Day 4429

We got off to a slow start today. Dawn froze on her morning walk and refused to move. This hasn't happened in ages. It's been so long since Dawn froze on a walk that we thought this behavior was ancient history. Usually Dawn will start following Janet if she starts walking away, but not today. We tried everything we could think of to get her interested in walking but all she wanted to do was go back to the house. Later in the afternoon we tried the same walk all over again and had no problems whatsoever. Go figure. 

When Dawn first began to freeze in place we didn't know whether she was having a small seizure or was just being extremely stubborn. We still don't know. She's always fine as soon as we return home. At least we were close to the house this time. Once on a walk I had to leave Janet with Dawn and walk over a mile home to get the car so we could retrieve Dawn and get her back to the house again. We've asked several vets what this all means but it seems like a mystery to them too.

I did even less today than I did yesterday. I paid some bills and made an appointment to get a haircut. Other than my perpetual long walk, that was about it. I got a letter from NASA this morning asking me to fill out a survey so they could assess my needs at the Artemis 1 launch before they made a final credentialing decision. I don't know if this means I'm about to get a press pass or not. The letter did say that completing the survey did not guarantee getting credentialed. I'll just have to wait and see. It does appear that NASA is expecting a lot of people for this historic launch. My best hope for getting accepted is if Covid fades away before the launch takes place. I never had a problem getting a press pass before all the Covid restrictions began.

I wish I hadn't gotten apprehensive about going up on the roof. I know there's still water up there and it doesn't evaporate very fast in the winter. It's discouraging to see brown stains begin to reappear on the living roof ceiling. I worked really hard to get rid of those stains less than a month ago. The roof does better if I go up and remove all the standing water right after a big rain, but I think my recent apprehension is warranted. My sense of balance just isn't as good as it used to be. Bad feet and a weak knee don't help either.

At least I can still walk. I had another 20,000 step day and I wasn't really trying. I wish I could find a source for the Hoka hiking boots. I know if I just go ahead and buy another pair of Hoka running shoes like I've got now, the boots will suddenly reappear and be available everywhere. These shoes really do help my feet but they don't last very long. High end running shoes never last very long. I'm used to keeping a pair of leather boots for decades. I've had boots that I've resoled five or six times. You can't do that with flimsy running shoes. You are real lucky if they last a year.

I added Jo Jo to the rescue website today and marked several dogs as adopted. This is the only website I work on anymore. There used to be dozens of websites that I actively maintained and website maintenance kept me busy every single day. The days of old fashioned static sites are over and my programming skills are deteriorating. I had a good run while it lasted though. It's weird to see a profession slipping away. I'll be able to keep writing forever, but I just don't have the desire to keep up with all the changes in website design. Today's dynamic sites are much more complicated than they used to be. Actually, everything in life seems more complicated than it used to be.

Tomorrow I get a haircut and Dawn gets her annual exam at the vet on Thursday. I'm trying to stick with doing one thing a day. It keeps life simpler.

Taylor is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3557

Every once in a while I go to a restaurant that I thought was terrible just to see if it got any better. Today I went to a place that I remembered as being dirty with rude waiters. The place was very clean and everyone was extremely friendly. I ordered the one thing on the menu that I used to like and it was terrible. What was going on here? Did this place get bought by someone else? It was all very disorienting.

It rained a lot last night, but the rain didn't cool things down. It was still hot and muggy. I knew I would need to go up on the roof and clear the standing water away, but I decided to get my morning walk out of the way first. By the time I returned, I was too tired to go up on the roof and took a nap instead. I kept trying to postpone this task by taking some mail to the post office and updating my phone to IOS 13. Eventually, I turned on both pumps and water came gushing out of the attached hoses. Damn. There was a lot of water up there. I had to deal with it.

