Day 3271

It's been raining steadily for several days now. The leak in the ceiling is spreading and I have several buckets out now. I became alarmed when water started dripping out of one of the can lights in the hallway. Water and electricity don't mix well. I had to do something, so against my better judgement I went up on the roof and started sweeping away the standing water while it was still raining.

There was an enormous amount of water and wet leaves on the roof. I was actually surprised that the roof wasn't leaking more. It took several hours of hard work to remove the water, but as I finished and was preparing to go inside again, I noticed that new puddles were already starting to accumulate. Water is relentless. If the rain doesn't stop, I will need to do this all over again tomorrow.

I must have accomplished something because the tempo of water drops hitting the buckets on the living room floor is slower now. I just hope that the sheetrock in the ceiling doesn't become so soggy that it crumbles and falls. The rain has accomplished one thing. For the first time in ages I'm more worried about water than dog poop.

Of course Dash pooped in the house. You knew he would. He hates going outside in the rain. I hate going outside in the rain as well, but it was unavoidable today. In addition to my dubious duties on the roof, I had to do weekend grocery shopping as well. I think people have already started Christmas shopping because the traffic was terrible. After driving around in the rain and getting the car dirty, I still have to go back for strawberries. No strawberries today. Damn. I've got to have strawberries for my morning smoothie.

There were no walks at all today. The rain never stopped. Dash was restless, but he didn't really want to go outside anyway. Nobody in their right mind would want to go outside today. Rain when the temperature is only slightly above freezing feels much colder than snow. You may be wishing for a White Christmas, The next time you hear this familiar song, just remember that nobody writes Christmas music about rain.

I hope the rain stops tonight. I'd much rather get my exercise at the gym tomorrow than on the roof. Sweeping hundreds of pounds of water off the roof with a big push broom is much more strenuous than a treadmill. The roof is treacherous and slippery as well. One of these days I'm going to fall.

I'll worry about that tomorrow. Right now my main worry is staying awake. I'm really tired. There's one more load of wash to throw in the dryer and I'm going to bed. Maybe I can get a few hours of sleep before Dash wakes me up at 2 AM to go outside.

Willow is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3153

OK. Enough rain already. I managed to complete most of Sunday's errands despite the rain, but it looks like I'm going to miss the Perseid meteor shower tonight. This has been a weird month even by Texas standards. Within a matter of weeks we recorded the highest temperature on record for August and the lowest temperature on record for August. I'm enjoying the unusually cool weather we've been experiencing recently. I just wish there wasn't so much rain.

On the way to the gym this morning I listened to a show on the radio about an economist who had written a book about how smart people often do stupid things learned a few days after the book's publication that he had lost all his money to Bernie Madoff. Ironic, but not terribly surprising. I've known a lot of smart people who've done stupid things. Myself included. The surprising thing is that there are still a few people who don't do stupid things. I guess they're out there, but I don't know any.

I think I've mentioned this before, but I can't figure out how my gym stays in business. There was nobody there today. Well, I guess there were two or three others, but it seemed like nobody. I think my lack of sleep is catching up with me. I felt like I was doing my routines underwater today. I was terrible on the basketball court as well. I guess, just like Dash, I have good days and bad days too.

It's too bad it's overcast tonight. They say the Perseid meteor shower is spectacular this year. Oh, well. Maybe next year. I guess I do most of my astronomy online these days. Even on a nice day, it's a lot of trouble to take the telescope out and the light pollution in Dallas is terrible. Much easier to look at pretty pictures online. I guess I could say the same thing for space launches. If I went to Florida to see the Parker Solar Probe launch in person it would have cost a fortune. The launch got delayed several times and I would have had to extend my stay and change my airline reservations. The launch was in the middle of the night too. I watched a replay this morning on YouTube while I was drinking my coffee. Works for me.

While I was thinking about throwing away my old computers, I had a radical idea. Maybe I should just go back to using them. I liked the old towers much better than what I'm using now. The big silver cheese grater tower was my favorite. I liked Mountain Lion better than Sierra too. Now that I'm essentially retired, is there even any point to keeping up with the latest innovations? Probably not. Of course, I could always become a raging Luddite like my sister and go offline completely.

I hope everything is normal tonight. Dash gave me a scare last night. He woke up and got off the bed like he often does. Then he just froze. He wouldn't move or even respond to me. I thought he might be having a vestibular seizure, but there were no rapid eye movements. The poor guy just seemed totally out of it. About thirty minutes later he was back to normal. It took me a little longer to get back to normal.

It's supposed to rain again tomorrow. Hopefully on Tuesday, the sun returns.

Ellis is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3152

We're getting a lot of rain. I know it's been dry and we really need need this, but I'm starting to worry about the roof. I can't leave all that standing water up there forever. The new elastomer coating had plenty of time to dry, so maybe there won't be a problem. My experience says otherwise unfortunately. For the time being I'll just wait and hope. There is no point in removing the water while it's still raining.

