Day 1939

My life is a lot like watching paint dry these days. Dot is definitely getting stronger, but progress is very slow. I've still got some new projects on the back burner, but it could take weeks or even months before any of them come to fruition. I'm still doing my physical therapy exercises, but any progress in regaining the use of my shoulder is still measured in inches. I've learned to take it all in stride. I don't even expect anything to happen fast anymore.

People who are in a hurry probably find me infuriating. I can spend hours eating breakfast. I never drive over the speed limit anymore. I finish everything on my to-do list, but it can take months for me to get around to the less desirable tasks. I still brag that I've never missed a deadline, but this is probably only because my clients are getting slower too. Even writing this blog is taking longer than it used to. I guess this makes sense. It's not easy to say the same thing over and over again without becoming redundant.

Today was particularly slow. I did have one website problem to solve, but that was about it. Since the dogs were unusually quiet today, I wanted to find a way to fill the day without waking them up unnecessarily. I ended up watching Interstellar at a very low volume all over again. It's a long movie, so it used up a lot of time. I don't mind reading a book or watching a movie twice. If it was good the first time, it is usually good the second time as well. When I watch a movie twice, I'm always surprised at how many things I missed at the first viewing.

I thought I was going to get lucky and make it through the afternoon without any frantic barking episodes, but a yard crew came to the neighbors house and started making a huge racket with their lawn mowers and leaf blowers. Not surprisingly, this sent both dogs into a barking frenzy. Dot and Dash have always barked at strange noises, but I guess I just ignored them because I wasn't actually participating. Now that I'm holding up Dot's rear legs, I sometimes feel like I need to start barking too. I took the dogs outside, fed them a rice cake, and eventually got them settled down again after the lawn crew finished their noisy work. I thought I was home free, but then the UPS delivery guy knocked on the front door and the barking started all over again.

Dot is probably more frustrated than I am. All she wants is her freedom back. I'm sure she's not wild about having me following her around holding her harness everywhere she goes, but it can't be helped. If Dot wants to wander around freely again, she going to have to become a bit more surefooted. She thinks she's hot stuff now, but I still catch her and keep her from falling at least ten times a day.

To continue today's slow motion theme, I got a call from my insurance company saying that the car accident in California had finally been resolved. Jeez, the accident happened in January and it's April now. I never thought the whole process would take this long. Everything takes a long time now. I'm working on a video for a client that probably won't be finished until June. Lord knows when I'll finally get my teeth fixed. After all Dot's expenses, dental surgery seems pretty pricy right now. By the time I can afford to have the dental work done, I'll have to overcome my fear of the dentist all over again.

Everything in good time, I guess. Somehow my taxes will get finished and filed on April 15. The dead limb on the big oak tree in the back yard will be pruned by Summer. I'll probably be wearing an Apple watch before Christmas. Somewhere in the grand mix of things, Dot will be walking on her own in the park again.

Molly is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1888

How many dogs have a vet who is nice enough to make house-calls? I was delighted this morning when Dot's regular vet called and asked if I'd like her to come to the house so Dot could get an acupuncture treatment today. Acupuncture alone won't get Dot walking again, but it is very effective at releasing endorphins which can reduce stress and alleviate pain. Dot has always enjoyed her acupuncture therapy. It seems to relax her and leave her feeling better for the rest of the day. Even though she had one of her "stranger danger" barking episodes when the vet initially arrived, she quickly relaxed and almost fell asleep as the needles did their work.

I was hoping to hear some encouraging words about Dot's progress, but truthfully any progress so far has been minor and rather subtle. Dot can sometimes move her legs, but the rear legs cannot currently support any weight. I have to hold her legs up using the special harness that she wears almost all the time now. She appears stronger when something excites her. When she saw a car in the alley behind the house this morning, Dot wanted to go investigate like she usually does. She walked all the way to the back fence with me holding her up with the harness. If I hold the special harness just right and encourage her to walk very slowly, she can make somewhat normal walking motions. She attempts to move her rear legs forward too when she pees. I have to supply all the muscle for these efforts though. Unaided, she cannot get up, or walk at all. As soon as she gets a bit tired, she starts dragging her rear legs behind her even when I am holding them up with the harness. It is very discouraging. I've nursed sick dogs back to health before, so I know I have to be very patient. Keeping your expectations low doesn't make the job any easier though. It's easy to get very sad.

Putting Dot's dog bed next to our low platform bed worked out pretty well last night. Dot slept soundly and did not seem disappointed to give up her regular spot in the middle of the bed. Since Dot is taking prednisolone now, she can't make it through the night anymore without getting up to pee. After all we went through to cure her incontinence after the cancer surgery, I'm back to getting up in the middle of the night again. Having her sleep on the floor does make this process a bit easier. I don't have to wake up everybody else and getting her outside in time is pretty easy when she sleeps with her harness on.

