Day 4823

I got a lot done today. I signed a contract with the roofers to replace our roof. I went and got a haircut. I kept an eye on Dawn while Janet was away. And I still had time to take my long walk. I should have started the walk about twenty minutes earlier because it started raining again on my way home and I got soaked. No harm done, although the thunder and lightning made me a little nervous. I definitely don't want to be struck by lightning just because I was determined to get my steps.

Dawn seemed pretty steady today and there were no falls. She seems to be retaining a lot of fluid and her neck is still swollen though. It's kind of hard to tell what's going on because the medications she is taking make her sleepy and lethargic. This is on purpose because our vet wants her to stay quiet and as inactive as possible to let the inflammation subside and give everything a chance to heal.

Oddly, Dawn seems friendlier toward me now. I don't know if she is just too tired to leave when I sit down on the bed with her, or if she's finally starting to realize that I'm trying to help her. I'd like to think the latter, but who knows. She's a dog and will continue to follow her canine instincts.

The roofers want to start on the new roof in April. Let's hope the weather is better by then. The roof leaks started again within an hour after today's rain started. The leaks aren't bad, but it never got dry enough to start hunting for where the water continues to get in the house. It's probably just as well that I didn't attempt further repairs. I don't need to be disappointed again. The roofers are confident that they can eliminate the low spots that are causing all the standing water. I take everything they say with a grain of salt though. Roofers are always confident before they start a job.

I applied for press credentials to attend another Falcon Heavy launch in April. I'm almost sure this will end up conflicting with the roof replacement schedule, but we can work that out later. After the exceptionally rainy Spring we've had this year, I'm definitely going to need a trip to Florida to put this all behind me. It doesn't look like I'll be going to the observatory this Spring. I never got a volunteer request from them this year and their busy Spring Break season starts next week. I'm kind of glad that I don't have to make that decision. I'm still not sure I'm up for a long drive to West Texas.

Hopefully Dawn will continue to get stronger. She actually had a pretty good day today. My day wasn't bad either, although I wasn't wild about getting soaked when I was taking my walk. We'll see what happens tomorrow. I don't want any surprises.

Val is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4238

I think August is off to a good start. I really got a lot done today. We left the house late on our sunrise walk and we should have noticed that Dawn didn't want to go very far. The sun was already up and you could tell it was going to be a hot day. Later, when we took her on her Sunday outing, she was tired and we needed to rest from time to time under shade trees. I was a little worried that she would get overheated, but we made it back to the car just fine. If it's this hot next Sunday, we'll skip the walk and just have ice cream instead. You always have to worry about heat stroke with dogs. We know the signs to look for and weren't in any danger today, but it is always a worry on a hot day. 

This morning's hot weather should have been a warning to me, but I was determined to get the grass mowed today. I knew there was rain in the forecast for later in the day, so I got the mower out right after breakfast. I mowed the front and back yards and removed all the spider webs from the Asian Jasmine ground cover as well. I guess I thought that Dawn would be fine on her Sunday outing because I wasn't any worse for wear after all this activity. The yard looks much better now and the late afternoon rain will help keep everything green. Usually I dread the rain, but we really needed it. Everything in the yard was starting to look really dry.

I cleaned up the atrium area today. It's almost impossible to get into the atrium these days because the sliding glass door is broken. I think one of the metal rollers has snapped and the broken piece causes the door to jam in the track when you attempt to move it. Usually I can only open the door about a foot and squeeze through the narrow opening. Today the door opened almost five feet which really surprised me. Maybe the summer heat had changed something. Unfortunately, this was just a fluke. The second time I tried to open the door, it jammed after moving only four inches. I never close the door when I am in the atrium because I'm afraid I won't be able to get back in the house. I wish I could find someone to fix this thing. The oversize door is huge and nobody seems to know how to fix it. The only guy who worked on these doors died a few years ago and was probably the last of his kind. Sign of the times I guess. I'm having trouble even finding a decent plumber.

When the rain finally arrived it was quite heavy. We really needed the rain, but whenever I hear rain pounding on the roof I start to worry about roof leaks. No leaks so far, which is a little surprising. The pumps are working well today and maybe that helped. The roof still might leak later tonight. Sometimes it takes a while for water to work it's way inside. I still can't figure out where the current leak is coming from. Since the leak only seem to happen when there is an unusually heavy downpour, my current theory is that the water is getting in through a ventilation duct on another part of the roof and then traveling sideways on a beam or electrical conduit to the crack in the sheetrock where it gets into the house. Let's hope the rain wasn't strong enough this afternoon to cause this to happen. So far, so good. I'll put a bucket out tonight though. I don't have much faith in this roof.

I did a lot of other little chores around the house that aren't even worth explaining. Unless you lived here you wouldn't understand the need to use a wet/dry vac to remove water that collects underneath the tiles in the shower stall. The buckets that collect water in the dehumidifiers need to be cleaned and disinfected periodically as well, because a biofilm tends to develop on the walls of the buckets. 

Hopefully, I can get the plumber to come out tomorrow and fix the line to the refrigerator so the ice maker will work again. It's weird. Almost all of my current problems have something to do with water. Water is not my friend.

Snoopy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day