We had to wait until mid-morning to give Dash his walk because it was raining pretty hard when we woke up. The showers we've been having are sporadic, but they never stop long enough to get anything done. We got a little break in the weather after breakfast, but by the time we finished walking Dash, it was already raining again.

On days like these I have to forget about keeping the car clean. Ther's no avoiding Saturday errands. Today, I needed coffee and fresh fruit a lot more than I needed to stay dry. At least the strawberries looked good today. I hate to brave the weather just to find some rotten fruit.

Dash had a really good appetite today. Go figure. He ate all his meals without having to bribe him with peanut butter and dog treats. He still seemed hungry after his regular breakfast, so we fed him a little more. I can't figure out these daily fluctuations in appetite and energy. It doesn't make sense. Everything is so consistent in Dash's life that you wouldn't expect dramatic changes. All that being said, I'm really happy whenever Dash has a good day. He needs a lot more good days.

There isn't much to do on dark, rainy days. I tried to diagnose a problem with Janet's laptop. I watched a cooking show on PBS. I read a long online article about how the dinosaurs died out. I'm fascinated by theories of how the universe began or how the dinosaurs died. Basically a lot of really smart people are just guessing. I know of at least three distinctly different theories of how the dinosaurs became extinct. They all sound plausible to me.

Dash slept well last night, but I didn't. I woke up every time I heard rain on the roof. My Fitbit says that I experience normal periods of deep sleep, but I don't believe it. I'm such a light sleeper that the slightest noise always wakes me up. This is good when I've got a sick dog that needs attention. It's bad when I'm tired and really need to sleep.

If I can't sleep tonight, I might turn on the computer and watch the Parker Solar Probe launch. This launch has been delayed several times but it is scheduled to lift off around 2:30 AM this morning. I almost applied to NASA to view this launch in person, but I can't bring myself to leave Dash. It's not a big deal to miss this one. I'm sure they'll be launching plenty of satellites for the rest of my lifetime. It is a pretty audacious idea to send a spacecraft right through the sun's corona without burning it up. I hope they succeed, but it will be seven years before we find out whether the mission is a success.

I guess today was a success. Dash is happy. There are no signs of roof leaks. And the refrigerator is full again. Pretty soon it will be time for another trip to the gym.

Hannah is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2976

I hate waiting for repair people. They never arrive when they say they will. You can wait and wait, but it never makes any difference. It's only when you give up and decide to take a shower or walk your dog that the service technician knocks on your door. I guess I shouldn't be critical. I'm always late myself. I can't even get to a simple meeting on time. The AT&T guy was three hours late today, but at least he showed up. My fiber optic installation is now finished.

I wish they'd told me ahead of time that the technician wouldn't need to come inside the house. This could have saved a lot of waiting. I still managed to get everything done. I got my grocery shopping finished early this morning before the technician was scheduled to arrive. Instead of going out for breakfast, I tried the breakfast buffet they had at the grocery store. I'd never tried this before because it didn't look very good. Surprisingly, the taste of the scrambled eggs, bacon, and biscuits and gravy I picked out tasted much better than they looked.

The refrigerator repair guy called me back today. After talking with him for a few minutes I realized that I now know just as much about repairing refrigerators as he does. The guy agreed that changing out all three thermistors might be a good idea. He also said that the temperature control for the fan might have gone bad. There were no guarantees though. Apparently the way appliance repair works is you just keep replacing parts until the problem stops. I don't know why I'm so surprised. This appears to be the way most car repairs work too.

I wish there weren't so many people walking their dogs during the middle of the day. Dash and I used to have the park to ourselves during the week, but now it's crowded all the time. The dogs on a leash are fine, but almost every day we run into someone who is letting their dogs run loose. I could tell that Dash really wanted a walk this afternoon, but as soon as he saw two dogs running off leash, he refused to go any further. It is so frustrating to have to abort a good walk. These people with their loose dogs have no idea how long it takes me to get Dash suited up in his protective gear and ready to go. I tried again just before sunset and this time there was no danger.

The news was all about Russia today. I don't know why the Russians went to all that trouble to get us fighting among ourselves. We do a pretty good job of that on our own. I think a lot of the outrage about this is bogus. The United States and Russia have been meddling in each other's affairs since the beginning of the cold war. It's not like we don't don't do the same thing to them. Personally, I think that if the FBI hadn't been so obsessed with Russian Twitter accounts, they might have had time to follow up on that Florida school shooters disturbing online profile.

Dash was a picky eater again today.  He'd enthusiastically start to eat something and then ten minutes later he would spit the same thing out. On any given day, I have no idea what is going to appeal to him.  I think Dash takes living in the moment to extremes. One minute he wants a walk. The next minute he refuses to leave the yard. Feeding him is so difficult now. I fed him half a can of dog food around 3 PM. He rapidly ate and then we took a walk. When we returned, I gave him the rest of the can and he wouldn't touch it. This inconsistency tests my patience almost as much as repair people.

