Day 2790

I finally went back up on the roof today. What a mess. In addition to the usual two inches of standing water, there were twigs and small branches everywhere. The neighbor's pecan tree is starting to drop nuts as well. As soon as I got things cleaned up, I called the roofer again. There are at least half a dozen new places where the elastomer coating has deteriorated or torn. I am so tired of water problems. Over the years, the vast majority of problems we've had with the house have been water related. There have been roof leaks, underground plumbing leaks, shower pan leaks, dishwasher leaks, and toilet leaks. Water leaks are inevitably followed by mold and mildew. I'm sick of it all. I wish there was a way to buy a house that came with a 100 year guarantee against any form of water damage.

I was finally able to contact the watchmaker who has had three of my watches for almost five years now. I told him that I had given up on him and that I would come by and pick up the broken timepieces. He immediately apologized for the lengthy delay and said that if I could give him one more month, he would have all three repaired. I have actually heard this before, but what have I got to lose. I can't even remember what these watches look like anymore. I'll call him again at the end of the summer.

It was still raining this morning when we woke up and although Dash had slept like a baby during last night's rain, he immediately became frightened when he heard a distant thunderclap. This complicated our morning routine, because Dash won't eat when he is scared. I like Dash to eat his breakfast before I start fixing mine, because as soon as he sees me fixing something, he immediately loses interest in what is in his bowl. I fooled him this morning. I got out a bunch of pots and pans as if I was fixing my own breakfast and then fixed his instead. He eagerly ate his meal, took his morning pills, and then wanted to go on a walk. I ended up eating pretty late this morning, but at least I got Dash walked before it started raining again.

The shower stall still leaks a little, but I think I made a huge improvement. The problem is that if there is any leak whatsoever, my repairs will ultimately fail. Moisture will gradually seep under the ceramic tiles again and cause the silicon caulk to come loose. I don't even care if the repair lasts forever. If the musty smell starts to go away and I don't have to mop up small puddles after I take a shower, I'm happy. When the repair disintegrates, I'll just fix things again.

I've just about resolved all my computer upgrade problems, but I still can't print on DVD's. I don't know why this bothers me so much. I haven't had a need to  make a label for a CD or DVD in almost a year. Nobody even uses DVD's anymore. Losing this capability still frustrates me. I have a printer that lets you print directly on blank discs and I used to use it a lot. Upgrading to Sierra has made this printer obsolete.

I'm helping Janet find a new iPad. It's surprising how hard it is to just go to a store and buy one of these things. Most stores, including the Apple Store, want you to buy online and then they'll ship it directly to you later. Depending on the configuration you choose, delivery can take from three days to over three weeks. It's a shame that stores don't carry much inventory anymore. Shopping was so much easier when you could go to a store and know that they'd have everything you needed right in the store.

I'm pretty confident that I have everything I need at home tomorrow. Dash has plenty of food. There's still a good supply of fresh fruit for my smoothie. There are enough leftovers from tonight's dinner to feed me tomorrow. I'm good. If I get really bored, there's always Netflix.

Elliott is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2471

Apparently, I'm not the only person dealing with frustration. Every call I got today involved some sort of frustration. Information wasn't correct on a website. Paypal deposits weren't being transferred properly. Responsibilities weren't being delegated. None of these problems were caused by me, but I did my best to fix them. In one case I had to get a new set of passwords to access a problematic website. Apparently I had been replaced and I didn't even realize it. The person who replaced me did a sloppy job and now the client wanted me back again. Sure, whatever. I had been completely oblivious to all the drama going on behind my back.

I'm glad I'm nearing the end of my working career. The work world seems so chaotic now. All my clients seem more stressed out than they used to be. Everybody is being squeezed. Customers are demanding more. Employees are becoming less reliable. The pace of change is definitely accelerating.  I haven't been responsible for hiring people for a long time. If I were faced with hiring millennials today, I think I would just throw up my hands in despair.

None of my own frustrations were work related today. Most of them involved my deteriorating roof. It must have rained a lot harder than I though the other day, because there was still a ton of standing water up on the roof. When I pumped the water away and swept the roof dry, I discovered even more damaged areas where the elastomeric coating had peeled away from the roof's surface. There are more than a dozen serious bad spots now. The roofer is ignoring me too. I've called several times and sent multiple e-mail messages, but have yet to get a response. I don't know where this is going. The patches don't seem to be working and the roofer clearly doesn't want to give me an entirely new roof.

