Day 3985

Good grief. People have started hoarding toilet paper and water again. Last week there were mountains of toilet paper at the grocery store and this week the shelves were completely empty. The water was almost gone as well. Customers were leaving the store with buggies filled with bottled water. Has anything changed? Nope. Stores and restaurants are still full. Roads are still crowded with cars. Apparently mass panic has returned however. People in Dallas may ignore the virus, but they will not be left without toilet paper.

Before starting on my weekly grocery run, we had a nice walk with Dawn and a leisurely breakfast. Neither of us work anymore, but we still sleep in on Saturday like we did during our working years. It was nice to get an extra hour of sleep. There was a light mist when we left the house and I thought it might rain for a while. My jacket felt a little damp when we returned home, but it was just the humidity. I don't think the rain will arrive until tomorrow.

I just noticed that when I get gas now, I get charged an extra dollar on my credit card. When did this start? The mysterious charge isn't added to the gas transaction, it is totally separate. Janet says she gets charged the extra dollar when she gets gas at a grocery store too. I wonder if this has anything to do with using an app to pay for gas? I'll probably never figure out what is going on, but I suspect the charge is here to stay. Somebody in government has decided that they need more money.

I watched the launch of the Sentinel-6 satellite from Vandenberg Air Force Base on NASA TV this morning. I remember going to Vandenberg several years ago for the SMAP launch. It seems so long ago now, but that launch was what got me interested in following launches and becoming a space journalist. Like Sentinel-6, SMAP was also a meteorological satellite designed to learn more about the climate. Vandenberg Air Force is located right near the Pacific Ocean and I recognized a lot of the scenery near the base as I watched this morning's broadcast. Good times, even though I had an accident in my rent car on that trip.

I got Chinese take-out for dinner tonight and when I went to pick up my order I was surprised to see that it was completely dark. It is usually still light outside when I pick up take-out from this restaurant. I couldn't figure out what was going on until I realized that this was the first time we'd had Chinese since the time changed. I can't say that I like the shorter days that come with Winter. It should still be daylight at 6 PM.

Florida mosquitoes seem a lot nastier than Texas mosquitoes. It's been almost a week and my bites still itch like crazy. I've been to night launches in Florida before and never gotten bitten this bad. Maybe it was the weather. I was wearing a t-shirt on Sunday night and was always wearing a jacket on previous trips. That's one nice thing about staying out at night in the Davis Mountains. No bugs.

I wish my gym would reopen on weekends. Sunday is still the best day for me to go to the gym. I shouldn't be choosy though. If Covid cases continue to spike, gyms might close down completely again. It is almost inevitable that millions of Thanksgiving dinners are going to cause another surge. No problems here. It's just going to be the two of us, plus one dog eagerly looking for table scraps.

Ranger is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3925 - Autumn Equinox

Another rainy day. We had to wait until this afternoon to walk Dawn. Luckily, it was still quite cool when the rain stopped. The weather seemed appropriate for the first day of Fall. I think Dawn would have preferred to sleep all day, but we all need our exercise. Even on a wet day there is always something to see. The female Muscovy duck moved her ducklings about a half mile away from all the other ducks. I don't know what this means, but it was probably a good idea. There are several owls that live near where the ducks gather. I imagine that ducklings would look pretty tasty to an owl.

I got my official invitation to the Delta IV Heavy NROL-44 launch today. Now I've got to decide whether to go or not. The ULA website says that there is a 70% chance of good weather at launch time. My long range weather app says exactly the opposite, predicting a strong chance of thunderstorms. I'm pleased that I'm good to go, but more than a bit frustrated that travel is so complicated in the post-Covid world. Hotels and rental car companies are offering special deals to attract customers, but airlines have actually become more expensive. They've reduced the number of flights they offer as well, so that chances are good that you'll still be flying on a full plane.

I watched Elon Musk's battery day announcement this afternoon. I hope this doesn't mean that I've become a fanboy. The talk was actually kind of interesting in a dry technical way. I guess I never really realized how batteries were made. The audience for this talk was a bunch of people sitting in their Teslas. When they liked something Elon said, they would honk their horns. I don't know if this was corny or cute, but I'm still thinking about getting a Cybertruck.

I wonder when the mosquitoes disappear for the year? It seems like they shouldn't be a problem in mid-September, but I'm still getting bitten when we take our morning walks. I'll be glad when the bugs are gone. One of the only good things about Winter around here is fewer bugs. I'm getting tired of knocking down wasp nests, clearing away spider webs, and keeping roaches out of the house. If I do go to Florida I'll need to remember to take plenty of insect repellant. The bugs down there make ours seem like amateurs.

Dawn immediately jumped off the bed and came to the kitchen when I called her to dinner tonight. She also followed me outside after she ate when she needed to pee. Is this progress? It's hard to tell. Dawn still seems very fearful for no reason at all. I'm convinced that she was treated badly in her former life. You realize that trust is a fragile thing with both people and animals. It's hard to acquire and very easy to destroy.

I forgot what day is was several times today. I'll probably do the same tomorrow. Maybe this is why I'm thinking of going to Florida even though the weather is less than ideal and the planes aren't safe. It's time for something different.

Sadie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3471

I'm back on Dallas time. Not surprisingly, I'm back on my regular schedule as well. I made my signature smoothie with a big bowl full of peaches, strawberries and blueberries, a banana, two raw eggs, 1/4 cup of Quaker Oats, a pinch of Cinnamon, and a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream. I know it's not rocket science, but the Vitamix is a wonderful machine. On my morning walk I noticed that the wayward White Pelican that refuses to migrate was still sitting on its favorite log at the lake. I wanted to tell the bird that I'd seen several endangered Brown Pelicans while I was in Florida. Not that the Pelican would care, but I also saw a Bald Eagle, lots of Ibis and Egrets, and some of the largest insects I'd encountered in a while. Florida has even more critters than Texas.

