Day 3446

June 1st will always be the day that Dot died. It was two years ago today. What a long journey. It was initially difficult for Dash to adjust to being the only dog. He was just starting to regain his confidence when he began getting sick as well. It seemed like everything we went through with Dot toward the end of her life, we repeated with Dash. At least both dogs had long, healthy lives before they began to decline. Weekends were fun for the dogs. They both loved to go to dog parks and we visited them all. Our cars were basically just dog taxis. There were rescue events to attend, indoor and outdoor dog parks to visit, evenings at dog friendly restaurants, and a weekly training class that we attended regularly for many years. For every sad memory there is a corresponding happy memory. I hope that over time, only the happy memories remain.

It was almost 90 degrees when I woke up this morning and is only 70 degrees now. Today's weather has been a roller coaster. It was hot and sunny on my morning walk and by the time I was ready to take my evening walk there were storm clouds on the horizon and I could hear distant thunder. I probably put too much faith in the weather radar, because I almost got drenched. It was weird to see the storm approaching and people still renting kayaks on the lake. Some folks began paddling for shore as soon as they saw lightning, but others seemed oblivious. I was almost home before the rain started to fall, but when I looked back toward the lake, I could still see half a dozen kayaks and stand up paddle boards out in the water. There were still a few families barbecuing on the shoreline as well. What were they thinking.

Earlier today I was wondering what a lot of dog walkers were thinking. Don't they know the dangers of heat stroke? I could tell that some of the dogs were too hot. Joggers are the worst. Most of them just don't want to stop to give their dog a rest. If you've got to walk your dog in hot weather, be sure to take some water along. If the dog wants to rest, let them. Heat stroke is very real.

This evening was much better dog walking weather. All you had to worry about was getting struck by lightning. I never walked Dot and Dash on a day like today. Neither dog did well in the heat and both were storm phobic. Dot was terrified of storms and once managed to rip out a nail while trying to run back inside after hearing a particularly loud thunderclap. We were one of the first customers for Thundershirts. Strangely, these garments actually seemed to work. Dot wore hers often.

Peaches are finally available almost everywhere now. Have I mentioned that I like peaches? I bought a dozen nice looking ones today. Unlike a lot of produce, peaches still seem to be seasonal and most of them are grown in the United States. Strawberries and blueberries are imported from all over the place, but I've still got to wait for summer to find peaches.

It's still raining, but the pumps on the roof are working. I just need to remember to turn them off before I go to bed tonight. I wonder if the storms will continue tomorrow? The thermostat says no but my phone says yes. It's silly to speculate at this point. It's all going to change by morning anyway.

Charlie 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 3276

"And now we wait," I thought as some severe weather rolled into town early this afternoon. I didn't have to wait long. In less than an hour after the thunderstorm arrived, I started hearing a familiar drip in the hallway. My roof leak had returned. Evidently, yesterday's repair efforts were a total failure. I wasn't really surprised. The actual source of a water leak on a flat roof can be almost anywhere. I haven't been up on the roof yet, but it doesn't really matter. Either my temporary patch failed, or my ability to locate leaks is worthless.

The roof leak wasn't my only water problem today. It was time to use the wet/dry vacuum to suck water out from under the tile floor of the shower. I have to do this at least once a week now. Just like the roof, I don't know where this water is coming from. The tile grout still looks pretty good. I think the shower pan is keeping the water under the tiles from getting into the rest of the house, but the leak is still irritating. The only way to fix this problem is to get a tile guy to completely replace the bathroom tile. Since gravity causes water to flow to the lowest point, water could be getting in through a crack in the tile walls or it could even be caused by a slow plumbing leak. Water is not my friend this week.

I must have been really tired last night because I didn't even wake up when Dash pooped in the bed. Janet told me about the mishap in the morning. I'm glad that one of us woke up. The poop is relatively easy to clean up if you deal with the mess while Dash is still asleep. If he wakes up, twirls around to reposition himself, and then sits down in the poop, you've got a real mess on your hands.

We were able to give Dash a morning walk before the thunderstorm arrived, but today was basically a cabin fever day. The weather was nasty and the thunder and lightning only made things worse. Dash is still a storm phobic dog, but he doesn't hear as well as he used to. He didn't even notice the thunder until is got really loud. Actually, Dash was calmer about today's storm than I was. With leaks in four different places, I was worried that I'd run out of buckets.

The rain has stopped for now, but it's supposed to start again around midnight. There's no point in removing water from the roof until the rain stops. These leaks are really unfortunate because Winter is the worst time to replace a roof. I'd much rather deal with this in the Summer when the weather is clear and dry for months at a time. I can't really ignore the problem though. This looks like a pretty serious leak.

There are so many things to fix around the house that I don't even know where to start. The roof leaks. The dryer makes an awful squealing sound when it is running. The sliding glass door to the atrium is jammed. The sheetrock near the roof leaks needs to be replaced. There's even a big pothole in the driveway. It's so hard to find good repair people too. You always hope to get someone like those guys you see on This Old House, but the reality is quite different.

