Day 4932

I guess I'd better get used to this heat. It's not going away. Each morning when we take Dawn on her sunrise walk it seems a little warmer than it did the previous day. The low temperature is in the eighties now with the highs in triple digits. That being said, our sunrise walks are still the best part of the day. There is usually a nice breeze and no hot sun beating down on your head. We all enjoy these early morning walks. Until the weather cools down a bit they are the only walks that Dawn gets.

I had my shredded wheat and fruit for breakfast and then foolishly decided to tackle a few outdoor chores. I didn't do much, but it was enough to make me realize that this is not the time to be doing yard work. I'm surprised that the mail still gets delivered. The other day a Dallas mailman died delivering the mail in this heat. I cleaned the spiderwebs off the eaves and living room windows and then watered some plants that were looking really dry. That was enough for one day. Dawn likes to sun herself in the grass but I have to watch her carefully and make sure she doesn't stay out too long. 

We haven't seen any rabbits on our sunrise walks this week and it makes me wonder how the animals in the park are handling this heat. There's lots of underbrush in the prairie areas and I'm sure the smaller animals can use this to hide from the sun. I need to remember to put some water out for the squirrels. Even the birdbath in our back yard has gone dry.

Our air conditioner is working well, but I hate to think what our electric bill is going to be next month. I guess it was a good thing that we added three inches of insulation to our new roof. It's bound to help some, but with so much single pane glass in the house, it's still hard to keep the place cool. Usually I'm glad when the rainy season is over. Not this year. I'm ready for Fall and the worst of summer hasn't even arrived yet.

I got a check in the mail from Wells Fargo today. There was no explanation and I thought it might be part of some kind of scam. I called my broker to see if the check might have been part of some kind of sale on their part. Nope. They had nothing to do with Wells Fargo. My broker reminded me that Wells Fargo had recently settled a huge class action lawsuit and asked if I was ever a customer. Bingo. Jeez. That was twenty years ago though. Just goes to show that you never know what you're going to receive in the mail.

I went back to the gym later this morning. Going to the gym is probably the only way I'm going to get my steps for the rest of the summer. After I walked two miles on the indoor track, I shot free throws on the basketball court for a while and then used some of the machines to work on my upper body strength. I actually had a pretty decent workout today. Going to the gym every day has made me realize that my car gets terrible gas mileage. Probably a big 5.2 liter V-8 is't the best thing for driving around town.

I'm still debating whether to get a new phone. The old phone works fine but I haven't been able up update the operating system in years. Since I can't update the IOS, I can't update my Apple Watch either. I can postpone the inevitable, but eventually I'm going to have to update the phone for security reasons alone. A lot of modern apps won't run on my old phone either. I'm very comfortable with using obsolete software, but this can't go on forever. 

Tomorrow looks like more of the same. We'll get up early and take a sunrise walk with Dawn. I"ll eat my breakfast while becoming disgusted with what's on TV. Then I'll sort through the spam in my e-mail to see if I have any real messages. I'm sure I'll go to the gym. The gym is actually colder than inside our house. It's not a bad place to hang out on days like this.

Derrick is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4601

There have been rain clouds around us all day. I even heard thunder at one point. We didn't get a single drop of rain. This was the one day where we might have had a chance. It didn't even get up to a hundred degrees today. Now we return to another never ending string of triple digit days in the weeks ahead.

I got the electric bill today. It was literally double what it was this time last year. Last month was high. This month was a lot higher. This is not good. The cost of everything has gone through the roof. Grocery bills are ridiculous now. So are utility bills, insurance bills, gasoline, and just about everything else. It makes you wonder where all this is going to end. It doesn't help that we are in the middle of an almost unprecedented heat wave. I'm just waiting for water shortages.

Our sunrise walks with Dawn are getting uncomfortably warm. The temperature was in the high eighties this morning and the sun wasn't even up yet. Dawn was panting when we returned home and I was starting to sweat. You really don't expect this before breakfast. I keep hoping that nothing goes wrong with the air conditioner. It could get dangerously hot very quickly.

We had a nice weekend breakfast and then I went to the gym again. More people are wearing masks on the gym floor now. Sign of the times I suspect. I'm getting a lot better on the basketball court. I'd probably get some real exercise if I'd start dribbling and shooting from other points on the court. So far, all I'm doing is shooting free throws from the free throw line. I've got really bad knees though. The last thing I want to do is screw up my knees running around on the basketball court.

