Day 4685

Today was busy. We got up extra early so Dawn could go down to the park and pee before we left for the Dalmatian Rescue Golf Tournament. Janet left first so she could help check the golfers in and I left about an hour later to take pictures. This was our first morning tournament. Previously, everyone ate lunch and then there was a shotgun start around 1 PM. Most teams seemed to like this early start better.

It was a beautiful day, although it was quite windy. The wind might have affected the golfer's score but it didn't dampen their enthusiasm. Everyone had a good time. It took me a while to find the teams playing in the tournament. The course was huge and there were jogging trails mixed in with the cart paths. Occasionally I would find myself on a jogging trail and wonder why I wasn't seeing any golfers. After circling the course several times in my cart, I eventually found everyone for their team pictures.

Most of the people who adopted the litter of puppies we had back in April came to the tournament. I was amazed at how quickly the puppies had grown. They all looked like adult dogs now. All Sammy's puppies looked fabulous. This was an exceptionally good looking litter. I enjoyed getting a chance to see the dogs again, and the dogs seemed to enjoy seeing their brothers and sisters. Lots of other people brought their dogs as well, but we didn't take Dawn to the tournament. She wouldn't have made it this far in the car. It's a shame that she is still terrified of car rides, but she seemed happy enough to take a long nap on the bed while we were gone.

My knees are terrible now. Every time I got down on my knees to get a better angle, I had trouble getting back up again. I think I took some decent pictures, but some of the people took even better pictures using their phones. Smart phones have come a long way since we started doing these golf tournaments. The annual golf tournament is still Dalmatian Rescue's biggest fundraiser of the year. We've had more golfers in previous years, but I think we still did pretty well. 

After finishing my photo duties, I drove home again so I could feed Dawn and let her out to pee. She actually seemed glad to see me this time. I'm usually around the house and this was a long time for her to be alone. After Dawn finished her lunch, I left to do my grocery shopping. There was no time for a long walk today, but I got plenty of steps walking around the golf course. 

As usual I had trouble finding certain items. I think selective scarcity is just a fact of life now. Rising prices are definitely a fact of life. I ran into an old ad agency buddy while I was at the grocery store. We hadn't seen each other in over five years and were both old men now. We traded stories about surviving the  Covid years and wondered about the future of the ad biz. A lot has changed. I think we were both glad we spent our working years during advertising's golden age. I had a lot more fun working during the 70's than I do facing retirement while I'm in my 70's.

Dawn was glad to see that life had returned to normal after Janet returned to the house later in the day. We had a light dinner and got ready to start over again tomorrow. I'll probably go mall walking again and then we'll take Dawn on her Sunday outing. It was nice to have a change of pace today. I'm not a very sociable person, but I enjoyed going to the tournament. Hopefully my knees will still function when we do this again next year.

Dot is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4684

Today was uneventful. I almost made us late for our sunrise walk when I fell back asleep after Janet's ten minute warning wake up call. Luckily I can get dressed quick and I was ready before she tied her shoes and Dawn had her harness on. We walked in the dark again. I need to find some better clip-on lights. The ones I wear now are too bright and mess with my night vision. I'm going to look for a red LED armband that I can wear for astrophotography as well.

I waited about an hour after breakfast to take my long walk in the park. The temperature warms up quickly and I didn't want to wear a coat that I would have to take off and tie around my waist when I was halfway finished. The temperature feels just about perfect around 10 AM now, so that's when I'm trying to leave the house. I wish the city was quieter. Nothing spoils a perfect day faster than a cacophony of leaf blowers, chain saws, and police sirens. When I used to take my morning walk out at the observatory all I would hear was the wind and the occasional sound of a hawk flying overhead. I really miss the sound of silence.

There's not a lot going on in the park these days. The construction work on the trails is finished now and there are fewer joggers and cyclists when the weather is cooler. I watch the leaves turn yellow and fall from the trees. I count ducks and watch out for snakes. I saw a baby copperhead yesterday. You've really got to watch out for these things in the late Fall. The babies are even more poisonous than the adults. This is why we always try to stay on the trails with Dawn. I really don't want her to get bitten by a snake.

Truthfully, I'm not a huge fan of nature. I just don't like people. I can walk my six miles in the park without having to talk with anybody. The only downside to these long walks is foot pain.  I wish there was a solution, but I'm not very optimistic. Articular cartilage cannot regrow or heal because it doesn’t have any blood vessels. This doesn't stop people from offering a wide variety of cures. Some say damaged cartilage can grow back. Really? Where do they get their information? I've taken Glucosamine for years and it doesn't seem to do anything. They say eating oranges, nuts, and brussel sprouts helps too. I like all these foods, but still have bone on bone contact when I walk. I'm not complaining though. I'm still doing pretty well for a guy who will turn 75 next summer.

I'm convinced that I'm paying way too much for cable TV. I looked up U-verse rates on the AT&T website today and their advertised rates are quite a bit less than what I'm actually paying. I tried to change my plan on the website this afternoon. You used to be able to do this, but now a page comes up that just asks you to call a representative instead. I didn't call. I'm sure if I got someone on the phone they'd just try to convince me that their exorbitant rate was actually a bargain. I think I know what is going on, but I'll have to go to a store and talk to someone in person. I'm an early adopter of almost everything. U-verse was more expensive when it was initially introduced quite a few years ago. I probably got grandfathered in at the old rate. Companies have no problem overcharging you if you don't complain.

