Day 3082

I was expecting the landscapers on Monday, but they decided to come today. There was lots of work to do. Most people use a lawn service on a weekly or monthly basis. I use one once a year. Today, the guys pulled weeds and hauled away a year's worth of dead leaves. I think they're coming back tomorrow to install the new St. Augustine grass. It's a shame that grass never lasts more than a single season in the back yard, but that's just the way it is. The large Oak trees have such an extensive root system that they suck up all available water. The grass never has a chance to develop deep roots of its own. Even though the new grass isn't in yet, the yard already looks better. A year's worth of Oak leaves can really make a yard look messy.

I got my first check from the friend who is selling my train collection. Not bad for one month. Seven items have sold already. My friend says it might take two years to sell the entire collection. That's OK. It took me way more than two years to accumulate this stuff. I wonder what has caused me to have such a change of heart? As recently as five years ago I wouldn't have even considered selling my collections. Now, getting back to basics would be a blessing.

Dash was real interested in what the landscapers were doing. He watched at the window for hours. I couldn't let him outside because the gates were open, but he definitely knew that something was going on in his yard. I hope I cleaned up all the dog poop before the guys arrived. Stepping in dog poop is no fun for anyone. At least it will be easier to clean up after Dash now. During the Winter, the poop just disappeared under a mountain of leaves.

I went to my safe deposit box on the way to the grocery store to look for documents and records about my artwork. The galleries and auction houses want a lot of documentation. I found a few receipts, but not nearly as much as I'd hoped. Actually, there was very little of value or usefulness in the box. I wonder why I even have this thing. It's kind of like the storage warehouse. Twenty years ago it all made a lot of sense. Now, not so much.

Maybe now that the yard is clean, I won't get so many bug bites. I've got so many bites that I'm starting to look like I've got chicken pox. Each bug leaves their own distinct signature. Ant bites are small raised welts. Mosquito bites are wide pink blotches. Chigger bites are smaller and redder than the mosquitoes. All of them itch. I just hope I don't get any spider bites. Spider bites are the worst.

I watched a show about eating healthy on PBS this afternoon. It looks like Janet has already adopted the perfect diet. I still have a ways to go. I still consume too much wheat and it's pretty tough to totally avoid sugar. Neither of us drink soft drinks, but I still enjoy a piece of pie for dessert. Janet just has a slice of cantaloupe or watermelon. It will be a long time before I learn to substitute cantaloupe for pie.

We had to shorten Dash's walk today. It's getting too hot. Our cool, wet Spring is just a distant memory now. The temperature was over one hundred degrees this afternoon. This is not only dangerous for Dash, it's too hot for me as well. Let's hope the air conditioner keeps working.

Abby is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2914

The weather turned nasty today. As the day progressed, it continued to get colder and around mid-afternoon it started to rain. Since it rarely snows in Dallas, this is how I remember Winter. There is something about a cold winter rain that is particularly miserable. It's hard to warm up on days like this. Since Janet doesn't like me to crank up the heat, I'm walking around the house wearing a wool skullcap and duck down camping booties. I need to find the little ceramic heater I keep under my desk in the winter. The little electric heater works like gangbusters but I've become reluctant to use it as I grow older. I'm much more forgetful now and I'd hate to start a house fire by forgetting to unplug the thing when I go to bed at night. Dash is also a problem. He likes to sleep under my desk during the day and I don't want him to inadvertently burn himself. For the moment, the wool hat is doing a fine job of keeping me warm.

What's the one thing you should never do on a rainy day? Maybe you should avoid washing the car. Well, that's exactly what I did this morning. In my defense, it wasn't raining earlier in the day, but I kind of knew the rain was coming. What can I say. I like a clean car. I'm definitely less likely to go anywhere tomorrow. The car will probably just sit under the carport until everything is dry again.

We had a nice walk this morning, but Dash and I got caught in the rain on our afternoon walk. We should have made it home before the rain began, but I keep forgetting how slow Dash has become. Dash used to speed up when it started to rain. Now, he just keeps poking along, smelling every wet bush along the way. Rain must intensify smells, because Dash spends a lot more time smelling things on rainy days. When we got home, I dried Dash off and threw our wet gear in the dryer. I still haven't warmed up yet.