I'm still a bit surprised that the trip went so smoothly. I'm used to getting lost, sick, or stressed while I'm away from home. This little journey was a welcome change of pace. Travel is so easy these days. I made all the arrangements on my phone. Airline, hotel, and rental car reservations were all made in a matter of minutes on an app with a few easy clicks. Travel agents and paperwork seem to be a thing of the past. I made the entire trip without using any cash. Cash seems to be a thing of the past as well.

Meeting so many clever people at the Space Center inspired me to make an attempt to up my game a bit. I decided to write an extended article about what it meant to be standing on the same launch pad that sent astronauts to the moon fifty years after the Apollo 11 landing. I will submit the article to several magazines for publication if I ever finish it. I started writing this afternoon after I returned from my walk. Lord knows if the article will ever get published but at least I'm making an effort. I've written a shitload of ads and TV commercials but I haven't gotten anything published in a magazine since I used to be a contributing editor for The Dalmatian Quarterly many years ago.

I'm always humbled by the people I meet at these NASA events. On previous trips I met Bobak Ferdowsi, the talented JPL systems engineer who gained a bit of fame by wearing a mohawk haircut with stars shaved in his head during the televised Mars Curiosity landing. Scott Manley, the talkative Scottish YouTube personality and Kerbal Space Program expert was on the bus with me during a memorable launch at Vandenberg Airforce Base. This time my group included an actress who has appeared on Star Trek and the guy who invented the Fidget Spinner. Somehow, I'm always the oldest guy in the room.

This morning while I was walking I saw several large trucks in the neighborhood that were clearly intended for picking up brush and debris. I was hoping that these trucks would stop on my street and pick up the huge pile of brush and logs that is currently covering my front lawn. Nope. The trucks didn't pick up anything in the neighborhood. They were just passing through. I wonder how long it's going to take to clear away all the debris from our recent wind storm. The park department is doing a good job of cleaning up the damage in the park, but nothing has happened on the streets. There are still huge stacks of brush and logs piled up along every street in our neighborhood.

I thought I managed to escape the mosquitoes while I was in Florida, but several suspicious red welts appeared on my neck and face this morning. It seems that the mosquitoes got me anyway. What's with the time delay? Mosquito bites appear immediately in Texas.

Derrick is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3138

The weather has cooled down a bit. The small difference in temperature made a big difference for Dash and I. There was a nice breeze and for the first time in weeks, Dash was able to take two walks. It's amazing now nice ninety degrees feels when you've gotten used to one hundred and ten.

I stayed busy today. I looked for a new and more reliable back yard security light. I bought some bug spray specifically designed to kill spiders. I went to the grocery store and got some of the things Janet usually gets on Saturday. These errands didn't really complete my list, but I didn't want to leave Dash too long.

When I got home, I defrosted the little emergency refrigerator we got when our kitchen refrigerator was broken. This little fridge was just supposed to be temporary, but it's become a necessity. Dash has so many things that need to be refrigerated now that he needs a refrigerator of his own. It's too bad that these little dorm room refrigerators aren't self defrosting. I guess that why they are so cheap.

Since the weather wasn't too oppressive, I mowed the grass and sprayed the Asian Jasmine ground cover in an attempt to get rid of the chiggers and mosquitoes. I hope this works. Until I get the security light issue resolved, I'm going to have to wade through this thick ground cover every night to flip the breaker switch and turn the light back on after it shuts itself off.

I think the SAMe pills are making Dash a little friskier. I'm not sure this is a good thing. He got excited about taking an evening walk today and tried to run to the back door. Dash's legs aren't steady enough to run anymore and he immediately fell over. When he falls on the slippery brick floors, he struggles to get up. If he would relax and let me help him up, everything would be fine. Unfortunately, Dash almost always chooses to panic rather than relax. We'll have to see how this goes. I like seeing Dash in better spirits, but I don't want him to injure himself.

I usually have no trouble sleeping, but last night I was wide awake. I had to take Dash outside to pee around 2 AM and I had to wait so long for him to do his business that I couldn't get back to sleep again when we finally came back inside. It would be terrible to have insomnia all the time. I'm usually so tired when I go to bed that I'm asleep almost instantly.

Should I go to the gym tomorrow? Probably. Will I go to the gym tomorrow? Probably not. This week has been tiring. At the moment, a long nap seems a lot more appealing than exercise.

Queenie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3071

As usual, Dash was not a model of good behavior this morning. He barked at the vet and pooped in the lobby. Dash used to be so well behaved, but now he's old and cranky. I'm glad everyone is patient with us. We couldn't trim his nails this morning, because Dash wouldn't let anyone get near his paws. We did get all his vaccinations though, and that's what we came for. Dash's vet was pleased at how well he was responding to the antibiotic, but warned us that it wasn't a good idea to take Rimadyl with blood thinners. This was our fault. Actually, Dash's other vet did recommend stopping the low dose aspirin when he initially prescribed the Rimadyl. All this got forgotten because we didn't give Dash the Rimadyl anyway and tried the safer Movoflex supplement instead. When Dash's blood clot appeard to dissolve and disappear, the doctor wanted to continue the Plavix and low dose aspirin combination because it was working. When Dash became painful, we remembered we already had the Rimadyl, and forgot the complicated path we took to get where we are. No harm was done because Dash only took the Rimadyl for three days, but it was a good reminder to check and re-check everything when it comes to a change in medication.

