Day 4000

Today was a milestone. Yay. I've only got 1000 days left to reach my goal. It's hard to believe that I've been blogging now for 4000 consecutive days. I've never missed a single day. Tornados, illness, travel, and numerous power outages never stopped me. The lack of anything to say never stopped me either. Blogging is not very popular anymore and readers have dwindled, but I soldier on toward an arbitrary and somewhat meaningless goal. 5000 days actually seems within reach. I can do this. If you continue reading, I'm sure something interesting will happen within the next three years.

Today's interesting event was our annual Santa Paws photo shoot. In previous years Dalmatian Rescue has organized multiple Santa Paws events in early December. I don't know why, but people love to have a picture of their pets with Santa. These holiday events have always been popular and are a reliable fundraiser for Dalmatian Rescue. Covid has made holding events like this much more difficult, but we pulled it off. Even Santa wore a mask this year. We only scheduled a single event and reservations were spaced out a bit more, but I think we were successful. 

I think we did a great job keeping everybody safe and people loved their pictures. Everyone was polite and followed the rules. Compared to grocery shopping or going to a hardware store, I don't think having your dog's picture taken with Santa was risky at all. Once I got used to it, wearing a mask all day wasn't that bad either. I wore my good N-95 mask, but just about anything would have sufficed. Nobody was really that close together.

There were no equipment failures today and no dogs peed on the backdrop either. If we do this again next year I'm going to have to replace a few things. One of the stands that holds up the backdrop is on its last legs. The softbox I use as a key light has seen better days as well. My Norman strobes and power packs seem indestructible though. I've used these things for so many years and they still function flawlessly. The aging equipment seemed expensive at the time, but it turned out to be a good investment.

Dawn has absolutely no separation anxiety. She didn't seem to mind that we were gone all day at all. We checked on her with the webcam from time to time and I think she just slept on the bed all day. It would have been nice to get a Santa picture with her, but Dawn hates riding in the car and the kennel can be stressful as well. I think she enjoyed a long, peaceful nap.

Tomorrow, a lot of the photo gear goes back in the storage warehouse for another year. I've already washed the backdrop and it came out looking like new. Maybe when I dig this stuff out again, the world will be back to normal. I certainly hope so anyway.

Ellis is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3263

I think we're ready to go. I've finished testing the photo equipment and it all works. I located the battery I need. Everything is packed in bags and waiting to be loaded into the car. The only missing link is me. I'm still tired, but I guess I passed my test as well. I made it through the day.

Pooping in the bed has become a nightly occurrence. Dash has lost control of his bowels. Since he is pooping in his sleep more frequently now, there is hope that we'll be able to slide a puppy training pad under his butt at some point. If he would sleep soundly and stay in one place, cleanup would be easy.

I thought that I got up early this morning, but tomorrow I'll need to get up even earlier. The photo event starts at 9 AM and it takes me about an hour to set things up. Add in the drive to the location and I'll need to leave the house around 7 AM. I'm not sure how Dash is going to get his walk tomorrow. We need to wait until it is light to walk because of the coyotes. I'm nervous about the coyotes this year because there is an aggressive coyote in a town just North of here that has already bitten several people. No giant earthquakes down here, but we do have a mean coyote.

The earthquake in Alaska today seems pretty major. It reminded me of the big quake in 1964 when I was in high school in Fairbanks. We weren't even close to the epicenter but the pine trees in our yard were waving around like matchsticks and all the water sloshed out of the kitchen sink. Earthquakes are weird and kind of frightening. If you've ever experienced one, you won't forget it.

I was surprised at how difficult it was to find the lithium battery I needed today. I had to go to four different stores. The battery store, which usually stocks every type of battery known to man, was out of stock.  The store manager told me that a man came in last week and bought 600 of these things. Jeez. All I needed were two.

I'll probably regret having pizza for dinner. Pizza almost always gives me heartburn. It tastes good though and neither Janet or I felt like cooking this evening. I didn't feel like cooking this morning either. As soon as I finished walking Dash, I went out for breakfast and ordered the Brioche French Toast and bacon that has become my Friday morning favorite.

None of my model trains sold in November. Damn. I was hoping that November would be a good month. December is bound to be better. Surely somebody will want a train for Christmas. I'm hoping that interest will pick up for the online Prints and Multiples auction I'm currently participating in. My consignments are bargains. They'd make good Christmas presents too. It's weird that I've become so interested in selling things these days. I'm not interested in buying stuff at all. That's definitely a first for me.

I hope I survive tomorrow's photo shoot. Just kneeling to put on Dash's socks and boots in the morning makes my knees hurt. The thought of doing this all day makes me cringe. I'm going to look on the bright side. After this weekend it's all downhill. I have no plans whatsoever for the rest of the year.

Belle is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3245

What a day. Dash started us off by pooping in the bed. He strayed off his protective pad during the night and ended up pooping on the bedspread. Then when he tried to get up, he stepped in the mess. I took the bedding outside so I could hose it off before putting it in the wash and discovered that it was pouring rain. It was a very cold rain too. By the time I got the bedspread in the washing machine, I was freezing and fairly wet.