I'm walking at a faster pace on the indoor track as well. Practice makes perfect I guess. This is a lot better than walking in the park. They keep my gym really cold. Sometimes I feel like I need a jacket. I won't be able to go to the gym tomorrow since it is closed on Sunday, but I will be busy anyway. Tomorrow is the day we move the rescue Dalmatians to the new kennel. Hopefully the dogs will like their new home. I haven't seen the place yet, but I hear it is a little smaller than the current kennel.

I'm beginning to get apprehensive about my trip to Florida. I'm hearing that up to a million people might converge on Titusville for the Artemis launch. This can't possibly be true, but locals say that this many people used to come to watch the Apollo launches. I am told to expect huge traffic jams on the roads leading to the space center on launch day. Yikes. Maybe I should have gone out to the observatory instead. There certainly aren't many people out there.

I did my grocery shopping earlier today. I should do this more often. There really aren't a lot of people in the stores before 10 AM. There seemed to be a better selection of fruit as well. I don't know how I got such an early start today since I think we actually got up later. Gasoline was the only thing that was less expensive this week. The price drop was probably temporary, but I'll take what I can get. 

I don't know how long it will take us to move the dogs tomorrow, but hopefully Dawn will still get her Sunday outing. There won't be a walk, but there will be ice cream. I'm not sure how I will get my steps tomorrow. I definitely don't want to walk in the park, so I'll probably try mall walking. I always thought that this was something only old people did, but I guess I'm an old person now.

I wish life didn't feel so apocalyptic. I'd like things to return to normal before I completely forget what normal looks like. Tomorrow will be normal though. Dalmatians and ice cream are always good.

Penny is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4589

Still fighting the heat. It was already 85 degrees when we took Dawn on her sunrise walk and the sun wasn't even up yet. Later in the day the temperature climbed to 109 degrees. Yikes. Needless to say I didn't spend a lot of time outdoors. After breakfast I wrote a letter to my sister and took it to the post office. That was about it for the morning.

We went and visited the rescue Dalmatians this afternoon. JoJo has been adopted, but is still at the kennel. He will be joining his new family soon. Rocket has made a remarkable transformation. He's gained weight, his coat looks much better, and he is no longer fearful. It's hard to believe that all this has happened in less than a month. Rocket even plays with toys now. They used to scare him. Willie still enjoys being petted more than playing and Charlie still does his best to wear us out with all his energy. Spot, our new guy, is very relaxed and extremely friendly. I bet he finds a home soon. We took Spot back to the vet on our way home today because he needed to have his teeth cleaned.

I still had time to go to the gym after we returned from visiting the kennel. They have reinstated their mask mandate but I don't understand the logic. You have to wear a mask when you enter the building, but you can take it off as soon as you are on the exercise floor. This means that most people keep their masks on for about ten seconds. I didn't really do a lot today, but I did get my steps. I walked two miles on the indoor track and shot fifteen free throws on the basketball court. I'm still surprised that the same people seem to be at the gym no matter what time of day I arrive. Some of these folks must live there.

I got a quick reply from the Benro Polaris people regarding my camera connection problems. They weren't much help this time and just suggested that I might have a bad cable. Nope. The cables are fine. The problem is with the new firmware update. I shouldn't have installed this latest upgrade. The previous update was working fine. This is what happens when you get bored and have too much time on your hands. Maybe if I can get this problem fixed I will finally learn my lesson and just leave the problematic star tracker alone.

I hate to think what our electric bill is going to be next month. Our air conditioner has been running nonstop for days now. It takes all night to cool the place down and then as soon as the sun comes up, it starts to warm up again. I wonder how long this can continue without something breaking? I'll probably be going back to the gym for the rest of the summer. I don't like the drive, but the gym is nice and cold. I wish I could keep our house as cold as this gym. No wonder the regulars spend a lot of time here.

No big plans for tomorrow. I hope it's a little cooler, but I'm not counting on it.

Beemer is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4189

It was a very busy day. Right after breakfast I got out the reciprocating saw and attempted to cut down the remaining dead Photinia trees in the back yard. The new carbide tipped blade helped a lot, but there were still a few trees where the stumps were too thick for my saw. I was amazed at how heavy these trees were. I had trouble hauling some of them out to the alley. Later this week I will move the pile of wood out to the curb for the monthly bulky trash pick-up. By the time I was finished, I was drenched in sweat and changed my clothes for the first of many times today.

After a short nap to rest up, we took Dawn on her special outing to her Sunday park. She gets so excited about these Sunday outings now. I'm beginning to think that she's not really scared to ride in the car. All her weird behavior might be just the way she shows her excitement. We had a nice walk. It was starting to get hot, but the walk was short enough that Dawn was in no danger of getting overheated. Her self imposed one mile limit is actually pretty smart. We always conclude our outing with ice cream cones at Andy's. Dawn loves ice cream. After we returned home I changed my clothes for a second time. I wonder if people sweat more when they get older. I never remember sweating this much in the summer.

