Day 4498

There was one less dog when we visited the kennel this afternoon. Julip has gone to her new home. Things are looking up for the Dalmatians. Potential adoptors have been looking at Candy and Oliver as well. Not surprisingly, there is a huge amount of interest in Sammy's puppies, but it's nice to see the adult dogs getting some interest as well. Hopefully more of our rescues will find their forever homes soon. Every one of of these dogs would make a great addition to some lucky family.

It's nice to see the progress the puppy mill dogs are making. Each week we visit they appear more well adjusted and normal. Rocket is much less fearful than he was when he entered the rescue program. He's become friends with one of the kennel attendants and is starting to show a playful side. Rocket won't play with Janet and I yet, but he will take cookies from us. He's definitely making progress and his skin is getting better too.  Candy is definitely calmer than she was last week. I think the person who has been thinking about adopting her has really helped. Basically, all these guys are decompressing, learning to trust, and starting to realize that life is much better than they ever thought it could be.

It was my turn to drive to the kennel this week and I tried to imagine seven hours of this on my upcoming drive to West Texas. Freeways are horrible now. The traffic is relentless and most of it consists of eighteen wheelers going as fast as they can. It is unnerving to be on a multi-lane freeway and have one of these huge trucks on either side of you. All things considered though, driving in town is still probably worse than the open road. On a busy day, even the supermarket parking lots are worse than the open road.

The weather was weird today. When we took Dawn on her early walk it was cold enough for winter coats again. The furnace was running when I woke up this morning. It warmed up quickly though. I only needed a light jacket when we visited the rescue dogs at the kennel and by the time I took my long walk later in the afternoon, I had to change to shorts and a t-shirt. Just another normal Texas day, I guess.

I got a tracking number on the camera part I ordered from China. It's coming by FedEx again. I hope I have better luck than I did with my last shipment from China. The star tracker was lost for so long that I thought I was never going to receive it. This time I am definitely not going to change the delivery location in route. In retrospect, that blunder played a big role in why the package was lost for so long.

My long walk was pretty short today. I think I overdid it yesterday. My feet bothered me quite a bit this afternoon and I saw no reason to punish myself. I only got 16,000 steps today and probably should have stopped when I passed the 10,000 mark. It's hard to stop on a nice day though. Although it was cold this morning, this afternoon was almost perfect.

Our Easter dinner tastes just as good as leftovers. Since there are only two of us, there are lots of leftovers. I"ll probably be eating Easter dinner all week. It's a good thing I like ham. I guess it's a good thing I like shredded wheat and berries as well. I might be eating this for breakfast forever. For some reason I just can't bring myself to go out for breakfast anymore. I can't bring myself to cook either. I used to cook elaborate breakfasts and even got one of my recipes in a cookbook once. Not anymore. Shredded wheat is just fine.

There's not much on the agenda for tomorrow. Sleeping in sounds good to me, but Dawn probably has other ideas.

Mattie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4385

I wasn't expecting it to be cold and foggy this morning since yesterday was the hottest Christmas on record. The weather has been hard to predict lately. Every day is something new. The dense fog didn't last long, but it was very pretty. Since it was Sunday, I did a lot of walking again. After our early foggy walk with Dawn, I ate breakfast and then hit the trails again. I tried to use Voltaren today to ease the inevitable foot pain, but it didn't seem to work very well. I'm not sure that any of these over the counter pain remedies actually do anything.

The weather warmed up rapidly today. It wasn't as hot as yesterday, but the only time I needed a jacket was on our early walk with Dawn. There were still plenty of people in the park. Kids must have not wanted scooters for Christmas this year, because I didn't see any. On the day after Christmas in previous year you'd see lots of new kids scooters in the park. I did see several guys trying out their new drones. You can always tell when someone has just gotten a drone because they crash them a lot. 

When I returned from my long walk, I could tell that Dawn was ready to go on her outing. She's got a good sense of time and she thought I was late. We almost immediately got in the car and headed for Dawn's Sunday park. Dawn gets so excited to go on her outing, but as soon as she gets in the car, she becomes apprehensive again. It's a good thing that it isn't a long drive. We all had a very nice walk even though the ground was damp and our shoes got wet. I really need to buy some of the waterproof Hoka hiking boots because I'm getting tired of wet feet.