I didn't even notice until the next morning that the roof had started to leak in an entirely new location. This time the leak was in the hallway. Since the first leak appeared over a month ago, it has never been dry enough to inspect the roof for damage. With all the rain we've been having, there has been standing water one the roof for the entire time. The roof seems hopeless at this point. I don't want to put an entirely new roof on the house, but it may come to that.

Dash wouldn't walk this morning. Maybe it was too cold for him, but I suspect that it was because Janet wasn't with him. He follows her around like glue these days. I tried several times to get him out the back door, but all I succeeded in doing was get him to poop in the house again.

We walked later in the day when Janet returned. That's all he wanted. As soon as she was leading the way, he was eager to follow behind. It makes it a lot harder to walk Dash if we both have to be there, but that is apparently what Dash wants. It is almost impossible to get him to walk alone with me anymore.

I woke up this morning with an upset stomach, heartburn, and a bad back. These middle of the night cleanup routines are taking a toll on me. I'm a light sleeper anyway and now it seems like I'm getting no sleep at all. I take naps during the day, but it would be much more enjoyable to do my sleeping at night like a normal person. This new routine doesn't seem to bother Dash at all. He still seems to sleep eighteen hours a day.

This afternoon, I went to check out the location for the photo shoot this weekend. I was happy to discover that I'll be inside. I have a feeling that it will still be very cold this weekend. I still can't decide whether to get a flu shot before the event. The last time I got a flu shot I actually came down with a mild case of the flu. I still blame the flu shot and haven't got a shot since. My fear of crowds probably trumps my fear of flu shots though. Whenever I'm around a crowd of people, I'm convinced that I'll catch a cold.

Once again, I checked the mail for most of the day before I realized that it was a holiday and there was no mail delivery. I wish the stock market was closed today along with the post office and the banks. We had another major sell off. Basically nothing went smoothly today. Hey, there's always tomorrow.

Jada is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2617

Today was busy. A local fashion designer was introducing his new clothing line and we photographed the designer and a model wearing various items from the line while walking or holding a dog or cat. I think the photo shoot went smoothly and everyone seemed happy, but I'd forgotten that it often takes longer to do hair and makeup than it does to take the photos. While the models were getting ready, I amused myself by feeding the photo dogs cheese. All dogs seem to love cheese.

When I left the pre-light check on Friday, I told everyone I could find not to move anything. I must have missed telling the night janitor, because he straightened the room up, unplugging everything and moving the carefully placed lights. I tried to remember where everything was on Friday and I think I came pretty close. It was actually a good thing that it took a while to do the model's hair because I ended up having to recreate the lighting setup. There was even enough time to play around with operating the camera by remote control. This was the first time I tried this on a job and it actually worked pretty well. You can wander around the set and snap pictures using an app on your iPhone. By using the app to monitor and control the camera I was able to get closer to the pets and keep an eye on their expressions. I kind of liked working this way and I'm sure I'll use the app again.

I used to do a lot of fashion photography, but it's been a while. The last time I spent much time thinking about fashion, today's model wasn't even born yet. A lot has changed over the years, but even more hasn't. Success still depends on a good make-up artist, nice soft lighting, and the ability to work fast. Most of the good photos occur near the beginning of the shoot, before everyone gets tired. When you get tired, it shows. There is often one good photo right at the end of the shoot too. Sometimes this final photo is accidental good luck, but it allows everyone to say "we got it" so they can pack up and go home.

It was a luxury not to have to bring my lights today. Instead of spending hours loading the car with heavy equipment, I just showed up with my camera. If I was younger, I would have made an effort to get some work from the fashion designer. He was a nice guy and if his line is successful, he will be using a lot of photographers in the future. I don't think I have the time for this sort of thing anymore, unfortunately. If Janet hadn't been able to spend the day watching the dogs, I wouldn't have been able to do this. When I was a fashion photographer for a large studio many years ago, we worked very long hours.

Today was kind of a trip down memory lane. It was a simple shoot as these things go, but all the elements were there. There were hair stylists and makeup artists. There was a craft service table with lots of tasty things to nibble on. There were lots of clothes on racks and many costume changes. Hard to believe I used to do this everyday.

Tomorrow, everything will be back to normal. Dash has a trip to the vet scheduled. I need to get my February invoices out. I'm already looking forward to my strawberry and banana smoothie.

Lucy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2616

Dot threw up last night, which put me back on high alert again. There are so many things which can go wrong at this point that it's hard to keep them all straight. Dot has trouble chewing now and might have swallowed some food that she hadn't chewed properly. I'm always worried that the cancer might have spread and she's starting to lose her appetite. She probably threw up for no reason at all. Dog do that a lot. The worst thing about throwing up right after we've all gone to bed is that she threw up her evening meds. You never know how much the body has absorbed, so you can't give her a second dose. As a result, Dot probably didn't get any blood pressure medication last night.

Today was just a typical day of weekend errands, but it seemed busier than usual. Janet had an event to go to, so it was harder to keep track of what both dogs were doing at any given moment. Dot seemed to be having a little trouble with the heat. She doesn't do well in warm weather and the temperature reached over 80 degrees this afternoon. Maybe the slightly labored breathing and the meal she threw up last night are connected somehow. Lots of laundry today. I was talking with a client on the phone when Dot decided to poop in the house again. I think this was the third time today. She wasn't on a protected surface this time and there wasn't much I could do. Just something else to clean up after the call was completed.