I thought that Dash would be tired after his trip to the vet, but he was surprisingly active. Even though it was later in the day and things were starting to warm up, he took a very long walk. He was actually a little too active, because we lost a shoe. I eventually found the rubber boot, but it was hard to get Dash to turn around and retrace our steps. It was important to find the missing boot, because these little things are way to expensive to leave them lying around in the park. I've got to figure out a better way to keep the boots secure. As his rear legs grow weaker, Dash seems to loose these shoes more often.

I looked like a dork this morning. I wore both the Fitbit and Jawbone trackers on my right wrist to compare the way they counted steps. After wearing them together most of the morning, they were only about 75 steps off. The surprising thing was that my Apple Watch counted over 1500 extra steps. It was way off. I would have thought that the watch would be the most accurate but that didn't appear to be the case. Since your natural arm movement is part of the algorithm that is used to calculate distance, I wonder if any of my trackers are even close. When you are holding on to a dog leash, your arms don't tend to move back and forth at all. With an active dog, they are often straight out in front of you.
  
Our mild Winter has been a bonanza for biting insects. I don't think I've ever gotten so many mosquito and chigger bites this early in the season. I have to worry about spiders too. When I leave my dog walking shoes outside to dry after our walks, I always check to make sure no spiders have crawled inside before I put them on again. The spiders are everywhere. I dream of a place with cool, dry air, infrequent rain, and an absence of insects. I wonder where that would be?

I'm looking forward to a new episode of The Expanse tomorrow. This shows just how slow and uneventful life has become. I shouldn't be waiting all week for an hour of TV. Oh, well. That's the way it goes. I suspect that waiting for your favorite TV show is a lot more normal than spending the morning comparing fitness trackers.

Dash has been in good spirits all day. Maybe being bad at the vet was fun for him.

Rosco is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2810

Our refrigerator is not cooling properly. I hate the thought of looking for new appliances. The last time we replaced our refrigerator, it was almost impossible to find one that would fix in the small slot designed for it in the kitchen. We have the same problem with the washer and dryer in the utility room. Appliances seem to have grown over the years. What would have been normal for the mid-fifties house we live in just isn't made anymore. Maybe the refrigerator isn't really broken, since the freezer side still works well. I suggested unplugging it for a while and then plugging it in again like we do for everything else in the house, but Janet said the food might go bad. Actually turning the refrigerator off may actually work, since I suspect that the evaporator coils have become frozen. This happens from time to time with the air conditioner. You just let the ice melt and everything is fine. Refrigerators are problematic. If you spend too much time monkeying around with them, the food goes bad. It's always hard to fix something when you're using it.

I didn't fix much today, but I did keep busy. I mowed the grass in the front and the back and then treated the yard for mosquitoes. I hope the treatment works, since I'm getting eaten alive at night when I take Dash out to pee. We had a mild winter and chiggers, mosquitoes, and ticks are everywhere. I had planned on getting rid of some wasp nests too, but I couldn't find the wasp and hornet spray. Usually, after I do a lot of yard work I just feel like taking a nap, but today I decided to go to the gym.

I've come to the conclusion that if I don't work out more, my muscles are just going to continue to atrophy. The older you get, the harder it is to build muscle mass. For a long time I thought I was losing weight because I was eating healthier. I'm really just slowly losing muscle mass. One way or another, I've got to reverse this process. Going to the gym three times a week is probably a good place to start.

I probably should have continued my work on the roof this afternoon, but enough is enough. After my trip to the gym and an afternoon walk with Dash, I was finally getting tired. Janet found gas today, but I didn't bother to take my car to the same station. I may regret this decision later, but I have a feeling this self made gas crisis may soon be over.

It remains to be seen whether we will go looking at refrigerators tomorrow. I'm still hoping that the problem miraculously cures itself overnight. This is unlikely. Broken things rarely fix themselves. I'm not looking forward to going back on the roof, but I've got to make sure that everything is patched and has time to cure before the next rain. I'm pretty sure that I've got a few days left, but it's bound to rain eventually.

I guess tomorrow is a holiday. It probably won't seem any different to me. I still have a long list of chores to finish and a refrigerator full of food that keeps getting warmer.

Domino is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2695

I'm running on empty. Dot has become nocturnal. She sleeps during the day and becomes restless at night when I'm trying to sleep. I sleep on the floor with her now, so I'm nearby when she needs to get up. Last night she went outside three times in the middle of the night to pee. I guess this is better than peeing in her bed, but I sure am tired. Dot didn't throw up last night, so I guess the Cerenia pill helped. I should have given her a full dose instead of the half dose I usually give Dash. I could tell she still had an upset stomach, but it wasn't nearly as bad as the previous night. I"ll give her the full dose tonight and hopefully she'll sleep better.

When I woke up this morning Janet had already walked Dash and was almost ready for work. I didn't think I slept at all last night, but I must have dozed off, because I wasn't even aware of Janet and Dash leaving the house. Dot was sleeping soundly too. Finally. I delayed giving her morning pills so she could sleep longer and get some rest.

Dot worried me today. She was too tired to take her regular morning walk. Basically, she slept all day except when it was necessary to take her medications. Dot wouldn't even drink water this morning which was troubling. After one of her vets warned me about dehydration, I've become very conscious of how much water she drinks during the day. I thought I was going to have to learn how to use a syringe to hydrate Dot, but around 4 PM this afternoon, she woke up hungry and thirsty. I held her up by her water bowl for over fifteen minutes as she took tiny sips. Eventually, I saw the water level in the bowl go down a bit and I felt comfortable that she was getting enough water.

