Day 2171

I don't know why it's so hard to get Dot out of the house in the morning. I've been trying to get her ready for physical therapy earlier and earlier, but we still arrive at the vet late. Afternoons used to work a lot better, but we don't have that option now. It's like herding cats to get Dash in the bedroom where he needs to be, while simultaneously positioning Dot near the front door. I have to bribe the dogs with treats and that doesn't always work. When I lure Dash into the bedroom with a treat, Dot usually follows. Then when I try to get Dot back out by the front door, Dash thinks he can get another treat if he gets to the front door faster. I end up with Dash at the front door and Dot in the bedroom, which is exactly the opposite of what I need. Frequently, Dot heads for the back door instead, so I take her outside just in case she needs to pee. She'll usually just aimlessly wander around for a while and by the time I back the car out of the driveway, we're already late. It's frustrating to say the least.

When we finally do arrive at the vet, Dot usually does pretty well. Today she did excellent in the underwater treadmill. She was able to complete her full eighteen minute routine while doing several short intervals where we cranked the treadmill up to a higher speed. Maybe barking at the office cat got Dot energized today. I asked the vet why Dot wasn't building muscle mass in her rear legs with all the exercise she's been getting. Evidently, the older you get, the harder it is to build muscle tissue. Tell me about it! The same thing is happening to me. After all the time I've spent at the gym and walking the dogs, my arms and legs are still getting thinner.

Therapy days always get Dot off schedule. We had another accident today while I was taking Dash on his evening walk. I have a feeling that running the washing machine continually is one reason why I'm having trouble keeping the humidity low. I was just about ready to place an order for a dehumidifier today. Janet liked the machine and I'd read several good reviews. Then I accidentally stumbled on a fairly articulate bad review. Evidently this machine uses much more electricity than the manufacturer states. Running it continually can get expensive. At least it doesn't seem to break. One guy said he'd run his continually for five years without a problem. I have yet to find a dehumidifier that everybody likes. Maybe that's just not going to happen.

I saw an ad for a Panasonic camera today that lets you focus after you take the picture. That's what I need. When I take a camera along when I'm walking the dogs I almost always leave the lens on autofocus because I have my hands full already. Inevitably, when I'm focusing on some animal in the woods, the camera will think that what I was really looking at was a nondescript tree branch about a foot behind the critter I was trying to capture. A shallow depth of field looks great if you're focused on the right thing. Most photographers will tell you that good bokeh is highly desirable, unless the only thing in focus is an ugly stick or clump of grass. This new camera calculates the closest and most distant objects in the frame and then quickly takes a series of up to twenty pictures at every distance in between. You can select the focus point after you take the shot. I'll have to look into this.

Hopefully, Thanksgiving will be quiet and relaxing. It would be nice to sleep in late for a change and it would be even nicer to be able to go out for dinner without worrying about whether the dogs will freak out during a thunderstorm.  Could we just put a hold on the rain until Friday?

Dot is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1644

So, what did we learn today. For starters, if the dogs don't sleep well, the people don't sleep well either. Dash woke me up three times last night, wanting to go outside. I don't know what goes through this dog's mind when he has to poop, but I wish he was more straightforward about doing his business. The first time he scratched at the door, he just stuck his nose outside and smelled the air. The second time, about ten minutes later, he went outside and stared at the moon for a while. The third time was the charm. I know he means business when he races around the yard four or five times and finally finds the perfect spot. I have to sit outside with him during this entire process or he won't do anything.

Shortly after I'd finally gotten back to sleep again, I was awakened to the sound of my car alarm. A large possum had either fallen or jumped on the car and set the alarm off. Strangely, this has happened before. Our yard is full of critters. Once or twice, racoons or feral cats have fallen out of a tree and landed with a huge thud on our roof. That will wake you up as well. You can tell that the dogs are getting older. Things that go bump in the night used to freak Dot out and cause a frenzy of alarmed barking. Last night, both dogs slept through the entire thing.

Summer has definitely arrived. Every day gets a little warmer and every walk gets a little slower. I try to get up early and make sure that the dogs get at least one decent walk before the sun heats things up, but even these early morning outings are starting to get hot and muggy. Dot tires quickly in the heat, so I have to be careful not to go too far. She still enjoys walking though, so these morning walks are an essential part of our day.

Today definitely lacked focus. I answered some of my e-mail, updated two websites, and at one point, became so bored that I went outside and washed the car. I'd like to be a little busier, but not too much busier. What I'd really like is consistency. The trouble with being a freelancer is that you are totally forgotten about until someone else gets themselves in a bind. This usually creates a feast or famine atmosphere where you are either working long hours trying to get your client out of a jam, or doing nothing at all. Maybe I'm being too picky, but I don't think so. There are times when being in advertising just sucks.

If I was industrious, I'd go to my storage warehouse tomorrow and start throwing away things that are no longer useful. Nah. That isn't very likely. Things just go in the storage unit. They never come out. It would be fun to get started on a brand new website project tomorrow as well. That probably won't happen either. I'm sure I'll design a few more corporate sites before I shut the business down for good, but these jobs are getting harder and harder to find. I've already worked with just about everyone I've ever met in my life and I'm not meeting many new people these days. The way I see it, I can either get depressed about all this, or just go to a guitar store tomorrow instead.

Hershey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1247

The roofers came out today to measure things and get all the wires, cables, and sump pumps off the roof before they started preparations for the new roof tomorrow. As soon as they removed the pumps and left for the day, it started to rain. Damn! I think this was nature's way of telling me that I'll never, ever win this battle.

Later in the day, I laboriously got all the water off the roof again. Then, while I was eating supper, it started to rain again. To hell with it. The roofers can figure out how to get the remaining water off the roof when they arrive tomorrow.

It was still raining when I took Dot to her acupuncture appointment this afternoon. I was surprised at how well she rode in the car during the bad weather. Maybe the acupuncture is making her a calmer dog. She actually seemed less nervous than I was. Traffic is terrible when it rains in Dallas and I definitely don't want to get a ding in the new loaner car before I return it to the Land Rover dealer. I've had the loaner car for almost a month now. Lord knows what's wrong with the Defender.

Work was slow today. One of my clients is sick and another gave the entire staff the rest of the week off in observance of Shavuot. The rest of the clients are probably waiting until Friday afternoon to surprise me with things that have to be done over the weekend.

I'm curious how the auto-focus mechanism on the iPhone camera works. It will immediately bring small water drops into sharp focus, but when I'm an equal distance from certain types of flowers, the camera won't focus at all. What good is a camera if you can't focus it? This is frustrating for me, because there doesn't seem to be a way to manually focus the camera at all. Maybe you're just supposed to take pictures of cute cats with the thing.

I hope the rain quits soon. I hate it when the sound of dripping water wakes me up during the night. Hopefully, the new roof will put an end to all this. Jeez, what will I talk about on the blog if the roof stops leaking? I'm sure most of you have heard enough about roof leaks.

Sadie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day