Day 4681

Brr. Winter arrived a little early this year. The furnace was on when we woke up this morning and it was time for a change in walking attire. I wore long pants on our sunrise walk and added a sweater under my jacket. It wasn't that cold, but it's been a while since we've seen temperatures in the 50's. Dawn loved the cooler weather. She was full of energy this morning and we completed our one mile loop three minutes faster than usual.

It was another good day for a long walk in the park. There was no sense in going to the gym on a day like this. I ate my breakfast and waited a while for the sun to get higher before leaving the house. It never did warm up very much, but the sky was clear and the cold front seems to have cleared away my allergy problems for a while. It felt good not to have a runny nose today. I didn't make great time, but I did OK. I saw quite a few photographers with long telephoto lenses looking for the eagles, but the birds appeared to be in hiding. Watching this quest to see the eagles made me feel like I was walking back in time. It was exactly like this last October.

I've been thinking about deleting several of my social media accounts because I never use them anymore. I keep thinking that some of these accounts might be the source of all the spam I'm getting. I haven't used LinkedIn in years. I couldn't even remember my password. When I finally logged in with a new password, I was surprised to discover that only 11 people have visited in the past two years. There was a time when I thought that LinkedIn might bring me business but it never did. It hardly seemed worth the trouble to delete this abandoned account, so I just turned off everything I could on the settings page and left. I also thought about deleting my Instagram account but then I remembered that NASA likes people to use Instagram when they visit the space center. There was also a time when I regularly posted on Instagram, but it is no longer a showcase for photographers and I've lost interest. Once again it didn't feel like it was worth the trouble to actually delete the account. Who knows. I might start using this again someday.

I've become ambivalent about social media in general. I only continue blogging because I'm determined to reach my 5000 day goal. Blogging definitely isn't like is used to be. I don't think anyone reads the blog anymore. A few friends still read the JPEG images of the blog I post post every day on Facebook, but I don't know if anybody still reads the real blog. The last time I looked at the stats, it showed that I only had two readers per day. That can't be right. This used to be a really popular blog back in the day.

I'll probably wind up right back where I started, writing my daily journal with a ball point pen in a little leather book. Writing is still a useful skill. I have a terrible memory and if I want to know what I was doing back in 1985, it's all there somewhere. I saved all the journals, just like I've saved all the negatives from decades of photography before the digital world was invented. I used to spend hours and hours in the darkroom. I don't think I've developed a roll of film or printed anything in twenty-five years but I used to be pretty good at it.

I don't know why I'm feeling nostalgic today. I guess the world in the rear view mirror seems more appealing than the world looking forward. I haven't turned into a prepper yet, but the future does look bleak. I think I'd be happier if I could bring myself to turn off the computer for good and quit watching cable news. I'm pretty good at amusing myself doing simple things and definitely don't need a daily diet of bad news. 

Little Petey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4671

Shopping isn't easy anymore. I had to go to four different grocery stores to find the things on my list. There was nothing exotic or rare that I was trying to find. It was just ordinary stuff. I had trouble finding shredded wheat. I had even more trouble finding distilled water for the coffee maker. I needed dishwasher detergent. Most stores just had pods. I needed the liquid kind. Same thing with Swiffer dusters. Lots of places had the wet dusters but I wanted the dry variety. 

I think the problem is two-fold. There are still supply chain issues for many common items. The real problem is how stores restock inventory though. Increasingly stores use register receipts to determine what goes on the shelves. If not many people are buying a certain item it gets discontinued. That's why all the stores had plenty of sugar coated mini-shedded wheat, but very few still carry plain shredded wheat. Variety is disappearing from many stores. People like cheap stuff, so there is lots of cheap stuff. There are actually lots of expensive status items too. What's missing these days are the plain, practical items that were commonplace twenty years ago. 

