Day 2905

It's supposed to freeze tonight. This isn't supposed to happen in Dallas, but here we are again. The Farmer's Almanac predicts a cold, snowy winter this year. I hope they aren't right. Cold weather is infrequent, so I'm usually not well prepared. I remembered to take the battery out of the electric lawn mower and bring it inside. One year I forgot and the battery was destroyed. I remembered to set the faucet on drip in the greenhouse for the same reason. One year I forgot and the pipes broke.

I really didn't want to go up on the roof today because it was so cold. I remembered what can happen when ice builds up on the roof though, and reluctantly cleared away all the standing water. It was a miserable job, but the good news is that the patches I've made recently appear to be solid. I wish I'd used up all the elastomer material now. The small amount that is still in the container probably won't be usable after a freeze. There used to be potted plants I would bring inside for the winter, but they are all dead now. I guess I'm as ready for cold weather as I'll ever be. I just hope that we don't have a power outage this winter. Some of my worst memories are of sitting inside a freezing house for four days, waiting for the power to be restored after an ice storm.

Dash woke us up last night to go outside, but luckily he wasn't sick. He just needed to poop. Even though he slept well, he still seemed a bit shaky this morning. He took a shorter walk than normal and didn't eat all his breakfast. Often it takes quite a while to fully recover from a vestibular event. When Dash is agitated of frightened, he doesn't like to be alone. I usually curl up with him on the bed until he relaxes and goes to sleep. Then I sneak off to the office and try to get some work done before he wakes up again.

I did some more work on my website project today. I suppose it's time to show something to the client, but I know as soon as I take that step, the fun is over. No matter how beautiful or functional I think things are, clients always want to change something. I didn't spend a huge amount of time selecting images for this project because I know that they are probably just placeholders. Pictures are so easy to change that they are never sacred. The best thing about this project is that the client wants to manage things themselves. When I hand over the keys, I'm probably done.

I finished all the left overs yesterday, so I made some pasta with whatever I could find in the refrigerator. I'm always surprised how tasty my desperation dinners are. Whole wheat noodles, Italian sausage, carrots, cucumbers, and tamarind sauce actually go together quite well. I'm too lazy to be much of a cook, but when I make an effort, the results are usually delicious.

I've got a rare client meeting tomorrow morning. I wish Dash had fully recovered by now, but as of this evening he seems a lot better. We'll see how he is in the morning. If he's shaky, I can always cancel the meeting. There just aren't any projects that matter that much anymore. Dash comes first. I hope Dash is feeling good tomorrow. It would be nice to make a little extra money.

Humphrey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2809

If I wind up in hell, I'll probably be fixing a leaking roof for eternity. This is the worst job. It's messy. You get stung by wasps and bitten by fire ants. It's almost impossible to tell if your repairs are any good until it rains again. Worst of all, if you get too tired, there is always the danger of falling off the roof. I'll really be glad when I'm finished with this little project. No matter how careful I am, I always wind up with the sticky silicon coating on my hands and clothing. I try to wear the oldest, most threadbare pants I can find, because if I spill the elastomer coating on them, I pretty much have to throw them away.

The area I patched a few days ago has cured and seems to have bonded well to the roof. Today it was time for round two. When I started this project, I thought I'd just need to re-coat the fairly small areas that had worn bare. Now I'm realizing that the damage extends much further, because water has gotten under the coating and caused it to delaminate. I'm going to have to go buy some more paint rollers. You can't clean the rollers after you use them to spread the material. Maybe the roofers have a way to clean their tools, but it probably involves some dangerous solvent that I don't want around the house. It's much easier to just throw the paint rollers away. I want to finish this project before the oak leaves start falling. Already some leaves are starting to fall off the elm tree and when they land in the wet elastomer, they are there permanently. On a more positive note, when the coating cures properly, it seems to be impervious to water. If they'd put this stuff on in the roof in the first place, I wouldn't be having the problems I'm having today.

The place I got gas yesterday was empty today. So was the Chevron station where I saw the gasoline tanker yesterday. Evidently it didn't take long to empty the place out again. A few stations actually are being replenished with gas. There just doesn't seem to be much rhyme or reason to the process. Most stations were still empty today, but I did see one station with a line of cars at the pumps. They say Quick Trip stations are more likely to have gas, since they get their supplies from Oklahoma instead of South Texas. I wonder how long this shortage will last? Contrary so what some in the media are saying, this isn't a one day event. I did learn something from all this. My car runs a lot better on regular gas than I thought. The owners manual says to never use regular gas, but so far I can't tell any difference.

It's time to mow the grass again. I usually only mow when my neighbors mow their grass. Yard shaming is actually fairly effective. If I mow the grass, I won't have the energy to go up on the roof again. That's just as well. It really takes two days for the patches to cure anyway. The only reason to hurry on the roof repairs is if there was rain on the horizon. I think we're looking good. The completely inaccurate weather app on my phone says there will be clear skies for at least a week.