Tomorrow is the annual Dalmatian Rescue golf tournament. I usually take team pictures of the golfers at these events. I'll ride around the course on a cart and stop and take pictures whenever I see a team playing.  I'll take a team picture and then try to get a few pictures of players teeing off or putting. This seemed easy when I was younger, but now it seems tiring. Depending on how many teams there are, it can be a long time to be out in the sun. I'm glad the tournament is in the morning tomorrow because the weather will be cooler.

Lance is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4315

It was a quiet day. We took Dawn on her sunrise walk before Janet left for the golf tournament. My foot still hurt, but it was a lot better than yesterday. I must be doing something right. Dawn and I basicallly had the day to ourselves, which didn't make Dawn very happy. She perked up when I fixed her dinner, but she basically spent the day sitting on the bed. I keep telling her that we need to be friends. One of these days Janet is going to take a trip and then what is she going to do?

I thought about bleaching the stains in the ceiling today, but I didn't want the house to smell like bleach for the rest of the day, so I took a nap instead. Dawn tolerates me on the bed when Janet is away, but she moves to a far corner so she isn't right next to me. I guess this means that she likes the bed more than she dislikes me. It's pretty obvious that she thinks the room is hers. It's her new luxurious kennel. That's fine by me. I just sleep there.

I did take a long walk this morning, but I walked very slowly. I only went four miles instead of my usual six. When I got back, my foot was in no worse condition than when I began. It was such a nice day that I hated to stay home. I still have no idea what caused the terrible foot pain the other day. There is still no swelling and everything is slowly returning to normal. My feet always hurt a little when I walk, but this was over the top. Hopefully the severe foot pain isn't a recurring problem. I don't want to stop walking.

I still haven't heard anything from the observatory, so I guess I'm not going to be needed in October. That's just as well. Milky Way season is almost over and I still have a lot of bills to pay. I'll just plan on going out sometime in the Spring. Spring is far enough away that I can still be optimistic about future travel plans.

The day went quickly even though I did virtually nothing. I didn't watch TV or even spend much time on the computer. I just did nothing. Maybe doing nothing is my superpower. When Janet texted me to say she'd be late, I should have gone out and picked up something for dinner. I remembered that she already had something planned that was in the refrigerator, so I did nothing. I still should have gone out and gotten take out. Janet had a long day.

I think there's going to be a new dog when we visit the kennel tomorrow. We may need to either pick her up or drop her off at the vet. I'm not sure. I'll take my camera in case we need to take her picture for the website. Dogs and rockets are about the only things I use the camera for these days. I've heard rumors that the group wants to increase the Christmas photo schedule this year. I hope I'm up for it. I get tired really easily these days. Santa Paws is a good fundraiser though. I'd better get in shape.

It's time for a haircut again. At least this isn't another doctor's appointment. Time has gone really quickly this year, although I think I've done even less in 2021 than I did in 2020. 

Lucky is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4314

I woke up this morning with terrible foot pain. What have I done? This was the right foot which had never given me problems before. It was the left foot that I went to see the foot doctor about. My foot didn't appear red or swollen, but I could hardly put any weight on it at all. Since I couldn't get back to sleep, I applied some Voltaren cream to the sore area, took two Tylenol, and transferred the orthotics from my old Hoka shoes to the new ones.

It was odd that the pain came at night while I was sleeping. I felt a little better when I was wearing the new shoes, so I thought I'd try going along on Dawn's sunrise walk. That didn't work very well. I couldn't keep up with Dawn and Janet and quickly decided to turn around and go home. It was a shame that I didn't feel better, since the weather was beautiful.

Eventually, the pain started to subside. I think the new shoes helped, but maybe it was the arthritis cream and the Tylenol that did the trick. By the time we finished breakfast, I felt like I could still do my Saturday grocery shopping. I guess my old Hoka shoes were pretty worn out, because the new ones kept my feet in a lot better position. I wasn't walking on the edge of my feet anymore. As the day progressed, the pain gradually became a background noise. It still hurt, but I could deal with it. By mid-afternoon I felt it would be OK to take a short walk. I walked slowly and carefully, eventually completing about two miles. It did feel that putting weight on my feet felt better than resting in bed.  This didn't make any sense, but I was happy to be feeling better. 

Things are definitely getting more expensive. I was surprised at how much I spent filling the car with gas this morning. Everything seems to go up a little with each passing week. You have to wonder how this is going to end. Inflation basically hurts everybody. I didn't do any panic buying today, but I did pick up a big package of toilet paper. The toilet paper aisle was starting to look a little bare. Better safe than sorry, I thought. Hopefully the top of the cedar chest in the entryway won't start to look like it did during the early days of the pandemic. You never know though. I'll buy what's needed and am just going to take this one week at a time.

I guess I'll take some more Tylenol before I go to bed tonight and hope that the pain doesn't return. The Dalmatian Rescue golf tournament is tomorrow but I don't feel like I'm in any shape to spend the day photographing golfers. I'll stay home with Dawn while Janet goes to the tournament. This is good in a way, since we would have had to board Dawn if we both went to the tournament. Dawn may have other ideas. I'm sure she wishes that I was gone for the day instead of Janet.

It's a shame that I couldn't walk further today because the weather was absolutely perfect. The temperature was in the low sixties for most of the day and the cold front seemed to sweep away a lot of the pollen in the air. I mostly just hung around the house this afternoon. I watched a replay of the Lucy launch. I would have liked to be there but if I'm going to have a foot problem it's much better to be home. I seldom wear shoes inside the house, but I kept the Hoka's on all day. The support they provided helped a lot.

