Day 4400

Every 100 days I feel a little closer to my goal. Only 600 days left. As daily blog entries go, today was a good one. We met Jack this afternoon at the Dalmatian kennel. What a wonderful dog. Jack is good looking, has a great personality, and is smart as a whip. Janet and I had fun trying out different commands with him. He knew everything. Jack can sit, stay, lie down, and give you a high five with his paw. He comes to his name when he is called and even heels on a leash remarkably well. We couldn't think of anything he didn't already know. I would have loved to take Jack home myself, but we don't have the energy or the money for more than one dog anymore. Jack is definitely a keeper though. I'm sure he will find a fabulous forever home.

Today was pretty busy. In addition to visiting with Jack, Charlie, and Oliver, I finally took the Christmas stuff back to the storage warehouse and picked up a few things I forgot on Saturday at the grocery store. Dawn got a nice sunrise walk and it wasn't even terribly cold this morning. I should have quit while I was ahead on the walking front, but I stubbornly took my long walk anyway after we returned from the kennel. My feet weren't being cooperative today and it was pretty windy as well. Not a very enjoyable walk, but I did manage to get 20,000 steps.

I did absolutely nothing with the star tracker today. I need a rest. If I was really ambitious I could have taken it outside tonight and tried to actually track something. It was a clear night so it might have worked. I find it difficult to do more than one thing in an evening though, and usually that thing is writing the blog. When I'm out at the observatory it's worth staying up really late to write the blog after my stargazing is finished. Not here in Dallas. The light pollution makes the viewing experience so miserable that it's not even worth the trouble to go outside. I'm sure I'll use the star tracker and eventually take many more pictures of the night sky. There is no hurry though. One thing at a time is my motto.

A guy wrote me out of the blue today and said he'd like to buy our house if we ever decided to sell. Strangely, this happens every five or six years. These people aren't your normal real estate investors. They are architecture buffs who already seem to know a lot about the house and its semi-famous architect. Janet and I have no interest in selling, but it's nice to know that there are people out there who are actually interested in preserving the house instead of scraping it so they could build another ugly McMansion. Dallas as a city had no respect for architecture at all. A lot of really nice examples of mid-fifties houses and commercial buildings have already been torn down.

I'm not sure what I'm going to do tomorrow. If I hadn't already been to the orthopedic surgeon twice about my feet, I'd make an appointment. There really isn't a lot I can do about the foot pain. Bone on bone contact is always going to hurt. I could take steroid shots which a terrible thing to do long term, or I could try a wide variety of pain killers. I'm not a fan of pain killers. Some pills are fine. Taking Benicar to lower your blood pressure is fine. Taking Metformin to lower your A1C is fine. I'm not to sure about pills that just mask a condition rather than actually changing anything. A little pain is useful to show you your limits.

Dawn is back to normal now. We may never know what she ate that gave her diarrhea, but we're going to be watching her more closely now. There's way too much poop from a wide variety of animals to tempt her in the park.

Dolly is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3229

I didn't even try to go back to sleep after cleaning up the mess Dash made in the bed last night. There's nothing like cleaning up poop in the middle of the night to wake you up in a hurry. I got dressed and went outside to look at the stars for a while. Orion was rising in the East and there was a gibbous moon overhead. It's peaceful at 3 AM, but there was still too much light pollution to see very much. I returned to the house, brewed some coffee and watched TV while doing several loads of wash. Needless to say, I was tired for the rest of the day.

The weather remains beautiful. Dash, who went back to sleep immediately after his accident in the bed, woke up rested and was ready for a walk. This time I was the one who was walking slow. We took our time and returned just in time for breakfast. I'll probably never get to sleep tonight because I followed my middle of the night coffee with even more coffee.

On the way to the grocery store I stopped by the new storage warehouse and made arrangements for a move in early November. I'm going to have to rent a truck because it will take forever to move everything in the car. It still seems like a good idea to hire someone to help me with the move, but I'm not sure who to call. I have a feeling that I'll just end up moving everything myself.

After making sure that Dash ate his lunch and had gone outside to pee, I returned to the old storage warehouse to continue my efforts to thin things out before the big move. I found some things that I could donate to an animal charity and filled the car again. I continue to be amazed that my efforts are having such a small impact. The warehouse still looks pretty full.

When I dropped my items off, the organization was having a volunteer appreciation party. Technically I'm still a volunteer, even though I haven't done much lately. I hung around for a while and helped folks clean up. I wish I'd come a little earlier, since the food truck was just leaving as I arrived. The volunteers were eating some delicious looking sliders.

