Day 3398

Dash had a lot more friends than I realized. I was overwhelmed as condolences poured in from around the world yesterday. Thanks to all of you for sharing our story for all these years and finding a place in your heart for a very special dog. Newcomers to the blog may not realize that I've been writing about dogs for a very long time. Years ago I used to be a contributing editor for a strange little magazine called The Dalmatian Quarterly. This was back in the day when people still read things printed on paper and odd publications like this could survive and thrive. The Dalmatian Quarterly is long gone, but my interest in dogs continued. I included a few dog stories in a book I wrote called The Road to Nowhere. People liked these stories, so I wrote a book about our first Dalmatian called Wag. After Spot passed away, I wrote another book about our next Dalmatian called Petey's Place. By the time Dot and Dash became part of our lives, I had discovered blogging and the rest is history.

It's still hard to get used to a world without dogs. When I came home from the gym this afternoon, I immediately went to the bedroom to check on Dash. Checking on Dash has become such an integral part of my life in recent years that it took a second or two to realize he wasn't there. His support system was definitely still in place. There were throw rugs to help him walk in every room. Puppy training pads were everywhere because you never knew when Dash would need to poop. All my pants and most of my jackets still have poop bags in the pockets. There were lots of kiddie gates to create safe spaces for Dash when I had to be away. There were an enormous amount of dog blankets and at least three dog beds in different parts of the house. You can't have too many dog blankets.

It's going to take a long time to make the house presentable again. I took the rugs back to the storage warehouse this afternoon. We may need them again someday. It's a lot more likely that another old Dalmatian will need them first. Friends gave us rugs when Dot's legs began to fail and we'll probably give these rugs to someone else. The gates will get used again too. Gates can be helpful with older dogs, but they are absolutely essential with puppies.

Eventually, all the blankets will be washed and put away. There will be one blanket that goes with Dash as he takes his final trip with us in the car a few days from now. We always wrap our dogs in their favorite blanket and drive them to be cremated ourselves. We make a paw print in clay, clip a tiny amount of fur to keep, and then gently carry our friend to the crematory. I will place Dash in the oven myself. Not everyone does it this way, but it just seems right. If you start your journey together, you should end your journey together. I will need to makes the arrangements tomorrow morning. We will go to the same place where we took Dot. They were extremely kind to us.

It was weird to experience uninterrupted sleep again. I didn't wake up once last night. I didn't even get up to go to the bathroom. It's been a long time since that happened. When I woke up around 6:30 AM I felt rested. There was no point in getting up early though. The only reason I ever got up early was to walk Dash before it became too hot. I guess I'm going to need to continue walking in the park to take pictures for the blog. I still need a new picture every day. It's going to seem strange walking without a dog though. It feels like I've been walking dogs forever.

Thanks again for thinking about us yesterday. It means a lot.

Flash is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3200

I got a text message this morning saying "Busy now. Please text me." I was immediately suspicious, since nobody sends me texts like this. I think Apple has patched the IOS, but I knew it was possible at one time or another for hackers to install malicious malware on your phone if you replied to the wrong text. I looked up the number in my contact list and since it didn't correspond to any known contact, I immediately blocked the sender and deleted the message. I shouldn't have to do this. Most of my land line calls are from spammers and telemarketers. I used to think my cell phone was safe, but increasingly mobile phones have become targets too.

I never though the world would get to a point where I was reluctant to pick up my phone or answer the front door. That's were we are, unfortunately. You have to be suspicious of everyone. I would even be reluctant to open my door to someone in uniform. There are too many documented cases of people buying a police or fireman's uniform at a uniform store and then staging a home invasion if you open the door. I would never even think of picking up a hitchhiker even though I used to hitchhike myself in college.

Even though I don't trust much these days, I thought there'd be a good chance that I'd get a decent breakfast if I went back to the hotel and ordered the same thing I had last week. I don't know how many weeks I can continue these unadventurous outings, but as I've told you many times before, I like consistency.

I like French Toast, but I definitely don't like dealing with family problems. I'm not close to my family. I go to great lengths to avoid most of them, but occasionally our paths still cross. It always seems to blow up in my face. I made a small effort to resolve a few things today, but it won't amount to much. I think I'd be better off thinking I was raised by wolves.

