Day 4974

I can cross one more thing off my to-do list. I got the car safety inspected today and picked up my new window sticker. It doesn't seem like a year since I've done this, but time goes by quickly now. Safety inspections are much faster than they used to be. Probably the process is smoother now because I take my car to a little neighborhood garage instead of going to the Land Rover dealer. It used to take forever to get the car inspected at the dealership.

Each day seems a little hotter than the previous day. We take our sunrise walk earlier now, but it doesn't help much. The temperature never really cools down anymore. At least there's a breeze on these early morning walks. Even the breeze disappears later in the day. Dawn still enjoys these early morning walks. I do too. Pre dawn is about the only time when it feels comfortable outdoors anymore.

It's back to shredded wheat and fruit for breakfast again. There's a new restaurant in the neighborhood that I'm vaguely curious about, but I'm just not very hungry anymore. I think my restaurant breakfast days are over. It doesn't matter. I like my boring meals. A bowl of mini-shredded wheat with strawberries is pretty good. I always use half and half instead of regular milk and have a glass of fresh squeezed orange juice and a cup of coffee. How did I drink those huge breakfast smoothies for so many years? Things change, I guess. What I eat for breakfast has changed radically over the years. It will probably change again one of these days.

I didn't want to go to the gym too early so I did a load of laundry after breakfast to kill time. I ended up being early anyway because getting my safety inspection didn't take nearly as long as I thought it would. I've decided that I like going to they gym during the lunch hour because there are fewer people on the floor and I can almost always find a place in the parking garage. The car is much cooler on the way home when it's been inside the garage. 

I still complete the same unambitious routine every day. I try to walk three miles on the indoor track in under an hour. Yes, I know this is pretty slow. I then try to complete ten free throws on the basketball court in less than ten minutes. I still miss a lot more shots than I complete, but I'm getting better. I've added a few upper body exercise to improve my arm strength, but I really ought to do more. I usually leave the gym when I'm bored instead of when I'm tired.

Janet cleans the house on Monday afternoons, so I vacuumed the carpets so I wouldn't feel guilty just lying around while she was working. The house never stays clean long when you've got dogs. Dalmatians shed a lot and there's always dog hair everywhere. My standards are a lot lower than they should be. It seems like I was a lot neater when I was right out of architecture school. These days it's hard to care. Janet doesn't even like to come in the office because it is much messier than the rest of the house.

I'll put the new inspection sticker on my windshield tomorrow morning. I'll think about fixing the cracks in the living room ceiling, but I probably won't do anything. I've been staring at the mess for months now. I'm not even sure I can do these repairs myself, but I need to try. If I hire a tape and bed guy to do the job it will be a huge production and there will be dust everywhere. 

We'll still be under a heat advisory tomorrow. There's lots of rain in the Northeast but it's bone dry here. I wonder how long this can continue? We're setting records for triple digit temperatures now. This too will pass I guess. I just hope our air conditioner keeps working.

Lou is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4973

No surprises today. Since it was the weekend, we got up later than usual and then took Dawn on her morning walk. The heat has really reduced the number of people in the park. It's pretty empty even early in the mornings now. There aren't as many joggers and cyclists, but people are still walking their dogs.

After another big breakfast I checked my messages and went mall walking. The mall was having their annual auto show this week and the concourse was filled with new cars. Oddly there were almost no domestic cars on display. Other than an occasional Cadillac, all the cars were imports. I like cars so I had to look in the windows as I walked by. It didn't take long to notice that almost nobody uses in-dash GPS displays anymore. It seems like everyone just bolts an iPad to the dash. To my eye, this doesn't look very good, but what do I know. The car companies have probably done a lot of research and discovered that customers actually like having an iPad bolted to their dash.

The mall is constantly changing. The new two-story Nike store was finally open and the Longchamp store that sells expensive purses closed. Most of the stores had new window displays as well. I don't know why all this interest me, but it beats listening to people tell their physical therapists about their ailments while I'm walking around the indoor track at the gym. The mall was noticeably warmer today. I guess air conditioning units everywhere are struggling to keep ahead of this heat.

When I returned from the mall, Dawn was ready to go on her Sunday outing. She definitely remembers when it's time to do something for her. It was too hot for much of a walk, but we let her outside at the Sunday park so she could pee and then took her for ice cream. We never know whether we are going to get small cones or large ones. It seems to vary a lot depending on who's serving. It's too bad that the cones aren't as large as the picture on their logo, but they are still tasty. Dawn loves ice cream. I think she would be real disappointed if we ever dropped this ritual from our Sunday schedule.

There still isn't much that interests me this summer. I have a bad case of been there, done that. I don't even feel like going back to the observatory this year. In pervious years I would have been eager to spend some quality time out in West Texas. I'm still interested in space but it's way to expensive to hop on a plane every time there's a launch in Florida. I guess that leaves naps. I'm always up for an afternoon nap.

It's time to get my car safety inspected again. Maybe I'll do this tomorrow on my way to the gym, although I'll probably forget. One by one, all these chores eventually get taken care of. All I've really got on my calendar now are upcoming doctor's appointments. I hope I get selected to go to the OSIRIS-REx event at Johnson Space Center. It will give me something to do this Fall.

Margo is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4606

I always try to do at least one thing every day. Today I got my car safety inspected. I used to do this at the dealership, but they always used the opportunity to find other things to charge me for. Now I take the car to a litle neighborhood garage. They are so fast that sometimes I think they aren't doing anything at all. It works for me though. As long as I have the paperwork, I'm good for another year. 

Safety inspection is always a two step process. You get the car checked at one place and then go to another place to get the sticker to put on your windshield. I used to have to go downtown to the courthouse to get this sticker but now you can pick it up at just about any grocery store. At any rate, the car passed inspection and I can cross one more thing off my to-do list.

