Day 4748

Dawn surprised us this morning. We thought she'd want to stay inside because it was cold, but when we took her out to poop this morning she wanted to walk. She picked her own route and had a good time smelling things. I was glad that Dawn's day started well because I was afraid it wouldn't end well. Janet left for the airport right after breakfast this morning and sooner or later Dawn was going to figure out that she wasn't just out getting more groceries.

After finishing my own breakfast I paid a bunch of year end bills before going to the gym and doing my weekly grocery shopping. I went to the gym first because I didn't want food to spoil sitting in the car. What was I thinking? It was like a refrigerator outside. I could have left food in the car all day and it would have been fine.

After I got my steps at the gym I quickly found everything on my list at the grocery store and came home. I didn't need much this week because there are a lot of left overs from our early Christmas dinner. I thought that people would have finished their holiday shopping by now, but the stores were packed. I had a hard time finding a parking place at Central Market. I was going to get gas today, but there seemed to be long lines at the pumps. Never mind. I didn't really need to get gas anyway. It seems like I just filled my tank a few days ago.

About mid-afternoon Dawn seemed to figure out that Janet wasn't coming back anytime soon. She's been acting depressed ever since. We've gone through these vacation periods before. Dawn will be fine. The first few days are the hardest. The last time Janet was on vacation, Dawn wouldn't even leave the bedroom to eat her breakfast for two days. I had to bring her bowl back to the bedroom and then stay out of sight until I could hear that she was finished. Things gradually improve, but Dawn definitely does not like Janet being away. Since Janet is frequently out of the house and I'm almost always here, life still seems fairly normal to Dawn. Things will get real when it's time to go to bed.

Janet tries to make things easy for me. All Dawn's meds are in little baggies labeled with the time and day the pills are to be given. I already feed Dawn anyway, so I know what she needs for meals and when to give her treats. I am more likely to run out of food for myself than to run out of food for Dawn. We are well stocked with dog essentials.

I didn't think that anyone would be at the gym on Christmas Eve, but about half a dozen of the regulars were there working out. I was only there because it was too cold to walk in the park today. I don't know what their reasons were. I never talk to these people even though they all seem very nice. It's good to always have the option of going to the gym. I think I made my cold worse by trying to walk in the park on a day when any sane person would have stayed inside.

I won't be mall walking tomorrow. The mall doesn't close for many holidays, but it does close for Christmas. We won't be doing Dawn's Sunday outing either. That would be traumatic for both of us. Dawn has actually never been inside my car and I don't think she wants to start anytime soon. We'll try to keep things really low key while Janet is gone. I just want Dawn to be relaxed, eat all her food, and take her meds. It would be nice if she still pees and poops on a regular schedule as well. 

Christmas should be a happy time, but my Facebook feed seemed filled with sadness today. Several dogs died today. Other dogs were sick and owners were wondering what to do when they were stuck in a blizzard. City pounds and shelters were still euthanizing dogs on Christmas Eve. Many people seemed lonely, but a few seemed to be having a good time with family and friends. I'm glad Janet enjoys being with her family. They'll have a great time this week. I'll be fine as well. My cold actually seems to be getting better and I enjoy spending time with Dawn even if she has other ideas. Hope springs eternal I guess. I keep thinking maybe we'll be best buddies by the time Janet returns.

Dash is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4567

Dawn seems a little calmer today. She still doesn't want to leave the safety of the bedroom, but she will come out to the kitchen to eat her meals, and walk down to the meadow behind our house to do her business. Today, all I had to say was "dinner's ready" and she ran right out to her bowl to eat. This is an improvement over yesterday.

I still need to remember to fill her water bowls frequently during the day and make sure she takes her meds at the proper time. Dawn and I both live by a fairly rigid schedule, so we're working on getting everything coordinated.  I think we're doing pretty well. Dawn still doesn't like me in the bedroom with her during the day, but is perfectly comfortable sharing the bed with me at night. It's always been this way and I still don't have an explanation.

Since my gym wasn't open today, I took my long walk right after breakfast. I probably should have left the house earlier, but Dawn and I slept in this morning. Neither of us are early birds. The temperature was still in the mid 80's around 9 AM but climbed quickly during my walk. I don't see many ducks and geese anymore. I don't know where they're hiding to get out of the heat, but they must have found a good place. No such luck for me. I was able to complete my entire route, even though I was getting pretty hot toward the end. I probably should take these long walks before I eat breakfast, but I doubt that I'd have much of an appetite when I got back. I'd probably feel more like throwing up. I'm going to have to make the decision on whether to walk or go to the gym just about every day this summer. It's a tough choice. I don't like to drive in the city, but I don't like to return home drenched in sweat after a walk either. 

I felt better after a shower, but running the shower raises the humidity in the house. I don't like that either. Basically, I just don't like anything about summers in Texas. I remember summers in Colorado and Northern Idaho were much nicer. Maybe just being younger was nicer. I think Dawn has the right idea. She basically just lies in bed all day next to an air condition vent. The bedroom is one of the coolest rooms in the house and the bed is a lot more comfortable than the couch and chairs in the living room. No wonder she doesn't want to share this room. It's the best room in the house.

I still haven't found much to do during the day. I've been avoiding fixing things around the house because I've already done all the easy things. The only things left are difficult tasks with a high risk of failure. I think most of these things can wait for a while. I really need to get the factory recall scheduled for my car, but I'm dreading calling the dealership. They stopped offering free loaner cars after the chip shortage decimated their new and used car inventory. I think they just sold most of the loaner cars. At any rate, the last time they promised me a loaner car, they ended up sending me home in a Uber. Boo. Even though I hate driving, I hate being without a car even more.

