Day 4836

What a weird Spring we've had. It's been hot, it's been cold, it's been all over the place. Today the temperature got up to 81 degrees. If that wasn't enough, the humidity was almost 100% this morning. It was so damp that all the bricks on the back porch were soaking wet. That didn't stop us though. We got up, dressed in summer clothes and took Dawn on her morning walk. Dawn is still taking shorter walks, but she seems to be doing fine.

This was another one of those days where the furnace was on when we first woke up and then the air conditioner kicked in later in the day. Eventually the heavy dew everywhere evaporated, but it was a very muggy day. A quick look at the yard confirmed that my annual Spring chores need to start soon. It's almost time to start mowing the grass again. I need to cut back the dead growth in the Asian Jasmine at the back of the yard as well. It will be time to battle the ants and wasps soon. I'll need to go and get some insecticide for ants and something stronger to kill the wasps. The wasps build their nests everywhere and they are very aggressive. I've been stung many times. I don't want Dawn to get stung by these things.

If I was a sensible person I'd start getting rid of things in the office and storage warehouse. Instead, I keeping wanting to repair things I seldom use. I'd like to repair the big production printer so I could make a few large prints of my best astrophotography. Never mind that I have no place to display the pictures. There's a big Sony TV in the storage warehouse I'd like to get fixed as well. I need to retrieve some of the equipment I still have on consignment at a local music store. If it hasn't sold in two years, it will probably never sell. Where will I put this stuff? The storage warehouse of course.

That's all for another day. Today I just followed my familiar routine. I ate breakfast, checked my messages which were mostly just spam, and then got ready to take my long walk. It was so warm today that I just wore shorts and a t-shirt. Wasn't it just a few days ago that I was decked out in all my winter gear? I can't keep up with this constantly changing weather at all.

I left Dawn alone in the house while I took my walk. As I expected, she didn't move an inch. She was asleep on the bed when I left and still asleep when I returned. She wasn't at all interested in getting up until Janet returned from the gym. Dawn gets excited when Janet comes home but hardly even looks up when I enter the house. She's fine though. As soon as Janet returned, Dawn's tail was wagging and she was ready for lunch.

I vacuumed the carpets this afternoon. The carpets in the bedroom and office need to be replaced, but that will come later after the new roof is installed and the damaged sheetrock in the ceiling has been replaced. For now I just continue to vacuum the old worn out carpet and am still amazed at how much dirt is collected. The carpets don't look any better when I'm finished, but the Dyson canister is filled with dirt and dog hair.

Tomorrow is going to be another unseasonably hot day and Friday it's going to start raining again.  Probably as soon as this weird Spring is over I'll be complaining about the hot Texas summers again. This is supposed to be our nice season, but I think we got cheated this year. 

Brooke is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3491

I guess I was surprised that the carpenter actually showed up. My expectations are pretty low these days. I liked the guy. His life seemed like the carpenter's version of mine. He'd worked for a number of large construction companies and employed other people himself before concluding that he was happiest working alone. He asked all the right questions and seemed knowledgable. If his bid seems reasonable, he'll be the guy I use to rebuild the greenhouse. Hopefully, by the end of the Summer I can cross this task off my list.

I also called a sculptor friend to see if she could repair a backyard sculpture that got broken during the same June storm that destroyed the greenhouse. Since I was feeling industrious, I climbed up on the roof to see if I could patch some small tears in the elastomer coating using the Liquid Rubber in a Can that I bought at Costco a few weeks ago. After examining the area carefully, I chickened out and begged the roofer who's trying to avoid me to bring me a new supply of the Armor Flex silicon material instead. If I use anything else, I think the repair will fail because silicon only sticks to silicon. The Liquid Rubber in a Can also had all sorts of danger warnings in very small print in the can. I don't have a good feeling about this stuff.

I was a little envious to learn that several of the folks I went to Kennedy Space Center with were participating in Apollo 11 50th Anniversary events today. One got invited to the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama to hear Buzz Aldrin and other Apollo era astronauts speak at a special 50th Anniversary Dinner. Another was at the Smithsonian in Washington DC for the unveiling of the restored spacesuit that Neil Armstrong wore on the moon. A third was taking his wife to see a Duran Duran concert in the Rocket Garden at the Space Center. There wasn't much on my agenda. After talking with the carpenter, I just took another very hot walk in the park.

I don't know why this summer seems like the hottest ever. Last year it was well over 100 degrees at this time. I remember a year that was so hot that the lake started to dry up. So far this year it is only in the 90's. It still seems miserable to me though. Maybe I'm just getting old. I need to start watering the grass more often. Everything is turning brown and going to die soon. I hate the thought of humongous water bills though. I find myself wishing for rain and hating rain at the same time. Basically, I'm ready for Summer to be over.

Fifty years ago this morning Apollo 11 started its journey to the moon. There certainly wasn't anything momentous going on today. As I channel hopped while I was drinking my smoothie for breakfast the only things on the news was more of the endless bickering you see in Washington DC these days. I'm enjoying all the documentaries about the Apollo 11 Anniversary, but I wish something equally exciting was going on now.

In lieu of excitement, I picked up a prescription at the pharmacy and finished updating the Dalmatian Rescue website. At least I did something today.