I'm glad this day is almost over. The trash has been taken out to the curb. Dash is calm. I've taken a heartburn pill which should help me sleep tonight. I'll empty the buckets in the hallway before I go to sleep. I'm not even thinking about breakfast tomorrow. I've kind of lost my appetite.

Cookie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3215

What a mess. The rain was relentless today. Just as I predicted, the roof started to leak again. Lately, it's been leaking whenever there's been an extremely heavy downpour. The fact that standing water alone doesn't cause the roof to leak ought to tell me something. I still can't find the leak, unfortunately.

Although I've got buckets on the living roof floor again and can still hear a steady drip, drip, drip as water hits the buckets, my problems are small compared to the little circus in the park. I really feel sorry for these guys. When Dash and I took our evening walk, I noticed that their tent was totally underwater. The water was three to five feet deep. I saw circus performers and crew standing waist deep inside the tent, trying to salvage chairs and props. Some chairs were actually floating away in the lake.

I wonder why nobody bothered to tell these guys that they were pitching their tent in a flood plain and that this was the rainy season in Dallas. Sadly, there is another city park less than five miles away on top of a hill. If they had located there instead, they never would have had a problem. One of the performers told me that they had four shows scheduled today. There were two matinees and two evening shows. The show obviously didn't go on.

Amazingly, in spite of the downpour, Dash still got two walks. The rain didn't start until almost 9 AM and by 6 PM, it was all over. In between, there was lots of thunder, a very scared dog, and a pretty soggy trip to the grocery store. It's sad that Dash has such limited mobility now. During thunderstorms, he still wants to crawl under my desk. This is his safe place. Unfortunately, he gets stuck in small spaces and can't get up. When he starts to struggle, his fear only increases. I had to block the office off today with a gate for his own safety.

When I went grocery shopping this morning the rain was coming down so hard that I could barely see the road. Several cars appeared to have stalled out and were sitting on the side of the road with their blinkers flashing. Nevertheless, this was still just rain. It's hard to even imagine what people in Panama City Beach are going through now. I've seen the pictures and it looks like this little costal town was totally destroyed by the hurricane.

The weather forecast says the rain is likely to continue through the end of next week. I'm not looking forward to that. Janet told me that there was a roof leak over at the storage warehouse. I'll have to take a look tomorrow and make sure that my unit is still dry. The pump on our roof still works, but it doesn't do much good. Right now, it is only removing water from the carport. I'm not even going to attempt to clear the standing water away until the rain stops. It's dangerous and ultimately the effort is pointless.

If it has to rain tomorrow, I hope there is no thunder. Dash has enough problems as it is. He definitely doesn't need to deal with storm phobia. We'll see how tomorrow goes. Maybe I'll still go to the gym. Maybe I'll just stay under the covers.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3192

Another day that was dominated by water. I spent quite a bit of time on the roof this morning cleaning away leaves and debris. It seems a little early for the trees to be dropping leaves, but there were a ton of leaves on the roof. I guess Fall has arrived. There was still some standing water from last week's rain too. I was pleased that I got the roof looking nice again and then late this afternoon it started raining again. I feel like a modern day version of Sisyphus. The roof is hopeless. I wish the roofers had told me in the very beginning that a high tech coating was an inappropriate solution for my type of roof.

I also wish that the contractor who remodeled our bathrooms years ago had installed a real heavy duty metal shower pan rather than the vinyl liner that everybody seems to use these days. I think this liner is one of the reason I'm having so many problems with shower leaks. I had to suck out excess water with the wet/dry vac again today. I do this way too often. About a quart of water seems to accumulate under the tiles about every three days.

I really need to give up and put on an entirely new roof and get a good tile guy to re-do the shower. I probably need a tile guy and a good plumber, since I think it's the floor drain that is leaking and letting water accumulate under the tiles. A completely new roof in a house like ours is prohibitively expensive and I really don't want to deal with having contractors in the house. I guess I'm screwed.

A guy came to the door today and wanted money for public radio. The guy was very persistent and seemed a lot like a Jehovah's Witnesses. I wonder if he was really from KERA like his t-shirt said. You'd think the never ending pledge drives on public radio would be enough. I told him I thought the station should just run commercials like everyone else. Commercials would be less irritating than the pledge drives. When the guy couldn't sign me up as a subscriber, he asked me for some water. I gave him some bottled water and off he went. I still don't know if this was a real subscriber drive or a scam.

Quite a bit of thunder and lightning accompanied this evening's rain. Not surprisingly, the thunder scared Dash. It's kind of sad. Dash is not mobile enough to crawl under my desk anymore during storms.  He kept looking for a safe place, but just couldn't maneuver very well. Finally, Janet and I convinced him to lie down on the bedroom floor with us and we covered him with a blanket. Luckily, the heavy rain didn't last very long.

If it continues raining tomorrow, I won't be able to go out for breakfast. Dash can get himself in some real trouble if he panics during a storm. I guess I could make pancakes at home if the weather is bad. I haven't had pancakes in a while. It's weird. I never ever drink my regular smoothie on Friday. Don't ask me why. My life is all about meaningless rituals.