Dash has to go back to the cancer center for a recheck on Monday. Nobody mentioned this to me when he was released from the hospital. We just happened to notice an obscure sentence mentioning a recheck when we were reading his discharge summary this morning. I called to confirm and sure enough, he needs to go back for a few follow up tests. I'm dreading this. Dash is a terrible passenger in the car. Whenever I'm taking him home from a vet appointment, I'm hoping that he'll miraculously stay healthy for the rest of his life and I'll never have to transport him in a car again. Traveling with Dash is nerve wracking to say the least.

I wish the dogs weren't so restless in the evenings. Dash gets nervous when Janet isn't around at night and paces around at the front door waiting. This activity gets Dot agitated and she wants to get up too. I think I've taken Dot outside ten times this evening and she still hasn't peed. I'm still cleaning up poop though. Evidently, she kept dropping little plops throughout the house after I got her up to clean up her blankets.

I hope tomorrow's photo shoot goes smoothly. After the pre-light check yesterday, I thought this thing was going to be a piece of cake. Now I'm hearing that there will be lots of costume and hairstyle changes. There have already been changes to the set as well. This could take a very long time. I need to remember to be courteous and not say anything snarky. It sounds like everybody wants to improvise and improvisation is definitely not my cup of tea. At least Janet will be home with the dogs tomorrow and I won't have to worry about that.

It's almost time to give the dogs their evening meds. I hate to wake them up, since they've finally calmed down after a long evening of restlessness and are both sleeping peacefully. I guess it wouldn't hurt to let them sleep another hour. This is the first quiet time I've had all day.

Lady Gogh is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2615

When I was driving to breakfast this morning, I noticed that a popular restaurant I used to frequent had gone out of business. The sign was down. The furniture was gone. And there was a large For Lease sign in front of the building. There's got to be a story behind this sudden departure, but I'll probably never know the details. I was sad to see the restaurant go out of business. I hope I didn't contribute to the demise of this place. The owners were good people. I quit eating here because the food quality declined. Maybe the chef quit or the place changed ownership. Whatever happened, it was apparent that somebody was trying to cut corners by using inferior ingredients. You can never assume that customers will never know the difference. I think customers always know the difference.

I was nervous about leaving the dogs this afternoon, but everything worked out fine. It took longer than I thought to get the set ready for Sunday's photo shoot, but it was actually kind of enjoyable talking with the other photographer who was working with me. This guy was near the beginning of his career while I was near the end of mine, but we still found plenty to talk about. I enjoy talking shop. We talked about lighting techniques and the types of gear we preferred and never mentioned politics at all. I was skeptical about the client's idea at first, but I now think it will work. I still might not understand the concept, but the photo will be pretty.

I had hoped that Dot would still be asleep when I returned, but she was standing up and barking instead. A quick glance revealed that she had not peed or pooped in her bed, so I quickly unlocked the back door and immediately took her outside. I brought her inside after she peed and wandered around for a bit, and then she promptly pooped on a rug in the dining room. Oh, well. I was expecting a mess this afternoon, and I got one.

Dash continues to improve. The wobbling walk and uncertain gait was almost unnoticeable. By the time he finishes his Prednisone tablets, he should be back to normal. The dogs were actually pretty good today. I had some rugs and blankets to wash this afternoon because we didn't make it this morning on our daily mad dash to the back door. It was my fault that we didn't make it. Dot and I woke up about the same time and I had to pee too. I need to remember that her needs have to come first. In theory, I should be able to hold it for a while, but when you first wake up it doesn't seem that way.

There was a penumbral eclipse of the moon tonight. I caught the tail end of it when I was taking Dot out to pee after dinner. I should have gone outside a little earlier, since mid-eclipse was right after sunset, but I don't think I missed much. A penumbral eclipse is pretty subtle. The moon doesn't disappear or turn red; it just gets a little darker. A comet is supposed to be viable later tonight as well. I think I'll skip this one. It doesn't come into view until 3 AM and you need binoculars and a dark, clear sky to see it anyway.

This weekend should be busy. Janet has a Dalmatian Rescue event tomorrow and I've got the photo shoot on Sunday. Hopefully, the dogs will cooperate. I won't be able to go to the gym this week, but I have a feeling that I'll get plenty of exercise anyway.

Landry is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2614

I think the high point of the day was discovering a new kind of cheese in the refrigerator. It was that kind of day. I'll have to admit that there was a mild bit of drama early this morning when Dash and I encountered a coyote in our path on our morning walk. Dash is often terrified of loose dogs, but he was too busy looking for nasty things to eat in the grass to notice the coyote up ahead. I didn't want to take chances, so we made a wide detour to stay out of the coyote's way. The encounter ended peacefully, but I'm still nervous about the growing number of coyotes in the neighborhood.

Dash seemed steadier on his feet today. He seems to be getting his balance back, just like the doctor predicted. Dot seems to be having fewer episodes of urinary incontinence too. I have to remember to take her outside frequently, but if I do my part, she is trying to do hers. We still have to deal with pooping in the house, but at least a small sense of normalcy is returning.

