Day 3354

I was determined to get something done today. It was pretty obvious that my plan of waiting for nice weather to get started just wasn't going to work. Dash seem willing to cooperate. I wasn't expecting him to take an early walk, but he did. He wanted to go someplace new this morning and we walked around aimlessly for a while. I hope he found what he was looking for.

Even though we took a long walk, we got home early enough for me to go out for breakfast. I had to feed Dash first because I didn't think he'd eat from his bowl while I was gone. I've been having to hand feed Dash lately. He's been having real trouble getting his food from the bowl to his mouth. He's still as hungry as ever, but you need to feed him by hand.

I had something called a Breakfast Reuben this morning. I've never had a Reuben sandwich for breakfast before, but this was surprisingly good. The sandwich was served on a pretzel roll with a side of cheese grits. A little different, but this is something I'd definitely try again sometime.

The muddy puddle in the back yard isn't going away, so I called the plumber and made an appointment for them to come out on Monday. Hopefully they can repair the leak without totally tearing up the back yard. It would be tempting to postpone this repair since everything is still working in the house, but the thought of Dash walking through sewer water every day isn't very appealing. The water doesn't smell bad, so maybe I'm dealing with something else entirely. Hopefully, the plumber will know what to do.

In an effort to keep the roof leak from returning again, I went up on the roof after lunch and swept all the remaining water away. It's just going to rain again in a few days, but it seems important to keep the water level low. We'll see what happens. I've got buckets ready if they're needed. The one good thing about the expensive roof replacement estimate I got yesterday is that it's going to make all other repairs seem cheap. After seeing this estimate, I'm not really worried about what the plumber's going to charge.

I accepted the NASA invitation to go to Houston and blog about the Orion program. I've been so apprehensive about travel recently that I did this mainly to force myself to get out of the house. With the ability to order almost anything online, to work online, and even have your food delivered to you, it becomes quite tempting to stay housebound. I have no real desire to get out anymore, but instinctively I know it's not a good idea to become too reclusive. You've got to stay engaged.

The new storage warehouse has already raised my rent. That didn't take long. My goal for 2019 should be getting rid of everything in the warehouse. When I was doing the big move last November I didn't see anything that I couldn't live without. Most of the stuff is so old that I've forgotten about it already. The only trouble with decluttering is that it is a lot of trouble. It is so much easier to just ignore the stuff. This is probably why just about everybody's garage is filled to the rafters with crap.

There are a lot of new Dalmatians in the rescue program, so Janet and I might go up to the kennels and photograph them this weekend. The last time we tried this we got caught in a thunderstorm and had to turn around and come home. The forecast doesn't look great, but maybe we'll get lucky this time. You never know about Texas weather.

Lucky is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 2672

Sometimes I wonder what I'd do if I didn't have dogs to take care of. I'd probably be making plans to view the solar eclipse this August. Maybe I'd try to reconnect with NASA and get myself invited to a few space launches again. I might go back to school and take some classes, although that is increasingly doubtful. Universities have become very strange. There's a good chance I might do nothing at all. My Dad had all sorts of plans for his retirement, but his health gradually declined and he ended up spending most of his time watching college basketball on a small TV in his living room. You never know what the future has in store for you. I see little point in making elaborate plans. I do have dogs to take care of. For the moment, this seems to be as valid a way to spend my days as anything else I could think of.

Today was a big improvement over yesterday. The skies have cleared and my rugs are drying out again. I think I have figured out why my breakfast smoothie tastes weird. The bananas aren't ripe. Dot didn't make a major mess in the house today, although the day isn't over yet. I even managed to get quite a bit of work done and all my client's websites are up to date.

I had to pick up some new city tags for Dash today. I wonder why it took me four years to realize that city pet registration was free for senior citizens. I guess I don't like to think of myself as a senior citizen. In my own mind, I'm still a nineteen year old with a rapidly failing mind and body. There's probably a lot of other free stuff I could take advantage of if I looked. I probably won't. I'm not the kind of guy who's looking for a free dessert at Luby's or half price matinee movie tickets. Let me know if anybody has senior citizen pricing on guitars or Ferrari's though. I might be interested.

Dot is having trouble taking her pills now. This is not good. We've been putting her pills inside a small ball of wet dog food, but in the past several days she's started spitting it out. For some reason, Dot is having trouble with soft foods now. First it was banana slices and now it's the "meatball" we make for her to take her meds. I'm going to have to figure out a better way to make sure she takes her pills. Oddly, Dot is still able to eat dry food just fine if the pieces are small. I never thought she'd lose the ability to chew soft things like bananas, but the aging process is full of mysteries.

I paid a bunch of bills today and took them to the post office. I'm probably never going to switch to online payments. I don't really need to go to the bank and post office anymore. There are apps on my phone that would let me bypass these errands. I guess I just like the ritual. Going to the post office gets me out of the house for a little while. I can see if there's anything new in the neighborhood while listening to NPR on the radio for a few minutes. These small outings and my Friday breakfast keep things in balance.