I never know what Dot is going to eat. The only thing I could get her to eat with her morning pills were thinly sliced pieces of turkey. I asked Janet to pick up more of this turkey on her way home from work because it seemed like our only remaining option. Dot slept soundly for most of the day. When I woke her up to take her afternoon pills, I was pleased to see that her appetite had returned. I was feeding Dash at the time and she went over to his bowl and started eating his food. Both dogs were eating out of the same bowl for a while, so I kind of lost track of how much food Dot actually consumed.

I'm going to have to do something about the bugs in our yard. When I'm holding Dot's harness and waiting for her to pee, it doesn't take long for the chiggers and mosquitoes to find me. I've already been bitten more times than I was all last summer. Chiggers are much worse than mosquitoes. The bites quickly become big red welts that take almost a week to subside. I'm still looking for that idyllic, imaginary place with no bugs, no snakes, and mild rain free weather.

My Friday morning breakfast outings are on hiatus for a while. Dot has simply become too frail to leave alone for any length of time. That's OK. I think I'll learn how to make pancakes and waffles again. I already can make a pretty decent omelette and my French Toast recipe is delicious. I'm in the mood for pancakes though. We'll see if I can make pancakes and sausages without making a huge mess in the kitchen.

If Dot doesn't sleep wall tonight, I'm going to have to become nocturnal myself. Sleeping during the day with the dogs never used to be an option, but work has gotten so slow lately that it probably doesn't matter when I sleep. The way I feel now, I might sleep for the entire weekend.

Dixie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2654

The bugs are going to be terrible this Summer. I've already been bitten by mosquitoes and chiggers and its only March. I'm a magnet for bug bites while guiding Dot slowly through the back yard while waiting for her to pee. Long pants and socks provide more protection, but it sure gets hot in the Summer. So far, I've found fire ants in the front yard, little sweet ants in the bathrooms, crane flies lining up to get in the back door when I leave it open for Dot, and lots of mosquitoes every time it rains. I haven't seen any cockroaches yet, but they can't be far behind. Dot and Dash are both on a flea and tick preventative, but I found a tick on Dash's face just yesterday. The battle against bugs is relentless in Texas.

The back door is really going to be a problem this Summer. I have to open the door ahead of time before I attempt to take Dot out to pee. If I can't keep her moving swiftly from her bed to the door, she pees immediately. This morning, I stopped just for a second to open the door and she peed all over a large rug next to the door. Jeez, I just washed this rug yesterday. It's a mess. I kept a fly swatter nearby while I was eating breakfast this morning to kill the crane flies that had wandered inside while I had Dot out in the back yard.

Today was surprisingly busy. I had several websites to update, including one that required me to brush up on some tricky code designed to automatically resize the site for mobile devices. It's a shame that I learned to create mobile-ready websites just as my business was starting to wind down. Mobile sites are complex and I don't do enough of them to keep my skills in tip top shape. Every time I get a request to modify a mobile site, I inevitably have to relearn something.

I have no idea what made Dot throw up yesterday. She seemed fine today. Surprisingly, she seemed to have more energy as well, even though the weather was still quite warm. We only walk Dot at sunrise and sunset now. It seems to help. This new schedule has messed up my own eating habits though. I now have to eat my dinner very early.

My accountant wants me to pay online now. I called and asked if I could just write him a check like I have for the past twenty five years and he told me that their office was trying to go paperless. Jeez, could it really be that hard to take a check to the bank? I'm having the same problem with everybody. When AT&T lost my check recently, they tried to get me to switch to online payments too. I get a notice in all my utility bills urging me to go paperless. Paper checks are apparently a thing of the past.

I was an innovator and somewhat of a trend setter for most of my career. Now, I've become a Luddite. I can't stop change from happening, but I sure can complain about it. I liked cars a lot better before they became computers on wheels. I liked it when software was packaged in fancy boxes with detailed printed manuals. I liked shoes better when you could take them to a shoe repairman and have them resoled forever. I liked electronics with soldered components instead of integrated circuits. Everything is ruthlessly efficient and disposable now. It's hard to fix anything. Paper checks may mean nothing to you, but they represent a better world to me.

I have to go to the dentist tomorrow. I decided to go early in the morning, in hopes that Dot would stay asleep while I was gone. It's hard to predict what Dot is going to do though and the dentist doesn't make house calls. Hopefully, I won't have any cavities and Dot won't make a huge mess while I'm gone.

Big Boy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2378

According to the news, we're having a heat wave. It kind of seems like a normal June to me, but I'll be the first to admit that it's pretty darn hot. I mowed the grass early this morning in attempt to avoid the worst of the heat, but I wasn't very successful. If I was looking for comfortable temperatures, I would have had to mow in the middle of the night. I don't know how long I can continue to mow my own grass. Pushing the lawnmower gets more exhausting with each passing year. Most of my neighbors have a yard service by now, but I stubbornly continue to do things the old fashioned way. When the temperatures start to approach 100 degrees, I begin to question my own sanity.

The dogs don't like the Summer heat any more than I do. Sometimes there's a breeze on our early morning walk. Today the air was still and it made the heat seem even more oppressive. We should have gotten an earlier start this morning, but it was Saturday and everyone was sleeping peacefully. I hated to wake Janet and the dogs up. There was telltale evidence that Dot had pooped during the night when I woke up this morning, but I don't remember getting up during the night. It turned out that Janet woke up and cleaned things up. Sometimes I wake up and sometimes she does. All this proves I guess is that we both sleep erratically.