I'm trying to stay engaged, but my mind feels a bit numb. I rarely get excited or mad anymore. There isn't much of an agenda. I just try to focus on what needs to be done at the moment. I gathered up all the trash for tomorrow morning's garbage pickup and compressed it so it would fit in the garbage can. I really miss the days when the trash truck came twice a week. Little things like this define my day. I was pleased that the strawberries still looked good when I made my morning smoothie, but was disappointed that the bananas are starting to go bad. It's hard to buy fruit a week in advance. It's even harder to watch the news. I turned off the television midway through breakfast because all the political rancor just doesn't interest me anymore.

I took Dot on her afternoon walk right after lunch today, in hopes that she would get tired and take a nice nap when we returned. This experiment didn't work at all. Dot seemed energized by the unexpected walk and spent the rest of the afternoon barking to get my attention. When it was time for Dash's walk, Dot let me know that she wasn't happy. She didn't want to be left behind. I was hoping that a new schedule might give me more time to work in the afternoon, but it wasn't meant to be. I may just have to accept the fact that I'm not going to get much done in the afternoon for a while. It's actually very good when Dot is active, so I need to do my best to be supportive.

I figured out a way to sync all my working fitness bands to the same account. Now, if I want to wear a different band for some reason, my step count will continue uninterrupted. I tried to give the extra fitness bands to Janet, but her wrist was too small and they didn't fit. I think I've become addicted to tracking things. The combination of a smart watch, an activity tracker, and a WiFi scale that measures body composition gives me the ability to track quite a few things. It all leaves me wanting more. I've got my eye on a WiFi blood pressure monitor and a little wireless device that monitors your blood sugar. You'd think I might be a hypochondriac, but I have no interest in going to the doctor. This technology just seems fascinating to me.

I hope the dress rehearsal for this weekend's photo shoot goes smoothly tomorrow. I'd really like to get this done quickly, because Dot is certain to poop in her enclosure if I'm gone too long. I'm not as worried about Dash as I was a few days ago. He doesn't seem like he's going to have another seizure. Nevertheless, if I'm gone all afternoon, I'm just asking for trouble. Clients just don't understand how difficult it is for me to leave the house. I'm getting tired of explaining too. Maybe it's just time to retire.

Jazz is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2612

Today was a three ring circus. Dash still has balance problems and was walking around like a drunken sailor. Occasionally, when he would lift his leg to pee in the yard, it would throw him off balance and he would fall over. If I hadn't been warned to expect this for the next several weeks while Dash was recovering, I would have been very alarmed. Dot continues to pee and poop without warning, so it was hard to decide which dog to focus my attention on. To make matters worse, Dash refused to eat this morning. I called the cancer center to see if this was a medical issue and they suspected that he had just gotten spoiled while he was at the hospital, since they fed him wet dog food instead of dry kibble. That sounded a lot like Dash. I mixed a little wet food with the dry and he gobbled it up.

As the day wore on, Dash seemed to regain his balance a bit and by dinner time he was eager to take a walk. He was a little too eager actually, because he was still a bit wobbly. Eventually, he settled into a rhythm where he could keep his balance and by the time we returned home, he was starting to seem like a normal dog again. Of course Dot had pooped while we were gone, so there was a mess to clean up. It's going to be a very long two or three weeks.

I made a quick trip to the bank after breakfast, but basically just stayed around the house all day because I wasn't sure what Dash was going to do. He still insists on sleeping on the bed, even though he would be much safer on the floor. I made a step at the foot of the bed to make it easier for him to get up and down, but he still doesn't know how to use it yet. At least Dot has finally given up on climbing in the bed. Life would really be a mess if she was as stubborn as Dash.

The photo shoot I'm involved with this weekend seems to grow more complicated by the day. Now, somebody else wants to light the set. That's OK I guess, although I'm much more comfortable using my own equipment. The person I thought was going to be a stylist turns out to be one of the models instead. I have a feeling that everyone knows what's going on except for me. I've probably missed a few meetings on this job, but in my defense, I didn't ask to do this. I used to be great at pulling a rabbit out of a hat. We'll see if I've still got what it takes on Sunday.

The temperature was over 80 degrees today. I had the air conditioner on for most of the day to keep Dot from getting overheated. Is this really February? It's kind of unreal how the temperature keeps bouncing around. I can remember several years where it was snowing in early February. I know that Dot likes it cooler, but I'll take the unusually warm weather any time I can get it. It's certainly easier to clean soiled rugs in this weather.

I definitely need to get out more. I'm starting to run out of things to photograph for the blog. We don't take long walks anymore and I rarely leave the house. I keep looking for something new on the well worn path that Dash and I follow each afternoon, but it's rare to even see a bug at this time of year. I'll be glad when things start to bloom again.

