Day 4702

I didn't see the lunar eclipse this morning. We would have had a good view on our early walk with Dawn, but it was quite foggy outside. It did see something interesting much closer to earth though. On my long walk right after breakfast, I saw Nick and Nora, our two resident bald eagles, arriving at their nest. The nest has already survived two storms, so maybe the eagles will be luckier this year.

I walked earlier this morning than usual, because I had a doctor's appointment later in the day. I made good time and my feet held up pretty well. It would have been easier to just skip today's walk, but I can't do that. I'm closing in on a full year of getting more than 10,000 steps a day. You've got to have goals. It doesn't really matter if the goals are stupid.

My yearly visit to the urologist was uneventful. The drive to the clinic took a lot longer than the exam. I'm still in pretty good shape for my age. I have an appointment to see the eye doctor later this month, but my mandatory exams for 2022 are just about finished. I'm a little nervous about the eye exam. I'm still hoping to postpone my cataract surgery a bit longer. Any type of surgery makes me very nervous.

Janet and I finally found a place to have our Thanksgiving Brunch. It wasn't the place we wanted, but it sounds interesting and the restaurant has great reviews. We've never had Thanksgiving dinner in a Mexican restaurant before. The Thanksgiving menu is quite a bit different, but it actually sounds delicious.

The date for the Artemis launch has changed. What a mess. I just got finished changing all my reservations. I couldn't get a better hotel, but luckily I was able to keep my room at the first hotel I reserved. My airfare costs more now. This always happens when I change a reservation on Southwest Airlines. I still wonder why I'm going to this launch. The launch happens in the middle of the night and there's a good chance that something will go wrong and it won't get off the ground anyway. I still don't know why NASA decided to leave the rocket on the pad with a hurricane approaching. Maybe they secretly want the rocket to be damaged in the storm so they won't have to take responsibility for a failure. Hopefully, everything will go smoothly. I still wouldn't be terribly surprised if the launch date changes again. A lot could change as Nicole gets closer to shore.

Sometimes I wish that people still used travel agents. It's a lot of trouble to change travel plans yourself. I knew I had to act fast this afternoon because as soon as NASA changed the launch date, the entire press corps would be changing their hotel reservations as well. Half the time my attempts to make or change reservations on my computer fail. Maybe it's my older computer, or maybe people don't bother to update their websites anymore. I usually end up having to make reservations on my phone. The phone works, but I still prefer using the computer. I like a real keyboard and a large monitor. I guess I'd better get used to using my phone. Even though I rarely use mine, the rest of the world is glued to their phones.

I can't say that I'm all that interested in today's election. Despite what some say, the world isn't going to end no matter who wins. Politicians are all hat and no cattle. I don't believe any of them. If you have to put a label on me, I guess you'd call me a libertarian. As far as I'm concerned, the less government the better. The best outcome in an election is a divided government where nothing gets done. If one party controls everything, they usually end up making a mess of things. I do think we ought to have an age limit on our elected officials though. The folks who pull the strings now are way too old.

I don't think much is going to happen tomorrow. I got everything done today. We'll see what happens. I find that life is still full of surprises.

Spot is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4331

Well, I've got two more medical procedures behind me now. I think everything went well. My upper GI endoscopy has the longest name imaginable. Technically the procedure is called a esophagogastroduodenoscopy. The doctor wanted to do a follow-up biopsy of my esophagus when they discovered that I had a condition known as Barrett's esophagus. Very rarely Barrett's esophagus leads to esophageal cancer, so early testing is always wise. I think they discovered why I have reflux issues so often. The upper part of my stomach protrudes into my esophagus a bit. The doctor didn't think this was serious and said most people learn to live with it. Surgical options are available, but I'd rather just learn to eat foods that don't cause reflux.

The Colonoscopy I had done at the same time also went well. They removed one very small polyp from my colon. Polyps are very common at my age, so I was pleased that I only had one. The worst thing about today's Colonoscopy was the prep liquid I had to drink last night. This always seems like an enormous amount of water to drink in a single evening. I was up most of the night. I was hoping that this would be my last Colonoscopy ever, but the doctor said since they found a polyp, I would have to have one more five years from now. I might also need to have one more upper GI endoscopy, depending on the results of today's biopsy.

Hospital visits are always interesting. The administrative part of the visit is always slow and tedious, while the medical part is usually very swift and efficient. I think I sat in the waiting room this morning for longer than it took to do the procedure. When you sit in a waiting room for any length of time you realize that most patients are older and many are extremely overweight. Old people are why health care is so expensive. If we just threw the old people to the wolves, health care would be a lot less expensive. Since I am an old person, I'm happy to get good care though. I do try to do my part to stay healthy. I stay active, exercise a lot, and eat healthy food. No fast food for this guy. It's probably been decades since I've been to a McDonalds.

Janet wanted to vote today, so we stopped at our polling place while she was driving me home from the hospital. It was a cold, rainy day and the only things on the ballot were a bunch of constitutional amendments. No one was actually running for office where we live. You have to be careful when you vote for propositions or amendments. They seem to be worded as obscurely as humanly possible. If you don't read the ballot slowly and carefully, it's easy to end up voting for the opposite of what you intended.

