Day 4951

Janet returned home this evening and Dawn is beyond happy. I think a week alone with me is about her limit. For the most part she's been very good, but this morning I was worried enough about her that I almost took her to the vet. She seemed very agitated and tore up her dog bed in the kitchen. Then she tried to hide in all the wrong places, like inside closets and behind the television. I took her outside and she was panting heavily. I don't know whether she had a mild seizure or was just having a panic attack. At any rate after about fifteen minutes she was completely back to normal and there were no problems for the rest of the day. It will be nice to finally go on a walk with her again tomorrow. She has refused to take a walk all week.

The last time Janet went on vacation Dawn seemed to relax as the week wore on. This time she seemed to become a little more stressed with each passing day. She is a very fearful dog and it doesn't take much to get her shivering and shaking. I think today she might have just given up hope that Janet was ever returning and thought she might be stuck with me forever. All is well now though. I hope she remembers that these vacations don't last forever the next time Janet goes someplace. 

Once I was convinced that Dawn was fine I went to the gym. Walking around the indoor track is the only way I'm going to get my steps this summer. It's way too hot to go walking in the park. When I took Dawn out to pee this morning it was already 90 degrees. It didn't take long for the temperature to climb over 100. I didn't stay long at the gym today. I was still a little worried about Dawn and came home as soon as I finished my three miles around the indoor track. I picked up a few groceries on the way home but I'll probably have to go to the store again tomorrow. 

My call to tech support yesterday accomplished nothing. I'm still getting the spoofed e-mail spam that appears to come from me. The person I talked with yesterday sounded pretty convincing and I actually thought the problem was solved. I should have known better. These guys have never really helped me before. Why should they start now. 

I hope Janet has some ideas about how to get rid of the pile of stuff in the living room that used to reside in the utility room. I have no idea where to put these things now that we no longer have a shelf. Our closets are full and the storage warehouse is getting pretty full as well. Some of the things could be thrown away, but at least half the stuff are things we use all the time. All these problems could have been avoided if the building inspector didn't have to inspect new water heaters. The way the shelf in the utility room was attached before worked well for over fifty years. It's a shame that the rules had to change at a time when I've lost all patience with bureaucracies. Getting a new drivers license was a pain. So was getting approved for TSA Pre. I never dreamed that getting a water heater would be a hassle too.

I guess I'm just getting old and grumpy. Dawn and I should get along great because she's old and grumpy as well. Neither of us like dealing with change. All in all, I think we did pretty well this week. We're both glad Janet is back though. It takes a team to keep this house running.

Lizzy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 4950

A plumber came by this morning to add a circular flashing around the hole where the vent from the water heater went through the ceiling. He said this would be necessary when the building inspector arrived later in the day. About two hours later the inspector arrived, spent about a minute looking at the installation with a flashlight, and said everything was up to code. He handed me a little receipt saying that everything was OK and told me to keep it in a safe place. It was unclear why all this was necessary until the inspector told me what he sees sometimes. "You wouldn't believe it," he told me. "I found a guy two weeks ago storing gasoline for his lawn mower right next to the gas water heater." I thanked the guy for coming out and kind of wished he would inspect my new roof too.

This week has gone quickly. I follow a list every day to make sure I don't forget anything with Dawn. I think she appreciates it that I do everything in exactly the same order as Janet does. The only real difference in our schedule is that we sleep in later now. I can see no reason to get up early. The day is long enough as it is.

It's still a mystery to me why Dawn won't come out to the kitchen and eat her breakfast. It's really hard to get her off the bed in the morning. She would eagerly follow Janet around in the mornings, but I guess this is different. The only time she acts normal now is when I'm doing something that was always part of her daily routine. When I fix her dinner at 5:15, she runs right out to her bowl in the kitchen and eats normally.   She does the same thing for her bedtime snack. Breakfast is a tough one though. I had to feed her breakfast in bed again this morning and then stay out of sight while she ate.

It was way too hot for a walk in the park this morning, so I went to the gym again after I finished with the building inspector. I like going to the gym around lunchtime because there are fewer people at this time of day and I have a better chance of finding a parking place in the covered parking garage. My routine has been exactly the same for several weeks now, but that's fine by me. I walked three miles on the indoor track and shot baskets for about fifteen minutes before I headed home again. My pace on the track was good today. I like seeing progress. My elapsed time on a good day is often four minutes faster than on a bad day.

