Day 2107

I wonder who reads this? According to Google, I have between 200 and 400 visitors every day. I can only account for about 17 of these people however. Actually, 17 readers is pretty generous. Maybe there are only 5. Back when blogging was new and somewhat popular, I though I might become an online Dave Barry, regaling readers with the humorous absurdities of everyday life. It is now pretty obvious that I am writing for myself. I write for the same reasons that a fitness advocate becomes compelled to do 50 push-ups on waking, or ride twenty miles on a bicycle before breakfast. It's an obsession.

I've convinced myself that writing is a more effective way to postpone dementia than solving Sudoku puzzles. It certainly helps take my mind off a perpetual cycle of cleaning up dog poop and fixing broken things around the house. That being said, it will probably take more than a blog post to compensate for today. Dot had three separate accidents in the house today. As soon as I got one set of soiled rugs and blankets cleaned, it was time to throw a new set in the washer. Sometimes I can predict when Dot needs to go outside. Other times I am completely surprised. Today was a bad day, but tomorrow might be completely normal. The incontinence certainly isn't Dot's fault. As much as I hate cleaning up dog poop, I've just got to learn to go with the flow. This is all part of the aging process and the same thing might happen to me someday.

I watched the Pope arrive in Washington DC this afternoon and was amused to see him drive off in a tiny little Fiat 500 after greeting the president and dignitaries. It looked like a clown car. Everything has become a symbol in today's world. I'm sure the small, humble car wasn't an accident. Democrats see the Pope as their friend because he cares about the plight of immigrants and worries about global warming. Republicans see the pope as their friend because he is does not support abortion or gay marriage. Everyone seems to forget that the Pope is not a politician at all. He's a religious leader. If the Pope agrees with you it is only because the Catholic Church agrees with you.

Dot's vet is changing her schedule around and we will no longer be able to have our physical therapy sessions on Thursday afternoons. This week, our physical therapy session will be tomorrow. We've never gone on Wednesday before, so hopefully it's not a bad traffic day. After a transition period, we will start doing our therapy sessions in the morning. I'm not sure I like this, but like I said earlier, you have to learn to go with the flow.

Sometimes things turn up in my photographs that I'm not even aware of when I take the picture. Tonight's picture of the setting sun revealed a jet contrail that was tangent to the base of the sun. If you click on the picture and enlarge it, you can clearly see the jet and its exhaust plume. It kind of looks like a thread of fire being pulled out of the sun.

I wish we didn't have to wait until November for Daylight Saving Time to end. The days are getting shorter and it is really dark when we start our morning walk. I can still see the constellation Orion in the morning sky, along with the planets Venus and Jupiter. I'm always amazed at how quickly the sky brightens at sunrise. The stars are out when we start our walk and the sun is up before we finish. It's really a beautiful time of day. Dot pooped so much today that maybe there's nothing left. Let's hope so. I'd like a good night's sleep.

Sadie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1928

I was a model of efficiency today. I got up at 6 AM and walked Dash in the dark. Less than an hour later, I was eating breakfast at my favorite restaurant. By the time Janet left for work, I had already returned home, switched on the computer and was ready to start the day. It's too bad that I'm not a morning person. It's actually quite pretty walking the dogs just before Dawn. I could still see the stars when Dash and I left the house this morning. As the sky slowly brightened, the birds began to sing. By the time  we returned home, the Eastern horizon had an orange glow and the day had commenced. As pretty as this celestial progression was, I'd still rather sleep in.

I had lots of work to do today and the dogs were surprisingly cooperative. They both slept soundly for most of the morning, allowing me to write two new articles and update five websites. Dot didn't even wake up when the roofers arrived around 10:30 AM. I was sure that all the banging around on the roof would startle Dot and start a frenzy of barking, but she slept through the entire repair job. Dot is slowly going deaf and occasionally that's a blessing. I doubt highly that the roof is as good as new, but the roofers were quite nice and took care of everything I pointed out to them. With any luck, the roof is good to go for at least another year, when we'll probably have to patch and repair all over again.