Mowing the grass wore me out, so I wisely decided to curtail any further yard work. Since it was nice and cool inside, I thought I'd finish a few writing assignments. I completed a press release that had an impending deadline and sent it off to the client. I tried to get some clarification on a website issue I'm working on and eventually remembered that the client wasn't in the office on Saturday. Hopefully, I'll be able to remember my question until Monday.

When I went to the store, I was disappointed to see that they no longer carried the hot and spicy Cheetos I like. This is probably for the best, since there were so many artificial ingredients in the things that they were sure to give me cancer. I struck out buying healthier items too. The peaches were soft and looked like they'd go bad in a day or two. I didn't buy them. It floors me that stores continue to sell bad produce, but maybe everyone isn't as picky as me. I saw other people buying the peaches. Strawberries are the worst. They must train the produce guys to hide bad strawberries inside the clear plastic containers. The strawberries always look great on the top and bottom of the packaging, but there are always some bad ones hidden away in the middle where you can't see them. I can't really blame the stores for doing things this way. If they sold strawberries loose, customers would rummage around and pick only the very best ones, leaving all the rest behind.

I think the mosquito treatment is working. I still got bitten when I was cleaning my boots on the porch after our morning walk but the bites were definitely less frequent. The next test will be to see whether the treatment still works after I resume watering the grass. I'm surprised that the city hasn't started spraying yet. Usually they are spraying for mosquitoes at night by now. Maybe people are protesting the spraying program again. The city can't win on issues like this. Whatever they do, somebody is going to complain.

It's hard to believe that another year has come and gone. There won't be any big celebrations tomorrow, but I'm glad the journey has lasted as long as it has. With luck, there will be many more birthdays to celebrate, but I'm beginning to wonder whether my goal of posting for 5000 consecutive days was a bit too ambitious. I'm not even halfway there yet.

Rugby is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2377

I treated the yard for mosquitoes today. It's too early to tell whether the spray treatment works, but the entire yard now smells like a giant Citronella Candle. I tried to pick a time to spray the yard when I knew the dogs would be asleep, but as soon as I finished, they both woke up and needed to go out and pee. The bottle says this stuff is completely safe around pets, but it would have been nice if they'd given the yard a chance to dry before we tested that theory. I wiped their paws off with a rag and they both went back inside and resumed their nap .

Breakfast was enjoyable this morning. I'm trying new things, and so far the experiment seems to be going well. It may not seem earth shattering to try something different for breakfast, but for me it is. For over three years I went to the same place and ordered the same thing every Friday morning. Those days appear to be over now, whether I like it or not. I didn't really ask for this variety, but maybe it's for the best. At any rate, my Eggs Benedict were quite tasty this morning.

I'm still wondering whether I'm going to run out of money this month. I paid the Visa bill and my annual homeowners insurance today, but the Mastercard bill with the humongous car repair charge hasn't arrived yet. It's going to be a close call. I guess I don't really need to pay my credit card bills in full every month, but partial payments seem like a slippery slope. I've always paid my bills on time. If something ever happened where I couldn't, I think it would be a very ominous sign.

I seem to get most of my work assignments on Fridays now. I'm not complaining, but it would be nice if I were able to spread the work out during the week. As it stands, I often end up working weekends even though the office is dead quiet during the rest of the week. I have a couple of new assignments this weekend. Some of the assignments could probably wait until Monday, but I have a feeling that I'll be working this weekend anyway. My compulsion to turn work assignments around as soon as I receive them is almost as strong as my compulsion to pay bills on time.

I've got a birthday coming up this weekend. I've always been a typical Gemini with a need to have two of everything. Lately, the things that come in pairs seem to be bad knees and sore elbows. It's a bitch celebrating a body that is falling apart. Hey, I'm still here though. Every time I look at Dot, I realize it's all about attitude. If she can keep hanging in there, so can I.

Bali is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2375

Another long day. Since Dot's vet has gotten busier, it often takes me over three hours to take her back and forth to her therapy session. Waiting isn't always bad though. It gives Dot a chance to calm down and relax before she starts exercising in the underwater treadmill. I wasn't expecting much today since it was so hot outside, but Dot did surprisingly well. Her condition seems to have stabilized. She isn't getting any stronger, but she isn't getting any weaker either. She did very well during her water therapy sessions today, and as an added bonus, she didn't poop in the car.

I think I was able to resolve the problems I was having with extending my camera warranty. For once, customer support was actually courteous and helpful. Thanks Panasonic. Since I didn't have the documentation they were requesting, they allowed me to photograph the serial numbers on the camera and use that instead. I wasn't expecting this to end well, but it appears that it actually did.

I discovered today that the Interstate Battery store near me will replace my iPhone battery for less than half the price that the Apple Store currently charges. You don't have to make a complicated online appointment with somebody at the Genius Bar either. You just walk in with your phone, and they'll change your battery on the spot. Supposedly, the whole process only takes fifteen minutes. I'll try taking a phone up to the store tomorrow and see if this is as good as it seems.

I finally saw someone that looked like a supervisor talking with the crew laying fiber optic cable in the neighborhood and asked him what is going on. Evidently, the long awaited 'fiber to the home' is finally becoming a reality. It appears that sometime this Summer our Internet service and U-verse TV are going to be getting a lot faster. I wonder if they are going to charge extra for this? AT&T never seems to give anything away for free.