Stortz is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2611

Dash was released from the hospital today. He's still a little shaky, but he is much better than when we visited him on Saturday. Dash has never traveled well in the car and I definitely shouldn't have agreed to pick him up during the evening rush hour. It was a stressful drive home to say the least. Dash was causing such a commotion that I figured if he didn't have another stroke on the way home, he was cured. I still don't have a clear idea what caused the seizures. Three highly regarded specialists examined him during his stay at the cancer center and each had a slightly different opinion. Does Dash have vestibular disease? Did high blood pressure cause a capillary to burst in his cerebellum? Were these seizures new or have there been subtle signs that this was about to happen for a long, long time? We may never know the answer.

Dash came home with a big bag of meds.  Admittedly, some of these pills were the same ones he was already taking when he was admitted to the hospital, but it was still a bit sobering to see how much medication he needs to take every day. Hopefully, we'll never get these pills mixed up with the ones Dot needs to take, or with my own. Our kitchen is already starting to look like a pharmacy. Dash needs to stay calm for the next couple of weeks. That's a tall order to say the least. I couldn't even keep him calm on the way home from the hospital this evening.

I haven't been asked to do a complicated photo shoot for quite some time, but that's about to change. I was on the phone this afternoon, trying to work out the logistics for a photo session this weekend that involves teenagers, dogs in costumes, and a leftover set from Erykah Badu's latest music video. I kept trying to tell my client that I was getting too old for this sort of thing, but she kept insisting that she had faith in me and wanted me to do the job. Janet says she'll watch the dogs while I'm gone, so I guess the shoot is a go, whether I'm ready or not.

I finally got all the rugs cleaned that Dot peed on the other day. Every time I complete this task I feel a bit like Sisyphus, eternally pushing the rock up the hill. I know that within a day or two, I'll have to repeat the whole process all over again. I'm still trying to figure out how my complicated routine is going to change, now that Dash needs extra attention. If Dash would just stay calm, my job would be a lot easier, but calm is not a word you would normally associate with Dash. For most of his life, he has been high strung and nervous. Along with all his other problems, we discovered today on one of the new scans that Dash has an enlarged heart. I always knew he had a heart murmur, but there was no reason to assume that he automatically had heart disease. We rescued Dash and will never know his entire history, but I'm willing to bet he was a puppy mill dog. He has way too many health issues.

Dash was quite excited and very happy to be home this evening, but he wouldn't eat his dinner. I'll need to call the cancer center in the morning and find out what they were feeding him. Apparently, his appetite was quite good while he was away. Dash has always been a finicky eater. If he's decided he likes something new, it's going to be hell getting him to eat his old food again. Of course, I may be overthinking things. Dash could easily gobble down the same food he rejected tonight when we feed the dogs breakfast tomorrow morning.

I hope we all get a good night's sleep tonight. Dot seems happy that Dash has returned and our high strung boy has finally calmed down and is taking a nap on the bed. I'm more than ready for life to return to some semblance of normality. Picking up poop in the house is no big deal, but having two dogs that might drop dead at any minute is a bit stressful.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2250

While I was eating breakfast this morning, I watched a dad teaching his kid math by counting things in the restaurant and pointing out the corresponding numbers on the menu board. The kid was really little but he seemed quite interested. Instead of looking at Facebook like all the other people, the man was using some sort of drawing app on his phone to show the kid how to make the shapes for each number. As I was leaving, I saw him demonstrating how to add two numbers together. I think this kid will do well.

I wish I could teach the dogs a little math. Maybe if they could count, they wouldn't constantly return to their bowls looking for dinner ten minutes after I just finished feeding them. Maybe if they could put two and two together, they would realize that barking while I am trying to write is not the best way to get additional treats. Sometimes I wonder how I get anything done at all with these two underfoot.

I didn't feel like cooking today so I picked up some chicken salad, potato salad, walnut grape and blue cheese salad, and Caesar salad for dinner. I wouldn't recommend an all salad meal every day, but sometimes it is exactly what is needed. I added a little sushi for variety, but didn't go near anything that required me to turn on the stove.

More of Dot's lab results came back today. The results weren't perfect, but they were a lot better than I expected. We'll have to monitor her every week for a while to make sure the new blood pressure medication is working and take her back in a month for new blood work. We still haven't decided whether to resume Dot's chemotherapy again. I guess it depends on how fast the tumor is growing. She had a bad reaction to chemotherapy the first time we tried, but maybe a much smaller dose would be OK. The good news is that she can continue eating her current food. The oncologist thought that Dot's current diet was just fine.

I made sure my cameras were functioning properly today and charged all the batteries. I'm not really looking forward to working on Saturday, but sometimes weekend jobs are unavoidable. Hopefully, I can get everything finished in time to give the dogs their evening walk. Janet has an office function in the evening, but the photoshoot couldn't possible take that long. If it were just me, I'd be done in an hour, but since there are lots of people involved, it will probably take all afternoon. Lets hope that everything goes smoothly.

Dot almost caught me by surprise several times today. I managed to get her outside both times before she pooped, but it was a close call. I've learned that you've got to watch Dot's tail. When the tail starts to twitch, you've got to get her outside in a hurry. It's a weird life when your main activities are cleaning up dog poop and watching the humidity levels. Janet went back to work because she said the isolation she felt just hanging around the house was driving her crazy. By those standards, I probably went crazy ten years ago.