It is supposed to rain all next week. I hope the forecast is wrong. You know how I feel about rain.

Joshua is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2441

In an ideal world, I'd get up early on Saturday and have all my shopping done before 11 AM. It just makes sense to get your chores done before everyone else in town starts doing the same thing. Unfortunately, it also makes sense to sleep in when you don't have to get up. We got off to a late start this morning. I should have checked the weather radar as soon as I got up. It looked like there would be plenty of time to walk around the block before it started to rain again, but I was wrong. We only walked about 300 yards before the skies opened up and the deluge began. Oh, well. Dot needed a bath anyway. We were all soaking wet before we were able to retrace our steps and return home again.

Oddly, this ten minute downpour was the major rain of the day. If we'd just waited until after breakfast to walk the dogs, we would have stayed dry. It didn't start to rain again until I was on my way to the grocery store. I probably could have avoided this as well, but I'm getting sloppy. It's getting way too hard to do everything at the best possible time. I was trying not to leave the house this morning until Dot had pooped, but she wasn't very cooperative. Eventually, I just gave up and decided I'd take my chances on coming home to a big mess.

I love the new Scan and Go app on my phone. It makes grocery shopping so much easier.  I can't wait until all stores give you the option of bypassing the checkout lanes. The app is perfect for grocery stores, but it would be useful for clothing stores as well. I hate it when sales people hover nearby, trying to be helpful. I know my own size and am perfectly capable of selecting a pair of pants myself. Groceries are a good start to this brave new world of automated shopping. Maybe someday, I'll never have to stand in a checkout line again.

I couldn't figure out why the pump on the roof wasn't working and then I remembered that the roofers disconnected everything a few weeks ago when they applied the patch material. I went up on the roof to reconnect the pump and was pleasantly surprised that all the new patches had survived the recent rains. The roof was under about three inches of water, but other than reconnecting the sump pump, I didn't make much of an effort to dry things out. Why bother. It's just going to rain again tomorrow.

Maybe it's just a coincidence, but Dot isn't having quite as many problems with incontinence lately. She still poops in the house, but the intervals are less frequent. For the past three nights she's slept all the way through the night without making a mess. It would be great if she was actually improving, but I'm not going to get my hopes up. Neurological problems are weird. Things don't progress in a linear fashion. There are good days and bad days, and just when you think you've got things figured out, something completely surprising will happen.

I hope the weather improves tomorrow. I made dinner reservations again and I'd hate to have to cancel two times in a row. I've given up on keeping the car clean. I'm going to the gym tomorrow morning rain or shine.

Blackjack is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1922

Weekends were always busy. Now, they're becoming impossible. When you try to add a week's worth of postponed activities to your normal weekend errand list, not everything gets done. Janet and I both had lots to do today and neither of us got everything finished. I guess this is the new normal, just like the mismatched rugs covering the floors, the dog beds in every room, and the metal playpen in the living room.

Dot is sleeping much better now. Since we've discontinued the prednisolone, she doesn't have to go outside to pee in the middle of the night anymore. I need to help her when she wakes up and wants to circle around and change positions, but I can almost do this in my sleep. I still had to get up early, so I could walk Dash, mail some bills and go to the bank before Janet had to take her car in for service, but all-in-all, I think everyone got a good night's sleep.

The pet store was nice enough to let us return the crate we got for Dot immediately after surgery. As soon as she got strong enough to protest, she refused to sleep in it. It was a nice, sturdy crate, but if Dot refuses to use it, it is just something else to trip over in the bedroom. Now that we have the circular pen in the living room, we probably don't need a crate anyway. Janet bought some sort of a hammock thing while she was out today that she says is a safe way to transport Dot in the car. I'll read the instructions and install it tomorrow and see if it works. About half the things we get for Dot's rehabilitation work and the other half don't. At least the pet stores have been pretty good about taking back the things that didn't work.

I don't know how much more of this rain I can take. It rained again today. Our yard is as soggy as a wet sponge. The park is a mud pit. And if you don't pick up the dog poop immediately, you can never find it the next day. I got a new pair of waterproof boots, but I continue to wear the old leaky pair and throw my wet socks in the wash as soon as I get home. This doesn't make any logical sense, but I hate to ruin a new pair of shoes before I even get them broken in. At least Dot's incision has healed nicely and I don't need to worry about it getting wet in the rain anymore.

Maybe I'll get more done tomorrow. I certainly hope so. There is still some shopping that needs to get finished, there is lots of water on the roof, I never made it to the post office, and I haven't been to the gym in a long time. I've noticed that the grass is starting to grow in the front yard too. This means that mowing the grass will soon be on my weekend chore list as well. I wonder if the lawn mower battery survived the Winter? Maybe next week I'll find out.

