Day 4949

It's been a long day. Two plumbers have been here all day installing the new water heater. I never dreamed that putting a water heater in a confined space was such a complicated procedure. Due to new code requirements, the plumbers couldn't simply duplicate the old arrangement. New water heaters have to be installed on a raised base with an overflow pan that drains to the floor drain. Too many things use the floor drain in the utility room already. Now I've got one more. 

The plumbers told me that I could no longer use the copper pipes at the top on the water heater to support a shelf. I have no shelf in the utility room now and no place to store the things that were sitting on it. The new water heater is slightly larger than the old one and takes up more space, but the good news is that we have hot water again.

I guess I shouldn't have been surprised, but the price of water heaters has more than doubled since the last time I replaced one. The plumbers were amazed at how old the leaking water heater was. "Your new one won't last that long," the lead plumber told me. I wonder what else can go wrong in this house? Probably more things than I can even imagine.

Dawn is still frightened of almost everything, but she is eating her meals and going outside to pee and poop. That's all I can ask for at this point. She was actually very good today with all the commotion going on in the house. She just stayed in the bedroom all day until the plumbers left. I was a little worried last night that Dawn wasn't coming back to the bedroom to go to sleep. We had a very brief power outage and when the lights and TV went out, it scared her and she ran to the kitchen. Basically everything seems to scare Dawn except plumbers. She seemed fine with the plumbers today.

Since I was home with the plumbers all day, I didn't get to go to the gym. It wasn't a good day to take a long walk since the temperature got up to 104 degrees. I'm hooked on getting my steps though. After dinner I took this week's trash out to the curb and then took a short walk. I walked just long enough to get 10,000 steps and returned home. No sense in being stupid. I thought it would be cooler if I waited until evening to walk. It was still 95 degrees though.

Somebody has spoofed my e-mail address and I'm seeing spam that appears to come from me in my spam folder almost every day. It's irritating. I did a little research and discovered that this type of spoofing is extremely common and very hard to stop. I'll call my hosting company again and ask them to put a stop to this. I did this once before and the spoofing stopped for about two weeks and then started all over again. I'm beginning to think that my Luddite sister who isn't on the Internet at all might have the right idea. 

Hopefully tomorrow will be uneventful. Having plumbers banging around all day in one room with a scared dog in another room was a bit stressful. I'll be glad when Janet returns home.

Watson is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4948

Not the best of days. It was 104 degrees this afternoon, our water heater started leaking and will need to be replaced, and my application to attend the Orion Media Day at Kennedy Space Center was denied. Other than that, it was just a normal Wednesday.

Dawn regressed a bit this morning. I had to put the bowl with her breakfast next to her on the bed again. She didn't want to move and is still fearful about everything. Dawn definitely isn't getting her exercise this week. She goes out in the backyard to pee several times a day and I managed to get her down to the park this morning to poop, but all she wants to do is sit on the bed.

It was too hot for another walk in the park today, so I went back to the gym after breakfast. There were people on the basketball court, so all I did was walk three miles around the indoor track and return home. I tried to find a replacement for the broken knife rack at Bed Bath and Beyond on the way home, but the store is going out of business soon and there wasn't much left. I'll have to look for the knife rack online.

I did find orange juice at Central Market, so at least I could check something off my list. When I returned home I got a rude awakening. There was water on the floor in the utility room and it was spilling out into the kitchen. I was initially puzzled since I hadn't done any laundry recently. A quick look revealed that the water was coming from the water heater. It looked like the place where the supply lines enter the heater had rusted out. 

I shut off the heater to stop the leak and we have no hot water now. A plumber is coming out tomorrow to look at things, but he pretty much confirmed that I'll need a new water heater after looking at the pictures I sent him. He also told me that the shelf that is currently above the water heater will have to be removed because it won't pass current building codes. This was a new wrinkle. The last time I replaced this water heater you didn't need a city inspection. Water heaters have gotten a lot more expensive too. Why is nothing easy anymore? I'm going to have a hard time even finding a water heater that will fit in our tiny utility room. The size and shape of these things has changed over the years.

I'm disappointed that I didn't receive credentials to attend the Orion Media Day at Kennedy Space Center, but the rejection might be a blessing in disguise. Instead of paying for a trip to Florida this month, I'll be paying for a new water heater instead. Hopefully the plumbers can take care of everything tomorrow. I hate being without hot water.

Hopefully nothing else breaks and there is no more bad news tomorrow. At least Dawn ate her dinner normally tonight. I'll feed her a bedtime snack soon and then we'll call it a day. 

Winston is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4416

Another slow day. I had been planning on practicing with the star tracker again but got bogged down with a variety of irritating little tasks. Now we've got two running toilets. Both should be easy to fix, but I hesitate to mess with either of them. The last time I tried to install a new toilet kit, the fit was poor and I ended up with a leak at the base of the tank. At least the second toilet uses commonly available parts you can find at any Home Depot. The weird French toilet uses hard to find, expensive parts that are only available at one plumbing supply store in town. What do you do? I can buy a ten dollar toilet kit at Home Depot or pay a plumber a hundred dollars to install the same thing. Plumbers won't even touch the French toilet. I have to handle that myself anyway. I hate things that break all the time, but that doesn't stop them from breaking.