I wonder why Dash is so moody in the evenings now. This is something new. He barks at me while I'm writing the blog and if I don't stop what I'm doing and pay attention to him, he starts knocking books off low shelves with his paws. I always get up and see if he needs to go outside and pee, but usually he heads straight for the kitchen. The little shit just wants more food.

I got another jury summons in the mail. I guess I'll postpone this one too. I just don't feel up to dealing with jury duty now.

Daisy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2326

You'd be proud of me. Instead of wasting time on Facebook and wondering why nobody was reading the blog anymore, I decide to be productive. I cleared all the water off the roof, along with a huge messy pile of wet catkins that was trapping the water and creating duck ponds that would never evaporate. After the roof was dry and clean, I called the roofer and got him to agree to come out and patch the areas where the elastomer coating was peeling away again. I'll probably have to wait until the rainy season is over before the roofers actually get here, but at least I got the process started.

Since I was semi-successful with the roofer, I  called my watchmaker and asked if the watches he was repairing for me would ever be finished. I hate to bother the guy, since I know he's busy, but he's had three watches of mine for over two years now. He told me that the watches would be repaired by Summer and I reminded him in a friendly way that he told me the same thing last Summer. This watchmaker is very good and I'm in no hurry, but I still think two years is long enough.

The watchmaker isn't the only one who's slow. I took a tape deck in for repairs last November and just got a call yesterday saying that it had finally been fixed. To be fair, these guys did have to custom make a rubber pinch wheel that no longer existed anymore. When I went to pick up the multi-track deck, I dropped off a mastering deck that had the same problems with disintegrating transport belts. Rubber doesn't last forever. The rubber hoses in your car's engine eventually become brittle and crack. The protective foam in camera cases eventually turns into an awful goo. I'm discovering now that the rubber transport belts in tape recorders don't last that long either. I'm sure my Beta SP video recorders are going to suffer the same fate soon. The only difference is that they'll be even more expensive to fix than the audio recorders. Why do I punish myself this way? All this stuff is obsolete.

I was feeling pretty good about getting things accomplished when I returned from running errands this afternoon, but the feeling was short lived. The house felt warm and Dot was panting. It didn't take me long to figure out that the air conditioner had broken. I immediately called my HVAC guy, but they had already closed for the day. I methodically tried to revive the air conditioner by throwing breaker switches, rebooting the fancy WiFi thermostat, and disconnecting the entire system for a while. Nothing worked. I finally decided to try a new air filter, just in case the new thermostat software had some sort of sensor that would shut down the system if the filter got too dirty. The filter actually seemed reasonably clean, but I didn't have much to lose. Surprisingly, replacing the filter worked and the air conditioner roared back to life. This was a disaster averted, since Dot can't handle the heat anymore. I was worried about her. Hopefully the compressor will keep running through the night, but I probably should have the HVAC guys come out anyway. Better safe than sorry.

I had some website updates to finish today and did a good job of biting my tongue when the client suggested a number of things that I thought were silly. I don't fight these things anymore. If you want something that looks a bit clunky or might confuse your customers, it's your call. At this stage of my career it just amuses me that everyone thinks they're a creative genius. Ten years ago silly suggestions would have driven me crazy.

I hope I get to go to breakfast tomorrow. The next wave of severe weather is supposed to arrive around midnight tonight. Maybe the storm will be out of the area by morning. It's hard to tell. The weather forecasts haven't been very accurate lately. Accurate or not, I should have looked at the forecast before I went up on the roof this morning. If it rains, that was a wasted effort.

Lucky is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2074

I don't think the stars were aligned today. Janet got the third nail in her tire this month and Dot pooped all over the place. Now that Dot is feeling a little stronger, she doesn't poop in her bed as much. Instead, she gets up and poops on the carpet as she is heading for the back door. If I notice that she is up, I will take her outside immediately, but I slept through the whole thing last night. When Janet got up to take a shower this morning, she stepped in the poop, but I didn't wake up then either. I was really tired.

Needless to say, there was lots of laundry to do today. I washed the dog blankets, two little rugs, and Janet's house slippers. I took a much bigger rug outside and hosed it off. I think this rug is a lost cause though. We will probably have to throw it away. When I finally got the house cleaned up and smelling good again, it was almost time to take Dot downtown for her physical therapy session. I took her outside for a good ten minutes to make sure she didn't have to go again. She did nothing. As soon as we were on our way and stuck in busy traffic, she pooped again in the car. What a mess. Now, I'll have to start carrying a spare protective pad with me in the car. I asked the vet if there was any pill that worked for poop the same way that Incurin does for pee. The Incurin really did cure Dot's urinary incontinence. Evidently, our current problem isn't the same. Dot just doesn't have the strength to empty her colon anymore. It's not her fault, but it does make life difficult.