Laura is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3386

And just like that, Google+ was gone. I thought the last day was going to be today, but I guess it was actually yesterday. Everything I posted to Google+ over the years has simply disappeared. I was going to write a goodbye post like everybody else, encouraging people to follow me somewhere else. Too late now. I still think Google+ was the best social network. The whole idea of circles was so much better than friends or followers. I'm going to miss this place. It was definitely an idea worth keeping.

My teeth are still in good condition. The dental hygienist cleaned my teeth and I got new x-rays, but that was it. When I was younger I was lucky if I went to the dentist every ten years. Now I go every six months and do everything the dentist recommends. Eventually, you realize that you've only got one body and it's up to you to take care of it. Surprisingly, my dentist said it was just fine to continue wearing my broken Essix retainer. "It still fits perfectly," He told me as he inserted the left side and then the right side. I was worried that my teeth might have shifted, but the dentist said I was imagining things. "This retainer is a very tight fit," he told me. "If your teeth had shifted, you wouldn't be able to put it on." Works for me. I'm always happy when someone wants to save me a little money.

I got some bad news from the synthesizer repairman today. One of the Sequential Circuits synthesizers I've having restored can't be fixed. A critical custom voice chip is no longer available. Two of the three synthesizers are working perfectly now, but this one will only be good for parts. The technician has already spent a lot of time trying to repair this thing. I hate paying for something that will never work, but the technician has spent months working on these ancient analog synthesizers. He did the best he could. You win some. You lose some.

I wish Dash's appetite would return. He's gone through at least two episodes before where he was an extremely picky eater and it is always frustrating. In the past, his appetite has always returned after a few weeks. Hopefully, it will this time too. Usually by the end of the day we manage to get him to eat something. A lot of food gets wasted and he's still not eating enough. We're constantly changing things to find something he likes. It's hard to tell if this is a physical or a mental problem. We've got a vet appointment scheduled for tomorrow morning to examine his mouth. There's a good chance that his gum infection could be part of the problem.

When I was clearing out my spam folder on the mail server this afternoon, I became alarmed at the enormous amount of phishing attacks that were headed my way. I called tech support and asked if this was normal. "Sadly yes," the technician told me. "These people are relentless." I never could have predicted thirty years ago that most of the messages I receive would be attempts to scam me. My hosting company has an excellent spam filter and Nomorobo catches most of the telemarketing spam on my phone. It's still irritating though. You shouldn't have to feel like you're constantly under siege.

Hopefully we can get Dash's gingivitis under control when we visit the vet tomorrow. It would be so much easier if a dog's dental exam was as simple as the one I had today. When it became unsafe to anesthetize Dash for routine dental cleanings, his mouth began to go downhill. Maybe if we can find the right antibiotic we can still clear this problem up.

I'm still not getting enough sleep, but what else is new.

Miracle is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3329

I knew this day would come. Dash couldn't walk today. I would lift him up and get him started and then he would just slump to the ground again. His rear legs weren't working at all. I finished fitting him for his Help 'Em Up Harness, but training him to use it isn't going to be easy. If I take too much weight off his rear legs they go limp. If I don't hold on to the rear handle of the harness at all, he falls. I have to provide just enough support that it gives him confidence to walk, but not lift too much or the harness will start to cut off circulation. Dot got to where she would walk almost normally using the Help 'Em Up Harness, but she was always a quick learner. It's going to take some time to get Dash used to this thing.

We'll probably never know if the Metronidazole pills contributed to Dash's current lameness. The vets don't think Dash was taking the pills long enough to cause a problem, but you never know. Weakness is a well known side effect of Metronidazole. I'm still hoping that Dash will gradually regain some of his strength. He's always going to remain weak, but it will make a huge difference if he is able to walk around the house on his own.

The guys who are fixing my Aeron Chair contacted me today and told me that they broke the pneumatic cylinder that controls the height of the chair when they were installing the new tilt mechanism they ordered for me. They said that they would replace the pneumatic cylinder at their cost, but that it would take a while to get the part. I don't think I'll get the chair back until late February. Hey, take your time guys. If we continue at this rate, I might end up with a whole new chair.

Dash got no walks at all today. We tried a short evening walk, but Dash wasn't comfortable with the new Help 'Em Up Harness yet and started dragging his rear legs. We didn't even make it out of the back yard. I'm going to enquire and see if Dash still might benefit from water therapy. This has always been a long shot since Dash hates water, is incontinent, and is a terrible passenger in the car. The underwater treadmill sure helped Dot though, so maybe it's worth a try. Being very weak is one thing. Not being able to walk at all is another. We've got to do everything we can to see if we can get him moving again.

I'm getting so tired of having a continually runny nose. I think I'm just suffering from a bad case of seasonal allergies because I don't have any other symptoms of a cold. Generally, I don't do well with antihistamines, but I went to CVS anyway planning to get some. I'm tired of blowing my nose every five minutes. There was an entire row of antihistamines with dozens of different brands. Some pills made you sleepy and had warnings about driving while taking them. Others warned of liver damage. Almost every pill had some weird side effect and I eventually walked away getting nothing. Seasonal allergies tend to be even worse in the Spring, so I have no idea how long this will last.

There was a beautiful sunset this evening, but I missed it. All I managed to photograph today was an angry Mockingbird in the back yard.