The temperature was in the 90's by the time we returned home. I was pretty tired already and wasn't really looking forward to a six mile walk. I took a short nap and finally managed to convince myself that I still needed the exercise. This was another slow day. My pace was two minutes per mile slower than it usually is on a cooler day. The park wasn't very full for a Sunday. Most sane people were staying inside. I'm always surprised at the number of people having family picnics on really hot days. Is this actually fun? There were very few joggers and runners today, but quite a few picnics.

When I returned from my long walk I was totally beat. I took a shower and changed my clothes for a third time. At least our air conditioner is working well. If the air conditioner broke we would be miserable in less than an hour. Things don't look good for the week ahead. It looks like it is going to be sunny and hot for the rest of the week. Temperatures will be in the high 90's and may top 100 degrees on some days. This is only June too. July is usually much worse.

It's easy to get dehydrated on days like this. I find myself drinking twice as much water as I usually do. Even this probably doesn't replace the amount I sweat though. Our house is still cool, but the air conditioner never stops running. I have a feeling that our electric bill is going to be horrendous next month. The electric bill is always high in the summer, but the electric companies all raised their rates after last winter's big freeze knocked the power out throughout the state. I'm not looking forward to this. The air conditioner compressor and two dehumidifiers use a lot of electricity.

These weeks go quickly. It's already time to visit the rescue Dalmatians again. We heard that Riggs got adopted this week and that there's a new dog up at the kennel. I'm not sure what his name is, but he's young and quite handsome. I'll need to remember to take my camera so I can get some pictures up on the website. I don't expect a lot to happen next week, but I do wish it would cool off a little. How quick we forget. It's only been a week or so since all the rain ended and I'm already wishing it would come back.

Marcie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3505

I see some strange things when I'm walking in the park. Today I saw a guy riding a bicycle with his arm in a cast. You might not need both hands to steer, but don't you need both hands to operate the brakes? Hmm. I wonder how he broke that arm? The guy was riding like he was competing in the Tour de France too. It made no sense to me. The animals make no more sense than the humans. At this time of year birds like to congregate on electric wires. Sometimes you'll see hundreds of birds on a wire. At one of these locations I always see a big pile of dead birds directly under the wire. The birds are getting electrocuted. Don't they know what is happening? You'd think that at least one of these birds would be saying "Has anyone seen Bob lately," he was here just a minute ago." Getting zapped doesn't seem to deter the birds though. They come back to the same wire every day.

We had our first triple digit day of the Summer. It was well over a hundred degrees this afternoon. Coincidently, this was the day I paid the electric bill. The electric bills in July and August are always horrendous. It doesn't really matter where you set the thermostat, the air conditioner is always running. There's no point in wishing for cooler weather now. It's going to be pretty warm from now through the end of September.

I'm still trying to figure out the weather in West, Texas. I had a day all picked out to go to McDonald Observatory and just before I was going to make my reservation I checked the long range weather again. The day I wanted was clear yesterday and today there was a 40% chance of thunderstorms. The alternate day I was looking at had an even higher chance of thunderstorms. I looked at Yelp reviews of people who had visited the observatory and almost half of them said they had experienced cloudy skies. Almost all of them said it was much colder than they expected. I did a little research and discovered that July and August are considered the "monsoon" season in West Texas. Evidently during this time of year a stationary low pressure system typically sets up over Arizona and New Mexico drawing moisture into the area. It may not rain every day, but it is not the best time for astronomy. Despite all this, I think the area around the observatory is supposed to have clear skies for 2/3 of the year. People say there are better chances of clear skies in the Spring, but it can also get very cold in the mountains. Snow and ice are common. I wish the place wasn't so remote. It's a very long drive if you are just going to wind up with cloudy skies. On a clear night there is no place better for dark skies in the country though. Do I take a gamble or not?

These hot summer days are long and uneventful. No wonder Janet likes to travel. I'm not much of a traveler myself but almost everything I'm interested in doing seems to be outside of Dallas. That must mean something. If I was more of a free spirit, I'd probably be on the road right now. Since I'm not a free spirit at all, I'll be thinking about what to have for dinner tomorrow while I take my morning walk.

Penny is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3438

Good news. I got a letter from NASA today saying that my application had been accepted and that I was invited to be their guest for the next Space X Falcon Heavy launch at Kennedy Space Center. It didn't take long for me to accept the invitation. I love this program that NASA has started for bloggers and social media folks. People like me have the opportunity to apply for essentially the same press credentials that major news outlets like CNN and NBC get. NASA thinks that bloggers can reach a completely different audience than traditional media outlets and provides unique behind the scenes access for major launch, planetary, and research events. There is no way I could ever see some of the things I've experienced at these NASA events without a program like this.