It didn't rain much today, but we got a huge amount of rain last night. This meant I had to get up on the roof again. I was pleased to see that the patches the roofers made last week seemed to have held up pretty well. I think the roofer has changed brands of the elastomer coating material he uses, because this new coating seemed to be much stronger than the original material. It actually kind of looked like what he promised in the first place. I'll have to call the roofer tomorrow and see what's going on. I know that some of you are convinced that I'm going to kill myself up on the roof, but this is the least of my worries. I'm far more concerned about getting attacked by an aggressive loose dog in the park, or getting involved in a traffic accident with one of the thousands of idiot drivers on Dallas roads. At least my work on the roof is somewhat under my control.

I got some new writing and website assignments toward the end of the day, but I'm not going to worry about them until tomorrow. Even when I'm a day late, I'm still more responsive than anyone else I know. The world just doesn't seem to work anymore. People are either perpetually tired or they just don't care. Sometimes I look around and think I'm witnessing a global burn out. No matter what people are doing, they always seen rushed. I get put on hold a lot when I call my clients these days. There seems to be lots of activity, but nothing actually gets accomplished. How did things get this way?

I have some friends who live near where all those forest fires are located in Washington State. I hope they don't get burned out. I complain about the weather a lot, but at least we don't have hurricanes, forest fires, and mudslides. I can't decide whether I want more rain tomorrow or not. It's a lot of trouble to get all that water off the roof, but even after last night's downpour, the yard still looks dry. I guess I hope it does rain tomorrow, but that it doesn't start until I've finished walking the dogs and returned from my breakfast restaurant. I'd like to wake up refreshed tomorrow morning after getting six hours of deep sleep, This would be so much nicer than waking up in the middle of the night to the smell of dog poop.

Blackjack is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1912

I threw a load of laundry in the dryer this morning and got an error message. The dryer is broken. It runs for about five seconds and then shuts off. Too bad this malfunction didn't occur a month ago when I had the appliance repairman out to the house to fix the washing machine. I could have gotten both of these unreliable appliances fixed at the same time. Life was simpler when our machines were mechanical. Mechanical things usually give you a warning before they fail. You would typically hear odd squeaks and rattles that weren't there before. These early warning signs have saved me many times. Now when something goes wrong, you just get a cryptic error message on a circuit board. Usually these messages mean that the circuit board itself has gone bad.

I managed to get a repairmen out this afternoon, but the dryer is still not working. These repairs are a two step process now. The repairman comes out to assess the situation. Then he almost always has to order a part and returns to fix the machine a week or so later. Since I am obsessed with doing laundry, this is a real inconvenience. I hate going to the laundromat, but what choice do I have? I took the wet clothes out of the dryer, gathered up a pile of quarters, and went to the laundromat to dry them off while Janet watched Dot.

While I was waiting for the clothes to dry, I drove to a nearby Home Depot and got a gallon of elastomer to patch the roof with. I could have called the roofers, but lord know when they would have gotten around to fixing things. I'm really tired of things breaking, but seem powerless to stop these mishaps. At least the car didn't break down while I was running errands this afternoon. Janet thought it would be easier to just buy a new dryer, but I remembered how much trouble it was to get the one we have into the utility room in the first place. You have to carefully measure each appliance to make sure it will fit in the small allotted space and then when the machine arrives, you have to completely take the door off the utility room, because it is such a tight fit. Apparently the washer and dryer we bought aren't very reliable, but at least they fit in the room.

The hospital called today to remind us of Dot's appointment to have her sutures removed tomorrow. I had carefully written the date down in my iCal calendar when Dot was initially released from the hospital, but somehow I got the time wrong. Why do I do this so often? I'm glad we got a reminder, because we would have been late otherwise. Hopefully Dot will feel a little better once her stitches are out.

Janet wanted to test our safe space for Dot by leaving the house for a short time and watching her on the baby monitor. She was resting peacefully when we left, but as soon as she heard the car start, she sat up in her pen and began barking frantically. We only drove around the block, but I didn't have the heart to go further. Dot is stubborn. She would have continued barking until she wore herself out. So much for any plans to leave the house. I will have to think of a Plan-B, because once that Janet returns to work, it will be impossible for me to stay in the house continually.

Jeez, I must have fallen asleep with a finger on the return key while I was writing this, because I just had to remove what seemed like a mile of line break tags from the blog's HTML. Oh, well. I'm awake now and Dot gets her stitches out in the morning. There's something to be said for that. I hope the dryer gets fixed soon. You definitely don't want to listen to me talking about dirty laundry for the next week.

Tyson is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day