Day 3524

I saw three fire trucks, an ambulance, and the fire department rescue boat converge on the lake as I was walking today. Someone must have drowned again. This never used to happen, but now it's almost a weekly occurrence. There are too many people out on the water who can't swim. The weird thing was that without all the emergency vehicles, you never would have known anything was wrong. The sailing club was having a regatta and no boats were attempting a rescue. All the people in kayaks and stand up paddle boards were acting normally. Nobody even seemed aware that something was wrong. I watched as the rescue boat sped off in the distance and disappeared. I still don't know what was going on. Whatever happened didn't make the evening news. Just another Sunday in the park.

I'm glad they fixed the air conditioning at the gym. It was nice and cool inside this week. Maybe this is why I was more accurate on the basketball court today. Probably it was just random luck. I couldn't think of a reason why my shots were connecting. Some days I'm good and other days I'm terrible. I'll have to accept the fact that there isn't always a logical explanation for everything. I'm a model of consistency, yet I never know how long I'm going to sleep. My appetite varies from day to day. Some days I wake up tired and other days I'm ready to go. There has to be a reason, but the only answer I can think of is that life is complicated.

On my way home from the gym I stopped at a neighborhood hardware store to get an extension cord and some plug adapters so we could use Janet's new toaster oven. I appeared to be the only person in the store who wasn't buying something for a chicken. I guess backyard chickens are still a thing in Dallas. I see them in people's yards occasionally while I walk and when Dash was alive I used to see people bring roosters to the vet. I like cage-free eggs from pasture raised chickens as much as the next guy, but it is so much easier to just buy them at the grocery store. I probably wouldn't make a very good farmer.

Now that peaches are in season, Janet has been making peach cobbler a lot. I love peach cobbler for dessert. This week she tried cutting the amount of sugar in the recipe in half. The cobbler tastes even better. Who knew. I suspect that almost all recipes contain way too much salt and sugar. Chefs seem to love salt and sugar. It should be easier to avoid sugar, but the stuff is everywhere. If you eat processed food at all, you're probably consuming a lot more sugar than you should.

I was going to try to disassemble the old dehumidifier today, but not surprisingly making sure that I got my requisite 20,000 steps seemed more important. I'll eventually tackle this project, but there's no need to hurry. The new dehumidifier is working great. It is extracting three time as much water from the air as the old machine. Performance on the old machine probably deteriorated so slowly that I never even noticed. The two machines are absolutely identical with the exception of six small horizontal slots on the back of the new dehumidifier. There must be a reason for those additional slots. They aren't mentioned in the instruction manual at all.

Tomorrow we visit the rescue Dalmatians again. It is also Janet's birthday. Birthday's are pretty low key these days. They only remind us of how old we've become.

Lucy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3447

Weird. I didn't realize it at the time, but at exactly the same time I was walking around one end of the lake yesterday evening, police were fishing a body out of the other end. Sadly, this is not an uncommon occurrence. Most of the deaths are by drowning. People go boating without wearing a life jacket. They even go boating when they are unable to swim. Accidents happen.

I haven't been boating in the lake in a long time. It used to be fairly easy to take my kayak down a little hill from the backyard to the lake. I attached a pair of wheels to one end and pulled the boat behind me. Unfortunately, the path I used to take has become overgrown with brush and it is virtually impassible now. The small sandy beach where I used to launch the kayak has eroded, making it difficult to get the boat in and out of the water. I'm so close, but I'd need to put the kayak in the car now and drive to a public boat dock. I'm not even sure that the kayak would fit in the car. I no longer own the Defender with its convenient roof rack. I doubt that any of this even matters. The last time I went kayaking I saw a huge water moccasin swimming along beside me. Kayaking has never seemed the same since then.

Kayaking provides a great upper body workout, but I get my exercise by walking now. I had another 20,000 step day today. I hope all this additional activity makes a difference. I don't feel that much stronger but I am able to go the distance. I've started wearing a hat now and hopefully sunburn will no longer be a problem as the days grow warmer. I don't know what to do about the chiggers though. There seem to be a lot of them this year. People say to dust your clothes with sulfur or spray them with distilled vinegar. Others believe that eating a glove of garlic a day will do the trick. None of these methods seems very appealing to me.

I've started going to the gym earlier on Sundays. This leaves more of the day for other things. Today, I went back to the store and got strawberries for my smoothie. There were none yesterday and a huge supply today. I guess I need to find out when the produce truck arrives. I need to mow the grass again but it's still too damp. Grass is much easier to mow when it's dry. Actually, I didn't feel like mowing anyway. I'm not even sure how much time I have left for household chores. Several walks a day takes a long time.

If I drive to Florida for the Space X launch, I noticed that the route I was planning to take passes right through several flooded areas. There is some major flooding along the Mississippi River right now. I wonder if any of the roads are under water. I probably should check this out. I imagine that the water will recede before it's time for me to go, but you never know. Weather is so weird now. Maybe when all the flood water from the Arkansas River joins the Mississippi, the flooding will actually get worse.

I doubt that there will be many surprises tomorrow. If the weather is nice, Janet and I may go up and visit the Dalmatians again. Visiting the rescue dogs is always enjoyable.

