Day 3073

Today was slow. Who am I kidding. Every day is slow. I did manage to finish updating an animal rescue website today, but for the most part, the day was almost identical to yesterday. We completed our walk this morning without losing a shoe. Maybe I'm getting better at attaching Dash's boots, but it was probably just luck. I used a fitness app on my phone this morning to see how far we actually traveled and it told me I was on pace to run a 35 minute mile. Dash and I are really slow.

After breakfast, I watched the new episode of The Expanse that I recorded yesterday. For the first time since the series started, I was disappointed. They skipped way ahead from the previous episode to move the story arc forward. It was disorienting to see different characters doing different things with very little continuity. It was almost like the show runner knew how he wanted the series to end and was trying to cram four seasons into three. It's too bad if this is the case. This show deserves at least four seasons.

There were a bunch of calls I should have made today and I didn't make any of them. I'm tired of bothering the roofer and the landscaper every single day. I don't even think it helps. Sometimes being the squeaky wheel does more harm than good. There are also a couple of website projects on the back burner that I need to follow up on. I'm reluctant to push too hard to get these jobs because I honestly don't think a website is going to change things for either of these people. They've got bigger problems than their online profile. I'd love to have some additional work, but I hate to overpromise. A good website can't fix everything.

It's going to be a long, hot summer if I can't come up with a better way to spend the ample amount of time I seem to have. Practicing the piano went nowhere. I haven't even looked at the keyboard in several weeks. My plan to upload hundreds of pictures to my stock photo site is languishing on the back burner too. I have some old images that I think might sell, but it's hard to get interested in these things. I keep coming up with excuses why the images wouldn't get accepted anyway. People are always saying that you need to follow your passion, but the truth is that I've never been passionate about anything. I've always preferred the term "dispassionate." Why has this emotion never gained popularity? A dispassionate person is always cool, calm and able to be rational and impartial in any situation. That's a good thing, isn't it?

I've taken the trash out to the curb, but I'm not really sure what's on the agenda for tomorrow. I don't feel like going out for breakfast and household chores don't sound very appealing either. Who knows. Maybe I'll wake up motivated. If I don't, I can always take a nap with Dash.

Ranger is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2158

Sometimes, you've got to be the squeaky wheel. When Dot pooped in her bed again last night and we still couldn't use the washing machine because of our ongoing plumbing problems, I'd had about as much as I could take. I called the president of the plumbing company and told him as politely as I could that waiting until Tuesday for a plumber simply wasn't acceptable. "Your ads say you guys are on call 24/7," I said. "So, what's with making us wait a week and a half to get this fixed?" When I started going on and on about living in a house full of dog poop without running water, the guy told me he would see what he could do. An hour later the plumbing company said they could have a plumber out early Friday morning. Friday was much better than next Tuesday, so I was happy that my little tirade had achieved its purpose. Another hour passed, and the plumbing company called again and said they'd have someone out this afternoon.

When the plumber arrived he asked me to turn on all the water in the kitchen and utility room to help him find the drain leak under the house. Simply turning on the faucet wasn't producing the desired results, so I filled the kitchen sink with water and then let it go down the drain all at once. Not a good idea! The sink wasn't draining. At that point, the dishwasher, which was also on, began to empty and the water had no place to go. A line broke under the sink and the kitchen was flooded with water. Luckily, there were two plumbers several feet away watching this new disaster unfold.

Eventually the leaking cast iron pipe under the house was replaced, the leak under the sink was repaired, and the entire drain line was snaked out. I ran a load of poopy dog blankets to test the system and nothing leaked.  I think we're back in business! The two plumbers were at the house the entire afternoon. Mercifully, Dot slept for the first three hours. When she eventually woke up, she made up for lost time and barked for the rest of the day. Despite all the barking, she didn't poop in the house again. I think this was because she had already pooped in the vet's lobby, right before she got in the underwater treadmill.

There is still a huge hole under the house and one of the loud dehumidifiers is still running in the living room, but I think we're making progress. The tunneling crew will come back tomorrow to backfill the tunnel, unless another leak appears while I'm taking a shower tonight. I think the old house is trying to tell me something. If houses had "use by" dates like milk, this house would have expired and gone sour by now. Don't let me ever buy a house with a flat roof and a slab foundation again.

Since fixing things was the theme for the day, I tried to fix some ad copy that my client wasn't too happy with yesterday. I also tried to fix the layout in my new mobile friendly website so the iPhone view didn't look so wonky. I tried to explain to the client that making the mobile friendly site look perfect on every available device just wasn't that easy. I told them that the site was a work in progress and it would gradually become more refined with each passing day. I think the plumber tried to explain to me that my house was a work in progress too. There was no way he could fix all my plumbing problems in a single day. Fair enough. There was no way I could pay for everything I need right now anyway. The important thing was that the two major leaks had been repaired. The toilets are working again and I can do the laundry. That's enough for one day.

Hopefully, there will be no surprises when the tunneling crew returns tomorrow. I've had enough surprises for an entire year.

Jade is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day