I eventually found everything I needed but it took longer than expected. When I leave the house these days, I feel like I'm entering a dystopian world. Traffic is terrible and nobody knows how to drive anymore. There is an explosion of people making u-turns in the city. You really have to watch when making a turn at an intersection. Somebody making an unexpected, and often illegal u-turn can wind up right in your lane as you are turning. Stores rarely have exactly what you need anymore. I guess that's why Amazon is so popular. At any rate, I'm glad I do this only once a week. Traffic isn't as bad when I go to the gym because I almost always go during the day when most people are at work.

The weather was nice today. It was cloudy most of the day and there was a nice breeze. Even though I didn't get my shopping done until well after noon, it was still cool enough to take a walk in the park. The temperature was in the 70's all day. If this pleasant weather continues next week, I may mow the grass again. It's finally getting cool enough that this might be the last time I need to mow. My pace was just average today. It wasn't too fast and wasn't too slow. I did get a lot of steps though. I had a rare 22,000 step day. This is probably why my feet hurt today. It's probably time to retire my worn out Hokas and start using the new pair I bought recently. Walking a little less wouldn't be a bad idea either.

We're having more power outages now. These outages usually only last a few seconds, but sometimes they happen several times a day. The short outages knock out the Internet and cause all the networked items to reboot. Like the bad traffic and empty store shelves, these power outages are just another sign of the times.  Our power grid is no longer up to the job. A huge number of people have moved to Dallas recently and they use a lot of electricity. These newcomers also probably explain the surge in u-turns on our roads.

Today was a pretty good day. The weather was perfect. I managed to stay active without doing any household chores. Dawn was a little friendlier toward me and we has a delicious dinner of Maryland Crab Cakes and bacon wrapped asparagus. Tomorrow is Dawn's day. Hopefully we will have a nice Sunday outing.

Madison is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4605

Modern life is weird. The phone seems to ring constantly now but I never answer it. All the landline calls are spam. The phone company even knows the calls are spam but still puts them through. Typically, there is a message on the caller ID that says "Suspected Spam" or "Telemarketer." Why are these spammers so relentless about attempting to contact you? I suspect that virtually nobody answers these calls. If someone really wants to contact you these days, they send you a text message. It probably all just comes down to money. Spammers are probably the phone company's best customers.

Nobody knocks on your door anymore. If they did, you definitely wouldn't answer it. If you go out for dinner, you have to be careful where you go. Some places are no longer safe after dark. If your car breaks down on a busy road, you lock the doors, call AAA on your phone and wait for the service vehicle to show up. You can't depend on a friendly stranger for help anymore. When did the world change? It definitely wasn't this way when I was a kid. My friends and I never worried about being kidnapped and half the time our parents never knew where we were. Even when I was in college the world seemed relatively safe. I hitchhiked all over the country during my college years without a care in the world.

I feel like movies like Mad Max and Bladerunner were just preparing us for a dystopian future. Sadly, that future is here. I hate to even turn on the TV anymore because there is nothing but bad news. At least there are dogs. I find solace in dogs and am convinced that they are nicer than most people. I'm sure I'm not the only one who feels this way. There are a lot more pictures of dogs on my Facebook feed than there are of people enjoying each others company.

I may not go out at night anymore, but I still go to the gym during the day. There is nothing threatening about my gym. Most of the members are older like me. They seem quietly determined not to let themselves fall apart. It is somewhat inspirational to see a person even older than I am lap me on the indoor track. I doubt that there are many drug users in this group. I don't know these people but they seem like confident self starters. Even the people in physical therapy seems like they are really trying. Am I slowly becoming a gym rat? I doubt it, but there are definitely worse groups of people to hang out with. The Gym is OK.

Our heat wave seems never ending. It seems strange to read about floods in other parts of the country. We haven't had rain in so long that I've almost forgotten what it feels like. One of the smaller trees in our front yard is dying. I've been watering it, but it seems beyond hope. The asian jasmine ground cover that is out of reach of the sprinkler is dying as well. Almost all the grass in the park is dry and brown. This is not good. The drought will end eventually. Fall is usually our rainy season. Often is seems to rain continually during the State Fair. When the rain begins, there will be a sigh of relief, some temporary joy, and then we'll all start complaining about the rain.