It didn't really seem like Sunday today without Dawn's Sunday outing and a trip to the ice cream store. We'll resume these activities when Janet returns. Dawn's a smart dog. Unless her entire support team is around, she feels much safer staying close to home. I can't blame her. I kind of feel the same way.

Derrick is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4463

Janet left on her vacation today. So far, so good with Dawn. She seems a little nervous and runs to the front door every time she hears a noise, but she did eat her dinner and take her evening meds. She spent most of the day on the bed, but that's what she does anyway. Hopefully she will relax a bit in the days ahead.

The weather wasn't great today, but we were able to give Dawn a nice early morning walk before Janet had to leave for the airport. It remains to be seen whether Dawn will walk with me. She might want to go down to the field behind our house if the weather is nice, but I'm not going to push things if she's reluctant.  It fine if she just wants to sit on the bed and do her business in the back yard. As long as she eats her meals, takes her pills, and gets a good night's sleep, we're good. It would be nice if Dawn can learn to trust me and relax when Janet is away. 

I could tell the weather was headed South when I took my long walk today, but I didn't get wet. The rain didn't start until later in the afternoon. It didn't rain long, but we got quite a downpour. We even got a little hail at some point. Luckily Dawn isn't bothered by storms. I'm the one who freaks out at bad weather. I'm always anticipating the next roof leak. The house is dry so far, but the pumps are still running on the roof.   I don't think we'll sleep well. Dawn will be listening for Janet and I'll be listening for the drip, drip, drip that signals a roof leak.

I was planning to test the new software for the star tracker today, but when the time came I just wasn't in the mood. I did a load of laundry and took my long walk but that was about it. Dawn sat out in the yard with me for a while before the rain started. That's a good sign. The yard is her territory now and she loves to roll in the grass.

I still may get 20,000 steps today. I'm almost there. I probably should have taken a shorter walk though. My feet are really bothering me this week. I wish there were other ways to use up the day, but walking still seems the best. You don't have to think while you walk. You don't have to drive anywhere. Walking is actually a very good form of exercise and if you are a visual person, there's always plenty to see. I wonder what I did before I started taking long walks? Oh, I remember. I was working.

I'm still toying around with getting a new iPhone. There are some deals out there now that look pretty tempting. I love gadgets and a phone is little so it won't take up a lot of space. The office is so full that I don't buy big things anymore. I'm trying to convince myself that I need a better phone camera, but do I really? I doubt it. I hardly ever use the phone I already have.

I start a new routine in the morning. Usually Janet feeds Dawn her breakfast, makes sure she takes her morning meds, and takes her outside to poop and pee. Dawn likes to hang around and eat some of Janet's breakfast too. She loves a boiled egg. I'm not sure how much of this morning routine Dawn will do with me. We'll give it a try though. I'm sure she'll eat but I may have to go back and make the bed while she's eating. Dawn doesn't like to eat if I'm nearby unless Janet is nearby as well.

Humphrey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3764

I'm seeing more and more pictures of people baking bread, fixing elaborate meals, and even sewing from friends who used to spend most of their time in meetings. I guess we are part of this trend. Janet baked a pineapple upside-down cake in a large cast iron skillet today and it was delicious. It was much better than the pineapple upside-down cakes we used to get at Central Market. Actually everything we've been eating lately is much better that the take out meals that used to be our standard fare. I wonder how long we all need to remain quarantined before these newly acquired habits become permanent? Healthy, home-cooked meals are actually a good thing. Having the time to cook them is even better.

My life still hasn't changed much. Janet never used to spend much time at home, but it's been enjoyable having her around. We do more things together now. I have a feeling she'll be running marathons soon. She runs three miles every morning before coming home to take a long walk with Dawn and I. I'm still spending a lot of time puttering around on the computer, but I think I need a project. I enjoy writing, but don't really enjoy chronicling the spread of the coronavirus. I'm tired of talking about it. I'd much rather be writing about astronomy and space. I feel like I submitted my story to Sky and Telescope at the worst possible time. Boston, the home of the magazine is becoming a hotspot and I doubt that my story is the first thing on the editors minds these days. There's still a story in the works at SpaceFlight Magazine too, but I don't even want to ask about that one. London is in a world of hurt these days.

Dawn really enjoys her long daily walks, especially on cold mornings like we've had for the past several days. She enjoys the outdoors and often suns herself on a big rug we've placed in the back yard for her. She'd probably enjoy lying in the grass too if we actually had any grass in the back yard. Now there's a big project. I could re-sod the back yard without the help of the landscape guys. I've done it before when I was younger and had more energy. If I got the tree guy to come over and cut down the remaining damaged Oak tree, our grass would probably get enough sun to finally grow on its own. When I talk about mowing the grass, I'm only talking about the front yard. Until the trees started falling, the back yard was always covered by a thick tree canopy and the grass never got enough sun to grow.

I'm surprised that nobody noticed that my picture of a Buttonbush flower on Sunday's Easter post looked exactly like a coronavirus. I thought it was kind of clever. I have no idea what all the black moths were doing on the Queen Anne's Lace plants today, but they looked ominous. There were hundreds of them and they reminded me of tiny little vultures.

