Day 3617

I didn't really expect that it would be 75 degrees today. Just a few weeks ago I could have sworn that winter had arrived. I doubt that this unseasonably warm weather will last very long, but I was happy for the reprieve. I'll take a beautiful Indian Summer day any time I can get one.

The nice weather certainly didn't inspire me to do anything useful. I fixed my morning smoothie, checked my e-mail, made a few minor updates to an animal rescue website, and took my walk. That was about it for the day.

It wasn't surprising that there were a lot of people out in the park. There were no jackets and wool hats today. Everybody was wearing shorts. I wish days like this were more common in Dallas. I finished my entire walk without freezing or sweating. This is the way is should be. Unfortunately, there is rain in the forecast for later in the week.

The spare bulbs for my Norman strobes arrived this morning. We still can't decide whether to buy a new backdrop for this years Santa Paws photos. I have a ton of Christmas themed muslin backdrops from previous years, but since we get a lot of the same customers year after year, it's always nice to have something new. There used to be an abundance of hand painted muslin photo backdrops available, but that's not the case anymore. More and more photographers just use a green screen and insert a backdrop electronically using compositing software. Call me old fashioned, but I still prefer a real hand painted backdrop. I guess it's time to go to the storage warehouse and see what I have. We've been doing the Santa Paws pictures for a long time and there are a lot of old backdrops to choose from. Janet and I only found one interesting new pattern this year and after looking at it for a while, realized that we already had it. Like I said, nobody makes these things anymore.

I keep hoping to hear something from NASA, Sky and Telescope, or McDonald Observatory. I have lots of travel plans floating around in my head, but so far everything is still in limbo. I guess it's OK that things are moving slowly. It gives me something to think about on my walks. I still don't know where I'd live if I get approved to stay at the observatory this Spring. I'm not sure what I'd write about if I attend the Starliner launch either. Is there a story here? I guess I can't call myself a space journalist unless I can prove that there is.

I still can't figure out where the ants are coming from. These little sweet ants are so small you can barely see them, but there are everywhere. I've been bitten at night while I sleep and I found one inside my sock today. It really doesn't do much good to use bug spray if you don't know where they are coming from. You can't kill ants one at a time.

I hope that the weather stays nice tomorrow. One more dry day and I'll feel a lot more confident that my roof patches have fully cured. A dry day won't make me confident about anything else, but you've got to take what you can get.

Jasper is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3611

It was a little warmer today, but apparently not warm enough to get me motivated. I certainly didn't accomplish much. While I was waiting for the temperature to rise, I wrote a letter to my sister and paid a few bills. I'm in no hurry to take an early walk anymore. I debated whether to call McDonald Observatory again or apply for a second NASA event in December and eventually decided to do neither. Maybe I felt that appearing over eager could jinx things.

When I did get around to taking my walk I was surprised when someone stopped me to ask about Dot and Dash. How could anyone even recognize me when I was bundled up like this? Although it was warmer than yesterday, it was still cold enough to warrant wearing my down coat and heavy boots. I looked like the Michelin Man again. I realized later that I was wearing the same winter outfit I've worn outside for many years. These were my dog walking clothes. I was probably instantly recognizable as soon as someone saw the puffy blue coat and wool hat.

There is a big patch of purple asters I pass every day on my walk. These Fall perennials always seem to be the last wildflowers to bloom. I doubt that they'll last much longer in this cold. The butterflies that congregate around these flowers are already gone. They're probably in Mexico by now. Pretty soon the trees will be bare and I won't see any more wildflowers until Spring. I was never very concerned about what to look at in the park in prior years. I was way too busy walking the dogs.

We've got ants in the kitchen again. I think this happens every winter. These are tiny little sweet ants and they seem to be everywhere. We spray and it doesn't do much good, but eventually the ants disappear. One of the many downsides to winter is that the bugs like to come indoors.