Duke is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3157

Today was disappointing. Yesterday I thought I'd already sold one of my guitars. Today I learned that the guy who put it on layaway changed his mind. That wasn't the only surprise. I also learned that the guitar store wants me to take care of repairing the broken synthesizers. Originally, they were going to handle this themselves, but I guess they got cold feet. I can understand. It's difficult to estimate the cost of repairing old things. It wouldn't be hard to invest more money in repairs than the synthesizers were worth. I'll go ahead and get the instruments repaired on my dime, but it sure would have made life easier to let the store handle this.

Maybe life just isn't meant to be easy. When I went up on the roof today, I discovered a small defective area that the roofers inexplicably failed to fix. The roofers may have missed this bad spot, but the rain found it easy enough. Now I've got to convince the roofers to come out again. That won't be a a pleasant task.

A client that I'd thought I'd lost about six months ago now wants me to do more work for him. Strangely, I have mixed feelings about this. I'm getting used to the idea of being fully retired. It's also good to have an income, so I'll definitely do the work. I just wasn't as happy to get this new job as I should have been. I guess I don't know what I want anymore. When I'm idle, I think that work and deadlines would add structure and a sense of purpose to my life. When I actually get a job, it just seems like a giant nuisance.

Dash has added a new wrinkle to his bag of tricks. He wakes me up at night, acting like he really needs to go outside and pee. As soon as he gets outside he just stands there looking confused. He'll wander around aimlessly for a long time and then come back inside without doing anything. We repeated this process three times last night before he actually peed. When I finally thought I might be able to get back to sleep, he got me out of bed again. This time he needed to poop. I was outside at least 45 minutes with Dash between 2 and 3 AM. Needless to say, by the time he had finally done his business I was wide awake. I don't know what makes Dash seem dazed and confused at night, but it seems to be getting worse.

This morning he was fine, even though I was exhausted. If Dash does his business quickly, I can usually get back to sleep very easily. When he keeps me up for hours at a time, it's hardly worth the trouble to go back to bed. Once I'm fully awake I might as well just stay up.

Hopefully things will be better tonight. I don't know how much more sleep deprivation I can take. I don't think Dash is really worried about losing sleep. He sleeps all day.

Pogo is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3137

I didn't go out for breakfast this morning. There was too much to do at home. Getting Dash ready in the morning is quite a challenge. He is very reluctant to get up, but as soon as he does start moving, he immediately needs to poop. There is a clear path to the door but he hasn't been able to make it outside yet. I have to try to give him his meds before I clean up the poop, because if I wait too long he'll go back to bed and we'll have to start all over again. So far, the only pill pocket that works is a little cube of rare steak. There are lots of pills, so he gets a fair amount of steak. This usually spoils his appetite and he won't eat his breakfast.

I clean up the poop as quickly as I can and get him ready for his morning walk. I wish we could get started earlier, but we're doing the best we can. We've only been walking about half as far as we usually do, because it's already starting to get hot when we leave the house. I'm glad that Dash has the good sense to head for home early when the weather is hot. Usually he will finish his breakfast when we return to the house, but sometimes I end up saving it for lunch. When Dash has cooled down and goes back to sleep, I fix my own breakfast.

Dash has been very slow and lethargic this week. I don't know whether it's the heat, or if something had gotten worse with his heart. Whatever is going on, it's troubling. I don't want to overwork him, but I don't want him sleeping 24 hours a day either. We've got to strike a balance. We go back for another big recheck at the cancer center next week. I really hope his condition hasn't deteriorated.

I took my last remaining synthesizer to the repair shop today. I'll probably try to sell this one too. It isn't as rare as the two I've already consigned, but there isn't as much wrong with it either. I think all this one needs is a new backup battery. Why this battery is soldered to the main logic board in a hard to access place, I'll never understand. Probably I just wasn't supposed to keep the thing this long.

The keyboard technician told me that the damage to all my synthesizers was probably caused by heat.  The storage warehouse just wasn't cool enough. The fact that you should never keep musical instruments in a storage warehouse has been an expensive lesson to learn. I should have sold all these things immediately when they were no longer being used. Most of the guitars weren't as damaged as the synthesizers, but heat took their toll on them as well. All three of the good guitars will need some major setup work.

It's discouraging to realize that my desire to keep things has always been at odds with the realities of living in a small house. There never was room for this stuff. I always thought that the storage warehouse was like a giant pause button. Maybe I could keep things in suspended animation until a mythical much larger house materialized. Life doesn't work that way though. Time marches on whatever you do.

I just finished giving Dash his evening meds, but he hasn't touched his dinner yet. Usually he will get hungry before we go to bed, but you never know. I guess I should look on the bright side. He hasn't thrown up yet.

Deuce is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3120

The weather isn't cooperating. I spent two hours up on the roof clearing away all the standing water so the roofers could make their repairs tomorrow. Everything looked perfect and then later in the day we had an unexpected afternoon thunderstorm and the roof is all wet again. I'm beginning to think that all my efforts are hopeless.

I did manage to find someone to repair my Sequential Circuits synthesizers. I don't know if the guy is any good, but he does claim to have worked on them before. I kind of hope that the guitar store has managed to find someone better. I have a feeling that the guy I found will just take the synthesizers apart and then tell me that he can't find parts. Parts are always the problem for old electronic gear. Even though the chances of success are far from guaranteed, I'll probably still try to get these things repaired. If I do nothing, I might as well throw them in a dumpster.

