Day 2656

I need to come up with a new plan for getting Dot outside when she wakes up in the morning. She just can't make it to the back door anymore. For the past three days I've had to wash a bunch of rugs that she peed on while making her exit. It's a mess. If I take up the rugs, the floor is too slippery and Dot will fall. She's too heavy to carry. And it's impracticable to have her sleep in the living room. Incontinence is a bitch. I've placed Dot's bed so I can see it while I'm working. I've learned that if she lifts her head and looks at me, she needs to pee. I stop what I'm doing and take her outside immediately. This usually works during the day. Nights are a problem though because she sleeps much longer than the two hours she can reliably hold her bladder. I really don't know if there's a solution to this, but it's wearing me out.

My project for the day was cleaning a bathroom faucet that seemed to have mold inside it. You'd think running water would keep the faucet clean, but apparently not. I needed to clean this thing because it was a bit disconcerting to turn on the faucet to brush my teeth and see little black flecks come out. At any rate, I took the faucet apart and soaked the parts in bleach. The faucet and the water coming out of it seem clean now, but I'm sure this is just a temporary fix. Everything I do these days is a temporary solution.

Since I was successful at cleaning the faucet, I decided to watch a YouTube video and learn how to replace the hard drive on my desktop computer. This used to be super easy on the old tower Macintosh computers, but things have changed. Even the screws that hold things together on my 27" iMac are different. To exchange the hard drive on my current computer, I'd first need to buy a set of special Torx screwdrivers and a big suction cup to get the glass off the front. Once the the components were exposed, I would risk ruining the fragile LED screen if I accidentally touched it. To make matters worse, there was a special heat sensor that only came with Apple OEM drives, so replacing the drive with a high capacity third party drive wasn't going to be easy. I learned that somebody made a replacement for the Apple heat sensor, but it was uncertain if this part was even available anymore. Basically, it took me longer to watch the video than it used to take me to replace all the drives in my old silver door Mac.

It is fundamentally discouraging to realize that I can no longer fix most of the things I use every day. I feel like a stranger in a strange land. For most of my adult life I have modified and upgraded all manner of things on my own. Modern manufacturing techniques make it virtually impossible to change components or make simple repairs. We live in a disposable society now. If something breaks, you're not supposed to fix it. You're supposed to have insurance, or Applecare in my case, and use your policy to exchange your damaged gizmo for a new model.

The adjustments we've made to Dot's pain medications have made her more alert and active, but they haven't made her any stronger. This means that I'm spending even more of my time moving Dot around when she gets restless. Dot is heavy. After a day of holding up her rear legs, my shoulder is begging for mercy. Caring for an injured dog with carpal tunnel in your wrists and a dislocated shoulder is not something I'd recommend.

We're supposed to have severe weather tomorrow morning. I brought all the rugs that were drying outdoors back inside and took the trash out to the curb. Luckily, the rugs appear to be dry. I guess I'm prepared for the rain, but I'll miss going out to breakfast tomorrow. I'm all out of bananas and fresh fruit, so hopefully there are still some toaster waffles in the freezer.

Ariel is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2347

It has been unseasonably cold this month. When I wake up on a damp, grey day like today, it's easy to imagine that I'm still living in Seattle. I'm not a fan of dreary, wet weather, but the cool mornings have definitely been beneficial for Dot. It's easier to take our limited walks in the morning when we don't have to worry about the heat. Dot seems to be getting back to normal, but each new normal plateau is a little slower and more debilitating than the one before. Maybe next week we'll try water therapy again. It would be easy to just give up at this point, but I think we've got to try.

I rescheduled the plumber to come out and fix the leaking faucets and made a mental note to take my car in for service tomorrow morning. Oddly, on this day last year I was also planning to take my car in for service in the morning and thinking that Dot was getting back to normal even though she was already in decline. I need to be careful about reading old blog posts. It can be unsettling to realize how completely monotonous and repetitious my life has become.

Since it was a slow day and I wasn't in a very good mood, I wrote a long letter to my financial adviser detailing why I was so unhappy with my portfolio's performance. It was pointless to write this letter, since my broker is who he is and isn't going to change just because I don't agree with his investment strategy. A normal person would just quietly find a new broker, but I'm not a normal person. I'm a writer. In almost every aspect of my life, I feel compelled to have the last word.

