Day 3711

Dawn got her stitches out this morning. The vet examined her and said that all her wounds were healing nicely. We were worried that she might have an ear infection, since she keeps trying to scratch at her ear. It was probably just the stitches though. The ear looks fine. Hopefully, she feels more comfortable now. She had a lot of stitches.

I kept thinking it was Saturday today. Friday and Saturday seem virtually the same. I wrote a letter to my Luddite sister, took it to the post office, and then went to the grocery store to pick up some things for dinner. I'll go back to a different grocery store and do the same thing tomorrow. Maybe that's why it felt like Saturday.

I wish I had more of the silicon material. This would have been a good day to re-coat the entire area above where the leak appeared. Unfortunately, there aren't many places that carry the special silicon coating. When I can't get the roofer to give me some, I usually have to special order the stuff. Janet wants me to hurry up and put on a new roof, but all the bids I've gotten so far leave a lot to be desired. Most roofers don't have a good plan for adding a slope to the roof and I don't want to pay a lot for a new roof that is still going to have standing water after every rain. Basically it's all a complicated mess.

The weather looks like it is getting better. Maybe I'll get a chance to schedule a night at the little observatory north of town after all. I'd really like a refresher course on Winter galaxies before I leave for McDonald Observatory. It might be nice to know how to correctly set up an equatorial mount telescope in a hurry as well. I want to be familiar with the night sky and learn how to find objects quickly before I start helping with star parties. Basically, I just don't want to look like an idiot.

Dawn is a smart dog. She's only had a few walks and she already knows the way home. It was fun watching her lead the way home. She knows exactly where our house is now and goes straight to the back gate. She seems to know where the vet is too. She was shaking and shivering in the car on the way to the vet this morning, but was very calm and went to sleep on the way home.

My seasonal allergies are terrible this year. I've had watering eyes and a runny nose for weeks now. It seems like the allergy season starts a little earlier with each passing year. I shouldn't be having Spring allergies until it is actually Spring. Today was nice, but it is definitely still Winter. I wish this would stop. I'm running through a lot of Kleenex.

I don't know what I'm going to do tomorrow. I've finished my Solar Orbiter article and received an acknowledgment that it will be published. I've sent my best pictures to the magazine. Dawn is getting better and doesn't need as much supervision. It's too early to pack for the observatory as well. Dawn is scared of loud noises, so I'm definitely not going to vacuum. Sounds like a day for a long walk.

Lizzy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1913

Dot got her stitches out today. The neurologist was very pleased with her progress but said that Dot was a little too active for this stage of her recovery. Evidently, during her exam she got up and started walking around the exam room on her own. We were told again that it is very important to keep Dot quiet for the next month while her body recovers from the surgery. We are never to let her wander around the house on her own. She should be confined whenever we have to leave the house, and if she gets too excited or agitated, we are to give her a sedative.

The doctor agreed that it wasn't a good idea to crate her if Dot doesn't have room to do change positions easily. She could hurt her spine if she got stuck in a twisted  position. Dot is supposed to rest in the crate, not struggle. So far, the gated hallway seems like the best solution. Dot is very peaceful here as long as I am in the house. If I leave, she becomes frantic and starts barking though. This is why the doctor thinks we might need to sedate Dot occasionally when we have to leave, so there are no separation anxiety panic attacks. This is going to be a very long couple of months.

Since Janet had to be gone for much of the day and I didn't have any deadlines to meet, I thought I'd try to get a couple of vintage watches running again. I think I've lost my touch. I didn't break anything, but I didn't have a lot of success either. Watches, like most mechanical things, need to be used. I've let my collection gather dust for far too long and many watches have stopped running. I could never afford to get them all professionally serviced, so this is is another ashes-to-ashes, dust-to-dust situation. Three old watches are ticking again however, so the afternoon wasn't a total loss.

I called the appliance repair company and convinced them to come out tomorrow and fix the dryer. I had to do this when the washing machine broke too. The repairmen will make no promises whatsoever. They just say they'll return with the part as soon as they can. If you don't call the main office and demand a speedy, expedited repair, you could end up waiting for weeks. I hate this "squeaky wheel" principle, but sometimes it's the only option you have.