Dawn won't get her Sunday outing tomorrow unless we decide to go later in the day after Janet returns. She's a lazy dog and will be content just napping on the bed unless I decide to take a nap next to her.

Camp is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3566

It was a nice day for a golf tournament. The weather was warm, but not too hot. There was a nice breeze which I enjoyed, but it might have made things challenging for the golfers. We had a good turnout this year and everybody seemed to enjoy themselves. It takes a lot of work to put on a golf tournament, but this has always been a good fundraiser for the dogs. It's hard to believe that Dalmatian Rescue has been doing this for eighteen years.

This years tournament was held at Tour 18. They call this place a replica course. Each hole duplicates a hole from famous golf courses like Doral, Sawgrass, and Augusta. Seems weird to me, but the golfers seem to like it. While the teams played, Janet and I drove around the course in a cart and took their picture.  I haven't done this in a while and I must have slowed down a bit. I remember taking over three hundred pictures at previous tournaments. Today I only took 200.

This evening I discovered that an airline pilot we've known for years likes astronomy as well as Dalmatians. I've known about his dogs for years, but I've never known about his telescopes. I told him about our recent trip to McDonald Observatory and we shared a few observing experiences. It's a small world. I didn't really think I'd run into anyone else who was equally fond of Dalmatians and astronomy.

Jenga's new family brought him to the golf tournament. He looked great and seemed very happy with his new life. Quite a few people brought their dogs with them today and almost all of them were familiar faces. They got their start in the rescue program and have all found wonderful homes. It's fun to see how well these guys are doing. They've come a long way since their life at the kennel. I knew some of the golfers today, but I think I recognized more dogs than people this afternoon.

I still don't really understand the appeal of golf. It's expensive to play and difficult to master. My shoulders are so wrecked that I don't even think I could swing a golf club. Lifting my arms above my head isn't something I can easily do anymore. That being said, I'm still in better shape than many golfers. To each his own, I guess. I'll skip the golf clubs and keep looking for dark skies and a good telescope.

I should sleep well tonight. It's been a long day. Tomorrow we'll visit the Dalmatian Rescue kennel again. We'll be taking Jasmine to the vet to begin her heartworm treatment. I'm not sure what I'll begin. It's a new week. I'm sure there's something that needs attention.

Sweet Pea is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3565

Our power went out again today. There was no wind and no rain, but I did hear an explosion back in the alley. A squirrel probably shorted out a transformer again. It has happened before. Since there weren't problems in other parts of the city, our power was restored in just a few hours. We went out to dinner tonight and by the time we returned home, the electricity was on again. I did use the generator to keep the refrigerator running, but all-in-all this was a pretty painless outage.

When I went to the grocery store this morning I discovered that the app I've been using to bypass the checkout line wasn't broken after all. I was just using it wrong. One of the many updates apparently changed the way the app works and I never noticed. Jeez. Why do people keep changing things on me? As soon as I get used to something it changes.

The weather is still unusually hot for September. That's not the worst of it though. I'd forgotten that in addition to Spring allergies, there are also Fall seasonal allergies. Ragweed is usually the culprit, but on a windy day like today there is a lot of other pollen in the air as well. For the past several weeks I've had to stuff my pockets full of paper towels and blow my nose every few hundred yards while I'm walking. If there was ever a reason to start walking inside at the gym, this would be it. I'm a creature of habit though. Even though seasonal allergies make me feel miserable, they've never stopped me from doing anything. I doubt that this month's unusually high pollen counts will stop me either.

I got a note saying that it's time to make an appointment with the eye doctor. Has it been a year already? If you go to any type of doctor these day, you'll have to see them again a year later. There's nothing wrong with my eyes but I guess a regular checkup makes sense. My Dad had macular degeneration as he grew older. I certainly don't want to deal with that. I have to wear readers now when I'm working at the computer, but my distance vision is still 20/20. I'm sure my close range vision would be better too if I hadn't spent so many years staring at a computer screen.

I guess I'm ready for the golf tournament. The cameras seem to be working well and all the batteries are charged. I just need to decide what shoes to wear. Just about all my shoes feel uncomfortable after a long day. I probably won't be walking all that much anyway. I mostly just drive around in a golf cart and take pictures of each team. I've never played golf myself. I'm left handed and can't even hit the ball using right handed clubs. I doubt if I'd be much better using left handed clubs. I've never tried.

I'm glad we've got electricity again. The house heats up quickly when the air conditioner isn't running. It's always a pain writing the blog without electricity too. I haven't charged the laptop battery recently, so that might have been a problem. Power outages, loss of WiFi, and computer crashes have never stopped me yet. I would have figured out something, but everything is so much easier with electricity.

I need to get some sleep tonight. It's going to be a long day tomorrow.

Spanky is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3564

Nothing appealed to me this morning, so I just had a bowl of cold cereal at home. This was actually a good thing because it allowed me to get an early start on today's walk. I should walk earlier every day but it's hard to get organized. The temperature was only in the seventies and there was a hint of Fall in the air. A few of the trees are already starting to turn yellow. There was a nice breeze this morning and the walk was quite pleasant until the sun got higher in the sky. By the time I finished my five miles, I was still hot and sweaty, but it feels like the worst of Summer is over. Pretty soon we'll have our two weeks of nice weather for the year.

This afternoon I wrote some letters and took them to the post office. It's getting harder for me to do chores around the house, but it's always easy to write. I can see a time where all I do is walk and write. Walking is exercise for the body and writing is exercise for the mind. All in all, I think I'm doing pretty well.