There was a nice breeze on our sunrise walk this morning, but you could tell it was still going to be another hot day. The park is pretty busy on these early walks. People have discovered that this is the only way to beat the heat. I think 7 AM is the coolest time during the day and 7 PM is the hottest.

After breakfast I went to the gym again. It turned out to be convenient to take care of the safety inspection while I was on my way. My trip to the gym is as methodical as any other part of my day. I always do the same things. I'm more consistent on the basketball court now and I've picked up the pace on the indoor track a bit. I'm definitely not setting the place on fire though. There are lots of people on the floor who are in better shape than me. I've noticed that all the televisions at the gym are turned to either a cooking channel, a home improvement channel, or a sports channel. No news here. It's probably for the best. Listening to the news would probably upset anyone's exercise routine.

I still haven't heard anything more about the Artemis-1 launch. I wish I'd receive a definite schedule soon. With so many people converging on Titusville there is going to be a point where it is impossible to change airline reservations or extend my stay. I'm already hearing rumbles in the space community that it's almost impossible to find a hotel room. Even campgrounds have filled up. At least I have a plan, although it might be hard to change it at this point. I hope the trip goes smoothly, but I'm starting to get a little nervous.

I paid a few bills this afternoon, but that was about it. Keeping the yard looking green seems hopeless now. I still water things that look dry but it doesn't seem to do any good. The heat and drought have won this battle. This week's trash has been taken to the curb and I'm ready for another day more or less like today. Somehow I don't think I'm ever going to resume my restaurant breakfasts on Fridays. Why did I do this for so many years? A lot of things I used to do seem strange now.

Pebbles is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4258

Dawn didn't want to walk this morning. She still seems uncomfortable after the bladder stone removal procedure. The vet said this was normal, but I hate to see her this way. She's always waiting for the other shoe to drop anyway. We got her some Rimadyl for pain and that seemed to help. We would never use Rimadyl on a long-term basis, but it is effective for short-term pain management. Dawn will only need to take the pills for a few days.

I stopped at a little Mexican garage on my way to the gym this morning and got my safety inspection done. They were so quick that I wasn't sure that they did anything at all. I got the paperwork I needed to get my window sticker though. The little garage was a pleasant surprise. It takes forever to get the simplest thing done at the Land Rover dealer and it's always so expensive. My car is getting older. Maybe it's time to abandon the dealership.

It works out well to go to the gym before I do my grocery shopping on Saturday morning. I wonder when they are going to get their machines fixed. They are currently having a campaign to get new members, but I don't think anyone is going to be impressed by the growing number of 'temporarily out of service' signs on the exercise equipment. Maybe I ought to start using the weight room more. Free weights don't break.

Everyone is wearing masks again in grocery stores. There are no mask mandate signs on the doors anymore, but there are enough stories out there about dire 'long Covid' side effects and fully vaccinated people getting the virus that fewer people want to take chances. I certainly don't want to get sick. I've never really liked crowds anyway. This virus will give me all the excuses I need to remain an aloof loner forever.

I got a letter from my editor at SpaceFlight Magazine today saying that he was no longer with the magazine. This sucks. I really liked working with the guy and it took me forever to build a relationship with the magazine. Now I'm going to have to start all over again with the new editor. I'm not having a lot of luck getting published again at Sky and Telescope either. Most of their articles are scientific in nature. I just got lucky when they became interested in publishing my astronomy related travel article.

My Fitbit died at the gym this morning. I'm afraid I'm going to have to get a new one. The battery isn't holding a charge anymore. I can get it to charge by using a higher wattage charger, but it won't stay charged very long. I watched a YouTube video showing how to change a Fitbit battery yourself. Lots of luck with that. I'd have as much luck fixing a Fitbit by hitting it with a hammer as I would by taking it apart. My hands just aren't that dexterous.

We're not sure that Dawn will want to take her Sunday outing tomorrow. She didn't want to walk today and we don't want to push her. We'll see how she feels in the morning. Even if she doesn't feel like walking, I'm sure she'll still be up for an ice cream cone.

Cookie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4257

Dawn is fine. The vet was able to flush a large number of stones from her bladder and no surgery was needed. I was a little worried when the vet called while I was fixing breakfast and told me that Dawn's bladder was empty. He wondered if we had let her go pee before we brought her over. Nope. We did everything exactly as we were instructed. It turned out that Dawn had peed in her kennel run while they were getting ready to do the procedure. Plan B was to give her intravenous fluids and let her bladder fill again. This worked and a few hours later the stones were removed. Her teeth were cleaned as well while she was under anesthesia so she wouldn't have to be anesthetized again a few months later for her scheduled annual teeth cleaning. A sonogram after the procedure confirmed that all the stones are gone and Dawn was able to come home early this afternoon. The vet told us to expect blood in her urine for a day of two, but that the procedure had gone very well.

I'm sure today's events won't do much to alleviate Dawn's fear of riding in the car. Is she going for an ice cream cone at Andy's, or a trip to the vet? Both destinations are in the same general direction. Being anesthetized today certainly didn't ruin her appetite. Dawn was really hungry this evening and I had to feed her a little early.

I was planning to get my car safety inspected today, but the two places I tried both had long wait times and wanted me to leave the car. I used to be able to go to the Land Rover dealer and get an inspection done in fifteen minutes. Those days are gone. When I called Land Rover today they told me that a state inspection would take at least five hours. What this really means is that the dealership is short handed and there aren't enough mechanics. Apparently, nothing works smoothly in a post Covid world. So many things I used to take for granted just don't function the way they used to.

