Day 3345

Dash wouldn't walk this morning. I thought he'd be eager to get outside since the weather was nicer than yesterday. I even saw the sun and a few patches of blue sky for a while. Evidently Dash wasn't impressed by the weather. Before we'd even made it to the end of our street, he turned around and came home. He must have been feeling bad this morning, because he immediately went to sleep as soon as we returned to the house.

There was a post card in the mail this morning saying that there was an attempt to deliver a package and that I was to call the number on the card immediately. This was an obvious scam. The card didn't come from UPS, Fedex, the Post Office, or Amazon. I hadn't ordered anything either. Who were these people trying to fool? I put the card in the shredder, but there will probably be more dubious mail tomorrow. I feel like I'm under siege lately. Most of the mail that arrives at the house is junk. The phone is even worse. They say that 50% of all phone calls are telemarketers now. At my house the figure would be more like 90%. I really feel like the phone company should be paying me to put up with this nonsense. The telemarketing calls start earlier and last longer now too. We occasionally get them after we've gone to bed. I have Nomorobo installed on my phone and still way too many of these junk calls get through.

If we're going to build a wall, we ought to build some sort of electronic wall to stop these irritating intrusions once and for all. Stopping telemarketers might be the one thing that Democrats and Republicans could actually agree on. I wonder why telemarketers even bother. Few people even answer their phone these days. If you don't send them a text, you'll never get an answer.

Don't even get me started about Spam. Luckily my hosting company has a very good Spam filter, so I don't see most of it. Occasionally, I empty the Spam folder on the mail server and I'm always shocked at how many messages there are. Usually there are thousands of them.

Early this afternoon Dash seemed to have recovered and we took a nice walk. It doesn't really matter when Dash feels like walking. I've always got the time. I think it's great that he still has the desire to do things. Sometimes he has more desire than I do. Dash tires very easily and sleeps a lot, but when he's ready to go, we go.

I'd like to think the sunshine I saw today was a hopeful sign. Unfortunately, there are thunderstorms in the forecast for Friday. At least our weather isn't quite as bad as last February. If I remember correctly, it rained all month. The rainy season will be over eventually. The wildflowers will return. They won't last long though. When Summer arrives I'll be thinking that all this February rain was just an illusion.

Odie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3200

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

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

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

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

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

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

Spanky is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2473

The trouble with credit cards is that a month or so after you buy something, you actually have to pay for it. I feel poor today, because in addition to the usual charges for gasoline, groceries, prescription medicine, and miscellaneous junk I thought I needed at Home Depot, there was the humongous yearly rent for my storage warehouse on the latest credit card bill. So why didn't I write a check for the rent when it was due? Well, it was just easier to postpone the pain until next month. It can be confusing paying for things that you've already forgotten about buying using money that you've already forgotten about earning. I delay paying my bills as long as I can and my clients delay paying me as long as they can. The net result is that there is no cause and effect anymore. It just feels like I'm broke all the time.

I watched a crew pouring concrete in the park while I was walking Dash this morning. I've been watching this sidewalk being constructed for three months now. The crew would grade a path with a bulldozer and then put wooden forms and re-bar in place so the concrete could be poured. They did this three separate times this Summer until they were apparently satisfied with their work this morning. I asked one of the guys whey they kept tearing up their work and starting over? They said their previous efforts weren't up to code because the grade was too steep. This was a bike path, mind you. The city could have saved a ton of money if they just let the cyclists pedal a little harder. The city probably had some rule that said that no bike path could have more than a ten percent grade. If someone created a path with a twelve percent grade, they had to start over. It all seems silly to me.

I finished writing my latest article and once again had difficulty sending it to my client. It appears that their IT department wasn't able to Whitelist me after all. I keep getting identified as a spammer, even though I've never sent spam in my life. These difficulties make me wish I had my old private ISP back. I never used to have these problems until I moved to a large ISP with thousands of servers. My little local ISP stayed under the radar until the owner retired and shut down the company, forcing me to go somewhere else. Once again, the old days were better.

My bananas were still green this morning, so I went to the store and got some ripe ones. I never realized that bananas were so cheap, since Janet usually picks them up. I got a pound of bananas for fifty cents. On the way home I stopped to pick up some Chinese take-out for dinner and they said they were out of the Thai noodle dish I had ordered online. I'm easy. I just asked what they had that was real spicy and substituted something else. Anything to avoid cooking is fine by me.

Dot seemed to enjoy not having to go to physical therapy. Her limp is a little better, but she is still pretty shaky. For the second day in a row, she made a mess and pooped all over her special harness. We have a spare harness now for these occasions. I felt like taking her outside and cleaning her with the garden hose, but she hates this, so I cleaned her up with warm wet towels instead. Dot is as sweet as she can be, but she wears me out.

Tomorrow is the first day of Fall. It certainly doesn't feel like Fall yet. It has been unseasonably hot all week. I can tell the seasons are changing though, because the days are getting shorter. I saw Orion in the pre-dawn sky as we walked Dot and Dash around the block this morning. Pretty soon it will be even darker. I won't miss the hot weather as Winter approaches, but I will miss the sunlight. I do better with lots of sunlight.

