Day 4739

It was clear and cold this morning. I made sure to dress warmly this time for our early walk with Dawn. Even Dawn wore a sweater today. There aren't nearly as many people out on cold mornings but we did encounter a few hardy souls. I was just glad to see the sun again.

The leaks have finally stopped at the house. I put the buckets aways again and tried not to look up at the ugly stained ceiling. I still haven't found anyone who can fix everything but it's not for lack of trying. The world has changed and the suppliers I have relied on for years are no longer around. I'm not a big fan of online resources. Recommendations from friends are much better. Of course you have to have friends with similar problems for that to work.

I think I continue taking my long walk every day because it's a great way to kill time. I'm usually out for over two hours and that's two hours that would be totally wasted if I was sitting around the house. These walks are hard on my feet but are probably great for my heart. I've been doing this for so long that people wave at me as I go by. I don't know who they are, but I suppose I've become a fixture in the neighborhood. We've lived here for thirty years and I've always walked in the park. Spot, Petey, Greta, Dot, Dash, and now Dawn have all gotten daily walks in the park. People often stop me to ask about the dogs but often I find that they are thinking about the wrong dog. I guess if you don't own one, all Dalmatians look alike.

I still wonder where the eagles go when they are not near their nest. Sometimes I will go weeks without seeing them, but I know they are around here somewhere. I don't know where the White Pelicans go when they aren't at Sunset Bay either. It's hard to hide a hundred pelicans. The only birds I see consistently are the five domestic geese and three Muscovy ducks that live near Sunset Bay.

I paid a few more December bills today but that was about it. I wonder if something has happened to the price of natural gas? Our gas bill went up dramatically this month. It has been colder than usual but there have been plenty of cold months in the past where our bill was much lower. I guess this is to be expected. The prices for everything are becoming ridiculous.

It's hard to believe that it's already the middle of December. Where has this year gone? I did get to see Artemis launch and spent several days out at McDonald Observatory last Spring, but all in all it's been an uneventful year. I kind of miss working. A steady stream of writing jobs provided a structure to my life that is missing these days. There just isn't that much that interests me.

I've taken this weeks trash out to the curb and am already wondering what I'm going to do tomorrow. I keep thinking about restarting my Friday breakfast restaurant tradition but I'm not as hungry as I used to be. Some of my favorite restaurants have closed too. Maybe I'll get in the car and try something new one of these days, but for now a bowl of shredded wheat and fruit is just fine.

Jasper is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3352

It's raining again, so I can't find the muddy patch in the back yard anymore. The entire yard looks muddy now. I guess I'll have to wait until things dry out again before I can call a plumber. At least all the drains appear to be working normally. I'm going to assume this means that the sewer pipe has a leak but there has not been a clog. It's a lot better to have a leak in a drain line than in a supply line. Water under pressure can make a huge mess very quickly.

Dash seemed really tired this morning, so we didn't walk before breakfast. Every day is different. Some days Dash wakes up hungry and eager for a walk. Other days he can barely move. He seemed to sleep well last night, so I'm not sure what's going on. A long nap usually helps. Sure enough, around noon Dash woke up, ate his breakfast, and seemed ready to go outside. I don't know why Dash even wanted a walk today. It was a nasty day. The weather didn't seem to bother Dash, but I wish I'd worn a warmer coat. I'm pretty sure that there's standing water up on the roof,  but I didn't feel like sweeping it away today. What's the point. There's still more rain in the forecast. I did call another roofer that an architect friend recommended. Eventually, I'll get several bids and pick someone. Knowing me, I'll probably pick the wrong roofer. Reputation matters more than price to me, but a good reputation isn't a guarantee of anything. Things can always go wrong.

All the news outlets were providing wall-to-wall coverage of the Michael Cohen hearings today, but the only news that captured my attention was a story about a fat rat who got stuck in a sewer grate and was unable to move until a team of nine German firefighters came to her rescue. Oh, the humanity. The hapless rotund rodent immediately captured the attention of an overweight world. Apparently a lot of people could identify with this awkward situation. There was a lot of sympathy for the plump German rat. Not so much for Michael Cohen. I guess they were different types of rats.