It didn't rain today, so maybe by tomorrow it will finally be dry enough for me to apply the mosquito retardant in the backyard. I hope so. I've got so many mosquito bites that I'm itching constantly now. I'm not even sure that this spray-on treatment will work, but it worked last year, so it's worth a try. The mosquitoes have even gotten into the house. There's one buzzing around the office right now. I keep fantacising about a place with no insects, no snakes, and of course, no alligators. Does such a place even exits?

I'm not sure what the plan is for tomorrow. I don't anticipate being busy, so I made an appointment to get a haircut. This probably means that one of my clients will surprise me with a rush deadline. Whatever happens, I'm sure the day will start with a banana and strawberry smoothie and end with a pile of dog poop to clean up.

Shadow is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2373

Automatic payments are a mixed blessing. They save on postage and you don't have to worry about forgetting to pay a bill. On the other hand, if you don't check your balance frequently, you can end up with a lot less money in your account than you thought you had. I was under the impression that my health insurance bills would go up in June. Nope. They actually went up in January. I should have noticed this earlier, but I didn't. My bad. It took me hours this afternoon to straighten out my bank balance.

I also sent out my June invoices today. There is still more money going out than coming in each month, which is probably why I don't check my balance as much anymore. It's too depressing. Eventually, I corrected my statement, got everything in balance again, and took the small stack of invoices to the post office. Things may change, but I suspect that this slow downward spiral will continue.

The wet weather is certainly continuing. There were sporadic thunderstorms throughout the day which meant I couldn't count on the dogs sleeping peacefully while I worked. Since Dot is almost deaf, she only gets upset when she sees the lightning. I try to make sure she doesn't take her naps near a window, but it doesn't always work. She knows something is wrong when Dash gets upset and Dash still hears everything. It was a long day.

When it rains, my boots get muddy and it takes me a while to clean them off on the porch before I go inside. I also have to clean the dogs paws before I let them inside. For the past week or so, I've gotten eaten alive by mosquitoes while I'm doing this. They say the Zika mosquitoes are already in Texas, but I hope they haven't arrived in my back yard yet. There is no avoiding getting bitten. The ironic thing is that I can't apply the mosquito retardant spray until the yard is dry, but when the yard is dry there isn't a mosquito problem. Catch-22.

I had some work to do today, but it's getting to where the website updates I make don't seem much different than doing a load of laundry. It's all just tedious and mechanical. Maybe if it was sunny outside, I'd feel differently. I'd like to be excited about something again, but right now I'll settle for a good night's sleep. I really wonder how long this rain is going to last. I thought last year's wet Spring set some kind of record, but this year is even worse.

We'll see if the sun comes out tomorrow. I have a feeling that the day will go a lot smoother if it does.

Marcie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2350

The mosquitoes are terrible this year. I must have been bitten a dozen times while we were walking the dogs this morning. Mosquitoes always seems to carry something nasty. Last Summer everyone was worried about West Nile Virus. This year it's the Zika Virus. Of course, the dogs always have to worry about getting heartworms from a mosquito bite. That's why Dot and Dash continue to take a heartworm pill at the first of every month. I wish there was a place where mosquitoes weren't a problem, but I don't think this place exists. Even when I was growing up in Alaska, there was a terrible mosquito problem in the Summer. I don't know how you get rid of the insects without harsh chemicals. We've tried UV bug zapper lights that didn't work very well. One year we had a weird contraption in the back yard that generated a cloud of carbon dioxide gas that was supposed to cause the mosquitoes to move elsewhere. It didn't work at all. There is an organic spray that isn't toxic to the dogs that you can apply with a garden hose. We tried this last year and it worked well until the first big rain washed it all away. I'm not sure what remedy I'm going to try this year, but I'm sure I'll try something. I'm tired of getting bitten by the little beasts.

Today seemed more like a work day than a Saturday. I spent the morning completing a major website update involving adding 73 new pictures with captions. I probably could have waited until Monday to finish this update, but I knew that I'd enjoy Sunday a lot more without a deadline hanging over my head. It took a while to make all the changes, but the job is done. Now I can spend the rest of my weekend vacuuming, cleaning up dog poop, and other fun things.

Butter was on my grocery list today. I always get butter at Sam's Club because you save a lot of money buying in bulk. Unfortunately, I should have looked at the packaging a little more carefully before I made today's purchase. Instead of regular sticks of butter, I had gotten huge logs of butter that must have been meant for restaurants. Jeez, how was I to know. The packaging looked almost identical. I had to drive all the way back to the store and exchange the restaurant sized logs of butter for some regular sized sticks.

It took forever to balance my checkbook this afternoon. I used to do this routinely, but now I despise the task and only bother to straighten things out every two or three months. Inevitably, I discover that I've entered something erroneously in Quickbooks that causes a mysterious discrepancy, For a writer, I'm atrociously bad at typing. It typically takes me longer to proofread my articles than it does to write them. Finding math errors I've made takes even longer. If I had more money in the bank, I wouldn't even bother to balance my checkbook at all. Tracking down missing pennies is a waste of time.

I think I could write a book on the nuances of cleaning up dog poop. As Dot's incontinence has gotten worse, my cleanup technique has gotten better. Things that are hard to clean like carpets must always be protected. There are lots of small rugs now that can be thrown in the washing machine after being hosed off outdoors. There are lots of comfy acrylic dogs blankets that can be washed over and over again. Under the blankets are rubberized pads, in case she pees as well. When Dot goes to sleep, I lift up her butt a bit and slide a disposable puppy training pad underneath. If I'm lucky, I can slide the soiled pad out, roll it up and throw it away, without even waking her up when she poops in her sleep. I buy these disposable pads in 100 count boxes now. That's what life has become.

