Day 3430

I'm starting to see Dragonflies again. This is always a good sign that Spring is ending and Summer is beginning. There will be many more Dragonflies as the weather grows warmer but they will never become easier to photograph. These little critters refuse to stay still. I also saw my first baby ducks of the season today. A Mallard Hen was swimming along the shoreline with ten small ducklings in tow. I'm always amazed that baby birds of any species survive. There are many predators in the park.

We got a nice card from the doctors and nurses at the cancer center in today's mail. As Dash's condition began to deteriorate these specialty vets got to know him very well. I think every nurse in the facility wrote a message on the card. I'm glad that Dash is remembered by so many. I'll certainly never forget what he meant to me.

This is the time of year when we usually call the landscaper to clean up the yard and plant new grass. For some reason we haven't made the call this year. On cool mornings I think that I can clean up the yard myself. Of course on hot days I just say never mind. I need to do something. There are still lots of leaves on the ground that will never get raked and the grass in the back yard is looking pretty shabby. Amazingly, some of the sod we planted last Spring is still alive, which hasn't happened in recent memory. It's harder to justify spending the money on landscaping without Dot and Dash. The dogs loved a nice yard to play in. It's not as much of a priority to us.

I'm having trouble making anything a priority. There is nothing to prove anymore. I pick up a guitar now and then, but I never write songs like I used to. I have no interest in making movies even though I still have all the tools. The documentaries I shot back in the early 1970's seem so distant that it's easy to imagine that someone else made them. I definitely don't want to go back to having clients again. The only thing I miss about working is having a steady income stream. Working did impose a structure on my life that was beneficial to a person like me, but I can't say that I really enjoyed the deadlines. You can become very good at jumping through hoops, but it's still just jumping through hoops.

I realized tonight that when I cook I always make the same thing. I make a meat sauce using sausage, green peppers, onions, and maybe a little corn and black beans. If it's breakfast, I throw in a couple of eggs and it's an omelet. If it's dinner I pour the sauce over noodles and it's pasta. Either way, it's pretty tasty. I don't need a recipe either.

When I took the trash out to the curb tonight I noticed that a raccoon had gotten into our can. What a mess. Pretty clever raccoon, since there is always a lid on the can. I don't know why this bothered me since it's just garbage. I always neatly bag and seal all the trash in black plastic bags. Of course there is method to this madness. There always is. If the trash truck fails to show up, it's easy for me to put the bags in the car and take them to a dumpster. When I think that a raccoon can easily destroy my orderly world, it all seems kind of hopeless. It's going to take a good breakfast tomorrow morning to make things right again.

Liberty is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3414

I voted today. As usual, I didn't really know that much about the candidates. It was a local election. I know more about what is happening in Venezuela than at city hall. Sure, we got the usual barrage of campaign flyers in the mail, but they all said the same thing: vote for me and build a better Dallas. They can't all be right. I think the most reliable way of choosing a candidate is just to look at the yard signs in the neighborhood. I see tons of these signs on my walks. If you like your neighbor, vote for their candidate. If your neighbor irritates you, well you know who not to vote for.

I was almost certain that I was going to get wet on my walk this morning, but as usual the weather forecast was wrong. They say a stable layer of warm air about 2,000 feet above ground can keep thunderstorms from forming. Evidently, one of these 'caps' is currently in place over North Texas. This is fine by me. I hope the cap stays in place. Light rain is fine. Thunderstorms, not so much.

My mind wanders on these morning walks. I keep seeing a lone White Pelican at the lake. Why didn't this bird migrate with all the other pelicans last month? Is the bird injured, or does it just like Dallas? It's hard to tell because it is always sitting on a log out in the middle of the lake. I keep seeing a lot of fishermen too. Especially on rainy days. Why would anyone fish in this lake? It is polluted. Every month or two you hear about a sewage spill into one of the tributaries that feed the lake. Most of these spills have been contained before they reach the lake, but that doesn't mean the water is clean. People aren't even allowed to swim in this lake. Veterinarians in the area warn you to always vaccinate your dog for for leptospirosis. It's unreal how much trash flows into the lake after a big storm. The park is probably the best thing about this city, but the water quality reminds you that you are still living in a big city. It's definitely not like the mountain lakes I remember as a child in Colorado. Clear lakes you could drink out of are just distant memories now.

I made a pathetic attempt to clean the office today. This really just amounted to sorting through a huge stack of unopened mail and throwing away most of it. I really ought to go paperless. I like the idea of paper, but it stacks up so quickly on my desk. Eventually it winds up in ring binders in the storage warehouse. After a few years, I have no idea what I'm looking at. Maybe I'll go paperless one of these days, but I'm pretty old school about these things. I'm still hanging on to a world that is gone.

I wish I could figure out what gives me heartburn. Some days I'm fine. Other days I'm not. It makes sense that pizza would give me heartburn, but crab cakes? Come on. Seafood should be fine. I had some delicious crab cakes tonight and almost immediately had to take a Pepcid AC. These over the counter antacids are pretty mild and have the approval of my doctor. At least I've been able to wean myself away from proton pump inhibitors like Protonix. PPI's dramatically reduce calcium absorption and can lead to bone loss in older people. I don't need that.