This morning was pleasant, but by the time Dawn was safely home again and sleeping on the bed it had become far too hot for a walk in the park. I went to the gym and discovered that even more treadmills had broken since my last visit. Another example of a dysfunctional world. Why is it proving so hard to fix these machines? There must be over a dozen broken treadmills now. Since we didn't take a sunrise walk with Dawn this morning, I had to work a little longer to get today's steps. Three miles inside always seems a lot longer than three miles outside.

Now that school is back in session, I've had to change my route to a number of locations. You definitely don't want to get stuck in a line of cars waiting to pick their kids up from school. If you are near a school zone, the right hand line is often completely blocked with cars and the other lanes become even more crowded. Drivers in Dallas are rude on a nice day. When school is in session they become even worse.

It would be hard to find someone less interested in politics than I am, but I'm horrified at what's happening in Afghanistan. Why won't Biden just admit that he screwed up royally? It was his decision alone to remove the military before protecting the civilians. He keeps doubling down, blaming everyone else, and looking befuddled and senile while he's doing it. If this is what 'having an adult in charge' looks like, we're all in big trouble.

It's time to make a grocery list again. Whenever I'm out and about, it's become increasingly apparent that merchants and their customers have grown sick of all the conflicting social distancing and mask mandates. It's a free for all now and everyone is just doing what they want. 

Blackjack is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4248

I was aprehensive about my root canal today, but it all turned out well. The endodontist was very good. The only pain I felt was to my wallet. Yikes. I had no idea a root canal would be $2200. The endodontist said I had unusually deep roots, but I think he was just an expensive dentist. The whole procedure seemed quite complicated. Every time I thought we were done, the endodontist pulled out a different instrument and did something else. 

At one point during the procedure I thought I smelled burning flesh. I mentioned this and the dentist said there was a small amount of dead tissue inside the tooth, but that I might have smelled burning rubber instead. Nope. This was burning flesh. I smelled the same thing when the dermatoligist burned off keratosis growths on my skin. It seems weird to have spent so much money and the tooth looks exactly the same as it did before. I'm glad the root canal is done though. It's one more loathsome thing I can check off my list.

I didn't have my smoothie this morning and didn't feel like eating much for dinner tonight. This is as close to dieting as I get. Tomorrow I'll be back on my regular schedule. The numbness in my mouth has finally worn off and their is no pain or soreness in the tooth. It's weird when your entire tongue feels numb. A dentist is a lot like a fancy mechanic in many ways. As I listened to the endodontist ask his assistant for different tools this morning, it sounded a lot like they were working on a car.

We tried to get Dawn to walk a little longer this morning because we knew she would be alone for a while inside the house. She wasn't interested though and just wanted to do her short one mile loop. She has to wear a cone now while we are away. Just to make sure I won't have to wash all the bedding again, I put a waterproof drop cloth on the bed as well. On top of this goes Dawn's favorite dog blanket. It all works out pretty well, but I still feel bad that she has to wear the cone. I tried to make it up to her when I returned home. I sat outside with her for at least half an hour and she had a good time rolling in the grass.

When the anesthetics wore off about mid afternoon I decided to go to the gym. There was a huge traffic jam at the Covid testing site today and I had to take a detour. Something has clearly changed. This site has been here for quite a while, but I've never seen so many people waiting to be tested before. There were more people wearing masks while they exercised at the gym today as well. I hope the gym doesn't close again. It might though. We are definitely headed in the wrong direction.

Dawn goes back to the vet tomorrow for some more tests. Hopefully the MRSA infection is gone now. I keep thinking that this has to be related to the itching and paw licking. There's always a chance that the licking is purely a behavioral problem, but this doesn't make sense to me because Dawn has been with us for well over a year and never began obsessively licking her skin until recently. Old vet records show that Dawn had a bacterial infection when she entered the rescue program. Maybe the initial treatment she received didn't completely clear up the infection and it gradually returned. Who knows at this point. We've got to get this problem solved though. Dawn is not a happy dog right now.

I've got to get my car safety inspected soon. It's time for a new sticker again. I guess I might as well make an appointment for my regular scheduled maintenance as well. I hate to throw even more money down the drain, but I'm tired of seeing that 'service required' light come on every time I start the car. I wish I'd have a month or two with no expenses at all. That's not going to happen though.

Hannah is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3884

Another starlit start to our morning walk. You can tell what kind of day it's going to be the moment you step out the back door. When the air is stifling and you can smell the humidity, you know it's not a good sign. It was a pretty morning though. I could still see the constellation Orion just below Venus. I kept hoping to see a few meteors, since the Perseid meteor shower was supposed to peak this morning. No such luck. The sky wasn't dark enough.

We've decided that the ducks and geese stay on the water at night to stay safe from the coyotes. They are always out in the lake on the outbound leg of our walk and have returned to the shore when we see them again on the way home. All the animals we see are very predictable. I guess they probably think the same thing about us.

After breakfast I went to the Land Rover dealer so I could get my car safety inspected for another year. The state sets the price for these inspections, so this is just about the only time I can escape a huge bill when I take my car to the dealership. Safety inspections are a bargain at Land Rover. One of the sales guys I know keeps trying to get me interested in buying a new Defender. I have to admit that I like the car, but I bet I could get a pretty nice Bronco for half the price. There is going to be lots to choose from in the next year or two. A Bronco with the Sasquatch package sounds intriguing. If I really want my old Defender back, there's the new INEOS Grenadier. This new 4x4 is almost a direct copy of the Defender design with a BMW engine. There's always the Tesla Cybertruck too. For someone who doesn't really like to drive and seldom ventures off of paved roads, I'm way too interested in rugged four wheel drive vehicles. Maybe I just want to get ready for the apocalypse.