Today would have been a good day to wash the car or remove the water from the roof. I was too tired to do either. Hey, at least I got something done. Thirty more days like this and the warehouse will be empty. There are a bunch of old typewriters in the warehouse, so I looked online to see if people collected these things. Yep. Tom Hanks is an avid collector of old manual typewriters and apparently so are a lot of other people. There are several websites for collectors where people buy and sell these machines. Now there is one more category of things I can consign and try to get rid of.

I don't know what to do about Dash's incontinence. He can't wear diapers and he never stays in one place at night. Often his efforts to get up and move to a new position are what causes him to poop in the first place. Dot's incontinence was a piece of cake compared to Dash. Dot would stay in one place all night, so it was much easier to protect the house.

I shouldn't have any problems getting to sleep tonight. I'm exhausted. None of this makes any difference to Dash. Lord know what he has planned for me tonight.

Dash is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2652

Maybe I should start shopping on Sunday. There were no blueberries yesterday, so I went back to look for some this morning. The entire produce section had been restocked and everything looked much fresher. I got the blueberries I wanted and kind of wished that I'd waited until today to get the strawberries too.

I mowed the lawn for the first time in 2017. Like it or not, Summer is on its way. Every time I get the lawn mower out for a new season of cutting the grass, it seems heavier and more cumbersome than the year before. I wonder how many more years I can continue doing this. Eventually, I'll probably have to start using a lawn service like everyone else in the neighborhood. If the yard was flat it wouldn't be a bit deal. The hills are starting to be a problem. I've grown to hate pushing the mower up the hill in the front yard.

When I walked Dash this morning I saw the coyote again. I was surprised that the coyote was out in the open so late in the day. We got a late start this morning and I didn't walk Dash until after 9 AM. Several neighbors say they've seen two coyotes together. This probably means there is a den and cubs nearby. I probably should worry more about snakes than the coyotes. It is getting warm enough that the snakes are starting to emerge as well. I've learned to avoid the areas where snakes are abundant, but the coyote seems to like the same part of the park that Dash does. We see it frequently now.

This was another day when I was already tired before I even made it to the gym. I went anyway though. If I only went to the gym when I was feeling fresh and energetic, I'd probably never go at all. Since it was a nice Spring day, the gym was virtually empty. I like it this way, because there is seldom anyone using the basketball court. Midway through my workout it occurred to me that I might have left a gate open when I took the lawn mower back to the greenhouse. I always worry about the accidental open gate, because it wouldn't take Dash long to discover it. I called Janet and I guess I secured the gate after all. My memory is really getting bad.

We decided to walk Dot at sunset today, so she wouldn't get so hot. This worked out well. She actually seemed to have more energy than I thought she would. I guess sunset walks are going to be our new routine as the weather continues to grow warmer. This isn't the most convenient time of day for me, but it's easy enough to rearrange my schedule. I wonder why I even bother with a schedule anymore. It's become pretty clear that it doesn't really matter when I do things, or even if I do things.

I had to get up early this morning to take Dot out to pee. The sky was still dark, so after I took Dot back to her bed, I went outside again and looked at the stars. I enjoy stargazing, although it sure would be nice if the sky over our yard wasn't a solid canopy of trees. Despite the partially obscured view, I spotted Saturn to the left of the moon and Jupiter low on the western horizon. I could easily see four of Jupiter's moons through the binoculars, but I had trouble seeing Saturn's rings. Maybe sometime soon I'll have the time and energy to get the telescope out. I could easily see Saturn's rings through the telescope.

The only thing on my plate next week is a trip to the dentist. I'm not looking forward to that.

Pringles is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2648

I finally started working on my taxes today. You'd think that Quickbooks would make this process super easy, especially since I've got all my expenses categorized already. Nope. I quickly learned that if you want to save time, you have to put things in the right categories in the first place. I hate all those Quickbooks drop down menus. I frequently click on the wrong thing. When I couldn't find something today, it was almost always because I'd inadvertently clicked on the wrong menu item. I found car insurance payments filed under utility bills. I found office supplies filed under lawn care. All the information was there, but some of it was definitely misplaced. I think I fixed most of the errors, but it would have been a lot better if I never made them in the first place. My accountant thinks I've defined way too many categories in my Quickbooks files. I think the categories are fine. I just need to pay more attention when I'm doing my bookkeeping.