I not only forgot to mention the resemblance of Buttonbush plants to coronavirus illustrations, I also forgot to mention that the watch of the day on Saturday's post used to belong to Alice Cooper. Actually, every watch has a story but I can't be bothered to explain it. I've completely forgotten the backstory to many of the watches I used to collect. It seems so long ago. Collecting things was a waste of time and money. Of course if I had put that money in the stock market, it would all be gone by now anyway. Who knew the apocalypse was coming.

What day is it? Time has lost all meaning. We go to bed later and get up a lot later. When you turn on the television it feels a lot like Ground Hog Day. It's the same news over and over again. There are still chores to do, but it's easy to put them off until tomorrow. What's the rush.

Flash is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3488

It's been three months since Dash died. There are new routines now. I can't say that life has returned to normal because it still seems normal to have dogs in the house. There was at least one Dalmatian in our home for over 30 years. Dogs still matter to us but I have to admit that it's nice to not have huge vet bills or the responsibility of deciding what is right for your best friend when the end is approaching. Janet volunteers with a local rescue group now. We both enjoy visiting the Dalmatians once a week. For now this is enough. We're traveling more now and doing things that weren't possible when caring for sick dogs was a 24/7 responsibility. Although it is sometimes tempting to take a dog home with us when we visit the Dalmatians at the boarding kennel, I realize that these dogs are finding fabulous homes. That's all that matters. If and when we're ready for a dog again, I'm sure there will be a dog that's ready for us.

I'm trying to do everything earlier now since it is so hot. I thought I'd find fresher fruit at the grocery store if I shopped early, but it doesn't seem to matter. Often stores get fresh deliveries daily, but you can't depend on it. I've noticed that the best strawberries are usually in the bottom boxes. Produce managers put the older fruit on top, hoping that people will buy it first. I sort through all the boxes, trying to find the best. Peaches are weird. Specific varieties are usually in the store for only a month and then you'll find a new variety. Not that it matters, but I'm gradually learning which varieties I like best. I eat a lot of peaches in the summer because they aren't even available in the winter. Most of you know that a fungal disease is gradually destroying the Cavendish banana around the world and this fruit might not be available soon. What am I going to do without my favorite bananas? You'd think that someone who was so interested in fruit would be equally interested in vegetables. Nope. I usually skip the vegetable aisle.

I'm conflicted about food. I really like pork, but feel guilty eating it since pigs are nice, exceptionally smart animals. I'm not sure that vegans are doing themselves any favors. I've known some very unhealthy vegans. I've known some very healthy vegans too, but I do believe that humans are basically carnivorous animals. So are dogs. Dogs seem to thrive on a raw diet. I've often wondered if the high incidence of cancer in dogs is because of the heavily processed food most of them eat.

I was amused to learn that the basic ingredients used to make Beyond Meat and those Impossible Burgers is very similar to the ingredients found in high end dog food. The only real difference is the spices used to make these products taste like meat. These meat substitutes have become very popular recently but they're basically just dog food. Not that there's anything wrong with that. I always thought our dogs ate better than we did.

When I was growing up in Alaska, everybody hunted. People has big freezers in their garages and neighbors traded game with each other. Dad was more of a fisherman, but he often traded salmon and trout he'd caught for Moose steaks or ducks. There was an honest simplicity to all this. It was the complete opposite of factory farming. We try to buy cage free eggs and grass fed beef but it's probably just a token gesture. The world has changed. We're not that far away from Soylent Green.

If you're wondering why I'm talking about food today it is because I didn't really do anything. I could have summed up today in a single sentence: Ate breakfast, bought groceries, walked, and blogged.

Watson is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3333

I've been wondering why the cable bill went up recently. Then I remembered that it's been exactly one year since we upgraded to a fiber optic network. There must have been a special introductory price that expired. Of course we're not going to take the fiber optic connection out now. We've become used to the speed. That's how they suck you in to just about everything these days. I've learned to ignore the "free for 90 days" offers, but you can't ignore everything. My storage warehouse rent went up so much that I had to move to a new less expensive storage space. The cost of web hosting is about to go up as well. I'll just pay the extra fees on this one. It's too much trouble to move all the websites. There aren't a lot of options with the cable company. I've moved back and forth between AT&T and Spectrum for years. Both companies are terrible.

The temperature was in the low twenties this morning. There was ice in the backyard bird bath, so that meant that there was probably ice up on the roof as well. I certainly wasn't going to go up and investigate. It was way too cold and slippery. Dash wasn't even interested in getting out of bed, but eventually he followed Janet out to the kitchen to take his morning pills. It was pretty clear that a morning walk was out of the question. Dash was shaky and having trouble walking and I'm not sure the more complicated Help 'Em Up Harness will fit over his Winter sweater anyway.

Since Dash just wanted to sleep this morning, I felt pretty safe in going out to breakfast. I went back to the hotel today. This place is almost the exact opposite of the trendy restaurant I've been visiting recently. There are only a few items on the menu and the place is never full. The waiters treat me like a regular now and already know what I'm going to order. I like the quiet formalness of the place. It's just too bad that they don't know how to make shrimp grits.

We have a new routine with Dash now. The morning walks seem to be a thing of the past. We don't know why he is so unsteady when he wakes up. You'd think he'd be rested, since he's sleeping well now. Mornings have become a struggle unfortunately. Typically, Dash will perk up a bit around 10:30 or 11 AM and eat his breakfast. By early afternoon, he has returned to his old self. We took another walk this afternoon and Dash did very well. He didn't stumble and even wanted to go on one of our longer routes. It's a mystery how the morning dog and the afternoon dog can be so different, but I'm happy that Dash still has his moments. He likes the cold too. I was freezing on our walk this afternoon, but Dash was enjoying himself, stopping every few minutes to smell something.

