Day 3373 - Vernal Equinox

I'm always happy to see the first day of Spring. There may be a few more cold days ahead of us, but Winter is essentially over. If it weren't for the inevitable seasonal allergies, this would be the nicest time of the year. There is supposed to be Super Moon tonight which apparently makes the equinox special. I looked outside and the moon looks the same to me. When something is ten percent larger than usual, I don't think I can perceive the difference. If the moon was 50% bigger, I'd probably notice. As it is, it's just a bright full moon.

Dash wouldn't take his pills again this morning. Some of the pills aren't critical, but the phenobarbital is. We just don't want to risk another seizure. I was hoping I could get Dash to take his meds as soon as we returned from our morning walk, but he was too tired and immediately went to sleep. He wasn't interested in anything until he woke up again a few hours later. I guess all is well that ends well, but life would be easier if we could keep Dash on a regular schedule.

I spent most of the day trying to catch up on sleep. Dash got me up way too often last night. He made it outside each time and there was no mess to clean up, but once again life would be easier if Dash would just pee and poop before he went to bed at night. He used to do this every single evening, but those days are gone. I was glad there was no mess in the bed last night, but a little more sleep would be nice.

There were more bills to pay today. March turned out to be an expensive month. My web hosting plan auto-renewed for another three years, my doctor's concierge medicine retainer was due, and there were airfare and travel expenses from my recent trip to Houston. I think we're done for March though. I won't have to pay for those Sequential Circuits synthesizers until April or May.

Tomorrow, I need to figure out how to get Janet's iTunes account to show up on the flat screen TV. She rented some movies I'd like to watch, but I don't want to watch them on her iPad. I've added her account to the TV before, but I ended up erasing my own account in the process. I'm sure that Apple has a way to share multiple accounts on the same TV, but they could make the process of switching from one to another a little easier. Oh, well. I don't have much else to do tomorrow. Little things like this count as a challenge these days.

I wish that Dash would regain his strength. He still seems weaker and more lethargic than he did last month. His decline has been so slow that it's easy to convince myself that nothing has changed. There are still good days and bad days but at the end of the day we're definitely headed downhill. I don't think there's anything I can do to stop the process.

Baxter is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2941

Slow days can be dangerous. When I don't have much to do, I tend to update software. Lately, these updates come with a lot of rude surprises. Today, I discovered that iTunes is no longer a place to buy and store apps for your phone. I've always bought apps on iTunes and installed them on the phone or iPad later. I thought it was handy that you could activate or deactivate your purchases without actually erasing them. There was also a convenient feature that made it easy to rearrange the apps so they would appear where you wanted them. It's all gone now. Apple apparently wants you to do everything on the phone itself. I guess this is what most people do anyway, but I've never been most people.

It was way too cold when I woke up to take Dash on a morning walk, but the sky was clear and I knew it would warm up later in the day. To pass the time, I made pancakes and sausages at home instead of going out for breakfast. I'm so slow that Dash went back to the bedroom and took a nap before I finished my meal. When Dash leaves the scene while you're eating, you know he's tired.

It's a good thing that Dash still sleeps a lot, because otherwise I'd never get anything done. As Dash has gotten older, he's become a lot more needy and doesn't like to be left alone. He used to be content to sleep under my desk while I'm working, but now he wants me to go sit on the bed with him. If I wanted to spend the day watching Netflix movies, this would be fine, but I still have things to do.

Today I needed to send out my January invoices, but Dash didn't want me sitting at the computer. I took him outside several times and tried to figure out what he wanted. As it turned out, all he wanted was my complete and undivided attention. I eventually had to block the office door with a dog gate. He barked a few times and then went back to sleep on the bed. I'm slowly learning that life is simpler if I wait until he's asleep before I go to the office.

By lunchtime it was warm enough to stay outside for a while and I took Dash on a nice long walk. If I'd taken him on a walk before breakfast this morning, he probably would have been as much of a pest. You have to do everything in the proper order with this dog. Sadly, I have probably encouraged this behavior. I have to do everything in the proper order myself.

