Day 3487

Some days are very uneventful. I had a different type of omelet this morning when I went out for breakfast at the new place in the neighborhood. For the second week in a row they gave me free juice. I like this place. There are lots of things to try on the menu, so this will probably be my go-to place for the rest of the summer. You can tell this is a neighborhood restaurant. There are lots of older customers and lots of young families. No singles at all.

I tried to take my first walk of the day before things got too hot. I guess I failed because I still came home drenched in sweat. There are sailing classes for kids on the lake during the summer. This morning I saw a small sailboat tipped over with other boats nearby. At first I thought this was an emergency, but several minutes later the boat was upright again. Then another boat tipped over and this one quickly became upright again as well. It finally dawned on me that the kids were being taught what to do in case their boat capsized when they were the only one on board. This would definitely be a good skill to learn.

The White Pelican has disappeared again, but I'm seeing a lot of Scissor-tailed Flycatchers lately. These birds are amazing to watch, making abrupt turns in the sky and even hovering like helicopters at times. When I see these birds I think I need to bring a better camera with me, but it is too hot for that. A heavy camera would just be an encumbrance. Did I tell you that I take most of my wildlife pictures in the winter.

The stock market set an all time high today. All three major indices closed at record levels. This is good news but it makes me a little nervous. Too many times in the past I have witnessed the market set a new record and then immediately go into a slump. I hope this won't happen again but I wouldn't be terribly surprised. It's all about fear and greed. If enough people get nervous they will take their money off the table.

On day like these when nothing is happening I charge batteries. It doesn't take long to find a piece of equipment with a dead battery in the office. I try to keep everything charged, but it's easy to forget about things. If you leave a battery uncharged for long enough it becomes useless and impossible to charge. It's a constant struggle. I thought I'd reached the end of the line with an old laptop I hadn't used in a while, but the battery light finally started glowing and by the end of the day the computer was fully charged again. I've given up on watch batteries. It's just too much trouble to keep a stock of weird little batteries and taking the back off some of these watches has become a giant pain. The watches need to go to auction. All you really need these days is a Fitbit.

I guess I'm not as patient as I thought I was. I keep wondering what my article will look like in the magazine, but I'm going to have to wait until mid-August to find out. Such a long time.

Winston is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3421

We enjoyed visiting with the rescue dogs this afternoon. We'd do this more often if it wasn't such a long drive. Some of the dogs were new and some we'd seen before. They were definitely all Dalmatians though. Although each had their own personality, they were all charming, full of energy, and eager to play.

I photographed the new dogs for the website and we played with the others. Several of the active dogs were obsessed with chasing a ball. A small, quiet one just wanted to crawl in your lap. It was good to be around Dalmatians again. The kennel staff was nice and let us stay as long as we wanted. I think we all knew that being around people was beneficial for the dogs.

Visiting the Dalmatians was the big event of the day. Everything else was pretty routine. I made my fruit smoothie and slowly drank it with a cup of coffee while watching the morning news. After I did the dishes and checked the mail, I took my morning walk. My allergies were worse today. It was a windy day and pollen was definitely blowing in from somewhere. The White Pelican is gone. My three mile route provides a good view of the lake and I couldn't find the bird anywhere. I did see a lot of turtles though.

The band on my Fitbit broke this morning. Luckily, you can buy replacement bands for these things. When the strap on my old Jawbone UP band broke, the whole thing was toast. I wish fitness trackers were more durable, but nothing is durable these days. My boots need to go to the shoe repair guy as well. I was pleased that the shoes don't hurt anymore, but the heels are already getting worn. Things just don't last very long when you're active.

It was weird that the stock market did pretty well yesterday and terrible today on exactly the same news. I wish people would hurry up and get all the China trade jitters out of their system. Maybe a few things get a little more expensive in the short term, but nothing is going to fundamentally change.  Tariffs don't worry me a lot. I get more concerned about headlines that say thousands of animal species will become extinct within 50 years. It's also a little troubling that NASA thinks the chances are good that an astroid could hit  Earth during our lifetime. I'm glad that I've lived most of my life in simpler times. Pick any scenario you want. The future just doesn't look that promising.

I almost got caught in a bad storm on my evening walk. It was sunny when I left the house, but the wind picked up quickly and I could tell that something was about to change. Pretty soon I saw very dark clouds to the West of me and it was easy to see that heavy rain was falling downtown. The park was full of joggers and dog walkers so I definitely wasn't the only one caught by surprise. I tried to pick up the pace a bit and managed to make it home again before the rain arrived.