I had trouble getting my accounts to balance in Quickbooks today as well. This is irritating because the problem is always a data entry mistake I've made and never noticed. It's surprisingly hard to find a small mistake you made over a month ago. I eventually found the error and everything balances again but it took a while. It would be a lot easier to just make a journal entry and adjust the Quickbooks files to match what the bank says is correct. Mistakes always bother me though and in the long run it is always easier to take the time to find them.

I was surprised to learn that two more pieces of my model train collection have sold. Sales dropped off dramatically when Covid started and my dealer friend hasn't sold anything in over a year. I'm glad he's still in business. Maybe things are starting to look up again. Over half the collection has already sold, but a lot still remains. I may need to put this collection in my will. How did I ever acquire so many electric trains and construction models?

Today was a nice day for walking. I managed to get 20,000 steps without a lot of foot pain. Walking slower seems to help. I didn't see the eagles today but someone asked me about them. The word had gotten out about these birds and it appears like the entire city is out looking for them. I've heard that the park department might build a fence around their nesting area to keep people away. This is probably a good idea. Keeping the nesting area a secret didn't seem to work. You can't really keep anything a secret these days.

Janet said that Dawn did really well in training class tonight. She is much less fearful now and is a quick learner. I guess patience pays off. Dawn is even a lot friendlier with me now. I don't think she completely trusts me but we are definitely making progress. It's important that she learns to trust me because Janet wants to travel again. One of these days it's just going to be me and Dawn in the house for a while. I really don't want her to feel afraid while Janet is away.

I need to remember I've got a dental appointment tomorrow. It's just a cleaning but I've finally realized that dental hygiene is important. This cleaning was originally scheduled for weeks ago, but someone in the dentist's office got Covid and they had to close down for a while. Everyone seems to be catching Covid now. It's kind of amazing that Janet and I have managed to avoid it this long.

Jazz is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4291

What a day. We've had two plumbers over at the house for most of the day. Plan A didn't work, so then we tried Plan B and Plan C. Toward the end of the day I finally heard the sound of running water again. The sink is finally fixed. As a bonus, a slow drain in one of the bathrooms is fixed as well.

I thought the easiest solution would be to just substitute a second Moen Core Assembly for the one that had broken. I just happened to have one of these, left over from a previous repair in a rental property. It was pretty old, but I thought it would work. In theory you just removed the spout from the faucet and the Core Assembly should just slide out. Sounds easy, but nothing is easy when you are trying to fix something that is fifty years old. The Moen Core Assembly was completely frozen in place. No amount of tugging and wrenching could remove it. Eventually the fixture had to be sawed off with a metal saw.

I still had the custom stainless steel wedge with two holes on six inch centers that I had a machine shop make for me many years ago. Now all I needed was a surface mount faucet that fit these holes and I'd be back in business. Not so fast. The Italian faucet I used many years ago to fix a similar problem had been discontinued years ago. Everything available seemed to be on four inch or eight inch centers.

I took the stainless steel wedge, the other Moen Core Assembly I had, and a laundry list of problems to the city's best plumbing supply store in search of a solution. While I was gone, the plumbers fixed some problems in the bathroom. After a lot of searching, the plumbing supply guys found a commercial restaurant faucet that seemed like it could be adapted for my needs. It was expensive, but not nearly as expensive as paying for a day with two plumbers was going to be.

It took quite a while for the plumbers to connect the new faucet I bought. The space under the sink where they were working was very cramped, and it took a while to convert the supply lines from a faucet with a single rotating handle on top to a more traditional faucet with separate knobs for hot and cold water. It wasn't easy to position the stainless steel wedge that allowed the surface mount faucet to remain vertical between the faucet and the angled stainless steel backsplash either. When the plumbers were finally finished, they both said the never wanted to do a job like this again. I wasn't surprised. That's exactly what the first plumber said when I did something very similar at my old rental property.

Dawn was amazingly good while the plumbers were banging on things and making a lot of noise in the kitchen. She pretty much ignored the whole event. Dawn might be scared of a lot of things, but she's not scared of plumbers. Several times Janet led her outside on a leash and she didn't even bark at the plumbers. Dot would have gone crazy is she had two strangers in the house all day.

I hope I never have to call a plumber again, but I know I probably will. There's still plenty that could go wrong in this old house. Every time something major happens like this, Janet and I renew our resolve to get things fixed around here. It's not going to be easy. I ran into an architect friend the other day and asked him for contractor suggestions. He said it was even hard for him to find good contractors. "Nobody wants to work on small jobs anymore," he told me. I already knew that.

At least life is back to normal for the moment. I'll resume my long walks and start thinking about travel plans again. Bad things happen, but life goes on.

Bentley is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4290 - Autumnal Equinox

I knew it had to happen sometime. The faucet in the kitchen sink broke. What a mess. I never realized how many times I need to rinse things off in the sink. Ordinarily fixing a faucet wouldn't be a big problem, but our fixture is a 50 year old Moen cartridge faucet that doesn't exist anymore. It was ahead of its time when it was introduced, but not anymore. Fifteen years ago I bought the very last of the early model Moen faucet cartridges and had it installed to replace an even earlier cartridge. Now this one is broken as well. Why not just replace the entire faucet you might ask? Well, it's more or less impossible. The faucet is an integral part of a GE Kitchen Unit that was popular in the 1950's and 60's. The stainless steel backsplash isn't vertical. It is slanted at a ten degree angle. The surface mount faucet that came with this GE Kitchen Unit was built to accommodate the ten degree angle. Apparently nothing made since was made this way.