We took a second walk around 4 PM, before the air started turning cooler again. Whenever I see a Dalmatian with behavior problems, I know it isn't getting enough exercise. Dalmatians are very active, energetic digs. Even an old sick one like Dash has more energy than me.

One reason I was tired today was that that I had to get up several times and take Dash outside. This is becoming more frequent and is probably related to his new diet. I'm not sure which of the various brands of food he eats is giving him loose stools, but I'm reluctant to change anything. We've got a routine going now where Dash is eating consistently again. One of these days I'm going to need to get him tested for urate crystals again. I know his new diet is nutritious, but it may cause the crystals to form again. It's always something, isn't it.

I wish it would warm up. I don't know why I'm so cold this year because it's always cold in January. It's actually been much colder in previous years, but i don't  recall wearing so many sweaters before.

Pepper is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2935

We didn't get a lot of sleep last night. Dash had diarrhea and kept wanting to go outside on an hourly basis. I don't think this had anything to do with his heart or vestibular disease. He's become such a picky eater that we have to keep changing what we feed him just to keep him interested. Occasionally we pick something that doesn't agree with him. I'm not at my best in the middle of the night. Once I couldn't get my shoes on in time and Dash pooped in the living room. Sorry buddy, that was my fault. Around 4 AM, Dash's stomach settled down and we all went back to sleep,

Not surprisingly, we got off to a late start this morning. By the time we were ready to take Dash on his morning walk, the sun was already high in the sky. We didn't even need our Winter coats today. The weather was actually quite nice. It's a lot easier to get Dash ready, now that he isn't wearing the rubber boots. This isn't going to last long though. He drags his feet to much.

My day was filled with small errands. I went to my gym to find out more about their new membership plans. My old plan expired on New Year's Day and now my only choices are more expensive. I got all the details on the available plans, but didn't sign up for anything. Maybe it would be better to just go to a different gym.

On the way home I stopped at a fabric store and looked for material to fix my old down booties. Maybe I can fix these things myself. The store didn't have what I needed, but I was pleased that they treated me like I knew what I was doing. I used to be quite good at sewing things, although I still can't figure out Janet's fancy new machine. To me a fabric store is very much like a hardware store. They both have tools and materials to make things.

I discovered where all the missing movies went in my iTunes application. They aren't stored on your computer anymore. All the movies and songs are off in the cloud somewhere. If you aren't logged into your iCloud account, you don't see the purchases. This kind of irritated me and I decided to download the movies to my computer. Almost immediately, I discovered why Apple keeps these things stored in the cloud. HD movies take a long time to download. The movies that I used to buy were recorded at a lower resolution and were much smaller files. After downloading two HD movies and crashing my WiFi several times, I decided that storing the movies in the cloud was a better idea after all. Younger people probably don't have a problem with all this, but I was having trouble with the idea of purchases that weren't physically in my possession. I stubbornly wanted the files on my own computer. Oh, well. Live and learn. The cloud actually is better for some things.

When I was out this afternoon, I saw a huge line of cars in front of a neighborhood car wash. Don't these people know that it is going to rain tomorrow? I would never wash my car the day before it was expected to rain. Maybe these people aren't as obsessed with weather as I am. I am constantly checking the weather on my phone, computer, and even on the thermostat in the hallway. I hate being caught by surprise, although despite my best efforts I find myself caught out in the rain with Dash surprisingly frequently.

Dash seems better today. He is eating normally and his poop is slowly becoming firm again. I wish simple things like meals weren't so complicated, but I guess everything is complicated these days.

Alle is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2232

Where did today go? I stayed busy all day, but really accomplished almost nothing. It was still dark when we walked the dogs because Janet had to leave for work early. I saw four of the five visible planets, but the illusive Mercury was still hidden by low clouds on the Eastern horizon. I watched the Impossible Planet episode of Dr. Who on the BBC channel during breakfast, which made breakfast take even longer than it usually does. I always liked this episode. When I took the dogs out to pee again before I fired up the computer and started working, I noticed another dead bird in the yard. This explained what the dogs were so interested in last night. The feral cats in the neighborhood do help control the rats, but I hate all the dead things they drag in the yard.

