Day 2120

I've been thinking about the concept of just enough lately. I've got just enough money coming in so I can pay my bills, but not enough to change my lifestyle. I've got just enough energy to take care of my own aging dogs, but not enough to rescue other animals. I've got just enough imagination to fix things around the house, but not enough to actually invent anything. I've got just enough tenacity to continue writing this blog everyday, but not enough to make documentary films anymore. I could go on and on. If you were to ask me how I'm doing these days, I'd probably answer "I get by."

Sometimes I think this state of affairs shows a serious lack of ambition on my part. At other times, I think being content with just enough is both practical and wise. Some of the most unhappy people I know are those who have overextended themselves and no longer have the resources to climb out of the hole they dug for themselves. You don't want to be a slacker though. I think the key to staying both productive and sane is to actually know what your limits are and never cross that invisible line.

I've started taking naps during the day when Dot gets me up in the middle of the night to change her bedding. It helps. An hour nap can make a big difference when you're up at 3 AM cleaning up poop. I no longer tell my clients when I'll have their projects finished. I just start at the beginning and methodically work my way towards the finish line. Artificial deadlines are stressful and I've discovered that my clients are still happy with how quickly I work. I no longer buy things using money I'll make next month. This had been a hard habit to break, but I'm a realist. My income fluctuates more than it used to and it's crazy to worry about how I'm going to pay for something I probably don't need anyway.

I got a check in the mail today, so I paid the electric and U-verse bills. Dash still seems to be having a problem with his right rear leg, so I made an appointment to take him to the vet tomorrow. I've examined the leg carefully and can't find anything wrong, but that doesn't mean there isn't a problem. Dash is a strange dog and the sporadic lameness could be anything. Hopefully the vet will be able to give me a better idea of what is going on.

I've been wondering why the Holly bushes in our yard don't have as many bright red berries as they used to. Now I know the answer. Squirrels eat them. This afternoon a watched a pair of squirrels pick the new green berries off a bush one by one and eat them like candy. They also eat the St. Augustine grass and dig unsightly hole int he ground to bury the acorns that have started falling from our three large Oak trees. These squirrels are destructive little rodents. I'm not a big fan of squirrels. Dot isn't a fan either and it really makes her mad that she no longer has the strength to chase them.

I've really grown find of my morning smoothies. I make them using a two raw eggs, a little half and half, three tablespoons of uncooked oatmeal, a whole peach, a half a dozen strawberries, a handful of blueberries, a banana, two scoops of vanilla ice cream, and a coffee cup full of ice cubes. Delicious! I could probably live on Vitamix smoothies and soup. The machine makes fabulous fresh soups too.

So there you have it. A good breakfast tomorrow and a good report from the vet about Dash and I'll be a happy camper. Well, I'll be happy enough anyway.

Lightning is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1973

I've got two very high maintenance dogs. I'm amazed at how long it's taking me to do all the dog related tasks that Janet and I typically share. Normally, she feeds them breakfast and I feed them dinner. She gives them their meds and I renew the prescriptions at the vet when necessary. She takes them out to poop at night while I get Dot's special bed prepared. There are many other little things like keeping a clean supply of Dash's protective socks and taking off Dot's Help 'Em Up Harness before she goes to bed at night, but you get the idea. Early mornings are pretty hectic, but once the dogs have finished their morning routine, which always seems to include barking at me while I eat my breakfast, they just go to sleep. As busy as I've become being the commensurate dog butler, there is still plenty of time to do everything I need to do while they are asleep.

There was plenty to keep me busy today. I finished another writing assignment, answered some perplexing website questions, and started a blog for one of my clients. No, I'm not writing the blog. I just got it started. It's time to send out my May invoices, but I'm going to wait until I finish my pile of articles. June is often a pretty lean month, so it seems like a good idea to augment my billings a bit this month in hopes of receiving a decent check next month. 

Dot was in a mood last night. She didn't want to get in her protected dog bed at all. She was like a little kid who'd decided that she was too old to sleep in a crib anymore. Dalmatians are incredibly stubborn. It's pointless to try to make them do things they don't want to do. I removed the special dog bed next to my own bed where she's been sleeping for the past several month and put a bunch of soft blankets in the hallway and bedroom instead. I gated the hallway where she stays when I leave the house, leaving the adjacent bedroom door open, and let her sleep wherever she wanted. When I went to bed, she was sleeping in the hallway, but when I woke the next morning, she was on a blanket right next to my side of the bed. None of this bothered Dash in the least. He just does what he always does, trying to hog as much of the bed as possible in hopes that I will sleep on the floor with Dot.

