie, I was ready to go back to bed. My back still hurts, but hopefully if I can avoid lifting things and manage to get a good night's sleep, I'll feel better tomorrow.

When it looked like Dot was stable and wasn't going to throw up any more, I went to the bank and stopped on the way home to pick up another bottle of laundry detergent. The big bottles of Tide aren't lasting nearly as long as they used to with the washing machine in constant use. Today I washed four large blankets and two medium sized rugs. It never ends.

It was a long day. I shuffled around from room to room, trying not to aggravate whatever I'd done to my back. Strangely, the only time my back didn't hurt was when I took Dash on his evening walk. Sitting in a chair at the computer was the worst. My Aeron Chair is usually quite comfortable, but not today. Luckily, there wasn't that much to do. I had some minor website updates to make, but that was about it. There's a new article to write, but I don't need to start on that until tomorrow.

The road construction in the neighborhood is finished and everything is quiet again. All the construction equipment has disappeared and the road looks pretty much like it did before, except that there are no potholes anymore. I'm still surprised that it took over a month to fix this short stretch of road, but have to admit that the end result looks pretty nice.

Dot's physical therapy moves to a new day tomorrow. From now on out, we'll be doing our acupuncture and water therapy sessions on Wednesday afternoon instead of Thursday morning. I didn't suggest this change, but I welcome it. It should be easier to get Dot ready right after lunch rather than in the morning when she naturally likes to sleep. Hopefully, she'll sleep well tonight. We definitely don't need another night like last night.

Lucky is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2172 - Thanksgiving

Today did not go as planned. Dot threw up during the night. She pooped in her bed too, but it was the vomiting that was alarming. She threw up a lot of liquid and it was completely unexpected. She didn't appear sick when we went to bed and she isn't the type of dog that eats garbage or gets into things. I was surprised. I did my best to clean up the mess and we went back to bed. Just before breakfast, she threw up again. Dot didn't have a fever and her gums were nice and pink, so we let her rest instead of making a trip to the emergency vet. Within an hour, she was acting completely normal.

We took our morning walk and fed her a small amount of food when we got home. Again, everything seemed normal. Then, about an hour later, when we were finishing our own breakfast, she threw up again. Dogs can vomit for hundreds of different reasons and most of them are fairly benign. Dash is known to eat crap in the yard when we're not looking and this is usually the reason he throws up. There were a lot of harmless reasons why Dot could be throwing up too, but I was worried that this may be a sign that her cancer has returned.

We canceled our Thanksgiving brunch reservations and stayed home with Dot instead. Since she still appeared hungry, I went to the only open vet I could find and got a few cans of bland Hills I/D wet food to feed her. When I described Dot's symptoms to the nurse on duty, she said she thought it was safe to just keep an eye on Dot and take her to our regular vet tomorrow. She didn't have a fever, her gums were pink, she wasn't dehydrated, she still had an appetite, and she didn't appear to be under any undue stress. These were all good signs. It's always a bit alarming when your pet has an emergency on a holiday. You are pretty much on your own. We could have taken Dot to an emergency clinic, but this didn't appear to be an emergency. I did feel better after talking to the emergency nurse though.

Since we had been planning to go out for dinner, there was almost nothing in the refrigerator. We were both hungry and started looking for a restaurant in the neighborhood so we could go pick up some take-out. Not surprisingly, almost nothing was open. We finally found a little sports bar that has pretty good burgers, so I picked up our Thanksgiving dinner there. Apparently the only people who eat out on Thanksgiving evening are lonely men. There were five men in the restaurant when I arrived and they were all sitting alone, watching the Cowboys lose on a big screen TV behind the bar.

We fed Dot a small amount of the Hills I/D food and so far she has held it down for about three hours. This is a good sign. I think I set a new record for doing laundry today. So many parts of the house are protected now, but Dot managed to target an unprotected area every single time she threw up. There is still an eighteen inch wet circle on the carpet right near my desk in the office. Dot could have picked a better place to vomit. After scrubbing the carpet and applying liberal amounts of the Nature's Miracle enzyme, I can still smell vomit. There are days when I feel I have lost the battle with the house. It has really taken quite a beating recently.

I didn't expect to have a take-out burger and a small pear salad for Thanksgiving dinner, but we did the right thing. It turned out to be a nice family meal and we have a lot to be thankful for. Dot is calm now and seems to be holding down her food. I'll try to make an appointment at her regular vet tomorrow and see if we can find out what is going on. Although it rained a lot today, there were no thunderstorms to further stress the dogs. The washing machine is still working and I'm running the air conditioner to keep the humidity down. If Dot can make it through the night without any further incidents, I think we're going to be OK.