I was surprised that Janet and Dawn went to training class tonight. It was still very hot around sunset. Janet said that Dawn was the only dog in her class and that she got a private lesson with the trainer's dog. The class was short and Dawn didn't get too hot. You can't be too careful in this weather. It will be nicer when we take our sunrise walk tomorrow morning. Sunrise walks are still the best part of the day.

Puppies are today's Dalmatians of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4515

Evidently Dawn thought that the weather was back to normal because she was eager to walk this morning. I was a little reluctant because my feet hurt but we all had a nice walk. My feet remain a mystery. Later in the day they felt fine and I ended up with a total of 23,000 steps.

After breakfast I wrote a letter to my sister and took it to the post office. I used to write tons of letters to people all over the world, but this one to my luddite sister is the end of the line. Nobody writes letters anymore. Few people can even send a decent e-mail message. All you get is a cryptic bare bones text these days. I write one of these letters every month and I kind of enjoy the process. It connects me with an earlier, simpler world filled with typewriters, postage stamps, and the delayed gratification of waiting two to four weeks for a reply.

On the way back from the post office I stopped at the pharmacy because I'd received a message that a prescription was ready. I wasn't low on anything, but I was curious which prescription got automatically filled this time. The pharmacist told me that no prescription had been refilled and that the automated message system must have gotten scrambled again. There were no pills to pick up. Jeez. Is it really that hard to keep track of these meds?  I don't know why they even need an automated refill system. The old way worked fine for decades. When I had about five pills left in the bottle, I would just call a refill in. Worked like a charm.

We got a little rain today, but it didn't really affect anything. Dawn got her morning walk before the rain started and I took my long walk after everything cleared up again. I haven't been up on the roof in a long time. I'm just depending on the pumps to keep the standing water level reasonably low after a rain. Pretty soon the summer heat will just evaporate the water. I'd like to think my roof climbing days are over, but lots can go wrong with a flat roof. One of these day I'm going to have to get up there again.

I finally got the nerve to look at my brokerage account today. Not a pretty sight. It seems like we are in a perfect storm of bad news. Inflation is surging. The stock market is crashing. The country is divided and increasingly polarized. And we seem to have reignited a cold war with Russia. A lot of this pain is self inflicted. In my opinion we never should have locked down the world for two years. You simply can't turn off the global economy and expect it to start up smoothly again. Apparently China still hasn't gotten this message. 

I was surprised at how far I was able to walk today. It probably helped that the temperature was cool, but my feet did hurt this morning. I wonder what happened?  I really need to think of something else to do during the day. I don't know if I'd have the time though. I'm hooked on getting my steps and I'm pretty slow anyway. There really isn't much time for anything else. It's remains a mystery how I managed to get so much done during my working years.

I did manage to get the trash out to the curb this evening. This week has gone really quickly. It still seems like I returned from the observatory yesterday.

Dolly is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3847

I should have brought my good camera when we went to the kennel today. We were greeted by a new dog we hadn't met before. Lucky was a foster who returned to the kennel. She initially went to her foster home before I had a chance to photograph her for the website. Fosters are either temporary or they turn into adoptions and Lucky wasn't destined to be a foster fail. She will still need to find her forever home, but she's going to be perfect for somebody. I'll do her portrait next week.

Lucky seemed quiet and reserved compared to Hank and Charlie. The two boys were full of energy today. They both love to play catch but still need to work on releasing the ball so you can throw it again. Charlie will sit, stay, lie down, and come on command. Hank will automatically sit before receiving a treat now. He's been harder to train since he's deaf, but we are making progress.

Dawn didn't get much of a walk this morning. We noticed that a storm was approaching on the weather radar, so we quickly took a short walk and returned home a few minutes before the downpour started. I'm glad we timed things right today, because the rain was quite heavy. At least the pumps are working again. I think I discovered what the problem was yesterday. The two pumps are in different areas on the roof and if one runs dry before the other, it can overheat and trip a breaker. I watched things more carefully today. Actually the rain was so heavy that there was little danger of either pump running dry.

