Day 3640

Life has returned to normal. I was up on the roof, wondering why there was still so much water even though it hasn't rained for several days. I wish I could just ignore this standing water, but I can't. Whenever I'm removing water from the roof, I'm reminded of a quote from an old Dr. Who episode. "Water is patient, Adelaide. Water just waits. Wears down the cliff tops, the mountains. The whole of the world. Water always wins." So true. The roof isn't leaking now, but if water sat there long enough, it would find a way in.

I finished editing the pictures from my trip and sent a few more to SpaceFlight Magazine. No reply or acknowledgment yet. This happens a lot. I never know whether people are too busy to reply or if my mail has gone into someone's junk mail folder. You always get an answer right away if someone wants something from you. If you want something from them, you may have to wait a while.

Our new petcam has been moving around on its own when nobody is looking at it. I looked on the Internet and a surprising number of people were experiencing the same problem. "It's creepy," most of them said. Strangely, the Chinese company that makes the IP camera openly admits that their camera pans and tilts on its own. "Don't worry," a company representative told one worried customer. "Nobody is spying on you. This is normal camera behavior. Our camera goes through a self-test routine periodically to make sure all systems are operating properly." Why am I skeptical? I doubt that this cheap camera is sophisticated enough to have a self-test routine. It's also a Chinese company, just like Huawei and Tik-Tok. The little camera works great, but for the moment we just put a paper bag over it.

Keeping track of my health is a mixed blessing. I'm always wondering about my sleep and heart rate now. My resting heart rate always gets lower when I settle into a routine. The more boring the routine, the lower the heart rate. Whenever I do something new, my resting heart rate goes up. Since a low resting heart rate is good, this would seem to indicate that a boring life is healthy. Exercise, even strenuous exercise does not elevate my resting heart rate. Travel does. I also sleep better after a boring day at home. This is all somewhat counterintuitive. You would think that doing new things would be good for you. Maybe not. Stress is a weird thing. Could it be that what is good for the brain is not necessarily good for the body.

I found a new spot that needs to be patched when I was up on the roof today. I wonder if the remaining silicon is still any good. I forgot to bring the bucket back inside on a night where the temperature got down in the low 30's. If the weather ever gets warm again, I guess I'll find out. I need to use this stuff up.

I don't think I'll go out for breakfast tomorrow. I've lost interest. I keep trying new places and new things that I don't really like. My smoothie is comfort food. I wonder sometimes if trying to be adventurous is even worth the effort. I'm comfortable with my routines and a simple, uneventful life seems to suit me.

Savannah is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3631

I finally got the Christmas tree up today. It doesn't seem possible that the year is almost over again. Where did the time go? Jeez. I still have things on my to-do list from last Summer. I try to keep up, but it's getting harder and harder every year. One of these years the tree is just going to seem like too much trouble. I've already stopped buying a pumpkin for the front porch on Halloween.

All the dog things we brought home for Ginny went back to the storage warehouse this morning. I returned with a big load of photo gear for the upcoming Santa Paws events. I doubt that I retrieved everything I need, but it's a start. We've been doing these holiday photos for so long that we've almost got it down to a science. I still forget things though. At least I've got a few more days to remember. I felt optimistic and didn't bring home any of the old muslin backdrops. I still think the new backdrop we ordered will arrive on time.

It took a lot longer than I thought to add the new petcam we bought to the network. The price was right on this thing, but the instructions were almost nonexistent. I knew the camera would probably work because when I looked at the comments on the website, people either loved it or hated it. Usually when you get such a polarized response it just means the device is difficult to install. I almost gave up, but eventually I did something right and the little camera sprang into life. Hopefully the petcam will keep working until the next time we foster a dog.

The hotel I booked in New Orleans called me this morning and told me that my credit card had been declined. WTF? I know this card is good. After sitting on hold for what seemed like forever, the issue finally got resolved. Apparently, the credit card company didn't think someone like me would really travel to New Orleans and just declined the charges in an abundance of caution. Why didn't they ask me first? Janet says I make my life difficult by still using the land line for contact information. She says credit card companies will send you a text that you can confirm on the spot if they have questions about a purchase. Who knew? I think they called the land line I had on file and nomorobo thought they were a telemarketer and kept hanging up on them. Life is way too complicated these days. The technology we use to make our lives easier often ends up making it harder instead.

By the end of the day, I felt like I finally had my ducks in a row. I added apps for the airline, the hotel, and the rental car company to my phone. I sorted through the photo gear to see if I had forgotten anything. I showed Janet how to use the new petcam, and I made sure the Christmas tree lights worked. Not bad for a Tuesday.