Lucy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2240

I felt something bite me on the neck while I was sitting at the computer this morning. When I looked in the mirror, I discovered it was a tick. Damn. This is the second time this year I've found a tick crawling on me. Ironically, the dogs are completely free of ticks. Now that we've finally found an effective flea and tick preventative for the dogs, I think the ticks have started looking for greener pastures. Apparently, I look pretty appetizing.

The adapter I ordered arrived today, but unfortunately it didn't fit very well. It was supposed to snap into place on top of a battery plate to allow a different type of battery to be used. The connection was just too snug for a reassuring snap. I could press the thing halfway into place, but that was it. I called the manufacturer and the service representative told me to press harder and that if the adapter broke, he'd send me a new one. This wasn't very reassuring. I suspect that if I look very closely, I will find the words Made in China stamped on the poorly fabricated piece of junk.

This must have been my day to talk with customer service representatives because when I finished talking to the guy from the lighting company, I got a call from the company that makes my fitness band. "Are you still having problems," she asked. Of course I was still having problems, so we spent the next twenty minutes talking about possible solutions. I'd already tried most of the things she'd suggested, so the conversation basically went nowhere. After we'd talked for a while, she told me that my fitness tracker was out of warranty and she couldn't replace it anyway.

Dot was panting more than usual today. We almost didn't give her a walk this morning, but she quit panting and seemed perfectly normal once we were outside. Later in the day, she started panting again, just walking around the house. I was going to take her temperature, but I couldn't find the dog thermometer. Eventually, I found two digital thermometers, but I wasn't sure which one was for people and which was for the dogs. I got this wrong once before and all the sudden we had two dog thermometers. You kind of hate to put a thermometer in your mouth after it's been in a dog's butt. 

I was confused about an upcoming photo shoot, so I called the client to get some clarification. She didn't really know what was going on either and told me to just show up on the specified day and go with the flow. OK. I can do that. That's basically what I do every day. It would be nice to know what I was supposed to do, but in all honesty it won't make a big difference. Sometimes work is actually easier when you don't know what you're doing.

Dot pooped in her bed twice today. She didn't even wake up when she had the accidents, which is definitely a new development. In the past, Dot was always aware of what was going on and made an effort to get up and move away from the mess. If this happens in her sleep now, it probably means that something is getting worse. There are all sorts of subtle signs that Dot is slowly going downhill, but since she still has her good days, it's easy to convince yourself that everything is fine. Every week, I make a list of new developments for the vet, but there not much more I can do to slow down the aging process. We just do our best to keep her comfortable and happy.

Maybe I'll have something exciting to tell you tomorrow. Nah. Just kidding. Nothing ever happens on Wednesday.

Jasper is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2181

It's that time of year. We completed our first Santa Paws photo shoot today and just like I expected, the day was full of surprises. My first surprise was discovering that we had a brand new Santa. Our regular Santa is a huge Steelers fan and was evidently up in Pittsburgh watching a game. The new Santa was great, although I bet he didn't realize how much work this was going to be when he agreed to help us out. My second surprise was that my main camera refused to sync with the strobe lights. Bummer. I'm real glad that I brought a decent back up camera or we would have been in big trouble. My third surprise was that I survived the day. Almost as soon as I got home at the end of the day, my hip went out of joint, but during the shoot, my creaky knees, back, and shoulder performed admirably. The set survived as well. Nobody peed on Santa today and nobody got bitten. In the Santa photo business, that's a good day.

We've got to turn around and do this all over again tomorrow. People think I'm complaining, but I really am too old for this. Every dog is a different size, so you're always standing, kneeling, bending over, and contorting your body into unnatural shapes to find the best angle. I always have a lot of sympathy for the old dogs that slowly make their way onto the set. I know how they feel.

Our broadband connection is still down. In today's world, three days without the Internet or TV is a long time. I missed the season finale of Dr. Who this evening. I'm not even sure if the Orbital ATK Cygnus spacecraft was able to launch today. It might be time to switch back to Time/Warner. We'll sort this out later. As soon as I finish posting tonight's blog entry, I'm going to bed. I'm too tired to watch TV tonight anyway. Tomorrow morning will be an exact repeat of today. The only difference about tomorrow is that I've got to drive farther to get to the location. We'll get up extra early, so we'll have time to feed and walk Dot and Dash before we leave. Since I need to pack the car, take a shower, and eat a little breakfast as well, I don't get much sleep when we're doing Santa photos. Dot didn't help matters when she pooped in her bed again during the night. She can't help it. When our schedule changes, it throws her schedule off as well.

One of my clients wrote me and told me that a lot of things are changing at his company and he's thinking of using an ad agency to do his next web site. Yep. It was basically a Dear John letter. I'm pretty sure that one of the new brands he's affiliated with offered free design services to sweeten the pot. I'll ask if I can bid on the re-design, but the letter didn't sound promising. It's hard to compete with free.

I think I've recharged all the camera batteries. I hope the backup camera doesn't break tomorrow. We're on thin ice now, because I don't have a backup for the backup camera. I need to remember to unplug everything that makes me nervous before I leave the house in the morning. This means I can't leave the dehumidifier running or fire up the little ceramic heater under my desk. When I remember these things when I'll halfway there, it really makes me late. I'm sure I'll forget something important. I'm equally sure that everything will turn out OK. It always does.

