Day 1205

The day started out with a roof leak in the living room and kind of went downhill from there. I had to have an insurance agent over to the house today and the dogs set some sort of new record for continuous barking. The agent liked dogs and thought he could win their trust by feeding them treats. What the hell. It sounded like a good idea to me. A half a box of dog biscuits later, Dot and Dash stopped barking about guarding the house and immediately started barking for more biscuits. Both dogs were a total embarrassment. You never would have known that they'd been in obedience training for almost six years.

Dot made matters worse by getting herself so worked up that she pooped in the living room. The old girl has trouble controlling her bowels when she gets too excited.

There was a lot of website work today. It was all stuff that the clients probably thought was trivially easy for me to implement. In reality, everything that was asked for today was fairly difficult. I'm still not done. On days like this, I have to bite my tongue and repeat to myself "The client is always right."

The one roofing company that I thought might actually have the solution to my problems refuses to return my calls. The last time I talked to them, I got the strong impression that they weren't interested in residential work, but I haven't given up yet. It's frustrating. Several companies are eager to put on a roof just like the leaky one I have now. But how about a roof that can be actually guaranteed against leaks for ten years? Well, those guys aren't interested in me. They just want to do hospitals and football stadiums.

My accountant called today and said he needed some information from when I bought my rent house back in 1978. Yeah, right! That information is going to be real easy to find. He needs the information to complete tax preparation on the sale of this property, but that doesn't make it any easier to find the documents he needs. I had to really scratch my head to even remember when I bought the place, or what I paid for it.

I had to pick up a part for the Defender at the Land Rover dealer this afternoon and while I was at the dealership, I noticed a brand new Defender 90 on the showroom floor. I asked how they got this car, since Defenders aren't imported to the U.S. anymore. The salesman said they were selling it for a collector who bought the car in Europe. What really caught my eye was the price. They were selling this this simple, utilitarian jeep with roll-up windows and no interior to speak of for $74,000. That seemed like an insanely high price for a car that looked exactly like mine. I asked why the price was so high and the salesman said this European version was very rare and he thought they'd get the price. This seems just as crazy as vintage guitar prices, but whatever. I may have to re-think my plan to get another Defender some day. This one was out of my league entirely.

I'm starting to think that my 'spider bite' is actually an early case of poison ivy or poison oak. I think I'd rather have a spider bite.

Lexi is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 912

The hailstorm last night was even worse than I thought. In the light of  day, Janet's Land Rover looked pretty well demolished. The hood looked like someone had spent ten minutes banging on it as hard as they could with a hammer. The windshield was broken. Some of the taillights were broken. There were even some serious dents in the doors. I'll bet that the insurance adjusters are going to be very busy today. There are probably thousands of cars like this all over town. It's weird. Janet and I will probably both have loaner cars at the same time. My own car is still a long way from having its own extensive list of repairs completed.

Luckily, there's one thing that does appear to have reached its conclusion. The buyer of my rent property got their loan approval this morning. We are scheduled to close tomorrow. I never dreamed that buying and selling property would become so complicated. The last time I did this, the whole process seemed much, much simpler. Oh, well. At least selling a house is safe. If you sell something to a stranger on Craig's List, you have to worry about getting abducted or killed.

Can you believe that it's the middle of June already?  I've got to remember to pay my quarterly estimated taxes tomorrow. Next week, it's going to be my birthday again. Seems like we just did this not too long ago. Jeez, where does the time go.  I've still got a few Christmas thank-you letters that I haven't written yet.

I hope the buyers enjoy my rent house. I still have a lot of fond memories about that place. I guess it would be hard not to have good memories. I was younger, healthier, and had a glamorous ad agency job when I lived there. I didn't have Dalmatians though. I didn't have a dog at all. On balance, life now is much better.

Daisy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 908

Dot and Dash had a big day today. In the morning, they got to romp around in the city's new 22 acre dog park and in the afternoon they had a party to attend. Our weekly training class has two parties every year. The Winter Christmas party is mostly for people, but the Summer party is all about the dogs. There are lots of games for the dogs and their owners. The games are the kind of things little kids do at summer camp, but they are still fun, since dogs are involved. We entered Dot and Dash in the egg carry contest where you have to balance an egg in a wooden spoon while you heel your dog around a figure eight course. Dash knocked my egg off the spoon five times by tugging on his leash, while Dot just tried to eat the egg. Dash did a little better in the bobbing for biscuits contest, where all he had to do was see how many dog biscuits he could retrieve in 60 seconds from a kiddie swimming pool filled with water. I think the dogs favorite activity of the day was getting to eat some of our fried chicken at the lunch we all enjoyed before the games.