I missed getting a minimum of 10,000 steps for the first time in a long time today. The doctor said it would be OK to take a walk later in the day, but it was raining outside so walking was out of the question. I can't decide whether to leave the pumps running tonight. If the pumps run dry, there's a chance they can overheat, but if I leave them off there's a chance of a roof leak. We need the rain, but rain is never my friend. Rain disrupts my walks, Dawn gets dirty on her walks, and there's always that pesky roof leak.

The Rolling Stones are in town tonight. It's a sign that I'm getting older that I have no desire to sit out in the cold at the Cotton Bowl and hear them in the rain again. Been there, done that. It always seems to rain when the Stones come to the Cotton Bowl.

Puppies are today's Dalmatians of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3967 - Election Day

Good grief. There's a bird flying around inside my office. How the hell did a bird get inside the house? Janet didn't want Dawn to notice the bird, so she shut the door to the office, leaving me inside to deal the bird. How do you reason with a bird? I opened as many windows as I could, but the bird wasn't very smart. It kept flying into walls and knocking things off shelves instead. Eventually, it flew into a bathroom adjacent to the office and sat on my electric toothbrush. It also started pooping. I opened the one bathroom window that wasn't jammed shut and closed the door. You'd think the bird would immediately fly out the window, but it took quite a while. I was afraid that when I opened the door again there would be a possum sitting in the bathroom with the bird. Everything ended well when the bird finally discovered the window and flew away. I still have no idea how it got inside the house.

Today's big event was a routine doctor's appointment. If you ever see a doctor for anything, they'll want to see you again and again on an annual basis. If they prescribed medication for you,  you basically have to see them again to get your prescription renewed. It's interesting how doctors choose to deal with the coronavirus. Some continue to operate more or less normally, while others tend to look at patients like they just arrived from Chernobyl. This clinic ran a tight ship. You had to check-in online before your visit. A nurse took your temperature and asked you a bunch of questions before they let you in the front door. There was only one person in the lobby at a time. I don't know how they scheduled this, but they did a pretty good job. I wore one of my Chinese KN-95 masks and imagined wearing the thing on a three hour flight to Florida. These are the same masks I see a lot of doctors and pharmacists wear, but they are hard to breathe through. I hope the genuine 3-M N-95 masks I ordered are better.

You'd never know it was election day. There are several polling sites in our neighborhood, but I didn't see any lines anywhere. Early voting is popular in Texas and I have a feeling that most people have already voted. I voted, but I won't be staying up late to watch the results. Somebody is going to win and I will adjust accordingly. I've seen plenty of bad presidents in my lifetime and somehow life goes on. Those of you who think the world is going to end if your candidate doesn't win are probably wrong. The world will end, but it will be something you never even thought of that seals our fate.

I can't remember a nicer Fall. We've been having beautiful weather this year. There have been a few rainy day, but mostly it's been clear skies with temperatures in the 60's and 70's. I can see why Dawn likes this weather. I'm kind of enjoying being outdoors myself. I should have mowed the grass today, but it's getting harder and harder to complete more than one task per day. With two long walks, leisurely meals, and a blog to write there isn't a lot of time for anything else.

If I don't hear from NASA soon, I'm going to have to make my reservations anyway. I'm trying to avoid this, because it almost guarantees that I'll have to change them later. I'm still excited to be attending a launch again, but Covid restrictions take a lot of the fun away. There are so many things that I did on previous trips that are off the table now. I'm sure the article I end up writing for SpaceFlight Magazine will be as much about the virus as about the launch. That's just the world we live in now. 

I need to go look for a dehumidifier tomorrow. I'll probably end up ordering something online, but I like to see what I'm ordering. I might go looking for a new carry-on bag too. I've got to streamline how I go through TSA checkpoints. It takes too long now to open up my bags for these guys. The only thing I know for sure is that we'll be walking with Dawn tomorrow morning. I sure hope only one bird got in the house. I'd hate to wake up and find another bird flying around in the dark tonight. Oh, well. At least it wasn't a bat that got into the house.

Puppies are today's Dalmatians of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3239 - Election Day

I decided that it was time to face reality and hire a mover. Even if I continue to move something every day, I just don't think I can get everything out of the old warehouse on my own by the middle of the month. It took me fifteen years to fill this place up. I guess it was unrealistic to think I could empty it out in a matter of weeks. Maybe if I extended my lease until December I could finish the job, but my body would be a wreck. It just isn't worth it. I've only moved about one third of the contents so far and I already feel like a cripple.

The movers arrive Friday. Hopefully, I'll never have to do this again. Jeez. What am I thinking? Of course I'll have to do this again someday. I still don't know what to do with this stuff and I know it's never coming back to the house. Hey, at least I'm getting rid of quite a few things. That's a start.

I made reservations for Thanksgiving Dinner today. As usual, I should have done this earlier. This particular Thanksgiving Brunch has become very popular and the restaurant is filling up fast. I couldn't get a table until 1:30 PM. I guess that's OK. We usually eat later on holidays anyway.