Emmitt is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2180

Our U-Verse service has gone out again. Whenever I deal with cable company customer service representatives I understand road rage a little better. It is infuriating to pay so much for a service that is so unreliable. Whenever U-Verse goes down I'm tempted to go back to Time Warner Cable. Then I remember that their service was even worse. The last time I had reliable internet service was in the Internet dark ages when I had a dedicated DSL line pulled to the house. The old DSL line was faster and more reliable than the fancy WiFi network I have now. Everything was connected by Ethernet and I rarely had an outage. The phone company doesn't even offer DSL lines anymore. Times have changed.

So, how am I posting this if I don't have Internet service? I have a backup connection with another phone company. You have to have a back up for everything these days, especially if you're a website developer. It's frustrating to be at the mercy of the phone company. Nothing is dependable anymore. U-Verse won't even come out to look at the problem until Monday. They told me that they had no technicians available. Really? I saw a U-Verse technician in the ally behind my neighbor's house about thirty minutes after I got off the phone with customer service. I told him that my service was out too, and asked if he'd check my line while he was in the neighborhood. He must have done absolutely nothing, because the line is still dead.

The only productive thing I did today was get a haircut. The mall is already packed with Christmas shoppers. I had trouble finding a parking place. Every time I get a haircut, I look at the clippings on the floor and am amazed at how white my hair has become. My hair used to be curly and now it is perfectly straight. What's that all about? The stylist was complaining about having bags under her eyes. I looked at myself in the mirror and said, "That's nothing. Look at me. I look like a racoon." Basically, every aspect of growing old sucks. Especially looking in the mirror.

On the way back to the car, I stopped in the Apple store. I really like the new larger iPad Pro. This thing has a great screen and could easily serve as a laptop substitute if it was paired with a wireless keyboard. It would also make a great little teleprompter for video shoots. Unfortunately, I can't afford one of these seductive gadgets at the moment. I can't even afford the WiFi scale that also caught my eye.

It's weird not having a TV. There's almost always a TV on in some part of the house, even if nobody is watching it. The house seems unnaturally quiet. If I listen carefully, I can hear the dehumidifier running in the living room, but that's about it. As you've probably guessed, the dogs have gone to sleep already.

I'm still dreading tomorrows photo shoot. Nobody scheduled a break for lunch, so we're booked solid from early morning until mid-afternoon. I'm tired already. I've got all the batteries charged. I've packed up the equipment in various nylon bags and I'm ready to go. I'm thinking that this is the last year I'm going to do this, but that was what I thought last year as well.

Today's Dalmatian of the Day passed away yesterday. He was always one of my favorites. RIP Camp!

Camp is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2178

Today was busy. I worked on two different website projects, got a new writing assignment, and tried to clean up the mess Dot made last night when she pooped on one of the larger rugs in the living room. At least the weather was nice. When we walked the dogs this morning, I saw stars for the first time in well over a week. Hopefully, clear skies mean warmer weather as well. It's going to take a long time for that rug to dry out after I hosed it down this morning.

I retrieved most of the equipment from the storage warehouse this afternoon for this weekend's Santa Paws photo shoot. This stuff seems to get heavier every year. Things that I used to be able to easily lift with one hand now require both hands. Last year I remember thinking I was too old for this sort of thing and here I am again, another year older. I can't even remember how many years we've been doing these fundraisers, but it's been quite a while. I try not to be grumpy, because this is actually a great fundraiser. My knees are shot though. My back isn't so good either. This isn't fun anymore.

Janet wanted me to take a suit to the dry cleaner for a Christmas party that required a suit for some reason. I continue to be amazed that all my old suits still fit. I haven't put a suit on since I quit going to that breakfast networking group a couple of years ago. I kind of enjoyed the novelty of dressing up and having bacon for breakfast back then, but the moment has passed. It feels odd to wear a suit now. It actually feels odd to wear anything other than my worn dog walking jeans and beat up hiking boots. I'll look nice for the party though. I managed to find decent looking wool suit in the closet that still didn't have any moth holes.

I watched the Orbital ATK Cygnus pre-launch press conference on NASA TV this afternoon while I was working on one of my websites. I kept thinking that I could have been at that press conference. Oh, well. Even though I'd rather be in Florida now, I still think I made the right decision. I couldn't really afford the trip. I didn't have time to make travel arrangements anyway. And it's been months since I've felt comfortable leaving Dot. When you're taking things one day at a time, you really can't block out a week to take a quasi-vacation. I'm OK leaving the house for a couple of hours. A couple of days, not so much.

Every time I turned on the TV today there was wall-to-wall news and speculation about the San Bernardino shooting. Two of the shooters have already been identified by police as a very religious middle eastern man and a woman from Qatar. Workplace violence? I don't think so.

Greta is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2176

I got a surprise this morning. My dehumidifier arrived a day early. This is almost unheard of at our house. Usually FedEx and UPS shipments are late, get lost, or arrive broken. I was glad to see the little dehumidifier and immediately started reading the instructions. The machine was sturdy, simple to use, and not excessively loud. I like it.