I didn't get a lot accomplished today. I paid a few bills and went to the pharmacy to pick up a prescription, but I've still got more work to do on my tax files before I can drop them off at the accountant. The most discouraging thing about doing my taxes is realizing that each year I'm making a little less that I did the previous year. If your lifetime earnings are like a Bell Curve, I'm definitely on the downhill slope. They say your expenses go down and you can live on less as you grow older. I haven't seen that yet.

I'm starting to wonder why all the calls on my caller ID say "unknown caller." Isn't the whole point of having caller ID to identify who is calling you? Telemarketers must be able to hide their identity by paying a special fee. Just about all the calls I get on my land line these days just say "Unknown" or "Unknown Caller." I'm sure AT&T doesn't care. They probably love telemarketers because they make a lot of calls. The post office is the same way. I remember telling my mail carrier that he could just throw away the junk mail if he wanted. I certainly didn't want it. "I can't do that," he told me, "because somebody has already paid for me to deliver it to you."

Dot was panting a lot early this evening. Janet thought she was in pain. I thought she needed to poop. About five minutes later, Dot did poop and the panting stopped. Was I right? I have no idea. She's not pooping quite as often now, so maybe this is becoming difficult for her. I guess the point is that it is often difficult to tell if a dog is in pain. Dogs hide their discomfort well and they don't talk. I try my best to keep Dot comfortable, but I'm not sure if I'm succeeding. I'm still convinced that Dot likes her walks, but she walks so slowly now that maybe the walks are painful. Often Dot is frustrated by her lack of mobility, but frustration and pain are two different things. The problem is that it's hard to tell the difference. The oncologist will give us another evaluation this Friday. I'm not even sure if these monthly cancer rechecks mean much at this point.

The sky is clear tonight and I'm thinking of going out stargazing. Too bad there is so much light pollution. You can't see anything but the brightest stars from our backyard. There are places in the park where the sky is darker, but I'm not so sure about hiking through the park after dark. The coyotes are out. The Bobcats are out. The drug dealers are out. There are lots of places to trip in the dark and sprain my ankle. Maybe I'll just go out in the back yard.

Carmine is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2635

I picked up a better pair of binoculars today. I'd like to spend some more time stargazing, but I hate the idea of dragging a telescope down to the park at night. Binoculars seemed like a good compromise. Our yard is worthless for observing anything. There are streetlights and lots of car headlights that spoil the view in the front yard and a bright security light in the backyard. The large oak trees almost totally block the sky anyway. Tonight wasn't ideal for viewing since there were a lot of high clouds, but the Moon and Venus looked spectacular.

Today was a busy day. I took Dash to the vet in the morning to get his anal glands expressed and drove over to the UPS customer service center to get the binoculars as soon as I got him home again. Dash seems to need to get his anal glands expressed every two weeks. They get full and make him uncomfortable and then he wakes us up during the night licking his butt. Oddly, Dot never needs to get her anal glands expressed, even though they both eat the same food. Since Dash was much calmer than normal during his exam, I had the nurse take his blood pressure again. This time it was normal. I need to remember to send these results to the cancer center, so they won't waste a lot of time trying to get a blood pressure reading when he's stressed out.

I'm getting better at planning my trips away from the house. Since I ran all my errands in the morning, Dot was still sleeping when I returned. Dot is usually restless in the afternoon, so I try to let her sleep as long as she can. Since her morning nap is a little longer than she can typically hold her bladder, it's always a little dicey when I wake her up for lunch. Sometimes we make it outside to pee and other times we don't.

Considering the amount of time I spent running errands, I still managed to get quite a few website updates completed. There is a new article I need to write tomorrow as well, so maybe things are looking up. I wish my work was more interesting, but at least it's a change of pace from holding up Dot's rear legs all afternoon. Sometimes I wonder if I'll ever get a challenging project again, but I'm not  complaining. Even mindless work allows me to pretend that I'm not really retired.

When I took the trash out to the curb this evening, it seemed like I've been following the same routines forever. Every day I find myself doing things that I've been doing for decades. I take a picture for the blog. I walk the dogs. I try to do something that is billable. Pick a year. It's all basically the same. Maybe I'll look for a brand new restaurant tomorrow. There's bound to be some place nearby that I've never tried at all. The food might not be good, but I'm not sure it even matters. I need to do something different. I have a feeling that even a small symbolic gesture would be beneficial at this point.

Tucker is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day