By the time I finished my walk, it was dark again. It really doesn't take much to completely use up my day. I used to accomplish so much more in a day, but for the life of me I don't know how. Even though I didn't accomplish much, I felt really busy today.

Spot is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3629

Another active Sunday. I managed to put 22,000 steps under my belt today. It didn't hurt that it was a clear, sunny Fall day. Janet and I took turns being away from the house, so someone was always home with Ginny. When I returned from the gym this morning she gave me one of those Dalmatian smiles. This was the first time we'd seen Ginny smile. I think she likes me.

Some days it's hard to take my five mile walk after I've been to the gym, but today I seemed to have more energy than usual. I even managed to clear the water off the roof as well. When I was walking, I saw my first Kestrel of the season. You never see these birds in the summer, but the American Kestrel is a frequent visitor to the park during the winter months. These small falcons always seem to be looking for food. I also saw a formation of White Pelicans returning to their winter home on Pelican Bay. They approached at a high altitude and then descended in a concentric circle. They almost looked like little airplanes on final approach.

I've decided that I like walking toward the end of the day. As the shadows grow longer and twilight approaches, everything changes quickly. If I start my walk at 4 PM, I can go from full sunlight to darkness in less than two hours. Sunsets are always beautiful on the lake on a clear day. As I approached home in late twilight, I was able to see Venus and Jupiter again. Venus was higher in the sky while Jupiter had moved lower. I was surprised at how much their positions had changed since the last time I saw them.

I was also surprised at how well my roof repairs have held up. We have had a significant amount of rain since I made the repairs and so far there have been no leaks. When I cleared the remaining standing water away this afternoon, everything looked pretty solid. I think my technique in applying the silicon material has improved. This stuff is very expensive and I used to apply a thin coat to cover a wider area. That was a bad idea. You need a thick coat to be effective. It's almost best if you just pour the stuff on the roof and let is flow, rather than try to spread it thinly using a paint roller. I'm learning. I have about a gallon to the silicon material left. I'll try to use if wisely the next time we have a really warm day.

We got another pet monitor to replace the one that broke recently. This probably means that we will be fostering more dogs in the future. Ginny needs to return to the kennel tomorrow afternoon. We've really enjoyed having her as a house guest, but she needs to go to her forever home soon. I used to think that it would be impossible for me to foster dogs because I would want to keep them all. Ginny is near perfect, but I am glad she has already found a good home. I don't know what has caused me to become a little less possessive but it's probably a good thing. Maybe we helped prepare Ginny for the journey she has ahead. On the other hand, maybe we just spoiled her. Either way, it was a very pleasant week. I'm going to miss this girl.

Jada is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2624

I usually check the dogs on the baby monitor before I start my workout at the gym. Typically they're just sleeping, but today I heard Dot yelping like she was in pain and saw Dash looking around with a worried look. I turned around and went back home again, wishing it wasn't a fifteen minute drive. The house was quiet when I arrived home, but Dot was resting in an awkward position on her dog bed. She must have tried to get up while I was gone and twisted one of her rear legs. On a good day, Dot can still get up on her own. On a bad day she can't. It used to be pretty safe to leave the house for a few hours when the dogs were taking their morning nap. They both sleep soundly and would typically still be snoring on their beds when I returned. That's all changed in the past month or so. Dot is a lot more restless now and doesn't sleep as soundly. Since the oncologist thought that the restless might be caused by discomfort, I was hoping that the Gabapentin might help. If the drug makes her as limp as a wet washrag though, it only makes matters worse.

When I got the dogs up, everything seemed fine. Dot was able to walk and both dogs were eager for me to feed them their lunch. I think Dot's yelping was more of a panic attack than an injury. She has grown very dependent on me and doesn't like to wake up and find me gone. I took the dogs outside to pee, fed them their lunch, and then cleaned up after Dot when she decided to poop while she was eating. After lunch we walked around for a while until Dot got tired and then they were both ready to take a nap again. After making sure that Dot was relaxed and resting in a comfortable position, I got in the car and went back to the gym. This time the trip was a success. It's always a balancing act to care for Dot while still finding a little time for myself. I'm almost always nearby when Dot needs me, but I do need to occasionally get out of the house.

