Day 4108

I got a chair mat this morning. When I got home I discovered it was too small. Jeez. I thought these things were all the same size. I guess I'll live with the smaller size though. It's too much trouble to take the thing back. I also got the 12 month accordion folder I needed for receipts. How could a cardboard folder be worth $22? They say we don't have inflation, but I don't believe it. Everything seems a lot more expensive than it used to be.

My train dealer friend told me that he finally sold another of my trains. This was the first sale in about six months. Business hasn't been good during the pandemic. I was happy to see the sale, but I'm not expecting much in the future. The best items in my collection are already gone. I hope business picks up for my friend. I've decided that this is a good time to be retired. I would have had a hard time keeping my own business going during the past year. 

We're under another severe weather alert. This is the time of year when we get a lot of bad weather. I'm watching a storm head our way on the weather radar and hoping that the power doesn't go out. Isn't there somewhere that doesn't have any bad weather at all? We have tornados to worry about. Other parts of the country have hurricanes, wildfires, dust storms, or too much snow. I'd really prefer not to worry about bad weather at all.

The Purple Martins have returned to the park. I'm kind of glad that we don't live near these birds. They are considered very desirable, but they are also very loud and you could hardly call the sound they make a song. It's more like a loud, angry squawk. I'd rather have the Pelicans live nearby. I've never heard them make any sound at all. Pelicans poop a lot though, so maybe this wouldn't be a good idea after all. I guess our resident possums aren't so bad after all.

I was hoping for three consecutive nights of restful sleep, but it wasn't meant to be. I woke up at 4:30 AM and couldn't get back to sleep. Maybe I'm taking too many naps. When I was working, I seldom had problems sleeping. When you are really tired, sleep is almost inevitable. I wish it were easier to keep a dream journal. When I first wake up I'm always aware that I've been dreaming. The dreams fade quickly though. Many of my dreams involve being lost in mundane situations. I'm looking for my car in a parking garage. I'm trying to find my room in a hotel. Sometimes I'm in an ad agency but I can't find my office. There are other dreams where I'm living in a house I have never seen before. If I could remember these things clearly, I might know what they mean. Occasionally, I have had a dream that felt so real that I've wondered if it was something that I actually experienced. Vivid dreams and a poor memory make a strange combination.

I'm mesmerized by the weather radar. It looks like the storm where tornados were spotted is going to the south of us. It will be close, but I think the storm will miss us. Dealing with weather makes you realize that much of life is governed by luck. It helps to be careful, but you've got to be lucky as well. Every time you go to get groceries you could get hit by a drunk driver. Your house might be a tornado target. I'm convinced that a lot of the people who got Covid just had bad luck.

So far, I feel like I've been lucky in life. I hope my luck continues and I never become paralyzed by fear. I'm on the home stretch now, but there is still lots to be done. Right now, I'm optimistic. Reaching Day 5000 seems like a piece of cake.

Chelsey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3880

One of the worst things about the pandemic is that every little ache and pain makes you think that your luck has finally run out. I woke up with a sore throat this morning. "This is how it begins," I thought. Never mind. I forgot that this is a common occurrence. When I don't sleep on my back, I get nasal congestion and start breathing through my mouth. Instant morning sore throat. As soon as I was up and had some coffee the sore throat disappeared.

Maybe I'm just a hypochondriac, but this has happened before. Occasionally I'm winded after a long uphill walk and I start to wonder about my lungs. I'm always checking my temperature with the forehead thermometer. If it even varies by a tenth of a degree I wonder if this could be the start of something. Every time I hear someone cough, I wonder how far the virus can travel through the air. None of this is good, but there is a certain logic to this sort of thinking. The virus is relentless and people aren't all that careful. I find it easy to believe that the longer you stay healthy, the more likely it is that your luck will eventually run out.

This is probably why I'm never wild about shopping day. Half the people in the grocery store had their mask below their nose this morning. I forgot the doggie poop bag I usually put over my hand when I pump gas. People are always picking through the produce to find the freshest items. There are so many opportunities for things to go wrong.