I had to go to the storage warehouse and bring home some more rugs for Dash. The bricks have become too slippery for him. Dash is so shaky on his feet that you could knock him over with a feather these days. Hopefully, the additional rugs will help him maintain his footing. There are still more rugs in the warehouse, but I hesitate to bring them all home yet. Dash is far worse about pooping in the house than Dot was. Pooping on the bricks is bad enough, but it is going to be a real mess when he starts pooping on rugs.

I'm dozing off at the computer again. I guess it's time to get ready for bed. I hope I get more sleep than I did last night. Dash got me up again at 3 AM. By the time I cleaned up all the poop, I was wide awake and couldn't get back to sleep. Hate when that happens.

Spanky is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3118

Often when I'm at the gym, I'm reminded of Andy Warhol's desire to be a machine. I feel like a machine sometime. So many aspects of my life are repetitive in nature. It's not just my time on the treadmill that is entirely predictable. Almost everything is entirely predictable. It wasn't always this way, but increasingly I find familiarity comforting. I like knowing what is going to happen before it happens. The good thing about this kind of life is that you really start to notice little things. If there is any change at all in Dash's behavior, I'm instantly aware of it. I can tell if this week's peaches and strawberries are different than last week's, and can feel if the temperature in the house is one degree warmer than is was yesterday.

The bad thing about predictability is that anything new seems ominous. I will stare at a menu forever before ordering something new for breakfast. I almost never take a new route to a destination. Forget about new friends. If I haven't known you for thirty years, I probably never will. I think about these things while I'm on the treadmill. Exercise is so predictable. That's the one thing I like about going to the gym. I can tell you what my heart rate is going to be at any given time and can predict within ten seconds how long it takes to walk a mile. I still don't know how long it will take to shoot ten free throws on the basketball court, but I'm working on it.

Maybe weather forecasts are frustrating to me because they aren't predictable at all. Yesterday, I thought it was going to rain all next week. Today the forecast has changed. I think it is only supposed to rain on Tuesday. I wish I really knew for certain when we were going to have seven days of clear, dry weather, so I could insist that the roofers come out and finish their repairs. The roofers know that the weather is their friend. The threat of rain is always a good excuse to postpone things.

It's amazing that they are actually getting those boys trapped in that cave in Thailand out alive. The threat of rain is really serious there. I can think of few things worse than being trapped in a flooded cave. Why do people even go in caves? My Dad was a zoologist who studied bats and he would take me in caves occasionally. Caves are wet and claustrophobic. I was always worried that a rock was going to fall and trap us inside. I frequently have dreams that involve being lost. When I was a child, I was usually crawling endlessly through a cave in these dreams. Now, I seem to be lost in a huge hotel. I guess that's progress. Hopefully, all the Thai boys will be extricated safely. I bet it will be a long time before any of them go inside a cave again.

Our house is becoming filled with cheap throw rugs again. Dash's rear legs keep getting weaker and I keep having to bring additional rugs home from the storage warehouse to keep him from slipping. The kitchen and dining areas are filled with rugs now, so Dash won't fall while he is eating. There are carpets in the bedrooms, so he is OK there. I hope we can keep the area where he typically poops on the floor free of rugs for as long as we can. It's a lot easier to clean up poop when it lands on the bricks.

I wish I could predict what was going to happen next with Dash. This is the one area of my life where I've got to stay flexible. He's getting old and frail, but so far, we've been able to adjust so that his life remains enjoyable. All that being said, I hope he lets me get some sleep tonight. I'm getting older too.

Trevor is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2887

I'm afraid I'm going to have to retrieve Dot's rugs from the storage room soon. Dash is starting to slip and slide on the bricks. If he would slow down and start acting like the mature dog he is, I'm sure he could navigate the bricks for another couple of years. That's not Dash though. He still likes to counter surf. He'll still race to the kitchen when he hears food being prepared. Since he already has a partially torn cruciate ligament, I'm afraid he's going to ruin his knee joint every time he slips. I've thought about just leaving his rubber boots on all the time, but there's a downside to that as well. I just wish Dash would realize he's getting older and start taking care of himself a little better.