I've got to get up early tomorrow to walk Dash before going to my doctor's appointment. I won't be able to eat breakfast because they want to do fasting blood work again. I hope the phlebotomist can find a vein this time. I hate it when the vein rolls and they keep poking you. That's what happened last time. My veins used to be super easy to find. Now they seem to be hiding.

Dash made it outside both times last night. It's always a good night when Dash doesn't poop in the house. When I go to bed, I never know how things are going to turn out. Sometimes he makes it to the back door with time to spare and other times he can't even make it out of bed. I wish Dash would learn to sleep on the floor. We have nice dog beds, but he still prefers sleeping in the bed with us. I don't know how long this can continue because he's having increasing difficulty getting up at night. If I don't wake up first to help him off the bed, he frequently stumbles and falls.

Even though I have movers coming, I still went over to the storage warehouse and moved a few more things this afternoon. The more I'm able to move ahead of time, the less I'll have to pay. Today I moved a bunch of pictures that were left over from several gallery shows I had over a decade ago. I hadn't looked at these pictures for a while and I'll have to admit they were pretty good. It took a while to secure my first gallery show, but after only two shows I totally lost interest in the gallery world. Competition for gallery space was intense and you had to be an active member of the local artist's community to find opportunities to show your work. Like most other things in life, the art world turned out to be all about who you know. It seemed way too much like business to me.

I'll be asleep long before the election results are finally decided. I suspect that nobody will be happy. We are such a divided country that you can't really expect the results to bring any kind of unity. When I wake up tomorrow morning I expect that half the country will still be mad. At the moment, I just don't know which half.

Spot is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3225

I voted today. The lines were not as bad as I expected, although I did have trouble finding a parking place. As usual, I was the only one standing in line who wasn't looking at their cell phone. I continue to be amazed by how much time some people spend texting. It's rare if I send one text message a month. The lady ahead of me in line never stopped texting. I can't even imagine texting continuously for 30 to 45 minutes. My fingers would hurt. Since I wasn't using my phone, I had plenty of time to look at people's shoes. Nobody wears decent shoes anymore. Young and old alike were all wearing ugly running shoes. I don't know what this means, but the old people were definitely winning in my precinct. There were at least ten old people in line for every young person.

I wonder why early voting has become so popular? Evidently there were huge lines yesterday when early voting started. It's not like an early vote counts any more than a late vote. I actually prefer to wait until election day because our precinct still uses paper ballots on election day. It also rains a lot on election day, which is why I voted today. Our early voting locations all use electronic voting machines. I guess these things are legit, but they don't inspire confidence. How do you know if your vote is even counted? I often wonder if my voting machine is even hooked up to anything.

I'm sure the country is as divided as everyone says we are, but you'd never know it from standing in line at my polling place. Everyone was very friendly. It felt like people were neighbors first and voters second. Neighbors can be sneaky though. Probably a lot of people were actually voting to cancel out the vote of another neighbor. I know I was.

Dash woke me up several times last night. Once I had to catch him before he fell off the bed and the other times I had to take him outside. I thought we were safe when I saw him squat in the yard, but then I turned around and realized he'd left a trail of poop all the way from the bedroom to the back door. It's so hard to get back to sleep after you've spent fifteen minutes cleaning up poop.

I got caught up with some correspondence today. I'm not nearly as good about answering letters as I used to be. After I get finished writing the blog, there just isn't that much to say. I guess there's nothing wrong with repeating myself. The few people I still write never read the blog anyway.

I made an appointment to get a haircut tomorrow. I'm long overdue. Under normal circumstances I might stop by the Apple Store on the way home and get the new Series 4 Apple watch. I'm feeling poor though. The stock market is doing terrible and my storage warehouse rent is due next week. The watch will have to wait.

Freckles is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2875

I feel vindicated. They sent out a different appliance repairman today and after doing some checks, he told me that I needed to replace the evaporator thermistor. "I happen to have a brand new one right here," I told him. This was the part I had ordered myself several weeks ago and that two previous repairmen had told me was unnecessary. The first guy told me that these parts never fail and the second guy told me that it wasn't even part of the defrost circuit.

The repairmen couldn't find an electrical schematic that was supposed to be attached to the refrigerator somewhere, so I found the technical manual online and downloaded the pertinent sections. We worked as a team. Why didn't the first two guys even bother to consult this readily available manual? It clearly said to test the evaporator and freezer thermistors before replacing the mother board. It even showed exactly how to test them. It's still unclear whether this new guy solved my problem, but I'll give him an A for effort. Of the four different repairmen who have been out to the house in the past month, he is the only one who even bothered to get a multimeter out of the truck and run some electrical tests.

When I went out to check the mail today, I noticed that there was a container of silicon roof coating sitting on the front porch. It would have been nice if the roofers had dropped off this material before I'd gone and bought a bucket of the expensive stuff myself, but I guess it's better late than never. I'll definitely use the stuff. I was hoping that I could show the roofers what was happening on the roof, but they clearly wanted to just leave the coating material and go. Truthfully, I think I'm doing a better job of repairing things than they did, but it's a horrible, messy job and I wish I didn't have to do it.