As you can probably tell, I'm totally burned out. Dot's amazing ability to bounce back makes it all worthwhile though. After all she's been through this year, I never would have dreamed that she would have responded so well to the risky surgery. Nobody, not even her surgeon and neurologist, can believe Dot is fourteen years old. She is definitely the Energizer Bunny of Dalmatians. I wish I had Dot's energy. Unfortunately, everybody can believe I'm in my mid-sixties. I might as well wear a sign that says "Grumpy Old Man."

Big Boy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1915

I feel like I'm running on empty. Today was kind of a trial run for taking care of Dot on my own and there was a steep learning curve. Janet and Dash were gone for most of the day at a Dalmatian Rescue event, so this was a good opportunity to see what life is going to be like next week. The first thing I noticed is that it's hard to think ahead to make sure that important objects like reading glasses, bath towels, shoes, and dog treats will be where they need to be ahead of time. Since I can never leave Dot unsupervised, I can't just run back to the bedroom to get something I forgot.

If Dot is tired, you can guide her to a room where you plan to be working and she will go to sleep next to you. If she's not tired, all bets are off. I was continually finding myself in the kitchen when I really needed to be in the bedroom or office. I never seemed to have my reading glasses, my phone, paper towels, or shoes when I needed them. I tried to put Dot in her special safe area so I could get some work done, but she immediately started barking and trying to get up on her own. Ordinarily, I would just ignore the barking, but with the meds she's taking, barking a lot makes her poop. Every time Dot started barking for attention, I would dutifully find my shoes and take her outside to see if she needed to go. Eventually Dot got tired and went to sleep, but by that time, I was tired as well. I didn't get a lot done today.

I'm not sure how much I could have gotten done anyway. My main goal this weekend was getting the problem areas on the roof patched before the next big rain. Unfortunately, it hasn't gotten dry enough to apply the patching material yet. Today's light mist didn't prevent me from walking Dash or getting groceries, but it certainly wasn't the best weather for patching the roof. Maybe tomorrow. Sunday might be the best chance I have until I can figure out a good way to keep Dot in one place.

I've started seeing small patches of Grape Hyacinth coming into bloom all over the park. This small purple plant is usually a harbinger of Spring. In another month, entire meadows will be filled with these flowers. Then there will be Wild Irises and Bluebells, and as the temperatures rise, Firewheels, Milkweed, and Verbena. I enjoy seeing the wildflowers return. I've watched this perennial cycle for so many years now that I can almost predict to the day when certain flowers will bloom. When the wildflowers arrive, the White Pelicans and Cormorants go. I'm not sure where these birds spend the summer, but they certainly don't like the Texas heat. The Mallards stay all year, or at least until the Coyotes eat them.

I ought to go to the gym tomorrow. It seems like a long time since I've been. I'm not worried about not getting enough exercise though. Holding up Dot's rear legs with the Help 'Em Up Harness is giving me all the exercise I need. Dot is sleeping peacefully now. So are Dash and Janet. Now, if only I could get some sleep.

Humphrey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1580

One of these days, I'm going to have to bite the bullet and go paperless. Every couple of months, I try to wade through the mountain of accumulated paper and throw away as much superfluous mail as I can. I have a tendency to save things that I think might be important, and then forget what was so important about the letter later. On days like today, I find myself throwing away a ton of coupons that expired three years ago, invitations to attend seminars that have already taken place, and the ubiquitous unopened proxy statements. I don't know why I get the proxy statements in the first place. Please vote for the following slate of directors, they say. Like my 100 shares are  actually going to make a difference? Annual reports, proxy statements, unsolicited credit cards, surveys, almost anything from AARP is a total waste of postage.  Today I found five letters that really did need to be dealt with and threw away over 100 that were just junk.

What does it mean when 90% of your e-mail winds up unopened in your spam folder, 95% of your phone calls are from telemarketers, and virtually everything the mailman delivers is junk mail?  I must be the kind of customer marketers are trying to reach, because I am deluged with junk. I don't add my name to "do not call" lists because I'm convinced that this will actually increase the number of telemarketing calls. I never open anything in my spam folder because I think this might trigger a hidden malware application. Proxy statements go directly into the paper shredder. It wasn't always this way. As recently as ten years ago, I looked forward to a visit from the postman and clients routinely called me on the phone instead of sending cryptic e-mails that wind up in my spam folder anyway.

After I reduced my mountain of unopened mail to a more manageable size, I got some bleach soaked rags and tried to clean up my bathroom. Somehow when dust, moisture, and soap interact, it leaves a thin layer of scum that is almost impossible to remove. The electric toothbrush, water pic, soap dishes, and toilet are all sparkling clean now. In about a month, they will all be covered with the same scum again. I'll have to deal with the tile grout another day. That's getting pretty disgusting too.