Most wall mount faucets are made to be mounted on 8" centers. The mounting holes on the Kitchen Unit are five inches apart. I used to own a rent house with a similar kitchen and when I had to replace that faucet I found one place in Italy that made a wall mount faucet with 5 inch mounting holes. I bought one but I should have bought two. This particular faucet was discontinued many years ago. Now everything is meant to be mounted on either 4 inch or 8 inch centers. I had a machine shop make a special angled flange that I placed in front of the mounting holes so that the Italian faucet could be mounted vertically instead of at a ten degree upward angle. I even had the forethought to have two of these stainless steel parts machined. The special adaptor won't do me much good though, since I can no longer find a faucet designed to mount on five inch centers.

Most people like to remodel rather than restore. Just look at all those home improvement shows on TV. A big part of these shows is taking sledge hammers and knocking down walls and tearing things apart. There is absolutely no incentive for anyone to manufacture mid-50's reproduction hardware. Even the simplest things like mid-century modern cabinet hinges can be impossible to find. I've got a sliding glass door I can't find anyone to fix. There are ceramic tiles in the bathroom that can't be matched anymore. I can't even find the translucent fiberglass panels to fix the roof on the greenhouse. Every time something breaks around this place I just know it's going to be a nightmare to fix.

The broken faucet was the bad part of the day. The good part was the weather. The temperature was in the 60's when we woke up this morning. Janet and I both wore light jackets when we took our sunrise walk with Dawn. It was perfect weather for the first day of Fall. It was still nice and cool when I took my long walk later in the morning. I think the weather is going to be nice all week. At least there's something to look forward to tomorrow. I'm certainly not looking forward to dealing with the plumber. Most plumbers are so young now that they don't have a clue how to fix a fifty year old cartridge faucet.

There has been a utility crew with a backhoe digging a huge hole in the alley behind our house all day. I thought they might be fixing a broken water or gas line, but when I looked in the hole, there were no pipes of any sort. It was just a big hole. I have no idea what these guys are doing. I hope this doesn't cause a problem when we are walking Dawn tomorrow. We always return home through the alley and I definitely don't want Dawn to fall in the hole. 

It's always something, isn't it. Just when I start to think that the crazy times are over and life can return to normal, something new happens. I hope the plumber has some magic up his sleeve. I miss my kitchen sink.

Sadie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4237

The appliance repairman came back today and installed the new part. The ice maker and in-door water dispenser still aren't working though because no water is flowing to the refrigerator. I'm going to have to call the plumbers again. Actually, I did call the plumber, but they aren't working on Saturday. When the plumbers were out at the house we checked to make sure that the new shut off valve they installed stopped the leak in the freezer. I guess we didn't check to see if the valve actually worked. It seems fine in the off position, but nothing happens in the on position. This is frustrating to say the least. I hope the plumbers don't charge me again when I can get them to come out and investigate things. Janet suggested just leaving the ice maker broken since the freezer is working fine. I like the ice in my morning smoothie though, so the ice maker will have to be fixed. I can't keep buying bags of party ice forever.

I went to the gym really early this morning so I could be home in time to meet the appliance repairman. I did an abbreviated workout, finished my grocery shopping and made it home again thirty minutes before the repairman arrived. I was really disappointed when the repairman informed me that this whole refrigerator saga isn't over yet. Until I can get the water flowing to the refrigerator, I have no idea whether anything the repairman did today actually worked. I doubt if he knows either. The weird thing is that there is no logical reason why water isn't flowing. The shut off valve is very simple. It's either on or it's off. Water was definitely flowing with the old broken valve so there's nothing wrong with the copper pipe. Hopefully I can get a plumber out Monday because this thing is driving me crazy.

Dawn did extremely well on her sunrise walk this morning. She seemed back to her old self and walked almost two miles. We still have no idea what caused Dawn to stop walking and what is making her feel confident again. I'd like to think that the reluctance to walking had something to do with her paws, but she wasn't licking or paying any attention to them then. Now that she wants to walk longer again, she's tearing her paws up. I had to put the cone on her while I was eating breakfast, because she immediately wanted to start licking when we returned to the house. I don't understand anything anymore. Dawn shouldn't be licking her paws and water should be flowing through that copper pipe.

I might have missed my opportunity to see a Starship launch. Activity is really picking up in Boca Chica and they say that the hotels in the area are filled with Space X employees now. Space X is also building a tall fence that blocks a lot of the views you used to get from Highway 4. It still would be nice to go down there for the first orbital launch later this year. I'm beginning to think that space journalism was just something I imagined. I'm losing a lot of my connections at Kennedy Space Center and it seems harder and harder to get press credentials. Maybe it's all for the best. I don't feel really comfortable traveling now that Covid panic is on the rise again. I've had so many expenses lately that I probably couldn't afford a trip right now anyway. It was fun to be part of the space community for a while. Hopefully, I'll be able to rejoin them when life returns to normal.

It's not getting any cooler, so we'll probably have to take Dawn on her Sunday outing a little earlier tomorrow. A walk and ice cream cones will probably be the big event of the day. I doubt that I'll see a plumber tomorrow. The dispatcher told me that emergency plumbers worked on the weekends but that ice makers weren't considered an emergency.