I don't know how I got started watching the 24/7 Boca Chica cam, but I look at it every day now. It's amazing how quickly things change at this Space X facility in South Texas. They've already got a new Starship prototype on the launch pad and are are preparing for another hop test. These guys are working 24 hours a day. I still have a feeling that they are going to beat NASA to Mars. At the rate they are going, they might even beat them back to the moon. I keep wondering how hard it would be to get access to this facility? This would make a good story for SpaceFlight Magazine. Unfortunately, Covid is spreading like wildfire near the border in South Texas. Maybe I ought to wait a while.

Now that I've gotten my car inspected, I can go get the new window sticker. Maybe I'll do that tomorrow. You used to need two stickers on your windshield, but the state scrapped the inspection sticker a few years ago. When you go to get your registration sticker, they already know whether you've had the car inspected. There is no need to take care of this immediately, but I do need something to do.

I'm sure we'll get up early again tomorrow. The temperature is supposed to reach 103 degrees. We've already shortened Dawn's walks. I have a feeling that we'll need to shorten them even further. I don't know about you, but I'm ready for Fall.

Ellis is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3883

I made an appointment to get my car safety inspected today. I didn't used to need an appointment for this sort of thing. I just drove up to the dealership and was in and out in a few minutes. A lot has changed. I used to have the same service adviser for five or six years at a time. Everyone knew me and was familiar with my car. Now staff turnover is much higher and there seems to be an entirely new crew every time I visit the dealership. The dealership seems to have replaced people with technology. Any time I contact these guys, I immediately start receiving a barrage of text messages, e-mails, and reminders on my Apple calendar. As soon as I finish with my appointment tomorrow, I will get multiple requests to take a survey. Employees seem desperate to get good marks on these surveys. Some have specifically asked me to give them high satisfaction scores because their salary or bonus depends on it. Oddly, there is never a question on these surveys that allows me to tell the dealership how much I hate surveys.

Changes like these are happening in every industry. It would be so much nicer if companies would just forget the technology and hire more people. Back in the day when there were lots of employees, the phones were answered on the first ring. You didn't need online surveys to tell you what was going on. Companies knew their customers. There used to be so many companies where someone knew me personally. They didn't need a survey to know what I liked or needed. It didn't matter whether it was a car dealer, a clothing store, or a camera shop, the sales people who waited on me looked at their jobs as a career. I often dealt with the same people for decades. It's hard to even explain how different things used to be to younger people. They don't believe me when I tell them that life was better with less technology. I guess you had to be there.

We got another early start this morning. There were still stars in the sky when we left the house, but I've learned not to look up too often while I'm walking Dawn. She has not learned to heal and is constantly crisscrossing from my left side to my right. She also speeds up and slows down rather abruptly. If I'm not watching her carefully, it's easy to trip over her. I also need to make sure that she stays well out of the way of bicycles and other dogs we encounter while walking. Maybe she'll learn to heal one of these days, but until then I can't be daydreaming and looking up at the stars.

I still have a hard time dealing with how much the temperature changes on an average August day. Sometimes there is a forty degree difference between the pre-dawn hours when we take our walks and late afternoons when things are hottest. Mornings are pleasant. Afternoons are torture. I still do both walks because there isn't much else to do, but I definitely prefer pre-dawn mornings.

I got some embroidered mission patches from the Mars 2020 and DM-2 missions in the mail today. I always made sure to get a mission patch for every launch that I attended. It was nice to have something tangible to remember. Now I've started collecting these patches from launches I haven't been to at all. Yikes. This is getting dangerously close to being a collector again. I guess it's a harmless activity. The patches are small and don't take up much space.

I hope they don't keep me waiting around at the dealership forever tomorrow. A safety inspection shouldn't take any longer than fifteen minutes. Maybe I'll tell them that if they can get me in and out in a hurry, I'll take their silly survey.

Hannah is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3882

These weeks go quickly. How did it get to be Dalmatian day again? We still only have three dogs at the kennel. Luckie seems to be adjusting to kennel life. She didn't seem frightened this week and even appeared glad to see us. Charlie was full of energy and got a good workout chasing after a big red Kong. Hank evidently caught a rat in one of the outdoor play areas this week and ate it. Yuk. Dogs will be dogs I guess.

My new walking shoes fit well but my feet still hurt after a long walk. I doubt that there is much that can be done. It's just a combination of arthritis and old age. I've worn all types of shoes, including some very supportive ones. There is no magic bullet. I doubt that I could walk all day anymore no matter what I was wearing.

I'll be glad when Fall arrives. Getting up early helps, but it's still pretty hot. To keep Dawn from getting overheated, we have to make sure we're back at the house by at least 8:30 AM. We did manage to get an early start this morning and are going to try to get up even earlier tomorrow. Walking before sunrise is really the only thing that works.

I need to go get my car safety inspected sometime this week. It really doesn't seem like a year since I've done this. Last August seemed so much busier. I'd recently returned from a trip to Kennedy Space Center to attend a Falcon Heavy launch and was getting ready to make my first trip out to McDonald Observatory. No plans this year at all. Everything is still in limbo.

Some of my friends in the space and astronomy world have started doing podcasts and Zoom meetings. Makes sense, I guess. What else can you do these days? As far as I can tell, these virtual events are similar to the conversations you would have over a few beers at lunch, except that everyone is in a little window on your computer screen. I listen to these things occasionally, but never join in the conversation. Writing seems natural, but talking still seems weird. I don't like to hear my own voice. I skipped an online reunion of my architecture school class because I don't want to be in a little window on someone's screen. I should have been born a hundred years ago. It still seems more natural to write a letter and then wait two months for a reply.