One of the many things I dislike about winter is that it's much harder to find the dog poop in the yard. The poop blends in with all the leaves on the ground and just disappears. When Dash goes out at night, I have to mark the spot with a colorful piece of plastic. Otherwise, I'll never be able to find it in the morning. There's always one surefire way to find poop in the yard. Just wander around the yard for a few minutes and it will inevitably wind up on your shoes. Yes, I got dog poop on my shoes today. It kind of fit the mood of the day.

I used to watch movies on cold winter days, but the only thing I'm even vaguely interested in seeing is Bladerunner 2049 and it won't be available for streaming until sometime next year. Remember how excited I used to be about Dr. Who? I'm not even interested anymore. I didn't watch the last season at all and I doubt that I'll watch the new season either. I don't know if the show has changed or I have changed, but the writing seems terrible now. The show doesn't seem whimsical or inspired. It just seems stupid. Of course, the shows I do watch seem stupid too, but I just use them to go to sleep. Nothing puts me to sleep quicker than an old episode of Perry Mason or The Twilight Zone that I've seen ten times already.

If the weather clears up, I'll go to the gym tomorrow. If the weather gets worse, I'll take a nap with Dash. Sounds like a plan to me.

Hannah is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1530

Where did today go? It seems like I got up and all of the sudden, it's time to go to bed again. I certainly didn't do that much. The big event of the day was giving the dogs a bath. The neighborhood dog washing place that lost its lease several months ago has reopened in a new location. We always like to support neighborhood businesses, but I sure wish this place was back at its old location. I don't think I'd visit this new place after dark. We encountered some pretty strange people wandering around in the parking lot.

The dogs are nice and clean again though. That's good. They are about the only thing in the house that's clean. I changed the sheets on the bed and did a load of towels, but that's as close to cleaning as I got. The house is still a mess.

My worries about Dash have distracted me. It's hard to believe that he could actually be sick, especially since he looks and acts completely normal. Cancer can be that way. One of my neighbors was playing golf and working in his garden one week, and the next week he was dead. Lots of Dalmatians in the rescue program have had cancer over the years. Few beat the disease entirely, but many were able to live many more happy and active years after treatment.

I've reluctantly learned to trust doctors as a result of my own liver problems. Hepatitis C has few if any symptoms until the very end. It is easy to lull yourself into a sense of false security, since you still feel good as the disease progresses. Hepatitis C is serious though, just like cancer. I've learned now, that if my doctor is worried, I need to be worried too. That's why Dash is going to get the best possible care, starting immediately. Most people and pets don't die from cancer. They die from waiting too long to diagnose and start treating it.

I thought I'd do my monthly assignment for my writer's group this afternoon, but the writing took a different direction than I expected and it surprised me. Oops. I'll finish the piece tomorrow. Why tomorrow? Well, that's when it's due. I procrastinate about everything except my pets.

I noticed that my next door neighbor hired somebody to rake up all their leaves this weekend. Now, they'll probably be mad when my own leaves start blowing back into their yard, as they inevitably will. I hate to rake up all my leaves just yet though. They've been a great way to cover up all the dirt in the back yard and keep the dogs from getting too muddy when they run outside on a rainy day. As soon as the leaves are raked up, I'll need to re-landscape again, since the grass is all dead.

I'm staring at a growing pile of tax documents sitting on the corner of my desk. Is it that time of year again already? I procrastinate with taxes too. I quit doing them myself years ago, but now I find it hard to even gather up all the information for my accountant. There is just no satisfaction in giving the government money it is sure to waste.

Maggie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1413

Nothing big happened today. I took a small stack of documents to the new safe deposit box. I took an even smaller pile of shirts to the dry cleaner. And I picked up a single prescription at the pharmacist. Dot was tired today, so we took a small walk, instead of our regular much longer trek. I thought I was going to pick up a small puppy from animal control this afternoon, but someone else from Dalmatian Rescue had already arranged to pick up the dog before I could get my act together.