Shelby is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3689

Sometimes it's the little things. I got the toilet to stop running today. I took everything apart again and soaked all the parts in vinegar for an hour to remove the built up scale. Then I bought a new ballcock membrane at a plumbing supply store. This tiny little piece of rubber was seventeen dollars, but apparently it is vital. After I carefully put everything back together again, the toilet worked normally. As I have mentioned many times, I will never buy a French toilet again.

It looks like the launch date for the Solar Orbiter has changed again. A new launch hazard warning has been issued, but so far I have received no confirmation from NASA about the new date. This makes changing reservations difficult. I was able to book another hotel for the revised date, but will have to cancel one of my reservations by tomorrow night to avoid a penalty. I can change my flight right up until the day of departure, but hotels are more difficult. When things are busy at the Space Center a last minute change in the launch schedule can leave you without a room. Hopefully, this will all be resolved tomorrow. I hate uncertainty.

The weather was even colder today than it was yesterday. It didn't seem to bother the birds though. The Egrets and Herons seemed at ease wading in the icy water. I was warm enough on my walk, but I needed two coats today. I'm beginning to think that dressing in layers like this will be better out at the observatory than my bulky Alaska coat. There was a stiff wind when I walked along the shoreline and I was still reasonably warm. A lot of people might think that a down jacket on top of another down jacket is overkill, but it seems to work great. Hey, I get cold easily. The inner down jacket is very light and the outer jacket is a larger size so it fits perfectly. Now I need to find some comfortable shoes that keep my feet warm.

My plan to get some astronomy lessons at the little observatory north of town hasn't worked out very well. There haven't been many clear days in January. I guess January has always been like this, but it sure seems gray and dismal this year. Maybe February will be better. I've still got some time. I'd really like to be more knowledgable when I arrive at the observatory.

I have no idea what I'll be doing tomorrow. I'm sure I'll check my e-mail a lot to see if there is any news from the Space Center. I need to answer the latest letter my sister sent. Maybe there'll be bills to pay as well. It's still not warm enough to make roof repairs, but that's probably useless anyway. I guess I should just concentrate on breakfast. Should I go out for French Toast or make an omelet at home? Oddly, little decisions like these seem just as difficult to make as the larger ones.

Malcolm is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3437

A guy stopped me on my walk this morning and wanted to show me some lizards. OK. I wasn't really looking for lizards but at least he wasn't trying to show me snakes. "Over there by that bush," the guy said. I must not have been looking in the right direction because the guy quickly added "No, not on the ground. they're walking on top of the leaves." Sure enough, there was a small, seemingly weightless lizard walking across some broad leaves. The guy told me the name of the lizard and I told him the name of the bush. It looked like the lizard was looking for small insects to eat while the bugs were just trying to eat the plants. That's how the food chain works. Everyone is trying to devour something.

The plumbers came out today and fixed my leaking shower and noisy toilet. I'm glad I didn't try to fix the shower by myself. The fixtures didn't use washers or o-rings. There were special ceramic cartridges installed in the shower faucets instead. I've seen these type of things in a kitchen faucet before, but never in a bathroom. The plumber knew what the cartridges were but didn't have any on his truck. He took the bad cartridges with him to a plumbing supply store and luckily was able to match them. The ceramic disks in the cartridges are supposed to be maintenance free, but the plumber said that grit in the supply lines can get between the disks and prevent them from closing completely. Apparently that's what happened. Our city water is notoriously full of grit and sediment. While the two plumbers were at the house I had them fix the noisy toilet too. I could have kept the plumbers at the house all day fixing small problems, but plumbers are expensive. I think I'm good for now.

I'm glad I got the plumbing problems taken care of, but I wasn't as successful with everything else. The roofer told me that he still hadn't had time to finish the estimate he started in February. My contact at the auction house must be on a trip around the world because I've been getting "out of office" auto-reply messages from him for a long time. I haven't heard from NASA yet either. I guess I've just got to be patient on that one.

It's already starting to get uncomfortably hot. I noticed that the air conditioner was running last night and the temperature has gotten over 90 degrees several times this week. It's hard to believe that it's still snowing in some parts of the country. I wish our Spring would last a little longer. It's the nicest part of the year in Texas. 90 degrees isn't so bad when you've got a little breeze. I'm not sure I'll still enjoy walking when it's 110 degrees in July. Even the dogs didn't like to go outside under those conditions.

It's been a busy day but I think I'm caught up on everything. The week's trash has been taken to the curb, I've done the laundry, and the dinner dishes have been washed. Now I need to decide where to go to breakfast tomorrow. I hope I manage to come up with something better than I did last week.

Willie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3436

I need to call the plumber. The leaking shower head is getting worse. I put a bucket under the drip after I took a shower today and it only took a couple of hours for the bucket to become full. I was surprised. It just seems like a little drip, but it is relentless. I don't think I can fix the faucets myself. I took the handles off today to look at the mechanism and it looked unfamiliar. I'd better leave this alone.

Since I couldn't fix the leak, I defrosted the little refrigerator instead. Melting ice is more my speed. I don't know why we even use the little refrigerator anymore. There's plenty of space in the big refrigerator. I guess I just like to be prepared. The little refrigerator can run off a generator. We may need it someday.