I've been a little concerned that my resting heart rate has been higher lately. Why should this change since I do the same things everyday? I did a Google search and learned that your resting heart rate increases when you are warmer and if you are dehydrated. Maybe this explains it. I'm sleeping under a blanket now and wearing much warmer clothes, which I never used to do during the summer. I'm also not drinking as much water. I drank a ton of water when I took hot summer walks. I also learned that my normal resting heart rate in the low 50's is considered very low unless you are an athlete and that my 'elevated' rate in the low 60's is considered normal. Maybe the only thing I really learned today is that I am still a hypochondriac who hates to see anything change.

I need to remember to buy some spare quartz modeling lights and an extra strobe tube for my strobe lights. The SantaPaws season is rapidly approaching and every year I worry that my aging Norman strobes are going to break. I definitely don't want to buy any more studio lights at this point in my life. Good studio strobes have gotten very expensive. I'm hoping that since I basically just use this equipment to shoot Santa photos once a year now, that it will last as long as I do.

The refrigerator was looking empty so I bought some more Cadence Kitchen dinners. I had the Mexican Style Pulled Pork with pineapple and achiote sauce tonight over rice. So good, but they use too much salt. As always, the best tasting things seem to inevitably be bad for you.

Puppies are today's Dalmatians of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3401

Weather reports can be frustrating. Ever since I woke up this morning I've been waiting for the monster storm with baseball sized hail that was headed our way. Janet changed her plans and stayed home because her previous car was damaged during a hailstorm. I took my morning walk in a slow drizzle because I was convinced that the weather was going to get worse as the day progressed. The rain never arrived. Actually, the sun is shining right now. Go figure.

There is still rain in the forecast. Now it is supposed to arrive around midnight. We'll see what happens. Texas weather is often totally unpredictable. I just hope that the storm moves through town and is well to the East by morning. We need to pick up Dash at the cancer center early tomorrow morning and drive him to our cremation appointment. I definitely don't want to do this during a hailstorm.

It's been easier than I thought to keep taking 10,000 steps a day. There's always plenty of time to walk when there's nothing else to do. I don't think there's any danger of turning into Forest Gump or anything, but I might start taking much longer daily walks. Why not? Walking alone in the woods is a great way to collect your thoughts. There are people who think I need to find a hobby. Actually, daydreaming is a pretty good hobby.

More of my art sold at auction this weekend. These secondary auctions aren't nearly as exciting as the  big ones in New York last Fall, but at least things are selling. So far, I've only had one piece that didn't get any bids at all. I've replaced most of the art that used to hang on our walls with pictures of the dogs. These pictures make me happier anyway. It's been a long time since I was an avid art collector. I'd rather look at pictures of Spot, Petey, Greta, Dot and Dash.

When we were cleaning today we found a humongous pile of dead ants under the microwave. I wonder how many years it took for that pile to accumulate? When the house settled, it left a small crack near a window frame in the kitchen. Ants came through this hole every Spring. I always sprayed, but apparently the ants were tough. Most of them kept going until they reached the microwave.

One of Dash's vets sent us a lovely bouquet of fresh flowers. They smell wonderful and remind me that we always used to keep fresh flower in the house. That didn't last for long. As we both got busier with work, the flowers would often be dead for weeks before we even noticed. I think Spot ate some flowers too. That episode put an end to the flowers. It just became too much trouble to keep track of which plants were safe for dogs and which were dangerous. With Dalmatians it's better to assume that everything is unsafe unless the dogs are being supervised.

Now that I'm getting more sleep, I thought that my resting heart rate would go down. Surprisingly, the opposite has happened. Fitbit is full of mysteries. It tells you just enough to get you wondering, but not enough to do anything really useful. I probably was just as healthy before I started counting my steps.

Bella is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3393

I mowed the grass for the first time this year. I had to mow twice because the weeds were overpowering the mower. One pass took care of the top of the weeds and after I lowered the blade, the next pass took care of the rest. I used to spend hours weeding the lawn every Spring until I discovered that these weeds died on their own around April. Mowing the lawn seems harder with each passing year. The wheels aren't powered on this mower and the hills seem steeper than they used to be. One of these days I'm going to give up and hire a lawn service like all the other neighbors.