The first thing I discovered when I turned on the computer was that the backup batteries had gone bad in my Uninterruptible Power Supply. Since I wasn't that busy anyway, I took the power supply down to the battery store and had them rebuild the batteries. I think this is the third time I've had to replace the batteries in this particular UPS, but it was still cheaper than buying a brand new Uninterruptible Power Supply.

Dash was low on Phenobarbital, so I stopped by the vet to get a new supply and then returned to the battery store to pick up my refurbished UPS. When I finally did get to work, there wasn't much to do. There are still a couple of unfinished website projects, but no impending deadlines at all. I used my free time to write a letter to the watch winder people expressing my displeasure at their refusal to repair or replace my two broken winders. I don't expect much of a response, but at least I got that off my chest.

I discovered that I could buy The Martian on iTunes for half of what it would have cost to purchase a physical DVD in a store. No wonder stores don't carry many DVD titles anymore. I downloaded the movie and may never buy a DVD again. Why bother. I watch DVD's on my computer anyway and a downloaded file plays more reliably anyway. Half price seals the deal. No wonder Apple isn't making computers with DVD drives anymore. They really want to convince people to buy everything on iTunes. Now, all I have to do it get the little Apple TV box and I can watch my downloaded files on the big TV in the bedroom. Not that it matters, but I did remember to order ink for the large format printer.

The weather has got me confused. I bundled up like I did yesterday, but the minute I stepped out the door I realized was overdressed. As soon as the sun came up, it quickly got even warmer. By the time I was running errands this afternoon, I didn't even need a jacket. I think by the end of the week, temperatures are supposed to be in the mid-seventies. It's strange weather for this time of year, but I'll take it. It certainly beats cleaning up after the East Coast's giant snowstorm.

Unless somebody's website crashes unexpectedly, tomorrow will probably end up being a carbon copy of today. That's OK with me. I've got fresh bag of Fritos and a new movie to watch.

Bones is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1735

Did you realize that while you were sleeping, U2 downloaded their entire new album to every iPhone in the entire world. I didn't believe this until I looked at my own phone and sure enough, there it was. I didn't buy or download the album myself. It just appeared on my phone. The same album was on Janet's phone and on every other iPhone in the world. I don't know how much it cost Apple to pull off this little stunt. I don't even know how it benefits them. I will admit though that this was pretty impressive.

Today got off to a slow start, which wasn't surprising since it was a Monday. By the time I had finished walking the dogs and eating breakfast, it was already 10:30 AM. It must have rained at some point during the night because Dash got exceptionally muddy walking through the soft ground. I usually clean the dogs paws with a damp rag before I let them inside. This mud was too much for a rag though. I had to hose him down. Since this is Texas, by the time I took the dogs out again for their evening walk, the ground was almost completely dry.

The lab work I had done at Baylor last week came back completely normal. My liver is doing just fine. Now I have no excuse to discontinue the Statins and Niacin. I'll be the first to admit these drugs are probably effective in controlling cholesterol. I just don't like the side effects of waking up with a dry mouth in the middle of the night feeling like I'm on fire as the Niacin dilates all the tiny blood vessels near the surface of my skin. Also, ever since I've been taking these new meds, my nose has been dripping like I've got a low level cold. It's irritating, but I guess it's better than a heart attack.

I only had one website to update today, so it was a good day to do some bookkeeping and pay bills. I don't know how economists can continue to say that we have low inflation. The cost of virtually everything I use on a daily basis has gone up. Often it has gone up a lot. Food costs more. Utility bills are higher. Gasoline is higher. Insurance is higher. I could go on and on. Just about the only thing that is cheaper are consumer electronics, but how many flat screen TV's do you need?

Dot really seems to have turned the corner. She has been accident free for almost a full week now. I'm starting to let her sleep wherever she wants now as long as I'm in the house. This is probably a mistake, since dogs are so unpredictable, but Dot is a lot happier having free rein of the house. Janet says I spoil these dogs. Of course I do.

Spot is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day