With all this activity, I thought that Dot and Dash would just want to go to sleep after we returned home for the day. Not on your life. They still wanted their regular evening walk. At the end of the day, I think I was the only one who was actually tired. I'm always tired on Sunday though. It's usually the busiest day of the week. Truthfully, this Sunday was quite relaxing compared to a normal weekend filled with vacuuming, grocery shopping and mowing the grass.

If all goes well, the rent house sale will close next week. It will be weird not to own this house any more. I've owned the place since I moved to Dallas from Seattle in the Fall of 1977.  It wasn't always a rent house, since I used to live there myself. The Internet as we know it today didn't even exist when I bought the house. I didn't have a computer and I didn't even have any Dalmatians. I did all my writing on an IBM Selectric typewriter. I did keep a daily journal though. Although the journal was hand written in a little leather bound book, it wasn't all that different than the blog you are reading today. Even back then, I mostly wrote about nothing. If you want to know what I had for dinner on April 30, 1981, I'm sure I wrote it down somewhere.

Escher is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 905

Yes, the rain did find a way inside last night. No, it didn't find its way to the carefully placed buckets I set out before I went to bed. Leaking water has a mind of its own. It just goes wherever it wants. After I cleaned up the puddles in the living room and utility room, I drove down to the rent property to make sure that water hadn't leaked in there as well. The place was clean and dry. It even smelled nice, because the real estate agent had set a bowl of potpourri on the coffee table when he staged the place.

It's kind of ironic. The rent property I'm selling is actually in much better condition that the house I'm living in. To keep the place occupied and tenants happy, I've always made necessary repairs to the rent house almost immediately. In contrast, I tend to put things off at my own house. "Maybe I'll have more money next year," I think. "What's the point," I rationalize. "The dogs will just tear it up anyway." Sometimes I even convince myself that the problems will fix themselves. At any rate, the rent house looks really nice. Maybe that's why the new owners bought it.

I had a lot of errands to run today. It was nice to drive around in a new car. I think this is one reason the dealer gives you these nice loaner cars. After driving around in a new car for a week, it's easy to convince yourself that your old car is rubbish. I'm sure they'd like me to trade up to a new Land Rover. I wish I could get a new car every three years or so, like I did when I was an ad agency employee. As the owner of a small business, my income fluctuates too much to be casual about large purchases like I used to be. Some years I do pretty well, but other years, I make almost nothing after expenses. You just never know. I think a new car will just have to wait until the stock market makes a dramatic rebound. And when will that be? After the events of the past two years, I'm inclined to say never.

It rained off and on today, but thankfully, the dogs were calm. I think it's thunder that really sets them off. They're both smart enough however to associate rain with the thunder they fear. Even a gentle shower will make them nervous. They're always waiting for the other show to drop. I guess I'm the same way. I'm still superstitious that something's going to go wrong with the sale of my rent house, even though we close nest week. Janet thinks I've made the dogs neurotic. Of course, maybe it's the other way around.

Domino is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 901

Well, we didn't get 101 Dalmatians at the dog park today. The six that actually did show up sure seemed to have a good time though. Even six Dalmatians managed to attract a lot of attention. Practically everyone in the park came over to look at the dogs. We're thinking of having Dalmatian Day at the Northbark Dog Park once a month now. Everyone who came today said they'd tell their friends, so we ought to get more dogs next time. The weird thing about Dalmatians is that they seem to recognize other Dalmatians. They like to hang out together and aren't all that interested in the other dogs in the park. If dogs ever discover how to be elitist, Dalmatians will be among the first to lord it over the others. I still think it would be fun to get 101 of these guys together for a play date. Maybe someday. For today it was just Dot, Dash, Willow, Jasper, Emmie, and Penny.

