Day 1332

When I was doing my twenty minutes on the arm bicycle at the gym this afternoon, it occurred to me that this repetitious activity was a pretty good metaphor for what my life has become. I do a lot of boring, repetitious and very necessary activities these days. It wasn't always this way, but I think when you realize that you've already used up eight of your allotted nine lives, your attitude changes a bit. There are times when I wish I was still more adventurous, but my adventures have always been on the self-destructive side and who needs that anymore.

The other people I see at the gym seem just like me. The pick out their favorite machines and do the same routines over and over again. Maybe this is just human nature. On the other hand, maybe I'm just doing my workouts with a bunch of old people.

I saw on the local news tonight that a maintenance worker at the dog park we go to regularly on Sundays attacked one of the dogs in the park with a weed-wacker and injured it pretty bad. The dog had cuts all over its head and neck and had to be taken to a vet for surgery. This is insane. The maintenance company fired the worker immediately, but should have never given him the job in the first place. If you hate dogs, or are fearful of dogs, you should not have a job that involves working around them. On a much happier note, I also saw a segment on the news about Dot's physical therapy vet. Evidently this place is one of the only places in the area that offers this type of advanced therapy for dogs. I'm proud of Dot. Just like me, she's always been an early adopter of the latest things.

I found out today that my assignment in Las Vegas isn't going to happen. I'm disappointed, but not terribly surprised. Maybe Janet and I will go anyway. It's a shame that a money making opportunity has instantly turned into a money losing opportunity though.

Someone wanted me to announce an event that was taking place in May of 2014 on their website today. Even though this seems a bit premature to me, I still approve of this weird request. Updating websites is what I do and as far as I'm concerned, jumping the gun is far better than doing nothing at all. Keep those changes coming guys.

I'm still debating whether to drive a little further just to taste something new for breakfast ntomorrow. There are only so many ways you can cook an egg, and I've tried them all by now. I love the over-easy eggs on a bed of skillet potatoes and pulled pork at the little restaurant down the street from me, but boredom is always a factor on these Friday outings. I certainly wouldn't want my favorite day of the week to turn into another boring ride on the exercise bike.

Lilly is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1307

Rain isn't nearly as frustrating when your roof doesn't leak. Although it rained most of the day, I was no longer filled with my usual apprehensions. It was actually kind of enjoyable to have a damp, overcast day with a temperature 25 degrees lower it normally is in the middle of July.  Our rain phobic dogs seemed to approve of today's showers as well. Dot was eager to take a walk in the cooler weather, even though she got wet in the process. I guess dogs, just like people, are able to prioritize things. Today, rain was definitely the lesser of two evils.

The day-long rain turned out to be the perfect time to try out Janet's new Vitamix blender. Foodies and fans of programs like Top Chef are probably already familiar with these amazing machines. I'd never even heard of a Vitamix until fairly recently, but I'm definitely a fan now.

We experimented and made some fresh juice and smoothies with the machine in a fraction of the time it used to take using the juice extractor. There was no pulpy mess to clean up either. The pulp that was discarded using the juice extractor was completely liquified and actually became part of the juice using the Vitamix. The resulting beverage was absolutely delicious and the machine could be cleaned in thirty seconds using a special cleaning cycle. I love this thing. After making about a gallon of juice, we tried our hand at making peanut butter. Nut butters were equally easy to make.

The dog park was closed today due to the inclement weather, but I don't think Dot and Dash missed much. They like anything that involves food and seemed to enjoy hanging out with us as we learned to use the Vitamix machine. They were both pretty muddy at the end of their evening walk, but cleaning them up was a small price to pay for an enjoyable day.

I noticed something on social media today that mentioned one of my clients was considering utilizing new resources to augment its existing suppliers. Since I'm currently one of those existing suppliers, this short article caught my attention. I wonder what this means?  Maybe I won't get any more work from these guys. Maybe it won't affect me at all. I could ask, but I'm superstitious about such things. I'll just pretend I never saw the article and see what happens.

Next week looks busy. Now that I've added semi-regular trips to the gym to my weekly routine, I'm going to have even more trouble completing my endless to-do list. I did manage to cross one thing off the list today. I tried the egg and avocado recipe for breakfast. An egg poached inside half an avocado is quite tasty.

Dolly is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1298

If there's a fancy looking egg on my plate, it must be Friday. I'm simple minded this way. I'd like some clearly defined event to differentiate each day of the week. Friday is the day I can stray from my diet a bit. Sunday is the day we go to the dog park. Now what am I going to do with all those other days?

Today, my plan was to get a haircut and an oil change for the Defender. The haircut went smoothly enough, but it looks like I'm going to have to come back another day for the oil change. Oddly, the price for both of these services is exactly the same.

While I was at the mall, I stopped by the new, much larger Apple store. The place was huge. There were no new products in the new store. Just more tables filled with the same iPhones, iPads, laptops, and desktops. I guess there is only one reason to have a huge store to sell four things. They probably couldn't fit all the customers in their old store.