Oddly, I never worry about walking in the park even though I don't wear a mask outdoors. Joggers and cyclists pass us on the trails, but nobody lingers and nobody gets close. Fresh outdoor air is much different than a building's air conditioning system. I'm sure that if sports eventually returns, watching football in an outdoor stadium would be safer than watching basketball in an indoor arena. It's not good to think this way. Once you become convinced that every stranger is a potential danger, it's going to be hard to trust anyone again. No hugs please. Ever.

Every time I go shopping, I'm more and more convinced that our country's supply chain and distribution system has become seriously damaged. Stores just aren't as well stocked anymore. I'm still seeing an overreaction to the toilet paper shortage. There is an abundance of toilet paper and bleach now, but not enough cheese. Every week I find common, everyday items that just aren't on the shelves anymore. Some aisles are half empty and I can't even remember what used to be there. This inconsistency often forces you to go to several stores when one used to be enough. If the whole idea is to get in and out of the store as quickly and efficiently as possible, it would be nice if the store had what you need.

We got a late start on our walk again this morning. Saturday should be the day we start extra early. The park is always crowded on Saturday, but few people get up before sunrise. Old habits die hard though. We always used to sleep in on Saturdays. One of these mornings we need to take a picture of Dawn right at dawn. At least once a week we see a beautiful sunrise. This would make a nice backdrop for a portrait of Dawn.

I hope I don't wake up with any aches and pains tomorrow. I'm tired of waiting for the other shoe to drop. It's about time to wake up and feel like going to the gym.

Lilly is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2217

It was 27 degrees when we woke up this morning. It's hard to get used to how quickly the weather changes around here. Less than a week ago it was an almost balmy 70 degrees. In between, we've had rain, wind, fog, bright sunny skies, and just about every type of weather imaginable. Today was one of the sunny days, so the cold didn't seem quite as bad. Almost nothing deters us from our daily walks. This morning, we bundled up the dogs in their Winter sweaters and off we went. Dot seems to enjoy the cold weather. She certainly took her time smelling things this morning. By the time Janet and I got home, we were freezing. Dot and Dash seemed fine though.

I made it back to the gym today. If I could ever manage to go at least three times a week, I think I might start making some real progress. As it stands, I'm just treading water. I realize that I really need to go to the gym. I just don't enjoy it. When I was younger, I was able to convince myself that yard work and other chores around the house were a good substitute for a formal workout. I doubt that this was ever true. Mowing the grass may make you tired but it really doesn't involve the muscle groups I need to work on. At any rate, I had a good workout today. Maybe I'm good for another week.

I know I complain a lot about customer service, but I've actually had a good customer service experience recently. I lucked out and got assigned a very thorough tech support representative at Google who is trying to resolve the intermittent outages I've been experiencing with my Blogger account. Since my blog only disappears sporadically for brief periods of time, it's not an easy problem to resolve. It's kind of like describing an odd noise to your car mechanic when it isn't always there. When you describe an intermittent problem, some people just think you are imaging things. To Google's credit, they have taken me seriously. I appreciate that. Maybe we'll eventually get to the bottom of this.

Nobody won the Powerball lottery last night, so the next jackpot will be over a billion dollars. I did have the Powerball multiplier number. Of course, that was the only matching number I had. Nothing else matched at all, so I won nothing. I guess I'll buy another ticket on Wednesday. What have I got to lose? The tickets are only $2. You can hardly buy a cup of coffee for $2 these days.

I haven't made any New Year's resolutions, but there are a ton of things I need to do this year. One of the large Red Oak trees in the back yard needs some major pruning. There are several dead limbs than could come down during any major wind storm. I need to get the sliding glass door fixed. I can barely open it now. One of these days, it's going to get stuck in the open position and I'll really be screwed. There are leaky faucets in one of the bathrooms that I've been meaning to replace for years. Maybe 2016 is the year it will actually get done. The rubber ring in the front loader washing machine door needs to be replaced and the ice maker in the refrigerator isn't working properly either. I'm certain that some of these problems will be resolved this year, but there will be new problems as well. With an old house inhabited by old people and old dogs, there are always going to be problems.