I've never been to Kennedy Space Center before. Actually, I've never been to Florida before. This should be quite an experience. In addition to getting to view the launch itself, I'll be able to see the Falcon Heavy up close on the pad, talk to NASA and Space X personnel connected with the mission, and take a behind the scenes tour of Kennedy Space Center. This is kind of what I did in Houston earlier this year. When I was at the Johnson Space Center I actually got to sit inside the new Orion space capsule. I can't wait to write about this new experience.

I couldn't figure out why the toilet wasn't working right this morning. The water wasn't flowing very well. Jeez. The plumbers were just out here yesterday. I took the lid off the tank and discovered that the plumbers has left some parts inside the tank and they'd gotten stuck between the flapper and the flush valve. Were these new parts they failed to install or old parts from the fill valve they removed? I finally determined that these were old parts but these plumbers won't win any awards for neatness. It's a shame. Nobody seems to take pride in their work anymore. The toilet works fine now. Too bad I can't charge the plumbers like they charged me.

I had Corned Beef Hash for breakfast this morning. You don't see this on many menus anymore. This was a nice change of pace from the Shrimp and Grits or French Toast I usually order on these Friday morning outings. Braised corned beef brisket is good any time of day. I'm trying to expand my horizons one meal at a time. I'm just having trouble getting out of the neighborhood.

The temperature was over 90 today. I guess the low winter electric bills are over for a while. Air conditioning is expensive in Texas but at least our air conditioner is working well. Hope it survives another hot summer. When the air conditioning breaks on a hot day you don't care really what it costs to get cool air again. I don't know how people could stand to live down here before air conditioning.

I looked for the lizards again today on my walk but didn't see any. There were lots of bees though. They love the wildflowers.

Ziggy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3144

We had a power outage last night. It only took three hours for the electric company to restore the power, but that was enough for me to see the perils of losing electricity during a heat wave. I could feel the house growing warmer almost immediately. After about an hour, I began feeling hot and stuffy. This was at night too, when the air was cooler. I imagine that things would have been even worse if we lost power during the day.

I could tell that Dash wasn't comfortable. He got off the bed and went looking for a cooler place to sleep. Dash can't tolerate heat at all anymore. I keep the house as cool as I can for him, but it has made our electric bill go through the roof. Fall weather can't come soon enough for me.

By morning, everything was back to normal. Dash took his morning meds and we began our slow journey through the park. We tried out the new boots I bought recently. They are smaller and lighter than his regular boots, so maybe he won't drag his feet so much. They passed their first test this morning. The boots stayed on his feet during the entire walk.

On my way to breakfast this morning I put the top down on the loaner convertible. I can't remember ever driving a convertible before and the experience was kind of fun. Visibility is great in a convertible. You don't really have to worry about blind spots. The roads can be pretty noisy though. Big trucks can be intimidating too. I'm not sure I'd want to drive on Dallas freeways with the top down. The most surprising thing was that if you turn on the car's air conditioner with the top down, it creates a pretty convincing illusion that the outside air is actually cooler.

I didn't get to keep the convertible for very long. As I was finishing breakfast, I got a call from the dealership saying that my car was ready. When I picked it up, I noticed that they had one of the new all electric Jaguar iPace models on display. Tesla is going to face some really tough competition as the major manufacturers all begin introducing their own versions of an all electric car. The iPace is pretty cool. I'd certainly be tempted the next time I'm car shopping.

Even though the power was only off for a short time, there were a ton of things that needed to be reset. It seems like everything has a built-in clock these days. The thermostat has a clock. The land line phone has a clock. Even the coffee maker has a clock. I think I reset everything, but knowing me, there will be something I forgot and it will start beeping while I'm sleeping tonight.

It seemed like Saturday today. I wonder if it will feel like Sunday tomorrow. When Janet fully retires, it's going to be impossible to tell what day it is. I guess it doesn't really matter. The sun keeps coming up every morning and the blog keeps getting posted every night. If I need to know the details, I can check my Fitbit.

Puppies are today's Dalmatians of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3110

We walked Dash very early today, so there'd be plenty of time to photograph new rescue Dalmatians after breakfast. The kennel seems a long way away now, but that's just because I don't drive much. For most people in Dallas the drive would just seem like a normal commute to work. There was only one new dog to photograph, but that was just as well because the kennel was very busy. Hopefully, this little guy will get a home soon. Charlie was a friendly boy and Janet wanted me to make him today's Dalmatian of the Day.