My car went kaputt today. I've had a small leak in the power steering lines for about a month now. I should have taken the car in for service immediately. Instead, I just went to the AutoZone store and bought a bottle of power steering fluid. Every time I heard a squealing noise, I would top up the power steering fluid tank. It worked for a while. I think the little leak became a big leak today though. The power steering is gone. It takes a massive effort to turn the wheel at all. The speedometer quit working too, and the engine dies when I'm at a stoplight. I don't know if all these things are related, but the car isn't very drivable. I'm going to have to get it towed to the Land Rover dealer tomorrow.

I went down to the rent house for what may be the last time this weekend. I wanted to make sure the place looked clean and tidy when the new owners take possession. I really like this house. If any of you are familiar with the architecture of Bud Oglesby, you'll know what I mean. I should have sold the place years ago though. If I had been perceptive enough to sell at the top of the Dallas real estate market some years ago, I could have made almost double what I'm likely to make now. Live and learn. That's what life's all about, isn't it?. If I had made all the right decisions, I'd be a multimillionaire now. On the other hand, if I'd done everything wrong, I'd be dead.

I'm starting to get telemarketing messages on my iPhone now. I even get junk text messages. It was so nice for a while to have one phone that was immune to these annoyances. I knew it couldn't last. Now, this phone is just about as bad as the land line. How do all these people get my number? I wouldn't be surprised if Apple actually wants telemarketers to get your number. I remember telling my postman once that he didn't have to deliver the junk mail to my house. I though this might make his job a little easier, since I could see his bag was absolutely full of junk mail. "No, no," he told me, "We have to deliver this mail. This is how the post office makes money." Maybe so. Personally, I'd rather pay the post office and AT&T a little more not to have to deal with this stuff.

Freckles is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

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 883

I've already gotten two offers on my rent property. What this seems to prove is that there is always a price where something will sell. The real estate market isn't dead. Current prices are just lower than most sellers, including myself, would like. The difference between actually selling your house and having it sit on the market forever is just a matter of setting a realistic price based on current values. That being said, my house hasn't actually been sold yet. I've just gotten offers. Selling real estate seems to be a complex game of offers and counter offers, inspections and financing. A deal can fall apart at any point along the way. I am encouraged though. Especially since several friends told me to expect to have the house on the market a long, long time. There are two houses in the same neighborhood that have been on the market over 300 days.

The corollary to this sad tale of falling real estate prices is that you can always find work if you are willing to work for less than you might like. A lot of the unemployed expect to eventually get their old jobs back. It just isn't going to happen. Globalization and new technologies have destroyed those old jobs just as effectively as the financial meltdown of 2008 destroyed the selling price of my rent house. There is work though. There is always work if you are willing to do it. The ironic thing is that I'm busier than I've been at almost any point in my career, but I'm effectively making less per hour than I was 25 years ago. To me, this all sucks big time, but since I'm not Dr. Who and I don't have a Tardis handy, there is no way I can recapture the glory days.

What the hell. Things change. You've got to keep moving. It's better to keep reinventing yourself and adapt to changing times that to pretend is is still 1985. I present a new website design tomorrow. I got another new client today. Neither of these opportunities represent a financial windfall for me, but they do allow me to continue. I know I'm going to be disappointed with the final selling price of my rent house. I'm continually disappointed by the performance of my stock portfolio. This is the world we live in though. On the bright side, if I ever buy another house, it probably won't be that expensive.

We didn't go to training class tonight. Maybe if I had two very obedient dogs, I could take both of them myself. That isn't the case however. Dash is still a handful for me. I hate to leave Dot behind, so we all just stay home on nights when Janet isn't around. The dogs seem happy enough. They are both asleep on the bed. I'm happy enough as well. There are no mosquitoes biting me and I'm inside, away from my allergy problems. We'll wait until next week to return to class.

Liberty is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 859

The Casino Party went well last night. Sometimes we get a crowd that seems very reticent about gambling. They'll bet one chip at a time and seem to forget that they're gambling with play money. Last night's crowd wasn't like this. They bet with wild abandon, filling the entire board with huge piles of chips. Everybody seemed to be having fun. We didn't get home until well after midnight, but the time goes quickly with a good crowd like this.

I can't say that today was all that fun. The weather was beautiful, but I spent most of the day working. After taking Dot and Dash to the dog park this morning, I went down to the rent property and spent the afternoon trying to get the place cleaned up enough to put it on the market. The inside was clean already, but the windows needed washing and the patio area was full of leaves from last Winter.