I guess I should have voted today, but the only thing on the ballot were a bunch of bond issues I didn't understand. I hate the way they word these bond issues. It really seems at times like they are trying to be purposefully confusing. Several times I've discovered later that I've voted exactly the opposite way that I meant to vote because of the way the initiatives were worded on the ballot. I probably would have voted to improve city and county roads. This was the one issue that wasn't confusing.

When I was taking Dash on his evening walk, a cyclist stopped to warn me that there was a large coyote just around the bend up ahead. I tried to get Dash to turn around and go home, but he stubbornly wanted to continue heading toward the coyote. This is why I don't like walking at night. I finally managed to redirect Dash to the shoreline where the coyotes seldom venture, but I kept thinking that something was following me all the way home. I've really got to figure out how to get Dash walking earlier while it is still daylight.

The roof repairs I made yesterday seem solid. That's a good thing. There is a 100% chance of rain tomorrow. I cleared my tools off the roof and used a leaf blower to remove as many leaves as possible. I hope the elastomer will have had time to cure properly before the rain arrives. We'll just have to wait and see. I'm sure there will be more problems to fix later, but I've done what I can for now.

Chase id today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2521 - Election Day

I'm glad I voted early. We took our morning walk early today to avoid the rain and when we passed a polling place in the neighborhood, there was already a line. The polls weren't even open yet, so I imagine that this was a very busy day. It did rain later in the day, so I wouldn't have wanted to be standing in that line.

I went up on the roof to fix the sump pump after breakfast and was appalled at the amount of water that has accumulated overnight. There was at least four inches of standing water directly over my desk. There was nothing wrong with the pump. The extension cord has just become unplugged somehow. Even though there was more rain on the way, I went ahead and cleared away the standing water anyway. The Fall rainy season is the worst as far as roof maintenance is concerned. Since the weather is cooler, the water never evaporates and since it is Fall, there are tons of wet dead leaves in the water. The leaves create little duck ponds that make it difficult for the water to drain over the edge of the roof. Basically, it's a big mess.

Against my better judgement, I finished gluing my running shoes back together. I had only glued one shoe yesterday when I realized that I had more Superglue on me than on the shoe. This time I was much more careful. With this job successfully completed, I glued some new shoe taps on my hiking boots. I'm weird about shoes. I have a number of new shoes in my closet just waiting for someone to break them in, but I continue to wear my oldest most worn out footwear until it has been absolutely destroyed. Old, beat up shoes are just more comfortable.

I wonder what the TV news anchors and pundits are going to talk about after this election is over? For the past year I haven't been able to watch TV for more than fifteen seconds without hearing the words Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump. Cable news has been obsessed with this election for a long, long time. It doesn't matter whether you listen to a red station like Fox or a blue station like MSNBC, the coverage has been relentless. It's hard not to get sucked into the horse race. I'm not a very political person. My favorite candidates didn't even get nominated. Nevertheless, I'm listening to the election return coverage right now. It's early, but so far the race is remarkably close. This could end up like game seven of the World Series.

I think the Tramadol is helping Dot. Her legs aren't any stronger and the muscle atrophy she is experiencing is severe, but she is definitely more active now. In many ways, this new activity doesn't amount to much. She barks. I help her up and we wander around for a while and then she goes back to sleep. She does seem happier though. That's the important thing.

I'd sure like to see the sun tomorrow. These gray, rainy days always seem longer than usual. The dogs have never liked rainy days. It's almost impossible to get Dash to go outside to do his business. It doesn't matter with Dot, because she just poops in the house anyway. I'm always nervous about humidity buildup in the house and water on the roof. It helps if there's lots of work to keep me busy, but there is little to keep me from fretting about the rain today. You guys can continue fretting about the election if you like. All I'd like to see is some blue sky tomorrow.

Spot is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2520

I can describe today in three words. All day rain. I got wet when I tried to walk Dash. I got wet every time I took Dot outside to pee. I got wet when I went to the bank. The pump isn't working on the roof, but it was too wet and slippery to go up and investigate. The dehumidifier was working overtime to remove the humidity from the air. Basically, today was a mess. According to the weather report, it's going to be this way all week. For some reason we always get a lot of rain between Halloween and Thanksgiving. I'm going to need a lot of patience to deal with this.

Maybe the rain destroyed my concentration. I had a couple of little projects around the house that went horribly wrong. I was going to superglue some old running shoes back together and ended up spilling some of the superglue on my leg. I ran to the bathroom to look for some nail polish remover, but discovered that the bottle was empty. Damn. It is very difficult to remove superglue from skin. I should have just thrown these shoes away. They're old and I have a new pair anyway. I don't know why I always feel compelled to fix things. At any rate, the superglue is probably going to remain on my leg until it eventually wears away.

