Day 3179

I enjoyed breakfast this morning. There was real china, heavy flatware, and waiters in white coats. The place was quiet and relaxing. Although the menu was limited, my egg sandwich was delicious. Eating in a nice hotel wasn't a bad idea. I'll probably go back.

I was surprised to see how high the lake levels were this morning because we didn't get any rain yesterday. It must have rained heavily to the north of us. Whenever there are heavy rains, huge amounts of trash and litter flow into the lake from the creeks that feed it. The water definitely looked ugly this morning. When the water recedes, this litter will be left on the shoreline. Eventually, people from the Parks and Recreation Department will pick it up. It's a shame that nobody in Dallas seems to be able to throw their trash in a can, but I'm sure other cities are even worse.

I'm glad there was time to take Dash on a nice walk this morning because it was our turn to get rained on today. As the day progressed, the sky got darker and darker. It's raining right now and that means there will be no evening walk. People always say we need the rain, but I don't know why. It hasn't been a particularly dry year. I don't like rain, but I'm slowly learning to respect it. Whenever I see all the forest fires out West and the hurricanes and floods to the East, I realize that Dallas is in kind of a sweet spot. We've managed to avoid weather extremes for quite a while.

I feel sorry for Elon Musk. He's getting crucified for making a casual comment about taking his company private and then smoking pot on TV. Musk is the Thomas Edison of our generation. I think people ought to cut him some slack. Steve Jobs got treated the same way for quite a while. It's weird. If you're a businessman or a politician, you're expected to follow conventional rules. If you're a musician, anything goes.

We've discontinued the probiotic Dash was taking and his poop is slowly becoming firmer. This is counterintuitive but what do I know. The disappointing thing about veterinary and human medicine is that everything is so compartmentalized. Nobody seems all that good at evaluating the big picture. It seems obvious that health is a combination of lifestyle, diet, heredity, and medications. Doctors always focus on the pills though. Somehow, I feel that Dash would be doing better if he were eating exactly the right thing. I'd probably being doing better if I were eating exactly the right thing as well. I don't have any answers, but I do think that nutrition should be just as important as pharmacology in medical school.

I saw the auction catalog for one of the Fall auctions today. It was weird to see my picture right up there with some pretty well known art. I'm no art historian, but I recognized some of the other images up for auction immediately. I'm hoping that this might be is my Antiques Roadshow moment. I don't want to get my hopes up though. Auctions are weird and unpredictable. Nobody might bid at all. I have art in two different auctions and both are in October. Lets hope they do well.

Janet wants to take pictures of some new rescue dogs this weekend. If the weather improves, that's what we'll do. I still am unwilling to leave Dash alone in a storm, but I'm actually looking forward to taking photos again. Life is so slow, that I look forward to doing almost anything.

Bailey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 3084

The weather certainly surprised me this morning. I was expecting blue skies and we got thunderstorms instead. This storm was a bad one. It didn't take Dash long to hide under my desk. I got out a blanket so he would have a comfortable place to sleep and he stayed in his little cave until almost noon. Not surprisingly, the landscapers didn't finish the yard today. It's a good thing they cleared out all the leaves on Saturday while everything was still dry. Wet leaves would have been twice as heavy to haul away.

I've been having some interesting conversations with auction houses. Selling art is more complicated than I imagined, but it is kind of fascinating. Even more fascinating is how I have changed over the years. I thought it would be like pulling teeth to get rid of anything, but as it turns out, I'm actually looking forward to living a simpler, more uncluttered life. I don't need this stuff. It's finally sunk in that "you can't take it with you" is just the simple, unvarnished truth about possessions of any sort.

We've decided that the antibiotic Dash has been taking is what is causing his diarrhea. This has happened before. The antibiotic kills the microorganisms that normally live in the intestinal tract and causes all sorts of digestive problems. It look like it's time to give Dash a probiotic again. We ordered some Fortiflora which has always worked in the past. Hope this does the trick. Cleaning up runny poop is disgusting.

The pump on the roof wouldn't work this morning and when I went up to investigate, I discovered that the tree trimmers had knocked it over when they were taking down the big dead limb a few days ago. I was pleased when I got the pump working again and almost immediately displeased when I discovered a new damaged area in the elastomer coating just three inches away from the edge of the new patch the roofers applied a few weeks ago. Why didn't they extend the repair just a little further? I don't see how they could have missed this new bad area. This roof is so frustrating. I don't know if I'm ever going to be able to get it fixed.