This Sunday is the annual Dalmatian Rescue Golf Tournament. Since I will be taking photos at this event, I started checking out my cameras today. Step one is choosing which camera to take. Lately, I always opt for the lighter cameras. These cameras seem to get heavier every year. I need to make sure all the batteries are fully charged. Since I don't use my cameras much anymore, the batteries are usually completely dead. They take a lot longer to charge than you'd think when they are fully discharged. Sometimes I find a battery that has died and I need to replace it. Hard to believe that I used to use these cameras almost every day. The last time I used the one I'm charging now was last Christmas when I was taking Santa Paws pictures for Dalmatian Rescue. Mostly I just use my phone to take pictures now.

While I was charging batteries this afternoon, I thought it would be a good time to defragment my hard drives. This takes a long time as well with a 4 terabyte drive. I'm not even sure you need to defragment hard drives anymore. You don't hear much about it these days. Old habits die hard though and periodically I go through the lengthy process of defragmenting all the drives. I never notice any performance differences when I'm finished, but at least I'm trying to keep things from getting scrambled.

Janet wants to go to the fair this year. It's been years since we've been to the fair. I'm not sure a lot has changed. The fair has always been about fried food, farm animals, and Fall weather. One thing that has changed is that we can go for free now. There is a Senior Citizen's Day every Thursday. Many years ago we used to take our first Dalmatian to Fair Park a few weeks before the fair started when everybody was setting things up. One of the vendors really liked Spot and they would always give him a hamburger when we visited their booth. This became a ritual and Spot would look forward to this visit every year. I remember writing a story about this once called Dog Day at the Fair.

I still find myself fantasizing about going back to McDonald Observatory, which probably means I'll be making the trip sooner rather than later. It take me so long to plan things though that sooner could be next year. I wish there was a better way to predict the weather. I'd hate to travel all that way just to arrive on another rainy day.

I'm still hoping to get my roof patched before we have another rainy day here. At the rate I'm going, I might make it back to the observatory first.

Sophie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3552

I'll have to admit that I'm impressed. Our road is already open again. The highway department was supposed to take three days to demolish the bridge, but they finished what they needed to do in just a single day. Half of the bridge is still there so cars can keep crossing while they start building the new bridge. When the first half of the new bridge is finished, they'll tear down the remaining portion of the old bridge. I wasn't expecting this much coordination. Maybe this project won't be as bad as I thought.

Whenever I go to the gym early, I think I should do this all the time. There's more time for other things when I get my workout finished by mid-morning. My workout hasn't changed, but I've noticed that my heart rate is lower than it was a few years ago. My body seems to be getting used to the routine. This probably means that I should step things up a bit. I do seem to be getting stronger. The first day I extended my morning walk to five miles I thought I was going to die, but now this distance seems more or less normal.

Maybe I'll start wanting to exercise harder and walk longer. I hope not though. I like being healthy, but I'm not really cut out to be a gym rat. Believe it or not, I still need time to do other things. Today I needed to figure out why my phone could connect to the WiFi router, but my computer couldn't. The computer could still connect to the T-Mobile hotspot, but couldn't find the U-Verse WiFi. There was nothing wrong with U-Verse though, because everything else in the house was working fine. I spent way too much time trying to get to the bottom of this mystery. In the end, I solved the problem the same way I solve most electronic problems. I turned everything off and then on again.

I ended up watching the first segment of the new Ken Burns documentary about Country Music tonight. I always think I'm just going to watch a few minutes of a Ken Burns film, but I inevitably get sucked in and end up watching every minute of the entire lengthy series. I'm not sure how long this new documentary is, but I'm positive it will last for several days. They all do. His film about the Civil War was 11 hours long. His subsequent film about World War II was even longer. These documentaries are so well done though that you don't mind the length. After a while, you realize that it is essential to the complicated story he is trying to tell. I was never that interested in history while I was in school. These documentaries are fascinating though. I've learned a lot. I think we could all benefit from learning more about our past.

It's hard to believe that we're already halfway through September. It still seems like August to me. Pretty soon it will be time for the State Fair again. Even sooner than the fair will be the Dalmatian Rescue Golf Tournament. I haven't gone to this tournament for quite a while because I was always busy tending to sick dogs. Dot and Dash don't need me anymore, so I'll be back taking pictures of the golfers again this year.

Janet and I will be back up at the Dalmatian Rescue kennel tomorrow. Sock needs to go back to the vet for his skin condition and the rest of the dogs just need some play time.

Spot is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3208

It's time for the annual Dalmatian Rescue Golf Tournament again. Time flies. I hope it doesn't rain tomorrow. Rain is always a worry in October. Even the State Fair of Texas gets rained out a lot. The Golf Tournament is our biggest fundraiser of the year and the dogs always need food and medical care. For years and years I used to take photographs at these events. Now, it seems like I've been home with a sick dog for years and years. Jeez. Have I really been involved with Dalmatian Rescue for eighteen years? It doesn't seem possible. At any rate, I hope that everyone stays dry and has fun tomorrow. I'll be home with Dash.

Having just been through the auction process myself, I was amused to read today that a Banksy painting self destructed moments after being sold for over a million dollars at Sotheby's. Evidently a paper shredder had been cleverly hidden inside a special frame that had been programmed to shred the painting the moment the hammer fell. This sounds like something Banksy would do. The art world is very weird. Pieces of paper and canvas change hands for insanely high prices. At the end of the day, they are still just pieces of paper. It makes you wonder. I like watching that show Strange Inheritance. Antiques Roadshow is pretty interesting too. There are all these stories of ordinary things  in people's attics that end up being worth a fortune. What makes us value some things and toss other things aside? There is no rational reason why a Banksy stencil of a girl with a balloon should be worth a million dollars. There is no reason why an old baseball card should be worth thousands of dollars. I guess there is no reason why my collection of electric trains should be worth anything. I could never begin to afford a Banksy painting. I am a collector though. At least I used to be. I'm kind of glad that Banksy found a way to poke fun at the whole idea of collecting.