I haven't used my large production printer in so long that it has become hopelessly clogged. I don't even think the Epson repair shop I used to use is even in business anymore. I haven't used my video editing equipment in ages either. I assume this gear still works, but I don't even have any blank Betacam tapes to test it with. Logically, I should just get rid of all this stuff. I'll never use it again. It's so much trouble though. What do you do with high quality, obsolete equipment? My solution is to let the stuff gather dust, but I don't think Janet likes this plan. So far, I'm finding it impossible to clean out the office.

Maybe I'll do something useful tomorrow. Who knows. I'm still hoping to get media accreditation to return to Kennedy Space Center. There are some interesting launches this Fall. I check my e-mail every morning, but so far no response. I've been waiting for months. They say patience is a virtue, but this is getting ridiculous.

J-Lo is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3513

I got my car safety inspected for another year. There is no window sticker anymore, but you still need to have the inspection done before you can buy the annual registration sticker at your local grocery store. Why do I need the registration sticker? Rules. There used to be a little sticker you put on your license plate as well. Those disappeared a long time ago. I'm old enough to remember having to go downtown to the department of motor vehicles for a new plate every year. You rarely get a new plate anymore. All these physical ways of identifying you are gradually going away. I used to have a Toll Tag in my front window but you don't need the tag anymore. Sensors just know when you are driving on a toll road. It probably won't be long before there aren't any stickers or tags on your car at all. The car will just broadcast everything about you to the state as soon as you turn on the ignition.

For now these annual safety inspections are still part of my routine. I could get everything done a lot quicker at a local garage, but I continue to drive up to the dealership and waste half the morning. The time goes quickly. I had a long conversation about cars with a sales guy I know. He shared some new information with me about the new Land Rover Defender that is being introduced this Fall and we traded stories about various exotic cars we'd seen about town. I looked at all the new cars on the show room floor and lamented the high prices for Range Rovers these days. Pretty soon my car was done. My day hadn't really changed at all. I still had a morning smoothie and I still had a morning walk. My trip to the dealership just made my morning walk even hotter because I got a late start.

I thought that an AT&T technician would come back today and hook up the cable that was buried in my yard yesterday. I guess I'll have to call about this tomorrow. I can't remember whether I need to be here or not when this happens. I've finally figured out why AT&T installs these temporary cables. If you had to wait and wait without any service at all until the technicians eventually showed up, customers would be pretty mad. They probably figured out quickly that throwing away a lot of fiber optic wire was easier than dealing with irate customers.

Even though I complain about sweating a lot, I still like walking outside better than walking at the gym. There is more visual stimulus outside. I certainly wouldn't see many Great Egrets at the gym. If I just wanted to avoid the heat, I could go to the gym every day. I'd have to drive to my gym though and I don't like driving. I do like talking about cars however. It's complicated. I don't really mind the heat, but my skin is taking a beating. I don't remember my skin looking this bad during previous summers. Do I need to use sunblock? It would be so much easier if I just stayed home and got fat watching Netflix.

I've been hearing cars running through water all evening. I thought it had started raining for a while. When I went outside to investigate I discovered that the neighbor's sprinkler system had broken. There were big fountains of water spewing out into the street. What a waste. I wish one of those nozzles was pointed over at my yard. I could use the water. I guess everyone has problems during the summer. I just hope my air conditioner keeps working.

Lou is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3512

I guess we're making progress. I got a bid on repairing the greenhouse today. The price seems reasonable, so we'll move ahead with this project. The carpenter doesn't want to begin work until the weather gets cooler. Makes sense to me. It's too damn hot to do anything. The heat didn't stop the AT&T crew from burying my fiber optic cable though. The "crew" was really just a man and his wife who spoke no English. When I asked a question, the wife got out her iPhone and pointed for me to speak into it. She had a translation app that worked surprisingly well. It answered all my questions anyway. The young couple was very nice and I kind of felt sorry that AT&T was making them work in this heat. The technician that diagnosed my problem a few weeks ago told me that the company always hires the lowest bidders to bury the lines. They probably get no benefits.

Right now I've got two lines. A nicely buried line that isn't hooked up to anything and the temporary line that is still providing my connection. Another technician will have to come back and connect the new buried line. This procedure of installing temporary lines and then coming back later with a second buried line line that needs to be installed all over again seems terribly inefficient. So, far I've had six lines pulled to my house from the street since I signed up for U-verse. Half of this fiber optic cable was temporary and was eventually just thrown away. There are probably several buried lines still under my lawn as well. Nobody bothers to pull up the old cable when they install a new one.

Coincidently, I paid my cable bill today. All these service calls explain why my bill is so high. I should call AT&T and demand that they deduct a week's service from my bill for the time the Internet was out while Janet was away. I probably won't bother though. It's like pulling teeth to make a complaint to customer service.

I'm still walking, but the weather is pretty brutal. There aren't as many joggers now, but the cyclists are still out in force. Maybe it's cooler when you are moving faster, but I suspect that the cyclists just love punishment. I keep walking because I've learned that sweating is actually good for you. Sweating can strengthen your immune system, improve circulation, lower the risk of kidney stones, unclog pores, and help fight viruses, bacteria, and fungi. Walking is also one of the best ways to keep bones strong and prevent osteoporosis too. I guess I'll keep walking. It's a slow summer and there isn't much better to do anyway.

The next thing on my list is getting my car safety inspected. Maybe I'll do that tomorrow. I could go anywhere but I usually just go to the dealership. They have free snacks and I like to look at new cars I'll never be able to afford. I've been waiting for years for the new Land Rover Defenders to arrive, but there are very few reasons to drive a rugged go anywhere vehicle anymore. Those new mid-engine Corvettes are looking pretty nice.