We always enjoy getting ice cream on the way home. The ice cream place still has a help wanted sign out front. Actually every restaurant in town has a help wanted sign out front. I can understand why restaurant jobs might not seem as desirable anymore, but why is there a shortage of truck drivers? A lot of truck driving jobs pay very well. The work ethic that my parents had just isn't there any more. I certainly have no desire to return to the work force, even though I could probably get a shitty job tomorrow since everyone is short on staff. Maybe that's the point. Nobody wants a terrible job anymore and most low level jobs are still terrible.

After we returned from Dawn's outing, my feet were telling me that they'd had enough for today. I've become hooked on getting 20,000 steps a day, so after a short rest, I went out again. For my last walk of the day I've been choosing an old path I used to use a lot when I walked Dot and Dash. I used to have specific things I looked for on this path that I used as memory builders. It became a game for me to find every single item on my list. I've started doing this again, but my mind seems to wander. The game is much harder ten years later.

We had leftover Christmas dinner tonight. It was just as good as it was yesterday. It's hard to cook a small Christmas dinner, so it looks like we will be eating very well this week. I'm a bit apprehensive about tomorrow. I guess I'm optimistic and pessimistic at the same time. The last time I talked with someone at the local Fedex distribution center on Friday, he practically promised me that my missing package would be located and ready for me to pick up on Monday. These people have been wrong so many times before though. I guess it doesn't hurt to remain optimistic until I makes that initial phone call right after breakfast tomorrow morning. 

I'm not sure if we'll be visiting Charlie and Oliver at the kennel tomorrow. The Christmas rush might not be over yet, since some people board their dogs while they are away between Christmas and New Years. One way or another, it should be an interesting day.

Dash is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3023

Dash is finally starting to stabilize. He's still weak, but his eyes are bright and he's showing an interest in his surroundings again. It's weird how vestibular disease works. Even severe episodes seem to subside over time. I'm sorry that Dash has to go through all this, but it would be much worse if lost his ability to bounce back.

We took it easy today while gently trying to reestablish some of our regular routines. Dash is still eating boiled chicken breasts, but his appetite is improving. We were even able to take a walk this morning. Our progress was slow, but I could tell that Dash enjoyed being outdoors again. He wasn't panting or in any kind of distress, so I was happy to let him inch along, smelling every bush along the way.

After I finished my breakfast, I picked up some more Cerenia at the vet so we'd be ready for the next vestibular episode. A four day course of this anti-nausea drug really seems to help combat the vertigo and unsteadiness associated with vestibular disease. I wish there was something I could do about the weakness in his rear legs. That's a symptom that doesn't seem to be going away.

While I was out this morning I picked up my tax documents at the accountant and signed my return. I don't know why I bother to keep all these documents. I've got decades of files in the storage warehouse that I know I'll never need again. Even if I did need them, I probably couldn't find them.

I'm still eating Easter leftovers for dinner. Even though the ham wasn't too salty, I'm starting to feel like I've reached my yearly quota of salt. I've been watching my salt intake for years now and I don't have much of a tolerance for the stuff anymore. I wish that food wouldn't go bad in the refrigerator. A couple of slices of ham every month wouldn't hurt anything. I'm pushing my luck though eating it every day.

I don't understand the stock market at all anymore. This morning everyone was in a panic about tariffs. By mid afternoon, the crisis was forgotten. Oops. Never mind. Nothing had changed, but that didn't prevent a 700 point swing during the day. All this insane volatility makes me want to go out and buy something tangible that I can hold in my hand. Maybe I should get that iPhone after all.

Two of our friends in the neighborhood lost their dog to meningitis recently. I know how they feel, but I don't really know how to express it. I've felt this way ever since we lost Dot. It's so terribly sad to lose a pet after you've done everything you possibly can to save them. You just feel helpless. Enjoy every day you have with your pet. They aren't with us nearly long enough. Rest in peace Bizzy. Everybody loved you.