I'm sure this isn't the hottest Summer on record, but it sure seems that way. Maybe there have been warmer days, but there sure haven't been larger electric bills. Our June bill was the highest I can remember. This probably says more about the rising cost of electricity than it does about the weather. I think we'd pay just about anything to keep the air conditioner running unfortunately. The heat is merciless. We're all getting older and can't take it anymore. I'll keep changing the furnace filters and hopefully the house will stay cool for the rest of the Summer.

I went to the storage warehouse and brought home some of Dot's low dog beds for Dash. He's having trouble getting on the bed now and is increasingly starting to sleep on the floor. Dot did the same thing as she got older. Hopefully, a few strategically placed dog beds will help keep him comfortable. Our brick floors can be pretty tough for an old dog.

I like Sam's Club and Costco's prices on bulky items, but I sure wish they came in smaller sizes. I got toilet paper today and I think I have enough to last the rest of the year. We have a small house and it takes forever to figure out where to store the big boxes of paper towels and toilet paper. The cabinets are full, but I'm confident that we're good on coffee pods, mineral water, toilet paper, and towels.

The storage warehouse still looked pretty full when I went to get the dog beds this afternoon. I wonder if I'll ever be able to remove enough stuff so I can move to a smaller space when my rent comes due again. I've cleared out a bunch of stuff, but it still looks the same. This is going to take a lot of work. The storage warehouse management doesn't give customers access to their dumpster anymore either. That sucks. How can you throw stuff away if there's no place to put it?

It's hard to believe the year is half over. I certainly haven't accomplished very much. I wish I realized earlier how difficult it was going to be to simplify things. If you haven't used something in five years, I would encourage you to throw it away. It doesn't get any easier after ten or twenty years. I wonder what ever gave me the idea that at a certain age you could just magically transition to a house on the beach?

Charlie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2998

Thirty minutes after I finished bragging about how good Dash was doing last night, he threw up. It's hard to predict these things. I didn't see any of the usual signs of a vestibular event, so I have a feeling that Dash may have just eaten too much. He certainly seemed unusually hungry yesterday. At any rate, I got dressed, cleaned up the mess on the carpet, took Dash outside to make sure he wasn't going to throw up again, and then we all went back to bed.

That wasn't the only strange thing that happened last night. I woke up twice with cold sweats again. Maybe I overdid things yesterday as well. I thought my cold was completely gone. I hate to look up symptoms on Google because the results are so alarming. Evidently, night sweats can signal low blood sugar, cancer, heat attacks, and severe anxiety. Luckily, night sweats are also common when you have a cold or flue. I don't think it's a big deal, but it is irritating to have to change the sheets so often. If things don't return to normal soon, I can always call my doctor next week.

The weather was so warm today that the air conditioner came on. I wasn't expecting that. The good news is that the air conditioner still works. The bad news is that if this warm weather continues, our electric bill will start going through the roof again. I'm not a big fan of Winter, but it is nice to get a break from high electric bills for a while.

Since Dash seemed back to normal this morning, I didn't bother to give him a Cerenia pill. I think I need to save the anti-nausea medication for when there are clear signs of a vestibular event. It looks like periodic vomiting is going to be part of our life for the foreseeable future. At least it doesn't happen very often. A large portion of our house has brick floors. Why does Dash always vomit on the carpets? The mess would be so easy to clean up if he would just learn to throw up on the bricks. Jeez. Last night he would have only had to move ten feet to reach a safe, easy to clean area. Sadly, it wasn't meant to be.

I washed the car today because it was much easier than fixing Dash's rubber shoes. The protective shoes are getting pretty worn and it's time to reinforce them again with more tire patch material. I bought more Shoe Goo and a tire patch kit to make the repairs, but it's a messy job and I keep postponing it. Maybe tomorrow.

I've had this cold for a week now. That seems long enough. I do feel like I'm getting better, but I'm impatient to put this all behind me. I'll probably go to the gym tomorrow no matter how I feel. I'm not contagious and I definitely need the exercise.

Ely is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2453

We have become the bad back family. It goes without saying that Dot has the worst problems. Neurological damage resulting from a ruptured disc in her spine has nearly crippled her. Last week Dash's vet said that his stiff awkward walk may be caused by a bulging disc in his spine as well. Janet has had lower back problems for years, and this morning I woke up with a bad back for the second day in a row. It's kind of hard to have a normal day when your back hurts. Hopefully, a little extra rest and avoiding heavy lifting for a while will get me back to normal. Several years ago I had a pinched nerve in my neck and I discovered how debilitating spinal problems can be. To this day, I have no idea what I did to cause my neck injury. I don't have a clue why I woke up with a bad back yesterday either.