Work was equally slow. I had a meeting scheduled, but it got canceled. I made two small changes to client websites and answered a few e-mails, but that was about it. I should have used my time today to upload a large number of new pictures to Shutterstock, but I didn't. Once you get locked in a small frame of mind, it's hard to snap out of it.

I was just about to upgrade the computers to the new OSX Mavericks operating system when I saw a small notice on the Avid website saying that the latest versions of Pro Tools and Media Composer are not compatible with the new system. This always happens. Apple makes a big deal out of their flashy new system and none of the software I actually use for business works with it. Eventually the vendors come out with new, compatible versions of their software, but by then Apple is already off on another tangent. It's frustrating.

The cold front that passed through town this weekend seemed to accelerate the seasonal changes that were already underway. All the trees are changing color now and some are already dropping their leaves. Hopefully, there will be a few nice photography days before the trees are bare again. Since we have a lot of large, mature trees in our yard, there are a ton of leaves on the roof in the Fall. If it didn't rain so much, I would just leave the leaves up on the roof until Spring. A thick stack of leaves is sure to add some insulation value. Unfortunately, the leaves do get wet and turn into a soggy mess that retains water forever. For the rest of the Winter, I will have piles of heavy, wet leaves to push off the roof in addition to the standing water that accumulates year-round.

Dash has a vet appointment tomorrow, so it is questionable whether I'll be able to make it to the gym as I had planned. You'd think with the simple, uneventful life I lead, it would be easy to schedule things. Somehow, it never is.

Abi is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1038

Wow! Google stock dropped over 10% in a matter of minutes today, all because a bad quarterly report was released a little prematurely. The slide was so precipitous that trading was halted for several hours. I'm certainly glad that I didn't buy any Google shares yesterday. All this just confirms my feeling that it has become too dangerous for the small investor to day trade anymore. Events happen rapidly and the market responds almost instantly. By the time the average guy has time to react, it's too late. Google is still a good company though. If the overreaction to the poor earnings continues, it might be wise for me to buy some shares.

I found one of those little square discontinued iPod nanos I've been looking for, thanks to a regular blog reader. Now, if I could only convince you readers to find me jobs and clients as well. That would be great.

The dogs have been loving this beautiful Fall weather. They can't go lounge in the grass after lunch like they used to, thanks to our armadillo friend who tore the yard up. The lack of grass hasn't detered them in the least unfortunately. When I let the dogs outside, they immediately go roll in the dirt and get filthy. I try my best to clean them off before they come inside again, but the house is getting dirtier every day. I'll be glad when the leaves finally fall and cover up the dirt. There isn't any point in planting new grass this late in the season. We'll just repeat what we did last year and let the leaves cover everything up until Spring.

I just finished watching a live feed of the Al Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner. I've always been a fan of self depreciating humor, and these events featuring the presidential candidates doing stand-up comedy routines seldom disappoint. I wish the candidates would act like this all the time. I'd much rather see people making sarcastic jokes about each other than just resort to calling their advisory a liar. There's a lot to be said for using humor to deal with complex issues. I'd love to see a debate where both candidates checked political correctness at the door and the guy with the most biting humor won. Maybe Jon Stewart could be the moderator.

Little Petey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 751

The days are noticeably longer now. Pretty soon, all the sunset photo opportunities that seem perfectly timed with the dog's evening walk will be gone for another season. I'm sure the golden evening skies will be replaced by something equally interesting as the days grow longer, but I'm going to miss these spectacular sunset walks.

One of my European clients has started paying me using Paypal. The fact that it's so easy and safe to make international transactions with Paypal is one more reason I'm starting to use it for almost everything. Getting money from another country used to be a nightmare when I had to use wire transfers. The German banks always wanted information that the American banks didn't even use. Paypal is so much easier.

I almost upgraded my main computer to Lion today, but chickened out at the last minute. Lion seems to work well on my laptop, but I have much more software installed on the main computer. Every single time I've installed a major system upgrade on my desktop, the results have been disastrous. There is always some very expensive application that I use everyday which refuses to work under the new system. Since it's hard to reverse a system upgrade, I usually have to go out and buy all new versions of the software I already have. Typically, I don't like the new versions as well as the old versions, but that's another story. I wish Apple had some sort of app that would search everything on my computer and tell me if I was ready for Lion or not. Snow Leopard is running perfectly now, but I remember that it was a nightmare too in the beginning. One thing is certain. I'm going to have to upgrade to Lion sooner or later. Avid Media Composer 6.0, which I would like to start using, only runs under Lion.