I'm trying to take care of myself better. That's why I switched doctors and continue going to the gym every Sunday. It's no fun growing old, but what are the alternatives? While I was driving to the gym today I listened to a TED talk about recent advances in gene editing. Precise gene editing could bring back the Wooly Mammoth from extinction, eliminate mosquitos in malaria prone areas, and allow parent to choose the hair color, intelligence, and resistance to disease of their babies. What could possibly go wrong? This all sounds like science fiction, but apparently scientists around the world are already using something called CRISPR-Cas9 technology to modify plants and animals at the DNA level. There's a lot of debate about the ethics of messing around with human DNA, but I'm sure there was debate about the ethics of atom bombs before we exploded the first one too. Humans tend to use the things they invent. We just can't resist.

Maybe in the future, people like me won't have to worry about diabetes and arthritic joints. We'll use gene editing to create a race of disease free, almost super human people. Of course, there's an even greater chance that we'll inadvertently create thousands of 100 foot long fire breathing dragons who will eat us while we sleep.

I had a good workout today, but that apparently wasn't enough. Against my better judgement, I actually moved the furniture while I vacuumed this afternoon. I don't do this very often because it is too depressing. It's unbelievable how much dust can accumulate under a chair that hasn't been moved for a year. We also took the heavy comforter off the bed and took it to a laundromat for cleaning. If you let your dog sleep on the bed with you, you quickly realize that white isn't the best color for a bed spread. I liked out old brown comforter better. It might not have been the prettiest thing in the world, but it hid all the damage the dogs caused admirably.

I didn't do my homework on Wordpress this weekend. Oh, well. There's still time. It's hard to get excited about Wordpress. I guess it's convenient if you like to work in teams, but it doesn't do much for me. I can think of so many more elegant ways to design a website. When you're used to sitting down and writing your own code, it just seems cumbersome to use someone else's template.

I see my neighbors beginning to pile up bags of leaves, old kitchen chairs, and discarded children's toys on the curb. This much mean it's time for bulky trash pickup again. I'll need to look tomorrow and see if there's anything I need to throw away. I'm supposed to receive a package next week. I think the package is lost since no tracking number was provided by the shipper. The shipper says everything is fine. We'll see who's right by the end of the week. We're going out to eat for Thanksgiving again this year. This should be a relaxing occasion, so I'm going to try my best not to worry about Dash. There's no need to worry. He's just going to be sleeping on the bed like he always does in the afternoon. I wish I wasn't always waiting for the other shoe to drop.

Jasper is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2719

I stayed busy today. There were several more trips to the storage warehouse. I don't know why I saved all the rugs, but they will be useful to someone. Janet packed up a box of stuff to donate to a local rescue group. Dot's wheelchair joined another wheelchair that was custom made for Spot. Unfortunately Spot's chair was not adjustable so it probably will never fit another dog. We've tried to let friends use it, but the fit has to be exact or these things just don't work. Dash will inherit Dot's adjustable chair at some point. I'm in no hurry to bring it home again. We hope that Dash remains healthy for a long time.

Yesterday, I discovered that we've got a large rat living in our atrium. The rat startled me and almost jumped into the house when I opened the sliding glass door. This is the first rat I've seen around the house in a long time. We used to have a huge rat problem until our neighbors got several large outdoor cats. These cats, along with the existing feral cats in the neighborhood, did a good job of controlling the rats. Unfortunately, coyotes started eating the cats and the rats eventually returned. This isn't a good place to be an outdoor cat. The rabbits haven't fared so well either.

I hate to use poison to kill the rats, so I've always trapped them with a Havahart trap. Yesterday, I baited one of these traps with cheese and set it in the atrium. This morning, the cheese was gone, but the trap was still open. I was either dealing with a very smart rat, or my old trap had gotten rusty. I know these traps work, so I went to the hardware store on the way home from the storage warehouse and bought another one. This new trap worked like gangbusters. I baited it with cheese again and an hour later a large black rat was sitting inside. I usually take these rats down to the park and turn them loose, but this one will have to sit in the cage overnight. It's dark already and it's raining outside. Oh, well. The rat has plenty of cheese to eat.

After I finished my chores this afternoon, I went to the gym. I need to start going several times a week. I haven't been working out regularly since Dot started requiring additional attention and it shows. I did my usual routine today and I was exhausted. Getting in shape shouldn't be this hard. Cleaning the house shouldn't be this hard either, but what are you going to do. I don't burn calories sleeping and the house doesn't clean itself.