I hate going up on the roof these days. It seems like I've been clearing away water forever. Every time it rains, the damaged areas get a little worse. There really isn't a good solution. Since the house is old and has settled, there would still be standing water even with a new roof. To reengineer the roof so it still looked the same but had just enough of a pitch to reliably drain water away is ridiculously expensive. I guess I'll just keep patching things. I'll probably have to go buy a five gallon can of the silicon coating material myself since the roofer still hasn't brought me the coating he promised. Residential roofers don't know how to do a flat roof and commercial roofers aren't interested in doing small jobs like this. They'd rather do a shopping center instead. It's all very tiring. I've gotten bids on a new roof, but nothing seems realistic. This is why I hate rain. If it would just quit raining, I wouldn't have a problem.

Every time I update my phone I get all these messages asking if various apps can connect to Bluetooth or operate in the background. My instinct is always to say no to everything and then the apps quit working. I think I've got everything I use working again, but I keep wishing that people would quit constantly updating everything. I was happy with the way my computer and phone worked five years ago. I really don't care about Dark Mode or a host of new Emojis. As long as I can check the weather and take pictures on my walks, I'm good.

With my five mile walk, a trip to the post office and grocery store, and a lot of manual labor on the roof, I got in quite a few steps today. It will be interesting to see what my regular doctor thinks when I go in for my annual physical soon. I feel healthier than I did last year. I also feel older. Maybe I'm just treading water. Janet and I both think it's important to keep moving. It's amazing how sedentary some people our age have become. It would be nice if I actually liked exercising like Janet does, but I can't complain. Staying active keeps me from wondering about my purpose in life. You don't need a purpose when you are walking. You just walk.

The backyard security light stayed on twice as long as it usually does last night. It was a lot cooler yesterday. Maybe the problem with the photoelectric sensor is temperature related. Maybe the rain washed away some of the spider webs. Who knows. If we still had dogs, I would have replaced this light by now. Some things just don't seem to matter as much anymore.

Rosie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3273

I sent out a few SOS messages about the roof this morning, but didn't receive much of a response. Eventually, the roofer did send me a short message saying that I was still on their list, but that they were way behind schedule. This wasn't very encouraging. I did some research on products that I could use to make emergency repairs and discovered that most of them weren't compatible with the elastomer coating. I'm not sure how much good a patch would do anyway, since water has already gotten under the coating. Some of the commonly available wet patch materials are not meant to be applied in cold weather anyway.

I renewed one of my domains that was going to expire at the end of the week. I don't use this domain, but it was easier to just renew it for another year than to make a decision about dropping it. Maybe I'll use the domain next year. Jeez. Who am I kidding. I'm never going to use this domain.

Pretty soon I'll need to make a similar decision about whether to renew my subscriptions for Pro Tools and Avid Media Composer. I don't use these products either, but it's nice having them around. At some point I need to start being realistic. It's very doubtful that I'm going to be asked to do any complicated video editing again. I'm retired. I don't need business software anymore.

Dash was not very steady on his feet today. He stumbled and fell several times and I had difficulty getting him upright again. He struggles whenever I try to lift him up which makes the whole process more difficult. I try to tell him that we need to work as a team, but he's not getting the picture. I wish Dash knew his limitations and would be more careful. That's not his style. He keeps trying to do all the things he used to do, but he's not very successful anymore.

I'm running out of time to buy Christmas gifts. Pretty soon I'm going to have to check the more expensive shipping option on Amazon. What did I do before Amazon? I can't imagine shopping at a mall anymore. Just finding a parking place at this time of year is a nightmare.

I still haven't called the dentist about getting a new retainer made. Teeth grow slowly don't they? I wonder how long I can postpone this chore. I might have to call my doctor and ask him to refer me for endoscopy. Is this more important than a retainer? My heartburn problems seem to be getting worse. I wonder if my recurring reflux problems are caused by the food I'm eating, or stress? My diet hasn't really changed, but my stress levels have. Dash's deteriorating health and the crumbling house are hard to ignore.

At least the weather is nice. I've got a little time before there is any rain on the horizon. I may drive over to a professional roofing supply company in a neighboring town tomorrow and see if they have some sort of miracle repair product I can use. I may need it. The real miracle would be if the roofers actually appeared on my doorstep before the next rain.

Princess is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day