Janet is making me another Peach Cobbler tonight. I've been eating a lot of peaches lately. It's going to be rough when they go out of season again. Fresh peaches are one of the few good things about Summer.

Margo is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2791

I got my car safety inspected today. I called to see if I needed an appointment and my service guy said to come on up because they weren't very busy. I shouldn't have believed him. Instead of taking a few minutes as promised, the inspection kept me at the dealership for over two hours. I used to enjoy wasting time at the dealership. I would look at all the new cars and try to imagine what I'd be driving next. Now, looking at cars is depressing. The ones I like are all ridiculously expensive.

The dealership always asks me if I'd like them to wash my car while it's there. I usually tell them to go ahead because it's free and it saves me the trouble. Typically, the maintenance on my car takes so long that I get impatient and ask them to cancel the car wash so I can get back home a little sooner. That's what happened today. I knew that Dash was waiting for his dinner, but it's a shame I didn't have more time. The car was pretty dirty.

I got a reply from the roofer today. He told me that he didn't have time to send a crew to patch the defective spots this time, but that he would drop off a can of the elastomer coating and I could make the repairs myself. This seemed kind of rude, but I wasn't completely surprised. The roofer has made many trips to my house already. I think he's probably trying to cut his losses. It's too bad that so few flat roofs come with the kind of warranty you typically get with a shingle roof. I'm kind of at the roofer's mercy.

After my recent dog bite, I have become very nervous about walking Dash. The park is so popular now that people come from all parts of town to walk their dogs. There is almost always somebody who wants to walk their dog without a leash. Some of these dogs are well behaved, but many aren't. I try my best to avoid loose dogs at all costs, but it's getting harder and harder. I don't even trust dog parks anymore. We saw another loose dog today. Luckily, Dash and I made it home in one piece.

I was balancing my checkbook this afternoon and I couldn't figure out why there was a $300 difference between me and the bank. I'm usually pretty accurate with bookkeeping. I finally figured out that my supplemental medical insurance had gone up in cost earlier in the year and nobody had bothered to tell me. I have health insurance payments directly debited from my account because I don't want to lose coverage just because I forgot to pay a bill. You've got to keep looking at your bank statements though. It's surprising how often rates go up.

I guess I could go get my new vehicle registration sticker tomorrow. I still can't remember how the new rules work, but I think you just need to wait 24 hours for the safety inspection information to be recorded in the state's database. I was thinking that Texas eliminated the safety inspection requirement earlier this year, but apparently not. The bill was passed by the Texas Senate but rejected by the House. I think the legislature is still trying to eliminate safety inspections. It seems like it would be better to keep the safety inspections, but eliminate the registration sticker.

It looks like there might be quite a few clouds across the United States next Monday. I guess it doesn't matter to me since I won't be traveling to view the eclipse anyway. It would be a shame if the weather won't cooperate. So far it looks like Idaho has the best chance of clear skies. I hope you have clear skies wherever you plan on viewing the eclipse. These things don't happen all that often.

Freckles is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2433

Nothing went smoothly today. The dogs were tired from their morning walk and sleeping peacefully when I left the house to get my car safety inspected. I had an appointment, but the Land Rover dealer was busy and the inspection took longer than I thought. By the time I returned home, Dot was awake again and had pooped in her bed. This was a messy accident. I had to clean Dot, three blankets, two rugs, and my shoes. I really wasn't gone that long. It's a shame that I can't even leave the house for two hours without risking this sort of calamity. It's not Dot's fault. She's just very old and her incontinence is a way of life.

Apparently, I've been messing with the router too much in my quest to get the pet cam working. I wanted to experiment with some other settings today, but discovered that the router had frozen and wouldn't let me login to the control panel anymore. I called tech support and they told me that I would have to restore the router to it's factory settings in order to gain access again. Damn. This means that I will have to reconnect everything in the house to the WiFi network all over again. It took forever the first time I did this, so I was hoping that I'd never have to repeat the process. While I was on the phone with the technician, Dot decided to poop in her bed and I was forced to blurt out "Hold on a minute, my dog is pooping and I've got to clean it up before she eats it." Tech support offered no advice on this matter. I thanked the tech support person for speaking English well enough for me to understand and decided to postpone resetting the router for another day when I would hopefully have more patience.

The only productive thing I did today was get my August invoices in the mail. I didn't have time to go to the grocery store, so I decided to pick up some take out on my way back from the post office. Unfortunately, this was when it started to rain. The rain completely surprised me, since it has been bone dry all month. The unexpected thunderstorm frightened the dogs and when I returned to the house with dinner, I wasn't all that surprised to discover that Dot had pooped a third time.

By the time I cleaned Dot up and fed the dogs their dinner, I was ready to consider the day a total loss. I tried to give Dash his evening walk, but he was still nervous about the weather and didn't want to go outside. Eventually the rain stopped, the laundry got done, the dogs got walked, and life returned to some semblance of normality. Today was tiring though. It takes a lot of patience to live this way.

I need to remember to renew my vehicle registration this weekend. The vehicle registration goes hand-in-hand with the safety inspection and you need both to stay legal. I have no plans for the weekend. I just hope that tomorrow isn't a repeat of today.

Ellis is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2432

Today was quiet. I spent most of the day finishing my remaining writing assignments. In theory, I could make a good living this way, but the assignments aren't consistent enough. I miss the days when reading was considered mandatory. Back in the day, I used to write lots of annual reports for large corporations. These jobs always paid well and weren't much harder than the lower paying online work I do today. Everything is visual these days. I was curious when I heard about Instagram Stories recently. Finally, an Instagram feature designed for people like me. Not really. I was very disappointed when I discovered that these "stories" were just meant to be collections of short videos. In a world where people increasingly communicate using emojis, I'm lucky to have any writing jobs at all.