The rain eventually stopped and I took another walk later in the afternoon to get some more steps. The morning's rain had basically turned to steam. It was incredibly humid outside. I don't know why I continue walking. Probably just because I can't think of anything better to do.

I think It's going to rain again tomorrow. The combination of terrible weather and equally terrible news on TV is starting to take its toll. This summer seems like an episode of Black Mirror. There are conflicting reports about absolutely everything. It shouldn't be raining this much in July. The virus shouldn't be getting worse in July when everyone was so good about distancing in March and April. I'm still irritated that Florida has turned into such a mess. Will I ever get back to Kennedy Space Center again? Will I even have the nerve to fly again? I've gotten used to the idea of our old house falling apart. Now it appears like the entire world is falling apart.

I was initially surprised when international travel ground to a halt. Now it appears that state-to-state travel is being restricted as well. At least we live in a big state. There's plenty to do here in Texas. I'd hate to be locked in a little state like Connecticut. I need to reexamine things and find some activities that are satisfying and enjoyable to do while the world crumbles around you. Reading seems an obvious choice. I used to be a voracious reader, but it's hard for me to pick up a book these days. Oddly, I find it easier to write than to read. I seem to have lost my interest in music as well. At least there are dogs. Dogs are always enjoyable.

Cisco is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3750

The world is starting to look like a Steven King novel. For the first time in years I was able to back out of the driveway during the afternoon rush hour without any worries about traffic. The streets were empty. I took some bills and a letter to my sister to the post office today and there were giant sheets of clear plastic hanging from the ceiling separating the postal employees from the customers. I saw no need to add to the madness and quickly dropped my mail in a letter box and left. I stopped by the bank on the way home and discovered that the lobby was closed but a drive thru window was still open. There were lots of cars at the drive thru, but I was already here, so I waited in line with everybody else. I guess a line of cars is social distancing. All the neighborhood stores and restaurants were closed and parking lots were empty. The lack of activity make me feel uneasy. In one empty parking lot there were two crazy people wandering around aimlessly and yelling loudly at nobody. Was this how The Stand started? I was glad to get back to my own house.

The park was almost empty this morning. Blocking the entrances has made a huge difference. I still saw my neighbors walking their dogs, along with a few cyclists and joggers, but that was it. It was almost like the old days before the city passed a big bond issue and decided to make the park a recreation destination. I enjoyed the solitude but I'm sure this is temporary. Someday the crowds will be back.

I don't know how she did it, but Janet managed to catch a urine sample from Dawn this morning. I haven't had any luck at all. Hopefully, Dawn doesn't have urate crystals or bladder stones. It is a common problem with Dalmatians and you often have to change their diet. Dawn really likes what we are feeding her now so I'd hate to have to switch to a different type of food.

Operating my computer from an external drive is going surprisingly well. The only problem is that the computer is painfully slow. If my company was still busy, fixing the damaged drive would be priority one. A slow computer doesn't seem to matter as much anymore. I'm equally slow. Just about the only thing I use the computer for anymore is writing the blog and storing Dalmatian pictures. I have a feeling that if I deleted all my old client files, I wouldn't even need a huge hard drive anymore.

When you hear on the news that 200,000 people in the United States could die from the virus, it makes you wonder whether you should leave the house at all. I guess you could have your groceries delivered, but who is actually delivering them? So few people are being tested that almost anyone could be a carrier. I still think long daily walks are healthy for both the body and the mind, but what do I know? What if the virus can be aerosolized and is floating around in the air? What if masks actually do work, but are still unavailable? Janet may be sewing masks instead of dog bandannas for next years Dalmatian Rescue gold tournament.

I'm starting to forget what day it is. They all seem the same.

Amy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3320

The original Bladerunner took place in 2019. We don't have replicants or flying cars yet, but in many ways we are already living in a dystopian world. The pumps are falling apart at the place where I regularly get gas. I have to stick my credit card in the slot four or five times before it registers and activates the pump. The thing that prints your receipt is perpetually out of paper and sometimes the switch that selects premium gas doesn't work. I could go somewhere else, but this place is convenient. I've learned to adapt to the dilapidated machinery.