Dash got another bath today because he pooped on himself during the night. We cleaned him up the best we could around 2 AM, but when daylight arrived it was clear that we could have done better. It's sad that Dash won't eat the chicken, rice, and vegetable dinner we've been fixing for him. He did so well on this diet. Now that he's become an extremely picky eater again, we basically feed him anything that he will eat. The list seems to change every day. These frequent changes in diet are making his stools loose again. We've been through this before. So far, Dash's eating habits have returned to normal after a week or so. I've always thought the vestibular disease caused these episodes, but maybe it's something else. When Dash has an upset stomach, the important thing is to find something he can hold down and keep him taking his pills. So far, there's been no vomiting. It's always harder when there's a problem at both ends.

It's nice that warmer weather has returned. It's not so nice that the bugs came along with it. Every Spring we have a terrible problem with ants. They're everywhere. Old houses are full of cracks and these cracks are superhighways for ants. Mostly we are seeing small sweet ants. They're easy to kill, but they just keep coming. At least this onslaught is seasonal. Ants can be very irritating.

I didn't think that Dash's walks could get any slower, but they have. We just inch along these days. I try to get an early start so Dash won't get overheated. Unfortunately, an early start means nothing to Dash. It almost always feels ten degrees warmer by the time we return home. I don't know what we're going to do this Summer. Today was a beautiful, very mild Spring day and Dash was already too hot. He does best when it's about 40 degrees.

It's time for a haircut again. It seems like I just got a haircut but I guess it's been almost three months. Time seems to go by so quickly now. When I went to see the doctor the other day, it seemed like I'd just been too. It had been six months since my last appointment. Bills only arrive once a month, but it seems like I'm paying bills continuously. When I was busy with work, a month seemed like a very long time. Now that life has slowed down, time goes by much more quickly. Maybe when nothing happens, time doesn't exist. Those people who study black holes ought to look into this.

I've got to look for a birthday card tomorrow. There used to be a nice Hallmark Card store in the neighborhood, but it went out of business several years ago. I don't like the cards you find in grocery stores, but I don't feel like driving all over town either. It's not worth the effort. No wonder people just sent birthday greetings on Facebook.

Livy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3377

I've never seen someone go from hero to goat so quickly. Just a few days ago Robert Mueller was the knight in shining armor who was going to deliver Trump's head on a platter. Today, he did the unthinkable to some on the left: he didn't follow their game plan. Why were these guys so convinced that Mueller was going to bring the president down? If this was the honest investigation that they claimed they wanted, the outcome was never predetermined. Hey, it's time to move on guys. It didn't turn out the way you wanted. If you want to win the next election you need to start telling people what you like. We already know what you hate.

I find politics humorous and sad. It seldom works when people allow it to become their religion. The Democrats could probably win in 2020 with a ticket of Biden and Beto. People like these guys. The progressives will never nominate an old white guy though. How could they? They've boxed themselves into a corner on that one. I predict that they'll pick someone ideologically pure, culturally diverse, and too weird for the country. They'll end up losing again. Don't say I didn't warn you.

I don't think about politics at the gym. I wonder about the other people on the floor. Everybody at my gym is pretty old, but some are amazingly fit. I'm impressed at what they are able to do. I like to think that these people have more discipline than the others. They were probably the ones who always came to work early and left late. The fat people on the floor are probably nicer human beings, but I'm still impressed by the folks with the most determination.

Dash is certainly determined. Even though he has taken a turn for the worse, he still wants his daily walks. I've tried to cut the distance we walk in half to prevent him from becoming too exhausted. So far, this seems to be working. It takes forever to go even a short distance these days, but that's OK. I certainly don't have anything better to do. I'm a little worried that if something happened while we were out in the park, I wouldn't be able to get him to a vet in time. A walk is a simple thing, but occasionally I feel like I'm balancing on a tightrope without a safety net.

Now that Dash is sleeping more, his schedules have changed. We were worried for a while that he was losing interest in eating again, and then we realized that he wanted to eat his dinner at midnight. Often we have to get out of bed to feed him. It works though. Once he's had his midnight snack, he sleeps like a baby. We've gone several days without Dash pooping in the bed. He's been waking up and going outside. This is probably just a happy accident, but it is appreciated. I have no idea what will happen tonight. Life has become very unpredictable.