I keep wondering about the White Pelican I see on my walks. It is apparently never going to migrate. The bird seems content to live by itself on a quiet little bay at the lake. There are probably no other Pelicans within 1000 miles right now but the bird seems happy enough. It catches fish in the lake, sits on logs for hours at a time observing things and occasionally flaps its wings and flies. Maybe this is my spirit animal.

I tried out some different shoes today with thinner socks. Maybe this combination is better. I had very little foot pain on today's walks. The Vibram soles get caked with mud easily, but that's a small problem. Muddy boots clean up easily with a garden hose. I'll wear these for a while and see if they encourage me to walk longer.

I wrote a letter to my sister this afternoon and paid a credit card bill. Credit card bills are frustrating because they are always larger than I expect. It's amazing what you can forget during a month. My Webflow account auto renewed this month. I forgot about that one. I wonder if I even still need this? I subscribed to this advanced web development tool so I could build mobile ready websites for my clients. They all got really nice sites, but eventually left anyway. I haven't built a new website in almost a year.

I wish my plumbing problem would magically go away overnight. I hate dealing with plumbers. Somehow, little problems always end up turning into big problems. In theory, fixing some leaky faucets shouldn't be a big deal, but I've been wrong before. We'll see what tomorrow brings. I have a feeling that it's going to be a lot like today.

Rosco is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3434

It looks like the bad weather everybody was predicting is well to the North of us. We might not get any rain at all until the whole severe weather scenario repeats itself tomorrow. It's easy to forget that this always happens in the Spring. We get all our rain for the year in one or two months. At least we don't live in the Tornado Alley corridor where the bad storms are headed tonight. When the weather is bad in Dallas, it always seems to be worse in Oklahoma.

It's amazing how different the park is on a weekday. Yesterday the place seemed like a carnival. Today it was just me and a few ducks. I like quiet, overcast days like today. I keep my eye out for interesting animals and new flowers although very little changes from day to day. I did see something new today. The Texas Thistle is starting to bloom. When you start seeing thistles you know that Spring is ending. These drought tolerant plants seems to thrive during the Summer.

I don't know if I'm going to thrive during the Summer. It's already starting to seem too hot and humid for me. Long walks aren't nearly as enjoyable when you're sweaty and sunburned. When Dot and Dash were young there was an indoor dog park where we used to take the dogs on hot days. The place was huge and it was air conditioned. People with active dogs loved the place. We were regulars. Dot and Dash even had special electronic tags on their collars that let them inside. Unfortunately the fancy indoor park didn't stay in business all that long. The city uses the building to park school busses now.

Dallas is a thriving, successful city but nothing I really like seems to do well here. My favorite restaurants, furniture stores, camera shops, and art galleries have all gone out of business. I was convinced that the indoor dog park would be a huge success. The facility was well thought out and dogs loved it. Apparently their owners liked free dog parks better.

I've been thinking about emergency power lately since I put most of my devices to good use during our recent power outage. I've been thinking about buying more Goal Zero generators since you can easily chain the smaller 400 watt units together to achieve higher output. Do I actually need a higher output solar generator? Probably not. If I ever get the urge, there are plenty of YouTube videos showing me how to hook everything up. I'm amazed that there are YouTube videos explaining how to fix or install just about anything. Who makes these things? Some of the subjects are so strange and esoteric that you wonder if anybody actually watches them. Hmmm. I guess I answered my own question. I watched a bunch of these videos this morning.

The drip in the shower is getting worse. Do I call a plumber or try to fix things myself? I'm almost certain that the faucets for the shower just need new washers, but I'm equally certain the I tend to screw things up when attempting plumbing repairs. I hate to pay a plumber $100 to replace a fifty cent washer, but on the other hand I hate to break a pipe trying to remove a rusty frozen bolt. Decisions, decisions.

Harley is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3433

Another 20,000 step day. It's not really that much of an accomplishment, but it will have to do for now. All I know is that keeping moving seems better than standing still. My routine at the gym hasn't changed, but I go earlier now. There is still plenty of time for several long walks and a few unavoidable household chores.

I had to go back to the grocery store today because I forgot to put several things on my list yesterday. You'd think I would have remembered these things while I was at the store, but I just blindly follow my list. I also spent a little time looking for boots at REI, but didn't see anything I liked. I'm beginning to think my problem isn't my shoes, it's my feet. It's probably time for a trip to the podiatrist and some expensive custom orthotics. I did this once a long time ago and it made a huge difference.

I couldn't figure out why one of the one of the backup batteries I used during the power outage yesterday wasn't recharging. I had just about convinced myself that the Lithium Ion battery had gone bad when I realized that I'd plugged the thing into a power strip that wasn't connected to anything. Sadly, this is what growing old is like. Nothing dramatic happens. You just go to the grocery store over and over again and start plugging things into dead outlets.

It was hard to believe that yesterday was filled with thunderstorms because today was beautiful. The sky was blue and the temperature was in the eighties. It was warm enough to remind me that hundred degree days and high water bills weren't that far away. I wonder how I'll feel about walking in July? Knowing my tenacity, I'll probably continue but it won't be fun.

