Day 3903

These weeks go quickly. It's already Dalmatian Day again. There are still only three dogs at the kennel and it looks like very soon there will only be one. Hank and Luckie will be going to their forever homes soon. This pair gets along well and will be adopted together. After playing with the dogs this afternoon, we took Luckie to the vet to get spayed. Ordinarily the rescue group does this when a dog enters the program, but we needed to wait until Luckie's blood work looked good and it was safe for surgery. We may see Hank and Luckie one more time, but it looks like they will go to their new home soon. I'm glad things ended well for these two dogs. Now we've got to find a home for Charlie.

The weather was terrible today. It didn't cool down much overnight and it was oppressively humid when we left for our morning walk. There was no breeze, but at least it was cloudy. We didn't go as far today, so Dawn would't get overheated. I could tell she was glad to get back to the house. So was I. Enough of this weather. Fall can't come soon enough for me.

We might not get to walk at all tomorrow. It's supposed to start raining again around 8 AM. The forecast doesn't look good for the week. Right now it looks like the rain will continue until Saturday. I hope the pumps work this time. It's a lot easier to get the water off the roof if the pumps are helping me a bit. I'm still waiting for some cool dry weather so I can finish my repairs on the roof. It might not happen though. Fall is very unpredictable.

I really need to find something interesting to do that doesn't depend on getting approval from NASA. Writing jobs and website design used to keep me busy almost 100% of the time. Now I find myself spending way too much time on Facebook and living vicariously through the few people I know who are still actually doing something. There are a small group of people who are still photographing launches at Kennedy Space Center and an even smaller group that seems to spend their days trying to guess what Elon is doing at Boca Chica. My astronomer friends are still using the telescopes at McDonald Observatory. I'm not an astronomer though. I'm sitting here keeping the batteries charged on my laptop.

I got a business card from some tree trimmers who were removing one of my neighbor's trees. It's a start. They seemed very organized and methodical. I'll give them a call and get an estimate for removing the damaged Oak tree in the back yard. Every time there is a big storm I'm afraid this tree will fall. It's just a matter of time. We saw a large tree that had fallen across a road in the park this morning. These old growth trees seem to fall all the time. I hate to deal with this stuff, but you can't ignore it forever.

We'll see what tomorrow brings. It's a new month, but I suspect that September will be more of the same. One of these days life will return to normal, but it certainly won't be tomorrow.

Domino is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2357

I'm convinced that calling tech support is a modern form of torture. I called AT&T today to ask then how to return the new router they sent me. I don't think I need it now, because everything has been working great for the past three days. "You can't send the new router back because we have already reconfigured your account to use it," the tech guy said. "When did you do this," I asked? "About three days ago," said the technician. "I think you solved my problem, I said. "I don't need the new router." "But aren't you already using it," the guy said. "No, I haven't even taken it out of the box yet," I replied. There was a moment of silence. The technician seemed confused and said he needed to run some tests. I knew what was going on. When they had reconfigured my service, they had inadvertently cleared my routing path, which is all I wanted them to do in the first place.

The tech guy still seemed confused that the old router was still running fine with the new settings that were designed for the replacement equipment. "I want you to reboot the router and I'll see if it still shows up in my system with the same serial number." What? Why would I want to do that? I would have thought that the serial number was permanently linked to the equipment. "Oh, no," said the technician, "we can change that." "But if the serial number changes, nothing on my network will recognize it anymore and I'll have to reconnect everything," I said. "There's a 50/50 chance of that," said the technician. Then he added, "You'll have to reboot the router sooner or later anyway, so why not just do it now." I hate these guys.

The conversation continued for quite a while and it was eventually determined that I could keep the old router if I wanted, since it was still working for some unexplained reason. I could also keep the new router as a spare, if I paid AT&T a $150 penalty fee. I think they should have been paying me $150 since I had to spend my entire morning dealing with this ridiculous problem.

I think I've found a dog walker to help with Dot while Janet is away on vacation. This is a relief, since I had no idea how I was going to get Dot out of the house. Walking Dot is a team effort now. She will only walk if she is following Dash, but one person can't walk Dot and Dash together anymore, since he wants to walk so much faster than she does. Typically, I walk Dash, stopping every twenty or thirty feet so Dot can catch up. Janet follows behind with Dot, holding up her rear legs with the Help 'Em Up Harness. It's a slow process, but it works. The walks are an essential part of Dot's therapy. Without them, she would probably be bedridden by now.

It didn't rain today, even though the humidity hovered near 100%. There was a mist in the air when we walked the dogs before breakfast, but by afternoon the mist had turned to steam. It's still incredibly muggy. I've emptied the bucket in the dehumidifier two times already today. Dot can't handle the heat anymore, so we have to cut her walks even shorter on hot, humid days like today. I'm not looking forward to dealing with this situation in July. It may have seemed hot today, but this was nothing. Texas Summers can be brutal.

I'm not sure if I accomplished anything today or not. The Internet is up and running, but I'm not sure why. The refrigerator and pantry are full again, but the house is still dirty and there is lots of water on the roof. I'm glad I found somebody to help with Dot next month. Maybe everything will be OK.

Sam is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 898

Some days I think a robot could do my job. Other days I think I am the robot. How may days can you do the same thing over and over again before going quietly insane? I wonder about these things.

Today certainly wasn't the day to break free. I took some checks to the bank. I took some bills to the post office. I took some dogs on a walk. There was water on the roof. Dishes in the sink. And a load of dirty clothes in the washing machine. It was just an ordinary day.

My work assignment for today was doing a little Father's Day marketing for one of my clients. They want Mom and the kids to buy something expensive for Dad. Not very likely. Dads never get anything good on Father's Day. Since my birthday always fell fairly close to Father's Day, my Mom never got Dad anything at all. She claimed that I was his Father's Day gift. I think this always made my Dad mad. He would much rather have received tickets to a good basketball game, or at least a nice fishing rod.

The Spring allergy season seems to be waning. It's great not to go through an entire package of Kleenex every time I walk the dogs. The only problem is that the allergy season is always followed by the muggy season. Each day, within an hour after the rain quits, it becomes a steam-bath outdoors. During the muggy season I have to put on a new shirt every time I walk the dogs, because the shirt I was wearing is soaked. There are tons of mosquitoes during the muggy season as well. I really shouldn't complain about the weather we're having though. The muggy season is always followed by the impossibly hot season. During July and August in Texas, it feels like you are living on the surface of Mercury. I don't look forward to this heat. I don't think Dot can handle the heat anymore either. Her tongue is hanging out right now after our walks, and Summer hasn't even arrived yet.

Friday has arrived though. Almost anyway. I've taken this week's trash out to the curb for tomorrow morning's pickup and I'm already wondering what I'm going to have for breakfast on my weekly restaurant excursion. TGIF.

Amy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day