The only reason I even attempted to deal with these tiresome chores today was that it was pouring rain outside for most of the day. I won't need to water the new grass in the back yard for a few days, but I will need to go up on the roof again and remove all the standing water. I'll need to go to the battery store and get a new 24V lawn mower battery too. If I let the front lawn go too long, it will be a tangled mess of tall weeds within a matter of weeks. The lawn mower battery will be expensive, but it's still a lot easier than putting my gas mower in the car and taking it to one of the city's few remaining lawn mower repair shops. These little shops used to be everywhere, but not anymore. Today, people apparently just drag their non-functioning mowers out to the curb for the trash truck to take away and buy another cheap mower at Home Depot. Actually, they just get a yard guy to mow their grass. I'm one of the only people in my neighborhood who still mows his own grass.

As the day progressed, the skies gradually cleared and by late afternoon there were patches of blue sky punctuated with billowing cumulus clouds. The day started dismally, but it ended up being quite pretty. The dogs were as eager to get out of the house as I was, so we took advantage of the nice weather and went on a long afternoon walk. On the way, I thought I saw a squirrel staring at me from a knot hole in a nearby tree. "This would make a cool picture," I thought, and inched closer to the tree to take a picture. When I got about a yard from the tree, I noticed that it was a rubber squirrel that someone had placed in the knot hole. Sure fooled me. Who would bother to put rubber squirrels in random trees in a public park? You'd have to be crazy. Oh wait. That would describe half the people who visit this park. I guess random rubber squirrels are just another aspect of life in the city.

Valli is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1573

The weather forecast was right. It rained all day today. There were a couple of short windows of opportunity were I was able to take the dogs outside to do their business, but basically we didn't leave the house today. A cold front must have passed through last night, because it was about 20 degrees colder than it was yesterday. It would have been a good day to light a fire in the fireplace, if we had a fireplace. It might have been a good day to watch a movie on TV as well, if there was anything I felt like watching. We get hundreds of cable channels, but there are only three or four of them that I actually watch. Half the channels in Dallas are in Spanish anyway. On the movie channels, the same Disney movies, Lifetime chickflix, Apocalyptic action movies, and the perennial You've Got Mail and Forest Gump seem to play over and over again.

This was especially irritating today when I paid my latest cable bill and noticed that it had gone up by 30%. What a waste of money. I should probably drop cable entirely and just stick with Netflix and Hulu. I wish you could buy cable channels à la carte. I watch three or four channels and Janet watches three or four more. A plan that included only ten channels would probably be quite reasonable. 

The cable companies still seem quite reasonable compared to the government however. As I've grown older, I'd had to sign up for several government websites. I tried to visit several of these websites today. Each site has their own peculiar password protocols, so you can't use a common, easy-to-remember password to access all of them. What's worse, each site forces you to change your password every six months. It's ridiculous. Once you do manage to login successfully, you usually discover that all your information is wrong anyway. As I slowly learn to navigate the byzantine complexities of the Medicare system, I realize that this is probably what Obamacare will be like for everybody in the near future. I don't think my parents ever really realized that they lived in the best of times. I think I grew up at the tail end of those days of limitless opportunities. The dream may not be over, but it certainly has tarnished a bit.

On one of our short walks between the recurring thunderstorms we passed a small pale blue egg. It must have fallen out of a nearby tree during a burst of wind. The little bird inside isn't going to make it. It was very cold and wet outside today and incubating eggs need to stay warm to hatch. This unlucky egg was already stone cold. This brief encounter reminded me that nature isn't always kind. Nature still probably has a better batting average in this regard than humans do however.

Dash gets his tenth radiation treatment tomorrow. We will pass the halfway mark this week. Dash has been an inspiration through all this. Even though this has been a very rough couple of months for  him with major surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy, he still greets each day full of energy and enthusiasm. In many ways he actually seems happier now than when we started this journey. He gets lots of attention and maybe that's all a dog really wants. Dot is equally amazing. She can barely walk on some days, but she still soldiers on as if she's indestrudtible. If I had Dot's determination and Dash's optimism I would be unstoppable.

Paxton is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1572

Apparently, there's a lot going on in Dallas this weekend. The Final Four is in town and AT&T Stadium is being converted into the nation's largest basketball arena. Bruce Springsteen will be giving a free concert in Reunion Park tomorrow, and it's Duck Commander weekend at the local NASCAR track. All this means to me is more traffic to avoid. You couldn't pay me to attend any of these events. My Dad loved collage basketball, but I never understood the attraction. The closest I ever got to the college game was producing a series of TV commercials featuring Dick Vitale. I did see Springsteen in the mid-1970's at a small theater in Seattle before he became a superstar. He still sings some of the same songs today. I've never been to Texas Motor Speedway at all. It's too loud and too far away for me. I almost went to a Rolling Stones concert there once, but I'd already seen the Stones several times and like I said, the speedway is too loud and too far away.