The rain that was supposed to arrive today got delayed. Now, we're supposed to get some severe weather starting at about 1 AM this morning. I wish the tree guys had already come out to trim our trees. One of the main reasons I wanted to remove the dead limbs is that I'm always afraid that they're going to fall in a strong wind. Maybe the storm won't be a bad as the weatherman on TV is predicting. Sometimes I think they make things sound alarming to get more viewers. Of course, Texas weather actually is alarming, so I never ignore what the weatherman says.

I don't know what to do about Dash. He has gotten finicky about his food again. This is nothing new. It has been going on for years. We'll find a healthy diet that Dash likes and after enthusiastically eating it for months and months, he'll abruptly stop and refuse to touch the stuff. We look for a new diet and the whole process starts all over again. I've asked every vet I know what causes this behavior but have never really received a satisfactory answer. Sometimes Dash will refuse to eat something in the morning and then enthusiastically scarf the same food down in the afternoon. Nothing is simple at our house.

I didn't even bother with vacuuming this weekend. Every time I thought about getting out the vacuum cleaner, the dogs were sleeping peacefully and I didn't want to disrupt things. Sleeping peacefully is the Holy Grail around here. When the dogs are asleep, maybe I've got time to take a nap myself, or even get something productive done. Actually, Dot is asleep right now, so maybe this is my opportunity.

Spot is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2566

Janet and I decided to go out for an early Christmas dinner before she leaves for the holidays. We went to Knife to try their burgers. Knife is basically a steakhouse, but after a well known food critic wrote that Knife's hamburgers were in his opinion the best in the entire world, I've been curious to try them. I'll have to say that I wasn't disappointed. These burgers were amazing.

I've learned not to check the pet cam when we are trying to do something enjoyable away from home. It always spoils everything. We had a relaxing and very enjoyable dinner, but I wasn't surprised to see that the house was a disaster when we returned. Dot is completely unpredictable now. When she poops, it might be ten hours before she goes again or ten minutes. I thought we had a chance this time, because she'd pooped about an hour before we left the house. It wasn't meant to be. My poop forensics abilities were able to determine that she'd heard a noise outside and pooped while she was struggling to get up and investigate. It's so much easier when Dot poops while she's asleep. This time she stepped in the stuff and tracked the mess all over her penned in area in the hallway. Three blankets and a large waterproof floor protector all needed to be hosed off and thrown in the washing machine. Dot needed quite a bit of cleanup herself.

Janet had a vacation day today, but it still seemed like a normal Friday to me. I checked to make sure the trash had been picked up, went out for my regular Friday morning breakfast, and then returned home to finish writing my last article before the Christmas holidays. I wrote the article quickly enough, but then I discovered that my client hadn't been receiving my mail all week because their IT department was blocking me again. This happens every couple of months and it is infuriating. Guys, how many times do I have to tell you that I'm not a spammer. I'm sure that there are a few spammers using Bluehost servers, but you don't have to block the entire hosting company to catch them. To make a long story short, it took more time to successfully send the article than it took to write it.

This has got to be the worst weather for fighting a cold. It's cold and damp outside and warm and dry inside. I'm constantly taking Dot out without adequate clothing, because there isn't time to bundle up. At least I've got a bunch of cough drops now. I'm surprised that the dogs haven't caught colds too. It's really nasty out. If Dot didn't need me, I'd probably spend the entire holiday weekend sleeping. It's almost certain that she's going to wake up at 5:30 AM tomorrow morning though, just like she always does. If I don't get her outside by 5:31, there will be pee on the floor.

I hope it dries out and warms up a bit tomorrow. There are too many wet leaves on the floor and too many wet paws on the bedspread. It would be nice if I quit coughing too. At least I didn't cough during dinner tonight. Dinner was definitely the high point of the day.

Ziggy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2432

Today was quiet. I spent most of the day finishing my remaining writing assignments. In theory, I could make a good living this way, but the assignments aren't consistent enough. I miss the days when reading was considered mandatory. Back in the day, I used to write lots of annual reports for large corporations. These jobs always paid well and weren't much harder than the lower paying online work I do today. Everything is visual these days. I was curious when I heard about Instagram Stories recently. Finally, an Instagram feature designed for people like me. Not really. I was very disappointed when I discovered that these "stories" were just meant to be collections of short videos. In a world where people increasingly communicate using emojis, I'm lucky to have any writing jobs at all.