The place looks pretty nice now. To get things looking even better, I would have to start spending some serious money for things that might not mean much to a potential buyer anyway. With any luck, I'll sign a contract with the real estate agent and have the place on the market next week.  I guess I am what you would call a motivated seller. I really don't want to be a landlord anymore.

Big sections of the park where I walk the dogs are native prairie. In the Spring these grasslands are filled with wildflowers. In the Winter, I'm the only photographer in the park, but this time of year I share the space with hundreds of other shutterbugs. We saw a ton of people with cameras today wading through the tall grass to take macro shots of flowers. I felt like telling these people that they were walking through areas filled with snakes and poison ivy, but I guess they'll figure things out for themselves soon enough.

I saw lots of people lounging around today. Several people hung hammocks between trees in the park. When I went downtown to clean the rent house, I saw tons of people having cocktails at sidewalk cafes. I wish my clients would do a little more lounging. They tend to send me work on Sundays. The last thing I wanted today was more work. I'm tired. I'd like to do a little lounging myself.

Mindy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 844

Every day that I go down to the rent property to fix things up, I find something else wrong. Today, I went down to paint, and when I was cleaning up my tools, I discovered that the garbage disposal in the kitchen was broken. Hmm. Funny that my renter never mentioned this. A lot of the problems I'm finding are little and could possibly be overlooked. Unfortunately, they cumulatively add up to a big mess. Almost a month after my tenant moved out, I still haven't gotten the place ready to lease or sell. To add insult to injury, I was tired and stumbled into a freshly painted wall toward the end of the day and got wet paint all over my jeans. Now, I'm going to have to add a plumber to my growing list of expenses. I don't think this renter is going to get all of her security deposit back. Today, I didn't feel like giving anything back.

Earlier in the day, Janet and I went up to The Velvet Snout and took Odie to the vet to get his stitches out. When we returned, we took pictures of the three newcomers: Milo, Bunnie and Crosby. I haven't had time to build webpages for the new guys yet, but they'll be up on the Dalmatian Rescue site soon. All three are gentle, wonderful dogs. You really have to wonder why dogs like these ever wind up at the pound in the first place. At least the ones we find will get a second chance. I actually think Molly will be going to her new home today.

I wonder what ever happened to relaxing weekends. I vaguely remember weekends where the big activity was going to a gallery opening or trying out a new restaurant. Not anymore. These days, weekends are just an endless stream of chores. Even if I could put all the problems with the rent house behind me, there's still a world of hurt at our own house. I think one of the lines to the dishwasher has sprung a leak. I need to find a plumber for this too. Too bad I can't get a two for one deal on plumbers. Not very likely! It will be one service call for our house and another for the rent property. The grass is a problem too. The grass in the front won't stop growing and the grass in the back won't start growing. Maybe if it stays dry for another few days I can go up and survey my roof patches. I think I'm making progress because during the big tornado day last week, nothing leaked at all.

The dogs have none of these burdens on their shoulders. They're just wondering if they'll get to go to the dog park tomorrow. Don't worry. They'll get to go. Unless somebody at city services decides to close the park for Easter, a trip to the dog park is the first thing on tomorrow's list.

Molly is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 838

The dogs got a nice outing at the dog park this morning. When we returned home, I settled down for a long afternoon of chores. I'm so far behind in getting the rental property ready to show again that I decided to spend the entire afternoon cleaning the place up.

I re-hung the closet doors so the handles were facing outward again. I removed mountains of cable that had been stapled to the walls by the Direct TV and U-verse guys. I vacuumed all the floors. All these tasks were just a sideshow though. The main event was painting. I painted over all the dings, dents and wall anchor holes that I had Spackled during my previous visit. I thought I was doing a pretty good job until the first coat of paint dried and I realized that my touch up paint wasn't quite the same color as the rest of the wall. Damn!

The paint was actually the very same paint that I had used to paint the walls three or four years ago before my renter moved in. Unfortunately, the paint on the walls had aged and darkened a bit over the years. Now, instead of just touching up around the nail holes and miscellaneous scrapes, I'm going to have to entirely repaint the walls. This is why renters are so frustrating. They think they deserve a medal for cleaning the oven before they leave, while at the same time they're creating a host of new problems that they aren't even aware of.