I think someone is poking fun at me at the gas pump. For at least the fourth time in the past several months, I put my credit card in the pump, had my transaction accepted, and ended up with no gas. When the display told me to start pumping, no gas came out of the hose. They tell me this happens when the station runs out of premium gas. You'd think they could put a sign on the pump. I know I'll get charged a dollar for this non existent transaction and I know I'll decide that it's too much trouble to dispute it. I wonder who gets to keep the dollar?

Dash had a good day. He slept through the night, which was a minor miracle. It is so rare to get a good night's sleep these days. There wasn't a lot of poop to clean up in the house either. You know your life has changed when you measure your days by the amount of poop you clean up. I hear some thunder in the distance, but I hope Dash sleeps well tonight as well. Fitbit says I have a sleep deficit for the week. Some extra shut eye tonight might help bring things back to normal.

We had some delicious takeout for dinner. It's hard to have a bad day when you have steak quesadillas and barbecued brisket enchiladas for dinner. No heartburn either. Hey, when your dog makes it through another day and you don't have heartburn, life is good.

Cassie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2498

Today felt more like a work day. We got up early because Janet needed to go to the Dalmatian Rescue Golf Tournament. I spent most of the day tending to the dogs, but did manage to squeeze in a few weekend errands. I picked up some meds for Dash at the vet and then took my defective pants back to the REI store. Amazingly, they offered to exchange them for a new pair. I wasn't expecting this and was actually planning to drop the pants off at a tailor shop on the way home. I've noticed a pattern in recent years. As product quality has gotten worse, customer service has gotten better. I think a lot of companies have decided that it is less costly to just replace things when they break than to build them right in the first place. I've gotten four free UP fitness trackers from Jawbone. I love these things, but they aren't made very well. I'm lucky if mine lasts six months. Customer service is usually very nice about replacing the broken trackers though, so I'm a happy camper. Maybe REI uses the same strategy. Advertise clothing as tough and reliable, and if it doesn't live up to expectations, just smile and replace it.

The reason that I stayed home today was that it is inevitable that Dot will poop in her bed during the day. If I'm not nearby to quickly clean up the mess, she gets frantic and usually ends up making the situation much worse. When I'm away, I have to leave her penned in a small, well padded enclosure, so she won't hurt herself. This works well if she's asleep, or if I'm around to lets her out frequently. It doesn't work well at all if I'm gone for four or five hours. As expected, Dot did poop in her bed today, so it was good that I was nearby.

After one of these accidents, I knew she was tired and would probably sleep for several hours, so I went to the gym. This is usually how I plan my excursions away from the house. If she's had an accident, Dot typically won't have another one for at least three or four hours. She's sleeps soundly, so if she has an accident in her sleep, I can just quietly slide the soiled disposable pad out from under her without even waking her up. If I keep doing this much longer, I'll soon be able to write a book on dealing with incontinent dogs.

I've discovered that it's hard to write the blog when only one of us is home in the evening. As Dot has become less mobile, she's become increasingly needy. She's not the least bit sleepy in the evenings, and constantly wants somebody nearby. If I ignore her, she starts barking frantically. To prevent this, I'll write a sentence or two and and then go sit with her for a while or walk her around the house. As soon as I get her settled down, Dash will run to the front door, thinking he hears a car in the driveway and the cycle of barking will start all over again.

The roofers said they'd stop by next week. They probably really meant that they'd stop by next month. A representative from the sanitation department is supposed to contact me to help resolve my trash problem as well. We'll see. My guess is that none of this will actually happen.

Camp is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2497

I should move to rural America. I dread going out on weekends now. There are simply too many people in the city. The roads are crowded with careless drivers. I see so many accidents when I'm running errands that I often wonder when my own luck will run out. There are way too many loose dogs in the park on weekends. Loose dogs make me nervous. I've worked with dogs for most of my adult life and have been bitten five times. Any dog will bite you if the circumstances are right. I don't know what people are thinking when they let their dog run loose in a public park. Their dog could get run over by a car. It could get in a fight with another loose dog. Even a friendly, playful dog could injure a child or elderly person. Dash was almost killed by an aggressive, loose dog many years ago and I've never forgotten it.

The city makes me long for empty country roads and neighbors that are at least twelve miles apart. I miss taking long walks with my dogs where I don't encounter a single other person. I have a telescope that I never use because there is too much light pollution in the city to see anything except the moon. City people aren't as nice as country people either. That's not just my opinion, it's my experience.

I mowed the grass this afternoon. Every time I mow the grass in October, I think I can put the mower away until next year. It would be reasonable to think that I've mowed my last for the year, but Texas is full of surprises. Sometimes it gets real warm in November and the grass starts growing again. I can recall even mowing grass in December on rare occasions. Hey, maybe I'll get lucky this time. I clipped things a little shorter today, just in case.

A belt loop came off a pair of supposedly indestructible pants I bought at the REI store. Admittedly, this is a minor annoyance in the grand scheme of things, but I've still got half a mind to go back to the store and demand a refund. The only reason I buy things at the REI store is that they look indestructible. I doubt that the store would give me a refund anyway. These pants aren't exactly brand new.

