Day 4663

Today was busy. It was chilly this morning on our sunrise walk. It was only 63 degrees and I definitely needed a light jacket. I also needed a stick to brush the web worms away as we made out way down toward the lake. I'll be glad when these little green worms disappear. They've really become a nuisance.

After breakfast I did a few minor chores around the house while I was waiting to leave for my haircut appointment. My hair is thinner now but it still grows fast. It doesn't seem that long since my last haircut. I usually get a haircut before any major trip, but I won't be going anywhere for a while. There are several interesting launches next month, but I didn't apply for credentials. It's just as well that I won't be going anywhere soon. I've got too many bills to pay.

On the way home from my haircut appointment I stopped at the gym. It was cool enough to walk outdoors today, but the gym turned out to be more convenient. I was fairly terrible on the basketball court, but I was actually faster on the indoor track today. It still seems like my performance should be more consistent, but it never is. Some days I do well and other days I don't.

I did some of my grocery shopping today because I'm not sure how long the washing machine repairs will take tomorrow. I hope that no parts are needed for this repair because that always requires a second visit. I really want to avoid going to the laundromat. Hopefully, the problem is minor. According to the error code on the machine there is just a clogged drain filter.  I need to learn how to fix this myself. I'm tired of paying technicians to do things that turn out to be very easy.

The State Fair of Texas opened today. We usually go to the fair, but I'm not sure if we'll go this year. I can't even remember if we went last year. It might have still been closed due to Covid. Somewhere on the fairgrounds there is a brick walkway where you can purchase bricks with your name on them. Years ago we bought some bricks in memory of our first Dalmatian. Whenever we go to the fair, it is always a challenge to find these bricks. They're still there but it is surprisingly difficult to locate them. We used to walk Spot in Fair Park every weekend, but the city was different then. The city felt much safer twenty years ago. I'm not sure I'd want to walk in this park during off season anymore.

I hope the appliance technician is on time tomorrow. I hate waiting for repair people. They usually give you a four hour window and then show up about an hour after the window has expired. The utility room where we keep the washer and dryer is very small. I always have to move a ton of stuff out of the room before a service call to give the technician room to work. I'm not even sure how we got these appliances into this room now. It doesn't seem like they should fit.

I hope the rescue Dalmatians are doing well. We haven't seen them in quite a while. I think they will be moving to another kennel later this Fall where we can visit again. I wonder if they will remember us?

Thelma is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 4540 - Memorial Day

My Mom's Dad was career military. Both her brothers were fighter pilots. My Dad served in the Navy during World War II, although I'm still not entirely sure what he did. I never served. I had a low draft number during the Vietnam era, but got a medical exemption due to an injury I received rock climbing in college. Several high school friends served in the military, along with a couple of early ad agency co-workers. One of my art director partners was in the Marines and another flew jets in the Air Force. All in all, I've had very few connections with people who served and am probably not qualified to make many judgements about military life. I do think it's terribly sad that so many people have died in needless wars. The best way to honor all who died would be to just stop getting involved in needless wars. Going to Vietnam proved absolutely nothing. Going to Iraq and Afganistan proved nothing as well. I wonder if we will ever learn.

If you don't have military family or friends, Memorial Day is mostly an excuse to put some meat on the grill and have a barbecue. I didn't even do that today. I did try to go to the gym because it was a hot day. Their website said they'd be open this morning, but when I arrived, the place was closed. I wish more people would take the time to update their websites. The trip wasn't a total loss though. I stopped at a store and got some socks that were on sale on the way home.

I think I've become obsessed with the star tracker. Even though I'll seldom use the tracker, it is a cool, well designed piece of technology that appeals to me in an odd way. Little complicated things are fascinating. Maybe that's why I used to like mechanical watches so much. At any rate, I keep looking for ways to enhance the little tracker. Recently I discovered a better way to connect my camera to the tracker. The gizmo was a little expensive and I've been looking for a used version. Today I found one on eBay and bought it. I'm sure I'll get a lot more use out of the socks I bought.

Since I couldn't go to the gym today, I was forced to take my usual walk in the park. I could have skipped a day of course, but I'm nearing 200 days of meeting all my Fitbit goals. Why stop now?  Goals can be addictive. Just look at all these blog posts. I've completely forgotten why I started this blog in the first place. Now the goal is to just keep going.

Our sunrise walk with Dawn was quite pleasant this morning, but the afternoon walk to get my Fitbit steps was miserable. It was too hot for me. I wasn't able to complete my full route today but that's OK. As long as I get at least 10,000 steps and am able to close all three rings on the Apple Watch activity app, I'm good.

I missed having a chance to see the rescue Dalmatians today. It really didn't seem like Monday without a visit to see the dogs. We'll see them next week though.  It's nice having a routine. I've got Saturday, Sunday, and Monday covered. Maybe I need to find a repetitive activity for Tuesday.

Ollie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4253

Dawn's paws continue to improve. The redness has subsided and fur is starting to grow back. She only has to wear the cone when we are both out of the house now. We're still not sure what caused Dawn to quit licking. It could be the new allergy medicine or it could be the antibiotics that finally got rid of her bacterial infection. Very occasionally she still had the desire to bite at her paws, but the whole situation is much, much better.