When I was walking the dogs this evening, we passed a local rock band playing in the park. These guys had a full kit with a good PA system and everything. They were playing to an audience of five people. I think there were six people in the band. The odd thing was they actually sounded pretty good. These guys were mostly just playing old Eagles songs, but any cover band who can do a credible job playing Hotel California in a public park is OK with me. I still don't know what they were doing out there. The dogs weren't very interested in hanging around to find out.

Tomorrow's going to be a busy day. I've got to re-schedule the appointment with the electrician, I've got to make a new appointment with Dot's vet to see if they can determine why she's so tired and shaky on her legs. I've got to see if I can get the washing machine repairman to commit to finishing the job he started over a week ago. We've been without a washing machine for quite a while now. If I've got time, I need to go to the one paint store in town that can still mix the proper color of paint for my rental property. A couple of gallons should do. Oh, and I need to set up a meeting with that guy who wants a new website for his company. I guess that's enough for one day.

Haley is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 837

Janet and I went to another charity fundraiser tonight. I think this one benefited children instead of animals, but they're all pretty much the same. We used to spend more time at these things, but now we pretty much just eat our dinner and come home. With Dot's rear legs getting increasingly shaky, we both hate to leave her by herself for long periods of time. I ended up bidding on a pallet of St. Augustine grass at the silent auction, since I'm going to have to be putting in new grass anyway in a few weeks. We played a little roulette out of habit, but we were home before nine.

I started moving some stuff into the new storage space this afternoon, mostly because I needed to bring home some special steps I had in storage that will make it easier for Dot to get up in the bed at night. I had these steps made for Petey when his legs started to go and they actually work pretty good. Now, we've just got to teach her how to use them. She still seems to want to take a flying leap up into the bed instead of gently walking up the steps.

The steps were buried away pretty well, so I ended up moving quite a few things from the old storage space to the new one just so I could get the dog steps and bring them home. While trying to find the elusive steps, I uncovered a dental drill, a vacuum tube powered, 1950's era lie detector machine and an original Elsworth Kelly painting. I don't do much now, but this odd little room reminds me that I have led an interesting life.

I was going to go down to the rent house and do some painting today, but I spent so much time at the storage warehouse that all I had time to do was go to the grocery store and walk the dogs before we had to leave for the charity dinner. If we were smart we would have just eaten at home and left a little later for the event. The food was terrible. These guys need to find a new caterer next year.

It looks like it's going to be a great day to go to the dog park tomorrow. The weather was beautiful today and it looks like it's going to stay this way for the rest of the week. I think Dot's days of racing around are over, but she still likes to wander through the park and smell the flowers.

Smiley is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 836

I went down to the rent property to do some painting and cleanup today. I gathered all my tools together, went up to the front door and then realized that I had forgotten to bring the key with me. I couldn't get in. The whole trip was a wasted effort. It was a waste of gas as well. I hadn't really noticed how expensive gasoline was getting until the rent property became vacant and I had to start making periodic visits to fix the place up. My weekly mileage has doubled and so has my gas bill. I feel sorry for those who have to commute long distances to work. At these prices, you could easily spend a small fortune on gas. Expensive gas notwithstanding, I'm going to have to make another trip to the rent house this weekend to finish what I should have done today. This whole cleanup process is taking a lot longer than I expected.

I'm starting to worry about Dot. Ever since her seizure, she has not been herself. Even though her blood work seems normal, she has been so lethargic and tired lately. Something is wrong, but it's hard to tell what the problem is. She still seems normal on her walks, but once we get home she mostly sleeps the rest of the day. This isn't like her at all. I'll take her in for some more tests next week. It could be that she's just getting old.

Hard to believe that March is over already. Last year at this time, we already had the St. Augustine grass in place in the back yard. This year we haven't even started yet. There's just so much to do. In addition to painting at the rent property, I have to start moving things over to the new larger storage warehouse this weekend. Nobody believes me yet, but the plan for the larger storage space is to organize things so I can finally start getting rid of some of this stuff. Right now, things are packed so tightly that I don't even know what I have. I'll give this project a year. If it works, I'll have sold a lot of stuff on eBay. If it doesn't work? Well, then I guess the new warehouse will be just as full of crap as the old one.

