Day 3540

No long walks today. It was way too hot and we were too busy. After breakfast I tried to get organized so we could spend the afternoon with the Dalmatians. I paid some bills, went to the post office and the bank, and got the car ready to transport Hank. The last time Hank was in the car, he made a mess of things, so I made sure that I added some extra padding this time.

We couldn't pick Hank up at the emergency vet until 3 PM, so we stopped by the boarding kennel and played with the other Dalmatians first. Rolly is in the middle of his heartworm treatment, so he couldn't play, but Treasure and Charlie were eager for some extra attention. Treasure has perfected rolling over for treats and Charlie can catch them in mid air. Dalmatians are very food motivated. The next time we visit, there will be some new dogs. We've picked up two new adults and four puppies. I hope we get to see the puppies before they go to their forever homes. We very rarely get Dalmatian puppies and there is always a waiting list. Puppies are almost always adopted as soon as they become available.

Nothing conclusive was discovered during Hank's diagnostic exam this morning, but the vet is sending some biopsy samples to the lab for further testing. Hopefully, the endoscopy procedure Hank had today will help determine why he continues vomiting and having bloody diarrhea. It is weird that he will be completely normal for weeks at a time and then the bloody stools will return. Diet alone doesn't explain this recurring problem. Something else is going on. I was hoping that they would examine Hank's colon, since the blood is usually bright red, but today's test only examined the stomach and upper GI tract. This is a process of elimination. Hank may need further tests as well.

The traffic was terrible today. The congestion made me miss the empty roads of Jeff Davis County. You can drive for miles without passing a single car. Fort Davis, the county seat and largest city, has a population of around 2,200 people. I think more people than that live in our own little neighborhood near the lake. Despite its small size, Fort Davis has a veterinarian, a good restaurant, and can connect to the Internet. What more do you need? Until we spent some time in the Davis Mountains I don't think I realized the appeal of wide open spaces. I'm not a city person by nature.

I didn't make much progress on my article today, but there's always tomorrow. It's probably best to stay inside anyway. The cooler weather we had when it rained a few days ago is over. We're in the middle of another heat wave. Our August electric bill was horrendous. September won't be much better. I shouldn't complain though. At least we don't have to worry about hurricanes.

Domino is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3515

Hank is a 50 pound puppy. You couldn't find a sweeter dog if you tried, but he knows nothing and tries to eat everything. We thought we'd dog proofed the house pretty well before we brought him home last night. Within a matter of minutes Hank had found things we didn't even know we had and was carrying them around in his mouth. After we retrieved a ball of lip balm, a rubber door stopper, and several shoes Hank had snatched, we methodically went room to room and placed everything loose on a high shelf. We had forgotten the primary rule of puppyhood: if you can chew it, you will chew it.

We don't know much about Hank's background. He's probably around two years old. He was picked up as a stray and clearly whoever owned him first never bothered to provide even the most rudimentary training or socialization. It's a shame that a beautiful, sweet dog like this has gotten off to such a bad start. Despite his lack of manners, Hank was good around the house. We weren't well prepared with gates and crates, so we just let him sleep on the bed with us. He did pretty well. For the most part he slept soundly, although he did wake me up once trying to pull the Fitbit off my arm and had an episode of the zoomies, chasing a rubber ball around the house at 3 AM. He also tried to drag the blanket off our bed. All of this was pretty normal for a young dog. We've had old, sick dogs for so long that we'd almost forgotten what a young Dalmatian is like.

Hank seemed healthy and happy while he was at our house, but after we took him up to the vet for evaluation, they reported a few hours later that he'd had bloody diarrhea again. He wasn't throwing up blood after all. The blood was in his stools. This will help the vet diagnose the problem, but we're still not sure what is going on. His blood work and lab tests look normal and an x-ray showed no obstructions in his stomach or intestines. There are many things that can cause bloody diarrhea. The fact that the blood is still red would indicate that the problem is probably in his colon instead of his stomach or upper intestines, but he will need further tests to determine what is wrong. Hank is still at the vet. He is eating a bland diet and taking medication that will help with any irritation he might have in his digestive system. Hopefully nothing is serious. Hank is young and deserves a long and healthy life.

I took Janet to one of my breakfast restaurants on the way home from the vet and then we both resumed our daily routines. It took a long time to get the dog hair out of the car. Hank sheds even more than Dot and Dash did. The cable guy came and hooked up the new buried fiber optic cable this afternoon, although I never saw him. When I came home from my morning walk, the old temporary cable was still attached. The next time I left the house, everything had been fixed. I never heard a thing. The technician must have come while I was taking a shower.