When I go to the grocery store, I rarely get a cart where all four wheels work. Usually at least one wheel is stuck, twirls around aimlessly, or doesn't even touch the ground. Again, I've learned to adapt to pushing a three wheeled cart around the store. Slowly but surely we are getting used to living in a world where nothing works. I don't pick up the phone anymore because it is just an automated voice trying to sell me something. When the cable TV stops working, which it does almost every day, I just turn it off, wait thirty seconds and then turn it on again. Sometimes this works, but nobody knows why. Going to the airport is a nightmare. So is driving in rush hour traffic. This isn't going to end well. Not only have we lost the ability to build a better world, we can't even cope with living in the world we've got.

I certainly don't have any answers, I can barely cope with an old house and a sick dog. Dash wouldn't poop before he went to bed last night, so I knew I wouldn't get much sleep. At around 3 AM, he had to go. He pooped on his puppy training pad, got up, pooped again in the hallway, and then about thirty minutes later, pooped a third time on a fresh puppy pad as we were trying to get back to sleep.

I've been trying to trim Dash's nails while he takes his morning nap. I can usually only trim one or two nails at a time, but he takes a lot of naps, so it's worth a try. Today I managed to trim both his dewclaws. Then I hit the quick on one of the nails on a rear paw which quickly ended today's grooming session. The all black nails are hard to trim because you don't really know where the quick is. It took a while to stop the bleeding. Amazingly, Dash never woke up during this entire process. It was a blessing that he stayed sleeping, because otherwise there would have been blood all over the house.

I think we may have found something that will work to protect the bed at night. It is a rubberized canvas mat that we used to use when we took the dogs in the car. I originally thought that this would be too heavy and awkward on the bed, but it seems to stay in place. Our motto these days is "whatever works."

I read an article today that said gum disease can contribute to the development of Alzheimer's Disease. Maybe this is what is happening with Dash. He does have gum disease and his cognitive abilities have certainly declined. It's really a shame that you can't effectively clean a dog's teeth without anesthesia. We brush his teeth and use an oral rinse to keep his mouth clean, but it is an uphill battle. I wish the vet had cleaned his teeth one more time before everybody decided that Dash wasn't a candidate for anesthesia anymore. They don't think he would wake up if he was anesthetized again. I feel bad that we can't do a better job of keeping Dash's teeth and gums healthy, but we're doing the best we can.

Tomorrow it's time for the gym again. I'd really rather just sleep, but something tells me that in a dystopian world you've got to keep moving.

Jazz is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3197

I spent an enormous amount of time trying to avoid doing anything of consequence today. I wrote a futile letter to the roofer, telling him about the new leak. I used up half my ink trying to unclog the large printer again. I succeeded, but I still don't have anything to print. I tried to revive the batteries on an old DSLR that has sat unused for months. I used to use this camera all the time, but it seems so heavy now. I asked the vintage guitar shop if any of my guitars had sold. Nope, they haven't. On days like these, I usually mow the grass or go up on the roof. The yard is still soggy from recent rains, so that was a good excuse not to mow. It's supposed to rain again tomorrow, so that was an even better excuse not to go up on the roof.

Even though it was a slow day, there were still a few essential tasks. I picked up some more Allopurinol for Dash and some more Metformin for myself. Sometimes it seems like all I do is go to the post office and the pharmacy. I guess I'll have to add going to the dentist to this meager list soon. I got a call today reminding me that it's time for a checkup again. Has it been six months already? Jeez. Time flies when you're doing nothing.

The October auctions are getting closer and closer. I'll have to admit that I'm drawn to this whole process like a moth to a flame. The contemporary art world is a little rich for my blood, but it is very interesting. I've only seen it from the outside before. This will be the only time I get to participate in an event like this. I never had that much art to begin with. When the hammer falls it will be gone.