I'm sure you guys get those notices from Facebook urging you to re-share your old memories. I got one today reminding me of a video a friend took last year at this time showing Dot working out in the underwater treadmill. I was surprised at how much has changed in a year. Dot was much stronger then. Her gradual deterioration has been so slow that sometimes I don't even notice that she is getting worse. It's hard to even remember the days when she could run like the wind.

Dot definitely won't be going to the Dalmatian Rescue Golf Tournament tomorrow. Those days are long gone. Everyone used to bring their dogs to the tournament and it was fun to see all these Dalmatians in one place. I'll be staying home with Dot and Dash tomorrow while Janet goes to the tournament to help with the silent auction. I hope everyone enjoys themselves, even though I've never understood the attraction of golf. It still seems like a very strange sport to me.

I have no plans for tomorrow at all. I'm sure that Dot and Dash do however, which means that I'll have my hands full.

Lucky is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2476

Weekends always start off with an accident these days. We don't sleep in that much longer, but it's enough to throw Dot off her schedule. Once again, when she woke up, she wasn't able to make it outside in time and left a trail of pee on the rugs leading to the back door. It's not a big deal, but it does make sleeping in kind of pointless.

The Scan and Go app didn't work at the grocery store today.  Everything worked fine on my end, but the little hand held device the store uses to confirm your purchase as you leave the store was broken again. The store manager was called and he wrote down my information on a piece of paper and said he'd confirm my purchase by hand. This is the third time this has happened. When you're an early adopter of anything, you run into these little glitches frequently. I'm not sure this new system is ready for prime time. It's supposed to be a time saver, but if the manager has to write all your information down by hand, it doesn't save any time at all.

I took my dog walking boots to the shoe repair shop for the third time to get new taps put on the heels. I thought that shoe taps were a great idea that would extend the life of the shoes, but they only seem to last about a month. The shoe repairmen always screws the taps on the shoe using three little screws, and as soon as the head of the screw wears off, the taps fall off and get lost. I keep asking if he could just Superglue the taps on instead, but the man speaks limited English and I'm not sure he understands. Maybe there's a good reason why glue wouldn't work. I just got the three little screws again today.

The Dalmatian Rescue Golf Tournament was supposed to be tomorrow, but it got postponed because we're scheduled to be getting some severe weather very soon. I thought the storms were going to start tonight, but so far it's still dry. There was a lot of thunder and lightning about an hour ago, but it appears that were were right on the edge of the storm and the bad weather moved to the North of us. The thunder and lightning was loud enough to scare the dogs. Dot started barking and Dash went looking for a safe corner to hide in. I hurried to get the rugs that were drying in the back yard back on the porch where they wouldn't get wet, and started charging backup batteries in case the power went out. By the time I had everything ready, the storm had already moved out of the area.

I decided to remove Google Drive, Dropbox, and Evernote from my computer today. I used to need these things to keep corporate clients happy, but they are just a nuisance now. Google Drive is the worst, because it seems to talk back and forth to Google about a hundred times a day. They probably gave it away for free just so they could suck information out of your machine. It feels good to be free of the cloud. My computer boots up faster too. I'm sure Apple is still sucking information out of my computer, but I can't figure out how to get rid of Apple's intrusions. They're built into the system.

I'm not sure what I'll be doing tomorrow. If the weather is as bad as the forecast says, I won't be going anywhere. Here's hoping that the power stays on and that Dot and Dash stay calm.

Scout is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2112

A yellow warning light appeared on the dashboard this morning when I was driving to the golf tournament. Suspension Fault the message said. The warning light was a little alarming, since I was driving on a busy freeway.  At least this warning will validate my assertion that something is wrong with the suspension when I take the car in for service next week. I continued on my way to the tournament, not really knowing if the warning meant a wheel was about to fall off, or that I should just prepare myself for a big repair bill next Wednesday.

This was our fourteenth annual golf tournament. It's hard to believe that Janet and I have been working with the rescue group this long. We didn't even have a golf tournament when we initially started volunteering with Dalmatian Rescue. Tournament attendance probably peaked a few years ago, but there were still a respectable number of players today and everybody was having a good time. The weather was great and the course at the Tour 18 club was in good shape. All we needed were a few more people. It's really hard to sustain an event like this. People get older and interests change. Die hard golfers always enjoy a round of golf though, so I imagine that we'll continue having our tournament for many years to come. This is almost always our biggest fund raiser of the year and we've helped a lot of dogs along the way.

Even though the tournament was a long way from Dallas, our dogs didn't have to stay alone long. Janet went first to check people in and then when I arrived to take pictures a few hours later, she went home again. Dot and Dash were fine today and probably end up being left alone for much longer periods of time on a normal weekday. It would have been a lot different if we'd just taken one car. Neither dog can really handle being left alone all day anymore. When Dot and Dash were younger, we used to take them with us to these tournaments. The rescue group always picks a dog friendly golf course and many people still bring their dogs with them. Those days are over for us. Dash would freak out on an hour long car ride and Dot is simply too frail.

There were light clouds on the Eastern horizon this evening, but I still got to see tonight's rare super blood moon lunar eclipse. There have been a lot of lunar eclipses this year, but there won't be another super blood moon until 2033. I wonder if I'll still be around then? At least this eclipse was early in the evening, so I didn't have to get up at three in the morning like the last blood moon. I need to get a bit more serious about taking pictures of the moon. Once again, I just pointed a hand held camera at the sky and depended on the camera's image stabilization to keep the moon in focus. It was interesting that I could see the red color more clearly in the camera's electronic viewfinder than I could with my eye. Maybe the sensor is more sensitive to red light.

