Day 2579

Every day is full of surprises. I caught Dash drinking out of the toilet today and when I yelled at him to stop, it startled him and he backed up and flipped over the water bowl he should have been drinking out of, completely soaking a large rug that helps keep Dot steady as she walks from the bedroom to the hallway. It took me longer to clean up this mess than Dot's frequent peeing incidents.

I did manage to get Dot outside this morning before one of those incidents occurred, but it's so cold outside that the temperature in the house drops five degrees every time I leave the back door open for our quick dash to the back yard.

When it's below freezing outside it takes us almost as long to get ready for our walks as it does to walk. Dash wears a coat under his harness and Dot wears a different kind of coat over her harness. I wear several layers and have warm gloves and socks. Both dogs wear hats. My gloves are kind of pointless though, because I always have to take them off to pick up Dash's poop with a poop bag. A brisk wind made this morning's walk seem even colder. When we finally made it back to the house, I had no desire to go outside again.

I had several website updates to complete today, but these assignments seemed almost incidental. My real job was just making it through the day. Today, Dot was restless for most of the day. I walked her endlessly up and down the Hallway to burn off energy, but she just didn't want to go to sleep. The only way I was able to get anything done was to take a nap with her on the floor and then quietly get up and go back to the computer after I saw that she was asleep.

I think we all had cabin fever today. The dogs kept wanting to go outside and then immediately wanted to come in again when they realized how cold it was. I lost count of how many times we did this. In normal circumstances, I could just ignore the dogs for a while, but when Dot wants to go outside these days, she very often needs to pee. She can't hold it very long anymore. Unfortunately, she can't remember why she's outside very well either. It makes for a long day. This would have been a good day to download a good movie, but I didn't have that much free time. There's no point in watching a movie if you're interrupted every five minutes.

I got another assignment late in the day, but I'm not even going to look at it until tomorrow. I'm just too tired. I did manage to haul this week's trash out to the curb and with any luck I'll be able to go out for breakfast tomorrow. The work will get done, but I've got my priorities.

Lucy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2185

I had one of my periodic meetings with my financial adviser today. Usually we just chit-chat about the market a bit and he makes a few recommendations that I almost always go along with. Today was not going to be one of those days. When he asked how I was doing, I told him as politely as I could that I was not a happy camper. We've been working together for almost five years and my account hasn't really grown very much. Actually, performance has been pitiful. Sure, the market has been extremely volatile and a lot of things haven't gone as expected, but that's what you pay these guys for. I honestly expected that my adviser could do a much better job of growing my portfolio than I could, but so far that hasn't been the case. I actually did a pretty respectible job of managing my own investments, but it was very stressful for me. I don't like dealing with money. I did my research, but I got tired of fretting about whether I did the right thing. Eventually, I hired a financial adviser. The guy I chose was highly recommended by people I respect, but I'm beginning to think I made the wrong decision. I know hindsight is always 20/20, but there are just too many common sense things that should have been done differently.

I caught Dash drinking out of the toilet again and when I yelled at him to stop, it must have startled him. He jumped backward and ended up flipping over the water bowl on the floor that he should have been drinking out of. The spilled water soaked a large rug in the bathroom and generally made a mess everywhere. When I was mopping up the water, I got a call from Janet telling me her car had died. She mentioned yesterday that she was hearing a funny noise but didn't think it was serious. I guess it was serious after all. I told Dot not to poop all over the place while I went to pick her up Janet, but I didn't have high hopes.

It was just one of those days. I went to Home Depot earlier in the day to look for a replacement for the mini-blinds  I'd singed with the ceramic heater and discovered that they no longer made the size I needed. I was told to buy a larger blind and then cut it to the proper size myself. The sales associate who helped me said there were videos on YouTube that would show me how to do this. This wasn't what I expected, but I bought the blinds anyway. How hard could it be to watch a YouTube video?

I'll probably regret my decision tomorrow. Everything is harder than expected these days. I haven't had much luck sealing the tile floor in the shower and didn't do a very good job at cleaning the muslin photo backdrop that got peed on this weekend. Actually, the only success I've had this week was figuring out where to place the rubber snakes to scare the evil bird who's been pooping on my car away.

Tomorrow will be busy. As soon as we finish taking the dogs on their morning walk, I need to take Janet up to the Land Rover dealership so she can pick up her loaner car. Dot has another morning physical therapy session, so it will be a quick turnaround when I get home again. Hopefully, I will still have time for breakfast. I never do well when I don't have time to fix my smoothie and drink some strong coffee while I watch the latest bad news on TV.

My Dad would have been 98 years old today if he were still alive. He died quite a while ago though.

Puppies are today's Dalmatians of the Day

Watch of the Day