I'm amazed at how well Dot is walking now. Several times a day, I take her out in the back yard with a leash tied to the rear handle of her harness. This way she can walk on her own, while I still have a way to protect her from falling if she slips. Each day Dot's sense of balance and her ability to hold up her own weight improves a little more. We walked around in the yard for almost ten minutes this afternoon and Dot never faltered or slipped. My main job now is to keep her from doing something stupid. She would still run after the neighborhood cats if she could and she hasn't quite learned that the only way to stay stable is to walk on the carpets and stay away from slick surfaces. We're getting there though, one step at a time.

I've already got a long list of things to do tomorrow. There are checks that never made it to the bank, bills that never got paid, and prescriptions that need to be refilled. The grocery list is pretty long as well. The only thing I don't seem to need is gasoline. I don't spend very much time at the pump anymore, since I don't go anywhere. I think I only spent $9 on gas last week.

This would probably be a good weekend to see if the lawn mower works. If I wait much longer to mow the front lawn, the grass will be too tall for the mower to handle. I think all the vegetation has come to the conclusion that Spring is here. Lawns are green again and flowering trees like redbuds and dogwoods are in bloom. The wildflowers are still a long way from reaching their peak, but I see a new variety start to come into bloom almost every day. The only bad thing about Spring is that the wasps and roaches return. It's almost time for the snakes to return as well. Before I get too euphoric about Spring, I need to remember that this is when my seasonal allergies start to flare up as well.

Now that I have the car configured perfectly for Dot, I just realized that I will have to take everything apart again whenever I need to transport Dash. Dash won't let me pick him up and place him in the car. He flays about in a panic whenever I try, so I just let him jump in by himself through the tailgate when we need to go somewhere. I'm not sure where he's going to ride now.

Despite all the difficulties, this month has gone pretty fast. Problems get solved and new problems arise to replace them. I guess this is what life is all about. Sometimes I think it's all a weird game of Whack-a-mole.

Chloe is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1704

The day passed surprisingly quickly, considering how little I actually got accomplished. I had a pleasant pre-dawn walk with the dogs. When the sun came up, I had an equally pleasant breakfast at my favorite restaurant. Maybe I'm just imagining things, but Dot's incontinence seems to be improving a bit. We almost made it till 4 AM this morning before she had to go outside. There were no accidents during the day either. I don't tempt fate though. I still take Dot outside every two or three hours.

It's amazing how quickly the temperature rises once the sun comes up. We start the day in the low 70's and end it in the high 90's. There's an equally big difference between inside and outside temperatures. I'm usually too cold inside and too hot outside. The dogs seem to feel the same way, so we spend the day going outside to warm up and then back inside to cool down again.

My two errands for the day both involved staying in compliance with the law. I got new city tags for Dot so she's legal for another year. I usually get the tags when she has her annual exam, but we had to postpone the exam and accompanying shots because of her recent surgery. Hopefully, the new tags should put an end to the late notices I've been getting from the city. Next on the list was getting a new registration sticker for my car. The government isn't good at many things, but they're ruthlessly efficient at making sure your dogs and cars are registered.

The dogs are going to get a bath this weekend. Dot has peed on herself far too often and Dash is just dirty. At this time of year, some of the native grass in the park becomes covered with a sticky substance that inevitably gets on the dogs as we walk along the trails. Maybe these plants regenerate by using dogs to spread their seeds far and wide. It sure is a mess though. After very walk, I have to clean all this sticky stuff off their legs and paws before we go inside.

Another thing that happens at this time of year is that the possums return to the yard and start digging big holes in the grass. I don't know what they're looking for, but they sure make a mess. It's hard enough keeping the grass growing in the August heat, but this week's assault by hungry possums has just about decimated the St. Augustine grass in the back yard.  I try to keep the lawn watered, but sometimes I think that the soft, damp ground just makes it easier for the possums to dig.

