Day 2498

Today felt more like a work day. We got up early because Janet needed to go to the Dalmatian Rescue Golf Tournament. I spent most of the day tending to the dogs, but did manage to squeeze in a few weekend errands. I picked up some meds for Dash at the vet and then took my defective pants back to the REI store. Amazingly, they offered to exchange them for a new pair. I wasn't expecting this and was actually planning to drop the pants off at a tailor shop on the way home. I've noticed a pattern in recent years. As product quality has gotten worse, customer service has gotten better. I think a lot of companies have decided that it is less costly to just replace things when they break than to build them right in the first place. I've gotten four free UP fitness trackers from Jawbone. I love these things, but they aren't made very well. I'm lucky if mine lasts six months. Customer service is usually very nice about replacing the broken trackers though, so I'm a happy camper. Maybe REI uses the same strategy. Advertise clothing as tough and reliable, and if it doesn't live up to expectations, just smile and replace it.

The reason that I stayed home today was that it is inevitable that Dot will poop in her bed during the day. If I'm not nearby to quickly clean up the mess, she gets frantic and usually ends up making the situation much worse. When I'm away, I have to leave her penned in a small, well padded enclosure, so she won't hurt herself. This works well if she's asleep, or if I'm around to lets her out frequently. It doesn't work well at all if I'm gone for four or five hours. As expected, Dot did poop in her bed today, so it was good that I was nearby.

After one of these accidents, I knew she was tired and would probably sleep for several hours, so I went to the gym. This is usually how I plan my excursions away from the house. If she's had an accident, Dot typically won't have another one for at least three or four hours. She's sleeps soundly, so if she has an accident in her sleep, I can just quietly slide the soiled disposable pad out from under her without even waking her up. If I keep doing this much longer, I'll soon be able to write a book on dealing with incontinent dogs.

I've discovered that it's hard to write the blog when only one of us is home in the evening. As Dot has become less mobile, she's become increasingly needy. She's not the least bit sleepy in the evenings, and constantly wants somebody nearby. If I ignore her, she starts barking frantically. To prevent this, I'll write a sentence or two and and then go sit with her for a while or walk her around the house. As soon as I get her settled down, Dash will run to the front door, thinking he hears a car in the driveway and the cycle of barking will start all over again.

The roofers said they'd stop by next week. They probably really meant that they'd stop by next month. A representative from the sanitation department is supposed to contact me to help resolve my trash problem as well. We'll see. My guess is that none of this will actually happen.

Camp is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 754

Dash had an exceptionally good day at the dog park. I don't think I've ever seen him play as long or as enthusiastically. He's still scared of larger dogs, after being bitten by one. He is friendly with puppies though, and today he was lucky enough to find a young, but very large puppy who was just the right size. You can tell when Dash is excited. If you look closely at the picture, you'll notice that all four of his paws are off the ground.

I got a new set of fitted sheets a couple of weeks ago, and when I made the bed this morning the brand new fitted bottom sheet ripped at the seam. I usually chalk this sort of thing up to bad luck, but Janet insisted we take the sheets back and get a refund. Luckily, she was willing to do this if I could find the receipt, because I hate to take things back to the store.

I've got a ton of shoddy or broken things that I never bothered to take back or exchange. I probably should take things back more often though. The store refunded the price of the sheets without raising an eyebrow. The whole process was quick and easy. I probably would have gotten out the sewing machine, tried to repair the rip, and made such a mess of things that nobody would have even considered taking them back.

I still haven't gotten caught up with adding all the new dogs to the animal rescue site. Most of the new additions are puppies. It sure would have been easier just to make one new page called "puppies" instead of creating individual pages for each pup in the litter. All the little lab-mix pups look identical, so each of the new pages I've made look the same as well. The pages won't last long either, since we'll need all new picture when the pups get a little older. Oh well, it's all for a good cause.

Our week of beautiful weather seems to be drawing to a close. The weather channel says there a 100% chance of rain tomorrow. Not exactly the news I was waiting to hear. Dash has to go up to the animal ophthalmologist in North Dallas tomorrow. He hates riding in the car and he hates rain. That ought to be an interesting trip.

Jordan is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day