It's weird how much moisture is naturally in the air. The humidity in the house is pretty normal right now, but after running the dehumidifier for several hours, I was still able to extract almost a gallon of water from the air. The humidity dropped from 55% to 41% and the air felt better throughout the house. I was impressed. Maybe all my research paid off. We'll see how I feel after a month of steady use, but if initial impressions are worth anything, we've got a winner.

While I was celebrating the single gallon of water I removed inside the house, I remembered that there were still hundreds of gallons of water sitting on top of the house. Since the rain appears to be over for a while, I started the pump, went up on the roof, and started drying things off again. I think that clearing the water from the roof is my own private version of the Sisyphus myth. Like Sisyphus and the rock he eternally pushed up the mountain, my task is never really done. Whatever I do, it will always rain again.

I've had to get creative to keep Dot from pooping inside. Simply taking her outside every five hours doesn't work anymore. Dot has a schedule that she keeps to herself. Sometimes she can go most of the day without an accident. Other times, she might need to go several times in a single morning. You don't get much warning, so you have to learn to anticipate her needs. I have discovered that by gently holding her tail up while walking behind her, I can sometimes get her to poop outside when she forgets why we're walking around in circles. You have to be patient. And you can never get mad when she poops inside right after a nice long walk. Getting old isn't pretty. I just hope that there's someone understanding nearby when it's my turn to walk in Dot's shoes.

I've got a photo shoot on location tomorrow. This is a rarity these days. I'm not really looking forward to the assignment, but I'm not dreading it either.  This will be a good chance to brush up on location lighting techniques and make sure that all my equipment still works before the first of the Santa Paws fundraisers we've got scheduled for December. It's not easy taking great photos of animals in costumes sitting on Santa's lap. I still think I've got the easy job though. I just have to worry about my knees or back going out. Santa has to worry about being peed on or bitten. Hey, it's all for a good cause.

I've heard that there's a 60% chance of the Orbital ATK launch taking place as scheduled. That means there is a 40% chance it will get postponed due to weather or mechanical problems. This is the problem with traveling to view a launch. Let's say you've managed to clear two days in your schedule and scrape together the money for airfare and hotels. There's still no guarantee that you'll actually see anything. The slightest problem can cause weeks of delays. If I were in Florida now, I'd be fretting about these odds. 60/40 is definitely not a sure thing. I'm still here in Dallas though, so I'll just watch the launch on NASA TV whenever it happens.

Belle is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2111

I had to make some changes to a website this morning and was quite surprised that the hosting company no longer accepted my password. Since I'm one of the only people who has the password, this could mean one of two things. Either the site had been hacked, or my client had fired me without bothering to tell me about it. Either way, it wasn't good. I couldn't get any help from tech support because they needed the password to verify my identity. I couldn't get any help from the client because you can never get hold of clients on weekends. Maybe some people can, but I've never have much luck.

The weekend definitely wasn't getting off to a good start. Earlier, both dogs woke me up around 4 AM when I heard them wandering around the bedroom. We immediately took Dot outside to pee. I looked around to see if there were any accidents and then discovered there was poop in the bed. It wasn't in Dot's bed, it was in ours. This totally baffled me. It is physically impossible for Dot to get in the bed anymore and Dash has never, ever pooped in the house. What was going on? Is there a racoon living in Janet's closet? Did something scare Dash enough to poop? The dogs weren't talking. The only thing that I can think of is that Dot actually did poop in her bed like she often does when she gets up to shift positions. Maybe Dash saw the little turd in the dark, thought it was a dog treat, and then immediately spit it out when he discovered what it really was.

The bedspread immediately went in the washing machine and then a little later a rug went in the next load of wash when Dot pooped again while she was eating her breakfast. After that, life got back to normal. Well. it wasn't completely back to normal, because I was still wondering if I had gotten fired from one of my busier website accounts. I wasn't getting many answers today.

After breakfast, I started charging batteries for tomorrow's photo shoot at the golf tournament. I still can't decide whether to take my favorite DSLR with the optical viewfinder, or the newer and more reliable mirrorless camera with the electronic viewfinder. I really like the older camera but sometimes the auto focus motor gets stuck and I have to focus manually. Digital cameras with optical viewfinders are on the way out, so when this one finally gives up the ghost, it may be my last. I'm not looking forward to this photo shoot at all. It is too tiring for me.

The suspension didn't squeak at all today when I went grocery shopping. Intermittent problems drive me nuts. I've already made an appointment to take the car in for service and if the mechanic can't replicate the squeak, they'll say nothing is wrong. I know something is wrong. Yesterday, the suspension made a lot of noise.

Late in the day, the website client returned my call and told me that he had changed the password because he had forgotten the old one and needed to change something on his e-mail account. The e-mail he needed to change wasn't on the webserver though; it was on the GoDaddy server. Nothing got changed on the web server except the password. Oh, well. I wrote down the new password and spent the rest of the day doing what I had hoped to finish early in the morning.

I wish I'd never upgraded my phone to OS 9. The battery definitely isn't lasting  as long as it used to. I hope my batteries last tomorrow at the golf tournament. I always seem to be at the mercy of batteries.

Suki 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