Day 2456

When we were taking Dot on her evening walk around the block, we discovered that one of our neighbors had died about two weeks ago. We might never have known if someone hadn't pulled in the neighbor's driveway as we were walking by and casually mentioned the recent death. Years ago when all the neighbors actually talked to each other, we would have known about something like this immediately. I felt bad that we didn't even go to the funeral.

The neighborhood has changed over the years. We were the young ones when we moved here. Most of the other people had lived in the neighborhood since they built their homes in the 1940's. As our original neighbors grew older and moved to retirement homes or died, they were increasingly replaced by renters. The renters stayed a year or two at most, until their company relocated them somewhere else. Gradually, not as many people knew each other anymore. I would wave at familiar faces as I walked by with the dogs, but I didn't even know their names. I'm sure there are still people in the neighborhood who are the best of friends, but it's not like it used to be. Nothing is permanent now. If I told some of the renters that Joan had died, they wouldn't even know who she was.

I cleaned the pecans off the roof this morning. What a mess. Our resident squirrels love the pecans and eat them with gusto. Broken pecans and shells are everywhere and as soon as it rains, the tannin in the nuts turns the water into a deep brown coffee colored mess. The tannin not only stains the roof, it causes the special elastomeric coating to deteriorate. I try my best to keep the roof clean, but it is a a hopeless task. Now that Fall is approaching, oak leaves, pecans, and acorns will be falling on the roof from now through December.

I didn't feel like vacuuming today, but since I'd skipped this chore last week, I really had no choice. With two dogs that shed constantly and track dirt in the house every time they go outside, I probably need to vacuum everyday. The house looks better now, but it will be dirty again tomorrow. That's just the way it goes when you've got Dalmatians.

I don't know why I even bothered to go to the gym today because I was worn out before I even arrived. It's important to maintain routines though, so I thought I'd make an effort. Since my shoulder was hurting already, I skipped some of the routines that were sure to make it worse. Instead of aggravating my shoulder on purpose, I shot free throws on the basketball court a little longer and spend a little extra time on the treadmill. My fitness tracker said I had over 20,000 steps today, so I did manage to keep busy.

Tomorrow is a holiday. Mostly this just means that the park will be extra crowded and that we won't get any mail. Janet mentioned going down to Trinity Groves and trying out some of the new restaurants there. I'm so out of it these days that I didn't even know what Trinity Groves was.

Nola is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2452

I hurt my back lifting Dot into the car today. I don't think I did any serious damage, but it was a reminder that I'm not getting any younger. Just about everybody I know has some sort of lower back problem. Some go to chiropractors. Others prefer massage. I tend to do nothing. Usually the problem goes away on its own in a day or two if I don't do anything further to make the problem worse. Lifting Dot is becoming problematic. She's fairly heavy and if I don't lift her just right, she whines and complains. I blame today's mishap on somebody parking too close to me at the vet. I couldn't get the door to open fully and had trouble getting the leverage to lift Dot properly. It's hell getting old. It's too bad I can't get a two for one deal and get the vet to give me acupuncture at the same time she's treating Dot.

Most of today's mishaps were caused by me. I was still half asleep when I got up to take Dot outside to pee. Instead of hurrying her right out the back door, I stopped to adjust her harness and she promptly peed on the living room rug. I should have remembered that she didn't pee before she went to bed last night and this was going to be one of those mornings where I had less than twenty seconds to get her outside. I'm still not sure what to do about the rug. This is one of the large rugs that is difficult to take outside and clean. Dot also pooped in her bed this afternoon, but that's hardly worth mentioning. It happens all the time.

Dash has decided to create his own set of problems. He won't take his long walk before breakfast anymore. This is the best time of day, because it is still cool outside. I can't convince him of that though. Our new routine is for me to finish my breakfast, feed him his banana, do the dishes, and then give him a walk. For some reason, it seems to take longer to do things this way. The temperature heats up quickly too. I was sweating when we finished our walk this morning.

The vet always asks whether I think Dot is getting better or worse when we go for our Wednesday therapy sessions. I honestly don't know anymore. Some days she genuinely seems to be improving. Other days it seems like the end is near. Often it seems like we were in exactly this same place last year at this time. She was already incontinent last August. She couldn't walk far without assistance. I guess the amazing thing is that despite her age and many injuries, Dot really hasn't gotten much worse during the past year. She is remarkably tenacious. On days like today, I think she is going to outlast me.

At least the marathon of vet appointments is over for a while. Tomorrow ought to be a quiet day. It's hard to believe it's September already. If the weather is nice I should go up on the roof and see how many pecans are up there. I hear them dropping on the roof from the big pecan tree all day long. I should have removed these nuts already, because they create a huge mess when it rains. The tannin in the pecan shells turns the standing water on the roof into a chocolate colored mess that quickly stains the white roof. This natural dye seems indelible, so each year the roof gets a little darker. I wouldn't be surprised if the brand new patched areas are already turning brown.