It would be nice to sleep in late tomorrow morning, but I doubt that we'll get the opportunity. Once I get up to let Dot out at 3 or 4 in the morning, it's hard to get back to sleep again. We're making progress though. We've gone from 2 AM to 3 AM and now 4 AM. Pretty soon we might just make it through the night.

Freckles is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1703

Today was pretty nice. The odd thing was that it was almost exactly the same as yesterday, which was terrible. This happens to me a lot. I guess when you lead a fairly regimented life, little nuances can make all the difference. Dash's tail quit bleeding today. That made a difference. With his tail on the mend, I didn't have to keep him away from all the things in the house that are difficult to clean. Dot had a good day too. She still has to go outside to pee about every three hours, but we were better coordinated today and there were no accidents. Work was still boring and repetitious, but today's tasks consisted of small successes instead of small roadblocks and failures. Forward progress can make a big difference in almost any line of work.

Dot had a fantastic physical therapy session this afternoon. She was able to stay on the underwater treadmill for almost fifteen minutes and seemed strong and sure footed the entire time. Her left rear leg doesn't seem as shaky as it did last week either. The vet also said that it was very unlikely that Dot had Cushing's Disease or serious kidney problems based on her recent lab work. This as all encouraging. If we can learn to deal with the incontinence issues, I think everything is headed in the right direction.

Early mornings are quite pretty. It is quiet and serene outside without the ubiquitous Dallas traffic and lawn mower noise. The predawn light is soft and things photograph well. Best of all, the temperature is almost always at least twenty degrees cooler than it is later in the day. I need to remember to get up extra early next Monday. There will be a rare conjunction of Jupiter and Venus low in the Eastern sky just before sunrise. I never thought I'd enjoy getting up this early, but after a week of waking up in the middle of the night to let Dot outside to pee and change the waterproof pads on the bed, sunrise seems almost decadently late.

Dot's condition has improved so much that I no longer feel bad about going out for breakfast on Friday. It's odd that going out for breakfast on Friday morning has become an important part of my week, but like I said earlier, it's the little nuances that can make all the difference. The vet said it would be OK to give Dot a bath this weekend. I didn't tell Dot that though. She had a good day too and I didn't want to ruin it for her.

Elliot is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1683

I was Dot's nurse today. I really appreciate what the nursing staff did for Dot in the ICU last week. It is not easy keeping a sick and very tired dog on the path to recovery. I'm a worrier too, so anything abnormal about Dot's behavior freaks me out. Dot has a laundry list of meds that she needs at various times during the day. The doctors want to get her up and walking about every two or three hours. She doesn't need much activity, but staying in one place all day isn't going to help her recovery. It's dificult to get Dot up again once she's lying down on her blanket, but once she's up she seems to move about fine. There's a fine line between keeping her mobile and pushing her too hard and sometimes it's difficult to know exactly where the line is.

I walked Dash so early this morning that there was still dew on the leaves, even though it was a hot July day. When we returned, Janet left for work and I took over nursing duties for the rest of the day. I thought Dot seemed hot, but when I took her temperature, everything was completely normal. I though her heart was racing after a very short walk down the back alley, but when I compared her heart rate to Dash's, who had been sleeping, they were both exactly the same. I worry that Dot hasn't pooped yet. Up to a point, this is completely normal for a dog recovering from abdominal surgery. After that point, it can be serious though. The trouble is that I have no idea where that point is. Every dog is different.

I'm glad the weekend is here. I could really use a good night's sleep. My primary care doctor wants me back on statins again, now that my Hepatitis-C treatment is finished. I started taking Simvastatin and timed release Niacin last night and the combo seemed to have the same irritating sides effects as it did before. Niacin flushing is common and it makes me feel like I'm burning up. When I woke up to check on Dot last night, my skin felt like it was on fire. The flushing only lasts a few hours, but when I'm awake, this is two hours too many. My liver specialist wants to re-test me in 12 weeks to make sure the Simvastatin and Niacin combo aren't screwing up their good work. Both drugs can have an adverse effect on the liver. Once again I am caught between dueling doctors. Is it my heart or my liver that is going to win? I haven't got a clue. I'd much rather be having a cheeseburger and a beer.