Janet went to help with a Dalmatian Rescue event this afternoon, but it was no problem taking care of the dogs by myself. Typically, they just sleep during the day. At first I though that I'd have to have Dot next to me at all times, but I've discovered that I can use the baby monitor to keep an eye on her when I'm in another room. I'm going to have to learn how to manage on my own anyway. Janet hates retirement and I feel like it's just a matter of time before she goes back to work again. She's very good at what she does and people in her field are already trying to tempt her with job offers. I would welcome retirement in her situation, but that's just me. At the rate we're burning through money trying to keep these two dogs healthy, it would probably be good to have two incomes again anyway.

I have lots of vet friends and I often wonder how they handle the stress of seeing sick and dying dogs everyday. Vets have seen everything. My vet was trying to cheer me up this afternoon and she said, "At least Dot doesn't have Degenerative Myelopathy." This is certainly true, but not very comforting. It would be like going to my doctor about shoulder pain and having him say, "Well, at least you've still got a shoulder." I'm a good writer, but I think I'd make a very poor doctor.

I think about surgery vs. no surgery all the time now. Both choices have a reasonable chance of good or terrible outcomes. Basically, it's just a crap shoot.

Lucky is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1433

I'll never figure out Texas weather. Less than a week ago the temperature was below freezing.  Today it was 90 degrees. I was so confused that I got out the lawn mower and mowed the grass again. It was actually a beautiful day, but it still seems awfully warm for late November. Some years we've has snow before this. We even turned on the air conditioner today. I didn't think I'd be doing that again until late next Spring.

The dogs certainly liked the warm weather. They were excited to see some of their friends from training class at the dog park today. They weren't so excited about their new harnesses, unfortunately. Somebody needs to invent a safety harness that actually works in the car. Dot and Dash either manage to wriggle out of their harnesses before we even get out of the driveway, or get stuck in them and force us to pull over to the side of the road to free them from a seat belt that has retracted and pinned them to the back of the car seat. Dot got stuck today. Dash is usually the one to wriggle out of his harness.

I was listening to one of those Ted Talks on NPR while I was driving to the gym this afternoon. The guy on the radio said the secret to happiness was in having low expectations. This thought startled me and on reflection seemed a bit profound. Most of the happy people I've met in my life had very low expectations. Conversely, the perfectionists and super achievers I've known generally weren't happy at all. The premise of this Ted Talk was that we have too many choices today. If we only have two or three choices, we just pick something and move on. When we have thirty choices, we agonize over making the right decision and are never happy with the result. With thirty choices, you just know that you could have picked something better. I'd never thought of things this way before, but it makes sense. Maybe I just have too many choices in my life.

Amazingly, everything got done today. The dogs got their visit to the dog park, all the shopping errands were completed, I even found time to hang the muslin Christmas photo backdrop out in the sun and spray it with Outright to get rid of the smell of dog pee. The nice looking front yard was a bonus. I wasn't even planning to mow the grass.

Puppies are our Dalmatians of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1252

I've been watching the news coverage of the devastating tornado that hit Moore, Oklahoma this afternoon. Unbelievable! This was the very same town that got hit by the worst tornado on record in 1999. Tornado's are commonplace here in Texas, but it's hard to even imagine destruction on this scale. My heart goes out to the people of Moore. It's going to be a long, long time before the city returns to normal.

Earlier in the day, I was wondering why the roofers seemed in such a hurry to get an exposed section of the roof covered. They must have known that bad weather was on the way. It hasn't rained in Dallas yet, but there are thunderstorms in the forecast for tomorrow. In retrospect, it might not have been very wise to put on a new roof during what is traditionally known as Tornado Season in Texas. There is no good time to do this sort of thing in Texas, unfortunately. No matter what time of year it happens to be, there is always some sort of bad weather lurking just around the corner.

After the roofing crew left for the day, I went up on the roof to look at what they'd been doing. I think buyer's remorse is already starting to set in. When they were describing to me what the finished roof would look like, I was imagining the top layer of epoxy would be so smooth and shiny that I could see my reflection in it. Admittedly, the roof is not finished yet, but the top layer has already been applied to one section. It doesn't look smooth and shiny at all. It looks a lot more like white cake frosting applied with a butter knife. If the roof repels water, I guess I shouldn't complain. I am a bit disappointed though. I was expecting pretty. Maybe the roofers still have some magic up their sleeves, but so far the new roof is a long way from being considered pretty.