Murphy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2216

I bought some Powerball tickets today. I'll never win, but how can you pass up a chance at 800 million dollars. It's rare that I ever buy lottery tickets, but when I do, I'm always amazed that there are so many other people doing the same thing. Often the people ahead of me in line buy lots of tickets. Don't they realize that the chances of winning are so remote that the odds are about the same whether you buy one ticket of a hundred? You have a much higher chance of being struck by lightening than winning the lottery. Probably everybody has had a fantasy about winning the lottery. I'll confess that I've contemplated winning, especially when the jackpot is so high. I'd immediately buy a house without a flat roof. I can't even tell you how tired I am to have standing water on the roof every time it rains. Maybe Janet and I would hire our own personal veterinarian. I doubt that I would change very much. I'm happy enough with the way things are. It would be nice not to have to worry about money anymore though. I always worry about money.

The weather turned really cold this afternoon. Later tonight, we're supposed to get our first hard freeze of the season. Since I'm not looking forward to the prospect of ice on the roof, I reluctantly put on my warmest clothes and went up to remove all the water while it was still liquid. This isn't pleasant work in nice weather, but it miserable up there when the temperature is near freezing and there's a thirty mile an hour wind. I have a feeling that my days of doing this are numbered. The roof has two levels. There is a lower carport level and then about three feet higher is the main roof. I access the main roof from the lower carport roof and then climb or take a giant step up to the main roof. Now that I'm having problems with my hip, I'm not as agile as I once was. Getting my leg up and over the three foot gap between the two flat surfaces isn't as easy as it used to be. I'm careful and methodical when I'm up on the roof, but this is beginning to seem like a job for a younger man.

I'm having problems with Blogger again. I wonder if Google even cares about this platform anymore. I sure have been having difficulties uploading and posting lately. Blogger will work for a little while and then it will disappear. Sometimes the text will appear, but all the pictures disappear. This has been happening for weeks. I notice in the forums that other people are having the same problem, but usually Google tech support keeps saying that nothing is wrong. It's frustrating to have no control over something you've put so much effort into. Maybe I should have started a Wordpress blog, but it's way too late for that now.

When I was at the grocery store today, I noticed a woman who was randomly opening bags of popcorn and chips on the shelves and offering samples to other customers. The woman was clearly nuts, but apparently management hadn't noticed her yet. Some people took the chips she offered, but most shied away from her. When she offered ma a sample, I politely declined.  I really felt like saying, "Why are you even here? Shouldn't you be in Walmart?" Probably it will be a loon like this who will win the lottery tonight.

I keep hoping that the furnace keeps working. So far, so good this winter. How do you Northerners cope with this weather? It hasn't even snowed yet, and I'm already sick of Winter.

Mack is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1959

When Dash woke up this morning, his limp was much worse. This was an unexpected surprise, since for several days his condition had been getting better. Dash refused to put any weight on the leg with the cut paw pad today and hopped around on three legs. This was not good. He could easily tear his cruciate on the remaining good rear leg if he continues to walk this way. It was clear that Dash needed immediate medical attention and I was lucky to be able to get him in to see Dot's vet today on very short notice. My initial worry was that he had torn a cruciate ligament, but the vet said that he was beginning to get an infection under his paw pad instead. It happens. We left with prescriptions for Clavamox, Rimadyl, and Tramadol, along with instructions to return for another exam if his condition hasn't started to improve within 72 hours. It's hard to imagine that a little cut could cause so many problems, but the vet said to imagine a paper cut on your finger, only ten times worse. There are lots of nerve endings in a dog's paw and this type of injury can be very painful.