All three boys are still at the kennel. Someone looked at Bullet this week, but he didn't get adopted. The dogs were in fine spirits today and were all very playful. We got a new soft toy for Charlie and this time he didn't get weird with it. He just tried to get the squeaker out and destroy the toy like a normal dog. We had to put it away after a while because it wouldn't have survived the afternoon. The boys are pretty rough on toys and very few things survive. There is a solid red rubber ball that is indestructible, but only Bullet likes to play with it. The bright yellow Kong football has held up pretty well, but the best toys are two rope octopus toys that all three dogs love to thrash around with. Charlie, Cooper and Bullet are all great dogs. They are healthy, lots of fun, and will make great pets for the right person.

Dawn is still not walking very far on our sunrise walks, but she seems happy enough with her one mile loop. I wish the temperature would stay like it is when we take these early morning walks. It was very pleasant at 6:30 AM. At 3 PM, when I decided to take my own long walk, it was almost unbearable. I should have gone to the gym today, but I just didn't feel like it. Maybe I'm starting to worry about Covid again, or maybe I just didn't feel like driving. The gym just didn't feel like a good option today.

Somehow, I finished my full six mile route. I stopped at the spray fountain twice though and wet myself down. The elastic knee brace definitely makes the long walk easier. I just need to remember to wear it. I thought we might get some rain this afternoon. The sky got dark and I heard thunder in the distance, but the small storm must have passed to the North of us. My opinions about rain have changed a bit as the days get hotter. I welcome a little rainfall now. These short summer storms don't appear to cause the roof to leak and they keep the yard looking green. An old fashioned all day rain still causes a lot of problems, but we haven't been having that type of weather lately.

I'm old enough to remember the fall of Saigon at the end of the Vietnam war. The current exit from Afghanistan seems exactly the same. What were the generals thinking? Instead of getting on television and talking endlessly about diversity training and flying rainbow flags at Army bases, they should have remembered there was still a war going on and figured out how to get all their expensive equipment out of the country instead of just giving it to the Taliban. They had six months to plan an orderly exit. Nope. Can't do that. Lets have chaos instead. As a result, the Taliban now owns some of the most sophisticated military equipment on the planet, all courtesy of us. Say what you will, but Biden owns this mess. You can't keep blaming your predecessors forever.

I can't figure out how so many healthy people are already getting their third Covid shot. A third shot isn't even authorized yet unless you are severely immunocompromised. I think that people who want a third shot are just walking up to their local pharmacy and telling their pharmacist that they haven't been vaccinated yet. It's weird world we live in. You've got people who refuse to take the vaccine at all and then you've got other people who'd take ten shots in a row if they could.

Pogo is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4204

I knew it was going to rain today. It was just a matter of when. There was plenty to do while I was waiting for the leak to reappear. We took Dawn for an early walk before I dropped Janet off at the dentist for dental surgery. I went home and ate breakfast while waiting until it was time to go pick her up again. When Janet was back home and resting with Dawn at her side, I started checking my weather radar apps to see if I still had time to take my long walk. Maybe. The rain was on the way, but I might have time to take a shorter walk. I walked about half my usual distance and arrived home again about two minutes before the downpour started. I don't know if I'm getting better at calculating how fast storms move or if I just got lucky. I'm glad I didn't get soaked though because it was a pretty heavy rain.

Janet slept through the storm and Dawn never left her side. I thought for a while that the roof wasn't going to leak after all, but it was only a matter of time before I started hearing the inevitable sound of dripping water hitting the brick floor. I mopped up the water with a towel and placed a bucket under the drip. How am I going to stop this leak? I looked carefully yesterday when I was up on the roof and couldn't find anything that looked suspicious. I can't complain to the roofer anymore. He stopped returning my calls over a year ago. I can't really blame him. The silicon elastomer roof is no longer under warranty and has had so many problems over the years that the roofer has basically replaced the entire roof already. The silicon material turned out to be a very bad solution. It's definitely waterproof, but it is fragile and is easily damaged by falling branches from our large Oak trees.

While I was waiting for the rain to stop I looked on the Internet for some replacement foam inserts for an old Zero Halliburton aluminum camera case. I discovered by my case was considered a vintage model and was more valuable than I thought. I also found a company that still makes foam inserts for this case. I think the foam inserts cost more than the case did many years ago. I couldn't find any pre-cut inserts for my old Nikon F2 system, so I will have to cut them myself. You'd think that someone would have come up with a better way to protect equipment by now. Polyurethane foam turns into a messy goo after five or ten years and can ruin your equipment if you don't change the foam at regular intervals. The foam in my case has already turned into a messy goo, but luckily I had the forethought at some point to wrap the camera and all the lenses in blue Scott shop towels. Why do I even keep the old Nikon camera when I know I'll never use it again? It's just the way I am. I keep a lot of old stuff and the F2 was one of my favorite cameras.

The roof leak is in an awkward place because the water is dripping right in front of Dawn's dog bowls. It's hard enough to get her to eat already and I'm sure that getting wet wouldn't improve things. I've moved her bowls to a new location and this seems to work for now. The dripping water is clear, so this probably means that the source of the leak is located directly above where it is entering the house. If it was traveling down a beam from another location it would be probably be stained brown. As soon as things dry out I'll go look for the source of the leak again. That may be a while. It is supposed to rain all week.

I hope Charlie and Cooper didn't miss up today. We'll be back to visit them next week. Penny has already gone to her forever home. She lives with horses now and appears very happy from the pictures we've seen. Dawn gets a bath at the vet and her nails trimmed tomorrow. Maybe this will keep her from biting at her nails in the middle of the night and waking me up. The leak has stopped for now, but I'll leave the bucket out tonight just in case. 

Patch is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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