Tonight's rain didn't really amount to much. It looks like we are going to get a lot more tomorrow though. What else is new. We've had a very wet Spring. Despite my watering eyes and runny nose, today was a good day. I hope all the dogs we saw today find great homes. They certainly deserve it.

Spot is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3290

The repairs failed. The roof is leaking again. I heard the familiar sound of water dripping on the brick floors around 3 AM this morning. While I was getting a bucket positioned under the leak, Dash woke up and proceeded to poop on the floor. By the time I finished cleaning everything up, it was hardly worth going back to bed.

This was all very very disappointing to say the least. The rain was pretty intense last night, but I genuinely expected the roofers patches to work. Everything looked pretty good before the rain started. To make matters worse, the pumps I'd placed on the roof weren't very effective either. I'd hoped that the two pumps would significantly reduce the volume of water on the roof during a storm, but they quickly became clogged with leaves and debris from the trees and the flow of water through the hose gradually slowed to a trickle. At least the rain is gone for now. The weather was clear and cold when we woke up this morning. Dash got a nice walk, although he stumbled a lot. He's stumbling more now and it worries me. After breakfast I went up on the roof and began sweeping the standing water away. I've been up on the roof way too often lately and every bone in my body aches. I'm used to the pain in my shoulders and wrists, but today it felt like I'd developed tennis elbow as well. I'm way too old for this.

The leak stopped within an hour after I removed all the standing water. I still don't know how it is getting inside. I called the roofers and they said they'd be back next week. This is getting very irritating. I'm genuinely tired of fixing things. Unfortunately, with an old house you are always fixing things.

At least I was able to talk with a technician who said he can fix my chair. Unfortunately, he isn't available until the week of January 7. I guess the trash can I've been placing under the chair to keep the back upright will work until then.

Clearing the roof was tiring and I didn't feel like doing anything else today. Some things couldn't be avoided unfortunately. It was time to vacuum water from under the shower stall with the wet/dry vac and there was a big pile of laundry to do. Eventually I decided that enough was enough and I took a long nap with Dash.

The market is still insanely volatile. Within an hour or two this afternoon there was an eight hundred point swing. The Dow went from being down 600 points to closing up over 200 points. Just like yesterday, there was no real news. I guess volatility is just a sign of the times.

Maybe tomorrow will be uneventful. I think I'll go back to the hotel for breakfast. That will be nice and calm, even if the market isn't.

Taylor is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3289

The rain is here. It's been pouring for hours now. There is thunder and lightning. The phones are beeping with flood alerts. Dash is scared and confused. He can't crawl under desks and tables anymore and I think he feels vulnerable. I feel a bit vulnerable as well, because I don't know if the roof is going to start leaking again.

I've done all I can. Before the rain started I went up and walked the roof to makes sure all the rips and tears in the elastomer material had been sealed. The new silicon patches have had time to fully cure and they look pretty good. I've got both pumps running now. So far, so good. We'll see if the roof can weather the storm.

At least Dash got one walk today. He certainly didn't get an evening walk. I knew the rain was coming, so I tried to get all my errands finished before the storm arrived. I paid my property tax today, so there are no more bills for 2018. I contacted the manufacturer of my Aeron chair and found out that there are two authorized Herman Miller repair centers in the Dallas area. Both were closed today, but it looks like I'll be able to get the chair repaired whether it is under warranty or not.

I have no idea why the stock market went up 1000 points today. Of course I have no idea why it went down 600 points yesterday either. They say this extreme volatility is caused by algorithmic trading. These automated, computerized high frequency trades make up almost 70% of the overall trading volume these days. This is what happens when we let artificial intelligence take over our lives. It's only going to get worse. AI is here to stay. I hate to think what is going to happen when our highways are filled with driverless cars. There are unintended consequences to everything.

I wish I could go back to 1955. Cars were cool then. Most machines could be fixed by someone of average intelligence. A 30 point move in the Dow was considered a huge day on Wall Street. We certainly weren't backward in the 50's. We already had atomic energy and Wernher von Braun was planning to take us to the moon. The pace was slower though and that was a good thing. I think we've gotten ahead of ourselves by allowing technology to advance faster than we have.