A couple of times every year I think about uploading more photos to the stock photo site. Some of my photos are selling. I've just never submitted very many. You'd think that with thousands of good photos in my files, I could scrape together a nice little passive income. I know a few people that make a decent income on Shutterstock. Why not me? I examined about twenty of my favorite images this afternoon and found at least one good reason why none of them could be submitted. Some were too grainy. On others, the focus was off just a bit. In many cases I had failed to obtain a model release. I ended up submitting nothing today. I'm sure I'll revisit all this six months from now, but in a lot of ways it seems pointless. The secret to success in the stock photo market is to have a huge catalog of images available. Adding twenty images to my meager collection would only increase my income by a few dollars a year.

We had chili for dinner tonight. A steaming bowl of chili is the perfect meal for a cold Winter night. Unfortunately chili always gives me heartburn. Story of my life. Everything pleasant has an unpleasant side effect.

Taylor is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2753

Janet and I have to do all our errands together now. She can drive, but her doctors don't want her to lift things. I've got one good hand for lifting things, but I can't drive. Together, we make a pretty decent team, although I still don't understand why we are doing our shopping on busy weekends. When we were out today, I saw a couple of old people who had personal assistants. "We need one of those," I said.

I'll be glad when I don't have to wear the splint on my wrist anymore. I wish I had the forethought to fall on my right wrist instead of my left. I am so totally left handed that it's hard to even write my name or hold a fork these days. I am getting better though. The swelling is starting to subside on my left leg and I find it easier to sleep now. I'm going to have to revise my position on pain pills a bit. They do have their uses. When I took a Tylenol-Codeine pill before I went to sleep last night, it really helped dull the pain in my wrist. I may not even need a pill tonight. The pain is not as bad today.

Dash is a lazy dog and loves to nap, but I think even he is becoming bored with us. Janet and I both get tired so easily now. After we finished our shopping today, we both went back to bed and went to sleep for two hours. Although it is becoming easier to walk, I still can't be on my feet for too long. Moving around a bit is good for circulation, but moving around too much is bad. You really have to stay focused on healing. You can't pretend that everything is fine when it isn't.

This whole incident has made me realize that you have to start taking falls seriously as you get older. I've fallen many times before. I've even landed on my wrists before. It's kind of natural to try to break a fall with your hands. Although I've fallen hundreds of times for dozens of reasons, I've never put myself out of commission like this before. I'm going to have to be real careful when I go up on the roof. Old, brittle bones aren't very forgiving.

The animal control people were back in the neighborhood today. They were still looking for the owners of the dog who bit me. Janet and I have told them several times that the owners are out of town, but that doesn't seem to make any difference. When the guy knocked on my door again this morning, I gave him the owners cell phone numbers and asked him to please call them directly. Just knocking randomly on neighbor's doors and asking people if they'd seen the owners isn't going to prove anything. It's weird that animal control is ruthlessly efficient, but I can't get the sanitation people to empty my trash. When I look at how city government functions, it's no surprise that our national government doesn't work very well either.

My newly upgraded computer seems to be working well. Even though the cloned hard drive was supposed to be absolutely identical to the old drive, I'm noticing all sorts of little differences. The computer seems to know that there's been an organ transplant. Some icons look different now and the computer seems to want to go into hibernation and disconnect from WiFi when it has been sitting idle for more than thirty minutes. Maybe this is a good thing. The computer is idle quite a bit. Lord knows how much electricity I've wasted over the years.

I'll be glad when I can get back to walking Dash again. I miss our early morning walks. One of the best signs that I've been totally out of it lately is that the battery on my fitness tracker has been dead for three days and I only noticed this morning. I'll try to keep the battery charged, but it's going to take a while to get back to taking 10,000 steps a day.

Trevor is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2737

Janet is home again. They definitely don't keep you very long in the hospital anymore. As much as I hate hospitals, I'll have to admit that I was very impressed with the doctors and staff at Baylor. Not only were they very well trained and professional, they were nice. This isn't always the case at hospitals. So far, everything appears to be going smoothly. Janet's doctors are pleased with her progress and the nurses reassured me that all the tubes and bandages she went home with are completely normal.

Once of the head nurses gave me a short course in wound care this afternoon. For the first week or so there are drains that must be emptied several times a day. The fluid that collects in the reservoirs is supposed to diminish each day, and when it stops the tubes are removed. You have to keep a log and measure the amount of fluid you remove each time, making sure to keep everything completely clean during the entire process. There have never been this many antibacterial products in our home before. I'm sure they are necessary. The doctors didn't mince words about the dangers of infections. Most of the complications resulting from surgery don't happen during the surgery itself. They are usually caused by infections that happen later.

I'm careful and methodical, even though my hands aren't as steady as they once were. It's going to be a miracle if we make it through the entire week without spilling some of the fluid that is removed several times a day. Everybody calls it a pink fluid but they're not fooling me. It's blood.

Dash is being very good. He was our only real worry, since he's probably the dirtiest thing in the house. He has slept on our bed the entire time he has been a party of our family, so he's not going to change now. I make sure he doesn't get too near Janet when he's active and excited. Dinner time and food seem to excite him the most, so it is pretty easy to lure him to the kitchen and out of harm's way. Basically Dash is a very lazy dog. If he's on the bed, he's usually sleeping.