I hope my back feels better tomorrow. If it doesn't, I won't be going up on the roof at all.

Domino is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2083

We woke up to rain for the second time in as many weeks. Maybe the seasons are finally starting to change. The dogs always notice the rain first. I think they smell it. There was no thunder or wind this morning, but Dash went into his rain panic mode anyway. Dot taught him well, because now he's even more storm phobic than she is. Since Dot is half deaf now, she sleeps through a lot of things until Dash wakes her up with his barking and whining. She must have known what he was talking about this morning, because it didn't take long for her to go into storm panic mode too. It was a gentle rain and I knew she was going to poop soon, so I took her outside in the rain and walked her down the alley. We got wet, but it didn't take long. After barking at the weather a couple of times, she did her business.

I was hoping that we could go back to bed for a while, but Dash was wide awake when we returned to the house and he wanted his breakfast. So much for sleeping in on Saturday morning. By the time we fed the dogs and had a little something ourselves, the rain has stopped. I wish I had gotten all the pecan shells off the roof yesterday, like I had planned. Pecan shells must contain some sort of natural dye, because whenever it rains in the Fall, the broken shells on the roof immediately turn the water a dark tobacco brown that stains everything. If you're wondering why the pecans are all broken, it's because the squirrels feast on them. We gave up on eating the pecans or making pies with them years ago, because the squirrels always get them first.

When I went up on the roof later in the morning to check things out, there must have been ten pounds of broken pecan shells mixed in with the water. It was an ugly mess. It took me over an hour to get things cleaned up, and just like they always do, the broken pecan shells had stained the white roof even further. The roof looks terrible now, but at least it doesn't leak. In my ongoing battle with nature, it's the squirrels, spiders, and armadillo who always win. To add insult to injury,  I saw two well fed squirrels pulling up my St. Augustine grass by the roots and eating it while I was putting the Sump Pump away.

I thought one of my clients was a telemarketer this morning and refused to pick up the phone three times in a row. Janet, who is more curious about repeat phone calls than I am finally picked up the line and apologized for my behavior. Hey, it seemed like a telemarketer to me. There was no name on the caller ID and telemarketers often call several times in a row. They know you'll eventually pick up the line.

We went to the Eisemann Center tonight to see the Rich Tones. Janet has friends who sing in this group and we go every year to this annual concert. I didn't think I'd like a 100 member women's barbershop chorus when we first started going to these concerts, but the music grows on you. The group often takes pop hits like Lady Gaga's Born This Way or Michael Jackson's Beat It and re-arranges them as massive acapella numbers for their 100 voice choir.  The show was good tonight, but I worried that we were leaving the dogs alone too long. Of course, they were just fine when we got home.

The big photo shoot is tomorrow. I"m supposed to take a group portrait of several dogs and cats, a large lizard, two snakes, a rabbit, and a guinea pig. Maybe there's a parrot too. I hope the snake doesn't eat the guinea pig.

Duke is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1759

We encountered a turtle on our morning walk today. Dot growled at it. Dash wanted to play with it. And I thought it was a good metaphor for the way the day was going. I didn't really have that much to do today, but everything I started seemed to move at a turtle's pace.

I'll sure be glad when allergy season is over. Every time I walk the dogs or work in the yard, it seems to take hours for my nose to return to normal. I spend the day with my eyes watering and my nose dripping. I guess I could take antihistamines, but they seem to leave me feeling even worse than the allergies they are meant to cure. I've been blowing my nose so much lately that I'm beginning to look like Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer.

I got a surprise when I went up on the roof today. All the pecan shells and leaves were gone. I guess last week's windstorm blew them away. There was still some standing water from all the rain, but it didn't really take me long at all to clean things up.

Our house must be on the migration path for the Monarch butterflies this year. I've never seen so many in our yard before. They're everywhere. I've tried several times to photograph the butterflies, but they don't stay in one place for very long. The only times I've gotten good photos of butterflies is when I catch them feasting on the nectar from flowers. We don't have many flowers in our yard, but the Monarch's do seem to like to flutter through our Oak trees.

Today's work consisted mostly of answering client's questions and asking a few of my own. Very little got accomplished. I'm glad I bought that slab of bacon yesterday. It sure tasted good with breakfast this morning and seemed to keep me in a good mood despite all the frustrations.

Dot seemed a bit slower than usual in the underwater treadmill at our physical therapy session today. On the other hand, she responded very well to acupuncture, so the visit was still a success. On the way home, I noticed that there was a bad traffic jam on the freeway, so I decided to take the back roads. This wasn't a good idea, because I must have passed at least ten 20 MPH school zones. The crowded freeway probably still would have been faster.