Based on what I've observed this week, I'm dreading when Janet returns to work on Monday. There are hundreds of ways that Dot could hurt herself in our house, and she's not going to be content to sit in a small pen all day. She still has to go outside to pee a lot because of the prednisolone she's taking, and after about two hours of bed rest, she gets agitated and wants to move around. If Dash starts barking, she immediately starts barking too. Dalmatians aren't calm dogs by nature. I don't think bed rest is in their vocabulary.

I'm looking forward to getting out of the house for breakfast tomorrow morning. Janet will look after Dot while I'm away and then we'll trade places. This works pretty well. We'll see how it works when I'm on my own.

Lance is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1912

I threw a load of laundry in the dryer this morning and got an error message. The dryer is broken. It runs for about five seconds and then shuts off. Too bad this malfunction didn't occur a month ago when I had the appliance repairman out to the house to fix the washing machine. I could have gotten both of these unreliable appliances fixed at the same time. Life was simpler when our machines were mechanical. Mechanical things usually give you a warning before they fail. You would typically hear odd squeaks and rattles that weren't there before. These early warning signs have saved me many times. Now when something goes wrong, you just get a cryptic error message on a circuit board. Usually these messages mean that the circuit board itself has gone bad.

I managed to get a repairmen out this afternoon, but the dryer is still not working. These repairs are a two step process now. The repairman comes out to assess the situation. Then he almost always has to order a part and returns to fix the machine a week or so later. Since I am obsessed with doing laundry, this is a real inconvenience. I hate going to the laundromat, but what choice do I have? I took the wet clothes out of the dryer, gathered up a pile of quarters, and went to the laundromat to dry them off while Janet watched Dot.

While I was waiting for the clothes to dry, I drove to a nearby Home Depot and got a gallon of elastomer to patch the roof with. I could have called the roofers, but lord know when they would have gotten around to fixing things. I'm really tired of things breaking, but seem powerless to stop these mishaps. At least the car didn't break down while I was running errands this afternoon. Janet thought it would be easier to just buy a new dryer, but I remembered how much trouble it was to get the one we have into the utility room in the first place. You have to carefully measure each appliance to make sure it will fit in the small allotted space and then when the machine arrives, you have to completely take the door off the utility room, because it is such a tight fit. Apparently the washer and dryer we bought aren't very reliable, but at least they fit in the room.

The hospital called today to remind us of Dot's appointment to have her sutures removed tomorrow. I had carefully written the date down in my iCal calendar when Dot was initially released from the hospital, but somehow I got the time wrong. Why do I do this so often? I'm glad we got a reminder, because we would have been late otherwise. Hopefully Dot will feel a little better once her stitches are out.

Janet wanted to test our safe space for Dot by leaving the house for a short time and watching her on the baby monitor. She was resting peacefully when we left, but as soon as she heard the car start, she sat up in her pen and began barking frantically. We only drove around the block, but I didn't have the heart to go further. Dot is stubborn. She would have continued barking until she wore herself out. So much for any plans to leave the house. I will have to think of a Plan-B, because once that Janet returns to work, it will be impossible for me to stay in the house continually.

Jeez, I must have fallen asleep with a finger on the return key while I was writing this, because I just had to remove what seemed like a mile of line break tags from the blog's HTML. Oh, well. I'm awake now and Dot gets her stitches out in the morning. There's something to be said for that. I hope the dryer gets fixed soon. You definitely don't want to listen to me talking about dirty laundry for the next week.

Tyson is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1911

It was still dismal and grey today, but thankfully, the rain appears to have moved elsewhere. Drier skies meant that it was much easier to take Dot outside and Dash got to enjoy his normal walks again. There were still muddy shoes and even muddier paws at the end of these walks, but a little mud is nothing when the alternative is getting soaking wet.

Since things are starting to dry out, it was a good day to get the water off the roof. When I removed this week's standing water, I was appalled to discover two spots that already looked like they needed to be patched. I shouldn't have to patch anything yet, since the current roof is relatively new. As soon as the roof is completely dry, I'll call the roofers to come take a look. They should just give me a big can of the epoxy material they use to coat the top layer. I really wouldn't mind patching things myself, since I'm up on the roof so much anyway. At least if I did the repairs myself, I'd know the job was done right.