I spent most of the morning getting the bed ready. There were new sheets, new pillows, new pillow shams, a new comforter, and unfortunately a new mattress cover. The old mattress cover slid over the mattress like a fitted sheet. This new one had a zipper and you had to slide the entire mattress inside it and then zip it up. Our mattress is very heavy and this was not an easy job. I almost gave up at one point, but I finally got the thing on. I didn't think anything was wrong with the old mattress cover, but Janet reminded me that dogs have peed on it several times. Basically sterilizing a house with dogs is an exercise in futility. All things considered though, I think we've done pretty well.

Things will be quite different for a few weeks and then should gradually return to normal. I don't think we'll need the home nurse for very long. Changing dressings and emptying the tubes is actually easier than we'd thought it would be. There will be follow up visits with the surgeons and an oncologist. I think there's a physical therapist too. In many ways this all seems very similar to what Dot and Dash went through a few years ago.

Kirby is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2701

I'm starting to feel overwhelmed with dog problems. Dash threw up again today. Good grief. The dog had a complete physical exam yesterday and passed with flying colors. I don't know why he's throwing up. I don't think the vets do either. He doesn't seem nauseous. His appetite is still good. He wasn't even eating grass this morning. He just walked to the back door like he needed to pee and threw up instead. Since he's still acting normal, I'm not going to give him a Cerenia pill tonight. We'll see what happens.

Dot's new routine now includes a trip outside at 2 AM. After she pees or wanders around for a while in the dark, she seems fine for the rest of the night. I'm not wild about this nocturnal schedule, but it beats peeing in her bed like she used to. I wish Dot would eat in the morning. It would make it a lot easier to take her morning pills. Again, although this situation isn't ideal, it's OK. Dot seems to regain her appetite late in the afternoon and by the time we all go to bed, she has usually eaten a reasonable amount.

I paid some bills and took them to the post office this afternoon. On the way home I picked up prescriptions for Dot and Dash at two different locations. Our kitchen looks like a pharmacy now. There is a big box of pills for Dot, another box for Dash, and a third box for me. Janet is the lucky one. She only has to take a single prescription. It's hard to keep track of all these pills. It seems like I'm renewing something almost every day.

I spent about an hour trying to remove the scratch on my car with polishing compound. It looks much better now, but I can still see the scratch. Door dings and small scratches are inevitable when you live in a large city, but they still irritate me. I want the car to be perfect. I feel the same way about guitars, cameras, and electronic equipment. Sometimes I think I spend more time cleaning things than actually using them.

One thing that isn't clean is the house. It rained again last night and every time I take Dot outside, she tracks mud in the living room. I need a third hand. I used to wipe the dog's paws before they came in the house on rainy days, but now I'm using both hands to hold Dot's special harness. I guess it doesn't really matter. The rugs get cleaned often enough anyway when Dot pees on them. We really need the landscape guy to hurry up and put the new grass in the back yard. Grass would cut down on the mud tracked in the house considerably.

Dot is still very weak and can't stand without assistance, but she appears stable now. She's eating. She's barking. She's pooping. I don't know how long she has left, but for now she's a happy dog.

Susie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2542

I need to rearrange how I spend my day. I can't change getting up too early. We have to get the dogs fed and walked before Janet goes to work. I can't change going to bed too late either. I'm usually the only one still awake to take Dot out to pee at the end of the day. In between, there's still a little flexibility. I need to try and get anything important done between 9 AM and 2 PM. So far, it's a pretty safe bet that this is when both dogs will be asleep. After they eat their rice cake for lunch, all bets are off. I don't know where Dot got her new burst of energy, but she's active almost all afternoon now.

I wish she was steady enough on her feet so that I could just let her wander around on her own. Unfortunately, she's not steady at all. She falls down a lot, gets stuck behind furniture, and poops when you least expect it. Afternoons are a three ring circus, but it's good to see Dot active again.

My project for today was seeing which applications still worked on the laptop after the big system upgrade a couple of days ago. I haven't tested everything, but so far I've only had to delete four applications. That's actually pretty good. There isn't room on my desk to set up a second computer, so I had to work on the kitchen table. The dogs didn't like this. If I'm in the kitchen, they think it's time to be fed. If I ignore them for too long, they both start barking. Needless to say, I didn't get as much accomplished as I'd hoped. Maybe I've done enough. Microsoft Word works. Final Cut Pro works. And I think Pro Tools works. The web browser and e-mail work too. That's all I ever used to use when I was on the road anyway,

I meant to get the water off the roof today, but I didn't get around to it this morning when the dogs were sleeping. This afternoon, Dot would never settle down long enough for me to get anything done. I didn't want to be up on the roof if she fell or pooped somewhere. It probably wouldn't have even mattered if I was up on the roof. Dot wandered into the office just before dinner time and promptly pooped all over the carpet. I'd taken her outside at least ten times today, including once five minutes before she messed up the carpet. Why she couldn't poop while she was outside remains a mystery to me. Basically, I'm so tired of cleaning up poop I could scream.

The humidity was actually lower outside than in the house today. This is a rarity. The weather was nice, so I opened the windows and let the house air out. 25% relative humidity is a lot nicer than 85% relative humidity. I hope the dry weather continues. It would be nice to spend the Winter without worrying about mold.

I started charging batteries for this weekend's photo shoot. Tomorrow I'll unpack the strobes and make sure that they still work. I've got all this equipment, but mostly I just take pictures with my phone these days. I thought oday's sunrise was worth putting on my camera roll. Dash didn't even notice the beautiful sunrise. As always, he had his nose to the ground, trying to sniff out nasty things to eat.