I'll let everyone else fight the crowds this weekend. I'm perfectly content to give the dogs a long walk in the park if the weather's nice, and hole up inside with them if it rains again. It rained sporadically today, but there were frequent dry patches, so I was able to walk the dogs and get all my shopping done without getting wet. The weather forecast says there is a 100% chance of rain tomorrow. I'm not putting a lot of faith in the forecast though, since the weatherman has been wrong about 50% of the time this week.

There were lots of errands to run today. I picked up some fresh fruit at the grocery store. I renewed some prescriptions at the pharmacy. And I got some new furnace filters for the start of the air conditioning season. I always get the best filters I can find, but the house is still dusty all the time. A dust free house and Dalmatians are two things that don't naturally go together.

My hair is getting curly again. It was curly for most of my life and then it got straight and very fine for about four years. Now, it's getting curly again. I wonder what all this means? Maybe now that my liver is starting to function normally again, my hair is returning to normal as well. Or maybe I'm just using a different kind of shampoo. Like most guys, I have no idea what I'm really washing my hair with. I usually just pick up the first bottle I see at the store that says shampoo on the side of the bottle. I can't even get that right half the time. Once I washed my hair with conditioner for two weeks and didn't even know the difference. I'll spend some time thinking about what software to install on my computer, or what lens I need for my camera. Shampoo?  Not so much.

Angel is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1551

The landscaping guy came over this morning and gave me an estimate for cleaning up the back yard. The price seemed reasonable, so I told him to go ahead. The inside of our house is still messy, but as least the outside will look nice for a few months. I don't know why grass dies so quickly in our yard. We care for it well and it gets plenty of water. I think we just don't get enough direct sun. I should have planted the entire yard in Liriope. We call the stuff Monkey Grass, and it's just about the only thing that grows well in our yard.

As soon as the landscaping guys left, the rain started. It was one of those all-day rains. As the day progressed, the air continued to get colder and the skies got greyer. The dogs hate this kind of weather. They want to go outside, but they hate to get wet. They won't even go off the porch when it's actually raining. To get them to do their business, I have to constantly watch the weather radar and look for little windows where the rain stops for a few minutes. I did manage to find a couple of five minute windows so Dot and Dash could take a short walk behind the house and pee and poop, but that was about it. For the most part, it just rained and rained.

Today would have been a good day to clean the house or watch a movie, but I wasn't that ambitious. Mostly I just took naps with the dogs. I did change the sheets, pay some bills, do a couple of loads of laundry, and make a call to find out why the NTTA had charged me too much for toll-road usage. Then I ran out of energy. I could have done a lot more today.

I'm not at my best during cold rainy days. I definitely grateful that the roof doesn't leak anymore though. At least the house was warm and dry. The weather report says that the rain will continue through tomorrow, so I need to come with a way to avoid cabin fever. I'm not one one of those folks who can watch an entire season of Breaking Bad in one sitting, so I tend to go stir-crazy. Dot and Dash certainly don't help matters during long downpours. They both think that I somehow can control the rain. I'm continually letting them in and out, but they are convinced that I can make the rain stop the same way I can open refrigerator doors and fill their food bowls. They keep giving me this "make it stop" look. Dalmatians are not very patient.

You'd think that there would be tons of room in the bed when Janet is gone, but the dogs always discover ways to stretch out even further than usual to soak up the extra space. I had no room at all last night. Maybe nature will surprise me with a nice day in the morning. Maybe I'll surprise myself and cook a fancy breakfast. Who knows? Dash seems to like his new "rescue dog" harness and wants to wear it around the house. That certainly surprised me. Maybe it makes him feel secure.

Carmine is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1412

My brain didn't see much use today, but my body certainly did. I was up early this morning to remove the standing water from last night's rain from the roof. The dogs got a nice walk and a trip to the dog park. I even had time to go to the gym. I was surprised that the dog park was even open, since it rained so much last night. Maybe it didn't get as wet up North as it did in our part of town. The net result of all this activity are two tired dogs sleeping soundly on their dog beds and one somewhat sore guy typing out his last task of the day.

My new exercise regime seems to be working. I certainly feel stronger anyway. The one obstacle on my road back to good health seems to be my inability to get a good night's sleep. My Jawbone UP band tells me that I've been averaging four to six hours of sleep a night over the past three months. That's not enough. I've always been a light sleeper, but this is getting ridiculous. The dogs wake me up. My perpetual dry mouth wakes me up. Even bad dreams wake me up. I don't have nightmares. Just mildly irritating frustrations. Last night I dreamed that I was making the perfect hamburger. I carefully piled condiments and relish on my bun until everything was just the way I liked it. Just as I was getting ready to put the bun together and enjoy my meal, someone ran up and stole the meat from my burger and ran away with it. I was left holding an empty bun and woke up with a dry mouth.