I don't even have to open my eyes to know what time of year it is. You can hear it is July. In the morning, the dominant sound is the lawn mowers and leaf blowers of the landscapers and yard crews. As the day progresses, the raucous sounds of lawn care diminish and are replaced by the song of the Cicadas. How these small bugs can make such a loud noise is a mystery to me. The hotter it gets, the louder the Cicadas seem to sing. It is kind of the quintessential sound of Summer here in Texas.

I'm going to have to go look for something to get rid of Chigger bites tomorrow. There used to be a product called Chigarid that worked great, but I don't think they make it anymore. Maybe the reason they don't make Chigarid anymore is that it was basically just clear nail polish in a different bottle. Probably the only people who bought the stuff were people like me who didn't like to buy their insect repellants in the cosmetics department. Clear nail polish works though, so maybe I'll have to get some.

I hope it cools down a bit this weekend. We'll go to the dog park whatever the weather, but it would be so much more enjoyable if it wasn't like a furnace outside.

Isabella is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1292

Today was a day of inconsequential activities. I was certainly busy enough, but did any of it really matter? I cleaned lint out of the dryer with one of those Lint Lizard things you've probably seen advertised on TV. I scraped loose paint and plaster off the rain damaged living room ceiling in preparation for doing something more substantial later. I bought new bags for the vacuum cleaner at an odd little store that should have gone out of business twenty years ago. I fixed a broken latch with superglue on a VHS tape deck that I'll probably never use again. I hadn't been up on the roof for a while, so I swept leaves off the dry roof. Much to my chagrin, I discovered that wild animals have been peeing on the new white roof and leaving stains. At least I hope it was wild animals. While all this was going on, the large format printer ran its lengthy cleaning cycle and wasted a lot of expensive ink.

Probably the only useful thing I did today was get my blood tested at the local health food store's Summer cholesterol screening. Janet and I thought we'd beat the crowds by arriving before the store opened, but apparently everyone else had the same idea. There was already a line when we arrived. The line moved fast though and we were in and out in less than twenty minutes. Afterwards, we went home and had a big breakfast. A friend of Janet's had given her some fresh eggs from chickens she was raising and you could sure taste the difference. I guess the only way to get really fresh, healthy food is to grow or raise it yourself.

Every time someone tells me about the beauties of nature, I take what they say with a grain of salt. I walk through nature every day. I see sparrows chasing the purple martins away from their homes. I see ugly Johnson Grass encroaching on the beautiful native prairie behind our house. And since it's almost July, I'm starting to see bagworms again. Bagworms have destroyed countless trees in the park. They get into our own trees as well. Once these things get established, they can be very difficult to get rid of. Oh, well. At least we don't have rats anymore. The neighborhood feral cat population has grown so large that they've eaten them all.

I don't think we'll spend long at the dog park tomorrow. It's too hot. Dot and Dash still expect an outing on Sundays, but they also expect the weather to be nice when they get out of the car. Sorry guys, I can't help you with the weather. If I could, I'd have done something about these oppressive Summers years ago.

Sparky is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1284 - Summer Solstace

I was faced with a dilemma this morning. I could either get fresh tar all over my tires, or I could wait forever for the slow moving convoy of paving machines to make its way past my driveway. I was hungry, so I opted to get ahead of the machines and drive through the wet tar. Driving through 300 yards of tar to get to a clear patch of road proved to be a good decision, since I wound up having something new and delicious for breakfast.

A combination of boredom and hunger sent me back to the cool restaurant, where I found over-easy eggs, served on a bed of smoked brisket to my liking. As I ate, I watched people re-fueling their electric cars at a quick charge station across the street and wondered if hospital scrubs had become the new working man's overalls.

After breakfast, I did my grocery shopping for the weekend, which basically amounted to picking up a bunch of pre-cooked items from the Central Market deli counter. I like to eat, but I'm not terribly fond of cooking. By the time I got home, the paving machines had moved down the block and I was able to get in my driveway again.

I had quite a bit of writing to finish today, but it all worked out well, especially since it was far too hot for the dogs and I to spend much time outside anyway. Today was officially the first day of Summer, although here in Texas, it seems like Summer has been with us for quite some time. I often wonder why I live here, since I'm always complaining about the weather. It's a climate of extremes and always seems to be too hot, too cold, too wet, or too dry.

The dogs get a bath this weekend. Usually, we're pretty good about keeping them clean and presentable, but I don't think they've had a bath in several months. Between Janet's travels, my own travels, the roofers, and the wet weather, there just hasn't been a good time. I'm not very particular about dirty dogs, but even I'll admit that they've both become filthy.

Janet helped me get the tax exemption on the house straightened out. It turns out I had downloaded the wrong forms yesterday and was actually applying to defer my real estate taxes until after I died. Oops. Not exactly what I had in mind. Jeez! Why would anyone want to do this, unless they really wanted to make their heirs angry?

I'm hoping for an uneventful weekend, filled with lot of sleep, leisurely meals and trips to the dog park. I imagine that Dot and Dash are hoping for something similar.

Barley is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day