Casey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2330

What was I thinking? Yesterday, I was convinced that the weather would be nice this week, so imagine my surprise when I woke up and discovered that it was just another wet, stormy day. Like most rainy days, the house felt more humid, the dogs refused to go outside, and the mail arrived damp and soggy. My efforts to clean up the roof yesterday were completely wasted.

I didn't sleep well, mostly because the dogs sensed the storm and kept waking me up. Dash was nervous and Dot pooped in her bed. I can't really blame Dot's accident on the rain. Chances are that would have happened anyway. Everything takes longer on a rainy day. By the time I'd convinced both dogs to go outside and do their business, cleaned the mud off my shoes several times, and finished my breakfast, it was almost time for lunch.

I only had a single website revision to make today, but it seemed like a busy day anyway. There were bills to pay, a check to take to the bank, and some prescriptions to pick up at the pharmacy. I didn't bother to vacuum the house because the dogs would just track more dirt inside anyway. I'm going to wait for the rain to stop before I do anymore cleaning. I did make an appointment for Dash's annual exam at the vet after checking my calendar to make sure that it had already really been a year since his last exam. It doesn't seem like a year since Dash's birthday. Dash doesn't go to the vet nearly as often as Dot, but he definitely goes more than once a year. The annual exam is just where he gets his yearly vaccinations and a new city tag.

I noticed that the camera I've had my eye on has gone back on sale again. I probably ought to just go ahead and get the thing, mostly so I'll quit thinking about it. I doubt that I'll need to be making any 4K videos in the near future, although that is one of the camera's big selling points. I do like the fact that you can fix focus errors after you've taken the shot. The camera has the ability to take a quick burst of pictures at a variety of focus points, all centered around the object you want to feature. You just select the shot with the best focus afterwards. I wish someone had invented something like this twenty years ago. It would have saved me on a number of occasions.

The weather app on my phone says it is supposed to be clear tomorrow. I don't know whether to believe it, because on Sunday evening the app said it was supposed to be clear today. I shouldn't let the weather rule my life, but it does have a tendency to set the agenda. I understand that we need the rain to avoid another drought and keep the area lakes stay full, but the wet weather sure does make taking care of Dot more difficult.

I got bit by a mosquito today. Does this mean I'm going to have to start worrying about the Zika Virus? One of the side effects of lots of rain is lots of mosquitoes. Last Spring there were a ton of mosquitoes. Actually, every year there are a ton of mosquitoes. Some years the city sprays, and other years it does nothing. You really can't win with spraying. If you don't spray, people complain. If you do spray, other people complain.

I'm not sure what I'll do tomorrow. I guess it depends on whether it rains or not. I'll probably fret about whether to buy the camera or not. I'll wonder whether to add some leftover pineapple to my morning smoothie. I'll keep trying to predict when Dot is going to poop next, even though my odds of success are small. If I had some new writing jobs, I could keep these thoughts at bay, but writing assignments have been scarce lately.

Bogart is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2028

It's finally dry enough to apply the mosquito repellant we got for the yard. The stuff we purchased is supposed to be completely safe for children and dogs, so it probably won't even work. It's worth a try though. The mosquitoes are terrible this year. After I sprayed, the entire yard smelled like Citronella candles. The smell isn't unpleasant though. It's much better than the typical poisonous chemicals that are usually recommended to control mosquitoes. Mosquitoes are fairly tenacious. Nothing we have tried over the years has been very effective. I remember one Summer where we got an odd looking device that was supposed to attract and kill large numbers of mosquitoes by luring them to a trap with carbon dioxide that was generated by a little engine that ran on propane. I remember buying a lot of propane that Summer, but I got the same amount of mosquito bites as always. The machine was worthless. Maybe this new organic spray will do a better job. I certainly didn't see many mosquitoes this afternoon, but that was probably just because it was a windy day.

I got the laundry and vacuuming chores done fairly quickly today, so there was still time to go to the gym. I find that I'm having kind of a Pavlovian response to wearing the Apple Watch. When I punch in the number of calories I want to burn on the Fitness app, I actually keep exercising until the little bell on the watch rings, indicating that I've met my goal. Twice now, I have stayed longer at the gym than I initially intended, just to hear the little bell ring. I'm not a goal oriented person either. I'm just fascinated by machines.

I never use to get work assignments over the weekend, but now this is pretty commonplace. The lines that used to exist between work and home have been hopelessly blurred. I guess today's website updates could have waited until Monday, but I went ahead and took care of things today, Why wait? Tomorrow is going to be pretty much the same as today anyway. The only real reason I go to the gym on Sunday is that Janet is usually home to keep an eye on the dogs. Without this little diversion, most Sundays would just seem like another work day. At least I'm caught up on things for a while. I always like an empty to-do list.

Today was a good day for world events. The Russian Progress spacecraft made it safely to the international space station with several tons of much needed supplies. The US woman's team won the world cup. And Greece voted a resounding no to the European bailout plan. I actually think it would be a good thing if the Greeks dropped out of the European Union and went back to using the Drachma. Let's bring back the Deutsche Mark, the French Franc, the Italian Lira, and all the other currencies as well. I remain convinced that globalization is not a good thing. With lots of small independent countries, many problems remain localized and contained. In a global economy, a single persistent problem can easily escalate out of control and ruin things for everybody. Sure things would be less efficient and more expensive if everybody printed their own money and made their own stuff. Do we really want efficiency though? Forest fires are efficient. What the world needs now is redundancy. I don't think we're ready to be one world yet. Just look at us. Nobody at any level can agree on anything these days.