Rosie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3087

I'm very disappointed. The blood clot in Dash's heart has returned. Actually, the doctors think that this is a brand new clot and aren't entirely sure why it has appeared. The current theory is that Dash has a heart valve problem that causes a vortex around the valve that lets clots start to form. We've known that Dash has had a heart murmur for a long time. It's possible that he has had periodic clots for a long time as well. There's not really much we can do. Since one clot actually did dissolve over time, we're hoping that this new one will as well. I was expecting a more favorable outcome after the good news we heard on our last visit. It wasn't meant to be.

Dash's early morning vet appointment caused the day to get off to a slow start. By the time we were ready for our morning walk, the sun was already high in the sky and Dash quickly got overheated. He just can't take the heat anymore. I cut our walk short and returned home. This was fine with Dash. I think the vet visit was all the activity he wanted to deal with today anyway.

The grass I thought was dead yesterday looks even worse today. I'll give it a little time, but I think I'm going to have to complain. I hear thunder in the distance, so maybe a good soaking rain will help. It won't help the roof, but it just might help to revive this pitiful looking St. Augustine grass.

I photographed some more art work for the auction house today. I'm still not quite sure what they're looking for. Some items they get excited about and others not so much. I still think that this is a good time to begin to simplify my life. I just wish it wasn't so complicated to simplify.

My pharmacy has been bugging me to pick up some prescriptions. An automated message calls me every day to remind me to pick these things up. I finally did go to the pharmacy today and the pharmacist told me that it was too early to get the pills. WTF? "Medicare won't pay for these renewals until June 30," he said. "Well, why to you keep asking me to pick them up," I asked? The pharmacist had no answer. We both knew that this was just one more example of a healthcare system out of control. I'm not out of pills anyway. I'll just go back and pick these up at the end of the month.

Dash currently is shivering under my desk again. There isn't a lot of rain, but there sure is a lot of wind and thunder. I don't know what Dash is worried about, but I'm worried about losing power. We definitely have had a lot of rain in the past several weeks. Every time I get ready to tell the roofer that there's going to be a long enough stretch of dry weather to finish the repairs, another storm pops up.

I forgot to record the new episode of The Expanse last night. It just goes to show that I can't even remember things that I want to remember. No great loss. I'm sure I can find this episode online anyway. If I had a little more patience, I could just buy the entire season on iTunes and avoid all the commercials.

The new syndication service that replaces NetworkedBlogs actually works. Yay. Truthfully, I wasn't expecting this. I'm always pleasantly surprised when something works.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3084

The weather certainly surprised me this morning. I was expecting blue skies and we got thunderstorms instead. This storm was a bad one. It didn't take Dash long to hide under my desk. I got out a blanket so he would have a comfortable place to sleep and he stayed in his little cave until almost noon. Not surprisingly, the landscapers didn't finish the yard today. It's a good thing they cleared out all the leaves on Saturday while everything was still dry. Wet leaves would have been twice as heavy to haul away.

I've been having some interesting conversations with auction houses. Selling art is more complicated than I imagined, but it is kind of fascinating. Even more fascinating is how I have changed over the years. I thought it would be like pulling teeth to get rid of anything, but as it turns out, I'm actually looking forward to living a simpler, more uncluttered life. I don't need this stuff. It's finally sunk in that "you can't take it with you" is just the simple, unvarnished truth about possessions of any sort.

We've decided that the antibiotic Dash has been taking is what is causing his diarrhea. This has happened before. The antibiotic kills the microorganisms that normally live in the intestinal tract and causes all sorts of digestive problems. It look like it's time to give Dash a probiotic again. We ordered some Fortiflora which has always worked in the past. Hope this does the trick. Cleaning up runny poop is disgusting.

The pump on the roof wouldn't work this morning and when I went up to investigate, I discovered that the tree trimmers had knocked it over when they were taking down the big dead limb a few days ago. I was pleased when I got the pump working again and almost immediately displeased when I discovered a new damaged area in the elastomer coating just three inches away from the edge of the new patch the roofers applied a few weeks ago. Why didn't they extend the repair just a little further? I don't see how they could have missed this new bad area. This roof is so frustrating. I don't know if I'm ever going to be able to get it fixed.

The landscapers are supposed to return and finish things up tomorrow. It's also supposed to rain again tomorrow, so we'll see what happens. Rain or shine, I hope that Dash continues to sleep on a regular schedule again. He didn't wake me up at all last night and it was such a relief to finally get a decent night's sleep.

Maybe I'll look around the house tomorrow for other stuff I could sell. Janet would love it if I could clear out the office. Unfortunately, old computers and video tape players aren't very collectible.

Daisy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3074

I'm gaining weight. It probably didn't help that I had Beignets with breakfast this morning. I still try to eat healthy, but it's getting harder. I'm not really a Kale and Quinoa kind of guy. My diet hasn't changed all that much, but my daily activities have. When the dogs were young and healthy, we used to walk at least six miles every day. Dalmatians are active dogs and we kept a pretty brisk pace. Now there's only one dog and he is incredibly slow. Dash and I are lucky if we travel two miles these days.