There was no time to clean the house or go to the gym this weekend, but there should be plenty of time to catch up on things next week. Work is still alarmingly slow. Maybe when the Jewish holidays are over, my writing jobs will pick up again. Until then, I've got plenty of time to read. I think I'll go out and buy a copy of Jennifer Lawson's new book. She was one of the people who got me interested in blogging back in the beginning. I wish more bloggers would break out of obscurity and wind up on the New York Times best seller list. It doesn't happen nearly often enough.

Sophie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2111

I had to make some changes to a website this morning and was quite surprised that the hosting company no longer accepted my password. Since I'm one of the only people who has the password, this could mean one of two things. Either the site had been hacked, or my client had fired me without bothering to tell me about it. Either way, it wasn't good. I couldn't get any help from tech support because they needed the password to verify my identity. I couldn't get any help from the client because you can never get hold of clients on weekends. Maybe some people can, but I've never have much luck.

The weekend definitely wasn't getting off to a good start. Earlier, both dogs woke me up around 4 AM when I heard them wandering around the bedroom. We immediately took Dot outside to pee. I looked around to see if there were any accidents and then discovered there was poop in the bed. It wasn't in Dot's bed, it was in ours. This totally baffled me. It is physically impossible for Dot to get in the bed anymore and Dash has never, ever pooped in the house. What was going on? Is there a racoon living in Janet's closet? Did something scare Dash enough to poop? The dogs weren't talking. The only thing that I can think of is that Dot actually did poop in her bed like she often does when she gets up to shift positions. Maybe Dash saw the little turd in the dark, thought it was a dog treat, and then immediately spit it out when he discovered what it really was.

The bedspread immediately went in the washing machine and then a little later a rug went in the next load of wash when Dot pooped again while she was eating her breakfast. After that, life got back to normal. Well. it wasn't completely back to normal, because I was still wondering if I had gotten fired from one of my busier website accounts. I wasn't getting many answers today.

After breakfast, I started charging batteries for tomorrow's photo shoot at the golf tournament. I still can't decide whether to take my favorite DSLR with the optical viewfinder, or the newer and more reliable mirrorless camera with the electronic viewfinder. I really like the older camera but sometimes the auto focus motor gets stuck and I have to focus manually. Digital cameras with optical viewfinders are on the way out, so when this one finally gives up the ghost, it may be my last. I'm not looking forward to this photo shoot at all. It is too tiring for me.

The suspension didn't squeak at all today when I went grocery shopping. Intermittent problems drive me nuts. I've already made an appointment to take the car in for service and if the mechanic can't replicate the squeak, they'll say nothing is wrong. I know something is wrong. Yesterday, the suspension made a lot of noise.

Late in the day, the website client returned my call and told me that he had changed the password because he had forgotten the old one and needed to change something on his e-mail account. The e-mail he needed to change wasn't on the webserver though; it was on the GoDaddy server. Nothing got changed on the web server except the password. Oh, well. I wrote down the new password and spent the rest of the day doing what I had hoped to finish early in the morning.

I wish I'd never upgraded my phone to OS 9. The battery definitely isn't lasting  as long as it used to. I hope my batteries last tomorrow at the golf tournament. I always seem to be at the mercy of batteries.

Suki is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2109

I finished the book I've been reading. I watched the Pope's address to Congress. I deleted a section on a client's website that was no longer necessary. I paid a few bills and took them to the post office. It was a very uneventful day. I should use days like this to embark on ambitious personal projects, but I haven't been very ambitious lately. Most of my energy is spent taking care of Dot. Anything that is left over is usually frittered away. I wonder what to put in my morning smoothie when peaches go out of season. I wonder why some of my watches run fast and others run slow. I do the stretching exercises for my shoulder without a lot of enthusiasm. I'm torn between wanting more excitement in my life and being terrified of it. When all else fails, I take a nap with the dogs.

Yesterday I updated the operating system on both my phone and the Apple Watch. Battery life seems better on the watch now, but worse on the phone. This happens every time I update an Apple operating system. Location services is what kills your battery on the iPhone. Apple is very sneaky about trying to get information from the millions of phones it sells. If you're not careful, your phone is constantly sending information back to Apple about all manner of things. I learned today that the phone sends your GPS location back to Apple when the motion sensors detect that you are in a moving car. Apple uses this information for a crowd-sourced database of traffic conditions that can be used with their map application. I don't really care about the privacy issues. I turned this function off primarily because it is a battery hog. As soon as I manage to find all these hidden battery drains, Apple will update the system again and I'll have to start all over.

I find it interesting that both the Democrats and the Republicans are already trying to spin the Pope's speech to congress to support their own agendas. The speech seemed pretty clear and direct to me. I don't know why the politicians and pundits are spending so much time explaining what the Pope was trying to say. They should have just listened to what he actually did say. As I said earlier, I'm not a terribly religious person, but the Pope's speech today made most of what I've heard from the current crop of presidential candidates seem pathetic. How did we ever become so divided?

This weekend the Dalmatian Rescue group has its annual charity golf tournament. I have taken pictures at this event for many, many years. Every year it seems a little more tiring. I don't understand the fascination people have with golf. It takes a long time to play eighteen holes. It is often hot and muggy. Last year, I inadvertently knelt down on a fire ant mound to get a shot of someone on the putting green and was instantly bitten by hundreds of ants. It took almost a week for the swelling to go away. I'm not going to kneel anywhere this year. We can't leave Dot for very long, so Janet and I will trade off this year. She'll check people in before the tournament starts and then come home. I'll go take pictures of the golfers and then come home. Then Janet will go back to the awards dinner. When this event is over, I don't think I have any more events until it's time for Santa photos again.