Dottie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2620

Today was the opposite of yesterday. The sky was clear and there was hardly any wind at all. Even though Dot seemed weak when she woke up, she enjoyed her walk this morning. As far as I can tell, Dash seems back to normal. The only reminder of his scary seizure episode is a huge vet bill.

Since the weather was so nice today, I went up on the roof to assess the situation. It's much easier to remove the standing water now that all the leaves are gone. It didn't take long to figure out why my pump wasn't working yesterday. It had gotten tipped over and was just pumping air. After I removed the water, I noticed a few new areas where the elastomer coating had peeled away. It looks like I'm going to have this problem forever. It's time to call the roofer again.

It's time to call the tree guy too. He promised to have my trees trimmed this month and the month is already halfway over. Hey, maybe he's planning on getting started tomorrow. I just don't have a lot of faith in work crews. A big chunk of my life is spent reminding people about things they forgot. In fairness, people spend a lot of time reminding me of thing I've forgotten too. Life has just become too complicated to remember everything.

Yesterday I sent out invoices. Today I paid bills. I wish the money coming in equaled the money going out, but it never does. This month was even worse than usual because my car insurance was due and Dash ran up a big bill at the cancer center. At least the stock market is still going up. I hope investors don't become discouraged and sell everything when the tax cuts they are anticipating don't materialize as quickly as they hoped. I'd like to think that the market sees prosperity ahead, but I'm cynical enough to realize that traders are probably just taking advantage of a short term opportunity. This rally kind of feels like a bubble that's about to burst.

I spent more time than usual cleaning up poop today.  It's much easier to clean up the mess when Dot is asleep. You just quietly slide out the disposable puppy training pad she's sleeping on, roll it up, and put it in a plastic bag. Usually I can lift her hips a bit and slide in a new pad without even waking her up. When Dot's awake, it's a whole different story. She panics and tries to get up, typically smearing the poop all over the place. We had two accidents today when Dot was waking up. I spent a lot of time doing laundry.

I picked up some Thai food on the way back from the post office today, but forgot we still had a pork roast in the refrigerator. I wish I was organized enough to label all the leftovers. I hate for food to go to waste, but I often forget about stuff that gets pushed to the back. I also sometimes forget to eat the oldest food first. I need a few big Tupperware containers with the day of the week on them. If there was something in the refrigerator that said Thursday on it, I would eat it tomorrow. I wouldn't care what was in the container.

Maybe we'll get two clear days in a row. The dogs are always easier to deal with on a clear, sunny day. I'm easier to deal with too. If I can't see my shadow, it's not a good day.

Lucky is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1482

There were a lot of people at the gym today. Most of them were walking or running around the large, oval indoor track. It certainly made sense to me. Dallas has a lot of joggers and it was very cold today. If I were a runner, I'd certainly rather run indoors on a day like this. I still saw a few outdoor runners when I walked the dogs, but these were the masochists. There are those who think they aren't getting a good workout unless they are putting their body through some kind of hell. I'm not one of those people. There will be no Ironman marathons for me.

There were some rather large people working out near me today. Sometimes I'm amazed at how strong fat people can be. They may have a heart attack at any minute, but they can certainly bench press more than me. Lifting weights isn't one of my strong points. I've got good core strength though. I can do a plank forever.

As might be expected, the dogs weren't all that excited about going outside today. Who could blame them? Did I mention it was cold? We didn't bother to go to the dog park today and Dot and Dash were content to nap on their dog beds, conveniently located near a warm heater vent. I don't like the cold much more than I like the rain. I'd like a climate like Hawaii where it was mild all year long with no obvious seasons. In my Hawaii there'd be no hurricanes though, and nobody would have discovered the place yet, so property values would be low. A lot of things I like only exist in my mind.

Janet got a crock pot for Christmas and she decided to try it out today. I don't think either of us realized just how slow a slow cooker actually is. Five hours wasn't nearly enough. Tonight's dinner will end up being tomorrow's dinner instead. That's OK. While we're waiting, the house sure smells good. I've always liked the idea of one pot meals. Make something good in a big pot and then eat the leftovers for the rest of the week. It's tasty, it's easy, and there aren't many dishes to wash.