The auction house called me today and said they want to lower the estimate on one of the pieces I sent them. I suspected this might happen. On further inspection, they said they discovered minor handling damage. These guys are pretty picky, so it was probably just a fingerprint in the wrong place. Hey, it wasn't me. I've never even taken any of these things out of the original frames. I'm still happy with the revised estimate, but the original price they mentioned would have made me even happier. Auctions are weird. We talk about these estimates as if they are real, but there is no guarantee that the art will sell at all.

Dash was kind of shaky this morning. He stumbled more than usual on his morning walk and seemed unusually tired when we returned home. I don't know why. The weather was actually quite nice. I always worry that Dash will collapse when we are alone in the park and I'll have difficulty getting him back to a vet in time. I can't let this fear deter me from walks altogether though. Walks are important. Without these slow daily walks, Dash's mobility would decrease dramatically. I do try to watch him carefully when we get up in the morning and make sure he's not having a vestibular event or problems moving around. A misplaced pebble in his path can cause Dash to fall these days, but we've got to keep moving. I've brought some more rugs home from the storage warehouse to keep him from slipping inside the house. Things are not getting better, but I think we're all doing the best we can.

I hope Dash does well at his exam tomorrow. He needs his anal glands expressed and a nail trim, but there's always a chance that he'll surprise us with more bad news. There are so many things wrong with this dog that it's hard to remember them all. The important things at this point are the blood clot in his heart and the internal bleeding. I've almost forgotten about the vestibular disease and thyroid cancer.

It's going to be a long Summer. Janet is visiting family soon, so I'll be taking care of Dash by myself for a while. I hope I can remember how to get his boots on without assistance. I've done it before, but it isn't easy. Getting him to take his pills in the morning isn't easy either. I have a feeling that we'll be taking a lot of naps. That's one thing we do well together.

Keller is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3046

My friend from Kentucky will be arriving in town fairly soon, so it's time to start sorting through my collection of model trains. Not many people collect trains anymore, but this guy knows them all. I spent some time at the storage warehouse today, trying to decide which models will sell. I can't even remember how long it took me to accumulate this stuff. I guess at some point I thought that I would live in a giant loft someday with plenty of room to build a huge working layout. There was going to be another huge area set aside as a music room with a drum kit and guitar amplifiers already in place so I could play or write whenever the urge hit me. What was I thinking? Any rational person could have told me that this was never going to happen unless I won the lottery. I've never let reason get in the way, so here I am sitting in a storage warehouse, looking at a dusty pile of stuff I've never even used.

I'm not the only guy who does this. I've known plenty of guys over the years who have become obsessed with collecting vintage guitars, guns, old cars, microphones, mechanical watches, and even farm tractors. Guys are attracted to stuff the same way that a moth is attracted to a flame. A few collections are valuable, but most aren't. Collections aren't about money. They are about always needing just one more example of whatever you've got already. No matter how many guitars or model trains you have, the one you're really looking for is still out there taunting you.

The joy of collecting has finally turned into a burden for me. It's time to start lightening the load. If I can find a new home for the trains, maybe I can start thinking about the books, vinyl records, porcelain Dalmatians, old watches, analog mixing boards, and other oddities that are gathering dust.

On my way to the storage warehouse, I took some pants to the tailor to get hemmed. The tailor is a pleasant older Chinese woman who can fix anything. I've taken a ton of clothes to her over the years that I probably should have thrown away. I guess I probably collect clothes too. I wish there were more little shops like the tailor shop. There used to be a guy who fixed all my cameras. There was a guy who fixed sewing machines. Someone else fixed typewriters. There was even someone who specialized in repairing strobe lights for photo studios. That's all he did and he was very busy. Most of these specialized repair shops are gone. It's even getting harder to find a decent shoe repair shop these days. Sadly, we live in a disposable society.

I had Eggs Benedict for breakfast this morning. I wasn't hungry for eggs last night, but this morning I was. The restaurant was crowded and noisy, but the food was good. You don't hear conversations in a crowded restaurant. You just hear words. The experience feels like one of those word clouds you see on people's blogs. The words I heard a lot today were leadership potential, grandparents, stress, contractor, doctor, boss, and unfair. I didn't add to the conversations. I never do.

We got a new supplement called Movoflex for Dash today. Our vet recommended it and it is supposed to help him with mobility and joint pain. Movoflex appears to be an alternative to glucosamine and chondroitin which never really worked for Dash, but anything is worth a try.

Chance is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2459

It's amazing how a few simple things can eat up an entire day. I don't ever plan anything on Dot's physical therapy days anymore. It seems to take forever to get her down to her appointment and back again. No matter how early I get started, I always seem to arrive late. Dot did well in the underwater treadmill this afternoon, but she didn't do so well in the car. I had to stop several times because she squirmed around and got herself stuck in an awkward position. When she gets stuck, she whines and cries and I have to look for a place where I can stop quickly so I can re-position her. I really try to avoid freeways now. Sometimes I wonder whether the rehab is even worth it, but I try to stay optimistic.

I got a couple of new writing assignments today. When I was looking through the input material, I noticed that the client misspelled the name of one of their products again. This has happened before. Nobody pays attention to details anymore. You'd think getting the name of your own product right would be a no brainer, but apparently not. It probably doesn't even matter. I suspect that people's inability to spell accounts for a lot of the really weird product names out there.