Pepper is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1750

Good grief. Flu season is here. The State Fair of Texas just started. And a guy with the Ebola virus was admitted to Presbyterian Hospital after wandering around town for a week. What could possibly go wrong? I guess it was inevitable that Ebola would make it's way to America, but did it have to come to Dallas first? This is a little too close to home. Presbyterian Hospital is only four or five miles from my house. The gym that I go to is actually owned by the Presbyterian healthcare network.

I listened to the press conference held this afternoon by the CDC. The only thing I could think of was that every single post-apocalyptic end-of-the-world movie I've ever seen starts with some government bureaucrat standing in front of a microphone telling people that there's "nothing to worry about." Every time I hear that this disease can't be transmitted through the air, I think of all the other things that couldn't possibly happen, like Fukushima and Chernobyl.

I'm sure for the next week of so, everyone who gets a fever in Dallas will think they've come down with Ebola. It doesn't help that officials are very close-lipped about the whole situation. They won't reveal the airline the guy flew here on. They won't reveal who his family is, or where he was seen in town before he arrived at the hospital feeling sick. Why do they let people from West Africa continue to fly here? This is an uncontrolled pandemic that has already claimed over 3,000 lives in a short amount of time. It is insane to keep pretending that "there is nothing to worry about."

I awoke this morning to the sound of a dog trying to throw up in the bed next to my head. I've heard this sound before, so I immediately picked Dot up and quickly took her outside where she proceeded to throw up on the back porch. It's probably nothing, but when a dog is recovering from cancer you always worry that the cancer may have returned. Both dogs have sensitive stomachs and are prone to eat crap in the park. It's not a good combination. I've been keeping an eye on Dot today and she seems completely normal. All dogs throw up from time to time and hopefully this was just a fluke.

I completed my troublesome website project today and wrote two new articles. I consider this a good day. It would have been an even better day if the stock market hadn't taken a tumble. It's depressing to toil away at the computer to earn a few hundred dollars when you're simultaneously losing thousands in the market.

The yard is rapidly becoming covered with dry, yellowed elm leaves that the dogs and I inevitably track inside. The elm tree loses its leaves first, and then the oaks and pecan trees quickly follow. Fall has definitely arrived.

Thelma is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1734

Dot ended an impressive five day accident-free streak by throwing up shortly after she woke up this morning and then frantically trying to eat leaves and grass in the yard. I don't think the vomiting had anything to do with her cancer, but it was still a bit unsettling. When a healthy dog vomits, you immediately suspect that the upset stomach was caused by eating something dead and disgusting in the yard. When a dog that has had cancer vomits, you always suspect the worst. I think Dot is fine though. We gave her a Pepsid AC and she went back to sleep for another hour and was completely normal for the rest of the day.

I don't usually work on Sunday, but since I always like to start the week with a clean slate, I finished my remaining writing assignments and made a few website revisions before going to the gym for a long overdue workout.

I had the usual aches and pains associated with my infrequent visits to the gym, but at least I'm still going. A lot of the runners and cyclists the dogs and I see in the park everyday seem to genuinely enjoy their exertion and activity. To me it's just a necessary evil. While I don't enjoy exercise, I would like to avoid diabetes, heart attacks, and further deterioration of my aging body. I'll have to admit that I do enjoy the fact that I can still wear the same size 32 jeans I wore in college.

I picked up some food for the week on my way home, but I may have to rethink my plan of stocking the refrigerator every Sunday afternoon. For some reason, Central Market always seems twice as crowded on Sunday, but that's not the real problem. I am discovering that fresh food won't stay fresh all week. I had to throw out some of the groceries I got last Sunday toward the end of the week, because they had spoiled already. No wonder people eat so much crap. Eating healthy is time consuming. It's so much easier to just grab a frozen pizza from the freezer and warm it up.

Dot is going to have a busy week. She has her long delayed annual exam on Tuesday and then returns for another physical therapy session and acupuncture on Thursday. We postponed the exam while she recovered from surgery because she is due for another three year rabies booster shot. I think she also needs the DAPPV combo shot this year, as well as her annual Leptospirosis vaccination. Dash will be glad that he can just stay home and take a nap.

It's hard to believe that September is already almost half over. Wasn't it August just a few days ago?

Nicholas is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day