My workload has been pretty light for the past several weeks, but I'm afraid things will be returning to normal tomorrow. By tomorrow, just about all the holiday travelers will have returned to their cubicles. Maybe some of my clients in the Northern states will still be snowed in though. No hurry guys. You can wait till Summer to start sending me stuff if you'd like.

Lucy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1475

I went to the pharmacy today to pick up some prescriptions and was surprised to see that the cost of my meds had almost doubled. I asked the pharmacist what was going on and he told me that I was probably in the "donut hole." WTF? How could I be in the donut hole already? I've only been using Part-D prescription drug coverage for six months. I'm not even sure what this so called donut hole actually is, but apparently it is quite expensive.

There was no equivalent of the donut hole, where you temporarily lose your coverage, when I had private healthcare insurance. You just paid your premiums and got your benefits. It was that simple. The government doesn't like simple. Almost everything the government does has a Byzantine complexity to it. In my opinion, there is no need for most of this complexity. I just don't get it. At any rate, I paid for my prescriptions and left. What else could I do?

Another cold front rolled through town this afternoon and yesterday's balmy weather is now ancient history. The high temperature was just after breakfast and things went downhill from there. At least there is no rain or snow. I'm thankful that all we have to deal with are windy grey skies, but it sure would be nice to see the sun again.

I threw away some of the Christmas leftovers this evening. I think the green bean casserole has gone bad. It sure didn't smell very good anyway. I wish my sense of smell was better. Maye some of the other food has gone bad as well. I can't tell. My rule of thumb is that if I don't get sick, the food is fine. I can't expect much help from the dogs in keeping the refrigerator fresh. They absolutely love stinky food. If I asked their opinion, I'd probably never throw anything away.

Two of my clients sent me work assignments today. It was cold outside, so I did both of them. One assignment was a small website revision and the other was a copywriting job. People aren't shy about sending me work on weekends anymore. Saturday and Sunday are just like any other day. The stores are open. My pharmacy is open. Even my gym is open. Hey, why shouldn't I work?

I hope it warms up tomorrow. It's looks like it's going to be a busy day and I'll get a lot more done if I see the sun.

Petey & Greta are our Dalmatians of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1474

Janet called today and told me that young people with children have discovered the little town where we were thinking of retiring and that housing prices were on the rise. It was bound to happen. In today's world, nothing good stays a secret for very long. Maybe there's a silver lining to this dark cloud however. Younger people love dogs and if the town becomes full of dogs, a veterinarian is sure to follow. Dallas definitely has its flaws, but it is home to some really good veterinarians. I've gotten used to my dogs getting better medical care than I do and I'd hate to give that up.

I guess today was Saturday. It certainly didn't seem any different than any other day. We got off to a slow start, because now that I'm using two Dalmatians as an alarm clock, we generally stay in bed until the dogs are hungry. I would have thought that they would be feeling hungry much earlier, since Janet usually feeds them breakfast before she leaves for work at the crack of dawn. Nope. The lazy dogs seem perfectly content to postpone breakfast until well after the sun comes up.

I actually did some writing work today, since my only other alternative was cleaning the house. Writing is almost always preferable to cleaning. When I finished my articles, I decided to go to the gym. I'd never been on a Saturday before and will probably never go on a Saturday again. This appears to be the one day of the week where the gym is actually busy. I had to change my workout a bit, since some of my favorite machines were in use, and I didn't get to shoot baskets at all, since there was a pick-up game underway on the court. Nevertheless, I managed to burn up a few calories before I returned home to put them on all over again by eating Christmas dinner leftovers.

There really isn't much on TV these days. I channel-hopped after dinner, trying to find something that would pique my interest. I watched a bit of The Longest Yard, hoping to catch the scene with the Citroën SM in it. I've seen this movie again and again, but I always miss the chase scene with my favorite car. I watched a bit of a Terminator movie. I don't know which one. They all seem the same to me. It's still hard for me to believe that the Terminator was actually the governor of California. I watched the NASA Channel for a while. With all the government money that the NASA Channel gets, you'd think these guys would learn how to edit. Nope! They just continue to show raw unedited B-Roll. Where is a new episode of Dr. Who when I really need it?