In theory, there's nothing preventing me from still walking six miles a day. I could easily go on a walk while Dash was sleeping during the day. I have no desire to do this, unfortunately. Walking the dogs was a duty that I enjoyed. It was clear that the dogs needed me. When there was a problem to be solved in my professional career, I always felt the same way. I enjoyed a career as a photographer and filmmaker. Somehow doing these same things as a hobby has little appeal. When someone asks me "What do you like to do for fun?" I seldom have an answer. What is fun anyway?

Are you getting a ton of irritating e-mail from companies and websites saying that they've changed their privacy policies? It's all because of the GDPR. The European Union's new General Data Protection Regulation has changed everything. Personally, I don't think the Europeans realize that privacy is just an illusion. It doesn't exist anymore. Artificial Intelligence needs massive amounts of data to function and your robot overlords are going to get that data one way or another. China, not Europe, holds the keys to the future. They are already using sophisticated facial recognition technology to identify billions of people. In the future, payments will be made with retinal scans, not money. Stores will know what you are going to buy before you even enter the door. I don't necessarily like this, but it's coming. Just to be safe, I've removed all remaining online forms from my websites. I don't want to be ever accused of collecting any information on anybody.

Dash and I were surprised by an unexpected thunderstorm this afternoon. The sun was shining this morning when we took our morning walk. I was expecting clear skies all the way through the Memorial Day holiday. It wasn't meant to be. Around lunch time the sky became ominously dark and I began to hear thunder. We didn't lose power, but the lights did flicker for a while. This was more than enough to throw Dash into a panic. It took a while for me to calm him down, but eventually he settled down under a blanket with me and we rode out the storm. If I had anything else to do, this would have been frustrating, but life is pretty slow now. Comforting a dog under a blanket seemed as good a way to spend the day as anything. We both went to sleep after a while and when we woke up, the rain was gone.

There is a huge sale going on at REI, but there is absolutely nothing I need. I have a feeling that this is going to become a recurring theme. When collecting things and accumulating gear I don't really need fails to give me pleasure, it's probably time to reassess everything.

Ziggy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2980

The rain was horrendous today. At least it was just rain. A nearby town south of us got hit by a tornado and several towns north of us are being warned about freezing rain overnight. There was widespread flooding across town, but luckily the roads were clear and above water during my short excursion to the post office and pharmacy. I really didn't want to leave the house at all, but Dash was getting low on Plavix and I had bills to pay.

Since the rain didn't start until around 9 AM, I was able to give Dash his morning walk. Who knows when we will be able to walk again. The rain is still pounding down on the roof and according to the weather forecast, the wet weather will continue for the rest of the week. Needless to say, this is not my favorite time of year. During our rainy season, we typically get a year's worth of rain in just a few months and then when Summer rolls around, it is bone dry. It would be nice if our allotment of water was divided more evenly, but that's not the way it works in Texas.

As you might expect, Dash wasn't very happy today. He hates rain almost as much as I do. This wasn't your garden variety rainy day either. There were intermittent high winds and plenty of thunder and lightning. On days like this, Dash's safe place is under my desk in the office. I wish I had a safe place. I spent the day wondering whether a gust of wind would knock over one of our Oak trees, or if the roof would spring a leak again. Everything is fine so far, but that doesn't keep me from fretting.

After paying this month's bills, I couldn't bring myself to buy a refrigerator. I felt broke. I can't postpone this decision much longer unfortunately. Something is obviously wrong with the temperature controls. After I defrost the coil, the refrigerator section is too cold. It doesn't matter if I turn the thermostat to the warmest setting; the temperature is still too cold. Then, as the evaporator coil gradually becomes covered with ice, the refrigerator slowly becomes warmer. Eventually it quits working. This process takes several weeks, but it shouldn't be happening at all. As soon as the rain stops, I'll buy a new refrigerator. I don't feel like buying anything on a rainy day.

On the way to the post office, I stopped at the tailor shop to get a new zipper put in an old fleece jacket. "Are you sure you want to do this," the tailor asked, indicating that the repair might cost more than the jacket was worth. I like the worn old jacket, so I told her to go ahead. "This jacket is at least fifteen years old," she told me, "because they don't make this fabric anymore." As if to prove this to me, the tailor went to the back of the store and returned with an equally worn fleece jacket. "I have one just like yours," she said.

I spent a lot of time watching the weather radar today. I kept thinking there would be a break in the rain, so I could take Dash on an afternoon walk, but the rain was relentless. Every time it looked like the skies might be clearing, a new storm cell would develop, keeping the rain falling. The ten day forecast doesn't look promising. I wonder how they can predict these things ten days in advance anyway. Today looked pretty random to me.

Odie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2917

What a dismal day. It started raining last night and it still hasn't stopped. Since today's rain was accompanied by thunder and lightning, Dash immediately went into panic mode. Whenever he hears thunder, he looks for a place to hide. Sometimes he tries to hide under a table. Other times he tries to crawl into a closet. Since Dash's legs are weak and he falls easily, I have to block all the potentially hazardous places. Our dogs have always seemed to think that Janet and I cause the rain and get mad when we don't make it stop. Dash is reluctant to go pee in the rain. He'll go to the back door over and over again, but won't go outside until he can't hold it any longer. I lost count of how many times I opened the back door today.