I'm still debating whether to try the new restaurant tomorrow. It's tempting, but I hate dealing with those school zones. I'd better not postpone this too long or the place might go out of business.

Scout is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1748

The golf tournament photo shoot ended well, but it certainly didn't get off to a good start. I loaded my gear in a golf cart after I arrived and was just about ready to get in the cart myself when two other golfers commandeered the cart and drove away. I had turned away for just a few seconds to talk with someone and when I turned back, my cart was gone. I told two nearby club pros what had happened and they went looking for the cart. Within five minutes I had all my gear back. No harm was intended. The other golfers just thought the cart was empty and didn't notice the stuff in the back.

About ten minutes later, I kneeled down to get a better angle on a guy teeing off and I stuck my right knee straight into a fire ant mound. Almost instantly I had hundreds of fire ants crawling all over my leg. I knew I shouldn't have worn shorts. Yikes! These little critters can really sting. One of the nearby golfers asked if I needed to worry about anaphylactic shock. Thankfully, no. Luckily, I'm not allergic to bee stings and ant bites because I tend to get stung a lot.

The day ended well and I wound up getting hundreds of nice shots of golfers, Dalmatians, and golfers with their Dalmatians. I did find myself briefly going the wrong way on a one way street while I was driving home from the tournament. It was just that kind of day. I'm glad we left the dogs at home today. As accident prone as I was this afternoon, I probably would have dropped Dash's leash and he would have run off.

It's hard to believe that the rescue group has been having these charity golf tournaments for well over a decade now. I think this year's tournament was our thirteenth. We're all older now and there aren't as many dogs in the program. Dalmatians aren't as popular as they were when the Disney movies made the breed famous. That's a good thing, because far fewer dogs are being abandoned. I doubt that we would have the energy to deal with twenty-five dogs at a time like we used to anyway.

Janet won a gift certificate for 24 Sprinkles cupcakes at the tournament silent auction this evening. At the rate we eat cupcakes, this should keep us in birthday and celebration cupcakes for another year. The birthdays are all finished for this year, unfortunately. We'll have to figure out something else to celebrate, because those cupcakes sure are good!

It looks like next week is going to be busy. I've already got several new projects queued up and it isn't even Monday yet. I could have showed you dozens of people hitting a little white ball off a tee today, but I thought the clouds overhead were more interesting. This was definitely a Texas sized sky.

Spanky is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1747

Today we declared war on fleas. Both dogs have been seen with fleas lately and we suspect that they are probably inside the house. Fleas love to hide in carpet, bedding, dog blankets, and of course on the dogs themselves. Both dogs got a bath this morning, and then to make sure new fleas didn't just crawl back on each dog, I started systematically washing and cleaning everything. I'm still not finished. I think there are enough dog blankets in our house to sink a ship.

The house needed a good cleaning anyway, so hopefully this will help. You might think it would be a lot easier to just use a topical flea preventative like Frontline, but our dogs have sensitive skin and products like these leave their skin red and raw. Personally, I'd rather deal with the fleas than with a bad skin condition.

It took forever to get the dogs washed this morning. The place where we go only has four tubs and they are often filled when we arrive. Today a mother and daughter cut ahead of us in line, saying they had an important school event to attend and were running late. The daughter, who supposedly was in such a hurry, proceeded to text her friends on her phone while she was washing her dog. She was impossibly slow. An employee was grooming a dog in one of the other tanks while we were waiting. This girl left to go on a break, just leaving her wet dog sitting in the tank. She could have easily moved the dog to one of the kennels in the back and let some of the waiting customers bathe their dogs while she took her break. She also could have finished her job before she took her break. That's what I would have done. I'd leave these people a bad review on Yelp if it weren't for the fact that, despite all the problems, it's still the best dog washing place in the neighborhood. The manager is a nice guy and keeps the place very clean. It's his customers and employees who are the problem.

I noticed that Dot's dog bed was wet this afternoon, but I couldn't tell whether she had peed in the bed again or whether she was still a bit wet from her bath. The wet spot didn't really smell like pee, but my sense of smell isn't so good, so I took the cover off the bed and washed it anyway. Once I get in a washing kind of mood, it's hard to stop me. I recorded the new Dr. Who episode on the DVR again this evening because it doesn't look like I'll have time to watch it any time soon. By the time I get all the cleaning done and charge up the camera batteries for tomorrow's photoshoot, it will be time for bed.

I saw our yard possum again this morning. Luckily, the dogs didn't. I have a feeling that the possum lives somewhere in the back of the yard, because it certainly doesn't go far. I don't know why it likes our yard so much, because their are plenty of larger and much grander yards just down the street. Maybe it feels at home here. I'll have to admit now that the St. Augustine grass is dying and the ground cover beds are full of spider webs and weeds, the yard does look like a place a possum might enjoy.

Tomorrow will be busy. I keeping thinking that I have way too many aches and pains to do sports photography anymore. Then I remember that I'm just taking pictures of golfers. It isn't all that strenuous. I just follow the players around in a golf cart and take picture of them teeing off and putting. Occasionally, I get a good shot. I know the golfers are having more fun than I am, because they're drinking beer, while I'm still just drinking water.

Sophie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day