Abby is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1796

Today was one small errand after another. I don't know why there were so many things to do, but it was definitely a busy day. The car needed gas, there were groceries to buy, the dogs needed a new stash of dog treats. I needed to pick up a bottle of astringent at CVS. As the day progressed, the sky got darker and darker. I'm glad I got everything done, because it looks like we might have sleet or freezing rain tomorrow.

While I was  out and about, I stopped by an AT&T store to take a look at the new iPhone 6. I don't think I like it very much. Even the smaller of the two new models is too large to fit comfortably in my pocket. Even worse, the phone is so light and thin that it appears flimsy. I think I'll just stick with my current phone, especially since Apple replaced mine with a brand new one just a few months ago.

I received a bunch of new assignments towards the end of the day yesterday and I felt compelled to work on some of them this afternoon. I could have easily waited until Monday, but I hate to have work looming over my head.  I did a little writing and updated a website before I remembered that I still needed to do the laundry and change the sheets on the bed. Weekends have their own set of priorities and writing assignments aren't usually high on the list.

While I was walking the dogs this evening, we encountered another search and rescue team, presumably searching the lake for a drowning victim. When I first moved to this part of town, years would go by without anyone drowning in the lake. Now, I see the fire department rescue crews out here several times a month. I guess that's just what happens in a growing city. There are an abundance of people with no common sense at all. I can't begin to tell you how many times I've seen kayakers or people using those popular new SUP boards without even bothering to wear a life jacket. It's easy to tip a kayak over or fall off a SUP board. The water is pretty cold at this time of year too. You'd have to be crazy to go out on the water on a day like this.

I continue to be impressed by the new thermostat. I programmed it to turn the temperature down while we slept and then raise it back to normal again when we woke up. Everything worked like a charm. We didn't even realize that it was 65 degrees inside during the night. By the time we got out of bed this morning, everything was toasty warm again. It's weird. A thermostat may seem dull to most of you, but Klout couldn't have send me a better product to evaluate if they tried. All I do these days  is fret about the temperature.

I hope the rain we're having now doesn't freeze on the roads tonight. Even a small amount of ice can bring this city to a standstill. If the weather's OK, I'll probably go to the gym tomorrow. If it's sleeting outside, I'll just curl up with the dogs and take a nap.

Honey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1617

Today wasn't bad at all. My photo shoot went well. I never really know what to expect when I'm photographing animals, but these guys had my back. The images were in focus, cute, and won't require a lot of work in Photoshop. I always consider my day a success when a re-shoot won't be required.

Dot had a fabulous physical therapy session. It's hard to believe that little more than a year ago, she was having terrible seizures and her rear legs were so weak that she was having trouble walking. She's still an old dog, but she's an old dog with a lot more energy and visibly less pain. I can't attribute Dot's remarkable transformation entirely to acupuncture and water therapy, but I know they have helped. The water therapy has dramatically slowed down the atrophy in her leg muscles and the acupuncture has reduced a lot of the tension in her back and leaves her feeling much more relaxed. Did the acupuncture have something to do with eliminating Dot's seizures?  I'll probably never know for sure. I do know that since we've added underwater treadmill workouts and acupuncture to Dot's regular routine, she has become a healthier and happier dog. That's enough to make me a believer.

When we were taking our evening walk, I noticed three helicopters hovering overhead, two fire department rescue boats on the water, several fire trucks, and an ambulance. I thought somebody's sailboat had capsized again, but when I got home and turned on the news to see what had happened, I discovered that a guy had jumped off a bridge and apparently drowned. It was weird that after two hours of searching, nobody could find the guy. The news anchor covering the story said that two people saw the guy jump and immediately tried to save him. One swimmer almost reached the guy before he disappeared from view. The lake isn't that big or that deep. You'd think the guy would be easy to find if the rescue folks already knew exactly where he hit the water. It's sad that events like this have become so commonplace. Years used to go by without any sort of mishap in the park. Now, these drowning incidents seems like an almost weekly occurrence.

I'm going to have to make going to the dentist a higher priority. One of my rear molars is starting to hurt and I'm starting to worry that I might need a root canal. As many of you probably already know, I have an irrational fear of going to the dentist. I don't even like to take the dogs to the dentist, although I know it is very important. I eventually do the right thing. Dash had his teeth cleaned earlier this year and Dot has her dental appointment scheduled for next week. Yes, I know. I should probably schedule my own dental appointment as well.

I'm scared of taking the dogs to the dentist because I had a friend once who had a dog who died after a routine dental exam. I trust my vet, but I still worry. My own worries are different. Every time I go to the dentist, they want to take out my wisdom teeth. I've seen how deep the roots are on x-rays. Removing these wisdom teeth seems like major surgery. I always tell the dentist that I've had these teeth my entire life and they don't bother me. My dentist always responds by telling me that the wisdom teeth are slowly pushing all my other teeth out of place and that if I do nothing, I'll regret it later. I'm sure the dentist is right, but this does absolutely nothing to alleviate my irrational fears.

I'm not sure what I'll be doing tomorrow. I've got a lot of projects in the development stages, but no looming deadlines at the moment. It's hard to get me motivated without a deadline.  I've never missed a deadline, but I don't finish many things early either. You'd think there would be a few things that I'd actually look forward to doing for the shear joy of it all. What would those magical activities be? I guess they'd be like sleeping, eating breakfast, or walking the dogs on a nice day. I do enjoy those three things.

Harley is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day