Dealing with two dogs who are having trouble walking at the same time isn't quite as difficult as it was dealing with Dot and Dash when they both had cancer at the same time, but it definitely is tiring. Whenever you're trying to help one dog go outside, you're always wondering what the other dog is doing inside. When there's time, I always try to pen the dog I leave behind in a safe secure place. When either of these dogs has to poop though, you have to act fast. Neither one can hold it very long and there have already been a few accidents. Even the vet agrees that I have two very high maintenance Dalmatians right now.

Lately, every day of nice weather seems to be followed by a day of terrible weather. Today was grey and stormy again. Yesterday's nice weather didn't even last 24 hours. Luckily, it didn't rain while I was driving Dash to the vet. He doesn't ride well in the car even on a sunny day. Since he wouldn't go near the hammock contraption I use for Dot, I had to completely reconfigure the car and make the rear section flat again. Dash usually hops in the back when I open the tailgate, but since he can't hop anymore, I have to lift him up to get him inside. Did I mention that Dash hates to be picked up. He squirms around and squeals like something terrible is about to happen. I had a hard time even getting him in the car today. As I said, I have two very high maintenance dogs.

I hope the antibiotics kick in soon. Dash really needs to start getting better in a hurry. I have a feeling that I'll be having my own problems after the dreaded dental surgery. Maybe the dental work will go smoothly and there won't be painful side effects. I hope! I'm not expecting miracles though. Nothing else has gone smoothly this month. Why should my luck change now? It's weird that Dot was actually walking better than Dash today. It just goes to show that you should never take anything for granted.

Needless to say, work hasn't been going terribly smoothly either. There have been some miscommunication here and there this week and several things have had to be done over. I blame it on the weather. When is this rain ever going to stop? It's certainly not the end of the world, but a few days of sunshine and a little luck would definitely improve my mood.

Chance is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1548

I finally talked to an oncologist about Dash. I guess I was hoping for a conclusive answer, but what I heard was ambiguous at best. The oncologist said the pathology report didn't go into enough detail and that she would have to call the lab. What she did see didn't sound good. She said some of the carcinoma cells were the type that tended to get into the blood stream and the only way to effectively treat this was through chemotherapy. How long? Six months was typical, she said. How do you know if the treatment worked, I asked? Well, you don't ever know definitively, she said. Cancer cells are microscopic and they can always be hiding somewhere. I guess this is why you hear people say things like "I've been cancer free for five years." That's all they really know.

Medical issues are starting to wear me down. Doctors are far from infallible and you either trust them or you don't. I am not a trusting person, but what other choice do you have?  If you do nothing, you or your pet dies. If you do everything that is asked of you, you may die anyway. It's very frustrating. Modern medicine is very expensive. Doctors don't always agree on things. And a treatment that is in vogue with doctors today can easily become one of those "Call 1-800-BAD-DRUG" commercials tomorrow. Already, some tests and screenings I had ten years ago, are considered ineffectual or even worthless today. That's the thing about medicine. It is always evolving.

I'm not even sure that Dot's water therapy really works. I'd like to believe that it helps, but how do you know for sure? There could be a dozen reasons why she appears stronger now. She could also stumble and injure herself tomorrow, despite everything I've done. That's just the way life it. I'll continue the water therapy though. Seeing her walking in the tank gives me a positive, hopeful feeling. There is nothing dangerous about the water treadmill either. Chemotherapy is different. There are quite a few risks to chemotherapy. You just hope that the rewards on the other side are worth it.

The editor of the cookbook I'm featured in wrote today and told me that the SXSW Cookbook had just gotten a great review in The New York Times. She also told me that my own recipe was one of her personal favorites and that she's cooked it for breakfast herself. Amazing! This is one development that I never would have predicted. Although I love to eat, I certainly wouldn't consider myself much of a cook. Hey, if I can wind up in a popular cookbook, I might get that Amtrak writer's residency grant too. You never know. I never thought I'd be a spokesperson for Paypal either.