Since I can't turn back time, I live in a crumbling mid-century modern house plagued by roof leaks. I guess I've benefited from modern advancements, but sometimes I wonder. My blog is really no different than the hand written diaries I used to keep long before the Internet was invented. I could actually type much better using a manual typewriter when I didn't depend on spell-check and had to start over whenever I made a mistake. I suspect that my life with dogs would be exactly the same no matter what era I was living in.

They say the skies will be clear tomorrow. I'll be a happy camper if the house is still dry. Dash is almost certain to poop in the bed tonight because he won't go outside in the rain. We'll see what happens. Hey, I made it through 2018. I'm not going to let a little poop and water bother me.

Dash is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3267

Brrr. It was really cold this morning. I couldn't clean off a poop stained dog blanket right away because the garden hose was frozen. Dash didn't want to wear his sweater this morning either. He's usually pretty patient when we suit him up for his walks, but I could tell that he was letting us know that enough is enough. I don't know how Northerners put up with this stuff. Everything takes longer in freezing weather.

Today was much messier than yesterday. Maybe I just got lucky yesterday. While I was cleaning up poop on the porch, I didn't notice that Dash was near the back door and apparently needed to poop again. In warmer weather I would have just left the door open while I was working so he could come and go freely, but as I said, it was very cold this morning. Dash pooped on the floor next to the door while he was waiting for me, slipped and fell in the mess, and smeared it all over himself as he was struggling to get up again. I had to give him a bath to clean him up. Dash wasn't happy about that either. It took a while before the floor, the dog, and several assorted blankets were all clean again. This wasn't really how I wanted to spend my morning but I didn't have anything better to do anyway. By the time I finished breakfast it was almost time for a meeting I had scheduled at the bank.

The bank recently upgraded my account in an attempt to sell me more stuff. I like having an account with no fees, but I've never been interested in buying securities from a bank. To be polite I said I would listen to their proposals, but after today's meeting they probably wish they'd never given me the special account. To me a bank is a place to have a checking account. It's not a place to buy and sell stocks. Jeez. I've got a stock broker for that kind of stuff. After a long conversation I think they finally realized that I know more about the market than they do. I get to keep my no fee account though. That's all I wanted in the first place.

Today wasn't a good day to talk about the market anyway. Yesterday everybody was optimistic about a trade deal with China and the market went up. Today everybody was pessimistic about Trump's angry tweets about tariffs and the market went down. I hate this volatility. It would probably be safer to just bet on the NFL. Of course, I never would have guessed that the Cowboys would have beat the Saints last week, so a safe bet on anything probably doesn't exist these days.

I've finally gotten a few bids on my lots in the online auction. Maybe I should have put a reserve on my lots, because the bids are quite low. There's one day left before the auction concludes. Maybe there'll be some activity in the final hours. That's usually the way it works on eBay. People often don't start to bid on eBay items until the final seconds. We'll see how the auction goes. This online auction was an experiment anyway. I still think I like live auctions better.

What was I thinking? I had leftover pizza for dinner tonight and I've already got heartburn. I seem incapable of throwing away leftover food. This pizza was a leftover from dinner on Friday and I was determined to eat it before it went bad. There are still leftover sandwiches from last weekend's photo shoots too. Hey, they were good sandwiches from Panera Bread, so I'm sure I'll eat them as well. I think my stomach is in for a rough ride this week.

I'm glad now that I didn't apply to attend the Space X resupply mission launch that was supposed to take place today. The launch got postponed because some mouse food in the cargo had gotten moldy and needed to be replaced. What are they sending mice to the space station for anyway? At any rate, if I had gone to the launch, I would have had to reschedule my return flight and extend my hotel stay for at least another day. Watching a launch is complicated and it can get expensive quickly. Maybe I need to rethink my retirement hobbies. I really can't leave Dash right now anyway. I've got poop to clean up.

Camp is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3024

Dash seems stable enough now to leave alone for a while, so it seemed like a good time to get a haircut. My hair isn't as thick as it used to be, but it still seems to grow pretty fast. Haircuts are the only time I go to the mall these days. Every time I visit, I notice that stores have disappeared. A lot of the high end watch boutiques are gone. So is the Pirch store. I never had the money to buy anything in these expensive stores, but they were fun to visit. Every big name clothing designer still has a store these days, but very few of these ritzy boutiques seem to have any customers. They're empty most of the time. How do they stay in business?