Since Dot keeps me housebound most of the time, I watch way more TV than I should. I never actually watch entire shows, but the TV in the kitchen is always on and I'll glance at it as I'm doing my daily chores. Donald Trump is increasingly portrayed as an unbalanced Dr. Strangelove. Hillary Clinton is portrayed as an evil mafia boss who is above the law. Since there is a basis for both of these portrayals, why are we being asked to vote for either of these people? The main message of both campaigns is that the other guy is even worse than they are. It's pathetic. You'd think the third party candidates would get a little more traction in this toxic environment, but nobody even bothers to interview Gary Johnson. The media treats him like someone who was born with six toes. He's just a curiosity. I'm pretty burned out on political news, but it's still more interesting than cooking shows or The View. Why do the networks even bother with daytime programming? I think the only people watching are me and a bunch of people sitting in doctor's waiting rooms.

I'm still trying to figure out how to reconfigure my network router so I can use my pet cam again. I guess I could just go buy a different pet cam, but I am determined to get the existing one working. I've given up on AT&T and have started talking with the people who make the software that the camera uses. So far, they're just asking me a lot of questions, but the questions are very specific, so I think we might be getting somewhere.

Janet and I found a lost dog while we were walking Dot and Dash this evening. The little dog was friendly, but was hard to catch since we couldn't move very fast with Dot. Luckily, a neighbor driving down the street saw us and stopped to help. We found a phone number on the dog's collar and he said he would try to reunite the dog with its owner. Hopefully, they are back together now.

Tomorrow I have an appointment for my annual safety inspection. I've tried to schedule this excursion so that Dot will be asleep while I'm gone, but I have little control over what Dot actually does. Just because she's usually asleep at 10 AM, doesn't mean that she's going to be sleeping tomorrow. Whenever I go out these days, I tend to come home to find a dog who has pooped all over the place.

At least it's Friday tomorrow. This has been a long, very hot week. The trash has been taken out to the curb and I'm almost ready for bed. I'm hoping that the safety inspection doesn't take very long, so I still have time to go out for breakfast. I'd definitely like to end the week with a good breakfast.

Hannah is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2422

Today was a lost cause. It was hot. I couldn't get organized. And despite some valiant efforts, I didn't really accomplish anything. Since work was slow, I though I'd try to figure out why the pet cam wasn't working. The camera worked perfectly last month and I haven't changed any settings. Why wasn't it working now? The elephant in the room was the new router that AT&T sent me recently. It made perfect sense that this would be the source of the problem if it weren't for the fact that everything in the office except the pet cam connected to the Internet just fine. Google wasn't any help at all, since this particular camera isn't very popular. I couldn't find many people who were having the same problem. I suspected that the default settings on the new router are blocking the pet cam, but I also suspected that I could easily turn the router into a brick if I messed around with the configuration without knowing what I was doing. If I were more knowledgeable about such matters, I would enable port forwarding on both the router and the pet cam and force the two devices to connect. I did discover that I could use a proxy server to bypass the router entirely, but since I don't have a proxy server there was no way I could test this. In the end, I wasted three hours experimenting with different settings, and the pet cam still doesn't work.

I was going to wash the car today, but when I took the dogs outside after lunch, I quickly decided that this was a bad idea. It was way too hot. I guess it was too hot for the roofers too, because they didn't show up. When I tried to find out what was going on, I was told that my roof was still going to get fixed this week. We'll see. It seems like it's either too hot for the roofers to work, or it is too wet. Apparently this is a three bears story where the porridge has to be just right.

When I tried to make an appointment to take Dot to the vet, I discovered that I've lost my Wednesday time slot to someone else. I couldn't get in this week at all and had to settle for next week. That was fine with me, since I'm not in that much of a hurry to restart Dot's physical therapy anyway. I would like to know whether the water therapy will still benefit her and try to resume her acupuncture treatments, so I guess we'll wait until next week.

I hope I'm more organized tomorrow. Maybe I ought to tackle a project I know I can finish. The dogs certainly aren't helping me become more productive. They spent most of the day sleeping. I was real tempted to join them.

Snoopy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2412

Another day, another terrorist attack. Throughout the afternoon I kept hearing conflicting reports on social media. One would say the shooter was a neo-nazi who shouted that he hated foreigners. Another would say that he was an Islamic radical who shouted Allāhu Akbar. Clearly one of these reports was a fabrication. Maybe neither of them was true. News is an uncharted wilderness these days. It's all spin. Whenever almost anything happens, someone will quickly try to twist the narrative to suit their needs. Objectivity increasingly seems like a quaint, outdated concept that few people have any use for. Most people, including myself, have no idea what the truth is and just pick the narrative that fits their preconceived notions.