Janet bought a pressure washer recently to clean away all the spider webs on the porch. I sure wish things like came assembled and ready to use. When I tried to put the pressure washer together this afternoon, I could have sworn it was made by Ikea. Simple instructions like "press with your thumb until you hear a click" just didn't work. I wasn't going to press too hard, because there is nothing worse than getting your thumb out of joint. After failing to install the wheels using a hammer and a crescent wrench, I finally discovered that the tool I use to open the water meter in the front yard worked perfectly. The pressure washer is now ready to go. Spiders beware.

After taking all the rugs to the storage warehouse, I went back and brought one of them back home again. Dash liked to sit on one of these rugs in the kitchen while we ate dinner and he seemed irritated when it wasn't there today. When a Dalmatian gets irritated, they start barking, so I went and got the rug. I hope he didn't become too attached to the other things I put away. It had to be done. Our house was a mess.

It's weird not having a time limit when I leave the house. For over a year, I've been very careful to never leave the house for any length of time when Janet wasn't there. I learned quickly that it didn't take long for Dot to get in trouble. Dash is fine on his own, but I still think he's lonely.

Daisy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2718

Today almost seemed normal. In addition to my usual Saturday chores, I returned to Euless to pick up Dot's ashes. Since I don't typically drive much further than the post office anymore, these two back-to-back trips to the crematorium have reintroduced me to a city that has totally changed. There are parts of town that I don't even recognize anymore. I think I liked the city I moved to in the mid 1970's better than the sprawling metropolis I see now.

With Dot safely back on the coffee table with Spot, Petey, Greta, and Mindy, I began the daunting task of transforming a dog hospice back into the home I remembered two or three years ago. Over a dozen large rugs were cleaned and placed in the car for a trip to the storage warehouse. I disassembled the six sided x-pen that has dominated the living room for the past two years. I must have lost a critical part, because I couldn't figure out how to fold the thing up the way it originally arrived in the box. It doesn't really matter because the box disappeared a long time ago. At least I was able to fold the pen enough so that it would fit in the car. I never realized how heavy these rugs are. I'm pretty sure that I put over 100 pounds of rugs in the car.

I hope that Dash stays healthy for a long time because I don't look forward to bringing these bulky rugs back home again. I'm not going to throw them away though. Dash is twelve. In a few years. he will probably need some help to keep from slipping on the brick floors.

The house looks different now. It seems bigger. I can't say that I'm going to miss all the clutter, but the rugs and dog paraphernalia did make the house feel cozy. There is still a lot of cleaning that needs to be done, but at least I've got things started. I have a feeling that we've going to need new carpet, but I'll worry about that later. It seems weird not to administer pills every eight hours or continually mop pee off the floor. There are so many odd little things that became part of my daily routine. I'm going to have to relearn how to live a normal life.

Dash seems a bit lonely to me. Truthfully, he's probably completely normal and I'm the one who's lonely. I'm going to miss Dot for a long time. I believe that it's important not to wallow in sorrow or be consumed by grief. I need to stay busy and I will. There are certainly a lot of things that I've overlooked for the past three years.

Janet and I are both dealing with health issues but are determined to resolve them. Maybe we will travel more when everything settles down. Janet would like to foster rescue dogs occasionally. Maybe we'll start taking Dash back to training class. I'll have to ask Dash though. I'm not sure he ever liked training class. Truthfully, I have no idea what we'll be doing this time next year. I do know that we've got a few good years left and it's important not to waste them. I hope you'll keep reading because this story isn't over yet.

Freckles 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 1904

It was an unrelenting grey day. At times the rain pounded down on the roof. At other times there was just a light drizzle. We didn't get the predicted thunderstorms, but it certainly was a rainy day. I'm supposed to take Dot out four times a day using the harness for some light physical therapy. The goal is to keep Dot's legs moving to slow down muscle atrophy. Since the weather was so nasty, I walked her up and down the hall instead. To keep her moving, I'd keeping a couple of small dog treats in my pocket and throw them down the hallway when she became bored with our exercises. This reminded me of a time long ago when I used a fishing pole with a dog treat attached to the line to keep another old and lame Dalmatian motivated. When you're standing behind the dog, holding up their rear legs with a harness, it can be challenging to get them to move forward at times. Food often works when nothing else will. When a Dalmatian loses interest in food, that's when you've really got to worry.