Taking Hank to the vet in rush hour traffic made me glad that I am retired. Drive time traffic in Dallas is horrible now. I don't know how people can stand to do this everyday. It's been so long since I've driven to work on a regular basis that I forget how much Dallas has grown. It feels like I'm driving in Los Angeles now. I'm glad I was able to work out of my house while I had my own company. It kept me sane.

If we have another dog emergency, we're going to have to assemble a dog emergency kit. It would have been good to be able to gate off a few rooms last night. We definitely need to retrieve some water and food bowls from the storage warehouse. Leashes, a sturdy harness, poop bags, a first aid kit, and a few indestructible Kongs are all necessities. I'm glad we were able to help Hank last night. It was nice to have a dog around the house again.

Nautica is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3514

Today was not your typical day. We went downtown to see the Dior show this afternoon. It's been a long time since either of us has been downtown. The retrospective exhibit was enormous, taking over the entire Dallas Museum of Art with over 500 items on display. I guess fashion exhibits are popular with art museums now. This one has been sold out for months. The show is closing soon which is why we went to see what all the fuss was about. I'll have to admit that the show was very interesting. A lot has changed since the House of Dior was established in 1946, but a lot has stayed the same. Was this art or a cultural history? Probably both.

There was a big crowd this afternoon, but I only saw three other men. There were a lot of well dressed older women, including many using canes and walkers. This is probably why one of the docents kept telling people to be careful not to fall. Sure enough, within fifteen minutes one of the ladies tripped and fell into one of the exhibits. I remember that the museum had another exhibit featuring the work of Jean Paul Gaultier a few years ago. We went to that show too. Janet likes fashion and I used to be a fashion photographer, so it was an enjoyable afternoon.

When we got home I took my morning walk late in the afternoon. I just couldn't bring myself to skip walking altogether. I had to get at least 10,000 steps. After dinner we got an emergency call saying that Hank had been throwing up blood at the boarding kennel. Since Janet and I don't have other dogs now, it was decided that we would be best to watch him overnight and then take him to our vet first thing in the morning. Hank seemed perfectly normal when we arrived at the kennel, but it definitely looked like blood he'd thrown up earlier.

Hank has already been to the vet earlier this month with vomiting issues. It looks like we'll need to do more tests to see what is going on. On the ride home we quickly discovered that Hank doesn't like to ride in the car. He barked the entire way home. Once we got back to the house he calmed down quickly though. He's definitely a Dalmatian. It didn't take him five minutes to decide he wanted to sleep on the bed. That's fine with us. All our dogs have slept on the bed.

Hopefully, there's nothing seriously wrong with Hank. He is a very sweet dog. I think he's tired now because he's resting calmly on the bed with Janet. We'll keep an eye on him this evening and take him up to the Dalmatian Rescue vet in the morning. If something happens tonight, there a very good emergency vet nearby. We've been there often.

Neither of us expected to have a dog in the house again so soon. We're good with sick dogs though and know what to do. So far Hank seems fine. He probably enjoys being out of the kennel. If he throws up tonight it won't be the first time. We've had every type of dog mishap in this house that you can imagine.

Maybe this is our role for now. To just be there when a dog needs us. Hank is definitely a keeper, but we won't be keeping him. We just want to make sure he gets healthy and finds a good home. If he stays with us for a while, that's fine too.

Lilly is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3204

My memory is shot. I was slowly plodding through my regular morning routine when I got a reminder notice on my phone saying that I had a dental appointment in one hour. Damn. I completely forgot, even though the appointment had been on my calendar for weeks. I hadn't finished breakfast, hadn't taken a shower, and still had to take Dash outside to pee, but I knew I'd better leave immediately. I've had doctors and veterinarians for clients and I know how much they hate for someone to cancel an appointment at the last minute.

I almost never make an appointment before 11 AM, but apparently that is still too early. It's amazing how long it takes to do nothing when you've got a sick dog. I made it to the dentist's office with a few minutes to spare. Luckily, traffic was light today. My teeth looked good, and after a routine cleaning, I made another appointment for six months from now. I bet I'll forget that one too.

I didn't think Facebook could get worse, but it has. Now, it you like something or use one of those other emojis, you can't see who else liked the same thing. I wonder what this is all about. You can still see who liked a paid business post by hovering your mouse over the little blue hand, but friends likes are hidden. You can't even see who liked your own posts. This probably has something to do with privacy. Facebook is paranoid about privacy after all the problems they've had. It's too bad they keep making their platform worse.