Since Dot keeps me housebound most of the time, I watch way more TV than I should. I never actually watch entire shows, but the TV in the kitchen is always on and I'll glance at it as I'm doing my daily chores. Donald Trump is increasingly portrayed as an unbalanced Dr. Strangelove. Hillary Clinton is portrayed as an evil mafia boss who is above the law. Since there is a basis for both of these portrayals, why are we being asked to vote for either of these people? The main message of both campaigns is that the other guy is even worse than they are. It's pathetic. You'd think the third party candidates would get a little more traction in this toxic environment, but nobody even bothers to interview Gary Johnson. The media treats him like someone who was born with six toes. He's just a curiosity. I'm pretty burned out on political news, but it's still more interesting than cooking shows or The View. Why do the networks even bother with daytime programming? I think the only people watching are me and a bunch of people sitting in doctor's waiting rooms.

I'm still trying to figure out how to reconfigure my network router so I can use my pet cam again. I guess I could just go buy a different pet cam, but I am determined to get the existing one working. I've given up on AT&T and have started talking with the people who make the software that the camera uses. So far, they're just asking me a lot of questions, but the questions are very specific, so I think we might be getting somewhere.

Janet and I found a lost dog while we were walking Dot and Dash this evening. The little dog was friendly, but was hard to catch since we couldn't move very fast with Dot. Luckily, a neighbor driving down the street saw us and stopped to help. We found a phone number on the dog's collar and he said he would try to reunite the dog with its owner. Hopefully, they are back together now.

Tomorrow I have an appointment for my annual safety inspection. I've tried to schedule this excursion so that Dot will be asleep while I'm gone, but I have little control over what Dot actually does. Just because she's usually asleep at 10 AM, doesn't mean that she's going to be sleeping tomorrow. Whenever I go out these days, I tend to come home to find a dog who has pooped all over the place.

At least it's Friday tomorrow. This has been a long, very hot week. The trash has been taken out to the curb and I'm almost ready for bed. I'm hoping that the safety inspection doesn't take very long, so I still have time to go out for breakfast. I'd definitely like to end the week with a good breakfast.

Hannah is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2429

Dash got stung by a bee this evening. At least I think he got stung by a bee. We were taking our evening walk and all of a sudden he started limping on his right front leg. We were about three blocks from home, and he refused to put any weight on the leg the rest of the way home. He growled at me when I tried to examine the leg too. It was time for a trip to the emergency vet. Since I didn't have an appointment, Dash and I had to wait a long time in the lobby. During the hour or so we were waiting, Dash started to calm down and by the time the vet got around to seeing us, he seemed well on his way back to normal.

Basically we still don't know what is going on. It definitely could have been a bee sting, but there was no obvious redness or swelling. The vet said there were lots of things that could cause this sort of sudden lameness. It could be a soft tissue injury. It could be arthritis. Although unlikely, it could even be an early sign of bone cancer. I decided to wait to do anything further. We'll give him a Benadryl tonight and see how he feels in the morning. If he needs x-rays, we can do them during his next re-check at the cancer center. Dash probably does have arthritis. His rear legs are starting to get stiff and I wouldn't be surprised if he develops hip dysplasia as he grows older. It's always something with these dogs.

The last thing I expected today was a trip to the emergency vet, but I really shouldn't have been surprised. Nothing else went right today either. I wasted a huge amount of time trying to get AT&T tech support to show me how to enable port forwarding on my router. I knew how to do this on the old router that broke, but this new one doesn't seem to allow port forwarding. There ought to be a special place in hell for companies who outsource all their customer support. It takes forever to resolve the simplest of problems when you're talking with someone who doesn't speak English well. About one time out of ten, I manage to get a technician who actually knows something about technology. The rest of the time I end up talking with people who are just reading from a script. I don't think the guy I talked with today even knew what a router was. My conversation was definitely a wasted effort.

I had some website updates this morning, but they didn't keep me busy all day. I actually spent more time cleaning up after Dot, than I did modifying the websites. It was good to have something to do though. Days filled with writing and coding chores are definitely more satisfying than days where there is nothing to do but clean up poop.

I was going to get my safety inspection done today, but Land Rover said that I needed to make an appointment. Evidently they only do safety inspections in Friday's now. I made an appointment for Friday and then went up on the roof to check on last week's repairs. Our current dry spell has allowed the patches to cure nicely. From the looks of things now, I think the roof is going to be OK this Winter.

I hope that Dash is back to normal tomorrow morning. If he is still limping, I'll see if I can get him over to his regular vet for some x-rays. It's been a long day and I'm ready for bed. All I need to do now is see if I can take Dot's harness off without waking her up. I don't want to wake Dash up either. Everyone seems so calm now.

Lilly is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2428

I knew it was going to happen eventually. I was checking on the dogs while I was at the gym, and I saw Dot pooping in her bed right on the camera. She was still lying down on her bed, but lifted her head and looked around, as is she was trying to decide whether to go back to sleep or eat the evidence. I was twenty minutes away, but when she put her head back down, I thought I might have time to go home and clean things up before she woke up again. I cut my workout short and hurried home, but I was too late. By the time I arrived, she was wide awake and had eaten everything. I hate when this happens, because it throws off her digestion for the next day or so. What can you do though? Dot is completely unpredictable and I can't spend my entire life watching her sleep and waiting for her to poop.