I had a couple of minor website updates to complete today, but the work wasn't substantial enough to leave me feeling that I still had a career. I've got to come to grips with the fact that my real job these days is providing hospice care for a really old dog. Dot is a very special friend and I'd do anything for her. I wish being a caretaker made me happy though. Mostly it is very sad to watch a friend decline this way.

There is little evidence that I cleaned the house yesterday. Muddy paws and wet boots have already taken their toll on things. The yard is rapidly filling with falling Oak and Elm leaves and these quickly end up in the house as well. There is little reason to clean things up until the rain stops. Every time I open the back door, the floors instantly seem to get dirty again. Today the real challenge was just staying dry. I had a stack of bath towels by the back door to dry the dogs off with and kept the dryer running for my pants and the dog's harnesses.

I wonder if everything will return to normal after election day tomorrow? Whatever happens, half the country will be terribly unhappy. I hear both candidates saying that they want to unite the country again. Lots of luck with that. I voted, but I don't feel optimistic that my vote will make a difference. My vote will just cancel your vote. We have become so divided that I don't see how we move forward.

Maybe it won't rain all day tomorrow. Even a dismal election will look a little brighter if I can see the sun.

Chase is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1785

All day rain. Those three little words can really throw a wrench in the works at our house. Both dogs hate the rain and stubbornly refuse to go out side and pee when it's wet. They seem to think that I control the rain, somewhat like a light switch. They both wait at the door for me to turn it off. When the rain continues, they get mad and start barking. I think they're  convinced that the wet weather is all my fault. Eventually, when their bladders are about to burst, they will go outside and take a quick pee in the rain, but it is an uphill battle every step of the way. At least I got them out around daybreak for a short walk before the weather got nasty. Once the rain started, it was a lost cause.

With restless dogs and no place to go, I quickly get cabin fever on rainy days. My workload was light today, so I basically divided my time between trying to take Dot outside at regular intervals so she wouldn't pee in the house and doing a little bookkeeping. As much as I hate bookkeeping, it was still easier to balance my checkbook than it was to get Dot to pee in the rain. Even though her incontinence is much better than it was several months ago, she still needs to go outside every few hours to avoid accidents. So far, so good, but I sure hope it doesn't continue raining tomorrow.

I'm glad I voted early. I doubt that there would have been long lines at the polling places with all the rain, but getting out in traffic would have been a mess. I was happy to just stay home today. Even when cabin fever has me pacing around the house, I still have little desire to drive in the rain. Even though the rain probably decreased voter turnout, I doubt that it changed the outcome of any races. Elections are seldom even close in Texas.

It's time to make Thanksgiving dinner reservations. Last year we waited too long and had trouble finding a restaurant that could seat us anywhere near lunchtime. We haven't cooked a Thanksgiving dinner at home in years. It's easier and a lot more fun to try an interesting new restaurant. When my parents were alive, I vaguely remember large family Thanksgiving dinners, but these were not always pleasant events. I like this way better. It would be nice to find a place where the dogs could come along too, but you can't have everything.

If it continues raining tomorrow I might cook an elaborate breakfast. It's a good way to kill time and the smell of food in the kitchen keeps the dogs occupied. We'll still need to work in a walk sometime, but hopefully there will be a break in the weather. It never did stop raining today. I hear rain pounding on the roof right now, but thankfully there are no leaks. No leaks is good!

Ginger is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1784

Some days are filled with life changing experiences. Other days you just pick up dog poop. Today was one of those mundane Mondays filled with small but necessary tasks. Yes, I did clean up dog poop in the back yard this morning. I also took Dash to the vet to get his anal glands expressed, paid a couple of bills that were collecting dust on my desk, took them to the post office, and tried to repair my broken iPhone case with super glue when I returned. There were some routine website updates and client correspondence that I took care of right after breakfast, but I could have postponed the entire day until Tuesday if I wanted.

I can't really complain about uneventful days, since I seem to willingly allow them to happen. Frequently, I have vague plans to do something significant, but by the time I finish fixing breakfast, doing laundry and dishes, emptying the trash, running small errands, and attending to the dogs, the day is over. I tend to find comfort in keeping myself busy with small day-to-day chores and postpone the big things as long as possible. Maybe I've learned over the years that some of the "big" things aren't nearly as important or necessary as you might think.

When I got up this morning, there was a big possum staring at me through the living room window. I went outside and scared the thing away with a broom before letting the dogs out to pee. I don't know why possums are such frequent visitors to our yard, but we seem to see a lot of them. I always worry that one of the dogs might get hurt trying to tangle with a possum. I'm sure they'd think it was just an ugly cat and try to chase it, not realizing that a possum can be pretty nasty when cornered. I guess protecting the dogs from possums is an important thing, but it seems like a mundane thing since it happens so frequently.

I'm not a political person, but I'm very interested in seeing what happens tomorrow. I'm so disgusted with politicians that no matter which party is in power, I usually look forward to seeing a huge upset on election day. There is a certain satisfaction in throwing the bums out. I think our political system would be better if ordinary citizens served in congress instead of professional politicians. Maybe it could work like jury duty. If you got a random summons, you would be called to serve in congress for six months or a year. This would be unpaid public service. Everybody would have to serve, but nobody could get rich or run for re-election. Maybe something might actually get done if we didn't have an elite political class, consumed by power and controlled by special interests. Almost anything would be better than the mess we've got now.