I wonder about these things while I'm having my hair cut, but the stylist and I mostly just talk about our pets. She has cats and I have dogs. The common bond is that we both prefer animals to people. Actually, just about everybody I know prefers animals to people. When you look at how people behave, how could you think otherwise?

I stopped at the Apple Store after my haircut and looked at phones. I played around with the iPhone X for a while and really wished it had a home button. It seemed too big to fit comfortably in my pocket as well. Maybe I'd better buy an iPhone SE before Apple discontinues this sensibly sized model. It doesn't have a fancy camera like the iPhone X, but it's still twice as fast as my current phone.

Dash was still sleeping when I got home. He really sleeps a lot now. This is one of the reasons I think it is so important to continue our walks. If Dash stops moving, his muscles are going to atrophy very quickly. The vestibular disease and a bulging disc in his spine have already made his rear legs very weak. He doesn't need the Help Em Up Harness yet, but I'm going to have to bring some rugs home from the storage warehouse this weekend. We're starting to have mobility issues. Dash seems much steadier on the carpet. The bricks are becoming treacherous.

The stock market had another good day, but it didn't leave me feeling all that comfortable. The analysts say that extreme volatility is the new normal. Volatility will never seem normal to me. I long for a world where the pace is slower and most things are predictable. I don't think that's where we're headed, unfortunately. The future is going to be more like a Mad Max movie than Leave it to Beaver.

They say there will be thunderstorms tomorrow. I hope the forecast is wrong. I haven't been able to patch the leak in the roof yet. Actually, I haven't even been able to find the leak. I haven't been able to find the roofer either. A short rain shouldn't be a problem, but if we get a soaker there is going to be water on the living room floor again. Oh, well. I did buy a new bucket.

We'll see how tomorrow goes. If it doesn't rain and Dash eats his breakfast, we're off to a good start.

Angel is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3023

Dash is finally starting to stabilize. He's still weak, but his eyes are bright and he's showing an interest in his surroundings again. It's weird how vestibular disease works. Even severe episodes seem to subside over time. I'm sorry that Dash has to go through all this, but it would be much worse if lost his ability to bounce back.

We took it easy today while gently trying to reestablish some of our regular routines. Dash is still eating boiled chicken breasts, but his appetite is improving. We were even able to take a walk this morning. Our progress was slow, but I could tell that Dash enjoyed being outdoors again. He wasn't panting or in any kind of distress, so I was happy to let him inch along, smelling every bush along the way.

After I finished my breakfast, I picked up some more Cerenia at the vet so we'd be ready for the next vestibular episode. A four day course of this anti-nausea drug really seems to help combat the vertigo and unsteadiness associated with vestibular disease. I wish there was something I could do about the weakness in his rear legs. That's a symptom that doesn't seem to be going away.

While I was out this morning I picked up my tax documents at the accountant and signed my return. I don't know why I bother to keep all these documents. I've got decades of files in the storage warehouse that I know I'll never need again. Even if I did need them, I probably couldn't find them.

I'm still eating Easter leftovers for dinner. Even though the ham wasn't too salty, I'm starting to feel like I've reached my yearly quota of salt. I've been watching my salt intake for years now and I don't have much of a tolerance for the stuff anymore. I wish that food wouldn't go bad in the refrigerator. A couple of slices of ham every month wouldn't hurt anything. I'm pushing my luck though eating it every day.

I don't understand the stock market at all anymore. This morning everyone was in a panic about tariffs. By mid afternoon, the crisis was forgotten. Oops. Never mind. Nothing had changed, but that didn't prevent a 700 point swing during the day. All this insane volatility makes me want to go out and buy something tangible that I can hold in my hand. Maybe I should get that iPhone after all.

Two of our friends in the neighborhood lost their dog to meningitis recently. I know how they feel, but I don't really know how to express it. I've felt this way ever since we lost Dot. It's so terribly sad to lose a pet after you've done everything you possibly can to save them. You just feel helpless. Enjoy every day you have with your pet. They aren't with us nearly long enough. Rest in peace Bizzy. Everybody loved you.

Dottie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2993

I went to the doctor today. No, I didn't go about my cold. This appointment had been scheduled months ago for some routine lab work. I've had my blood drawn so many times over the years that I feel like I could give reviews on the technician's technique. Phlebotomists tell me that I have unusually good veins for drawing blood. Supposedly, I'm an easy patient. When the technician is good at their job, I never feel a thing. That wasn't the case today. I couldn't believe that the phlebotomist was having trouble finding a vein. My veins are like freeways. I kind of felt sorry for the nurse. She eventually had to call in a co-worker to help her.

