Day 3441 - Memorial Day

It was a quiet day. I'm getting plenty of sleep now, but I still wake up feeling tired. I still have vivid dreams of being lost. Maybe these dreams are wearing me out. Sometimes I'm with friends and sometimes I'm alone, but I always seem to be in the wrong room or the wrong building. These aren't scary dreams, but a lot of walking is involved. I always wake up before I get where I'm going.

The weather is warmer than it should be for this time of year, but at least there's a breeze in the morning. I had my morning smoothie while watching a marathon presentation of Jay Leno's Garage. Anything is better than the news these days. Jan Leno's Garage isn't nearly as good as the old version of Top Gear with Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May, but what are you going to do.  Political correctness has basically ruined television.

I'm still trying to find the perfect shoe and sock combination for my daily walks. It's odd that this never seemed to be a problem when I was walking with dogs. The dogs probably stopped so frequently to smell things that my feet never got hot or became swollen. I'd probably be more comfortable wearing light weight running shoes, but I like firm ankle support. Boots are better if you accidentally step on a snake too.

Since today was the last day for REI's big annual sale, I made one last trip to the store to look for a solution. There were great prices on everything, but I came home with nothing again. I looked at boots, wool socks, solar powered gadgets and everything else with a 25% off sign, but I seem to have totally lost my interest in buying things. This is a new experience for me. Buying things used to always put me in a good mood.

Driving to Florida is starting to seem like a better option than flying. The launch date for the Falcon Heavy is almost certain to change several times and changing airline reservations at the last minute is proving to be more of a hassle than it should be. The price for a flexible, refundable ticket is more than double what a plan-ahead discount fare would be. There are no nonstop flights where I'm going either. The downside to a long drive is that I would need to get new tires. My current tires are a little worn for a long trip. We'll see. I probably shouldn't overthink this until a get a better idea when the launch is actually going to take place.

I discovered that I can stream the PBS Breakthrough series for free on my computer. I watched the show about The Rocket this afternoon. This type of stuff is interesting to me. I've watched countless launches on TV, but I still didn't know how rockets actually work. I'll have to watch the episodes about The Car, and The Robot later. It's amazing how many things we take for granted today were developed during wartime. Even the telescope was initially developed as a tool for sailors to observe opposing ships at a distance. We definitely wouldn't have gotten to the moon without World War II and the Cold War with the Soviet Union that followed.

I saw a Dalmatian on my evening walk today. It's a surprising how rare they are in this part of town. I had a brief conversation with the owner which gave me a chance to give the dog a pat on the head. This beautiful five year old female appeared to have a very good home. As the guy and his dog continued on their way I kept thinking how strange it was to not be holding a leash in my hand.

Libby is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 2660

I think the phone companies have finally figured out that we are addicted to smartphones and have started pricing things accordingly. I used to be able to get a new phone for almost nothing. I would get a generous trade-in on my old phone and then the phone company would give me a deeply discounted new phone in exchange for signing a two year contract. All that is gone now. There are no subsidized phones anymore. AT&T prefers to rent you a phone by the month. If you actually want to own the phone, you pay full retail. When I explored my options this morning at the AT&T store, it made me think I should just keep my old phone a while longer.

I've given up on blueberries. They must be out of season. I've almost forgotten that fruit and vegetables are seasonal items. You can get virtually everything all year round now. Sometimes the price goes up for a while when the distributor is switching to a supplier in a different country. Sometimes fruit disappears for a few weeks, but there is a remarkably steady supply of strawberries and blueberries. Peaches seem to disappear the longest, but even they are generally available. I'll probably be seeing blueberries again pretty soon. Even though I'm not a big fan of globalization, I'll have to admit that I do like being able to enjoy fresh fruit all year long.

I hate to leave the house without accomplishing anything, so I stopped at Home Depot and got two light bulbs and a garden hose. When I returned home from my errands, Dot was still asleep. I'd like to think that I'm getting better at anticipating Dot's next move, but truthfully I just got lucky. The key to success is not being gone too long. I made it to the grocery store, the AT&T store, and Home Depot in less than an hour. That's pretty good.

Work was slow today, but that's not surprising. The surprise these days is when I actually do get a new project. It's amazing how busy I stay even when nothing is happening. I made sure all the rugs were dry and then brought them back inside. I cleaned the blankets that Dot peed on this morning when she couldn't make it outside. I experimented with my morning smoothie recipe now that there aren't any blueberries. After breakfast, I got online and learned a little more about DirectTV Now. I saw a flyer about this streaming service while I was at the AT&T store and it seemed a lot less expensive than my current cable package. I think that traditional cable TV is going away in a few years. I just need to decide where to go next.

I feel like pancakes tomorrow, but everyone makes their pancakes too thick. I wish I could find a restaurant that served nice thin pancakes. I guess I could just order crepes, but usually crepes are filled with jelly or have half a pound of powered sugar on the top. I just want a stack of simple thin pancakes served with real maple syrup. Is that too much to ask?