We go up to the cancer center tomorrow morning to get Dot's surgical bandage removed. The stitches will stay in, but the doctors want to remove the big bandage covering her belly as soon as possible to help the wound heal. It is easier to check if the incision site is leaking of becoming infected if you can actually see it. I have a long list of questions for the nurses, because I hate surprises. Doctors and nurses probably hate me because I'm always asking questions and slowing them down. I know the nurses are busy, but I'm a person who needs to know. I'll be polite, but I'll still ask all my questions. I'm curious about these things. Maybe I should have gone to med school.

Puppies are today's Dalmatians of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1099

I got up extra early this morning, but it really didn't seem to make much of a difference. I still didn't get a lot accomplished. The problem with today's to-do list was that everything was tedious and time consuming. I did manage to get a new backup system in place, so I no longer have to worry about losing all my data in a hard drive crash. Not surprisingly, the very latest external drives were both faster and less expensive than the slightly older ones that would still connect to my computer. I wish I could have hooked up one of those superfast new USB-3 or Thunderbolt drives. Without them, it took me a long time to copy several terabytes of data.

It also took me an exceedingly long time to re-install Pro Tools, which happened to be the next thing on my list. Avid has never made it easy to install their software. First you have to get all the registration codes and serial numbers. Then you have to load all the codes into an iLok dongle that slips into an available USB port. Only then can you actually download the software.

I took a break from the computer tedium around mid-afternoon to take Dash to the vet. He's been waking us up almost every night around 3 AM, frantically wanting to go outside. When he gets outside, he eats grass and then throws up yellow phlegm. After he does this, he's completely normal for the rest of the day. After waiting in the lobby for almost an hour, we finally got a verdict on the strange behavior. Dash has sinus drainage. I have sinus drainage myself from time-to-time, but I don't need to go out in the yard and throw up. Oh, well. We'll give Dash some antihistamines and see if that clears things up.

I took a camera with me on our early walk, hoping to get some sunrise pictures. Unfortunately, the sun was already up. Hey, I'm not a morning person. Needless to say, I don't have many good sunrise pictures. Typically, it is the sun that wakes the dogs and I up each morning when it comes streaming through the bedroom window. I did manage to get a few nice pictures of geese swimming around in the lake. They must have gotten up earlier than I did.

Alvin is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 938

Janet left for work so early this morning that even though I went back to bed for a couple of hours, I still ended up getting up an hour earlier than normal. The extra daylight was useful and I ended up getting a lot more done than I usually do on a Tuesday. I finished an article I've been avoiding and I think I'm up to speed on most of my website revisions now. Most importantly, I got my July invoices in the mail this afternoon. That's always important, because it means that there should be money to pay the bills in August. It seems to be taking me longer to get my invoices posted these days, but I think that's a good thing. More invoices in the mail means more billable projects.

I've started learning the names of the wildflowers that I've been photographing on our daily walks. I've been pleasantly surprised to discover that many plants have prosaic and even descriptive names. The Winecup flower looks almost exactly like a small wine goblet and the Pincushion flower definitely resembles a pincushion. Firewheels, which are abundant around my house, remind me of Fourth of July fireworks, while Trumpet Creepers look just like miniature orange trumpets. Sure, there are a lot of weird names that I'll never remember, but I do know that I've seen butterflies getting nectar from butterfly weeds.

Dash is such a social dog. He seems to love going to the vet for his biweekly antigen shot now. All I have to say is "it's time to go to the vet" and Dash runs to the front hall where his leash is kept. Dot, on the other hand, runs back to the bedroom. She doesn't like to go to the vet at all.

We had a little rain right after supper.  It wasn't enough to give the grass a good soaking, but I don't think it was enough to cause the roof to leak either. I guess it wasn't much of a rain at all, because Dot didn't even get upset.