The house looks like a designer's nightmare now. We've got an assortment of carpet runners, small rugs, and rubber mats connecting all the rooms to provide a non-slip surface for Dot to walk on. She still requires assistance to walk, but it helps if her rear legs aren't sliding all over the place on the slippery bricks. There is also a dog crate in the bedroom now, where Dot sleeps. I didn't initially think we could get Dot to use the crate, but once again we lured her inside using a dog treat. Having a large crate with two doors made it much easier to get her situated for the night. Once inside, Dot actually liked the soft dog bed we bought and slept soundly for the rest of the night. I didn't sleep so soundly, because I'm used to hearing her breathing next to me, but I'll get used to this. When Dot adjusts to being crated, she'll be much safer when we have to leave the house.

Work was slow today, but as always there were things to do. I got my own insurance company involved in an attempt to unravel the confusion surrounding the accident claim with the rental car company. As a result, I had to send a new batch of documents to a new batch of people. It took a while, but hopefully this will allow me to put this entire mess behind me. I don't care whether it's health insurance, business insurance, car insurance, or homeowners insurance, it's never pleasant dealing with insurance problems.

Dash seems to have overcome some of his fear of rain. Out of necessity, we've been walking in the rain for several days now and he's been acting like everything is completely normal. We get wet, but it's no big deal. Maybe Dash has got cabin fever too. When you're confined to the house for too long, even a walk in the rain can be a treat.

I'm trying to think ahead and take care of a lot of out-of-the-house errands before Janet returns to work. I've already picked up several things I know I'll need soon and I've scheduled a haircut for later in the week. Luckily, Dot has not become incontinent like she did after her last surgery. That will make life a little easier in the days ahead. If I have to crate Dot when it is necessary for me to leave the house, I definitely don't want her to be forced to sit in wet bedding. As her pain meds gradually decrease, I want to make sure she's not in pain either. Dot seems comfortable now. I'm pretty comfortable too, because she's always right beside me. This Spring will be a learning experience for both of us as we develop a rehabilitation routine and slowly inch our way back to normal.

Maggie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 891

Yay! I think I sold a house today. I've signed so many documents this week that it's hard to believe the whole process has come to a conclusion. My real estate agent says that the amended contract I signed this afternoon was the final document though, and that the buyers have definitely committed to purchase the house. Hopefully, it will be smooth sailing from now till the closing in early June.

I don't know how real estate agents keep their sanity. The buyers, sellers, lenders, appraisers, and inspectors all have their own agenda and their own questions. "We know the air conditioner is on the roof" someone said to me today, "but where is the furnace?" "It's a heat pump." I said. "Everything is combined in one package." An hour later I got the same question. "Where is the furnace?"  They obviously didn't know what a heat pump was.

If the rent house sells as expected, it will be a major step toward my long term goal of simplification. Since I am a Gemini, I used to think I needed two of everything. I'll readily admit now that I took this principal to extremes. There had to be two cars, two guitars, two computers, and of course two houses. Sometimes things got totally out of control. Somehow my two watches turned into two hundred. There were other excesses as well. I'm trying to set things right though, and having just one house again has got to be looked at as progress.

You know that famous phrase from the Book of Common Prayer; "Earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust." I got a dramatic demonstration of what the phrase means today. Years ago, I received some sort of square Peruvian rug as a Christmas present from relatives. I didn't have anywhere to put the rug at the time, so I folded it up and placed it on a shelf in the bedroom closet. Over the years, I forgot I ever had the thing. I forgot until today, that is. When I was packing up more stuff to move over to the new storage warehouse, I saw the rug, high up on a shelf. "This is good storeroom material," I thought. I picked up the rug and it literally disintegrated into dust in my hands. There was nothing left! I don't know what the rug was made of, but I don't think moths got at it or anything. There were no signs of insect damage. The material had just turned to dust.

Janet will throw something away if she hasn't used it for several years. I will hang on to something forever, just in case I might have a use for it sometime in the future. I think Janet has the right idea. It's all going to turn to dust anyway.

Ziggy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day