Hopefully, my test results are good. I'm tired of being a pincushion. On the way home from my appointment I stopped at our city's only authentic Italian grocery store and got some hot Italian sausage. I don't know how these guys make this stuff, but it is the without a doubt the best sausage in town. Whenever I can't think of anything to eat, Italian sausage always saves the day.

I'm feeling a little better today. I've still got a runny nose, but the constant sneezing has subsided. I don't think the doctor even realized I had a cold. I didn't cough or blow my nose at all during my appointment. Janet is already getting better, so maybe the bug we caught is very short lived. I think last night was the worst for me. I woke up twice in a cold sweat. At any rate, I don't have a fever and I feel better than I did yesterday, so things are headed in the right direction.

I can't figure out why Dash won't take an afternoon walk anymore. He is still eager to walk in the morning, but I can't get him outside in the afternoon. It's odd, because the weather is usually much nicer in the afternoon. This behavior is relatively new. As recently as a week ago he was walking fine in the afternoon. I'm sure this means something but the answer isn't obvious. Does he have arthritis and is painful after his first walk? Is he apprehensive about the increased number of dogs in the park in the afternoons? Maybe he's just started to wait for Janet to come home a little earlier than usual. I wish I knew what was going on, because I think that he and I both need to keep moving.

It was nice to see the market rebound a bit. I don't understand this new volatility. A little bit of bad news will cause things to drop three hundred points. Conversely, a little bit of good news can signal a three hundred point gain. I think I was more comfortable back in the days where a 25 point move was big news. One thing is certain. Whether the market goes up or down, I've still got to do my taxes. Maybe I'll get started tomorrow. I always seem to wait until the last possible minute.

I hope I can sleep tonight. Last night was no fun at all. I don't know how people with little kids deal with being sick all the time. It would drive me crazy.

Rory is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2966

I've been interested in space for a long time, but I never thought I'd see a sporty convertible floating above the earth with a mannequin in a space suit at the wheel. The long awaited Falcon Heavy launch was spectacular. I thought it was audacious of Elon Musk to send his own Tesla Roadster to Mars on the Falcon Heavy's maiden voyage. It was pretty cool to see the two booster rockets return to Cape Canaveral and land simultaneously as well. If this doesn't get people interested in space travel again, I don't know what will.

I defrosted the evaporator coil in the freezer today. There was definitely ice on the coil, but it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I probably could have gone another week before the refrigerator stopped working. It's a nuisance to take all the food out of the freezer, remove the shelves, and unscrew the back panel to gain access to the frozen coil, but melting the ice with a hair dryer seems to cure the problem every time. It seems odd now that frost free refrigerators are a relatively new development and my parents routinely defrosted their refrigerator this way.

After a thousand point drop yesterday, the stock market had a thousand point intraday swing today. The market was down over 500 points at the open and was up over 500 points at the close. It was a very volatile day for traders. At times like these I think it is best to lay low and do nothing. The economy is good and businesses are thriving, so I think the market will recover. If there wasn't so much high volume program trading by machines, the sell off probably wouldn't have happened in the first place. They say a lot of people who were shorting the volatility index because the market has been so stable lately got totally wiped out. I bet they won't do that again.

Dash seems to be feeling a little better. He still won't eat when he gets up, but his appetite seems to return about mid-morning. I don't know if this is permanent or not, but adjustments can be made. The only real problem is getting Dash to take his morning pills. If the morning and evening meds didn't have to be given twelve hours apart, it would be easy to just have Dash take the morning meds later in the day. Unfortunately, that would push the schedule for his the evening meds back until after our bedtime. Hopefully, this loss of appetite is temporary. It certainly makes life more difficult.

I hear thunder outside, but Dash still seems calm and normal. That's odd. Maybe he's growing deaf along with his many other problems. Dot was virtually deaf in the final months before she passed away and the deafness was a blessing. For the first time in her life, she wasn't scared of storms.

I have no plans for tomorrow. With no deadlines to meet, I'll fret about my jury summons. Then I'll fret about Dash's lack of appetite. Then I'll wonder why our cable bill went up again and how long my refrigerator repair will last. I don't think I'll fret about rain. The rain is supposed to be over by morning.

Landry is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day