I wish I was more optimistic. I keep thinking that no one will bid on my art even though one piece is considered "significant." I feel equally nervous about buying stocks although I've been an investor for decades. When my broker makes a recommendation, I can always come up with five reasons why the company will fail. I don't think I'm being negative. In my world, I'm just being realistic. Maybe this is why I've always liked dystopian science fiction. The end is always near. Today's political turmoil doesn't surprise me at all.

Dash fell down in the grass when I took him out to pee this morning. He's so shaky now. I helped him up and he limped back into the house. An hour later, he seemed fine and we took our regular walk. I can't pretend that things are getting better though. They're not. Old age is sad. I've lost too many dogs already. Friends who have been healthy as long as I've known them have cancer now. Too many of my contemporaries have passed away. I have good doctors, very few vices, and a healthy diet. I'm not sure it makes much difference though. When your time is up, it's up.

If tomorrow is a repeat of today, that's OK with me. Not a lot happened, but I wasn't expecting much. Dash was shaky this morning, but he rallied again and ended the day well. At least I made an effort to deal with the roof. Who knows if the roofer will call me back, but the roof is not leaking now. Dinner was delicious tonight. That's always something.

Rosie 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 3106

Years ago I thought nothing about hitchhiking around the country to save a little money. It was fun. Hitchhiking not only seemed safe, it actually was pretty safe. When I wanted to sell something back in the day, I would routinely run a classified ad in the local paper, confident that the buyer would be a nice, honest person. Times have certainly changed. A friend was trying to tell me today how to sell guitars on Craigslist without getting scammed or robbed. Jeez. There were so many precautions to take that it made my head spin. No thank you. Why would anyone trust someone on Craigslist or eBay these days? It's sad. These once promising marketplaces have become a minefield.

Maybe some of the bright young people who work at Space X still see a world filled with limitless opportunities. I tend to see Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome. Where has civility and simple decency gone?  We live in a world where people follow the UPS truck and steal packages off your porch. Real estate agents are frightened to show a house alone these days because of all the stories about assaults and robberies. Even police officers have stopped riding in their squad cars without a partner.

Dystopian science fiction has become way too close to real life. I think I prefer the simple minded black and white worlds of Perry Mason, The Kingston Trio, and Leave it to Beaver. Strangely, few people seem to want to follow me back to the 1950's. Hey, I'd gladly trade my cell phone for a world where you didn't have to lock your door at night.

Time only moves forward unfortunately. I still spend my days waiting for the roofer and the landscaper. I actually got a text message this morning saying that the dead grass will be replaced tomorrow morning. We'll see. I'm not going to get my hopes up though. I've heard promises before.

They did the wrong test on Dash's poop at the vet. I'm glad to know that he doesn't have parasites, but I still don't know whether there is any internal bleeding. I'll have to get another stool sample and have them do the test again. I thought I was pretty clear about what Dash needed, but maybe not. Janet says I mumble a lot and people don't really listen to me.

Dash has started eating grass again this evening. We've got our fingers crossed and hope he doesn't throw up tonight. If we're really lucky, we'll all sleep well and his poop will look normal in the morning. I try to focus on simple things like this. The world close to home still makes sense. Everything else is starting to seem like an episode of Black Mirror.

Derrick is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2848

The refrigerator part that was supposed to arrive today won't be here until next Monday. Am I surprised? Not really. Am I disappointed? Of course. It takes a lot of patience to get something repaired these days. No wonder so many people just download a YouTube video and try to do things themselves.

In an attempt to keep the refrigerator working until the repairmen arrive, I pulled it out from its cubby hole in the kitchen, removed the back panel, and tried to clean the condenser coil. You're supposed to do this once a year, but it's just too difficult. I'm not even sure that I found the condenser coil, but I cleaned something that was very dirty and looked like a coil. After working in the cramped space behind the refrigerator for an hour, I found it difficult to extricate myself. The knee joints just aren't that flexible anymore. I have a feeling that I'll have to defrost the evaporator coil with a hair dryer later this week. I've done this several times already. If I keep this up, I could probably become a refrigerator repairman myself.