If the weather stays nice, I'll go up on the roof tomorrow and see whether the new patches survived the rain. I probably should go get that bone density scan at the doctor's office, but I hate sitting in the waiting room, so maybe I'll wait a while. I hope Dot has a good day. That's really all that matters.

Mattie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 2211

It was an enjoyable day. For the first time in a long time we didn't use our holiday time to clean the house or do chores. Instead, we went to a nice restaurant for lunch and spent the afternoon visiting a museum. We weren't gone a long time, because you can't really leave Dot a long time, but it was nice to get out of the house for a while.

Dallas has quite a few interesting museums. I've visited the Sixth Floor Museum in Dealey Plaza several times. It's a great place to take visiting relatives. If you have any interest in history at all, you will find this museum fascinating. The same can be said for the new Presidential Library on the SMU campus. That's where we went today. You can see the controversial Florida ballot made famous by "hanging chads" and the confusing placement of candidates. After looking at this strange ballot, it seems pretty plausible to me that Al Gore really did win the election. There is an interactive theater where the audience can listen to opposing viewpoints on a variety of issues like removing Saddam Hussein from power or providing aid to Katrina victims and then decide what you would have done yourself. Everyone in the theater has a touch screen where they can select what issues they want to explore and what questions whey want answered. All the responses are tied together using a computer and the entire theater decides what to do in real time. Very interesting. As a visual person, the coolest thing was the huge multimedia display in the ceiling of the main lobby. The photography was amazing and very beautiful. If you haven't seen this, you ought to.

I remember going to the Frontiers of Flight Museum at Love Field for a Christmas party once. Another memorable Christmas party during my ad agency days was held at The Dallas Museum of Art when the Pompeii Exhibit first came through Dallas. Apparently renting big museums for Christmas parties is a thing in Dallas. I'd still like to see the Perot Museum of Nature and Science. It may take a while though. My desire to do things is very low.

I don't think I was the only one who had a good day today. Dot seemed very perky. It was probably because of the weather. If light deprivation causes depression in people, it probably does in dogs as well. Today was bright and sunny. The combination of cool, brisk temperatures and bright sunlight is something almost all Dalmatians enjoy. Dot actually started to run when she saw a squirrel on one of our walks. Well, she wasn't really running, because Janet was holding up her rear legs with the harness, but you could tell that the desire was still there. Even on bad days, there is something about Dot's attitude that says "don't count me out yet." I just hope I can maintain Dot's steely resolve when my own body starts to fall apart.

Tomorrow, it's back to early pre-dawn walks and banana smoothies for breakfast. Dot has an appointment to visit her oncologist for another of her periodic cancer re-checks. It's time to take the Christmas tree down and put the decorations away for another year as well. It's going to be a busy week.

Hunter is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 1907

It was nice to get out for a while this morning. The snow is gone and the weather is warming up. It seemed like a perfect day to get a haircut, enjoy a delicious breakfast and do a little shopping. None of these things took that long, but they were important. With a full belly, some new jeans for Spring, and a decent haircut, I felt ready for anything.

Dot woke up feeling great this morning. I think that her acupuncture session yesterday evening really helped her. She's walking faster now and doesn't crisscross her legs as much. Today, for the first time, I noticed that she's learned to redistribute her weight when she starts to slip to one side. I'm still providing support for her rear legs using the Help 'Em Up Harness, but I can tell that each passing day, she is doing more of the work herself. The challenge is to encourage her to walk without leaving her unsupervised or letting her walk on her own. Dot is an obedient dog and if I constantly told her to lie down or stay in her crate, I think she'd become discouraged and wouldn't even try after a while. I let her sleep as long as she wants, but when she's active, we do a lot of physical therapy.

I forgot to take the trash out to the curb last night and by the time I woke up this morning, the truck has already come and gone. There's just too much to remember these days. I forgot my morning meds as well. You guys need to remind me about this stuff. I don't know what to do about the trash. Since the can is almost full already, we'll never make it until next Thursday. It sure was nicer when the city picked up trash twice a week. Older neighbors say that a long time ago the trucks came three times a week. Probably the next step will be for the city to eliminate trash service altogether.

Dot was indignant today when I put her in her crate so I could take a shower and get a little house cleaning done. She hadn't been in the crate more than thirty minutes when I started to hear loud persistent parking. Dot was mad. She's perfectly willing to take a long nap, if she gets to pick the place. So far, I haven't been able to convince her to take her naps in my office. I'm glad that Dot is more active, but I'm still trying to figure out how to stay active myself. Being a good dog nurse is almost a full time job.

If the weather stays nice this weekend, I'll wash the car, get the water off the roof, and clean up the back yard a bit. I need to start looking for a soft dog crate that I can put in the back of my car. The sooner I can start transporting Dot in the car, the sooner we can begin her water therapy again. There's going to be so much to do this Spring, but on a sunny, warm day like today, anything seems possible. Let's hope there are a lot of sunny days in the weeks ahead.

Anne is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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