I had errands to run, but I postponed them until tomorrow. I didn't want Dash to freak out and hurt himself while I was gone. Even if Dash loved the dismal weather, I doubt if I would have left the house. I'll do just about anything to avoid driving in heavy rain. I kept checking the weather radar, hoping for the rain to stop, but it never did.

Actually there was a short break in the rain around 4 PM this afternoon and I thought I could take Dash for a walk. I forgot how slow Dash has become though, and the rain started again before we were able to make it home. We got soaked. Getting wet irritated me but it didn't seem to bother Dash. Since there was no thunder to frighten him, he just kept poking along, smelling every bush he passed. Oh, well. Dash needed a bath anyway. When we got home, I dried Dash off with a bath towel, threw his harness and my clothes in the dryer and cranked up the heat. Pretty soon we were both warm and dry.

I think we got over three inches of rain today. When we were walking this afternoon, I noticed that the lake was very high. Many low areas were flooded and several piers and boat docks were under water. I wasn't really aware how common wet weather was in December until Facebook started putting all these "memories" on my timeline. When I re-read these old blog posts, it seems like I was always complaining about rain in December.

I halfheartedly tried to find something to watch on Netflix this afternoon, but I couldn't find anything interesting. I read an article about new trends in website design and realized that that wasn't very interesting either. Ultimately, I dealt with my cabin fever the same was Dash does. I took a nap.

My mind wanders on days like these. I've started wondering why there is this huge panic about net neutrality. People talk about net neutrality like it's been around forever, but these rules have only been in place for two years. I've been on the Internet since the early 1990's and during most of that time there were no net neutrality rules. I can't recall that any big changes occurred two years ago. If anything, I probably had more choices back in the Internet dark ages than I do now. What has changed it is that people have become addicted to their life online. If you scare them by saying it might go away, they panic. To me, this panic is just as irrational as Dash's fear of thunder. Sure prices will go up. Prices always go up. My auto insurance, my storage warehouse rent, and my cable bill are all more expensive than they used to be. That's life. I have a feeling that five years from now, the Internet will still be here. It will be faster than ever and there will be a lot more choices than there are now. Just don't expect it to be free. Things you've become addicted to are never free.

I hope it dries out tomorrow. You guys may worry about net neutrality and tax cuts. I just worry about roof leaks and storm phobic dogs.

Ranger is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2829 - Autumnal Equinox

It's officially Fall. The days are getting shorter and the leaves are starting to turn. Last year at this time we were taking early morning walks in the dark. Sadly, Dot is no longer with us and there is no need to get up early. I just walk Dash by myself later in the morning after Janet has gone to work. Usually, Dash still enjoys these morning walks, but today I had trouble getting him to leave the house. He was in a weird mood all day. He didn't eat his breakfast. He didn't want to walk. And he was lethargic for most of the day.

Something is wrong, but I don't know what it is. There's a good chance that the antibiotics he's taking for his dewclaw injury have affected his appetite. This has happened before. Maybe the increase in his phenobarbital dose is a factor as well. It's never good when a dog won't eat normally, but hopefully this isn't serious. Dash's blood work and vital signs are good and his vet doesn't seem worried. I worry about everything though. You don't want to take chances with a dog who is already dealing with cancer, vestibular disease, and epilepsy.

I finally fed Dash some canned food around noon because he refused to eat his breakfast at all. The fact that he ate the canned food leads me to believe that the stubborn dog is just holding out for a tastier menu every day. Every dog we've ever had has lost their appetite toward the end of their life, so I still need to get to the bottom of this. If his appetite doesn't return when he's finished with the antibiotics, we'll need to run some more tests.

My appetite is still good. I had a nice breakfast and then went shopping at Central Market for dinner. That was my outing for the day. When I returned with the groceries I didn't leave the house until it was time for Dash's evening walk. Dash walked fine this evening. He seems to need someone to follow. When Janet goes with us, he will always follow her.

There are several big Dalmatian Rescue events this weekend, but I'll be staying home with Dash. I feel a bit guilty about not volunteering, but I don't trust leaving Dash alone all day with a cone on his head. I don't feel comfortable boarding him either. It would be so easy for him to open up that cut again. We could take him with us to one of the events, but Dash is terrible in the car. After cleaning up an explosion of poop after one trip in the car recently and cleaning up blood after he tore out his dewclaw during another car trip, I'm nervous about ever taking him in the car again.

Sometimes I feel like I'm destined to be housebound as long as we have dogs. Even short trips are problematic. I need to go to the dentist next week to have my teeth cleaned and the forecast says there will be thunderstorms that day. Jeez. It's been clear all month. Why would it rain the one day I need to go somewhere? I can't leave Dash during a thunderstorm. We'll see. Maybe the forecast will change.

Sadie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2797

It was an eventful day. We got up at 4:30 this morning to go to the hospital. Janet's surgery wasn't scheduled until 7:30, but there's always a lot of paperwork when you check in. I'm always amazed at how empty the roads are at this time of day. If only it were this way all the time. I stayed until the anesthesiologist came and took Janet to the OR and then I went home and fed Dash his breakfast and took him on a walk.