I activated my free satellite radio trial today and of course it didn't work. I remember that I had the same problem connecting to the satellite the last time I took advantage of one of these free trial offers. Last year it took three or four phone calls and fifteen minutes of sitting in the car with the motor running before Sirius XM finally found my car.  I never bothered subscribing to the service before and I probably won't this time either. I never listen to music in the car anyway, so all I wanted were some extra news and weather channels. The sound quality of these voice only channels was terrible. Everything was severely compressed to save bandwidth. It wasn't what I was expecting. Probably the only reason I signed up for the trial again was the message that said "absolutely no obligation. no credit card required." I'll eventually get the car paired with the satellite, listen to a few programs, and then receive six months worth of junk mail asking me why I didn't subscribe.

I got another writing assignment today, but there wasn't enough input to actually start writing. I asked some questions, received a few vague answers, and decided to postpone this project until tomorrow. I often receive very little input on my writing assignments. I think people hire me because I'm pretty good at just making stuff up. Show me a picture and I'll invent a plausible story. I'm surprised that I never got into writing political speeches. Making absolutely nothing sound good has always been a specialty of mine.

I did write a letter to my Luddite sister. Since she lives directly in the path of that hurricane heading for the Florida coast, there's a chance that my letter will never arrive. Maybe the mailbox will just float away. I wonder why people live in hurricane zones? Hurricanes seem to hit the same places again and again. Of course, I live in what many would call a tornado zone, so you could say the same thing about me.

I got my electric bill today and it was even higher than it was last August. I could have sworn that last August was a lot hotter than it was this year, but maybe I was wrong. I have a feeling that the bill increased because of the dehumidifier. Dehumidifiers use a lot of electricity. I guess a large electric bill is better than mold in the closets though. The house seems a lot more livable since we've got the humidity under control.

I'll write my article tomorrow and see whether I can convince Dash to get back to his regular walking schedule. I'm debating whether to drive a little further and look for a new breakfast restaurant. It kind of bothers me that I don't have a favorite place anymore.

Spot is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2001

I think some people should have just stayed in bed this morning. I needed to find out some simple information today and struck out everywhere I called. My insurance agent seemed about two weeks behind on everything and said they couldn't get to my questions because of all the flood damage claims they had to process. My doctor couldn't find the test results from lab work that was done almost a month ago. I had better luck with the veterinarians I called, but they seemed frazzled and overworked too. Jeez, it's only Monday. If everyone is already hopelessly behind on Monday, I wonder what the rest of the week is going to be like.

I'm certainly going to be busy this week. I asked when a new writing assignment was due and the client said as soon as possible. I think this means tomorrow. I finally got up my nerve to convert my most difficult website to a mobile friendly format and almost immediately began to wonder if I had bitten off more than I can chew. When I started working on the site this afternoon, I quickly realized why I had saved this particular client for last. Everything will get done in due time, but this conversion is going to take a while. This is a very large website. I hope Google is happy when all my sites are finally mobile friendly. I don't want to do this again for a long time. If they decide that websites have to look good and be readable on the Apple Watch, I'm going to scream.

I'm going to have to figure out how to keep Dash cool during our Summer walks. I can tell he's already starting to get too hot and it's going to get much, much warmer in the months to come. In the past I've tried soaking a bandana in water before we start and putting it around the dog's neck. I've also tried spraying them with a water mist before we start. There aren't any drinking fountains along the way and Dash hasn't mastered the art of drinking from a water bottle. I wish Dash would just take shorter walks in hot weather. That's what Dot does. Unfortunately, he doesn't realize he's too hot until we're about a mile away from the house. I'm sure we'll figure out something, but I'm already starting to wish that the rain would return.

I've got to figure out how to switch the new fancy thermostat to some sort of reasonable Summer mode. In the Winter, I had it programmed to let the house cool down while we were asleep and then bring everything back up to 74 degrees just before we got up in the morning. This actually saved quite a bit on energy bills. In the Summer, I guess you'd want to pre-cool the house while you were sleeping and then let it warm up again during the day. I don't think this will work as well as the Winter settings though. The house isn't well insulated and the temperature is always hot day and night. Basically, the air conditioner runs non-stop in the Summer. Oh, well. I guess I'd better get used to those high Summer electric bills again.

Dash seems to tolerate the doxycycline he's taking pretty well. So far, there has been no upset stomach or other side effects. I'm hoping when Dot has her mini-biopsy on Wednesday that everything is normal with her. It would be nice to have both of these dogs healthy again. Maybe when I get my dental work finished later this month, life will finally return to normal.

