Day 2581

It was fifteen degrees when I woke up this morning. Wisely, we decided that there was no need to walk the dogs right away. Dot still had to make her morning race to the back door to pee, but we were back inside twenty seconds later. As soon as the sun came up, the temperature started climbing. When we all finished breakfast and were finally ready to walk, everybody thought that twenty two degrees was a lot nicer than fifteen.

It's amazing what a difference having a good dehumidifier has made in our lives. Normally, during cold Winter days like this, every window in the house would be dripping with condensation. The condensation got so bad in cold weather that it was starting to rot some of the windowsills. After lowering the average humidity in the house by about 20%, the windows are now clear and dry in all types of weather and the closets aren't damp anymore. I wish I'd known about the benefits of having a dehumidifier when we bought the house. So many things were ruined by moisture over the years. I had a beautiful old Vox Mark VI teardrop guitar that was totally destroyed by storing it in a damp closet for over a decade. Live and learn, I guess.

We restarted Dot on the initial loading dose of her Incurin pills this morning. It's too early to see any results yet, but I'll be looking for them. A medical emergency caused her to become incontinent several years ago after being on IV fluids at the cancer center for almost four full days. I don't remember how long it took the Incurin to work the first time, but I do remember how happy we were when she stopped peeing all over the place. Dot's vet cautioned us not to be overly optimistic, but hopefully these synthetic estrogen pills will work their magic again.

I wonder if traffic is ever going to return to normal? When I was running errands today, it seemed like everyone was still doing their Christmas shopping. Roads were crowded and parking lots were full wherever I went. Shouldn't the holiday rush be over by now? Maybe things will get better when schools are back in session. Maybe the traffic will get worse though. I forget how this works. I think Dallas is a much bigger city than I like to imagine it is. Things have changed a lot in thirty years.

Even though walking the dogs in freezing weather burns off a lot of energy, I need to start going back to the gym. I haven't been for several weeks because Christmas and New Year's both fell on a Sunday. I know that visiting the gym once a week isn't much of a commitment to fitness, but it's all I can manage at the moment. I'm not a slacker though. My fitness tracker still says I average about 12,000 steps a day.

Can you be a Luddite and still like gadgets? That's me. This time of year I'm always fascinated by the new things that make their debut at the CES show in Las Vegas. 3-D printed cars and cheap solar power are cool. I'm probably all in on any technology that allows people to live independent, productive lives off the grid. Technology that connects people together makes me nervous. As metaphors go, I like the image of the lone wolf. I don't like thinking of myself as a bee in a beehive. This is the challenge of growing older. How do you remain independent while your body is deteriorating and forcing you to become more dependent on others? My Dad never found the answer to this question. I probably won't either.

Misty is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 2176

I got a surprise this morning. My dehumidifier arrived a day early. This is almost unheard of at our house. Usually FedEx and UPS shipments are late, get lost, or arrive broken. I was glad to see the little dehumidifier and immediately started reading the instructions. The machine was sturdy, simple to use, and not excessively loud. I like it.

It's weird how much moisture is naturally in the air. The humidity in the house is pretty normal right now, but after running the dehumidifier for several hours, I was still able to extract almost a gallon of water from the air. The humidity dropped from 55% to 41% and the air felt better throughout the house. I was impressed. Maybe all my research paid off. We'll see how I feel after a month of steady use, but if initial impressions are worth anything, we've got a winner.

While I was celebrating the single gallon of water I removed inside the house, I remembered that there were still hundreds of gallons of water sitting on top of the house. Since the rain appears to be over for a while, I started the pump, went up on the roof, and started drying things off again. I think that clearing the water from the roof is my own private version of the Sisyphus myth. Like Sisyphus and the rock he eternally pushed up the mountain, my task is never really done. Whatever I do, it will always rain again.

I've had to get creative to keep Dot from pooping inside. Simply taking her outside every five hours doesn't work anymore. Dot has a schedule that she keeps to herself. Sometimes she can go most of the day without an accident. Other times, she might need to go several times in a single morning. You don't get much warning, so you have to learn to anticipate her needs. I have discovered that by gently holding her tail up while walking behind her, I can sometimes get her to poop outside when she forgets why we're walking around in circles. You have to be patient. And you can never get mad when she poops inside right after a nice long walk. Getting old isn't pretty. I just hope that there's someone understanding nearby when it's my turn to walk in Dot's shoes.

I've got a photo shoot on location tomorrow. This is a rarity these days. I'm not really looking forward to the assignment, but I'm not dreading it either.  This will be a good chance to brush up on location lighting techniques and make sure that all my equipment still works before the first of the Santa Paws fundraisers we've got scheduled for December. It's not easy taking great photos of animals in costumes sitting on Santa's lap. I still think I've got the easy job though. I just have to worry about my knees or back going out. Santa has to worry about being peed on or bitten. Hey, it's all for a good cause.

I've heard that there's a 60% chance of the Orbital ATK launch taking place as scheduled. That means there is a 40% chance it will get postponed due to weather or mechanical problems. This is the problem with traveling to view a launch. Let's say you've managed to clear two days in your schedule and scrape together the money for airfare and hotels. There's still no guarantee that you'll actually see anything. The slightest problem can cause weeks of delays. If I were in Florida now, I'd be fretting about these odds. 60/40 is definitely not a sure thing. I'm still here in Dallas though, so I'll just watch the launch on NASA TV whenever it happens.

Belle is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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