By the time I finished my own breakfast and did the dishes I got a call saying that Janet was in recovery. She didn't have to stay in the hospital overnight this time, so I drove back down to the hospital to take her home. By the time I arrived, the eclipse had already started. As I entered the building, I passed a doctor looking at the eclipse through a sheet of x-ray film. Some nearby nurses asked him if the x-ray film was safe. "I don't know," said the doctor. The nurses took turns looking through the film anyway, probably thinking that if this makeshift filter was good enough for a doctor, it was good enough for them. Since these people didn't appear to go blind, I asked if I could take a look too. I'll have to say that x-ray film makes a darn good solar filter.

By the time that Janet and I arrived back home again, the eclipse was near it's maximum. The sky was noticeably darker and the light filtering through the trees in front of our house made lots of little crescent shaped images on the sidewalk. Janet wanted to go to sleep, so as soon as she was settled in, I went down the street to watch the remainder of the eclipse through a neighbor's telescope. You could see sunspots through the telescope and by using them as a reference point, it was easy to see how fast the moon was crossing in front of the sun. The edge of the moon wasn't completely round either. You could clearly see the outline of mountains and valleys silhouetted against the sun. The guy with the telescope had a good supply of eclipse glasses, so everybody got a good view. It seemed like half the neighborhood showed up for this impromptu event. I hadn't seen some of these people for quite a while and some of them didn't even know that Dot had passed away. It was nice to see a group of people where everyone was happy and nobody was protesting anything.

I think Janet's surgery went really well. She will be home for two weeks, but that is much better than the six weeks it took to recover after the first surgery. This time there are no tubes that need to be drained every four hours. There are still bandages that need to be changed and procedures that need to be followed to avoid infections, but everyone is anticipating that her recovery will go smoothly.

I need to take Dash to the vet early tomorrow morning for his Phenobarbital level test. I was going to do this on Wednesday, but there are thunderstorms in the forecast. I think it will be easier tomorrow. I need to take Janet back to see her surgeon on Wednesday as well. If the weather is bad, we'll just take Dash with us. I hate to leave Dash alone during a storm. I've learned from experience that he can get into some serious trouble if he panics.

It would have been nice to see the sun's corona today, but I definitely did get to experience the eclipse. I'm glad that Janet's long and difficult journey is coming to a close. Hopefully, in a month or two this summer of surgery will just be a memory.

Cookie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2793

It's unusual to have this much rain in August. Usually it is bone dry. The good news is that our yard still looks nice and green. The bad news is that I'm starting to worry about the roof leaking again and Dash is spending way too much time hiding under my desk. Dash slept through the overnight storms, but he definitely didn't like the thunder and lightning that greeted us around sunrise. I had to delay feeding him breakfast, because I was afraid that he might throw up if he ate when he was agitated.

Eventually the rain stopped and she took our morning walk. When I finished my morning smoothie, I got a surprising amount done for such a wet, gray day. I went to the bank, got my new vehicle registration sticker, and went searching for a silicon case for Janet's new iPad. Apple discontinued these cases, so they are in very short supply. I don't know why they quit making them, because they are a perfect match for the new keyboard cover. The Apple Store and all the phone stores have stopped selling these cases, but I found what I was looking for at a Target Superstore. It makes sense. People go to Target to save money. They don't go there to buy overpriced Apple products. There is usually a good supply of Apple stuff at Target because the Apple section of the store gets ignored.

The price of Texas registration stickers keeps going up, while the quality of the stickers themselves keeps going down. It looks like they just print these things out on demand using an ink jet printer now. I always have trouble getting these stickers positioned properly on my windshield. I like them very low, so they won't block my view, but I also like them straight, so they are parallel to the ground.  It's a good thing I have nothing better to do. It took me forever to attach my 2018 sticker to the windshield this afternoon.

It's so disappointing that my shower repairs didn't work. I did a good job of sealing the corners where the shower walls meet the floor. Water is still finding it's way under the tiles unfortunately and now it's harder for this water to get out. I think I've actually made the situation worse. I think my only alternative now is to rip out all the silicon caulk and use traditional tile grout instead. The problem with this is that we'll have to take a bath in the other bathroom for at least a week while the grout dries. I hate washing my hair in a bathtub. The shower is much better.

Dash has seemed pretty healthy this week. His appetite is good and he hasn't thrown up at all. We're not doing anything different, but are making an effort to keep him calm. I think sometimes he gets himself so worked up that he gives himself an upset stomach. The key to keeping Dash calm is just doing whatever he wants. I"m really just a dog butler these days. Actually, I've always kind of been a dog butler.

I hope I don't have as much trouble publishing today's blog entry as I did yesterday. Feedburner wasn't working and I had a lot of problems getting the feed to syndicate to Facebook and Twitter.  We'll see how it goes. I'm not sure I'll be going out to breakfast tomorrow morning. If the rain continues, I"ll just stay home and do my best to keep Dash calm.