Spring has definitely arrived because the insects are back. I see long lines of small sweet ants climbing up the exterior bricks, looking for a way inside. They always find a way inside. Next month I'll see them in the bathroom. The Crane Flies are the worst. They congregate by the back door at night and every time I let Dash out, a dozen of them get in the house. Crane Flies are slow and easy to catch, but they are still irritating. I see one flying around the office now.

Chelsey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2792

When I was doing some yard work this morning, I noticed a huge army of sweet ants crawling from a crack in the patio and making their way up the side of the house to the roof. No wonder I've been seeing ants in the bathroom. I found some ant and roach spray in the kitchen and killed the ants that were visible, but I'm sure there are thousands more wherever these came from. While I was trying to eliminate the ants, I also saw several wasp nests. The wasps were rebuilding in exactly the same places where I had removed their nests a few months ago. I've been doing this year after year for as long as I can remember. Keeping the insects and critters out of the house is next to impossible. It's hard enough just to keep Dash from eating the June Bugs.

It doesn't look like my repairs to the shower stall were successful. After I took a shower this morning, I noticed a small stream of water flowing from one of the corners I had just sealed with the silicon caulk. The problem is that there is a small area under the glass shower door frame that is inaccessible. I think some of the tiles have cracked under the door and are letting water seep in. The leak isn't bad, but if there is any leak at all, it will only get worse.

I spend way too much time in this house. It's disheartening to see everything slowly disintegrate around me. Thirty years ago the doors and windows opened and closed a lot more smoothly. The brick floors were completely free from cracks. And the wool carpets looked wonderful. I could never afford to restore the place to its original condition, but it sure would be nice. I have fantasies about those guys from the This Old House show on PBS coming over and fixing up the place. Real contractors aren't like This Old House though. They want to do the work as quickly as possible using substandard materials they picked up at a nearby Home Depot. Sadly, the house will probably just continue to deteriorate.

For years, Dash used to be eager to take an evening walk right after he'd finished his dinner. Now that Janet has been home for most of the summer, Dash refuses too walk without her. It makes things awkward on days like today when Janet had a company dinner. Dash wouldn't walk at all. I tried three times and he refused to leave the yard. It was almost dark when Janet returned, but Dash decided he needed a walk after all. We all walked to the end of the street and back, but he could have had a much longer walk if he'd just gone a few hours earlier.

Janet's been having trouble finding an iPad, so I told her that I'd go locate one for her. After doing a little looking around, I found exactly the model she wanted at a local AT&T phone store. The Apple Store in the mall said there would be a three or four week wait before they had this model back in stock. This doesn't make any sense. You'd think that the Apple Store would always keep a good supply of their own products on hand. It's getting harder and harder to be an Apple fanboy. I think that Apple has become too rich and powerful for its own good. They don't even try to keep customers happy anymore.

I don't know what it will take to keep me happy. I still miss Dot a lot. It would be nice to have a steady income, but I don't really want a job. I wake up each day with a small list of things to do and I usually do all of them. There is no grand plan anymore.  I'm just going from one day to the next.

Pogo is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2625 - President's Day

Holidays that move around from year to year confuse me. I'm old enough to remember when Washington's birthday was celebrated on February 22, which happened to be the day he was actually born. Now, in an effort to give people more three day weekends, this birthday is celebrated on the third Monday in February. We don't call it Washington's birthday anymore though, because Lincoln's birthday and Washington's have been rolled into a single postal holiday, simply called President's Day. If it weren't for the fact that we didn't get any mail today, I would never have realized that today was a holiday at all.

I definitely realized that we were having a thunderstorm last night. The thunder and lightning woke up Dot and Dash but I think it was the wind that woke me up. I checked the weather radar and quickly realized that it was going to be a long night. Dot calmed down when I closed a door that gave her a view of the storm. After I covered Dash with a blanket, he seemed to relax as well. I think the dogs weathered the storm better than I did. I was nervous until the wind subsided because I was afraid that one of our trees would come crashing down. I stayed on the floor with Dot until she went back to sleep, which was probably a mistake, since I woke up with a sore shoulder. By morning, the storm was largely over, but I was very tired.