Dot still seems tired and sore. She is slowly recovering from her fall last week, but I don't think she's ready for physical therapy yet. It's looks like I'm going to have to cancel our Wednesday appointment. Dot would probably still benefit from acupuncture, but it's difficult to travel with her in the car. Unless she's feeling pretty good, the adverse effects of the car ride negate any benefits she might receive from therapy.

I would like to think that tomorrow will be different than today, but it probably won't. I'll turn on the television in the morning and hear the same news about terrorism and political circuses. I'll fix the same fruit smoothie for breakfast, hoping that the bananas have ripened a bit. Dash will interrupt my breakfast with non-stop barking and Dot will poop when I least expect it. There will probably be websites to update, but none of the changes will be of any consequence. I'll look for something to photograph for tomorrow's blog post. My shoulder will hurt and I'll think about taking a nap, but the day will be over before I get around to it. Then it will be Wednesday.

Rhett is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2467

Dot fell on her morning walk and injured herself. She's limping on one of her front legs again. The only solution is lots of bed rest and maybe canceling her therapy sessions for a while. I think she is just sore, but she did take a nasty tumble. It's really hard to walk Dot when she stumbles so easily, but we do the best we can. It's still important to keep her moving. The last time this happened, she was a lot better 24 hours later. Hopefully, some added rest will help her recuperate again.

We've had trouble with our front loader washer almost from the day we got it, so I was encouraged today to read that a large class action lawsuit against multiple manufacturers of these machines had been settled and owners were going to be compensated for repairs. Whirlpool, Maytag, LG and a number of other popular brands were covered in this settlement. Where was Frigidaire though? Was I going to be compensated too? Nope. Frigidaire and their parent company Electrolux were the only companies still fighting the lawsuit and refusing to settle. The problem with all of these machines is that they they never really dry out after doing a load of wash and eventually mold starts to build up inside the machine. It doesn't take long for the rubber boot that is used to seal the front loading door to turn black. Frigidaire refuses to even acknowledge that there is a problem. I can show them a big problem.

One of my clients is having problems with their website forms again. Problems with forms seems to happen with disturbing regularity. The hosting company changes something on their server and doesn't bother to tell their customers. Sometimes they move the CGI Bin to a different location. Sometimes they stop supporting older forms altogether. I spent a considerable amount of time with tech support this morning trying to determine what was causing the "Internal Server Error" message people were getting when they submitted the forms, but I basically got nowhere. Tech support people don't seem to know as much as they used to. The person I talked to today opened a job ticket on my case and said she was going to escalate my request to a higher level of service. I'll probably have to call four or five more times before the forms are actually fixed.

The roofer still hasn't responded to my request to come out and examine the roof again. I was very polite when I told them about the latest problems, but so far they're ignoring me. This happens sometimes. Do they think I'm just going to go away?  I'll keep calling and sending e-mail until I get results. It's so frustrating when people over promise and under deliver. All I really want is the roof these guys promised in the first place.

I remembered to take the trash out to the curb this evening, but during the short time I was away, Dot pooped on one of the large living room rugs and then stumbled and fell in the poop. In case you haven't noticed, this hasn't been a very good day.

Spot is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2465

Taking care of Dot has given me a new appreciation for the problems that Moms with young children face. You really don't have much time to yourself. Whenever I'm trying to concentrate on a work problem, or relax over breakfast or dinner, one of the dogs seems to need something. Dot is not shy about barking when she wants attention. When she wakes up and starts barking, it often means that she needs me to help her up so she can go outside and pee. I never ignore her. You just don't ignore an incontinent dog. Dash has learned that barking seems to get my attention, so he's started barking whenever he wants something too. Often, Dash doesn't even know what he wants, but he has a very loud bark. Day after day of dealing with this chaos have taken its toll. I may still look normal, but I'm pretty burned out.