I think people must have spent the weekend thinking up new things for me to do. I was really busy today. Monday's aren't usually like this. I divided my time between solving website problems and writing articles. By the end of the day, I'd managed to get quite a bit done. Hopefully, things will be a lot slower tomorrow because Dot has her regular weekly acupuncture appointment. With a 45 minute drive to the vet, an hour with the needles, and a forty five minute drive back home again, acupuncture eats up quite a bit of time.

I'm crossing my fingers and hoping that it doesn't rain tomorrow. The roofers assure me that the leaking sections of the roof have already been replaced. I'm not so sure. The roof definitely isn't finished yet. Couldn't the rain just wait a few weeks and let me do this right?

Harley is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1190

The landscapers came during breakfast and spent the next five hours raking leaves, hauling away bad soil, and pruning trees. At two-thirty they abruptly left and didn't return. I'm sure they'll be back because they left all their tools in the yard. It looked like they left in a hurry, since one guy left his coat hanging on the bird-feeder. I would have thought the crew would have spent the rest of the day finishing up the preparation work, but clearly they had other plans. I certainly wouldn't leave my own tools lying around the job site on a multi-day assignment, but then my tools are cameras, not shovels and wheelbarrows. Who knows? I'm not going to be judgmental. All's well that ends well, as far as I'm concerned. I still have high hopes that these guys will transform my dog of a yard into something beautiful.

Dot was amazingly good today, considering all the activity she had to deal with. She barked for about fifteen minutes and then got tired of barking and went to sleep by my desk, just like she usually does. It probably helped that the crew worked fairly quietly. No boisterous singing or loud radios this time. Or maybe that acupuncture treatment yesterday has really made Dot a calmer dog.

Dot was so calm this morning that I felt safe leaving her alone while I took Dash to the vet for his bi-weekly antigen shot. Dash is anything but calm at the vet. He thinks the only reason we go to the clinic is so people can pet him and feed him treats. After Dash got his injection and a few doggie treats, we returned to the house for an afternoon of work.

I typically get quite a bit done when I have to keep the dogs confined to the office. Since staying in the office with them is the only way to keep Dot and Dash quiet, it's usually a good time to tackle long and tedious web projects. With five hours confined to the computer, I managed to finish several projects that I've been postponing for a long time. I could have finished a lot more if the landscapers had stayed until 5 or 6 PM like I expected. Oh, well. There's always tomorrow.

I'm having trouble eating my fresh vegetables in the right order. After years of eating things with a ten year shelf life, I'm still getting used to how quickly some fresh things go bad. If I had more time, I would go to the store more often and buy smaller quantities. I've never had more time though. I probably never will. With my time already stretched between being a dog nanny, a webmaster, a photographer, and an increasingly busy writer, I'm amazed that I have any time for groceries at all.

Pringles is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1128

I spent most of the day doing my bookkeeping and paying a bunch of bills. This took a long time, mostly because I'd been postponing the loathsome task for so long. The older I get, the more depressing dealing with financial matters becomes. When I was younger, it was easy to pay my bills. I didn't have many bills in the first place and I was lucky enough to work in an industry that was obsessed with youth. Bright, young people can do exceptionally well in advertising. It wasn't until much later that I realized in that quintessential race between the tortoise and the hare, I was the hare. All the tortoises eventually caught up with me and now they appear to be in the lead. I can no longer glibly tell people that the answer to all spending problems is simply to get a job that pays better. I must embrace frugality. And I hate being frugal.

The bills still get paid. Some months I make a little more than I spend. Other months I spend a little more than I make. It all seems to even out by the end of the year. I know I should be happy with this. In many ways I have what the working world wants. I don't have a boss. I don't have any debts. I don't have many responsibilities. Life is good. I walk my dogs. I write a little. I enjoy my bacon. Why do I even care that there's not going to be a Lamborghini in my future?

Klout sent me a gift card to Chili's today. I wonder if Chili's serves breakfast? That would be cool if Klout started sending me gift cards to breakfast restaurants. This gift card was certainly a better perk than the package of Zatarain's pasta I got last month. I still haven't figured Klout out. I enjoy getting little surprises in the mail, so the whole perks concept works for me. I just don't know what the companies sending me stuff get out of the deal.

It was too warm to cancel dog training class tonight. But it was too cold to actually enjoy it. I was surprised at how well Dash did this evening, considering how much he hates the cold. He still barked a lot and irritated some of the older people, but he did all his exercises perfectly. I was proud of my boy tonight.

I think I'm going to call that company that does sprayed on foam roofs and have them give me an estimate. It's been a wet Winter and I'm really getting tired of sweeping the water off the roof on an almost daily basis. There was still ice on the roof this morning and I had to break it into little chunks with my broom handle. When I slipped on the ice, I thought it might be a good idea to call the roofing company.

Shelby is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day