This is why I don't like medicine. I've generally led a charmed life. I bumble around aimlessly, and good things happen to me anyway. Medicine doesn't work this way. Whatever you do, you continue to age. The more you age, the more your body deteriorates. Dash is still a young dog though. In dog years, he's much younger than I am. He certainly deserves a shot at living a normal life for another seven or eight years. I just hope that chemotherapy doesn't make his life miserable.

Lance is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1478 - New Year's Day

Some people think that what you do on New Year's Day foretells what you'll be doing for the rest of the year. I certainly hope that isn't the case. I thought I'd organize a growing pile of healthcare records in a ring binder this afternoon. It took a lot longer that I thought to decide which records to keep and which I could throw away. When I started to shred the throw away pile, I realized that the paper shredder was jammed and completely full. I took the machine apart and cleaned it out, which took longer than I thought as well. When I got this task finished, I got out the vacuum cleaner to clean up my mess and discovered that the bag was completely full. I knew I had more vacuum cleaner bags somewhere, but once again it took a lot longer than I thought to find them. This was kind of how the entire day went, as one easy task after another morphed into something more difficult than I anticipated.

The dogs, on the other hand, might have a great year to look forward to in 2014. The first thing they did on New Year's Day was go to the dog park. The weather was perfect, there were no aggressive dogs in the park, and Dot and Dash both had a great time. They've been waiting for this outing since November, so we spent a long time at the park, letting them both get a lot of pent up energy out of their system. Dot was surprisingly strong today. Even though we take things one day at a time with Dot, it is always gratifying to see her defy the odds and act like a much younger dog.

Eating pork on New Year's Day is supposed to bring you luck. We had pork ribs for dinner, so who knows. I'm not superstitious, but I do love ribs. I'll take good luck whenever I can get it. I didn't have any chicken today either. They say eating poultry on New Year's Day will bring poverty in the year ahead. You're not supposed to wash clothes today either, but that's going a bit too far.

Maybe in a week or two, I'll get back on schedule again. It's seems like Sunday evening, but it's really just hump day and we've got two more work days before the weekend. Dot has her acupuncture session tomorrow, although it is usually today. On Friday, I usually go out for breakfast, but I already did that on Tuesday. It's all very confusing. I wonder if 2014 will be a good year. 2013 was a mess, although the stock market did surprisingly well. If we learned anything last year, it would be that it is totally pointless to try to predict the future.

I wonder if the weather on New Year's Day is a harbinger of what's to come as well. It would be nice if that were the case. The weather was fantastic today. The sky was clear, there was no wind, and the temperature got up to 70 degrees. Pretty nice for a Winter's day.

Hunter is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1146 - Super Bowl Sunday

We left Shreveport behind this morning. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that most of my fears about traveling with the dogs were unfounded. Dot and Dash definitely stepped up to the challenge. They both proved themselves to be great little travelers. With an abundance of dog friendly hotels and roads leading in every direction, who knows where we'll go next.

After we returned to Dallas, I made my annual pilgrimage to the Culwell & Son Superbowl Sale. I go to this extravagant sale every year, because although I no longer go anywhere and don't have money to waste, I still like really nice clothes. I walked away with a couple of great looking shirts and a pair of khakis and went home to watch the Super Bowl.

We usually pig out and eat enormous amounts of meat on Super Bowl Sunday, but in honor of my new found desire to live a healthy life, Janet fixed a delicious and equally nutritious meal. I think she is happy that I'm giving up bacon, ribs and eating half a loaf of bread at dinner. Janet and the dogs have always eaten healthy meals. I've always been the anchor that kept this family's health boat from sailing. Now, maybe with everyone on the same page, doing the right thing may be a little easier for everybody.

You may wonder why I waited so long to do something so obvious. Part of the answer lies in the charmed life I've led. For most of my life I've been able to do all the wrong things and still land on my feet. I ate atrociously and never gained weight. I was a horrible employee and still managed to land a long series of really good jobs. I won't even tell you some of the other things I did, but I can assure you they weren't good. It is becoming increasingly obvious that I've used up eight of my nine lives. I can be foolish and frivolous, but I'm a realist. The time has come to make a few changes.

