Day 3803

Dawn woke us up last night barking at the wind and rain. She's not scared of storms, but definitely doesn't like things that go bump in the night. The power went out just long enough to cause all the backup power supplies to start beeping which got Dawn barking all over again. Eventually things calmed down and we all went back to sleep. I reset the clocks and timers in the morning and wondered why we were having such a rainy Spring.

We walked Dawn as soon as we woke up since it looked like it was going to rain again. Starting early was a good idea. The rain never arrived and it ended up getting quite warm and humid later in the morning. I didn't feel like going up on the roof today, but since the pumps are working I don't think there will be a lot of standing water. Maybe I'll do this tomorrow.

My chore for the day was mowing the grass in the front yard. I think I'm the only one in the neighborhood who still mows my own grass. It's not my favorite chore but it's a small yard and I don't feel like dealing with a lawn care service. Pushing the mower does seen a little harder with each passing year however. Maybe I'm just a creature of habit. I've mowed this yard for as long as I can remember.

I had a lot of things on my grocery list today. I found most of the items we needed fairly easily but I don't think Clorox Wipes are ever going to return to the shelves. Shopping is certainly different now. Although stores are officially open again, it looks like some of the pandemic rules are here to stay. I'm still not a fan of one way aisles.

My e-mail server was down for most of the day. Being without e-mail is no great loss. Most of my messages are spam anyway. I never learned what the problem was but it must have been major. Service wasn't restored until almost supper time.

We haven't had barbecue for a while so I picked up some ribs from one of my favorite barbecue places. The restaurant was open for table service, but there wasn't a single customer inside. All the table were spaced out for social distancing and there was a full staff on duty. I really feel sorry for restaurant owners. They really got hit hard by the pandemic and it still doesn't seems very fair. I hope this place manages to stay in business. They definitely know how to smoke meat.

I keep getting letters from my gym telling me to be patient. They still can't decide when they are going to open again. I'll probably return to the gym as soon as they open. The place was never very crowded to begin with. I'm not so sure about restaurants. Many of the places I like are quite small. I guess we all choose what to believe about this virus. The theory that recirculating air from building air conditioning systems might be a problem sounds reasonable to me. I guess that's the problem in airplanes as well. My plan is to wait a month and let other people try these things first. We'll see how bold I actually am if I manage to get media accreditation for the upcoming Mars 2020 launch this Summer.

I didn't have much to write about today. I may have even less tomorrow. No Sunday plans at all.

Willie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2988

It's been such a gloomy week that it's hard to believe Spring is on the way. The signs are everywhere though. The Redbud and Dogwood trees are starting to bloom. I've started to see a few Grape Hyacinths. It won't be long before there are a multitude of wildflowers to photograph.

For now, all we have is more rain. Maybe that's why so many things are starting to bud and bloom. Plants probably love this weather. The winter hasn't been too cold, but it has been exceedingly wet. There seems to be a pattern to the rain. It usually rains during the night. Then the rain stops or slows to a mist during the early morning hours. Around 10 AM the rain often starts again and continues off and on for the rest of the day. At least this schedule allows me to give Dash a morning walk. If the rain continues through the afternoon, Dash and I both have cabin fever.

Even though I knew the car was going to get dirty, I drove to the tailor shop in the rain to pick up the jacket that was getting a new zipper. The well worn jacket is nice to wear around the house on a cold day. Hey, if I'm willing to drive somewhere in the rain, you know I'm pretty bored.

While I was listening to the rain and wondering what was happening on the roof, I put together my proposal for the website I've been asked to maintain. I tried to be honest about the many pitfalls this project faces, without being overly negative. I still can't decide whether I even want this job. It would be nice to have a monthly retainer for a while, but I'm not sure I can fix this site. It's a mess. I think it would be easier to start over and create a new one.

Janet wasn't very enthusiastic about the tall, skinny refrigerators I showed her. It's back to square one. I still have trouble believing that there is only one refrigerator in the entire world that will fit in our small alcove and still hold enough food to keep someone who cooks happy. I rarely cook, so anything that fits in the space and looks cool is fine with me. I know there is going to be an unpleasant surprise if I order something that I haven't seen in person, but that appears to be only choice we've got. The Maytag that is still the top contender is on back order until the end of March too. I have a feeling that I'm going to have to defrost a few more times.

I've been having problems sending e-mail because my mail client keeps saying that the server certificate in not valid. I hate all these new security issues. Mail servers didn't used to need a certificate. At any rate I called Bluehost and was lucky enough to get a nice tech support person this time. They said the problem was because I was using an Apple computer. Isn't that always the problem? I learned how to reconfigure my mail settings so the problem shouldn't happen again and now everything should be OK again.

I hope the rain clears out tonight. We've got an early appointment to take Dash to the cancer center for his monthly echocardiogram in the morning. I wish Dash would let the nurse clip his nails while we were there. I don't know what we are going to do about his nails. They are getting pretty long.