Petey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2365

Today was exhausting. I got up early to give the dogs their morning pills and make sure they were fed and ready to go when the dog walker arrived. I'd already been up twice during the night to clean up Dot's latest accidents. I don't know how Dot can sleep through pooping in her bed, but she does. I certainly can't sleep through these episodes. The smell wakes me up every time. Luckily, I can get back to sleep easily.

Things went better than I expected with the dog walker. She arrived right on time and Dash seemed to take a liking to her almost immediately. We decided that she would walk Dash and I would walk Dot. Dash seemed to think it was special to be walked by someone new. Dot barked a lot at first, but she soon settled into the new routine as well. Dot even walked a bit faster than usual, which was surprising.

Since it was a nice day and the ground was starting to dry out, I decided to mow the grass this afternoon. This might have been a mistake. The grass was still a little wet, so the mower was harder to push than usual. I ended up getting a lot better workout than if I'd gone to the gym. I almost forgot it was Sunday today. It didn't seem like Sunday. It just seemed different.

Somewhere between breakfast and dinner the dogs walker came down with some sort of virus and asked if her husband cold help with the dogs in the evening. It was fine by me. Despite their many idiosyncrasies, Dot and Dash acted like well socialized and surprisingly well behaved canines today. the went on walks with two different strangers and nothing went wrong at all. I was proud of them.

The hardest part of the day are the evenings. It's almost like a changing of the guard when Janet comes home. They look forward to when she comes home every day and generally follow her around until bedtime. This gives me time to write the blog, clean up the kitchen, and whatever else I need to do. With this routine disrupted, there is a lot of barking and standing at the front door. Eventually they both get tired and we all go to bed, but you've got to watch them like a hawk. Dot ended up peeing on a big rug last night when I let her out of my sight for a just few minutes. I wish Dot wasn't so needy, but it is almost inevitable with her lack of mobility.

Tomorrow we go back to the cancer center for our long awaited ultrasound recheck. Dot's regular oncologist is out of town, but we have an appointment with another of the clinic's oncologists. I have mixed emotions about restarting her chemotherapy. She didn't appear to get any stronger when we discontinued the Palladia pills, but she didn't get any weaker either. It is hard to tell whether the chemotherapy was doing her any good at all. Hopefully, the ultrasound scan will clarify things a bit.

It would be nice to sleep a little longer tonight. I might as well have just stayed up last night. I think we're coping pretty well, but I'll be glad when things get back to normal.

Scooby is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2364

I took Janet to the airport this morning. The road to DFW has been perpetually under construction since the day I moved to Dallas. I don't think they'll ever finish it. They keep making the road wider and wider, but it never seems to be wide enough. I drove carefully today. I'm always worried that I'll get in a wreck and the dogs will starve to death before anyone notices I'm gone. Taking care of the dogs has always been a team effort and it still makes me nervous to operate without a backup.

I promised Janet I wouldn't go up on the roof while she was gone. It would definitely be bad news if I broke my neck and nobody noticed. There are still plenty of things that could go wrong, but I think we'll do OK. All the dogs meds have been neatly organized in little packets with the date and time to give them marked on the front. The refrigerator is well stocked and the dog walker is coming tomorrow morning to help with Dot's morning walk. Dot and Dash are so set in their ways that they always act a bit restless the first few days that Janet is gone. They're dogs though, and as soon as they settle in to a new routine, everything is fine.

Unfortunately, we haven't reached that transition point yet. Whenever they hear a noise, they run to the front door to see if anyone is there. Well, Dot doesn't run anywhere, but she whines for me to lift her up and take her to the front door. If I get the dogs settled in one room, five minutes later they want to be in another.  Their routine has been broken and they're not happy campers at the moment. I try to be accomodating, but there's only so much I can do. Things are going to be different for a while.

I don't know why the dogs are so upset. Things aren't actually very different at all. Our life is always pretty much the same. I went to the grocery store today, like I always do on Saturdays. Dash got a long afternoon walk and they both got their dinner right on time. Maybe they want the television on. As soon as they both settle down and go to sleep, I'll have to wake them up again to give them their evening meds. Then we'll go through this all over again.

I was going to try to get to bed earlier and get some additional sleep, but I'm not off to a good start. Despite the best of intentions, I ate dinner when I always do and couldn't get started writing the blog until the dogs settled down and went to sleep. By the time I reconfigure the dogs beds in their  nighttime mode, give the dogs their pills, brush my teeth and empty and clean the dehumidifier, it will be close to midnight. An hour after I go to sleep, Dot will poop in her bed and I'll be up again.

I hope that Dot and Dash cooperate with the dog walker tomorrow. Life will be so much easier if we can get their regular morning and evening walks out of the way without a giant hassle. I tried to take Dot on a short walk by myself this evening and that didn't go all that well. She really has very little interest in walking unless Dash is walking in front of her. The dogs don't know it yet, but they're going to be getting a banana tomorrow. We usually have a big breakfast, with bacon, eggs, biscuits, and fresh fruit on Sunday mornings. I think I'm going to revert to my weekday banana and strawberry smoothie tomorrow, which means sharing a banana with the dogs. Anything to make life a little easier.

Daisy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2153

It takes at least a gallon and a half of water to flush a toilet. You can use a quart of water just rinsing off a few dishes to put in the dishwasher. It only takes a cup of water to brush your teeth however. I'm learning a lot about water. Like most of you reading this, I use an enormous amount of water without even thinking about it. There's a water bill every month, but water still seems a bit like air. It is just there. It is only when you take away the water that you realize its true significance.