Toby is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2789

I hope my shower repairs are successful. I spent a lot of time today cleaning and preparing the ceramic tile for the silicon caulk that will hopefully make the shower stall waterproof again. If I had three weeks to let everything dry properly, I would have used a Dremel Tool to remove all the old grout and then re-grouted the entire shower. Traditional grout takes so long to dry though. If you use the shower too soon, the grout just washes away. The silicon dries quickly, but unless the tile is absolutely clean, it doesn't stick to the surface very well. If the contractors had done a good job when we remodeled the bathrooms fifteen years ago, I wouldn't be having this problem. Contractors could care less what happens fifteen years later. They're long gone by then. I really need to have a new contractor re-do the entire bathroom, but I'm afraid that I'd find someone even worse than I did the last time. Sanded silicon caulk will have to do.

We really got a lot of rain last night. We did lose power for a few minutes, but luckily it came back on again quickly. Even momentary power outages are a nuisance. All the clocks need to be reset and for some reason the washer and dryer always turn themselves on automatically when the power returns. I have to remember to turn the air conditioner and any other power hungry appliances off if I am anticipating a power outage, so a surge won't knock the power out again when service is restored. In theory, my neighbors should be doing the same thing, but I doubt that they are.

Last any rate, the storm came and went without causing any damage. Dash got scared and spent about three hours cowering under my desk, but eventually he came back to bed. At least he didn't throw up. We've started giving him his evening meds a couple of hours earlier, just in case he has another episode. So far, so good. We've also started keeping a record of whenever he vomits or won't eat to see if we can detect any sort of pattern to this seemingly random behavior. I hope we can figure this out.

I was using the leaf blower this afternoon to clean up the back porch after the storm and all of the sudden I noticed that there were hundreds of small ants crawling all over me. The ants were coming out of the leaf blower. This was certainly a surprise. I was able to brush most of the ants away before they were able to bite me, but I did about a dozen ant bites. I was glad these weren't fire ants. The bites would have been much worse if they were. What makes thousands of ants take up residence inside a leaf blower? Who knows. The insects are definitely winning this summer. I'll probably have to take the leaf blower apart to completely get rid of the ant colony, but they aren't as much of a problem as the spiders. It wasn't that long ago that I removed all the spiders from around the house with the pressure washer. Now, they're back again. Nature is relentless. Ants of all sizes are everywhere. Spiders love to spin their webs on our windows. Roaches seem to use our underground HVAC ductwork as their own private subway system. I still don't like to use insecticides because of the dogs, so eliminating these pests is fairly hopeless.

I missed the Perseid meteor shower this year and will miss the upcoming solar eclipse as well. Janet has the final part of her reconstruction surgery that day and I didn't really have the money to travel anyway. With all I've been reading about the eclipse, I'm almost glad I'm not making plans to travel to the totality zone. A lot of hotels have been acused of  price gouging by raising room rates by several hundred percent on eclipse day. People are selling fake eclipse glasses online that don't provide any eye protection at all. Monumental traffic jams are still predicted in many parts of the country. And then there always a chance it will rain.

I can live without seeing the eclipse. I just want a shower that doesn't leak.

Emma is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2705

Dot didn't bounce back today. I tried everything I could think of, but she just wasn't interested in eating. Two day ago she was eating more than enough to sustain her. Now, we are right back to where we were a month ago. It all happened rather suddenly. Jeez. It doesn't seem like a month has passed since we initially became convinced that her body was shutting down. I was so proud of Dot's remarkable comeback. She was determined to beat the odds.

I'm worried again. If Dot can't eat, she doesn't have long. She was even having trouble drinking water today. For the first time, we used a syringe to make sure she was getting enough water and wasn't becoming dehydrated. We took her outside and used a large syringe to slowly squirt water down her throat. I was surprised at how well this worked. We had to give her the water slowly so she wouldn't choke on it, but she did swallow normally and seemed to appreciated the water.

Later in the day it occurred to me that we could use the same technique to make sure she got some food too. We still had a can of the Dogsure liquid supplement we bought the first time she stopped eating. She drank about a third of the can using the syringe and at least for a few moments, seemed to regain her interest in food. We were able to get her to eat a little bit of fresh salmon Janet went out and got for her this morning. Nothing else worked today. Dot wasn't eating ham, cheese, turkey, or the Ultramix stew.

Surprisingly, Dot still wanted her walks. The weather was cool after some severe storms last night and Dot was eager to go to the park. I didn't think she'd have the energy, since she wasn't eating, but she did surprisingly well. These short walks are very important to her.

Last night's thunderstorm woke everyone up except for Dot. She slept through the whole thing. Dash, on the other hand, was terrified. I finally got him to come under the covers with me and he calmed down a bit since he couldn't see the lightning anymore. He could still hear the thunder though. This was some of the loudest thunder I've ever heard. It sounded like mortar rounds landing next to the house. Dash curled up next to me and shivered and shook for the rest of the night.

We try not to leave Dot alone anymore. I went to the gym right after breakfast while Janet was doing some things around the house. When I returned, she left to do her errands. I was surprised to look up while I was on the hand bike today and realize I was the only person in the entire gym. I don't think this has ever happened before. It's a very large gym and there's always somebody there. Janet told me later that it was graduation weekend and that the old people who frequent this gym were probably watching their children or grandchildren graduate. Sounds plausible.