A guy called me today and said he was finally ready to start on the new website. I didn't recognize the voice, but said "Great" and asked when he'd like to get together. After the guy hung up, I searched through my files, trying to discover who I was talking to. I finally found what I was looking for. The call was a response to a bid I had sent out over two and a half years ago. It just goes to prove that all those dormant jobs aren't necessarily dead.

Sparky is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 833

I got a message this morning that one of my college classmates had died after a long battle with cancer. Spending as much time with dogs as I do, I'm all too familiar with the cycle of life. Some of my very best friends are sitting in little urns on our coffee table. It's different though when someone passes away who is exactly the same age as you are. It makes you realize just how fragile and short life can be. Whenever a friend dies, I resolve to make the most of the rest of my life. This resolve seldom lasts long however. The simple mechanics of daily living seem increasingly complex and any grand plans I once had continue to fade away. My college friend accomplished a lot during his short time on earth. Sometimes I wonder whether I've done anything at all. Maybe being an observer is not enough.

The mower charged up just fine last night, so right after I finished walking the dogs, I mowed the grass for the first time in 2012. If the front yard was filled with Bluebells like the ones that are starting to appear in the fields behind our house, I wouldn't bother to mow at all. Unfortunately, there are no wildflowers in our yard; just a lot of wildly growing weeds.

Continuing the theme of broken things that I've established this Spring, a mercury vapor lamp in the back yard burned out last night. I called an electrician to replace the lamp, since it is located right next to where the power comes in from the utility pole. I'm so clumsy that I'd probably electrocute myself if I tried to change the lamp myself. We installed the lamp for security years ago, but in recent years it has become more of a nightlight for me and the dogs. Dash seemed restless last night without the soft light streaming in the windows and it seemed a bit too dark to me as well. It's weird that everyone at our house sleeps better with light streaming in the window, but that's just the way it is.

I returned to the rental property this afternoon to continue my cleaning efforts. I patched the holes in the Sheetrock and started to clean the floors. A word to the wise: don't ever put slate floors in a rental property. The dark floors hide the dirt so well that nobody bothers to clean them. When I got out my wet mop to clean the floors, I discovered they were filthy. I don't think any renter has bothered to clean them since they were installed. Although it's often hard work, I don't mind cleaning up the rent house. It's peaceful down there. No phones or Internet to interrupt me. As I slowly and methodically bring the place back to the way it was when I used to live there, I have many fond memories of the good times I had there. Life was simpler then. Much simpler!

I took the last of the K-1 forms that have been arriving in the mail to the accountant today. I think I'm finally good to go. Taxes are another thing that have become more complex over the years. You'd think with such a complex tax return, I'd be making a lot of money. Sadly, this is not the case. It's all just a lot of bad investments.

Chloe is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 832

I started three big repairs today. The report card: one success, two fails. The washing machine repair was a big fail. After listening to barking dogs and strange noises in the utility room for an hour and a half, the technician told me that I needed a new circuit board and that he would have to special order the part. It doesn't matter whether it's the furnace, the car, or the washing machine, it's always the motherboard. I don't know why they had to special order this part. They should have just filled the truck with these innocuous looking but strangely expensive circuit boards. There was nothing mechanically wrong with the machine at all. It was the electronics that had gone haywire. The machine is still broken and I will have to listen to barking dogs again as soon as the part arrives.

For a while, I thought I was going to have better luck with my catalytic converter. When I went to the muffler shop, the repair guy said he didn't see anything wrong with my catalytic converter. He thought I just had a loose heat shield. He welded the loose heat shield on again and didn't charge me a thing. I thought I was ahead of the game until I started hearing the rattling noise again before I was even halfway home. Either the weld broke when I went over a bump, or they guy was completely wrong about the catalytic converter. At any rate, it's back to the muffler shop tomorrow.

The one success of the day was the lawn mower. I went to a shop that rebuilds batteries and they were able to get my 24-volt lawnmower going again by using two twelve volt motorcycle batteries. Hopefully, these new batteries will hold a charge and I'll be able to finish mowing the grass in the morning.