Dot was always an independent dog, but she is becoming increasingly needy. At certain times during the day she will whine or bark if I don't come and sit next to her until she goes to sleep. I guess this is inevitable. The dogs have always depended on us for food and shelter, but now Dot depends on Janet and I for everything. She can't even get up or walk without our help. I try to be as unobtrusive as possible when assisting her. I remember during my Dad's final days, the thing he hated losing the most was his independence. I'm probably not the world's best caregiver, but I think that everybody should be able to keep their dignity as they age. Some day I'm going to be in the same situation as Dot. It can 't be easy when you are pooping all over yourself and can't even get out of bed in the morning.

I'm starting to see fresh peaches in the stores again. This is always a good sign. When I first started making smoothies for breakfast, peaches were my favorite ingredient. I've been having smoothies for breakfast for over a year now and it's important to have a little variety without deviating too much from the basic concept. When I started writing the blog, I was making elaborate and very creative omelettes each morning. Then, when I was being treated for Hepatitis C, I switched to hot oatmeal for a year or so. After I was cured, I went back to bacon and eggs for a while and then realized I had grown tired of cooking. I started eating granola with fresh fruit, but never really liked to idea of cold cereal for breakfast. The smoothies started shortly after we got the Vitamix machine. Fruit smoothies with a real breakfast on Friday has worked for quite a while now.

I'm seeing so many bunnies in the park this Spring. The coyotes in the neighborhood must have moved on, because I've never seen this many rabbits before. Like the peaches I'm starting to see, this is another good sign. I'd much rather have bunnies for neighbors than coyotes.

Skippy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2335

I dutifully took my pictures of the bathroom faucets up to the plumbing showroom this morning and showed them to the staff. They had hundreds of nice looking faucets on display, but they were all too big. A patient lady looked through catalogs with me as we tried to find something that would fit my 1950's sink. The problem is that everything has gotten bigger since the 1950's. Sofas are bigger. Refrigerators are bigger. Even bathroom fixtures are bigger.  After an extensive search we finally found a single modern looking European faucet set that looked like it might work. It cost $1000.  Jeez, I could buy an entirely new pedestal sink with faucets attached for much less than that. This is what is so discouraging about keeping old houses, old cars, and old cameras working properly. You just can't find the parts.

I temporarily gave up on the bathroom sink and returned to more pressing matters like getting groceries, changing the sheets, and making sure that Dot's bedding was clean. It's time to mow the grass again, but my allergies are so bad that I can't stand to be outside for that long. Actually, I think grass seed is one of the many things I'm allergic to.

I upgraded the firmware in my new camera this afternoon. I dread upgrading firmware, because the instructions are totally incomprehensible and there are always warnings that if you don't follow these instructions exactly, you will ruin your camera. I approached things slowly and methodically, but when the moment of truth arrived, the new firmware failed to load. I did a Google search for people who were having similar problems installing this version of firmware and of course I found dozens of horror stories of other failures. The firmware files are first downloaded to your computer and then transferred to an SD card which is inserted in the camera. After much fruitless searching, I eventually noticed a post from a man who said my camera would not recognize the firmware if it had been transferred to a fast high capacity SDHC card. He suggested formatting an older slow card instead. I followed his instructions and everything worked. This was kind of ironic, since the camera had been specifically designed to use the latest high speed memory cards.

Dot is off schedule again. Every time I left the house, I expected to come home to a huge mess. I'm still waiting. I have no idea what makes Dot poop, or in this case, not poop. It all seems totally random. Probably the long awaited moment will happen about an hour after I go to sleep this evening. It wasn't all bad news though. Dot had more energy today and did well on both her walks, even though it is starting to get warmer.

I could spend the entire day tomorrow vacuuming the house and mowing the grass. Hopefully, I'll find something more appealing to do with my time. Maybe I'll go to the gym. I need to quit stopping at the sporting goods store on the way to the gym.  I'm just about broke already this month and I definitely don't need any more discount Winter jackets. It's hard to resist a bargain though. The big going out of business sale will be over in a week or so anyway, so I won't have to worry about it anymore.

It's been a long day. The dogs are already resting peacefully, but we'll need to get them up one more time to give them their evening pills. Maybe we'll get to sleep in late tomorrow. It doesn't happen often, but it's always a worthy goal.

Spot is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day