I always try to get Dawn to eat lunch with me, but so far she just stays in the bedroom. She will go outside and pee though. I guess this seems normal to her, because I'm often the one who takes her outside when Janet is home. It's clear that Dawn doesn't want anything new in her life. She trusts Janet, but when I'm here by myself she reverts to kennel mode. Sadly, I will probably always be a kennel attendant to her.

I called my Internet Service Provider this afternoon and asked if they could help me stop the people who were spoofing my e-mail address. The tech support person I talked to knew exactly what I was talking about. Evidently spoofing is a common way to send spam. Tech support said they made several changes on my mail server that should prevent unauthorized people from spoofing my account. We'll see if this works. With any e-mail changes it can take up to 24 hours before the change propagates through the Internet. Hopefully tomorrow the spoofing deluge will stop.

I still don't know what I'm going to do with all the stuff that used to be on the long shelf in the utility room. Now that the shelf is gone, it's all sitting in a pile on the living room floor. Janet likes to declutter and throw things away, so  hopefully she can make this pile a lot smaller when she returns home. Maybe I'll still think about building a new smaller shelf, but it would be a lot easier to just get rid of most of this stuff.

Dolly is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4928

Last night's rain cooled things down a little this morning, but the temporary respite from our ongoing heat wave didn't last long. By mid-morning it was already hot and muggy again. At least Dawn got a nice early walk this morning. It's a shame that it's too hot for her to walk in the afternoon, but at least she gets a little activity.

With a forecast that includes triple digit temperatures for the next ten days, I don't think I'm going to be walking in the park for a while. I ate my weekday breakfast of shredded wheat and fruit and then headed for the gym to attempt to renew my membership. It turned out the the whole membership issue was no big deal. They told me that they just need to confirm that all my information was correct once a year. I'm still a member in good standing.

I only accomplished two things today, I walked three miles on the indoor track and I shot some baskets on the basketball court. I'm really glad I didn't have to change gyms. My favorite things about this gym are the basketball court and the nice indoor track. For some reason I like using the indoor track a lot more than using a treadmill. The basketball court is just for fun. I'm not very good, but I enjoy shooting baskets.

The Internet is definitely not fun anymore. Navigating websites has become a password hell, now that everyone is demanding unique and complex passwords that are impossible to remember. Gone are the days on innocence where I used to use the same password for everything. I'm beginning to think my Luddite sister is right. Who needs this? I had to call my hosting company today and ask if they could get rid of the person or people who are spoofing or cloning my e-mail address. At least once a week I find mail in my spam folder that appears to come from me. I'm sure other people get this spam as well. The tech support guy said he'd increase the spam protection on my account so I would no longer see these messages. "You're missing the point," I said. "I don't care if I see them. I don't want the rest of the world getting spam that appears to come from me." We'll see if the hosting company can do anything. My hopes aren't very high at this point.

I got my known traveler number from TSA today. Wow. That was quick. I thought I'd be getting a physical card to keep in my wallet, but that's apparently not the way it works. You add your known traveler number to your profile on the various airline sites you use and then when you book a flight it shows up on your boarding pass that you are TSA Pre approved. I guess we'll see how this works the next time I travel. If it works this will save me a ton of time at the Orlando airport.

Janet has a vacation planned and I'm practically begging Dawn to bond with me before she leaves. The last time Janet went on vacation Dawn was a mess. She wouldn't even come out in the kitchen to eat her breakfast. I had to feed her breakfast in bed. Eventually I got her used to going down to the park with me to do her business, but she never would take a walk with me. As soon as she pooped, she headed straight back to the house. Life would be much less stressful for Dawn if she understood that I really liked her and would never harm her. This may never happen though. Dawn spent too many year being used as a breeding dog by two guys who weren't nice at all.

It looks like tomorrow will be another day just like today. The temperature is going to keep getting a little hotter every day for the next ten days. I really hope we don't have a power outage or air conditioner problems. Next month's electric bill is going to be sky high, but that's the price you pay for living in Texas in the summer.

Kirby is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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