Keller is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 923

I wish I were more of a morning person. Summer has arrived with a vengeance and the only decent time to be out and about is right after sunrise. I try to get the dogs out on their morning walk by 7:30 AM, but since the sun rises more than an hour earlier these days, I'm really not doing all that well. The temperature rises amazingly quickly. If it's 85 degrees at sunrise, it will be 105 degrees by lunch. The trouble is that the dogs aren't early risers either. By the time we all drag ourselves out of bed, it's usually already too late.

No matter what the temperature is, mornings are delightful compared to afternoons. Afternoons are beastly. Dot is getting older now, and she can't take the heat. In the afternoon, we usually just walk until both dogs have done their business and then beat a hasty retreat to the air conditioned confines of the house.

Now that I've had time to get used to the quirks and peculiarities of U-verse service, I've come to the conclusion that it's really no better than cable. The picture freezes on the TV periodically. I'll lose my connection to the Internet for short periods almost every day. Occasionally, even the phones go out.  Usually, these outages are brief and service returns while I'm still  sitting on hold, waiting to talk to tech support. Nevertheless, the whole situation is irritating. Cable and U-verse certainly cost enough to warrant good service. Maybe the only solution is to switch back and forth between cable and U-verse once a year to keep them from taking me for granted.

My broker called the other day and suggested that I buy Microsoft. Microsoft? Keep in mind that this was the same guy who convinced me to sell Apple just before it went up another 200 points. I told the broker that selling Apple and buying Microsoft just seemed all wrong and I wasn't having any part of it. I've been somewhat gratified to see Microsoft continue to slide in the days following this errant recommendation, but I'm a bit irritated by this as well.  Just like with Time Warner Cable and U-verse, it would be nice to get a little more for my money. At the prices most financial advisors charge, they should be right 90% of the time, instead of just 65% of the time.

I called Land Rover today to see if my repairs are finished yet. Nope. They're still working on the Defender. While I was talking to my service representative, I remembered that I had forgotten to tell him about the problems I was having shifting from first to second gear. I asked him if repairing or replacing the gear synchronizers in the transmission was expensive. What do you think? Of course it is.

Oh, and I got a guitar today.  More on that later.

Shiner is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 772

I got up much earlier than usual this morning. There weren't any early meetings or places I needed to be. The only reason I can think of for bounding our of bed at the crack of dawn is that the dogs were good last night. I finally got a decent night's sleep. Usually Dot and Dash wake up three or four time a night to bark at imagined noises or try to find a better spot on the bed. They wake me up every time. Last night for some unexplained reason, they both curled up in a ball and didn't move a muscle until morning.

Did I get a lot more done with my extra hour of time? Not really. Just when I was getting ready to take the dogs on their morning walk, it started raining again. Since the weather radar showed that the rain would only last an hour, I just watched TV for a while until the clouds lifted.

When we returned from our morning walk, I was right back on my usually tardy schedule. Today I finished up a little promotional video for one of the rescue groups I work with. This video was due so long ago that I doubt anyone still remembers why it was needed. I finished the video anyway, because I knew the group was meeting tonight and I wanted to be able to say I'd done something this week in case I was asked. This just happened to be the first video I'd shot using the Panasonic AG-AF-100 camera and I was kind of surprised at how good the footage looked. I really need to start using this camera more often.

Since it looks like it's going to be clear and dry for the rest of the week, I spent more time than usual getting the water off the roof. I'm hoping that the roof will actually dry out, so I can inspect for cracks again and do my best to seal them. At least that exceptionally windy day we had sometime last week blew all the dead leaves off the roof. The roof is finally clear of debris and ready for repairs. Unfortunately, it still leaks.

The furnace repairman is supposed to come out to the house tomorrow morning at 8 AM to fix the furnace. I'm surprised they even bother to come out anymore. The problem is intermittent and the dogs bark so loud that it is impossible to hear odd little furnace noises anyway. I wish I knew how to fix the furnace myself. This whole process seldom comes to a satisfactory conclusion.

Jazz is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day