We're trying to decide whether to have the landscapers come back this year. It's time. Every Spring they clear away all the leaves and put in new St. Augustine sod in the back yard. Unfortunately, every year this becomes more expensive. The grass looks nice for a few months. Our water bill goes way up as we diligently water and fertilize as we're supposed to. Then the grass dies and we repeat the process the next year. I've been told that the reason the sod has a hard time getting established is that there are too many large Oak trees in the back yard. The extensive root system sucks up all the water. This is probably all true, but it would still be nice to have grass.

Tomorrow's forecast is just like today's. It's supposed to start raining before sunrise and continue raining for the rest of the day. Oddly, it wasn't thunderstorms that woke us up last night. It was a telemarketing call at 3 AM.

Bea is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3107

The yard looks nice again. I thought the guys were only going to replace a few squares of obviously dead St. Augustine sod, but they ended up replacing about half the grass in the yard. The landscapers were very nice and I felt a little bad about calling them multiple times about the bad grass. I was polite but persistent. You have to be. I've learned the hard way that the squeaky wheel gets the grease.

Now it's time to focus my attention on the leaky roof, the stuck sliding glass door, the faulty backyard light, the noisy toilet, and a half dozen other things that are falling apart around the house. There are lots of little things that need attention this Summer, but the big thing is still Dash. I worry about Dash every day.

I talked to two different vets today about blood thinners and internal bleeding. Both of them agreed that Janet and I did the right thing to discontinue the low dose aspirin Dash was taking when we started seeing dark stools. Evidently baby aspirin has a greater tendency to irritate the stomach and intestinal lining than Plavix. Low dose aspirin can easily cause internal bleeding in both humans and animals. We're going to stop the aspirin for now, but continue the Plavix. So far, this plan seems to be working. Dash's poop has already returned to its normal color and there are no longer any obvious signs of bleeding. We can only hope that we are still keeping the blood clot from growing.

I'm way behind on the website project I'm supposed to be doing this Summer. I've been waiting for input, but I finally decided that I could get started without it. I didn't really accomplish much today, but I did manage to recover my password and gain access to the server. I created a space for the new site to reside and now I've got a place to come back and work whenever I'm in the mood. As my deadline for completing this project approaches, I imagine that I'm going to be in the mood a lot more often.

As soon as the new grass got installed, the yard squirrels started to eat it. When the squirrels aren't eating the grass, they are digging holes to bury acorns under it. With all the critters that call this place home, it's amazing that I have a yard at all. I have a feeling that critters are responsible for the faulty security light in the back yard as well. There are thousands of spiders in the yard and they are constantly building webs. I wouldn't be surprised if there a thick spider web covering the photocell that turns the light on and off. This would certainly explain the erratic behavior of the photocell, but I'm not sure about the solution. You can't tell spiders what to do.

I'm recording the two hour season finale of The Expanse tonight. I wonder when I'll find time to watch this? Dash doesn't usually sleep this long. Whenever I watch, I'm sure I'll have to stop and start the show over and over again, so I can take Dash outside to pee. Dash will sleep for a long time if I'm sleeping with him. If I'm trying to do something else, he's constantly interrupting me. Like any Dalmatian, he thrives on attention. I probably spoil him, but why not. Dash has so many problems that he deserves all the happy moments he can get.

I can't decide whether to stay up late tonight. Saturn is at opposition and less than one degree away from the full moon tonight. It ought to be quite a sight. The only problem is that there are so many trees in our area that I won't be able to get a good view of this rare alignment until almost 1 AM. If I want to see Saturn's rings, I'll need to get the telescope out too. I wonder if I can even find the telescope? I know it's here somewhere.

Deuce is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3106

Years ago I thought nothing about hitchhiking around the country to save a little money. It was fun. Hitchhiking not only seemed safe, it actually was pretty safe. When I wanted to sell something back in the day, I would routinely run a classified ad in the local paper, confident that the buyer would be a nice, honest person. Times have certainly changed. A friend was trying to tell me today how to sell guitars on Craigslist without getting scammed or robbed. Jeez. There were so many precautions to take that it made my head spin. No thank you. Why would anyone trust someone on Craigslist or eBay these days? It's sad. These once promising marketplaces have become a minefield.

Maybe some of the bright young people who work at Space X still see a world filled with limitless opportunities. I tend to see Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome. Where has civility and simple decency gone?  We live in a world where people follow the UPS truck and steal packages off your porch. Real estate agents are frightened to show a house alone these days because of all the stories about assaults and robberies. Even police officers have stopped riding in their squad cars without a partner.

Dystopian science fiction has become way too close to real life. I think I prefer the simple minded black and white worlds of Perry Mason, The Kingston Trio, and Leave it to Beaver. Strangely, few people seem to want to follow me back to the 1950's. Hey, I'd gladly trade my cell phone for a world where you didn't have to lock your door at night.

