Day 897

The day started badly, but it ended well. The dogs and I had to endure wave after wave of thunderstorms before the sun finally emerged late in the afternoon. Rainy days are not fun with Dot. She has one of the worst storm phobias I've ever seen in a dog. She shivers and shakes and looks genuinely pitiful during even the slightest rain. During a real thunderstorm, her reactions can be scary. I didn't used to worry about Dot's antics, but now that she's had a seizure, I'm afraid that the panic attacks might trigger another seizure.

We did OK today though. We even managed to squeeze a short walk in between downpours. The real-time weather radar app on my iPhone is incredibly useful on days like this. Even on soggy days like today, I'm usually able to find little gaps when I can take the dogs out to do their business.

I still had to sweep the water off the roof today, but at least I didn't have to deal with the ants. All the ants had been swept away. Ants are incredibly resilient though. Wherever the rain swept the little critters, they're probably still alive, planning another assault on the house.

I'll sure be glad when the sale of my rent property is finalized. After all the activity a few weeks ago, it's kind of weird that nothing is happening now. There really isn't much left to do before we all show up at the closing to sign the documents. I'm sure that everything is proceeding smoothly, but I've heard so may horror stories about deals falling apart at the last second that I'm not going to count my chickens before they hatch.

The dogs did really well at training class tonight. I was proud of both of them. We did jumps tonight and both Dot and Dash love to jump. I'm probably a bit prejudiced, but there are few things prettier than a happy Dalmatian sailing over a hurdle.

Ollie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 891

Yay! I think I sold a house today. I've signed so many documents this week that it's hard to believe the whole process has come to a conclusion. My real estate agent says that the amended contract I signed this afternoon was the final document though, and that the buyers have definitely committed to purchase the house. Hopefully, it will be smooth sailing from now till the closing in early June.

I don't know how real estate agents keep their sanity. The buyers, sellers, lenders, appraisers, and inspectors all have their own agenda and their own questions. "We know the air conditioner is on the roof" someone said to me today, "but where is the furnace?" "It's a heat pump." I said. "Everything is combined in one package." An hour later I got the same question. "Where is the furnace?"  They obviously didn't know what a heat pump was.

If the rent house sells as expected, it will be a major step toward my long term goal of simplification. Since I am a Gemini, I used to think I needed two of everything. I'll readily admit now that I took this principal to extremes. There had to be two cars, two guitars, two computers, and of course two houses. Sometimes things got totally out of control. Somehow my two watches turned into two hundred. There were other excesses as well. I'm trying to set things right though, and having just one house again has got to be looked at as progress.

You know that famous phrase from the Book of Common Prayer; "Earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust." I got a dramatic demonstration of what the phrase means today. Years ago, I received some sort of square Peruvian rug as a Christmas present from relatives. I didn't have anywhere to put the rug at the time, so I folded it up and placed it on a shelf in the bedroom closet. Over the years, I forgot I ever had the thing. I forgot until today, that is. When I was packing up more stuff to move over to the new storage warehouse, I saw the rug, high up on a shelf. "This is good storeroom material," I thought. I picked up the rug and it literally disintegrated into dust in my hands. There was nothing left! I don't know what the rug was made of, but I don't think moths got at it or anything. There were no signs of insect damage. The material had just turned to dust.

Janet will throw something away if she hasn't used it for several years. I will hang on to something forever, just in case I might have a use for it sometime in the future. I think Janet has the right idea. It's all going to turn to dust anyway.

Ziggy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 886

I've gotten way behind on photographing the new Dalmatians that entered the rescue program this month. To make amends, Janet and I went up to The Velvet Snout this morning to say hello to the newcomers. We photographed Hershey, a handsome young liver spotted male, and Dottie, a sweet twelve year old female. It still astounds me that people will dump a loyal friend at the pound just because they're getting old, but that's what happened to Dottie. We're hoping she'll find a new family who will let her live out her remaining years with the dignity she deserves.

When I finished photographing the dogs, I went back home and generally wasted the rest of the day. I spent way too much time trying to fix a delicate brass thingy that I accidentally dropped off a six foot high shelf a few years ago. The proper way to fix this object would be for someone with exceptionally good brazing skills to use a micro torch to weld all the little pieces back together. I used Superglue. My repair looks good from a distance, but it is so fragile that the whole thing will fall apart if a mouse steps on it. Sadly, since the brass collectible thingy is destined for the storage warehouse, a mouse probably will step on it pretty soon.

After doing my weekend grocery shopping, I returned home again to discover more real estate documents in my inbox that I needed to sign. I've gotten spoiled with those Docusign documents that you can electronically sign using a web browser. The documents I received today were a little more difficult. I had to print them out, sign them all, scan the signed copies and then turn the whole mess into a single PDF file, so I could e-mail everything back to the real estate agent. When did selling a house become so difficult? The last time I was involved with buying or selling real estate, the whole process seemed much easier.

The dogs are filthy. I don't know how they got so dirty, but it probably had something to do with me neglecting to clean them up while Janet was out of town. They didn't look that bad to me. They didn't smell that bad either. It didn't take Janet ten seconds to notice how dirty they were however. They're both scheduled for a bath at Vhea's LaundroMutt as soon as we get back from the dog park tomorrow.

Holly is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 884

Today was a good day. My new client loved the website I designed for them. The presentation this morning went very well and there were virtually no changes. We are ready to launch. I now have three competing offers on my rent property and the best offer is above my initial listing price. To round things out, I also regained an old client that I lost several years ago when they decided to take their operation in-house. Not bad for a Thursday.

I never realized that there was so much paperwork involved in selling a house. My real estate agent has already given me a ton of documents to sign and the sale hasn't even taken place yet. I'm not even sure what stage of the process we're in right now. I don't think they've done the inspection yet. I do know the buyers want to close on the deal in early June, so I guess they're serious.

I've been so busy this month that I'm having trouble keeping up with everything. The transition I've made from doing a few high paying jobs each month to doing a whole lot of low paying jobs each month has been brutal. I have to be fast and fairly organized to make any money at all. The real trouble with the low paying jobs is that the low paying clients still think they're important. I find myself spending just as much time talking with clients and answering e-mails as I used to. Sometimes I spend more time answering the e-mails than I do actually doing the job. I guess it's good to have a backlog of work though. I always know what I'm going to be doing tomorrow.

The back yard is starting to look really nice. I think last week's rains helped. The dogs certainly approve. Dot and Dash go outside every day after lunch now to lounge in the sun. All I have left to do is plant some Asian Jasmine ground cover in the really shady areas and then we'll be done for another season. I definitely don't have a green thumb, but it is nice to see that I've done something right, even if the results are only temporary.

I don't know where to have breakfast tomorrow. Neither of the places I've been going recently sound appealing to me. I can't believe that my Friday breakfast outing idea has run aground so quickly. After all, I've only been doing this a few month's now. Maybe I can find someplace new. I'd hate to have to resort to my own cooking again.

Susie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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