Janet wanted me to pick up some groceries on the way home from the gym and I discovered that Sunday evening isn't a great time to shop. The store was packed. What were all these people shopping at this hour for?  Even though my list was short, it took me forever to get out of the store. Usually I go shopping at odd times like 11 AM or 2 PM when stores are empty, I'll have to remember not to go grocery shopping at 5 PM on a Sunday afternoon again.

We saw a cute Halloween costume for the dogs on the Internet yesterday. You start with one of those plastic cones that your dog sometimes has to wear when they come home from the vet. Then you attach a stick with some oversize olives to the cone and call the dog a Martini. This would be an easy costume to make for the dog class party, but we've also found some great Christmas costumes in the storage warehouse that I'd forgotten about. I know it's a little early, but Dot and Dash could go as Santa and Mrs Santa.

Thanksgiving is a lot easier to plan for. We just leave the dogs at home and go out to a nice restaurant.

Dash is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1398

Who would have thought that Sunday would be a good day to go to the gym? I've been avoided going anywhere near the place on weekends because I though it would be a zoo. Everything else in Dallas is crowded on weekends, so I just assumed that the gym would be as well. Against my better judgement, I decided to give the place a try this afternoon. It was a rainy day, and there wasn't anything better to do anyway.

I was surprised to discover that the gym was virtually empty. I need to remember this, because I like places that are virtually empty. I wish every place I went was virtually empty. I guess people don't' like to exercise on Sunday. The nearby Cheesecake Factory was full. The shopping malls were full. The gym was empty though.

Since it looked like it was going to be a rainy day, we thought we'd try to take the dogs to the dog park again before the rain started. We must have mistimed things, because there was already a light mist before we  even got out of the driveway. Since we might have been in the middle of a downpour before we could make it up to our favorite North Dallas dog park, we decided to go to the nearby neighborhood park instead. The light mist was actually pleasant. It reminded me of the days when I used to live in Seattle. Since there was no thunder and lightning to frighten them, the dogs didn't mind the light rain either. The weather was cool, there were plenty of new things to smell, and the other dogs in the park were all friendly. I think everybody had a good time.

I called my old framer and asked if they could do me a favor and quickly frame the print I was donating to Janet's charity event. Nobody remembered who I was. It's been so long since I've had a gallery show that I can't blame them. These guys used to treat me very well, back when I was framing dozens of very large prints at a time. I hope I don't get shuffled to the back of the line now. I still need this picture framed in two days.

I finally started reading the owners manual for my new car. I discovered a host of nifty things that I didn't even know existed and probably don't even need. It's nice to know these things are there though. Why do I have this feeling that some of these high tech gizmos will break before I even figure out how to use them? I sincerely hope I never have to change a flat tire. It took three pages in the book just to explain how to remove the spare from under the car.

Puppies are today's Dalmatians of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1272

We woke to the sound of a torrential downpour pounding the roof, and nothing leaked. Maybe a new era of carefree living has begun. After striking out twice, we finally found a dog park that was still open in spite of the recent rain. Not surprisingly the park was very muddy. The dogs had a good time though. They would have had an even better time if we'd remembered that the annual dog training class Summer party was this afternoon as well. While we were at a muddy dog park, the obedience class dogs were right behind our house having a party in the park. It's a shame we missed the whole thing, because Dash really likes the bobbing for biscuits game and there's always some really tasty barbecue for the people as well.

Since the new roof appears to be finished, I went to Home Depot this morning and bought some spackling compound and a trowel to repair the damaged Sheetrock in the living room.  I thought I'd try to do this myself first, since I dread having workmen in the house with the dogs. Having some tape and bed guys in the living room would be an open invitation for non-stop barking from Dot and Dash. Anyway, what could be so hard about repairing a little damaged Sheetrock?

Several clients have warned me to expect a busy week. I hope this is not the case, but I ought to be grateful for the work. There are certainly a lot of bills to pay this month. Dot is back on schedule to resume her acupuncture treatments and it's time to get my June invoices out as well. From the looks of things, it probably will be a busy week.

It's hard to believe that the year is almost half over. It still seems like I was putting up Christmas decoration just a few weeks ago. I've been a busy bee this year, but it doesn't really feel like I've accomplished much. I'm still dealing with exactly the same issues I was last year and the year before. Maybe that's just the way life is.  I do try to live in the moment, but somehow it always seems to be the same moment.

Tomorrow ought to be exciting. I bought some flax seed to mix in with my morning oatmeal. Oh, there's a new type of tea in the cupboard too.

Liberty is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1264

It's good to be home again. Well, it's good to see Janet and the dogs again anyway. Catching up with all the household chores? Not so good. I got caught in another rainstorm while I was out getting groceries and taking things to the dry cleaner. I don't think it's ever going to quit raining. Oh, well. At least we don't live in Oklahoma. Things are pretty wet here, but nobody's house has blown away. I never expected such a wet Spring. I definitely couldn't have picked a worse time to put on a new roof.