Time only moves forward unfortunately. I still spend my days waiting for the roofer and the landscaper. I actually got a text message this morning saying that the dead grass will be replaced tomorrow morning. We'll see. I'm not going to get my hopes up though. I've heard promises before.

They did the wrong test on Dash's poop at the vet. I'm glad to know that he doesn't have parasites, but I still don't know whether there is any internal bleeding. I'll have to get another stool sample and have them do the test again. I thought I was pretty clear about what Dash needed, but maybe not. Janet says I mumble a lot and people don't really listen to me.

Dash has started eating grass again this evening. We've got our fingers crossed and hope he doesn't throw up tonight. If we're really lucky, we'll all sleep well and his poop will look normal in the morning. I try to focus on simple things like this. The world close to home still makes sense. Everything else is starting to seem like an episode of Black Mirror.

Derrick is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3099 - My Birthday

How did this happen? I'm seventy years old. That seems impossible. Just yesterday people were still calling me a forty-something. Where has the time gone? I shouldn't complain though. I'm still here. My Mom never reached this age and my Dad already knew he had Parkinson's Disease by the time he turned seventy. All things considered, I'm still pretty healthy and there is no reason not to enjoy my remaining years.

Birthday's are pretty low key these days. My insurance agent and dentist are the only people who send cards anymore. Lots of people send birthday greetings on Facebook though. I love the birthday feature on Facebook. Without it, I could never remember anyone's birthday.

Janet took me out for dinner tonight. We ate early, so there would still be time to walk Dash when we got home. Our meal was great. I never would have discovered this place even though it is located nearby. My knowledge of restaurants is limited to breakfast. Janet still works though and takes people to lunch. She knows where all the cool restaurants are.

She also knows what I like. My birthday gift was a trip to the Houston Space Center. This is perfect for an aging space nerd like me. When Janet retires (again) later this Summer and can stay with Dash, I'm going to enjoy visiting mission control, standing next to a Saturn V, and maybe even having lunch with an astronaut.

I wonder if the landscaper knew it was my birthday? Much to my surprise, he and his assistant came over today. They were very nice and said that they would have been here earlier if they hadn't been so busy. The replacement grass wasn't installed today, but they measured what was needed and said they'd be back on Friday. Sounds good to me.

Dash seemed very relieved when we returned from dinner tonight. We weren't gone that long, but he isn't used to being alone anymore. He knows he is a special needs dog and one of us is always around in case he stumbles or has a seizure. I thought that Dash would probably poop in the house while we were gone, but he waited until we returned to poop in the house. Poor guy. He doesn't enjoy having an accident. Incontinence goes hand in hand with aging though. In dog years, Dash is a lot older than I am.

I can't say that turning seventy is as much fun as turning 25 or 30, but it does have a silver lining. I am now permanently exempt from jury duty.

Inky is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3095

I spent most of the afternoon thinking it was Saturday. How could this happen? The day started out like Friday. I retrieved the garbage can from the curb after the trash truck arrived and then went out for breakfast. I guess that wasn't enough. All these days seem the same now.

I had a request for a small website update today and when I uploaded the changes to the server, the site still remained unchanged. This was a new one on me. I was able to access the FTP server. I could see that the revised files were actually in the client's folder. Nevertheless, I couldn't see any changes on the web. This turned an easy little fix into a head scratching mystery. I'll have to call the hosting company tomorrow. How can the new files be on the server and the old files still show up on the web? Yes, I emptied my browser cache, like I'm always telling clients to do. I wonder if this has anything to do with thinking it was Saturday.

I was finally able to contact the landscaper today and he told me that he could probably come out this afternoon. I left the gate open, but he never showed up. In the guy's defense, he did say that if he wasn't able to come today, he'd come tomorrow or Sunday. The probably means that he'll come sometime this Summer. I want him to come quickly, because if he comes in July, he'll just claim that the grass was dead because I didn't water it properly.

I saw some Gladiolas today and I couldn't remember what they were called. I asked Janet and she couldn't remember either. We spent the rest of our walk with Dash trying to recall what this silly plant was. This should have been easy, because I used to buy these flowers every week and put them in a vase on the coffee table. Eventually, we remembered. Jeez. What did old people do before there was Google to jog their memory?

It's taking me longer and longer to decide what I want for breakfast on Friday. I ended up with a waffle, even though I didn't want something that sweet. I guess I really wanted a breakfast taco, but I don't like the ones that are available in the neighborhood anymore. They are either too dry or taste like they were made last week. The place that made the breakfast tacos I've been craving went out of business two years ago. Increasingly, I'm finding that everything I like is gone. My favorite stores have gone out of business. There are no more Citroëns and Land Rover Defenders on the streets. The comedians on TV aren't funny anymore. What's a guy to do?

Dash has been doing really well this week. For the past several days he's slept all the way through the night. His appetite has been good and he has more energy on his daily walks. It's so surprising that the blood clot in his heart has returned. By all appearances, he is getting better and yet the echocardiogram says he is getting worse. I'm glad Dash isn't as worried as we are. He seems to be enjoying himself this Summer.

Shadow is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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