I hope Dot's appetite returns tomorrow. She's got to eat something. It would break my heart to have to put a dog down that wasn't ready to go. I'm not giving up on Dot yet. She came back from the brink once before and maybe she will again. When I walked Dot this evening I could see her determination. We'll give it everything we've got tomorrow.

Casey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2683

Long goodbyes are the worst. Dot sleeps a little longer every day and eats a little less. She still has her moments though, and during those moments you've really got to admire her courage and tenacity. We had a hard time getting her to eat this morning. We let her sleep as long as she wanted, but when she finally woke up, she was still lethargic. I took Dash on a morning walk, thinking that Dot would be back asleep when we returned. When we were on our way home, who did I see coming toward me? It was Janet and Dot. Dot didn't want to eat, but she definitely did want a walk.

I'm amazed at how important these walks are to Dot. She can barely move, but she is still determined to make it to the edge of the park whenever she has the energy. We all sat in the grass for a while and then slowly made our way home. By the time I finished giving Dot her pills, she was exhausted and went back to sleep. A friend asked yesterday why I continue to give Dot her meds when she is obviously near the end. These are pain pills. Terminal cancer can be quite painful and our goal at this point is to keep Dot comfortable during the time she has left. A lot of the regular pills have been discontinued.

While Dot was sleeping I had my usual worries about whether she was dead. She sleeps so soundly and breathes so slowly that it's hard to tell sometimes. Yesterday, she snapped back to life and ate quite a bit of food around 3 PM. Today, she didn't wake up until 4 PM. Luckily she decided to eat again. She never did eat much this morning. Today she dined on cheese. Our refrigerator is filled with things Dot ate once and then refused to eat again. She won't eat the chicken now. She doesn't eat the hamburger either. Today she eagerly ate some new peanut butter dog treats we got for her. She wouldn't eat the treats we got yesterday though. Oddly, she still eats a little of her regular dog food at some point during the day.

This evening was a nightmare. Strong thunderstorms rolled through the area after dinner and the thunder frightened both dogs. Dash knocked over a bunch of stuff trying to climb into a closet and Dot started barking and decided that she needed to go outside in the rain and pee. Unfortunately, she wasn't able to pee and we repeated this process over and over again. The rain eventually stopped, but Dot still needs to pee.

Janet was gone this evening, so the two storm phobic dogs ended up taking priority over the blog. I still think I'll get finished before midnight though. Everybody is starting to calm down and it looks like Dot is going to make it another day.

Parker is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2671

What a miserable day. There were thunderstorms and heavy rain all day long. Dash refused to go outside and pee, becoming more and more frustrated as the day progressed. Dot had no problem going out in the rain. I don't even think she knew it was raining most of the time. We went out over and over again, getting soaking wet each time. Even though she had ample time to pee outside, Dot still chose to pee inside. It was one of those days. I sure wish I'd remembered to bring the rugs that were drying on the clothesline back inside last night, because now they are all wet again. Neither dog would relax today. They didn't like the rain and they seemed irritated at me for not making it stop.

I hope the new roof patches had time to cure properly. In theory, everything should be fine since they had at least three days to dry before today's rain, but things do not always go as planned. Once it rained less than twenty four hours after the roofers arrived and the coating they applied just dissolved and washed away. Roofers are always trying to convince me how great these new high tech coatings are on a flat roof, but I still think the original tar and gravel roof I had when I bought the house was better.

Something was strange with my breakfast smoothie this morning. I used exactly the same ingredients as I always do, but the beverage tasted very different. Did I get a bad banana? Is the Vitamix broken and not blending properly? I don't have a clue. Some people might not have even noticed the change in flavor, but inconsistency is a red flag to me. I may not notice many things in life, but I am very aware of inconsistencies. You'd think I'd be used to random changes by now, but I'm not. If I find something I like, I want it to stay the same forever.

I had a ton of errands to run today, but I didn't do any of them. Rainy days are basically a three ring circus around here. I always have to leave the back door open when I take Dot outside. Both of my hands are occupied holding Dot up, and if I stop to close the door, she'll fall over. Inevitably, Dash will wander outside just far enough to get his paws muddy and then go back inside again before I have a chance to clean him up. The entire day was like this. Dash wouldn't actually go out in the yard and pee. He would just stand in a puddle at the edge of the porch.

Since both dogs are scared of thunder and lightning, I ended up spending hours sitting with them in a corner trying to keep them calm. I wonder if they make me nervous or I make them nervous. I could care less about the thunder, but I fret about the power going out or a tree falling on the roof. Whenever there's a thunderstorm I always realize that I have failed to charge all my devices. The phones and tablets are charged now, but it probably doesn't matter. I think the weather is supposed to be nice for the rest of the week.

Maybe some sense of normalcy will return tomorrow. I hope so. I've had enough of this rain. There are websites I need to update. I've got to pick up some meds for Dash. There's a stack of bills that need to be paid. I need to get a bone density scan. I'm sure there are other things I've forgotten. I forget a lot these days. We'll start with the important stuff. If I can get Dot to pee without making a huge mess, I'm ready for anything.

Bella is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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