The shower head has developed a weird drip that's driving me crazy. Some days I can turn the shower off and other days it continues to drip for hours. I don't think the faucets are bad because at least half the time they shut off perfectly. I took the shower head apart today and cleaned it, but that didn't seem to make any difference. Minor plumbing problems are maddening. One of the toilets is making a irritating whistling noise again. The whistling stopped on it's own for about three months and now it has started again. The toilet works perfectly but I don't like hearing the noise. I hate calling a plumber for things like these because frequently they don't know what's going on either. Plumbers are used to dealing with big problems. Little problems don't seem to interest them.

I wish this weather would make up its mind. The forecast says that another band of thunderstorms will be arriving around sunrise tomorrow. Will the power go out again? Will the roof leak? Will the roof blow off the greenhouse? I don't like all the uncertainty. Sometimes I wonder if a perfect place even exists. If it rains too much it floods. If it rains too little there are wildfires. I guess I should be happy that Dallas is usually somewhere in between these extremes.

I still haven't heard anything from NASA. Maybe I'll find out something this week. I have no idea whether I'll be accepted to attend the Falcon Heavy launch, but it would be nice to have a plan for June. Until then, I've got a fresh supply of berries for my morning smoothies and some reasonably comfortable boots. Sooner of later the rainy season will be over. You've just got to have patience.

Holly is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3357

It was 23 degrees and very windy when we woke up this morning. That added up to a wind chill of 9 degrees. Brr. Dash thought he wanted a walk, but I don't think he realized what he was up against. We dressed him up as warmly as we could this morning, but he didn't even make to the back gate. When he felt how cold it really was, he wisely turned around and returned quickly to the house.

We spent the rest of the day indoors. Dash ventured outside to pee occasionally and I made one brief trip to the post office to pay some bills, but that was it. Today's goal was to stay warm. Even Dash understood that it wasn't a day for walking.

I'm glad I got the water off the roof yesterday. Ice on the roof causes some peculiar problems. When the ice starts to melt, the heat from the house causes it to melt from the bottom up. This creates a layer of water covered by a layer of ice, making it impossible to remove the standing water under under the ice. These conditions are a recipe for leaks because if the weather is cold enough, the ice on top can last for weeks.

I canceled today's plumbing appointment because it seemed like a terrible day to dig a big hole in the ground. The ground looked frozen anyway and I had trouble seeing where the leak was. I have a feeling that the cold, hard ground partially sealed the leak. I certainly wasn't seeing any evidence of it anyway. I hope the plumber appreciated what I did. I definitely wouldn't want to be a plumber working outside today.

I sold a few trains in February. I'm glad the collection is getting some interest again. I thought there would be a lot of sales over the Christmas holidays, but I was wrong. Nobody bought any trains for Christmas. Zero holiday sales. Did somebody get a model train for Valentine's Day? Who knows. Stranger things have happened.

I updated the Dalmatian Rescue website today. It seemed like a good thing to do on a cold, housebound day. I do so little website design these days that I'm slowly losing my skills. I occasionally have to look up things that I used to know by heart. It's only going to get worse. Use it or lose it, they always say. I guess I could revamp my own websites to keep my chops up, but I just don't have the interest anymore. Hard to believe that I used to have dozens of active clients that required hours of work every single day. How did I ever find the time? Of course the dogs were young and healthy then. So was I.

I hope that tomorrow is warmer. Two days like this and Dash and I will both have some serious cabin fever. There's nothing all that exciting about a walk in the park, but it's good to get outside. These walks are physical therapy for Dash and mental therapy for me. I hope all the early wildflowers don't die. I'm starting to see Grape Hyacinth all over the place. Based on today's weather, I think these flowers may have jumped the gun.

Orion is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3354

I was determined to get something done today. It was pretty obvious that my plan of waiting for nice weather to get started just wasn't going to work. Dash seem willing to cooperate. I wasn't expecting him to take an early walk, but he did. He wanted to go someplace new this morning and we walked around aimlessly for a while. I hope he found what he was looking for.

Even though we took a long walk, we got home early enough for me to go out for breakfast. I had to feed Dash first because I didn't think he'd eat from his bowl while I was gone. I've been having to hand feed Dash lately. He's been having real trouble getting his food from the bowl to his mouth. He's still as hungry as ever, but you need to feed him by hand.

I had something called a Breakfast Reuben this morning. I've never had a Reuben sandwich for breakfast before, but this was surprisingly good. The sandwich was served on a pretzel roll with a side of cheese grits. A little different, but this is something I'd definitely try again sometime.

The muddy puddle in the back yard isn't going away, so I called the plumber and made an appointment for them to come out on Monday. Hopefully they can repair the leak without totally tearing up the back yard. It would be tempting to postpone this repair since everything is still working in the house, but the thought of Dash walking through sewer water every day isn't very appealing. The water doesn't smell bad, so maybe I'm dealing with something else entirely. Hopefully, the plumber will know what to do.

In an effort to keep the roof leak from returning again, I went up on the roof after lunch and swept all the remaining water away. It's just going to rain again in a few days, but it seems important to keep the water level low. We'll see what happens. I've got buckets ready if they're needed. The one good thing about the expensive roof replacement estimate I got yesterday is that it's going to make all other repairs seem cheap. After seeing this estimate, I'm not really worried about what the plumber's going to charge.