Since I didn't feel like vacuuming, I went back to the gym and finished my workout as soon as Janet returned home. I spent a long time shooting baskets at the free throw line, wondering why almost nothing in life is completely predictable. You'd think I could sink every basket by now, but I still miss as often as I connect. The ball is the same. The distance to the hoop is the same. And the act of shooting the ball has been repeated so many times that you'd think that hitting the basket would be burned into my muscle memory by now. It's all kind of random though. Sometimes I'll hit three in a row and then spend the next five minutes watching the ball bounce off the rim. If something this simple isn't predictible, I wonder if anything is.

Two short workouts are actually more tiring than one long one. Maybe I should just quit looking at the pet cam while I'm at the gym. If something bad ever happened, I'm too far away to be of much help anyway. I guess I always just want to see the dogs sleeping peacefully. Seeing them sleep gives me some peace of mind and I don't feel so guilty about leaving them.

The atomic clocks are all back in sync again. I still don't know what was going on yesterday, but the problem seemed to resolve itself overnight. I suspect that one of the clocks failed to receive the radio signal from Fort Collins for a few days. I'll probably never know the answer to this mystery, but I will quit thinking about it fairly quickly. I'm sure that something new will go wrong tomorrow that will momentarily capture my attention.

When Janet and I was taking the dogs on their evening walk around the block, a loose dog appeared out of nowhere and came racing straight for Dash. I fell trying to protect Dash and cut my knees. Luckily, the dog's owners were nearby and they quickly retrieved their dog before any damage could be done. The owners apologized while we explained that Dash was terrified by this sort of situation because he'd been attacked by another dog when he was young. We didn't have to explain about Dot. It was obvious that she was very, very old and couldn't defend herself whatsoever. This particular dog was more friendly than aggressive, but I still don't understand why people let their dog off leash. It's just irresponsible to let your dog run loose in a city like Dallas. We were walking down one of the roads that lead into the park. The loose dog could easily have been run over by a car. If you're sitting out in your front yard drinking wine and watching the sunset, please keep your dog on a leash. Things can escalate quickly with dogs and it's almost impossible to keep from getting bitten if a dog really wants to bite you.

I was going to get my new vehicle registration sticker this afternoon, but I forgot that you have to have the safety inspection done first. For years these two events were independent of each other, but now they have to be done in the right order. Why is it that every time the government tries to make something simpler, they just end up making it more complicated? Making an appointment for a safety inspection is already on my to-do list.

Lou is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2068

I was ordering my breakfast this morning when I got a call from Janet saying that there were some strange men walking around on our roof. "That must be the roofers," I told her. Jeez, what were they doing out at the house so early? The cook was just starting to fix my meal, and I asked him if he'd wait a bit so I could go home and see what the roofers were doing. There was a good chance that they'd never find the bad spots on their own and end up patching something that was perfectly good. I'd already paid for my breakfast, but I told the guys that I'd be back soon. I showed the two roofers where the elastomer had worn off and was back at my table within ten minutes. When practically everything you do is within two miles of your house, it's pretty easy to have a change of plan like this. I'm pretty sure that the new patches will have plenty of time to dry properly before they are put to the test. There is still no rain on the horizon.

Today was pretty much like yesterday. I had a little work to do, but not too much. I got my assignments done in plenty of time to take my car up to the dealership at the appointed time for it's annual safety inspection. I told the service manager that they probably ought to go ahead and change the oil and filter while they were at it. "Why," he asked me? "You've only driven two thousand miles since the last time you had the oil changed." Never mind. I tend to forget how little I drive these days. If the dogs didn't need to go to the vet so often, I probably wouldn't drive at all.

I enjoy going to the dealership. I've been a customer for so long that I know everyone by now. One of the sales guys and I talked about our favorite Top Gear shows while they were working on my car. I still think that the BBC made a horrible mistake by canceling the show. So what if Jeremy Clarkson punched a producer. Most producers deserve to be punched. At any rate, I miss Top Gear. Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May were three of the most politically incorrect hosts on television. They were rude and funny and never sugar coated anything. They also liked Land Rovers a lot. 

The state no longer gives you a sticker for your windshield when you have your car safety inspected. Everything is electronic now. After the safety inspection data has been entered into the vehicle records database in Austin, you can purchase your annual vehicle registration sticker. Since they already know if you've had your car inspected, there is no need for a second windshield sticker. I was going to get the registration sticker on the way home, but they told me to wait at least 48 hours for the database to be updated. If everything is so automated, I wonder why they couldn't just combine the inspection and registration. It would be so much easier if I could just take care of everything at the same time.

The armadillo in my back yard is driving me crazy. It is pulling up my monkey grass by the roots and taking the plants someplace. Maybe it's making a nest with them or something. I can't seem to keep the thing out of our yard. I blocked the area where it was getting in with bricks, but the armadillo just dug a new hole under the fence somewhere else. It's hard enough keeping the yard looking nice anyway, but when the neighborhood critters are actively trying to destroy it, the task becomes almost impossible. Even the birds are getting in on the action this summer. I've never seen so many woodpeckers. They are constantly tapping at the trees. Since woodpeckers mostly eat insects, maybe they are actually helping me though. I'll take woodpeckers over armadillos any day.

I'll be glad when August is over. August is always the most expensive month of the year. Car insurance is due in August. So is my annual storage warehouse rent. When you add dental bills and Dot's chemotherapy to the mix, you can see why I wish that my business would pick up a bit. Actually, I wish the entire summer was over. Business usually picks up in the Fall. The weather is cooler. Fall usually provides lots of interesting photographic opportunities too. The Summer heat has been especially hard on Dot. I'm looking forward to brisk 65 degree walks and colorful Fall leaves. I think we've got a while to wait though.

Elliott is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day