The dogs are getting restless. I think they're trying to tell me that I've done enough writing for one day. One the other hand, maybe they're just being bad again.

Dot & Petey are today's Dalmatians of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1164

I'm amazed at how much daily temperatures have been fluctuating this February. This morning I wore a heavy goose down ski jacket while I was walking the dogs. We barely missed getting soaked by a chilly Winter rainstorm. When we walked again late in the afternoon, the skies had cleared and the temperature was over 70 degrees. I wore a t-shirt. The entire month has been this way. One day, signs of Spring are everywhere and I'll see daffodils along the path. The next day, it's 35 degrees outside and feels like it is going to snow.

I took a break from my writing chores around mid-afternoon to pick up some new slacks I was having hemmed. I wonder how long it will be before I actually wear these pants. There is literally no reason for me to dress up anymore. All my work is conducted over the Internet these days and the dogs certainly don't care what I look like. The neighbors probably don't care either. It's probably only a matter of time before I start taking the trash out to the curb on Thursdays in my bathrobe.

I made a big salad for dinner using all the leftover vegetables in the fridge. Tomorrow I'll go to the store and get a new supply. I think I'm learning to manage meals better than I used to. Usually, something has gone bad in the fridge by Thursday, because I've simply forgotten about it. This week, I made a conscious effort to eat the things with the shortest shelf life first. Other than that carton of milk that inexplicably turned sour, everything stayed fresh this week. The big chef salad was actually pretty good too.

I'm fascinated by the little activity tracker I wear on my wrist. I never realized that it almost always takes me exactly 38 minutes to get the water off the roof. I usually burn up 250 calories doing this. My longest activity of the day is my morning walk with the dogs, and I am sometimes more active sleeping than I am writing. It's a good thing I take the dogs on long walks, because I burn up no energy at all writing.

I'm disgusted with the stock market again. As recently as a month ago, I was doing pretty well. Now, everything is headed downhill again. There is no rhyme or reason to anything anymore. I have no idea why gold and commodities are in the toilet right now. The price of gas is going up, but oil stocks are going down. I have shares in a 3-D printing company that were stratospheric a few months ago. Now, the shares are going down as quickly as they went up. Nothing has fundamentally changed about the company.

If yesterday was full of bad omens, today was full of good ones. The car ran smoothly. So did the furnace. I got a large number of website updates finished today, so it doesn't look like I'll have to work this weekend. We'll just forget about how much I lost in the market today and concentrate on what I'm going to have for breakfast tomorrow.

Lizzy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 520

I couldn't find anything to eat in the fridge today, so I went down to my neighborhood barbecue place and picked up some takeout brisket and ribs. Never mind that there was plenty of food in the freezer. Never mind that the shelves were stocked with tons of canned items too. There just wasn't anything I could throw in the microwave and eat two minutes later. I live on leftovers. I'm always excited when Janet cooks something over the weekend that I know will keep a long time, because this eliminates any chance that I might actually have to resort to cooking for myself. I do cook breakfast, but that's different. Breakfast is a sacred ritual that I use to postpone starting my work chores as long as possible.

I think I've finally discovered the secret to getting a lot of Twitter followers. You just follow people who do exactly the same thing you do. Once I started following other writers, my Twitter account started becoming a very busy place. For the past month or so, I think most of my new blog followers have come directly from Twitter. As busy as my Twitter account has become, I'll have to admit that I don't really understand it. It still seems like robots talking to robots. Sometimes my automated replies will trigger further automated replies on the other end. A whole little automated conversation ensues. It's weird, but you can't ignore it. All my clients want to be on Twitter now. I guess social media is here to stay. I noticed that LinkedIn almost doubled in price in its first day as a publicly traded stock. Makes me wish I could get in on the Facebook IPO, if that ever happens.

I think Dash might have eaten a dead bird. There were certainly a suspicious amount of feathers strewn around the yard this morning. I'm hoping is was a neighbor's cat that actually ate the bird and that Dash is just interested in the remaining feathers. If he did eat the bird, he'll probably throw up tonight like he always does when he eats crap. The fact that he has a sensitive stomach doesn't seem to slow him down in the least when there is something rotten in the vicinity.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day