When I flipped back and forth between Fox and MSNBC last night I could have sworn that I was watching two different conventions. One network thought that the event had channeled the inner pulse of middle class America while the other dismissed the whole thing as an unmitigated disaster. I used to think I could discover the truth by listening to both sides of the story, but I'm not so sure anymore. Spinning a story has become an art form and it's almost impossible to tell the difference between fact and fiction. Where is Walter Cronkite when you need him?

Today was slow but it started out nicely. I had Eggs Benedict at my new favorite restaurant and then returned home to finish my remaining website updates. The roofers didn't show up, but at least I got an explanation. It was apparently too hot for the roofers to work. If that's the case, I'm probably not going to get my roof fixed until September.

My pet cam has quit working again. It's so irritating that AT&T keeps tweaking its firewall settings and the apps on my phone keep automatically updating themselves overnight while I sleep. I'll get everything set just the way I want it and then a new version of an app will come out that upsets the apple cart. I have lots of old applications on my office computer for a reason. The apps are stable, don't crash, and do exactly what they are supposed to do. It's hard to keep out outdated apps on your phone, because they update themselves automatically. By the time I get the pet cam working, there will be a brand new version of the app that sets me back to square one again. I often feel like Sisyphus, continually pushing the same rock up the hill over and over again.

I felt like having Pizza tonight, so I went and ordered a nice looking large pie at one of our favorite Italian restaurants. When did ordering pizza become expensive? When I was in college, pizza was one of the cheapest things you could have for dinner. Now, I can order Chinese, Cheeseburgers, or a wide variety of other take-out meals for much less. Pizza still costs less than good barbecue though. We save barbecue for special occasions.

Once again, I screwed up and took my evening meds in the morning. There's a reason they tell you to take Niacin at night. The flushing sensation it can cause can be severe and make you feel like you are burning up. The sensation seldom lasts more than an hour, but it does make me check my meds a little more carefully the next day.

I'm not sure what I'm going to do this weekend.  Anything that involves sleep sounds good to me.

Pongo is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2339

The electricians came today. So, how many electricians does it take to change a light bulb? In the past, it has taken as many as three. Today, there was only one guy, but perhaps there should have been more. Things didn't go all that smoothly. The sodium vapor bulb has burned out, so we decided to just replace the bulb instead of the entire unit. Amazingly, Home Depot had these strange bulbs in stock, but the model the electrician selected turned out to be bad and he had to take it back. To avoid trying out bulbs all day, he suggested that I replace the sodium vapor lamp with a modern LED fixture. This sounded fine by me. Unfortunately, the only fixture the electrician could find was bright enough to light a tennis court at night. Then the guy's boss called and told him he was spending too much time looking for light bulbs and he needed to move on to the next job. The electrician left, but told me that he'd be back before dark with a light that worked. I didn't expect to see him again, but he was true to his word and eventually returned with a smaller LED fixture that worked. Hopefully, we won't need to do this again for a while.

Dot and I skipped our physical therapy session for the first time in over a year. I think the added rest is helping. She hasn't gotten much stronger, but she does seem a lot more comfortable.  Hey, it's only been two days now. I'm encouraged, even though the progress has been small. We only walk Dot around the block now. If she gets stronger, we'll gradually start increasing the distance, but I don't think she'll ever walk up and down the hills of her old route again. Since incontinence is becoming a bigger problem, I went to a pet store and got a giant box of puppy training pads. We put one of these disposable pads under her at night, so if she pees, it won't soak through the blankets.

My project for the day was turning an old iPhone without a SIM card into a pet cam. This phone was abandoned long ago when the battery went bad, but it still works when you plug it into a charger and it will connect to WiFi. Our regular pet cam won't reach the small area where Dot stays now, so I thought it was worth a try. I downloaded an app that turns your phone into a security camera and amazingly, it worked. Now, I have a camera that is small enough that I can put it right next to Dot's bed when I have to leave.

The other day when I was updating firmware on a camera body, I discovered that a lot of modern lenses have firmware too. I found several lenses that were out of date, along with detailed instructions on how to update them. After installing the new firmware in each lens, I'll have to admit that I can't see any differences at all. I suppose that the auto focus is smoother now or something. I didn't need to do any of this, since I tend to use the manual settings on my cameras, but this is what geeks do on a slow day.

I sent out my May invoices today. This was the smallest batch of invoices I've mailed in a long time. Sad. I miss the days when I was busy and headhunters were calling me every month to offer me a better job. I think there's a better chance of Dot jumping over a tall fence than of a headhunter calling with a cool job offer again. Dot is aging with so much grace and dignity. I can already tell that it's going to be more difficult for me. I need to ask Dot what her secret is.

Dodger is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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