I'm certainly not going to worry about world events tomorrow. I've got my own problems. I've got a dog who poops in the house. I've got a yard that's a breeding ground for mosquitoes. And I'm not getting enough sleep. In the grand scheme of things, these are very small problems. If everybody just minded their own business and concentrated on their own small problems, I don't think we would have so many large problems.

Isabella is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2013

No symbolic milestones today. The day after your birthday is just another day. Since it was Saturday, it was a day for chores. We got started early, because Janet had a class she needed to attend. The dogs appreciated our early start and got a nice morning walk before the weather got too warm. After fixing a Smoothie for breakfast, I mowed the grass in both the front and back yards. I removed all the standing water from the roof, which turned out to be a futile exercise, since it is raining again right now. I filled the car with gas, went to the bank, and picked up some things at Sam's Club. That should have been enough for one day, but there was still a lot of time to fill, so I finished writing an article that wasn't really due until Monday.

So far, Dot isn't having any adverse reaction to taking the Palladia pills. I know she's only taken a single dose on Friday, but this is still a good sign. I've got to find some new stickers to put on the dog's pill calender. The calendar is getting pretty crowded. There is a sticker for their monthly heartworm pills. There are little colored dots to indicate when we've given the dog's their regular daily morning and evening meds. There is a different color sticker for Dash's doxycycline, because these pills must always be given with food. I need to find something important looking for the Palladia pills. A gold star maybe. It may seem silly, but it is the only way I can remember all these things.

Tomorrow is the first day of Summer. It's also Father's Day, but since I'm not a father, this holiday has always been somewhat of a non-event for me. Maybe we will have a mild Summer this year. The continual rain is certainly keeping the temperatures down. For the dog's sake, I hope the cool weather continues. Dot has always had a tough time dealing with the heat. With all her problems now, I was really dreading a month of triple digit days. Maybe we'll get lucky. After all she's been through, Dot deserves a cool Summer.

After all the mosquitoes I've killed inside the house, you'd think they'd all be gone by now. Nope. I just got bitten again. The city doesn't seem as worried about West Nile Disease this year, so maybe these are just ordinary mosquitoes. They are certainly a nuisance. I'm debating whether to spend tomorrow afternoon putting a new screen on the back door instead of going to the gym. Screen doors and Dalmatians don't co-exist very well and I've fixed the screen door in the back more times than I can count. The torn screen is probably one reason that so many mosquitoes are getting into the house. Doors have gotten wider over the years and I can no longer find screen wire sized to fit our narrow door frame. I have to go to Home Depot and buy a wider screen and then cut it down to size. The screen has been repaired so many times that it's getting hard to find good wood on the frame to staple the screen wire to. Actually, it's hard to even find staples for my ancient staple gun. At times like these, I realize that the house is only five years younger than I am. I guess we're both Mid-Century Modern relics. All I know is that keeping the two of us patched together is getting to be a full time job.

Alamo is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2011

I went and picked up Dot's chemotherapy medication after breakfast this morning. When Dash finished his year long Palladia treatment, I was hoping that I'd never see this drug again. The trouble with cancer drugs is that you can't be sure if they really work. The oncologist can cite all sorts of statistics, but in the end they are just statistics. You can still die of cancer even after extensive chemotherapy treatment and it's still possible to go into remission if you do nothing. My instinct is to find the best doctors and just do what they say, but the ambiguity of cancer treatment is still unsettling. Dot will initially take the drug for one week and then she'll have a blood test at the end of next week to determine if the Palladia has adversely affected her red and white cell count. If her blood chemistry looks good and she doesn't have excessive diarrhea, Dot will probably continue taking Palladia for the rest of her life, or until we run out of money. Chemotherapy can be very expensive.

I thought I'd get a lot done today since Dot had to cancel her physical therapy appointment because the underwater treadmill was broken. Unfortunately, I didn't get any more accomplished than any other day. Little things kept getting in the way. I'm beginning to wish that e-mail was never invented. Janet is continually answering work related e-mail at home and even with a smaller client base, I spend an inordinate amount of time dealing with e-mail myself. I'd like to say "not my circus, not my monkeys" to everyone, but if you have a small business like I do, you quickly realize that the problems actually are your monkeys.

At least the weather was nice today. There was a cool breeze when we took the dogs on their early morning walk and the temperature was still reasonable later in the day when it was time for the evening walk. Tropical Depression Bill has moved on and there was actually lots of blue sky today. I don't think there is any rain in the forecast for tomorrow either. All this really means is that it's time to get all the water off the roof again. We got a couple of products to control mosquitoes recently that are supposed to be organic and pet friendly. I did a little research on the Internet and discovered that one of the products was probably as safe as it claimed to be, while the other one was poison. The second product was so hazardous that I can't believe that someone sold it to us as safe to use around dogs. It's hard to trust anyone these days. While the mosquito treatment products may be questionable, at least there was some satisfaction in learning that the food Dot and Dash eat was still the best available. I saw a recent independent study that tested and ranked over 2000 types of dog food and the brand our dogs have eaten for years was among the elite top 25. Hey, at least we're doing something right.

I finished another article today, but I still have several more to write tomorrow. There is a long list of websites that I still need to convert to a mobile friendly format. Since I am no longer doing this for free, the list might actually be shorter than I think. I don't think I'll ever completely catch up with everything. It's an impossibility. I'm glad it's Friday tomorrow. Although the day happens to be my birthday, the important thing is that I'll get to go out for breakfast again.

Rugby is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day