Connor is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2461

The day didn't start auspiciously. We weren't able to get Dot outside quickly enough and she peed on one of the large rugs again. In an effort to get the dogs walked before Janet had to go to work, I didn't make the bed, and of course that's where Dash hopped with muddy paws as soon as we got home. As soon as one of the soiled rugs came out of the washer, the sheets went in.

I shouldn't have bothered to go out for breakfast,  By the time I got finished taking Dash on a second longer walk, it was already too late. The sweet spot where the restaurant was relatively empty was over and I was forced to eat with a large crowd who had pushed several tables together for an impromptu business meeting. I keep changing destinations, but I can't seem to bring back the old magic. Eating out on Friday morning just isn't as much fun as it used to be.

I worked on a writing assignment today, but I had trouble getting the finished piece to its destination because the client's anti-spam software kept blocking me. This is especially irritating, because although I'm on the receiving end of a lot of spam, I'm definitely not a spammer myself. Apparently, the Securence anti-spam service the client uses really doesn't like Bluehost, where I have my e-mail account. Good grief guys, Bluehost is a large, reputable company with millions of customers. Somebody in the client's IT department needs to figure out a way to Whitelist me. It's hard enough doing these assignments, without having to jump through hoops to get them where they need to go.

Dot was restless today. It seems like I spent half the day helping her walk back and forth to her water bowl. She'd want to go outside and then as soon as I got her out on the back porch, she'd want to come back in again. We did this over and over again. I can tell that her lack of mobility is frustrating for Dot, but I don't know what to do about it. Like it or not, if she's going to go anywhere, she's going to need me to be her back legs.

The trash truck picked up my garbage this morning, but it didn't do so well with my neighbor's garbage. The robotic arm that picks up the cans must have malfunctioned, because it ended up dumping their garbage all over their front lawn. The truck didn't even bother to stop and try again, because the garbage was still there the last time I looked. The city should go back to the old way of picking up trash. More people will be employed and grumpy homeowners like me will be a lot happier.

The new Apple Watch has built in GPS and the new iPhone 7 has a much better camera. Why does Apple keep doing this to me? I have way too much Apple stuff already, and now I wish I had these two newcomers as well. Do I actually need a new phone? Of course not. Now that I've found a place that will replace my phone batteries for a reasonable price, I might never need a new phone.

What I do need is more sleep. Janet can't get Dot to pee at night, so I have to take her outside an hour after everyone else has gone to sleep. I'm usually the one who wakes up in the middle of the night to clean up her poop too. It's wearing me out. My fitness tracker says I'm getting absolutely no deep sleep, but lots of REM sleep. I know I'm dreaming a lot, but ten seconds after I wake up, the dreams evaporate. I can't even remember whether they were good dreams or bad dreams. If the dreams are better than my day time existence, it would be nice if I remembered them.

Chief is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2439

I keep getting e-mail messages from companies trying to convince me to automate my house. Why? If I got one of those fancy WiFi door locks, it would only work a few months a year. The soil shifts a lot in Dallas and for much of the year doors and windows don't line up exactly, making them difficult to open. The front door is particularly difficult to open in August. It will be fine again in December. Elbow grease works fine for sticky doors. I'd be pretty irritated if I bought a WiFi door lock and had to wait until December for the deadbolt to line up perfectly with the door frame. I suppose I could turn the lights on and off with my phone, but I think the conveniently placed light switches on the wall are much easier to use than my balky WiFi network. I already have a WiFi thermostat that I can talk to. We seldom have conversations though. It's much easier to adjust the temperature manually on my way to the kitchen. My point is that all of these new automated home systems rely on your phone to function properly. I'm sorry to tell you this AT&T, but my phone is the least reliable piece of equipment in the house.

I paid a bunch of bills today and I feel poor again.  If I just had three or four new clients, I wouldn't have to deal with these monthly ups and downs. I think about this every month, but I'm not sure where the business is going to come from. Most of the marketing directors and brand managers I've worked with over the years have either retired or died. It's certainly not hopeless, but I think there's a better chance of me living on Mars than striking up a working relationship with the current batch of millennials who have taken my place in the ad industry. What I need to find are some really old people who think they need a website even though they actually don't.

The rainy weather continues. I haven't gotten sick of the rain yet, but that day is coming. If it's a rule that Dot only poops when I'm in the shower, it's a corollary to that rule that it starts to rain whenever I have to run an errand. For the past three days, it has started to rain as soon as I backed the car out of the driveway. It could be worse though. I'm dry in the car. What I really hate is when it starts to rain when I'm about a mile away from home walking Dash.

I'm having e-mail problems again. Messages are sent, but they are not received. I've almost concluded that it isn't worth the trouble to resolve these problems. They are usually temporary and they seldom have a plausible explanation. Even tech support sometimes says, "Just try it again in a few minutes." The first ten years I was online, I seldom had any problems. I miss those days. Dial-up modems and renting VHS movies at Blockbuster were just fine by me. I miss my old analog OKI 900 phone too. Those were the days.

Dot didn't have any accidents in the house today. Of course the day isn't over yet. I remembered to take the trash out to the curb too. Even though it was wet and rainy, it wasn't a bad day at all.