I still haven't gone to Northern Tools to look at generators, but maybe I'll go tomorrow after my breakfast outing. I'm convinced that if I actually do buy a generator, there won't be any more power outages. Janet says that if that is the case, the unused generator would actually be a good investment.

Maverick is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1730

I think we have some of the best fed squirrels in the world living in our yard. When I went up on the roof to see if there was still any standing water, I discovered a thick carpet of broken pecan shells covering the entire roof. The big old pecan tree in the side yard had a good crop of nuts this year and the squirrels are making the most of it. It's a shame that the squirrels are eating every last nut on the tree, since these tasty pecans would make dozens of great pies.

It doesn't look like we are going to get any pie this year. The squirrels have already won this battle by eating all the nuts before they have even matured. In addition to being gluttonous little piggies, the squirrels have also created a huge mess. The broken pecan shells act as a natural dye which turns any standing water on the roof a dark brown. This burnt sienna colored water in turn stains the white surface of the epoxy coated roof. I no longer have a white roof.

When I took the dogs out in the yard after lunch I smelled something dead in the corner of the yard. I looked and looked, but I couldn't find anything. I hate dead things in the yard because Dash eats them and then he gets diarrhea. The feral cats in the neighborhood are always dragging their catch of the day into the yard. Over the years I've found dozens of dead bird and mice. I'm sure the dogs have found even more. The only thing I did find today was a deep hole that looked like it had been dug by a possum or an armadillo. The hole was about eight inches wide and tunneled into the earth for over two feet. When I filled the hole in with earth, the bad smell subsided a bit. Maybe there was something dead inside the hole. If so, it's dead and buried now. I didn't want to investigate.

One of the websites I update frequently has disappeared. The server just isn't there anymore. Maybe it is down for repairs or has been taken offline for other reasons. Either way, it is a big mess because nobody received any warning that this was about to happen. People never notice a site when it's up. As soon as it goes down however, everybody notices. I have a feeling that I will be moving the site to another hosting company soon.

The dogs seemed distracted at class tonight. Dash wouldn't sit and Dot seemed to get lost during one of the exercises. It's a shame that the days are getting so much shorter already. The sun was already setting when we arrived this evening and it was completely dark by the time we were finished. There are lights in the field that we use for training, but I still prefer daylight much better.

Tomorrow looks busy. Dot has her physical therapy day. There's a meeting I'm supposed to attend. Today's website problems will probably get worse before they get better. It's only one day though and then it's Friday again.

Cleo is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1697

I got to go out for breakfast this morning. It was nice to get away for a while and breakfast was delicious, but by the time I got home, Dot had already peed on the floor. I think her incontinence is actually getting worse instead of better. Maybe it was just the heat. It was over 103 today and the hotter it gets, the more water Dot drinks. I wish there was an easy solution to this, but there doesn't appear to be. Diapers immobilize Dot's weak rear legs. Waterproof pads are all made in China now and are so flimsy they are virtually worthless.

The only good pads we have are three old ones we purchased over fifteen years ago when our first Dalmatian began to get old and feeble. They don't make these things like they used to. The FedEx man delivered a new larger waterproof pad today that was meant to be used in the back of a station wagon or SUV. It was large enough and very waterproof. It was not absorbent though. If a dog peed on this thing, the pee would just roll to the edge and soak whatever was underneath. It's frustrating. I can envision exactly what I need for Dot to sleep on, but nobody seems to make it. We'll investigate the estrogen therapy this weekend. Both Janet and I are a little wary of the Incurin drug, but it might be the only option we've got.

It was good that I got out for breakfast this morning, because the rest of the day was spent working on a new website and doing laundry. The website is coming along nicely and I can probably have it ready to launch sometime next week. I'm not to optimistic about the laundry though. I may be doing laundry forever. I sure hope the washing machine and the air conditioner don't break. They are the most essential machines in the house right now.

When I was walking Dash this morning, I spotted some Jimson Weed. What on earth is Jimson Weed doing in a popular public park full of kids and dogs? The large white flowers are pretty but the stuff is highly poisonous. I made a note not to go near this plant again. If the dogs ate it, it could kill them.

It's hot enough now that the standing water on the roof is starting to evaporate fairly quickly. When I went to clean up the remaining water this afternoon, I discovered that falling pecan shells had stained the water a deep brown. It's hard to keep a pretty white roof when the water that's standing on it is already stained a dark brown. It's looks like we're going to have a good pecan crop this Fall. There would be enough for dozens of pecan pies, if the squirrels didn't get the nuts first. These pesky squirrels apparently can't wait for the nuts to ripen and mature. They're eating immature nuts right now and making a huge mess on the roof in the process. I wish the squirrels would eat the Jimson Weed instead.