Rowe is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2461

The day didn't start auspiciously. We weren't able to get Dot outside quickly enough and she peed on one of the large rugs again. In an effort to get the dogs walked before Janet had to go to work, I didn't make the bed, and of course that's where Dash hopped with muddy paws as soon as we got home. As soon as one of the soiled rugs came out of the washer, the sheets went in.

I shouldn't have bothered to go out for breakfast,  By the time I got finished taking Dash on a second longer walk, it was already too late. The sweet spot where the restaurant was relatively empty was over and I was forced to eat with a large crowd who had pushed several tables together for an impromptu business meeting. I keep changing destinations, but I can't seem to bring back the old magic. Eating out on Friday morning just isn't as much fun as it used to be.

I worked on a writing assignment today, but I had trouble getting the finished piece to its destination because the client's anti-spam software kept blocking me. This is especially irritating, because although I'm on the receiving end of a lot of spam, I'm definitely not a spammer myself. Apparently, the Securence anti-spam service the client uses really doesn't like Bluehost, where I have my e-mail account. Good grief guys, Bluehost is a large, reputable company with millions of customers. Somebody in the client's IT department needs to figure out a way to Whitelist me. It's hard enough doing these assignments, without having to jump through hoops to get them where they need to go.

Dot was restless today. It seems like I spent half the day helping her walk back and forth to her water bowl. She'd want to go outside and then as soon as I got her out on the back porch, she'd want to come back in again. We did this over and over again. I can tell that her lack of mobility is frustrating for Dot, but I don't know what to do about it. Like it or not, if she's going to go anywhere, she's going to need me to be her back legs.

The trash truck picked up my garbage this morning, but it didn't do so well with my neighbor's garbage. The robotic arm that picks up the cans must have malfunctioned, because it ended up dumping their garbage all over their front lawn. The truck didn't even bother to stop and try again, because the garbage was still there the last time I looked. The city should go back to the old way of picking up trash. More people will be employed and grumpy homeowners like me will be a lot happier.

The new Apple Watch has built in GPS and the new iPhone 7 has a much better camera. Why does Apple keep doing this to me? I have way too much Apple stuff already, and now I wish I had these two newcomers as well. Do I actually need a new phone? Of course not. Now that I've found a place that will replace my phone batteries for a reasonable price, I might never need a new phone.

What I do need is more sleep. Janet can't get Dot to pee at night, so I have to take her outside an hour after everyone else has gone to sleep. I'm usually the one who wakes up in the middle of the night to clean up her poop too. It's wearing me out. My fitness tracker says I'm getting absolutely no deep sleep, but lots of REM sleep. I know I'm dreaming a lot, but ten seconds after I wake up, the dreams evaporate. I can't even remember whether they were good dreams or bad dreams. If the dreams are better than my day time existence, it would be nice if I remembered them.

Chief is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2404

Dot walked down to the end of our alley and back this morning. It was a very short walk, but it was a big step. We're making progress. She can support her weight on both front legs now and is able to walk slowly without an obvious limp. I know that Dot would like to walk further than the 300 hundred yard journey she took today, but she doesn't know her own limits. We're going to have to take this very slowly.

I finished my last writing assignment this morning and sent it off to the client. At least I think I sent it to the client. I'm still having e-mail problems. You'd think it would be easy for my hosting company to track down the spammer who is causing all the problems, but apparently not. It seems like they could just flag the high volume mail coming from the suspect IP address and see who was sending it. What do I know though. Maybe in today's politically correct environment, making an effort to track down the spammer  who is getting me blocked violates someone's privacy.

I continue to read articles about bee colonies disappearing around the world, along with an absence of birdsong in many forests. I'm sure this is true, but you'd never know it here. When I take Dash on his early morning walks, I am surrounded by a symphony of chirping birds and am amazed at all the bees I see busily pollinating flowers. Lake levels are high, ducks are having ducklings, and the tall prairie grass provides a home for tons of small animals. The world may be falling apart, but it is comforting to know that my little corner of it appears to be doing just fine.

Maybe this is why I stick close to home these days. Many of the places I used to visit seem like they belong in a horror movie now. I've been to Nice. It's a lovely city. Never in my wildest dreams would I have imagined that a terrorist attack would someday turn this picturesque French Riviera town into a kill zone tonight. This is only going to get worse unless we can acknowledge what is really happening. There is a war going on between Western Civilization and a medieval religion. Only one side can win. It's not just a few bad apples who are causing all these problems, it's an ideology.

I'm glad this week is almost over. It's been stressful dealing with Dot's latest mishap. I understand how frail Dot has become and worry that if I let her fall or do something wrong, she might never walk again. So far, we're making progress, but it isn't easy. I hope my e-mail problems get resolved soon. Clients typically aren't very patient and if it isn't easy to communicate with them, they just might go somewhere else. I'm not a spammer. I don't think it's fair that I suffer the consequences when someone using the same IP address is. When I asked my hosting company how many of their customers might currently be using the suspect IP address, they said it could be in the thousands. Hey, that's not my problem. They still should fix this. If I had a larger audience I would call them out, but I don't think they're very scared of my ten readers.

I've got to have a fasting blood test before I can go to breakfast tomorrow. I should have done this two months ago, but it hasn't been a priority. I've had so much blood work done over the years that I don't think I'm going to learn anything new. My doctor still likes to do these tests at least once a year, so I guess tomorrow is as good a day as any.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day