The storm wasn't the only strange thing that happened last night. When I woke up this morning I noticed what looked like a pile of dirt on the bathroom floor. Where did this come from? On closer inspection, the dirt turned out to be a small ant hill, populated with hundreds of tiny sweet ants crawling around. Apparently the ants invaded the house through a small crack in the tile floor. I found some bug spray, killed the ants , and cleaned up the mess. Hopefully, they won't come back. I have a feeling that last night's torrential rains flooded the ants home and forced them inside. Either that, or the ants were already in the house and just waiting for the right time to cause havoc.

There isn't much to do on a rainy day, so after making a few minor website updates, I was faced with vacuuming the house. Why not? I knew I couldn't avoid this unpleasant task forever, so I got to work. The canister filled with dirt quickly and the house still looked dirty. Cleaning things would be much more satisfying if they actually looked clean when you were finished. I was temped to leave the vacuum cleaner running in the bathroom in hopes of sucking up all the remaining ants, but I knew the ants would outsmart me anyway. They're probably already plotting their next move.

Janet brought home burgers tonight. They were delicious, but I'm always surprised that what would have seemed a normal sized meal ten years ago, now leaves me stuffed. I need to start ordering children's meals. I don't know if it's natural for your appetite to decrease as you age, but mine certainly has. I should have cut the burger in half and had the other half for tomorrow's dinner.

I'm sure Dash wishes we were feeding him cheeseburgers. He was still finicky with his food today. I have no idea what is going on. Janet bought a different brand today to see if he liked that. He ate the new food just fine, but we now have four different brands of food for Dash. It's getting confusing. Dot will still eat anything, even if it takes her all day to chew her meal. The food goes in one end and comes out the other. That's how I spend my day.

I think the weather is supposed to clear up tomorrow. If it does, I may actually get something done.

Odie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1606

This is the time of year when thousands of tiny sweet ants join forces for an all-out assault on the house. All it takes is a tiny crack for them to get in and once they're in, they're everywhere. I started noticing these ants yesterday, and today there seemed to be twice as many. Sweet ants are hard to get rid of unless you can find where they're coming from. My guess is that they're getting through small cracks in the window sills, because that was where they were swarming today. I went outside with a bottle of ant and roach spray and tried to seal off any potential entrance. We'll see how that works. Usually, nothing works. Luckily, these little critters are just passing through. They come every year about this time, and by the time I've come up with a workable plan to get rid of them, they're gone.

I got an e-mail today saying that the yearly rent for my storage warehouse is due again. I can't even remember how long I've had this storage space. Suffice to say, it's been a very long time. It has occurred to me occasionally that what I've paid in rent over the years is probably quite a bit more than the actual value of the contents. The longer I keep this stuff, the more I tend to forget why I stored it away in the first place. At some point, I'll come to my senses and either start selling things, or just toss it all in the nearest dumpster. It's doubtful that I'll reach a tipping point this year. I'm sure I'll just renew the warehouse for another year, take a quick look inside, and continue to wonder what is in some of the unmarked boxes.

My mechanic called today and told me that he had a buyer for the non-running car he never found time to repair. Since he and I are about the same age, I don't think he'll ever find time to repair the car. If I had unlimited resources and a younger mechanic, it would be fun to fully restore the old car and drive it around occasionally. That's not going to happen though. I reluctantly agreed that, even though the offer I received was not great, it was probably time to sell. It took me a long time to remember where the title to the car was. I transferred the title when I moved to Texas in 1977. Eventually, I found the document, but it wasn't where I thought it was.

I though I was going to have an easy day, but somehow it didn't turn out that way. The ants took a long time to kill. The title took a long time to find. And unfortunately, I tried to balance my checkbook. Since I do all my accounting using Quickbooks Pro, I start to think that these are the real numbers, forgetting that I occasionally type things in wrong. Every six months or so, I try to reconcile the Quickbooks entries with my bank statement and usually fail. After three tries today, I was still off by $2.88.  I finally just made a journal entry for $2.88, under the heading of Miscellaneous Stuff.

I still haven't gotten the water from Thursday's torrential rains off the roof. Since it was hot today and will be even hotter tomorrow, I'm hoping that it will just evaporate.

Spot is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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