Dot pooped in her bed again last night. I instinctively went to a nearby bathroom sink to wet a rag so I could clean her up. Oops. There is no water coming from these faucets. There is no water coming from any faucets. I carefully pick up as much poop as I can using a plastic poop bag. I know I can't just take the dog blanket outside and hose it down anymore. I wet a rag using a bottle of distilled water I use to make coffee and carefully clean Dot's tail and under belly. The blanket isn't that bad. I put it in a pile of dog blankets that will go to the laundromat. I get a fresh blanket for Dot and we go back to bed. I only used up a cup of water to do all this.

If you want an egg for breakfast, you have to remember that you can't clean the pan. Once the dishwasher fills up with plates that you've carefully rinsed using small amounts of your valuable bottled water, you realize that your should have been using paper plates and plastic cups all along. Old habits die hard. You scrape plates into the garbage disposal and then realize that there's no water to wash the food away. You use more of your stash of water to briefly run the disposal so it won't start to smell next Tuesday. The two large dehumidifiers and the air conditioner working in tandem have already brought the humidity levels back to the normal range. The vent resisters are dry again. We've made a lot of progress.  There is no reason to mess things up at this point by turning the water back on again for a small amount of time so we could take showers and do laundry. The leak is large, so turning the water on again for even thirty minutes could put us right back where we started.

It's not like we're camping out. It's just that the bathroom is ten miles away now. Janet slept in the hotel last night and I went over this morning to take a shower. I'm envious of Dash when I watch him lift his leg in the park and pee wherever he wants. Too bad I can't do the same thing. It sure would make life simpler. When we went grocery shopping today, we mostly bought things that you can simply heat up in the microwave and eat without getting any more plates dirty. I'm wondering whether I can still make my morning smoothies. To clean the Vitamix, all you do is fill the container with about half a quart of water, add a little soap, and run the "clean" cycle. I should be able to do this with my stash of bottled water. The alternative is just to go out for breakfast every morning until the plumber fixes the leak. That sounds pretty good too.

All in all, the day went well. We washed a huge load of towels and dog blankets at a nearby laundromat. Too bad there's not a laundromat for dirty dishes. The humidity in the house is only 41% right now. We're making progress. I bought a bunch of bottled water for flushing toilets at Sam's Club. I even got caught up on some of the website work I was supposed to do yesterday. I watched another new episode of Dr. Who and will probably watch Saturday Night Live, just to see what Donald Trump does. Tomorrow I need to get ready for the tunnel digging crew to arrive. Mostly this involves taking apart a screened in porch without totally destroying it. We'll see if Dot can make it through the night. If she can't, there will be another trip to the laundromat tomorrow.

Chase is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1971

After we walked the dogs and ate breakfast this morning, I took Janet to the airport. It doesn't seem like a year since her last family reunion, but time just races by these days. Last year, when Janet left for her Las Vegas reunion, Dash was still undergoing cancer treatment. Now Dot is recovering from spinal surgery. The entire year has been one dog emergency after another. Luckily, both dogs are much better now.

Dot and Dash never like it when one of us is gone, but after a day or so they get used to the new routine. We get up a little later. The walks take longer, because I have to walk each of them one at a time. Janet bags up their meds for me before she leaves. I just pick up a little packet labeled Saturday Night, Tuesday Morning, or whatever the date happens to be and the correct meds are inside. I hope the weather improves, because it's going to be a long week if it continues raining every day.

I picked up some easy-to-chew groceries on the way home from the airport and then spent the afternoon working on my mobile friendly test site. Slowly but surely I'm learning how to build responsive websites. I have several new writing assignments that I could have worked on, but I didn't feel like writing today. I actually didn't feel like doing much of anything today. I'm surprised that I got as much done as I did.

I've got all the ingredients to make smoothies for breakfast now. We'll see how that goes. Since one of the ingredients for my banana smoothie is ice cream, I may just eat the ice cream. I had a scoop for dessert tonight to avoid cleaning pie out of my teeth and was surprised that it didn't bother me at all. I thought for sure that a lot of the discomfort I'm feeling was that my teeth had become more cold sensitive, but maybe it's something else. If the smoothies work for breakfast, I may just start eating soup for dinner. Chewing crunchy food is definitely a problem as this point.

I wish the dogs didn't mope so much around when Janet travels. It makes me feel guilty. I try to keep them entertained, but both of them hate change. When anything changes in their routine, they act bewildered. I think I provide the stability in their life and Janet provides the excitement. They need both. I've learned from experience that stability isn't always appreciated when you're looking for excitement. Hey, at least Dot and Dash like to sleep in late. We'll probably be doing a lot of that this week.

Spot is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1889

If I were starting a blog today I would probably title it What New Kind of Hell Is This instead of Some Assembly Required. The current title is entirely too positive for my present frame of mind. I don't have a lot held in reserve anymore. Small setbacks are starting to bother me much more than they should. Case in point. Our power went out again last night. Actually, we lost power twice. Yes, it rained, but it was only a light rain. So far this year, the power has gone out almost every single time it has rained. You would think the power company could do better than this. Clearly, something in the system needs to be upgraded. We have had notoriously unreliable electric power ever since we moved to this neighborhood, but I think the outages this year are worse than ever.