Despite all the repairs, I still managed to get several websites updates done and wrote a couple of articles. I think the whole week is going to be this way. Hopefully, I'll find time tomorrow to go down to the rent property and patch the holes in the Sheetrock. I need to find the paint number and buy a quart of touch-up paint.When all the holes are patched, sanded and painted, I'll contact a real estate agent. Now that I'm thinking about selling, I'm starting to get calls from people who'd like to rent. It's always this way. I'm totally out of sync with the rest of the world.

Dot seemed tired today. She probably just wore herself out barking at the washing machine repairman, but she's getting old and I'm starting to worry about her legs giving out. I probably worry too much about everything.

Bubba is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 831

Our weekly trip to the dog park was the high point of the day. After we returned and had a little lunch, it was non-stop chores. I went to Home Depot first, to try to get a battery for my lawn mower before the grass in the front yard gets two feet tall. Although the store was still selling my model of mower, they had no replacement batteries. "We used to have batteries for these." was the best response I could get out of anyone. The salespeople couldn't even point me to a service center. Everyone seemed totally dependent on the Home Depot website. I already knew what the website said however. It said that this battery was out of stock online. Oh, well. Too much grass up front. Not enough grass out back. What are you going to do? Maybe I can get the battery rebuilt where I buy my watch batteries.

Later in the afternoon, I kept the promise I made yesterday and went down to clean my rental property. I'm happy to say that the Goo-be-Gone stuff actually worked and most of the candle wax and sticky stuff on the stone floors is gone. Now I've got to figure out how to get the Goo-be-Gone off the floors. It's some kind of petroleum based product and it doesn't seem to evaborate.

The big Molly Bolt wall anchors in the living room were a lot harder to remove than the sticky stuff on the floors. I managed to get most of them out, but I've got to go back and plaster over the holes. Now, the living room looks like someone used the walls for target practice. Renters are a complete mystery to me. I just don't understand why they do some of the things they do. In one of the bedrooms, someone took off the four sliding closet doors and put them on again backwards. Why? I just don't know what this proves. I've still got a lot of work to do, but I ought to have the place presentable enough to show a real estate agent in a week or two.

I think I'm getting too old to be cleaning sticky stuff off floors on my hands and knees. All I know it that every bone in my body was sore when I arrived home for dinner. I hate to pay someone to do this stuff however. It's simple mindless work. I used to be able to do this type of cleaning all day long. Unfortunately, the operating word in this case is "used to." If my hands rebel at scrubbing a floor, Lord help me when I pick up a guitar again.

Petey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 830

I awoke to the sound of lawnmowers. All my neighbors were mowing their lawn. I think this loud, raucous sound marks the official start of Spring in Texas. From now through September it won't be birds chirping that I hear. It will be lawn mowers, weed wackers, hedge trimmers and leaf blowers. I would have mowed my own lawn too, but the mower wouldn't start. Jeez, I specifically got an electric mower so it would start easily every time, but apparently the battery went dead sometime during the Winter. I wish I knew the battery was dead when I was getting supplies at Home Depot yesterday. I could have picked up a replacement battery. No, that's not right. What was I thinking? Home Depot doesn't have any replacement parts. I'll have to look up the model number of the mower and buy a battery online.

I managed to put off cleaning up the rent property until tomorrow. I don't know why I hate dealing with this place so much. Once, I left the rent house vacant for two years because I just didn't want to mess with it. I can't afford to do that anymore. I'm going to have to get the place looking spotless and show it to a real estate agent. It would be a lot easier to just show it the way it is, but people always remember the worst and seldom make the effort to imagine how pretty it could be. OK. I've convinced myself. Tomorrow, rain or shine, I'm going down there with my bottle of Goo-be-Gone, a vacuum cleaner, a tub of spackling compound and assorted hammers and screwdrivers. I'm determined to get this albatross off my back.

The dogs were both panting on their evening walk and it wasn't even eighty degrees. I don't know what they're going to do in July when it's a hundred and ten outside. Dot is getting older and can't take the heat anymore. I think Dash is just lazy like me and would prefer to stay inside with a cool beverage.

Hopefully, the lawn mower battery will recharge itself overnight. I'd hate to add a new lawnmower to the washing machine repair, new furnace, and catalytic converter I'm already on the hook for. Oh, and I'm getting that larger storage space too. Where are those big, lucrative jobs when I really need them?

Chelsey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day