The dead leaves are really stacking up in the back yard now. I'm going to have to break out the leaf blower pretty soon and blow them into big piles so I can bag them up and get rid of them before Spring. There are so many leaves on the ground already, that even if I bag up leaves every weekend, it will still take me until Spring to get the yard cleaned up and ready for a fresh load of St. Augustine sod. It would be so much easier to live on the 17th. floor of a luxury high-rise.

Lucy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 735

The pelicans returned to the lake today. I'm always amazed at how graceful these ungainly birds seem in-flight. They glide effortlessly through the air, hardly moving their wings. On the ground, it's an entirely different story. Their beak is so large that it's surprising they can fly at all. If I kept better records, I wouldn't be surprised to discover that the pelicans return on the same day every year. It certainly seems like a year since I saw them arrive the last time.

I took Dash to the vet for his antigen shot today. For a young, active dog, he certainly has more than his share of problems. The antigen shots are definitely working at clearing up his skin condition, but they are also causing him to develop big lumps under his skin whenever he receives an injection. This happened once before when there was a bad batch of the antigen, so I'm wondering if it has happened again. Dash has such sensitive skin that it appears that the antigen has to be perfect before it works at all.

I wish there was a market for dead leaves. Every year I'm amazed at how many leaves fall off our four large Oak trees. This year I'm trying to get the leaves off the roof as they fall. If I wait until they collect into a foot thick soggy mess, I'm really in trouble. These wet leaves probably weigh more than an equivalent amount of snow. They retain water like a sponge and once wet, the roof never seems to dry out. Only time will tell if my efforts to control the leaves will help reduce water damage this Winter. So far, the only thing I've noticed is that my neck is hurting again.

Now that I'm cooped up writing every day, I find myself fighting the urge to buy stuff I don't need online. I've succumbed to this urge before, mostly because it's quite enjoyable to get packages in the mail. There's nothing really wrong with this little diversion, but I'm going to have to find something less expensive to buy than camera gear. I could go broke buying camera gear just to get a package in the mail. It would be a lot cheaper to just go have a cup of coffee with someone at Starbucks whenever I began to go stir crazy. This takes too long though. Opening a package is much more efficient. It only takes a minute and it gives me a nice little lift. Then I go back to work.

Lexi is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 399

The sun finally came out today. I had a couple of meetings out of the office and you could tell that the sunshine had a positive effect on everybody. I don't know how Northerners deal with month after month of dreary weather. All it takes is a week down here and everybody is in a grumpy mood.

I don't know if it was the sunshine or just good luck, but I managed to get a lot accomplished before the sun went down. This morning, there was a successful initial planning meeting for a new website I'm going to be designing for a cat only veterinary hospital. This afternoon, I added a final group of pictures to a website I've been working on for months and I'm just about ready to call the whole thing completed. I even got a request to bid on a brand new project directly as a result of Facebook. Social media continues to amaze me. I had my business website up for several years before I could attribute any work whatsoever to having a persence on the Internet. I've only been on Facebook for a month and it's already having an impact on my business. Things have definitely changed. I think attention spans are shorter these days, but if you can learn to operate in that little window called "now," there are some real opportunities.

When I took the dogs on their evening walk, I was surprised to discover that most of the leaves in the park were gone. I could have sworn that there were tons of leaves on the ground yesterday, but today some of the meadows we walk through looked like a golf course. The whole thing is a bit of a mystery to me. I know there wasn't a big storm last night that blew the leaves away. The only thing I can think of is that the city used some of their stimulus money to buy a giant leaf vacuum for the parks department. If that's what happened, I sure wish they'd come over to my house and suck all the leaves off my lawn. As it stands now, I've got a lot of raking to do before Spring.

I didn't have time to take pictures of the three new Dalmatians today. Maybe tomorrow.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day