It was so hot today that Dash didn't even want to go outside. When he doesn't want to walk on a day like this, I figure that he knows best. Heatstroke in dogs is very common here in Texas. It's better to just let your dog rest on a hot day. Dot actually got the best deal today. The water in the treadmill was nice and cool. She was a little slow this afternoon, but I think she enjoyed being in the water.

I certainly didn't accomplish much today. Breakfast wasn't relaxing at all. Dot was sleeping nicely, but Dash woke her up barking for his banana. Pretty soon both dogs were barking and by the time I fixed their treat and got them quiet again, my smoothie was too warm and I had to put it in the freezer for a while. The temperature has to be just right for breakfast to be enjoyable. I'm always warming up my coffee in the microwave and putting my smoothie in the freezer. Dot and Dash never did stop barking. By the time I finished washing the breakfast dishes, the dogs were tired and so was I.

I"m going to try to get both my articles written tomorrow. I thought I'd have time to get started today, but it wasn't meant to be. If the dogs are cooperative, completing two articles should be a piece of cake. My big task tomorrow is figuring out how to load the garbage can so the robotic garbage truck empties it properly. I think I filled the big plastic trash bags too full last week and they got stuck in the can. I'll try twice as many half full bags this week. It's hard to outwit a robotic truck. I hate that truck.

There are so many little things I need to do. It's time to get a haircut again. The large printer has run out of ink and is probably clogged. Janet says the electric element in the oven is starting to fail. Where do you find a part for a fifty year old oven? The shower is starting to leak again too. I thought I did a really good job of sealing the shower stall, but my repairs didn't even last six months. I can't forget to call the roofer too. I found new areas that need to be patched. No wonder just taking a nap seems so appealing.

Bailey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2387

When I picked up my tape recorder at the repair shop, it occurred to me that I hadn't picked the best time to restore and refurbish my old studio. This was an ambitious project and I should have waited until all the unexpected expenses and emergencies subsided. Of course, when are unexpected things ever going to quit happening. If I waited until life was calm again, I'd be waiting forever. At any rate, there are still many things to fix, but I now have two functioning old school multi-track tape recorders again.

As most of you know, I'm fascinated with gadgets. Ever since we began having power outages in our neighborhood, I've been looking for the perfect emergency power source. Backup batteries don't last long enough to be really useful. Gasoline generators get the job done, but they are noisy, heavy, and you've got to keep them outside because of the exhaust. Lately, I've discovered solar powered generators. Even the largest of these devices won't power your entire house, but they seem perfect if you just need some LED lights, a laptop, a few cell phones, and a small portable refrigerator to keep you going. The only drawback I can see is that they are ridiculously expensive. Oh, and you need a lot of sunlight too. I was looking at the Goal Zero generators today. Very cool. All I need are a couple of these, an Airstream trailer, a satellite phone, and some acreage up in the mountains and I'm all set. Hey, there's nothing wrong with dreaming is there. My fantasy has always been complete self sufficiency. When I hear someone say "It takes a village," or "We've all got to work together as a team," it just makes me want to vomit.

The weather was weird today. When we woke up, the air was still and the humidity was oppressive. This was not the best environment for Dot. She got tired on her morning walk and we had to walk even slower than usual to make it back home again. I was a little worried about her at first, but she's back to normal now after a nice long nap. As the day progressed, it got darker and darker and by mid-afternoon we were in the path of a raging thunderstorm. Not surprisingly, the dogs got frightened by the thunder and lightning and I had to spend the rest of the afternoon calming them down. The only good thing about all this was that the temperature dropped twenty degrees. I won't have to water the grass tomorrow either.

I need to think of some better passive income ideas. With interest rates near zero, the stock market has been a big disappointment. The stock photography market has been an even bigger disappointment. I'm a good photographer, but you literally have to have thousands and thousands of images in circulation to make any significant income. Ditto for running ads on my websites. All these things showed promise and were even occasionally lucrative for me twenty years ago. I blame it all on globalization. When you are competing with billions of people instead of a few thousand, prices come down dramatically. Some bloggers started writing books when blogging fell out of favor. I don't think my life is weird enough to use it as the basis for a novel. I'm certainly not going to write a motivational or self help book. I've got nothing in the motivational department. Don't expect me to lift you up. If you're enjoying this, you're probably happy already.

Rascal is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2300

Just as I predicted, the lawnmower died about ten seconds after I hauled it out to the front lawn. Despite seeing a reassuring green light on the battery charger, it was clear that the battery needed to be replaced. It wouldn't hold a charge at all. I removed the problematic battery, put the mower back in the green house, and headed for the battery store. The repair guy even remembered recelling this battery before. He said he could refurbish the battery pack while I was grocery shopping and that was good enough for me. A few hours later, the battery was back in the charger, getting ready for a second attempt to mow the grass.

Why aren't batteries more reliable?  Every time I tell Janet that I'm interested in getting a Tesla, she tells me I'm nuts, reminding me that I spend half my life complaining about batteries. Laptops, phones, cameras, watches, recorders, and even lawn mowers immediately turn into worthless piles of junk when the batteries start to fail.  It wasn't so bad when you could just pop in a new battery and get back to work, but increasingly batteries aren't removable. Replacing my laptop battery required a trip to the Apple store. Ditto for my phone. Odd batteries, like the one found in my lawn mower, require a special technician who can take the case apart and recell the battery. It's all a giant nuisance. Somebody told me that the Tesla is powered by 8,000 small lithium-ion batteries that are all wired together. When those things start to fail after four or five years, an old fashioned gas guzzler isn't going to seem so bad.