Surprisingly, we saw the sun today. It was actually a very nice day. Yesterday's rain cooled things down quite a bit and I didn't have to turn the air conditioner on all day. The crisp Spring air and blue skies definitely improved my mood and the dogs were clearly happier as well. It's all too good to last unfortunately. It's supposed to rain again tomorrow and Wednesday, with thunderstorms and more severe weather beginning on Thursday.

I had another banana/strawberry smoothie for breakfast and more soup made from refrigerator leftovers tonight. I'll probably go back to eating regular food tomorrow, because I've used up all the leftover vegetables. There are still more leftovers, but I can't really see making soup out of a leftover Italian pasta dish, or Jimmy Dean sausage patties.

I hope I get a good night's sleep tonight. My plan of sleeping in late every morning while Janet is away hasn't been working out very well. The dogs have other ideas.

Dodger is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1972

There's nothing like waking up to the sound of tornado warning sirens. The dogs and I were sleeping soundly when the sirens went off, but we got up quickly to see what was going on. The dogs know what these sirens mean by now, so they were both agitated and upset. They refused to go outside and pee and generally acted like the end of the world was near. Storm phobia didn't keep them from eating though. I don't think anything would keep them from eating.

When the warning sirens went off, the storm was still about ten or fifteen minutes away. This would have been a good time for them to do their business, but they just looked at me like I was crazy when I opened the back door. Since the weatherman on TV said the approaching storm might have 70 mile per hour winds, I thought I'd eat breakfast quickly in case the power went out. This was an excellent time to try a Vitamix smoothie. I dumped two raw eggs, a banana, four strawberries, a little heavy cream and one scoop of ice cream in the blender and turned it on. Delicious! I don't know why I haven't tried this before, because the Vitamix has been sitting on a kitchen shelf for months. There were no problems with my teeth either. I think I've found a new favorite breakfast.

There was a horrendous amount of heavy rain during the morning, but around 1 PM the skies cleared a bit and I was finally able to take the dogs on a walk. I was surprised that they didn't poop in the house, because they both refused to go outside while it was raining. Dot didn't walk very far, but Dash was ready to go the distance. He's still wearing his protective sock, but wet grass makes it fall off even more than usual. I have to keep a close eye on his rear leg while we are walking, or the sock will be gone for good. Since the little rubberized socks cost fifteen dollars for a pack or four, I can't afford to lose one every time we take a walk.

There's not much to do on stormy days like this. When the rain was really bad, I curled up with the dogs on a big blanket on the office floor and took a nap. The dogs are pack animals and this helps to keep them calm. I'm never opposed to a nap anyway. Later, when things calmed down, I wrote an article and made my to-do list for Monday a bit more manageable. Later in the day, I went up on the roof and tried to see if I could hook the pump up to automatically remove some of the water while it was still raining. This seldom works for very long, because the pump gets clogged with tree debris, but it was worth a try. Heavy rains like we had today can almost double the weight of the roof. This is not very good structurally, so I've got to continue trying to removing the water as quickly as I can.

I was so pleased with my banana and strawberry smoothie this morning that I decided to use the Vitamix again and make soup for dinner. I seldom read instructions or recipes, so sometimes my cooking experiments are delicious and other times they are terrible. Today, I just dumped all the leftover vegetables in the refrigerator into the blender and turned it on. Oops. I forgot that soup is supposed to be liquid and ended up making something very much like hummus instead. Rather than admit defeat, I just poured a cup of water into the mixture and ran the soup program on the Vitamix again. This time the results were delicious. I had created a thick, very savory soup that seemed like it might belong on the menu at a nice Thai or Indian restaurant. I doubt that I could ever recreate this dish, because I just dumped in a bunch of leftovers, but it sure was delicious. I think the main ingredients were spinach, carrots, an orange peel, fresh salsa, ground pepper, cream, green chilies, a little diced chicken, and of course a cup of water. The VItamix is super easy to clean too. You just put some hot soapy water in the container and run the cleaning cycle. One minute later you rinse the container out and you're done. This is my kind of cooking.

It looks like we're going to have stormy weather for the rest of the week. Not a problem. I've got lots of new articles to write, a dozen bananas, a tub of fresh strawberries, and a blender. We'll be fine.

Chief is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day