Tomorrow looks like it's going to be a repeat of today. Maybe Dash will feel a little better.  Maybe the stock market will go up. Chances are that whatever happens, it will still be grey and cold. That's just the way February usually is. If I remember correctly, February was even worse last year. Enough with this dismal weather. I'm ready for Spring. Probably everybody is ready for Spring.

Princess is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1239

Today was a succession of small errands. I went to the post office. I went to the pharmacy. I went to Janet's dentist several times to drop her off and pick her up again later. In between these errands, I added a bunch of new adoptable animals to a rescue website and turned a bunch of navel oranges into juice. There was something strange about these oranges because it was very difficult to get the skin off so I could put them in the juicer. Most oranges are easy to peel, but the rind on these seemed welded to the fruit inside. It took me forever to get them all peeled.

I was real disappointed about Adobe's announcement that in the future, all Creative Suite products will be available by subscription only. I use Photoshop, Fireworks, and Dreamweaver all the time. I'd hate to have to pay for these products by the month, just like I do for U-verse TV. I have always disliked renting things, but in a culture where people increasingly rent or lease their homes, their furniture, and their cars, I guess renting your software doesn't seem so strange. Renting isn't for me though. I'll keep using my old version of Photoshop for a long time before I'll start renting it for $49 a month.

I think I'm going to use the roofer my architect friend recommended. I probably won't know if this was the right decision until about five years from now, when I see whether the roof is still keeping the water out. We'll see how it goes. Most of the people I know hate to make recommendations. Can you blame them? I don't like to make recommendations either, because things go wrong so often. Nevertheless, I'm going with the guy the architect suggested. I still think I'd trust an architect more than Angie's List.

I'm supposed to write an article tomorrow as if I just returned from Switzerland. The cheapskate clients didn't actually want to send me to Switzerland, so they just sent me a few quotes from a guy who'd been there. Ah, the excitement of the writing life. You get to travel to anywhere Wikipedia will take you.

Tomorrow, Dot goes to see the acupuncturist again.Too bad I can't get the vet to stick a few needles in me while I'm there. I was skeptical about the treatments at first, but I've become a believer. The acupuncture therapy really seems to have done Dot some good.

Spot is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 820

I'm planning ahead. I went to the Storage Warehouse and reserved a new and much larger storage space that will become available on April 1. The plan is to move everything from my existing space and organize it neatly like it was inventory in a store. Maybe when I get things organized and have a better idea of what I actually have, some of the stuff eventually will become inventory to sell on eBay. Right now, I have no idea what I have over at the storage warehouse. I've spent years stacking boxes on top of other boxes until the room is completely full from floor to ceiling. I often think that I've stored away things that I really need, but it's so much trouble to dig though all the boxes and find what I'm looking for that I've stopped even trying.

I also bit the bullet and made the decision to switch all the household electronics from cable to U-verse. In theory, this will give us a lot more TV channels, the internet connection will be faster, and the land line phones won't sound scratchy anymore. In practice, probably none of these things will be true. Whenever anyone attempts to install anything at our house, there is always some sort of Catch-22 situation that results in higher costs and lower performance. U-verse is definitely worth a try though. It certainly couldn't be much worse than cable and I do seem to be saving money with the deal.

Have any of you had any experience with Angie's List? I'm real tempted to use Angie's List to find a good real estate agent to market my rental property. Maybe this would be more objective than just asking a friend. I've asked friends to recommend roofers, painters, doctors and even real estate agents in the past and the results have been uniformly terrible. I've kind of learned over the years that just because someone is a friend of a friend, doesn't necessarily mean they're any good. There has got to be a better way to find great service. I haven't discovered it yet though.

The sun was still up when we went to dog class tonight. Finally, a real use for daylight savings time. Last week we went to class in darkness, and this week there was light. I'm still not sure what monkeying around with the time actually proves, but it was nice to have a little light while we told our dogs to sit and heel.

Humphrey is our Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day