Lacey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1968

I know it sounds impossible, but I've lost all interest in food. I still get hungry, but it's so hard to find food that doesn't get hopelessly lodged in the gaping socket the wisdom tooth left behind, that I don't look forward to meals at all. All the dentists have told me that this hole will close on its own as part of the healing process, but I'll believe it when I see it. In an effort to find something soft and easy to chew, I broke down and fixed myself French Toast this morning. This was a lot better than the crunchy granola and fruit I ate yesterday morning, but the bread got lodged in my teeth anyway. I've thought about a liquid diet of tomato soup, but acidic things like tomatoes give me heartburn. Even scrambled eggs get caught in my teeth. This sucks. I thought about going to the store and getting a package of hot dogs and eating them without a bun until my jaw healed. Maybe I'm just hungry for hot dogs right now. I have a feeling that they wouldn't work any better than anything else I've tried.

I had a huge website update to complete today. Somehow the new person responsible for social media at the company didn't realize I needed to be in the loop and when it finally dawned on them that the website was out of date, I was three months behind. More than anything, this shows you how completely Facebook has replaced the company website as the go-to place to show the world what you are doing. This website was hopelessly out of date and nobody even noticed.

I spent the remainder of the day writing an article for another client about an upcoming trade show. Many of my clients actually used to send me to these trade shows and conventions back in the day. Every one of them has abandoned the practice and just have me pretend I was there instead. Apparently Wikipedia and a little imagination are all you need these days. I kind of miss going to trade shows. It was a chance to stay in nice hotels and discover interesting restaurants using other people's money. Of course, this is probably why everyone quit sending me to these events. Nobody really needs to go to trade shows anymore. They are an anachronism. If it weren't for all the people desperate to get out of the office, trade shows would have died out quite a while ago.

I bet my electric bill is going to be higher this Summer. The severe trim the power company crews gave my Live Oak trees is already letting a lot more sunlight into the house. I've always liked the thick tree cover in the back yard and have been convinced that the shade keeps the house ten degrees cooler in the Summer. I certainly hope this massive tree trimming effort in the neighborhood eliminates our power outage problem. It looks like we're going to have bad weather for the rest of the week and if the power still goes out after the power company ruined my trees, I'm really going to be pissed.

Patches is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1660

One of my photographer friends said that people are crawling under cars in his office parking lot, sawing off the catalytic converters and stealing them. Has it come to this? I knew we were getting close to living in a Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome world, but I didn't think we were that close. Every time I hear stories like this, I want to move to a little town that's been frozen in time somewhere around 1955. Now where would that be? I doubt that places like this even exist anymore.

I knew the power company was raising electricity rates, but I really didn't expect my electric bill to go up by 30% in a single month. The temperature has been fairly constant for the past several months, so it wasn't a heat wave that caused the bill to go up so much. It was a greedy power company. I just wonder where this is going to end? Gas prices are up. Meat and dairy products are up. The cable bill has gone through the roof, and now the power company is climbing on the bandwagon.  I keep hearing that inflation is low, but I don't believe it. Inflation is quite high in my world. Prices keep going up and wages keep going down. It's not a good combination.

At least the dogs are happy. If I can get them out on their morning walk around 7 AM, there's usually a nice breeze and the walk is enjoyable for all. We're still able to walk several miles early in the morning, although it's an entirely different story in the evening. During the day, the dogs are content to stay inside with me where the air conditioner is cranked up. They sleep while I work, although today I did a little bit of sleeping as well. Yes, it was another slow day. We got lucky at training class this evening. Instead of a typical hot and muggy July evening, we had a pleasant breeze instead. It felt like a cold front was blowing through town and it probably was, since it is supposed to rain later tonight.

One of my doctors wants me to postpone the prescription changes another doctor made last week. I hate dueling doctors. I never know who to believe and usually end up believing nobody. I see a third doctor about something entirely different next Monday. Maybe this one will be the tie breaker. I'd just as soon ignore all these doctors, but I saw what happened to my Dad when he got older. It wasn't pretty. If any one of these guys can save me from that fate, I'll be happy to go along with the program.

Since Friday is a holiday, I'm wondering whether to make tomorrow my restaurant breakfast day. So many decisions.

