Day 1732

Such a busy day. I got my blood tested at the liver center. I finished the first of two new writing assignments. I brought five dead websites back online. I comforted the dogs during a thunderstorm. I got groceries for the weekend. And I still found time to have a nice breakfast at my favorite restaurant. The most problematic task was moving the websites to their new hosting company. First, I had to get a new password from Network Solutions before I could begin pointing the domains to the new server. I can never remember all my passwords. It seems pointless to write them all down on a yellow Post-it note and stick it on my computer screen, but it's just about come to that. After I received a new password and moved the DNS for each site, I tried to figure out the new server's control panel and reconfigured a few things in Dreamweaver so each site would upload correctly. I think everything works now, but it took a while.

For the first time since last Spring, it is actually colder outside than it is inside the house. A cold front must have accompanied this morning's rainfall, since it is much colder than it was yesterday. The temperature was in the mid-90's on Thursday. Today it got as low as 65 degrees. The dogs both seemed to enjoy the cooler weather and wanted to take longer walks. They didn't want to walk any faster, just longer. Needless to say, our walks took a long time today. I didn't mind. A nice walk is always more enjoyable than staring at my computer screen. I was actually delighted that Dot is strong enough now to take these longer walks. Our girl has come a long way.

I'm charging camera batteries now for tomorrow morning's photo shoot. I wonder what will happen if it rains? Hopefully, the weather will be nice, because we don't really have a contingency plan. If I wake up tomorrow morning to the sound of rain pounding on the roof, I guess our Plan-B will be to just reschedule the entire photo shoot for a sunny day. I hope that nobody suggests moving the shoot indoors, because I don't have enough strobes to light the large group I'm supposed to photograph. My client is a very positive person, so I assume that she'll make everything turn out OK. I haven't even mentioned the possibility of rain, since everyone thinks I'm too negative already.

I wonder why I keep thinking about the new iPhone 6? I certainly don't need a new phone. I barely use the one I've got. Nevertheless, there's a good chance that I'll end up getting one of these sleek looking tech toys with its fingerprint recognition system and pretty rounded corners. I'm hopeless. I wonder if there's a twelve step program for people who are addicted to pretty things?

Dot and Dash are both getting so much better that it's time to turn our attention to dental care again. It's amazing how quickly a dog's teeth get dirty. It's only been a few months since Dot had her teeth cleaned at the vet and they are already beginning to show signs of plaque buildup. Our vet showed us a new enzyme product that requires no brushing. You just add a few drops to their water bowl each day. We'll see how that goes.

Marcie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1021

This is the only time of year when you can open your windows in Texas. The weather is beautiful in October and the month certainly got off to a good start today. Did I open my windows and enjoy the cool breezes and mild temperatures? Well, no. You see, if I opened the windows, a ton of wasps would fly inside. Over the summer, lots of wasps have built imposing nests under the eaves. The window screens would keep the wasps out, you might think. Well, no. I went on a tour of homes a while back and noticed that a house on the tour which resembled ours looked much better without the window screens, so I took the screens off our house as well. The house does look better, but I haven't been able to open the windows since. Unfortunately, that's the way it is with me. Pretty wins over practicality just about every time.

The dogs didn't seem all that eager to get up this morning. I think yesterday's golf tournament tired them out. They normally sleep so much during the day that having people come up and pet them all afternoon was more activity than they could handle. I thought they would go to sleep in the car on the way home last night, but they don't seem to like the smaller seats in the little Kia rental car. Nobody seems to like the Kia. Janet and I have gotten so hooked on GPS navigation that we frequently get lost without it. Since we'd never been to the Bridlewood golf course before, we weren't sure how to get home without the Land Rover GPS until we realized that the iPhone had a turn-by-turn navigation app. A little voice in the dark guided us safely home. It is kind of weird how ubiquitous technology has become. I didn't even question putting my faith in a little artificial voice coming out of a telephone.

I've started looking for an alternative to Entrecard and so far I don't like what I see. Most of the other blog advertising networks seem to either be pay-per-post schemes, which I don't like, or require huge readership stats to attract national advertisers, which I don't have. Several of these blog networks suggested creating a niche blog with content devoted exclusively to one subject like parenting, vampires, or knitting. I guess talking about wasp nests and sleeping dogs doesn't count.

There are days when just doing your own thing seems a lonely road to follow. I don't know what else to do, however. I'm kind of set in my ways and I'm certainly not much of a team player. I told one of my advertising friends that I couldn't imagine spending all my time writing about one subject. "But you do spend all your time writing about one subject," he said. "You just write about yourself." Touché.

Tori is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day