It looked like it was going to rain all day, but I think the bad weather just got postponed until tomorrow. The forecast calls for thunderstorms starting about 10 AM. I hope this dismal forecast is wrong. I'm sure Dot and Dash hope it is wrong as well.

Wolfgang is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1783

It was a busy day. Janet and I went to a fundraiser lunch for a group that works to improve the park behind our house. I love walking the dogs in the park, but never dreamed there were so many competing interests trying to shape its future. Some people love the new concrete bike path that the city is building. Others are outraged that the path cuts through an owl sanctuary and are trying to get the path rerouted. Some are happy that the city arborist is planting new trees to replace the ones that have been uprooted by wind storms. Others think the entire effort is misguided, saying that the young oak trees are being planted too closely together and will not thrive. Some are alarmed at the growing homeless population in the park. Others want to add more picnic areas to make the area more inviting. For every view there is an opposing view. Such is life in the city.

After an enjoyable lunch we returned home to let the dogs out to pee and then went to our  second event of the afternoon. This one was hosted by an animal rescue group we both like. In the past we have brought dogs from Dalmatian Rescue to this event to help them find their forever homes. There aren't as many abandoned dalmatians now and the group has gotten better at finding them homes. Instead of a lot of dogs waiting for homes in a kennel, we now have a waiting list. I wish all the rescue groups had a waiting list. There are still so many wonderful dogs who need homes.

There was also an AIA tour of homes today, but two events in one day was plenty. I wish I'd known though that you could visit individual homes without purchasing a ticket for the entire tour. There is one home near ours on the tour constructed using fourteen large metal shipping containers like the ones you see on container ships. I would have loved to see what this house looked like on the inside. 

The dogs don't seem to understand the time change. They wanted their breakfast an hour earlier than what the clock said and were ready for dinner at 3:30 in the afternoon. This happens every year. Eventually they adjust to the new schedule, but at least for now they are convinced that we are withholding their food. They'll both be happy to know that I will be feeding them a little earlier as the days grow shorter. I'd much rather feed them early than walk them in the dark and run into a coyote.

I watched the new "Dark Waters" episode of Dr. Who this afternoon and have to grudgingly admit that the writing was better this time. This episode was complex, full of nuances, and a bit scary. I will never think of cremation quite the same way again. My main problem is still Clara. How can she be a normal schoolteacher this season after she was "the impossible girl" who jumped into the doctor's timeline and then died over and over again throughout time to keep the doctor out of danger. It's almost like the writers just forgot about all the previous seasons. Continuity lapses in films drive me nuts. I notice the little incongruities and they ruin the story for me.

Won't you be glad when this election is over? I've had my fill of the constant campaigning and relentless negative advertising. Both sides are guilty. Most voters don't seem to care about the real issues anyway. They just pick a team like they are watching a football game and root for their team. It's all about winning. Politics and football have a lot in common.

Puppies are today's Dalmatians of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1057 - Election Day

Today was a light housekeeping day. I paid bills. I renewed my prescriptions at the pharmacy. I balanced my checkbook. I even found time to catch up on my correspondence. What I didn't do was stand in line to vote. I'd already done that earlier during the Texas early voting period.

From the looks of things at my precinct, I could just as easily have waited until today to vote. When the dogs and I walked by the neighborhood polling station on our morning walk, there was no line at all. People walked in, voted, and were out again in just a few minutes. The long lines I kept seeing on television in other parts of the country seemed like they were from another planet. Several people asked if Dot and Dash were going to vote as we walked by. I wish they could. They'd probably make a smarter decision than many people I know.

I made an appointment for an annual physical exam with my doctor today. Usually, by the time my annual physical rolls around, I've seen the doctor so many times that there's nothing new to discover. This year is different. I've hardly been to the doctor at all this year. It's not that I feel all that great. It's just that I've grown weary of learning that my body is continuing to disintegrate. I'm sure I'm just as healthy as most people my age, but that's not saying much. After a certain point, it's all downhill.

I'm beginning to wonder if Klout has any validity at all. I noticed this Summer that my score went up quite a bit after people I don't even know said Happy Birthday to me on Facebook. Now, I'm noticing a similar effect when I get tagged in one of those pictures you see all the time with a big heart and lots of bunnies. Of course, real social interactions don't have any effect on the score whatsoever. I can't complain though. My latest perk is a free selection of Zatarain's Cajun style pasta mixes. WTF? When did Cajuns start cooking pasta anyway?

I like watching the election returns on a night like this. A close race is like watching a good football game. It's still early and I'm not sure what will happen as the evening progresses, but I always enjoy seeing the pollsters and pundits proved wrong. Often, the pundits are right of course, but it's reassuring to see that sometimes the voters still have a mind of their own.