The landscapers are supposed to return and finish things up tomorrow. It's also supposed to rain again tomorrow, so we'll see what happens. Rain or shine, I hope that Dash continues to sleep on a regular schedule again. He didn't wake me up at all last night and it was such a relief to finally get a decent night's sleep.

Maybe I'll look around the house tomorrow for other stuff I could sell. Janet would love it if I could clear out the office. Unfortunately, old computers and video tape players aren't very collectible.

Daisy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 1515

Breakfast was definitely the high point of the day. It's still cold. There's still snow on the ground. And I'm still bundled up in sweaters while I work. The furnace is working fine. The hot air just doesn't seem to make it all the way to the office in the back of the house. The dogs are smarter than me. On cold days they hang out near the heating vents in the living room, where the air is still toasty warm. I guess I could take a laptop and work in a warm room too, but I can't even write a simple letter without staring at a huge high definition screen anymore. Yes, I'm running Microsoft Word on a high end video editing workstation. Hey, I've got to use this stuff for something.

Much to my chagrin, Dot and Dash seem to love being walked separately. Dot takes sedate ladylike steps along the path, stopping periodically to smell things along the way. Dash charges through the brush, feeling a new sense of power now that he's in charge of his walk. I like seeing the dogs happy, but they are making a shambles of my schedule. I still got everything finished today, but it was only because the weather was so nasty that I wasn't tempted to do anything else.

The stock market continues to confound me. Just a few days ago I was happy to see some stop loss orders kick in, seemingly protecting me from the day's 300 point loss. Now, just two days later, the market has already regained most of the losses from the big sell-off and I'm wondering why I sold some perfectly good stocks. That's the trouble with protection strategies. They may protect you from the next zombie apocalypse, but they don't protect you from human nature. It all comes down too fear and greed. My fear triggered someone else's greed and the market went back up again.

Dash is sleeping through the night again, so maybe the Probiotics we're giving him are working. Dot is visibly stronger on her walks, so maybe the water therapy is working as well. My new Hepatitis-C meds aren't making me sick either, so hopefully they are working as well. Medicine is great when it works. It just doesn't work all the time.

It's supposed to warm up this weekend. I've even heard that we may see a little sunshine. With all the mud that appears after a thaw, it's probably too much to ask for the dog park to be open. It would sure be nice though. Dash is getting cabin fever.

Stortz is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 1512

You learn something new every day. While Dash was at the vet today, I discovered that a side effect of anesthesia is that it tends to kill off the good bacteria in the gut. In most dogs, and probably people as well, this flora quickly reestablishes itself and life returns to normal. In highly stressed dogs, these beneficial bacteria don't return and digestive problems result. This could very easy be Dash's problem. He is definitely not a calm dog, and he has had anesthesia recently. We'll put him on a probiotic for a while and see if his 3 AM wake up calls disappear.

If the probiotics don't work, there's also a chance that he has a vitamin-B deficiency. Evidently, low levels of vitamin-B can cause all sorts of problems, including the same sort of digestive issues Dash is experiencing now. We need another blood test to determine if his vitamin-B and folic acid levels are low. I couldn't get that test done today, since fasting is required, but we'll get our boy tested soon. I can tell Dash is uncomfortable. Hopefully one of these very plausible scenarios it what is causing his problems.

Another thing I discovered today is that the dogs don't tug and pull nearly as much when I walk them separately. When I walk Dot and Dash together, they are constantly competing for what they perceive as the best side of the road, or the most pungent smell. They criss-cross themselves so frequently that I spend half my time untangling their leashes. Left to themselves, they both walk quite nicely, occasionally even seeming to remember the long forgotten "heal" command. So far, I have only discovered one problem with walking each dog separately: it takes twice as long.

It was still cold and wet this morning, but as the day progressed it gradually grew warmer. By the time I took the mail to the post office later in the afternoon, I could actually see a small patch of blue sky. I had high hopes for the rest of the week, until I looked at the weather channel and noticed that it will only be 30 degrees tomorrow morning.

I'm encouraged by the progress I'm making with my shoulder. The cortisone shot is mostly out of my system by now, and the pain isn't that bad unless I do something stupid. Walking the dogs isn't a problem, if I walk them separately. It's the little things that creep up and surprise me. I have to be careful about putting on a heavy coat, or even folding a blanket. I was wondering why I was told not to raise my hand above my line of sight until I tried it. Every time I raised my right hand above my head, I would hear a popping sound in my shoulder. It needs more time. I'm feeling better, but the shoulder is still very weak.

Work is still keeping me extremely busy, but I'm starting to get a rhythm established. As long as nobody throws me a curve, I'll be fine. People always throw you a cure though. It's just a law of nature.

Duke is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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