I was planning to write another article today, but dealing with the faulty lawn mower battery consumed most of the afternoon. At least the story has a happy ending. The mower works now and the front yard looks much better. The first time I mow the lawn each Spring, it always seems much harder than it did the year before. It shouldn't be this way. I'm active. I walk the dogs everyday. I work out. And after all this, the lawn mower keeps getting heavier every year. I blame it all on muscle atrophy caused by taking statin drugs. My doctor still wants me to take statins though, claiming that a heart attack is much worse than a little muscle atrophy.

The weather was just about perfect today. The temperature was in the low seventies. The humidity was low. There didn't even seem to be much pollen in the air. Naturally, the dogs enjoyed their walks and Dot even felt like wandering around in the back yard smelling things. I had to wander around with her, holding up her rear legs with the harness, but that's OK. Dealing with Dot takes a lot of patience, but it's worth it when you can see that she's still able to enjoy herself.

I'm not sure what I'll do tomorrow. After mowing the grass, I feel like I've already had my weekly workout. I'll probably go to the gym anyway though. When your other alternatives are vacuuming and cleaning the office, the gym starts to look pretty good.

Miracle is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2206

Dash went to the vet today for some routine maintenance. He needed his anal glands expressed and was due for a Bordetella shot. Dot has become such a high maintenance dog that it's easy to forget that Dash still has his own needs. Luckily, he is pretty healthy right now. His cancer is still in remission and his blood pressure is finally under control. One we got the dose of Phenobarbital right, Dash hasn't had a seizure in years. When we first got the dogs, Dash was the one with multiple problems, while Dot was always a picture of health. Now it's exactly the opposite.

After I upgraded Pro Tools last week, I started thinking that maybe I ought to upgrade Media Composer as well. I don't use either of these applications very often anymore, but since they remain the gold standard for professional audio and video editing, I still like to stay in the loop. Avid Media Composer, like Pro Tools, has it's own special end-of-the-year upgrade offer. Upgrading isn't easy though. Before you download the software, you need to determine if your computer hardware will still run the newer program. You don't want to discover that you need a new operating system to use the upgrade either. Then you need to make sure your license will still be good after the upgrade. The last thing I want to do is accidentally switch my perpetual license to an annual subscription model. I think I'm OK, but I still need to make a call to customer service to make sure. Do I even need software that could be used to edit a feature film? Probably not. I'm not sure I need anything at this point in my life.

Since today was even slower than yesterday, I thought it would be a good day to repair a large rug in the living room that had gotten torn last month. Dot's rugs help give her traction and keep her from falling, but they will never get our house in Architectural Digest. Most of the rugs are pretty ugly. The torn rug was the ugliest of all, so I got a large upholstery needle from the sewing basket and hand stitched the tear back together. My stitch-work wasn't very precise or beautiful, but it did the job. The ugly rug looks much better now.

After using the dehumidifier for several weeks, the house feels much drier. The air even smells different. I wish I had bought the little machine twenty years ago. It would have made a big difference. When I started using the dehumidifier, the average humidity level in our house was over 55%. Today, the humidity inside was only 35%. This is almost Arizona desert humidity levels. I like it. The only downside to low humidity is that occasionally I wake up with nosebleeds.

I was pleased that I remembered the sanitation department was still on holiday schedule. I took the trash out last night and sure enough, a big garbage truck came lumbering down the street when we were returning from our morning walk. Now I need to remember that we go back to our regular Friday morning trash pickup next week.

Tomorrow is New Year's Eve, but I'll be lucky if I'm still awake at midnight. If I am awake, I'll have a glass of champagne and a slice of pumpkin pie or maybe a piece of cheese while I watch the celebration in Times Square on TV. I have no resolutions. Just the hope that Dot will stay with us one more year.

Penny is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2143

I went and got the blood tests that my doctor needed right after we walked the dogs this morning. They always want you to fast before these tests, so it's easier to do them first thing in the morning and eat breakfast afterwards. A lady I'd never seen before approached me with a pile of forms to sign before they drew my blood. She said she was a representative of the lab that did the testing. I read page one of the forms and they basically said that I had to pay for anything that insurance didn't cover. What was this all about? Insurance has always covered everything before. I told the woman with all the forms that it was my doctor who insisted on all these tests and it was his job to get them paid for. The whole incident was irritating. Maybe I'll eventually get a bill and maybe I won't. That's not the point. The whole process of navigating the healthcare system is kind of like being lost in a corn maze. It's hard to tell the good guys from the bad guys.

Today was a writing day. I didn't think my writing assignments would take me as long as they did, but sometimes the muse just isn't with you. I struggled today. I often find that the "no-brainer" jobs are the hardest, because it can be very difficult to write something compelling when there is nothing to say. Really innovative products sell themselves. The rest provide job opportunities for people like me. I'm not complaining, mind you. I'll write about virtually anything if you pay me.