Dash gave us a scare last night. He had another vestibular seizure and appeared brain dead for a while. He just wandered around aimlessly for almost an hour. He would go out the back door and just stand on the porch, staring vacantly at the sky. Then he would come in and go to the kitchen, where he would stand by his food bowl. He wouldn't eat anything though. I tried everything. He wouldn't pee when he went outside and he wouldn't eat when he went to the kitchen. He refused to go back to the bedroom and for the most part, just appeared dazed and confused. When he was standing in place, he would shake and drool a lot. Usually vertigo causes this. If Dash stood in one place too long, his rear legs would start to sink. Eventually eventually we convinced him to come back to the bedroom, where he immediately went to sleep.

This morning, Dash was fine. That's the way vestibular disease operates. Something periodically triggers these episodes and after hours of worrying that your dog might die, the symptoms subside and everything is fine. Vestibular seizures aren't nearly as violent as epileptic seizures, but they last a lot longer. So far, we've been lucky that episodes like last night don't happen all that often.

I got a call from the audio repair shop with an estimate for fixing my synthesizers. The estimate seemed high, but there were three synthesizers, so I told them to go ahead. I wanted the guy to assure me that the synthesizers would be good as new once the repairs were made. Nope. This was stage one. When the power supplies and certain capacitors had been repaired, they would move on to stage two. By the time these things are fixed, I won't make a dime by selling them. It's pretty much the same story with the large lithograph I had restored. I'll have to add "don't ever keep your stuff in a storage warehouse" to my long-time admonition to never buy a house with a flat roof.

Oh, well. Tomorrow's a new day. It will probably be full of surprises. Most days are.

Bailey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3161

Good grief. The dehumidifier has started to leak. This trusty little machine has been running 24/7 ever since we had our big water leak several years ago. I've grown to depend on this thing. Now it has joined both toilets, the shower stall, a bathroom sink, and of course the impossible roof in a coordinated effort to drive me crazy. Why do I have all these water problems? I've come to the conclusion that there's only one thing for certain about water. Eventually it's going to wind up someplace it doesn't belong.

I guess I'll go ahead and order a new dehumidifier. I'll probably even get the same brand again. This thing has worked like a champ. Nothing lasts forever unfortunately. I'm reminded of that almost every day.

It certainly seemed like Monday today. I'm perpetually slow anyway, but on Mondays it seems like I'm moving around underwater. I guess I accomplished something, but it would certainly be hard to prove. Our morning walk took forever. There was nothing wrong. Dash just didn't feel like going very fast. Breakfast was equally slow. I don't think I made my smoothie larger than usual, but it took almost until lunch to drink the whole thing. I spent a long time trying to figure out where the leak in the dehumidifier was coming from. No luck there. Water just seems to be dripping through a screw hole on the bottom of the sealed system.

When I went to the bank this morning, I noticed that a client had failed to sign a check they sent me. The bank took the check anyway. Did they not notice or did they just not care? I didn't care that much. This client has done this before. The bank probably sees unsigned checks like this everyday. I have a feeling that the entire world is becoming sloppy and forgetful. Hey, I'm certainly doing my part.

I wrote a letter to a friend with a sick dog who thought the diagnosis they received from their vet might be wrong. I encouraged them to get a second opinion. It is not that uncommon for an initial diagnosis to be wrong. Dogs can't talk and symptoms are often confusing. It has often taken us several tries and an expensive MRI or two to figure out what was going on with Dot and Dash. The important thing is to never give up. Especially when you think there is still hope.

I got a lead this weekend about someone who might be interested in another collection I have. I tried to call the guy, but of course he wasn't in. I wrote him a letter instead. Letters still have their uses. They somehow seem more serious than a voicemail message that would probably be mistaken for spam anyway. Whether I hear back from the guy or not, it is going to take a long time to unload these collections of mine. It definitely took a long time to assemble them.

Maybe I actually accomplished more than I thought today. It just seemed like everything was moving in slow motion. I'll try to pick up the pace tomorrow. There's no point in going too fast though. I've got an entire week to fill.

Blackjack is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3022

Dash was very weak today. Sometimes all he needs is a good night's rest after a bad vestibular episode, but this morning he seemed worse than yesterday. He still seemed disoriented and often had trouble standing on the slick brick floors. There were several times today when I debated whether to take him to the emergency vet, but I knew it wouldn't do any good. We've rushed Dash to the vet numerous times after a vestibular seizure and there was very little they could do. His initial seizure was so severe that he stayed in the ICU on fluids for four days, but subsequent seizures have been milder and the vet just took his vital signs and sent him home again. Traveling in the car is so stressful for Dash that I've decided that it is better to just ride out the small seizures at home.