Bud is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 812

Life is entirely too complicated. I'm finally being forced to deal with the reality of an empty rent property. All the little things I need to do to make the transition to a new tenant are driving me nuts. I got the electricity for the rent house transferred back to my name today. This used to be an easy process that took about five seconds over the phone. Now, you've got to spend five minutes just to get a real person on the other end of the line and then things get even more difficult. The power company records your call and forces you to answer a barrage of questions before they'll even consider transferring the electric bill. When they finally agree to transfer the billing, you have to agree to pay a higher rate for "short term" service. Apparently, the power company now wants you to sign a two year contract just like the phone companies do. It's a bit ridiculous.

When I got all the electricity issues ironed out, I realized that I had lost my spare set of keys to the rent house. I have no idea where they are. I guess this proves that I'm pretty much a "hands off" landlord. I haven't been down to the place to inspect anything in over two years. Now, I'm going to have to ask my renter for the original set of keys, just so I can get inside the place. Of course, my tenant is going to want her entire security deposit back. Now, where did that money disappear to? All the real estate agents I know are going to call too, wanting to be my "leasing agent." Apparently this is what real estate agents do these days, now that they don't sell as many houses.

Hopefully, I can put all the rent house issues behind me before I have to concentrate on tax preparation. Dealing with tax problems and real estate problems at the same time would simply be too much to bear. I increasingly find myself envying the dogs. Although Dash occasionally worries about being attacked by another dog in the park again and Dot worries about her dinner being late, these pups don't have a care in the world.

I took Dash to the vet for his bi-weekly antigen shot today. It was the first time I've left the house in several days. There was an Avid Media Composer seminar downtown this afternoon that I kind of wanted to go to. I didn't want to deal with finding a parking place downtown though, so I skipped the event. That's kind of how things have become.

Anne is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 598

I got my electric bill today. We've had hot Summers before in Texas, but I can't recall ever seeing an electric bill this high. I guess I shouldn't have been surprised. The air conditioner has been running 24x7 for three weeks solid. It doesn't even cool down enough at night anymore to bring the inside temperature down to a comfortable 75 degrees. I guess I could just set the thermostat higher so the compressor would eventually shut off, but I hate to sweat while I work. Impossible deadlines are bad enough, but sweaty impossible deadlines are simply unacceptable.

After watching the DOW bounce around like a billiard ball all day, I can't say I feel any better than I did yesterday. Sure, the market closed up 60 points, but a 60 point gain after a 500 point drop can hardly be called a rally. I can't imagine what's going to happen Monday morning. As Janet and I were eating dinner, a message scrolled across the screen on the TV saying that Standard & Poors had just lowered the nation's credit rating. Hey, another first for the country. Hardly as glamorous as that first step on the moon though. We should have seen this coming twenty years ago when everybody and their uncle started buying houses with a zero down payment. I had a well paying ad agency job at the time and remember driving through neighborhood after neighborhood thinking "Jeez, I can't afford these houses, I wonder how all these other people can?" The truth was, they couldn't either. You simply can't spend more than you make indefinitely, either as an individual or as a country.

Dalmatian Rescue is feeling the money crunch too. We've had a lot of sick dogs this year, so we're having another casino party fundraiser tomorrow night to help pay the vet bills. The plan is to go set up all the tables tomorrow morning, before it gets too hot. I think we could set everything up in the middle of the night and it would still be too hot.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 574

I wrote a letter this morning to one of my relatives who still refuses to enter the electronic age. I think it's been several years since I actually wrote a letter on paper and took it to the post office. I wonder if non-bloggers understand how difficult it is to write a personal letter when you've already said everything you have to say. I used to write distant friends frequently, but I just don't see the point anymore. I wish everyone would just read the blog. That's really all there is anyway. If you blog for a long enough period of time, you come to realize that every thought you've ever had in your life will eventually wind up as a post. I keep telling people that everything they need to know is here, but there are still some folks who seem to think a vague, hand scrawled note in illegible handwriting is more personal.

I was going to learn how to use the GoPro camera today, but every time I picked up the instruction manual, I got a call from a client with a problem that needed to be fixed immediately. I did figure out how to put the battery in the camera and set the internal clock, but that was about it. The rest of the day was spent changing prices on websites, adding missing links, and printing promotional posters. Maybe tomorrow I'll try out the camera. It is amazingly small and light. I could probably even attach it to Dash's collar.

It's time for new blood work again. I stopped by my doctor just to make sure, and just like I expected, this was something I should have done last month. I doubt that much has changed from June to July, but I'll go ahead and make an appointment so I won't end up being three months late. I need to be fasting before these tests, so I need to pick a day when I'm not particularly hungry. You probably know by now that I hate to miss breakfast.

I got the electric bill today. It was twice as much as I paid in May. I really can't complain though. This is Texas in July. As long as the air conditioner keeps pumping out cool air, I'll be a happy camper.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day