Yesterday, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that my defective watch winder was being replaced for free with a brand new model. Today, I was disappointed to discover that it will cost three times as much as I originally anticipated to fix my old multi-track tape recorder. These two different approaches to a repair problem illustrate perfectly how we have become a throw away society. The watch winder was made in China and it was actually less expensive to throw the old unit away and replace it with a new one than it would have been to ship the winder back to the Chinese manufacturer. The tape recorder had to be repaired because it was no longer in production. Most of the repair cost was labor. The cost of the parts themselves was minimal. In the future I don't think anything will be repaired. It will all be replaced. It's so much easier to throw the old stuff away and let the robots build more.

While I was on the phone trying to get some medical records this afternoon, Dot had a major accident in the house. I smelled it before I saw it. It was like a poop explosion. She pooped all over the carpet in my office and then stumbled and fell in the poop. First I had to clean Dot up. Then I had to take her harness off and hose it off before I put it in the washing machine. Then I had to do my best to clean the carpet itself. It sure would have been nice if Dot had pooped on one of the dozens of small rugs we've spread around the house to help her walk. I can take the rugs to the laundromat or hose them off outside. The carpet is more of a challenge.

Tomorrow is another day. I'm hoping that Dot does well at her physical therapy session. I'm hoping that it doesn't rain. I"m hoping that the carpet still smells clean after it dries out tomorrow.

Abi is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2128

The vet said she thought Dash was walking better this week. I was thinking the same thing. He's not limping as much now and seems a little stronger with each passing day. It's clear that he does have a floating kneecap on his right rear leg. It's just not very clear how severe his luxating patella is. We did some tests and agreed to evaluate him again next week. Hopefully, Dash will continue to improve. If not, we can always make an appointment to see the orthopedic specialist. We'll do what needs to be done, but I'd like to avoid surgery if at all possible.

The watch winder company told me to return the defective winder in its original box, so I went to the storage warehouse to look for the box. I save a lot of boxes for precisely this reason. It took a while, but I eventually found the box and it still had the instructions and warranty card inside. I'll pack the thing up and take it to FedEx tomorrow. I'm hoping they'll just send me a new unit, instead of trying to repair the old one. Only one of the three winder motors is bad, but with my luck, one of the other motors will quit working as soon as they returned the repaired unit. I'm not sure how the watch winder company will handle this, but at least they were helpful and responsive. Some companies aren't.

I got my October invoices posted and in the mail today. It's a bit unsettling that my billings continue to decline, but I'm not going to lose any sleep over it. My business is slower because my client's businesses are slower. The whole economy sucks. Hopefully, things will pick up again before Christmas. Fall and Winter used to be one of my busiest times, but I don't have as many retail clients as I once did. One project a day is all I want. Any more and I'll be too busy. Any less and I'll start to go broke.

Someone will have to explain the Democratic debate to me. It didn't really seem like a debate at all. Every time someone said something, the rest of the candidates chimed in and essentially said "That's a good idea, but I'll do even more." Nobody criticized each other. It was just an odd love fest. Say what you will about the Republicans, but at least they dusted it up and got their hands dirty. Donald Trump was right. The debate was boring. I didn't learn anything new. That being said, Bernie Sanders was the most genuine. He may be an angry old man, but he's an honest angry old man. You can't say that about many of the others in either party.

There are no vet visits for either dog tomorrow. Actually, there's not much of anything scheduled for tomorrow. We'll see what happens.

Puppies are today's Dalmatians of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2127

I was industrious today. I found someone in Los Angeles who can repair my broken watch winder and I found someone right in my own neighborhood who can repair my multi-track tape recorders. The broken recorder is housed in a five foot tall 19" equipment rack that served as my recording studio for many years. I thought it would be an easy job to unscrew the recorder and pull it out of the rack, but I was wrong. When I removed the screws from the front panel, the recorder wouldn't budge. I pulled the heavy metal cabinet away from the wall and looked behind it. It was only then that I remembered the countless hours I spent carefully bundling the maze of interconnected wires and cables together and securing them in place with zip ties. The installation looked neat and tidy, but it had been built for permanence, not convenience. I had to carefully cut the plastic zip ties and remove all the wires connected to the recorder before I could extract the machine from the rack. The whole process took two hours.

I looked on Google to see if I could still find instruction manuals for the equipment in the audio rack and was surprised to discover that some of it had acquired vintage status over the years and was quite desirable. This gave me an added incentive to fix the broken stuff, but I still don't know if restoring the studio will be worth the time, effort and money it is going to take. All this equipment represents a moment in time that has passed. I probably wrote and recorded at least a hundred songs using the equipment I was disassembling today. The last tape I worked on was still in the machine. It was dated February 17, 1986. The label on the tape was printed using a dot matrix printer. The Internet, blogging, and almost everything I do today didn't even exist back then. Maybe all I'm trying to save are the memories.

I feel the same way about film. I used to love taking pictures on film. There was an art to getting the exposure just right. You couldn't fix things in Photoshop. The whole process of going into a darkroom and coming out hours later with wonderful images was absolute magic to me. I never felt the same when I made the inevitable transition to the digital world. I use Pro Tools and Avid Media Composer to put commercials and videos together now. I'm a wizard with Photoshop. There is no magic in these digital tools though. Elvis has left the building. I have a few friends who have embraced this brave new world, but it's not for me. Give me an analog tape recorder, a 4x5 Sinar camera, and an IBM Selectric typewriter and I'm a happy camper.