Spot is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1056

Occasionally, I look at the profiles of people who appear on my Google+ stream and become envious of how idyllic their lives seem. Then I look at my own profile and realize that it's not that different from the rest. I guess appearances can be deceiving. I think even the scrupulously honest often put the accent on the positive to avoid depressing those around them. I do this myself sometimes. It's good to have a positive attitude. I just don't always believe you.

The fog was thick as soup when I took the dogs out this morning. I though I'd take a good camera with me on our walk and try to get some pictures before the fog lifted. What a disaster. The big camera around my neck was continually getting tangled in the dog's leashes. When I did find something to photograph, Dash would tug on the leash just as I was pressing the shutter and ruin the shot. If I spent too long looking through the viewfinder, I would inevitably look up to see one of the dogs eating something disgusting at our feet on the ground. I did get a few decent shots, but it was hardly worth the effort. It is much easier to take pictures with a cell phone when you are walking Dalmatians.

I didn't have much better luck trying to find out why the State of Missouri is telling me I owe them money. After sitting on hold for an inordinate amount of time, I finally was able to speak with someone in the state's tax office. They weren't much help. All they could tell me was that they had received a 1099 form with my name on it. They couldn't tell me what I supposedly owed, or why I was on their list. I kept telling the official that I had never lived in the state of Missouri in my life and that I had already paid all my taxes for the year in question anyway. My very rational argument seemed to fall on deaf ears.

Sadly, I think this is the shape of things to come. Government agencies at all levels are strapped for cash and they are getting more and more creative in their attempts to reel in the money they need. I've already noticed that the Dallas County government is quick to raise real estate taxes whenever house values go up, but they are very reluctant to lower taxes when real estate values go down. Income taxes are only a small part of the total picture. Have you looked at your phone bill lately? It's appalling how much of your phone bill goes to pay a bunch of weird hidden taxes. Are you concerned about the price of gas? If you could just get rid of all the taxes they place on gasoline, you could fill your tank for a very reasonable price. I don't think I would mind paying taxes so much if I could control where my money went. I have very little control of where my tax money goes however, and neither do you.

I think this is really what the election is about tomorrow. People want to control where their money goes. Each side has very different ideas of how to spend the tax money we send them. If you don't happen to agree with these ideas, you can start to feel like you vote isn't worth much. It doesn't have to be this way. I'm convinced that if people could decide where their tax money would go when they paid their taxes in the first place, we wouldn't have the divisiveness we are experiencing today. Hey, if you want to fund the military with your taxes, go ahead. If you want to fund social programs, send your tax dollars there. Roads and bridges seem important? That's OK too. If you just let the people decide for themselves where their tax dollars went, a lot of current problems would vanish. Some programs would thrive. Others would vanish. So be it. The people would have spoken. With something this direct and simple, maybe we wouldn't need congress at all.

Coach is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 959

Mercifully, the robo-calls and insanely negative TV ads have stopped. I don't know which of the many candidates calling the other guy a liar won today's election, but I'm sure I'll find out soon enough. Maybe we'll get a brief respite before the onslaught of political advertising begins all over again. By the time November arrives, I'll probably be wishing we had a monarchy.

I finally got the company who told me that I owed them $672 a few days ago to admit they'd made a mistake. They had the audacity to tell me that they'd only received my check a few days ago. I might have bought this lame argument if there wasn't a canceled check showing that they received and cashed my payment over a month ago. These guys ought to run for public office. They've certainly got the lying part down.

Apparently, the document that I hand delivered yesterday isn't finished yet. Even though I used the exact pictures the client specified, they told me that they didn't think the photos would look this way in the finished brochure. We've got to try some new pictures now. Why is it so hard to look at the components that go into something and visualize the finished result? I can do this. A lot of people can't though. Sometimes, I think I spend half my time doing layouts that will never see the light of day, just so people will have something tangible to circle and draw lines through with their felt tip markers. It always seems to be much easier to edit something than to fill a blank page.

Did I tell you I got the job to cover the big Women's Wear Daily fashion event in Las Vegas next month? This ought to be a fun project. I'm already starting to make arrangement for interviews and location photography. Since most of my work is done staring at the same computer I use to write the blog, it's nice to get out occasionally. Who knows. Maybe the Singapore job will come through as well.

The dogs and I certainly aren't getting out quite as much as we did earlier this Spring. It is relentlessly hot outside now. Dot and Dash can't take the heat and neither can I. Our walks are shorter now, but we still make an effort. I'm ready for Fall. Believe it or not, I'm even ready for rain.

Shelby is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 956

If you work in customer service, I apologize in advance. Probably the next time I talk with you, I'm going to be angry. Why? Because customer service can't seem to solve customer problems anymore. It doesn't matter if I'm talking to tech support about a website problem, or to my bank about an erroneous charge on my statement. Whatever the problem happens to be, it doesn't get solved. Today, I got a bill for $672 that was paid in full several months ago. I have the canceled checks from my bank that prove I paid the bill. The canceled checks don't seem to resolve anything though. I just keep getting billed again and again. Customer service agents probably don't even listen anymore. If I got screamed at eight hours a day for ineptness and broken promises, I probably wouldn't listen  either. What a horrible job being a customer service representative must be. You don't really have the authority to do anything, or fix anything, but you've still got to be friendly and keep saying "I understand" over and over again.