If Dash doesn't have a fever, isn't panting or in distress, and is breathing normally when he is asleep, I can be fairly certain the the nausea and vertigo he is feeling will pass. Today I didn't feel this confident. In addition to the usually symptoms associated with vestibular disease, Dash seemed unusually weak. He could barely keep his head up. This weakness could mean that the blood clot in his heart was causing problems with his circulation again. The vets at the cancer center have already told me that unusual weakness could mean that his heart isn't pumping properly. Again, what could I do? Other than continuing to take blood thinners, there is absolutely nothing we can do about Dash's heart. Surgery isn't even an option. The combination of vestibular disease and a serious heart problem are kind of a double whammy.

Sitting with Dash and watching him twitch as he sleeps makes me sad. I wish there was more I could do. Dash's vet at the cancer center tells us we are already living on borrowed time, so keeping Dash calm and happy is probably the best treatment we've got left. We're learning to cope with the vestibular disease and are still hopeful the the blood thinners Dash is taking will eventually dissolve the clots in his heart. Something is working. Dash bounced back a little toward the end of the day. He ate about half of his dinner and Janet and I were able to take him on a short walk to the end of our street and back. He is sleeping peacefully now.

I discovered a cool app today that let's you instantly identify plants and animals by pointing your phone's camera at them. This would be great on my walks with Dash. I am always trying to identify birds and wondering what type of flower I'm looking at. I tried to download the app and I got a notice that I would have to upgrade to IOS 11.3 first. No can do. My phone is stuck on IOS 10.3 forever. That apparently is the end of the road for the iPhone 5. It seems stupid to buy an expensive new phone so you can use a free app, but that's how it goes these days. It's all about the software.

Maybe after I pay my accountant for doing my taxes, I'll still have enough money left over to get a new phone. Nah. That will never happen. There's never any left over money these days. For the time being, I'll just continue looking up wildflowers on Google. Some, like the Bluebonnets I saw today, are easy to identify.

I swept all the catkins off the roof today, so the water won't pond when it rains. I also found a suspicious area that might be the source of the leak in the living room. What I haven't been able to do is convince the roofer that my leaky roof is more important than the other leaky roofs he's dealing with. I'll call him again, but I'm not a miracle worker.

I hope Dash is feeling better tomorrow. Today was a rough day.

Lexi is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3006

I was listening to NPR as I was driving to the gym this morning. There was a program about Alzheimer's Disease and they were interviewing someone at a nursing home in Germany where they were having problems with patients becoming extremely agitated and trying to run away. They tried a lot of things without much success and then someone suggested that they build a bus stop right in front of the facility where no bus would ever come. Patients still tried to escape and almost inevitably went straight to the bus stop where they sat on the bench and waited for the bus that never came. Eventually they forgot what they were waiting for and a nurse would come and talk with them and lead them back inside. Doctors were surprised that the patients no longer seemed agitated. Instead of being restrained or locked inside the facility, they had been allowed to slowly and peacefully forget their inner voices. I don't know why this story resonated with me. It just seemed to make a lot of sense. Perhaps we all need a place to forget the things that trouble us.

Four years ago today Dash was in the middle of radiation treatments for his thyroid cancer. The treatments were arduous and we were just hoping that Dash was strong enough to complete the program. Three years ago today Dot was slowly learning to walk again after spinal surgery. Two years ago today Dot could walk pretty well, but her abdominal cancer had returned and she was taking chemo again, along with monthly ultrasound scans to measure the size of her tumors. A year later Dot was too weak to continue the chemo treatments and walking was limited to slowly going around the block. It's been a long journey. Now Dash is going to the same cancer center for monthly scans to measure the size of the blood clot in his heart. Sometimes it's hard to remember when the dogs were healthy. Actually, they were both healthy for a long, long time. I need to remember the good times. There were lots and lots of good times. I'd like to think if we remember the good times, maybe we can recreate them.

The gym was quiet today. The basketball players are gone and I have the court to myself again. Actually, just about everybody was gone this morning. I wonder why gym attendance fluctuates so much. Once I get a routine in place, I like to keep it. Apparently, other people are more spontaneous about their Sunday activities.

It rained a lot last night, but I didn't feel like going up on the roof. Now that Spring is on the way, the roof is covered in sticky yellow catkins that fall as the oak trees start to bud. These little flowers turn the standing water bright yellow and make the clean up process much more difficult. I need to clear the catkins away soon though. They form little dams that hold the water and turn the roof into a duck pond.

It's always something. I cleared a slow draining sink today. That was enough drudgery for one day. I need to make a new pair of protective boots for Dash. The pair he's been wearing has just about worn out. I'll put this on my list for next week. If the new refrigerator repairman can solve my ongoing problems tomorrow, it will be a good week no matter what else happens. I'm hoping for the best.

Nick is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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