Lilly is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1370

There wasn't enough time to take the dogs to the dog park we like in North Dallas this morning, so we went to another one right in the neighborhood. This park wasn't as well manicured as its North Dallas cousin. The dogs were a bit scruffier too. Dot and Dash certainly didn't seem to care. As long as they got to run around and smell things off leash, they were happy campers. It would certainly be easier to take the dogs to this nearby park, but I've seen fights break out when people brought aggressive dogs to the park, and our vet told us that one of her patients caught Leptospirosis from stagnant water in the park. If we can keep the dogs safer by driving a bit further to a cleaner, more polite dog park, it is well worth the effort.

I mowed the grass for the last time this season. Oh, who am I kidding? I'm sure I'll be mowing the front yard for several more months. There is a slight leak in one of the front yard faucets and I startled a few frogs who had made the damp grass around the leak their Summer home. I wish frogs were all I had to worry about in the back yard. The armadillo has returned every night this week and is making a mess of things. I discovered a large hole that the critter had dug under the fence to get in and out and filled it up with dirt again. Maybe this will keep the armadillo out, but I doubt it. If an armadillo can dig one hole under the fence, it can probably dig another.

I thought I'd install a webserver on my laptop so I could show my client the new Wordpress site I've been building. Much to my chagrin, I had to read the installation tutorial all over again. In less than a week, I'd already forgotten how to do the installation. I had a general idea how to do the installation, but that wasn't good enough. Servers and databases just won't work unless you have all the passwords and permissions set correctly. I finally got everything working properly, but as I have mentioned many times before, I'm not really a detail person.

I keep vacillating back and forth about buying a new car. Some days I feel like keeping the Defender and finding someone who could retrofit a new engine. Other days, I feel like taking money out of savings and getting myself something plush and extravagant. Today, I felt like getting a car just like Janet's. Her car is quite nice, somewhat affordable, and it's certainly been more reliable than mine over the years. If I wasn't obsessed with having something totally unique, this whole process would be a lot easier.

I don't know why I went up on the roof today. It hasn't rained in weeks. What I saw surprised me. The entire roof was covered with a layer of broken pecan shells from the neighbor's pecan tree. I knew the squirrels liked pecans, but I didn't know they liked them this much. I must have swept ten pounds of cracked pecan shells off the roof. Doing this little chore now will save me a lot of trouble later. Pecan shells will turn a puddle of standing water the color of iced tea. There are a lot more pecans that are still hanging on the pecan tree though. It is almost inevitable that by by this time next year, my nice white new roof will be the color of iced tea as well.

Spot is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 643

We got a much needed rainstorm late last night. I could tell from the way the rain was beating on the roof that it was just a matter of time before it started leaking inside. Sure enough, just before I got ready to go to bed, I heard water dripping on the living room floor. I got out the buckets and placed them under the leak and listened to the drip, drip, drip of the water as I went to sleep.

This morning, the blue bucket was about half full, but the water had stopped dripping. After taking the dogs on their morning walk, I climbed up on the roof to survey the damage. Going up on the roof was the last thing I wanted to do with my ongoing neck problems, but when you've got standing water on a leaking flat roof, it simply can't be ignored. I swept away the standing water, but I'm still not sure where the water is coming from. The entire roof was covered with half eaten pecans. Our pecan tree must have had a bumper crop this year. I've tried to harvest these pecans on good years like this, but it's hard to get ahead of the squirrels. They are relentless. Judging from the debris on the roof, our local squirrel population must be eating these things 24x7. They never eat the entire pecan. They just nibble enough so that you'd never want to use the nut to make a pecan pie or anything.

I'm getting behind on paying bills again. To stay current, I spent a good part of the afternoon paying a large stack of bills that had accumulated on my desk. I used to pay these things the same day they arrived, but I've grown disgusted with them. Anyone who tries to tell you that inflation isn't a problem must not have many utility bills. The water bill seems four times higher than it was five years ago. Ditto for the gas and electric bills. The real problem though is all the phone bills. Do I really need a fax line anymore? Do I need to keep a 4-G hotspot when I only use it several times a year? I probably don't need half the telephone services I currently have, but it's hard to decide which ones to drop, since I use all of them from time to time.

It's amazing how resilient nature is. As I was walking the dogs this evening, I noticed that last night's rains had already spawned a brand new crop of flowers. The flowers weren't there yesterday, but they were in full bloom today. All it took was one good rain. Things like this are encouraging to me. Life is full of sudden reversals and often bad news can turn back into good news again a lot quicker than you think.

Rhett is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day