Since I'm more or less caught up with website work for the moment, I used the day to write. I got a lot done, but what I really wanted to do was sleep. Although reducing Dot's prednisolone dose yesterday was  supposed to make her pee less frequently, I haven't noticed any immediate changes. I still had to get up twice last night to take Dot outside. The second time I took her out, she didn't want to go back in her crate, so I just pulled out a blanket and went to sleep on the floor next to her. It was almost morning by then anyway, but I sure could have used a couple of more hours of shut eye.

At some point during the morning, I noticed that the metal staples holding Dot's incision together felt hot. I was initially alarmed and then I realized that Dot had been sleeping next to a heater vent. One more thing to watch out for. Dot has always liked sleeping near the heater vents in the floor during the Winter, but that's not a good idea when she's got metal staples in her back. Luckily, the staples come out later this week. Having her sutures removed will be Dot's first post-surgery milestone. I doubt that getting her stitches out will make Dot walk any better, but it still seems like progress.

I called my broker today to ask why I hadn't received my tax reporting statement yet and he told me that the statement had been available online for several weeks now. Damn. One more company to deal with that wants to go paperless. I hate this movement to go paperless. It's much easier to organize a stack of papers in file folders than it is to download and print out PDF files. I've noticed lately that when I renew subscriptions to trade magazines, they ask whether I'd like to receive a printed or electronic copy. I always check the box to get the printed copy. A real magazine makes good bathroom reading. A PDF file is just a nuisance.

So far, the weather looks good for the rest of the week. I wish I could get a sleep forecast that looked good for the rest of the week. I've never had kids, but this must be what it's like to have a baby. A solid eight hours of sleep never looked so good.

Ely is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1535

Dash is back home again. After all he's been through this week, he's acting amazingly normal. Too normal perhaps. When the cancer center released him late this afternoon, the doctors gave us a predicable speech about things dogs should never do right after surgery. They shouldn't jump up on the kitchen counters. They shouldn't race around the back yard like a maniac. They shouldn't hop up on the bed or the furniture. They shouldn't shake their head violently like dogs typically do when they get wet. As you might expect, it didn't take Dash ten minutes to violate all these rules once we had returned home again. He's a Dalmatian, after all. I have to keep him on a leash, even in the back yard, for the next several days. Even restrained on a leash with his special new harness, it didn't take Dash two minutes to find a dead bird in our backyard.

One of the hardest things in the days ahead will be keeping Dash from scratching at his incision with his hind legs. The surgeon did such a good job of sewing him up again, that it's hard to tell that Dash has a long incision running the length of his neck. We can't use the cone of shame, or other common way of protecting the neck, because it would rub against the incision. He's not supposed to have anything touching his neck while the wound heals. Luckily, he's not one of those dogs that is obsessed with pulling his stitches out. If I watch him carefully, I think everything will be OK.

We should have the pathology report within the next five days, and that will determine what happens next. For now, it's just nice to have our little guy back home again. I won't be going out to the breakfast restaurant tomorrow morning. I won't be going anywhere actually. Janet and I will coordinate our schedules so that one of us is home at all times. This essentially means that I will be housebound for a while. It's not that big a deal. This is more or less how I live anyway.

I got a jury summons in the mail today. It's a nuisance getting selected for jury duty. I never get picked to sit on a panel, but I've got to go downtown and spend the day sitting in the jury pool room anyway. Lawyers just don't seem to want me on their juries. I would think that after years of sitting in the jury pool room reading old magazines, I would become exempt from jury duty at some point. That's not how the system works though. You never know. One of these days, some lawyer just might want an unpredictable, opinionated writer on their jury.

Tomorrow will be so busy that I probably won't even notice not leaving the house. There's still lots of work to do. The tree trimmers are coming tomorrow too. Ordinarily, something like this might upset the dogs, but Dot doesn't hear too well anymore and she'll probably sleep through the whole thing. Dash was never bothered by workmen in the yard anyway.

Dash should get a little better with each passing day. FedEx delivered a brand new supply of Hepatitis-C pills this morning. There's food in the refrigerator and plenty of work to keep me busy. Life is good.

Princess is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day