Lucy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2404

Dot walked down to the end of our alley and back this morning. It was a very short walk, but it was a big step. We're making progress. She can support her weight on both front legs now and is able to walk slowly without an obvious limp. I know that Dot would like to walk further than the 300 hundred yard journey she took today, but she doesn't know her own limits. We're going to have to take this very slowly.

I finished my last writing assignment this morning and sent it off to the client. At least I think I sent it to the client. I'm still having e-mail problems. You'd think it would be easy for my hosting company to track down the spammer who is causing all the problems, but apparently not. It seems like they could just flag the high volume mail coming from the suspect IP address and see who was sending it. What do I know though. Maybe in today's politically correct environment, making an effort to track down the spammer  who is getting me blocked violates someone's privacy.

I continue to read articles about bee colonies disappearing around the world, along with an absence of birdsong in many forests. I'm sure this is true, but you'd never know it here. When I take Dash on his early morning walks, I am surrounded by a symphony of chirping birds and am amazed at all the bees I see busily pollinating flowers. Lake levels are high, ducks are having ducklings, and the tall prairie grass provides a home for tons of small animals. The world may be falling apart, but it is comforting to know that my little corner of it appears to be doing just fine.

Maybe this is why I stick close to home these days. Many of the places I used to visit seem like they belong in a horror movie now. I've been to Nice. It's a lovely city. Never in my wildest dreams would I have imagined that a terrorist attack would someday turn this picturesque French Riviera town into a kill zone tonight. This is only going to get worse unless we can acknowledge what is really happening. There is a war going on between Western Civilization and a medieval religion. Only one side can win. It's not just a few bad apples who are causing all these problems, it's an ideology.

I'm glad this week is almost over. It's been stressful dealing with Dot's latest mishap. I understand how frail Dot has become and worry that if I let her fall or do something wrong, she might never walk again. So far, we're making progress, but it isn't easy. I hope my e-mail problems get resolved soon. Clients typically aren't very patient and if it isn't easy to communicate with them, they just might go somewhere else. I'm not a spammer. I don't think it's fair that I suffer the consequences when someone using the same IP address is. When I asked my hosting company how many of their customers might currently be using the suspect IP address, they said it could be in the thousands. Hey, that's not my problem. They still should fix this. If I had a larger audience I would call them out, but I don't think they're very scared of my ten readers.

I've got to have a fasting blood test before I can go to breakfast tomorrow. I should have done this two months ago, but it hasn't been a priority. I've had so much blood work done over the years that I don't think I'm going to learn anything new. My doctor still likes to do these tests at least once a year, so I guess tomorrow is as good a day as any.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2403

Pokémon GO must really be a thing. I've started seeing a huge increase in the number of kids wandering aimlessly around the park while staring at their phones. I don't understand this phenomenon at all, but then I haven't played video games since Pong first arrived on the scene in 1972. The wireless carriers must love this new game. I have a feeling that a lot of these very rare Pokémon's are located well out of WiFi range.

Dot is improving. With a little assistance, she can walk slowly around the back yard now. I still have to guide her and provide some support, but I can tell that her coordination is starting to improve and she can take steps without trying to hop on one leg. It's a long, slow process to provide the rest she needs without causing her muscles to atrophy further. Like almost everything we do these days, we're taking baby steps.

I spent most of the day writing. I continue to send the completed articles to the same address that has been blocking me. I think the block has been lifted, because my mail is no longer bouncing back to me. Unfortunately, my client still can't find my messages. I think they are getting through, but are probably being quarantined in a spam folder somewhere. I send duplicate files for the time being, using both my regular account and an alternate Gmail account. I kind of wish I still had my old fax machine. It would be quicker to just fax the completed articles.

Dot's injured leg has actually provided some good news for Dash. Since Dot can't walk now, I'm taking Dash on much longer morning walks after Dot goes back to sleep after breakfast. We don't spend any more time away from home, but we walk twice as fast and cover a lot of ground. Dot's decline has taken place over such an extended length of time that I didn't really realize how much shorter our walks have become. Dash enjoys the exercise, but I'm arriving home a bit more winded than I expected. We really walked a long way when the dogs were young. I have no idea how many steps we used to take however. This was long before fitness trackers were invented.

My life is calm and steady, but every time I turn on the TV it appears like the world is in chaos. I would love to return to the days of looking forward to watching The Twilight Zone on a black and white TV with rabbit ears. I grew up in an era when nobody locked their doors at night, never wore seat belts, and thought that TV Dinners were just fine to serve company for dinner. Everybody smoked and we were only vaguely aware of cancer and the dangers of high cholesterol. We build nuclear weapons with reckless abandon and even thought we could build nuclear powered airplanes and cars. I miss those days. In an attempt to make the world a better, more rational place, we only managed to make things worse. That's the way it is with Pandora's box. You can open it, but you can never close it again.

Maybe my e-mail problems will be resolved tomorrow. If Dot continues to improve, we might try taking her on a very short walk down the alley behind our house. Baby steps.

Watson is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day