I recharged all the camera and laptop batteries and put the equipment away. All the Couture files have been loaded to the main computer, where they will receive some Photoshop enhancement next week. The dirty clothes are in the washing machine and there are clean sheets on the bed. I think we're back to normal.

My Facebook account is working again. It always gets suspended for suspicious activity when I travel because I can never remember the answers to those challenge questions they ask you when you try to log-in from a different location. When I get home there is always a message saying something like "Your account has been temporarily suspended because someone tried to gain access from an unfamiliar location." Yeah, I know. That suspicious someone was me.

Hopefully, the skies will clear tomorrow, so we can take Dot and Dash to the dog park. I think they've got cabin fever from all the rain we've been having. The recorded message says that the park is still open for business, but that just might be because nobody got around to updating the message. I think I'll go to bed early this evening. I fell asleep at the computer a few minutes ago. I closed my eyes for a few minutes, and all the sudden, it was an hour later. My body may be trying to tell me something.

Rain or shine, tomorrow will be a busy day. There is grass that needs to be mowed, websites that need to be updated, and dogs that need to be walked.

Charlie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1124

The rain has returned. There was enough of a downpour this morning to scare both the dogs and send them shivering under my desk. I didn't have the heart to leave and start my errands until the rain let up a bit. Eventually, I was able to get my shopping done and even got the water off the roof when the rain finally stopped late in the day. Unfortunately, right after dinner a brief hailstorm swept through the neighborhood. I'll be back on the roof tomorrow.

I've been writing about my roof for so long that Google Adsense ads are starting to show up on the blog from commercial roofers who specialize in flat roofs. A couple of these ads look intriguing and I've bookmarked them. It would be ironic if all my complaining actually led to a solution. The odd thing about Google Adsense ads is that they seem to be directed toward me instead of to my readers. I'm not supposed to click on the ads though. That would be cheating.

The temperature must have dropped 30 degrees this afternoon. Texas weather is hard to get used to. One day, you're wearing a t-shirt and shorts. The very next day you've looking for your goose down coat. Things go back and forth from one extreme to the other for most of the Winter. You never know what to expect. I am always pleasantly surprised when I wake up and see clear blue sky through the bedroom windows. It still happens ocassionally.

I'm glad dogs live in the moment. If they thought ahead like I do, they'd already be fretting about whether they'll get to go to the dog park tomorrow. Right now, things don't look too good. Dot and Dash aren't concerned about the dog park now. They're more focused on who's going to get the best spot on the bed. About ten o'clock tomorrow morning they'll start thinking about the dog park. If it's still raining, they'll both be expecting me to make it stop. Getting rained out of the dog park is a serious thing for a dog.

Murphy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1019

I wonder why people like to make lists? I've never been much of a list maker myself, but I seem to wind up on a lot of them. The last time I checked, I had been added to over 600 Twitter lists. I never thought all this list making mattered until I noticed that just being added to two widely read Google lists resulted in thousands of new Google+ followers almost overnight. The only reason I mention this is that this whole list making thing seems to work both ways. Now that Entrecard has disappeared, I seems to be disappearing from a lot of lists as well. There must have been a whole infrastructure built around the inflated traffic that blog communities like Entrecard, Adgitize, and CMF brought. Now that all three of these communities are gone, I think some of the blogs and bloggers and list makers who depended on these services are starting to disappear as well. Oh, well. It was probably all an illusion in the first place. I used to think I had over 400 regular readers every day. It was probably closer all along to the 40 that Google Analytics has been reporting recently. Easy come, easy go I guess. You can still add me to your next list though. Blogs that nobody reads might be a good category.

We gave the dogs a bath today, so they'd look nice for tomorrow's Dalmatian Rescue Golf Tournament. Since it's been raining cats and dogs all day, they won't look nice for very long if I take them out for an evening walk. The park is a giant mud-hole right now. Hopefully, the rain will quit soon. The dogs still won't poop in the yard. I need to clear the water off the roof before it gets completely dark as well. Most importantly, the golf course needs time to dry out before tomorrow's tournament begins.

The Dr. Who season finale is this evening. How can you have a season finale with only four shows? I missed one of those shows too. I'll be sure to watch this season's final episode tonight, but I can't help thinking that it wasn't much of a season. I've only seen two episodes so far. Didn't there used to be 26 shows in an average TV season?

I can't hear the sump pump running up on the roof anymore. Hopefully, it's just a circuit breaker that's been tripped. I'd hate to buy yet another new pump. It seems like I have to replace these things almost every year. Unfortunately, it's still raining too hard to go up on the roof and check things out. The last thing I need right now is to get struck by lightning.

Sweet Pea is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day