Actually this is a lie. Give me these old things and I'm not happy at all. There's nobody left to fix them. Keeping vintage equipment running and properly maintained is a giant hassle. I used to know lots of camera repairmen, watch repairmen, and tape machine technicians. For the most part, they're all gone. I bet it will take over a month just to find the rubber parts to fix my tape machine. I have friends who used to collect vintage watches who have given up the hobby for these reasons. If it takes two years to get a watch fixed, what's the point in even having it?

Old dogs are hard to fix too, but at least they provide companionship. I was happy to see that Dash was steadier on his feet today. I don't know why today was a good day and yesterday was a bad day, but I'll take any good day I can get. Maybe Dash is learning to pace himself better. He walked slower today and didn't limp nearly as much. I'm doing a better job of keeping him from scratching the ground after he pees too.  Tomorrow we go back to the vet for another evaluation. I have a feeling that we're going to have to see an orthopedic specialist, but we'll see how tomorrow goes.

Kuuipo is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1792 - Veteran's Day

I thought I'd try to put the greenhouse back together today. As you might expect, the job was a little more difficult than I would have hoped. This greenhouse began life in the 1950's as a cleverly designed prefabricated kit. The Fort Worth company that made the greenhouse hasn't existed for decades and the thought of finding spare parts is laughable. I've always been impressed with how precisely everything fits together, but you just can't go to to Home Depot when something breaks. I decided to salvage the damaged roof segment instead of replace it. There wasn't anything comparable to replace it with anyway. The main problem I had was that since I couldn't actually crawl up on the translucent fiberglass roof, I could only reach four of the sixteen anchor points. I tried to see if I could attach the segment from the inside, but it became obvious that this was not how the roof was designed. I did the best I could and eventually secured the segment in place, but I suspect that another big wind will just blow it down again. What is even worse, I discovered on closer inspection that many of the anchors that hold the other roof segments to the frame had broken as well. Probably the big wind storm that knocked out our power last month and landed a piece of our neighbor's roof in our yard, damaged this greenhouse as well.

The strenuous work of repairing the greenhouse roof left me hungry, so when I finished my repair work, I went to the grocery store to look for something tasty to eat. With Thanksgiving approaching, Central Market is filled with an abundance of tempting treats. I filled my buggy with enough stuff to last me until the weekend and then went home again to see how the dogs were doing.

Dot and Dash had the good sense to stay inside today. They had absolutely no interest in joining me outdoors while I repaired the greenhouse and preferred to huddle together on a pile of blankets in the bedroom instead. The cold front that arrived during the night served as a reminder that the house is always harder to heat in the Winter than it is to cool in the Summer. The furnace does a good job, but with all the single pane glass in the house, the heat dissipates quickly. Moisture is already starting to condense on the inside of the glass and I need to wear a sweater to stay comfortable. I'd keep the temperature at 80 degrees if I could, but 70 is about all the furnace can manage. This suits Janet and the dogs just fine, but I'm already missing our mild Indian Summer Fall weather. The three weeks of nice weather in the Fall is the only time of the year in Texas I really like.

Tomorrow, we get the new WiFi thermostat installed. This means that Dot will be barking non-stop while the HVAC guys are here. Dot's a good little watchdog, but she makes no exceptions for repair people and service technicians. It will be an interesting day. The temperature is supposed to dip below freezing tonight. I need to start remembering to set the outside water faucets on drip so they won't freeze. I guess it's time to bring the heavy lawnmower battery in for the Winter as well.

Dolly is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1786

Although the rain continued today, it seemed a lot more tolerable than yesterday. It was easier to find little windows of opportunity where I would walk the dogs without getting wet. It was a bit warmer than yesterday. And most importantly, I had enough work to keep me busy, so the day passed quickly. Ordinarily, I would have gone to the grocery store on a day like this, but I scrounged for leftovers in the refrigerator instead. I still didn't feel like driving.

I was finally able to contact someone and get them to sell me a replacement for the broken part of my iPhone case. Actually, I was very impressed by this type of service. It's virtually impossible to buy component parts anymore. It's a throw away society now and typically when you break something, you just throw it away instead of trying to repair it. If I ever upgrade to an iPhone 6, I'll buy another case from these guys. Anyone who makes a product that is repairable and then actually encourages you to repair it is worthy of a little loyalty in my book.

I can't figure out why there seems to be more mosquitoes inside the house these days than there are outside.  I know that some fly inside when I leave the back door open for the dogs, but I never thought they'd thrive indoors. That's what's happening though. They must be breeding. At least these are very slow mosquitoes. They are very easy to swat and kill when I notice them flying around. I thought the warm dry air would kill the little beasts when I turned the furnace on for the Winter, but all that did was make my sinus problems worse. Eventually, I'll get all the mosquitoes though. What else is there to do on a rainy day?

I wish I had more writing jobs. Writing seems so easy compared to the more technical things I do for a living. Website design is problematic, since the technology keeps changing. People's expectations are pretty high now, and I find it harder and harder hard to keep up with the latest developments. Photography has its own set of problems. I'm an excellent photographer, but I've really grown tired of hauling heavy lights and equipment around. With the budgets I work with these days, it hardly seems worth the effort. I often feel like showing up for assignments and just taking pictures with my phone.

I think the rain is over. Tomorrow is actually supposed to be a nice day. I certainly hope so. The refrigerator is empty and I need to go to the store. Dot has an appointment for her physical therapy session too. If I get caught up with my work, I may even go up on the roof again. I know there's a lot of water waiting for me up there.

Coach is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day