I accepted the NASA invitation to go to Houston and blog about the Orion program. I've been so apprehensive about travel recently that I did this mainly to force myself to get out of the house. With the ability to order almost anything online, to work online, and even have your food delivered to you, it becomes quite tempting to stay housebound. I have no real desire to get out anymore, but instinctively I know it's not a good idea to become too reclusive. You've got to stay engaged.

The new storage warehouse has already raised my rent. That didn't take long. My goal for 2019 should be getting rid of everything in the warehouse. When I was doing the big move last November I didn't see anything that I couldn't live without. Most of the stuff is so old that I've forgotten about it already. The only trouble with decluttering is that it is a lot of trouble. It is so much easier to just ignore the stuff. This is probably why just about everybody's garage is filled to the rafters with crap.

There are a lot of new Dalmatians in the rescue program, so Janet and I might go up to the kennels and photograph them this weekend. The last time we tried this we got caught in a thunderstorm and had to turn around and come home. The forecast doesn't look great, but maybe we'll get lucky this time. You never know about Texas weather.

Lucky is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3352

It's raining again, so I can't find the muddy patch in the back yard anymore. The entire yard looks muddy now. I guess I'll have to wait until things dry out again before I can call a plumber. At least all the drains appear to be working normally. I'm going to assume this means that the sewer pipe has a leak but there has not been a clog. It's a lot better to have a leak in a drain line than in a supply line. Water under pressure can make a huge mess very quickly.

Dash seemed really tired this morning, so we didn't walk before breakfast. Every day is different. Some days Dash wakes up hungry and eager for a walk. Other days he can barely move. He seemed to sleep well last night, so I'm not sure what's going on. A long nap usually helps. Sure enough, around noon Dash woke up, ate his breakfast, and seemed ready to go outside. I don't know why Dash even wanted a walk today. It was a nasty day. The weather didn't seem to bother Dash, but I wish I'd worn a warmer coat. I'm pretty sure that there's standing water up on the roof,  but I didn't feel like sweeping it away today. What's the point. There's still more rain in the forecast. I did call another roofer that an architect friend recommended. Eventually, I'll get several bids and pick someone. Knowing me, I'll probably pick the wrong roofer. Reputation matters more than price to me, but a good reputation isn't a guarantee of anything. Things can always go wrong.

All the news outlets were providing wall-to-wall coverage of the Michael Cohen hearings today, but the only news that captured my attention was a story about a fat rat who got stuck in a sewer grate and was unable to move until a team of nine German firefighters came to her rescue. Oh, the humanity. The hapless rotund rodent immediately captured the attention of an overweight world. Apparently a lot of people could identify with this awkward situation. There was a lot of sympathy for the plump German rat. Not so much for Michael Cohen. I guess they were different types of rats.

Tomorrow looks like it's going to be a repeat of today. Maybe Dash will feel a little better.  Maybe the stock market will go up. Chances are that whatever happens, it will still be grey and cold. That's just the way February usually is. If I remember correctly, February was even worse last year. Enough with this dismal weather. I'm ready for Spring. Probably everybody is ready for Spring.

Princess is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3351

I noticed this morning that there was a large muddy puddle in the middle of the back yard. WTF? This wasn't here yesterday. It didn't rain last night. For a moment I thought that I might have left a garden hose on, but all the faucets were off. What new kind of hell was this? When the puddle refused to dry up as the day progressed, I began to suspect the worst. Our sewer line passes under the muddy area. A pipe probably rusted or broke. Several other houses in the neighborhood that are about the same age as ours have had to replace their sewer lines. Maybe it's my turn this time.

It's weird that virtually every single problem I've had with the house involves water. Roofs leak. toilets run. Pipes break under the concrete slab. Washing machines break. Refrigerator coils freeze. Somehow the problem always involves water. I guess that's why there are hundreds of plumbers in town. I see a plumbing truck in front of someone's house just about every time I walk Dash. Maybe the wet ground will start to dry out tonight. If not, I'll have to call the plumber. I don't look forward to plumbers digging a big hole in the back yard, but what are you going to do? Things like this are one more reason why I'm never going to have any extra money.

Janet has started putting Dash's boots on before he wakes up in the morning. It's much easier to get the socks and boots on while Dash is lying down, but this doesn't always make him eager to walk. He was very reluctant to leave the house this morning. It took us forever just to get down to the park. Dash would walk a few feet and then he'd stop for a while. I don't know what was going through his head. Eventually we reached the area where the good smells begin and Dash began walking normally again. We took a much shorter walk than we normally do this morning and then Dash went back to sleep again. He didn't eat his breakfast until several hours later. I hope he's feeling OK.

Nothing exciting happened today. I balanced my checkbook after breakfast. Sometimes this process is easy. Other times it is infuriatingly difficult. It took me a long time to realize that I'd failed to record several January bills. I paid the bills. I just didn't subtract them from my balance. Eventually I found the problem and everything balanced but it sure took me a while.

I still haven't accepted the NASA invitation to visit the Johnson Space Center. I probably will, but there are still a few days left until the deadline. I keep finding excuses to postpone making a decision. I worry about Dash having a setback. Today I was fretting about my potential plumbing problem. I need to realize that I'm never, ever going to wake up without a care in the world. There's always going to be something to worry about. It's not a perfect world, but I shouldn't use this as an excuse to do nothing.