I almost forgot to take the trash out tonight until Janet reminded me it was Thursday. That's what got me thinking about pancakes. Everything is done for the day except for one last trip outside with Dot. The day has to end with Dot peeing outside or nobody sleeps very well.

Paxton is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 1636

I hooked up the Roku streaming stick to the TV this morning. It worked. I was curious how this little gizmo could offer so many channels for free and it didn't take me long to find out. The first free channel I added was PBS. When I tried to use the channel, I got a message saying that I had to provide my e-mail address before the channel could be activated. So, that's how it works! Now, the never ending pledge drives on PBS will wind up in my e-mail Inbox as well. Sure enough, the next time I checked my e-mail, there was already a message from PBS asking for a donation. I'm sure the other free channels work the same way. Before they can be activated, you probably have to agree to let advertisers send you e-mail spam. Personally, this is not a big deal to me. I already get such a monumental amount of spam every day that I won't even notice a little more.

I went back to the gym this afternoon. I think Sunday is my favorite day to workout. The place is never crowded on Sundays and since Janet is usually home, I don't have to worry about leaving the dogs alone for long periods of time. I can easily see myself going to the gym more often in the future. It's not a bad way to kill time and my doctors have told me that exercise is just as important as my diet.

It's probably good to get out of the house on Sundays anyway. When I'm home I tend to find myself doing things like cleaning toilets and knocking down wasp nests. I did both of those things today, along with adding those 56 new dogs and cats to the animal rescue website. As you can probably guess, it was hot and muggy outside today. It rained a little bit in the morning but it all turned to steam by afternoon. No mowing the grass today. I even dealt with the wasp nests under the eaves from the inside by opening windows and knocking them down with a stick.

I'm still having a hard time keeping Dash's tail from bleeding. As soon as the cut area at the tip of the tail starts to heal, he shakes or wags really hard, typically banging the tail against a wall which starts the bleeding all over again. My vet says that bandaging the tail isn't a really good idea, since it could cut off circulation. Janet found a couple of tail protecting devices on the Internet, but they seemed way too complicated. I couldn't leave anything on his tail while I was gone anyway, because he might chew it off and eat it. There's always the cone of shame, but Dot and Dash absolutely hate wearing the cone. I'll save that as a last resort.

Who knows what I'll be doing this week. It's still a mystery to me. I'm typically crazy busy at the first of the year. Things always slow down a bit during the Summer and than I get busy again in the Fall. That's the way it's been for as long as I can remember. I used to spend my Summers worrying that the Defender 90 would overheat in traffic and leave me stranded. Sometimes it did. Hopefully the new car will eliminate that concern for at least a year or two. I've got a birthday coming up pretty soon, but at my age birthdays aren't as exciting as they used to be. Wouldn't it be nice if after a certain age, you just started getting younger again. I'm already tired of getting older.

Lacey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 1125

We saw a bobcat on our walk this evening. Although the park is full of bobcats, it is rare to actually see one. My guess would be that the cat was just catching some rays like everyone else this afternoon. It was a beautiful day. Luckily, Dot and Dash had the good sense to leave the bobcat alone. I don't think it would be smart to mess with a bobcat. On the way home we saw a disheveled looking man wandering through the woods carrying a container of gasoline. Personally, I'd be a lot more wary of that man than any bobcat.

Since it was a clear day with blue skies all the way to the horizon, we though for sure that the dog park would be open. Guess again. When we arrived with Dot and Dash the park was closed. Sure, it rained yesterday, but that was yesterday. Today was nice. Sadly, you're at the mercy of the city whenever you go to the dog park. If someone from Parks and Recreation doesn't feel like coming out and unlocking the gate, you're screwed.  The dogs showed their displeasure about this unfortunate turn of events by howling and barking the entire way home. A road trip with this pair would be like a journey into the Twilight Zone. I don't think you'd emerge with your sanity intact. Oh, did I mention we're planning a road trip.

I'm getting intrigued with the idea of using a sprayed-on foam roof to solve my roof problems.  I've been researching this type of roof on the Internet and on the surface, it seems like the perfect solution. The roof is completely seamless, so there are no joints or seams that can crack later. The foam has excellent insulation value, to the house would stay warmer on cold days like this. It's pretty cost effective too, compared to other alternatives. There must be something I don't know, or I would have heard of this before. Maybe the foam is flammable and a spark from one of the irritating designer piñon pine logs my neighbors use in their fireplace would burn the house down. Maybe the foam is an environmental hazard and I'd have to have a hazmat crew remove it before I could sell the house. Maybe the stuff is just fragile and a falling branch of two would ruin the whole thing.  I'll have to find out more.

I'm watching the Golden Globes as I write this.  I had trouble finding a live video feed initially, but then I went to Twitter and found one immediately. The Internet feed appears to be live, but I don't think I'm watching NBC. All the comments on the website are in Arabic.

Taylor is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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