I was dreading spending the day in a cold house with a sick dog that can barely more. Luckily, the power was restored this morning, the furnace kicked in, and pretty soon we were back to normal. Taking Dot out to pee in the rain was problematic. The ground was wet and slick and I had to be extra careful not to fall myself. On cold days I have to position things around the house so that I'm ready to go when Dot lets me know it's time to pee. Once I'm holding her hips up with the harness, it's hard to turn her around to look for a coat or a missing pair of shoes. I'm trying to remember to leave a pair of easy to slip on shoes sitting by the back door, but half the time they're still in another room when I need them most.

Dot and I are learning to establish the new routines and rituals that will get us through the day. She sleeps a lot anyway, and I've learned that if I'm patient and hold her up while she wanders around aimlessly for a while, she will quickly find a comfortable place to sleep and I can get some work done. It works better if I try to adapt my life to her schedule, rather than the other way around. Since she can't move on her own, I need to make the short amount of time when she still feels like trying to walk as relaxed and comfortable as possible. I've learned how to massage her legs and at least three times a day I manually work her leg muscles in a gentle bicycle motion to help prevent atrophy. When Dot is resting and lying down she actually seems to like this.

The Withings Baby Monitor only covers one room, but I've discovered that I can use the camera in my laptop as a petcam to watch her if she wants to sleep in a different room. I just move the laptop to wherever she happens to be. Despite the unfortunate power outage and my duties as a watchful 24-7 pet nurse, I was able to get quite a bit done today. My big objective was getting a major website update completed. There is a new team responsible for this website now and we are still figuring out the best way to work together. Since I managed to get the updates online, I guess we are doing something right.

I hope the weather warms up and dries out quickly. Rain certainly complicates things. I definitely don't want to get Dot's special harness wet, because she is helpless without it. I am already resigned to the fact that I'll probably have to replace a lot of the landscaping later in the Spring. As I tramp around in my work boots, holding Dot up as she looks for the perfect place to pee, I am destroying the bedding plants and ground cover. This happened once before when I was helping Petey walk during his final year with us. When Spring arrived that year, most of the Asian Jasmine was completely dead. It's easy to re-landscape though. It's going to be a lot harder to get Dot walking again.

Joshua is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1280

Janet is home again. The new roof has been paid for. I didn't even get stung by a bee today. For the most part, all is well with the world.

The day did start off with a humongous Summer rainstorm, but the dogs and I are learning to adjust to these storms. Instead of walking the dogs right after I get up, as I usually do, we all had our breakfast instead. Dot and Dash love to eat, so postponing their walk was no big deal to them. I am so slow fixing my own breakfast that by the time I was finished eating and had done the dishes, the rain was over. Problem solved. The sudden downpour cooled things down by at least fifteen degrees, so we actually had a very enjoyable walk. Our afternoon walk was another story entirely. Once the sun broke through the clouds, the moisture in the ground turned to steam and the air became a sauna.

Considering that it was a Monday, I was surprisingly busy today. I completed a couple of website revisions and wrote an article or two. I remembered to pay my quarterly estimated taxes too, so I can cross that off my list. I was actually so productive today that I feel I should be entitled to take Tuesday off. That will never happen though. There is always work to do on Tuesday.

Janet's flight was delayed by weather this evening, so I found myself out at the airport watching the bags go round and round at the baggage claim carousel. I like bags and it's always interesting to see what other people are carrying. At least half the bags are dull, utilitarian looking Samsonite models, but occasionally I see something interesting. My favorite bags are made by PortaBrace. These distinctive blue bags are made by hand in Bennington, Vermont and used almost exclusively by film and video production crews. I frequently use mine as suitcases. They are almost indestructible.

I wish tomorrow was Friday. It's not like the workload is all that terrible this week. I think I'm just getting tired of oatmeal for breakfast. Even mixed with strawberries and blueberries, it's still oatmeal.

Bali is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1243

I took Janet to the airport today. It used to be that I traveled more than she did, but now it's the other way around. I rarely leave the neighborhood anymore. That's just as well. I don't really like traveling anymore. The dogs definitely don't like the idea of traveling. Mostly because they usually don't get to go. Dot and Dash get upset whenever they see a suitcase. A suitcase means that something is going to change and their routines will be disrupted for a while. I try to compensate by feeding them extra treats and taking naps with them. This usually works. Luckily, dogs are easy to please.

It was a beautiful day. Not a cloud in the sky. Maybe that's why everything was so crowded. There were long lines at the grocery store. There were even lines of people using the self-checkout terminals, which are usually empty. There was an old woman ahead of me in line who kept swiping her credit card through the machine over and over again, swearing at it when it wasn't doing what she wanted. I was just about ready to move to another line, when a clerk came over to her and explained that she was already finished and could just take her buggy and go. I wonder what will baffle and confuse me when I get old? I sure it will be something. It will be something totally unexpected too. That's the way it usually works.

When I was watching Dr. Who this evening I noticed a glowing red light on the set top box. I had forgotten that I had programmed the DVR to record the show. I don't know why I'm so keen on seeing every episode, because I don't think this new series is quite as good as some of the previous ones. I still think I liked the ninth and tenth doctors the best, when they traveled with Rose Tyler. Oh, well. If I want to see this new episode again, it's in the box. Maybe the season will get better. There's already a lot of buzz about the season finale, when the Doctor's name is revealed.

I hope the dogs don't mind if we skip the dog park tomorrow. Yeah, I know. Some people take four or five dogs to the park by themselves. I don't. Maybe I'm overprotective, but Dot is getting old and I've seen some pretty rough dogs in the park. I just feel more comfortable when there's two of us watching over them.

Dodger is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day