In between today's barking episodes I managed to get the damaged areas on the roof marked for the roofers. Doing this was discouraging because I know that when one area is patched, another area somewhere else is going to start delaminating and peeling away. I don't think this roof will ever be repaired properly, because what I really need is a whole new roof.

I picked up the prescription that was on back order yesterday and was pleasantly surprised to discover that the price hadn't gone up. About this time every year, my prescription drug coverage goes into what is commonly called the "doughnut hole" and the price goes way up until the end of the year. Why the government does this is a mystery to me. Why drug prices are so high in the first place is an even bigger mystery.

Dot's vet called to go over her blood test results this afternoon and they were better than I expected. For a very old dog, her lab results were remarkably normal. Her liver and kidneys still function fine. One of her liver enzymes is slightly elevated and her potassium levels are a bit high, but there was nothing to be alarmed about. I bet her potassium levels are a bit high because of the banana she and Dash get when I eat my breakfast. Dot's cholesterol levels are better than mine. On Friday, we go back to the cancer center for some more tests. I still wish that my own doctors were as thorough as Dot and Dash's vets.

I had another vegetarian meal from the vegan take out place for dinner. This meal was kind of a curry dish and it was delicious. When I eat these meals, I don't miss the absence of meat at all. In theory, I could easily become a vegetarian. Everything I've tried has been really good. The only problem is that I don't think I could cook this stuff by myself. The seasonings seem complex and it would be a pain to buy the vegetables and other ingredients in small quantities. I like the idea of a fresh, tasty meal that I can microwave in three minutes. Like everything else I like, this clever idea is way too expensive. Janet likes meat too. That could be a problem.

I got my September invoices in the mail today. That didn't take long. I really need more clients and more jobs. Maybe another writing assignment will come in tomorrow. I'm not going to worry about it. I probably wouldn't have time to write anything anyway since Wednesdays are Dot's physical therapy day. Will Dot poop in the car tomorrow? Will I get any sleep tonight? Life has become pretty basic.

Molly is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2464

A client wanted some advice about where to host his website. He gave me a price for 32 years and asked me if it was a good deal. I've been doing this for a long time, but I'd never heard of anyone wanting to renew a hosting agreement for 32 years at a time. I did the math and converted the price to a more normal 3 or 5 year contract. OK. The price was in the ball park. Later in the day the client said he'd made a typo and the price was actually just for 3 years. Oops. That changes everything. The price suddenly seemed insanely high. You've got to watch those typos.

This error on the client's part must have been an omen, because my own day was filled with a host of little errors and few of them worked out in my favor. After cleaning a poop soiled rug that took an inordinately long time to dry, I put it down on the floor again and within five minutes Dot pooped on the same rug all over again.

I went up on the roof to mark the bad spots for the roofers and discovered a lot of brand new areas where the elastometric coating was peeling away. The roof had deteriorated further over the weekend. Some of the new damage was on patches that had been applied less than a month ago. This is not good. I really need an entirely new roof, but it is going to be very difficult to convince the roofer that the roof is fundamentally defective.

I finally got around to opening the package of printer ink I'd ordered recently and discovered that the company had sent me the wrong ink. Now, instead of just installing the cartridges in the printer, I will need to return the ink and have my supplier reship the correct cartridges. The supplier apologized and said they ship me replacement cartridges today, but this was one more instance where something that should have been easy turned into something difficult.

When I went to the pharmacy to pick up a prescription, one of my refills was on back order, so I'll need to go back again tomorrow. This wasn't a big deal, but it made me tired. I don't like taking these pills in the first place. Somebody ought to make the whole process easier. It seems like I'm always asking doctors to renew prescriptions or returning to the pharmacy to pick up something that the automatic refill process said was ready. I just need to resign myself to the fact that nothing is going to work flawlessly ever again. The world is broken.

Dash woke me up coughing last night and Janet and I were both worried that he had kennel cough. Dot is so fragile now that the last thing we need is for her to get sick. I made a mental not to call the vet, but this morning everything seemed fine. Dash hasn't coughed all day. I don't know what was going on last night, but my theory is that he ate a frog when he went out to pee last night. Our yard has been full of frogs and toads lately and the dogs are very curious about them.

I have a lot of little chores on my to-do list for tomorrow. I hope at least a few of them go smoothly.

Marcie 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