Janet had a similar problem last night making airline reservations. She got a brochure in the mail promising a special discount, but when she entered the promotion code on the airline website, it refused to take it. A friendly customer service representative said that the discount was real and that the promotion code should work.  Unfortunately, it didn't. I suggested just calling the airline and making reservations the old fashioned way. You know what was wrong with that plan?  The airline charges more for tickets if you talk to a real person. Catch-22. The extra charges for talking with a real live person would just about negate the discount anyway.

I'm increasingly convinced that the world is just broken. There is an election in Texas next Tuesday and as voting day approaches, there has been a relentless barrage of TV ads and robo-calls from all the candidates. The message is simple. All the candidates are essentially just saying "my opponent is a liar."  Enough already!  Maybe you're all liars, but after listening to all these negative commercials, I don't think I want to vote for any of you.

At least the dogs continue to bring pleasure.  Dot's visions isn't so good, and for the past several weeks she's been thinking that an old burned fireplace log in the neighbor's driveway is actually the neighbor's cat.  The log and the cat are about the same size and both are black, but that is the only resemblance. She has been so frantic to chase the log that I let her get up close to it today. She was so embarrassed to discover that the cat she wanted to chase was just a piece of wood that now she won't go anywhere near it.

We go to the dog park tomorrow. The sight of happy dogs playing brings a smile to my face as well.

Queenie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 896

It's election day in Texas. Maybe the incessant robo-calls will finally stop. Wait a minute, what was I thinking? Today's election was only a primary. The winners will be emboldened to make even more outrageous robo-calls and commercials in the days ahead. The commercials this year are particularly annoying. Every time you turn on the TV, you are greeted with the spectacle of one candidate accusing all the other candidates of being a liar. Jeez, they couldn't all be liars, could they? Sadly, they probably could.

When I woke up this morning, I thought one of the dogs had thrown up, because there was a suspicious looking puddle in the hallway. On closer inspection, the puddle wasn't dog vomit after all. It was something much worse. Paint, or glue, or a combination of the two was leaking out of a nearby cabinet where I kept supplies for household projects I hadn't gotten around to yet. When I opened up the cabinet, it became clear that a can of paint was leaking. I just wasn't sure which one, since several cans were suspiciously rusty and sitting in a big puddle of paint. I ended up throwing away all the old paint. I didn't stop there either. Since I had to take the old paint cans to the hazardous chemical disposal facility anyway, I figured that it would be a good idea to get rid of all the ancient cans of glop that I had around the house. I filled the car with old gasoline containers filled with gas that was so old I would never put it in a lawn mower. I found quite a few equally old cans of brake fluid, motor oil, antifreeze, and windshield washer fluid. It was good to get rid of this stuff, but it left me wondering why I had bought it in the first place.

It rained a lot last night, so I crawled up on the roof after breakfast to get the water off. I was greeted with thousands of ants crawling all over my sump pump. Fire ants, chiggers, and mosquitoes have been particularly bad this Spring. I feel like I am being eaten alive. I got rid of the ants by dipping the pump in the deepest puddle of water I could find. Then it occurred to me that the ants might actually be useful. Ants are tiny. Probably wherever they congregate on the roof is both their entryway to the inside of the house and the source of the water leaks.

I'm glad it's a short week. A four day work week is just fine with me.

Emmitt is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 693 - Election Day

I went and voted today. I'm still not sure what I voted on however. It was a strange election. There were no actual candidates running. There were no TV ads. There weren't even a bunch of signs on sticks, telling you what to vote for in front of the polling place. It was kind of a stealth election. The only things on the ballot were some obscurely worded referendums that all seemed to be designed to give the state additional authority to sell bonds and collect taxes. I hate these kind of referendums. The wording is so convoluted that it's quite possible to end up voting exactly the opposite of the way you intended. No wonder there was no advertising. I don't think the politicians really wanted anyone to understand these referendums.

The weather report said there would be rain today. Sure enough, it did rain. It rained for about thirty minutes while I walked the dogs this morning. As soon as we got home, the rain quit and it was nice the rest of the day. By the time I got the dogs clean and dry again, I had enough wet towels to do another load of laundry.

It took forever to get my November invoices out this afternoon, mostly because my envelope printer wasn't working properly. It either chewed up the envelopes, or spit them out unprinted. Eventually I got everything printed and mailed, but it would have been easier if I had a printer with a foolproof paper path. Paper handling seems to be the weakest link in just about every printer I've owned. Paper jams are common in the big production printer and even more common in the general purpose printers. I don't know why someone can't design a really precise paper path that never gets out of alignment. Who knows? Maybe it's the paper itself that is causing the problems.

I think I'm going to have to start walking the dogs earlier in the evenings. Not only was it completely dark when I got home this evening, I also heard coyotes barking nearby when a firetruck went by in the distance.

Spot is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day