The cancer center called and rescheduled Dash's appointment several times today. The first schedule change was because the technician doing the echocardiogram wasn't going to be at the clinic in the afternoon. The second schedule change was because there was an out of town emergency appointment that required an ultrasound scan as soon as the dog arrived. We're still going tomorrow, but our appointment is a lot earlier than it originally was. My biggest concern is getting Dash to poop before we put him in the car. Since there won't be time for a morning walk, this might be a problem. We really hope that the echocardiogram shows some improvement in Dash's heart. He does seem to have more energy and is eating better, so maybe the Plavix pills are working.

I found some stuff that is supposed to be good for repairing shoes. It's called Shoe Goo. I was going to attempt to repair Dash's protective booties today, but I discovered that a seam had torn and needed to be sewed back together first. I wish I knew how to use Janet's fancy new sewing machine. I used to use the old Singer machine to make small repairs all the time, but this new machine seems very unfamiliar. I just don't want to risk breaking it. Dash's boots will still get repaired. It just might take a little longer.

It's getting to the point where I am reluctant to even turn on the television. The news has become an endless parade of disasters. Where is the good news? All I see are floods, hurricanes, massive wildfires, mass shootings, and threats of nuclear war. It almost feels like we are living in some dystopian science fiction novel. There is no real solution to this mess, so perhaps the best thing is to turn off the TV and concentrate on things that are closer to home.

Dash's health is certainly close to home. I really hope we get a good report tomorrow.

Kuuipo is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 2397

I thought the plumber would only be here about five minutes. I mean, how long could it take to tighten a few loose bolts? I was wrong again. After a lengthy investigation, the plumber determined that there were several defective parts in the brand new faucet. "Since you bought the faucet, we can't pay for these parts," the plumber told me. "Your other plumber was right with me when I bought it," I told him. "I only paid for the parts myself, so you guys wouldn't mark them up 40% on my bill." This apparently didn't matter. Neither did the fact that the first plumber should have noticed that he was installing defective parts. I got the plumbing supply store to exchange the parts for free, but today's plumber still insisted that he had to charge me for today's service call. He said he was going to give me a big discount since this never should have happened, but my bill was still over $150.

As you might expect, Dot freaked out when the plumber arrived and pooped all over the place. After I got the mess cleaned up and managed to calm Dot down, the plumber had to leave to pick up the replacement parts from the plumbing supply store. When he returned an hour later, Dot acted like she'd never seen the plumber before and pooped again. It's been a long day. Sadly, it's also been a fairly typical day. Nothing seems to go as expected anymore.

As I was working today, I watched portions of the the hearing where FBI Director James Comey was testifying before congress about their recently concluded investigation of Hillary Clinton. It sure looked like the fix is in to me. In one astounding exchange, Comey openly admitted that Clinton had lied numerous times. He then admitted that lying to Congress under oath was a federal crime that you could go to prison for. He completely failed to connect the dots however and defended his decision not to prosecute Clinton, saying only that nobody had asked the FBI to investigate Clinton for perjury. He also said that Clinton wasn't under oath when she testified to the FBI and that their conversation with her wasn't even recorded. Unbelievable.

Watching this spectacle this morning just reinforces my belief that our country is hopelessly broken. We have become so divided that I don't think anyone will be able to fix it. The Democrats on the committee kept trying to divert the hearing into a conversation about police shootings. The Republicans just seemed dumbfounded that the FBI Director kept saying things like the Secretary of State might not have been sophisticated enough to recognize security designations on an e-mail message. I have a feeling that this isn't over yet.

I hope that the bathroom sink never leaks again. Truthfully, I'd rather live with a leak than deal with plumbers. I'm so tired of dealing with things that don't work the way I've been promised. It doesn't matter whether it's an expensive car repair that should have been covered under the vehicle warranty, a broadband router that the cable company managed to ruin during their testing procedure, or a brand new faucet that was full of defective parts. Nothing works properly anymore and everyone keeps trying to make excuses for their own incompetence. Maybe in this context, today's congressional hearings weren't strange at all. Maybe this is just the way things are in an increasingly dystopian world.

Delaney is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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