When I was watching the Super Bowl this evening, I was amazed at how much a power outage at the stadium changed the whole momentum of the game. The Ravens seemed invincible before the power outage knocked out the stadium lights. It was just a random event that delayed the game for fifteen or twenty minutes, but it changed everything. The Ravens floundered and struggled after the delay destroyed their momentum and barely managed to hang onto a narrow win in the game's final seconds. I think life is like this a lot. Random outside events can confuse you and quickly change everything. I guess the lesson of this game is that when life throws you a curve, the only thing you can count on is discipline. You've got to keep plugging away until luck shines on you again. A little simplistic, perhaps, but it worked for the Ravens.

Casey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1005

I'm quite familiar with the concept of luck. I've spent a lot of time in Las Vegas and my favorite charity likes to use casino parties as fundraisers. I'm usually the roulette dealer when we have these casino parties. I can tell you one thing about roulette. If you play long enough, it is a mathematical certainty that you will lose all your money. Sure, the odds are pretty good in roulette. Sure, some lucky people do win huge amounts. The arithmetic works against you though. If you play long enough, you will lose.

The winners in roulette are those who put a huge stack of chips on red and then walk away when the ball lands on red. The same can be said for most games of chance. The winners are those who make a conscious choice to leave the game after they get lucky. Of course if you have the resources to stay in the game longer, your chances of getting a random lucky break improve, but it's still a game of chance.

I think politicians are like gamblers. Sometimes good things happen and they have the good fortune to be able to take credit for them. Sometime bad things happen and they take the blame instead. In both cases, the politicians are not nearly as much in control of events as they think they are. I like to imagine politicians sitting in the basket of a hot air balloon. There is a big wheel attached to the basket which they love to turn. They think they are controlling the balloon's direction, but you and I both know it is really the wind.

Dalmatian Rescue has another casino party tonight. People always have fun at these events. I think people basically like to gamble. How else could you explain the choices many people make. I'm not much of a gambler myself. I'll take a sure thing any time I can get it. It's a sure thing that I'll be tired tonight when we return, so I'll post a little early today. I'm a methodical person. I'll spin the wheel for other people, but I certainly don't want to take the chance of missing a post myself.

Spot is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 396

I came up with a ridiculously easy solution to my image transfer woes. I simply went to Fry's and bought a brand new external hard drive and backed up all my files again. It wasn't that my files were too huge to transfer, it was that my hard drives were too old to play nice with my new computer. I didn't realize just how unfriendly this new computer was to anything made before the days of Snow Leopard, but that was the problem. When I plugged the new external drive into the computer, all my image and movie files transferred flawlessly in just a few hours. It would have taken me months to transfer these files using the old hard drives.

I guess this means that my "state-of-the-art" disk arrays are ready to join the SyQuest drives, Zip drives, SCSI drives, and other forgotten technology that has been consigned to a dusty shelf in my storage warehouse. It's a shame all this stuff becomes obsolete so quickly. You barely have time to get it all paid for before it's time to move on too something newer and better.

I've got to make an effort to stay currant though. I've got no choice. My client's expectations keep rising. It's just my luck that just when the designers and graphic artists are finally starting to turn sour on Flash, veterinarians are beginning to discover it. I've noticed that my veterinary clients are increasingly starting to ask for those flashy, animated web things that you can only do with Flash. I may even have to take a couple of Flash development classes this year or risk losing business.

I did remember to fast this morning before my cholesterol screening. I thought there were going to be a ton of senior citizens ahead of me in line when I went to the health food store, but there wasn't a line at all. I guess the cold weather kept them all indoors. After I got my blood work done, I stopped by my veterinarian to drop off a few things. When I left the vet a few minutes later, I noticed a huge wreck with several ambulances at a nearby stoplight when my car had been just a few minutes before. If the blood tests had taken a few minutes longer, it would have been my car that got demolished by the idiot who ran the red light at fifty miles an hour. I was lucky today. I hope my luck continues.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day