I did remember that it was Tuesday today. That means that if I don't procrastinate, I might be able to get a plumber out to the house before the end of the week. I might as well go for it. I despise expensive repairs, but sitting around and watching the mud hole in the yard grow deeper for a few additional days isn't going to make the repair any cheaper. I'll call tomorrow. The sad thing is that the plumbing repair will probably cost exactly the same as a trip to Houston.

Bingo is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3302

What a busy day. The roofing crew arrived early. It took a while to explain what was going on, but once we were all on the same page, the guys found two additional leaks. Since these leaks corresponded to areas inside the house where water was getting in, I felt like we were making progress. When I asked whether they felt confident that the had discovered all the potential leaks, they just shrugged. "We'd have to tear up the entire roof to do that," one guy said. At least the guys made an honest effort to patch the leak. We'll have to see what happens when it rains again.

I got a quote on fixing my office chair. It's going to cost more than it cost to fix the dryer. How can that be? It's only a chair. Reluctantly, I told the guys to go ahead and order the parts. The repairs will still cost considerably less than buying a new chair. Janet suggested just going out and buy a cheap chair at Office Depot, but I like my Aeron Chair. It has served me well and even though I don't spend a lot of time designing websites or editing videos these days, I still like to be comfortable when I'm writing the blog.

Since I was making progress on the roof and the chair, I decided to tackle the driveway as well. I went out and bought a hundred pounds of river rocks at Home Depot and dumped them in the pothole. It wasn't an elegant solution, but it just might work. At this point I just want to stop getting mud all over my car every time I back out of the driveway. Before filling the hole with rocks, I checked to make sure there wasn't a water pipe underneath. Nope. The ground is just saturated with all the rain we've had lately.

The last thing on my list today was an attempt to fix the weird French toilet in one of the bathrooms. This seldom works, but since I can't get parts for the toilet anyway what do I have to lose? Basically I just shut the water off, clean off the parts as best I can and them put the flushing mechanism back together again. This is the most complicated toilet I've ever seen. It was probably designed by the same person who designed Citroën automobiles. Rube Goldberg would be proud.

Dash is still slipping on the bricks, so I went to the storage warehouse and brought back a few more rugs. I've already brought quite a few of these rugs home, but I was surprised at how many still remained. We must have covered our entire house with cheap rugs when Dot was sick. The rugs do make a difference. They help Dash get up when he's been sleeping on the floor and they help him stay upright when he's awake.

Towards the end of the day I got a call from the guy who is restoring my Sequential Circuits synthesizers. He said that one of the synthesizers was as good as new now and that he was making progress on the other two. These synthesizers have been in the shop for over three months now. I didn't even want to ask what this was going to cost me. I still don't feel bad about restoring this stuff. Vintage Sequential Circuits gear is very desirable. When everything is finished, I'll either start playing the keyboards again, or someone will want to buy them.

All in all, it was a good day. I like making progress even if the progress is small. The weather should be nice tomorrow as well, so today's roof repairs should have plenty of time to dry before rain puts them to the test again. Fingers crossed. For some reason I'm slightly optimistic today.

Jordan is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3035

It's amazing how long it takes to do nothing. Maybe I accomplished something today, but it would be hard to prove. I found a place that sells the weird silicon glue I've been looking for in a smaller more affordable size. I was just about ready to order the glue online when I discovered that the seller wanted to charge $18 to ship the small 1/2 ounce tube. Jeez. The glue itself only costs $11. This seemed ridiculous, especially since you could easily put the small tube of glue in a bubble pack envelope and mail it with two first class stamps. I canceled the order and did some more looking until I eventually found a place in town that stocked the glue. Do I want to drive 20 miles on a busy freeway to pick this stuff up, or pay way too much for shipping? It's a tough choice.

I heard on TV that the supreme court is hearing a case tomorrow that could end up forcing online retailers to charge sales tax. That would really suck. I have purchased computers, cameras, and electronic equipment online for years specifically to avoid paying sales tax. Sales taxes, gasoline taxes, property taxes, cigarette taxes, and much, much more never seem to be enough. The government always wants more. We'll see what happens, but I'm going to be real disappointed if I have to pay sales tax when I order something from Sweetwater or B&H Camera.

I made an appointment to take Dash tomorrow morning for his rabies booster. He's so old now that I don't think he needs the shot, but it's the law. At least the city doesn't require the vaccine every year like they used to. You only need a booster shot once every three years now and many vets think that the vaccine is actually effective for up to seven years. Dash has had a bad reaction to some immunizations in the past, so I never look forward to these shots as he becomes old and frail. I wish these decisions could just be between the vet and the pet's owner. Why does the government need to get involved?

Our neighbors are having to replace their sewer line. What a mess. Since our houses are about the same age, I've started to wonder about the condition of our own sewer line. We've already had problems with our water lines, so it's something to think about. When our house was built in the mid-1950's, they used copper pipes inside the house and heavy cast iron pipes outside. These pipes were pretty durable, but everything rusts or corrodes eventually. I wonder how the PVC pipes they use today will look fifty years from now? The plastic pipes will probably be fine, but I can't imagine that the purple glue they use to join these pipes together will last that long.

I have only a single outstanding invoice now. When even the slow and delinquent payers are current on all their accounts, do I even have a business left? Probably not. I'm a pretty good dog nurse, but I'm really going to have to find something to do with myself when the business officially dies.

Becker is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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