Day 3407

I've been looking for some better shoes to wear on my longer walks. I didn't need to look far. There are enough shoes in my closet to start a shoe store. Today I wore an old pair of hand made Pivetta boots that belonged to my Dad. He wore them frequently while we lived in Alaska during the 1960's. Amazingly, these 50 year old hiking boots were still in better condition than shoes I bought last year. They just don't make things like this anymore. The boots are much sturdier and more comfortable than my regular dog walking shoes. I'm torn between wearing these shoes on a regular basis and preserving them for posterity. I've typically only worn these boots on snow days to preserve the soles. The boots still have the original soles and they show minimal wear. Pivetta is still considered the holy grail by some serious hikers. Colin Fletcher considered them to be the best boots you could buy. Should I save these things or wear them out? This is always my dilemma. I have a reverence for well made objects and often don't use things that were clearly meant to be used.

I went up to the audio repair shop this afternoon and paid the remainder of my bill. I didn't take the Sequential Circuits synthesizers home with with me however. I asked the technician who restored the gear for me if he'd be interested in helping me sell it for a commission. It's worth a shot. This guy knows musicians and collectors all over the country. I don't know anybody who's looking for a vintage synthesizer. We'll see what happens. I'm certainly in no hurry. The last time I actually used these synthesizers was in 1982.

On my way home I dropped off some more things at the storage warehouse. At least I don't have to store the synthesizers yet. I should have rented a larger unit because I've almost filled up my storage space. This wasn't supposed to happen so quickly. In theory there are still lots of things I can get rid of, but it's so much trouble to sort through all the boxes. I've started storing the new stuff in large clear plastic tubs so I can see what's inside. I don't have a clue what is inside some of the older cardboard boxes. Janet is well on her way to cleaning out her storage warehouse. She wants to move out before her next renewal date. I don't even understand this concept. To me a storage warehouse is like purgatory for stuff. You put stuff in there and maybe later it goes to heaven or hell. Storage warehouses are a great way to avoid making decisions. If I had an unlimited amount of money, I'd just buy an entire storage building.

It's started to rain again. I hope I didn't bleach the ceiling in vain. I'm still waiting for one more bid to replace the roof, but I'm not liking what I've seen so far. The cost is way too high. Jeez. I bought my first house for less than the highest estimate. I may be doomed to using the sump pumps and sweeping away the standing water forever. I hate viewing every rainstorm as a potential roof leak however. It gets old fast.

It's supposed to continue raining all day tomorrow. That's the main reason I ran most of my errands earlier today. I hate to drive in the rain. Sometimes I fantasize about living in the desert but I don't like rattlesnakes and scorpions either. I'd better get used to this because the rainy season could last another month. I'll need to turn the pumps on soon. Hope I can remember to turn them off again.

Wyatt is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3318

If there is one recurring theme in my dreams, it is that I'm usually lost. I've been wandering around searching for things in dreamland for most of my life. Last night I was with a group of people and we were trying to return to our hotel. I could see the hotel in the distance, but the road I was on twisted and turned and eventually arrived at a dead end. I climbed over fences, avoided rivers and finally reached the hotel. By this time, all my companions had disappeared. When I went inside, the interior of the hotel looked unfamiliar. I was still lost. I wondered if I was in the wrong hotel. Then I woke up.

I have so many of these type of dreams that I wonder if they mean I am lost in real life. Sometimes I feel that way. Of course, there are other times when I feel like I'm the only sensible person in the room and that everyone else is lost. Maybe dreams mean nothing at all. I sure wish I'd find what I was looking for though. This is getting old.

On cold days like this, I feel like I am part reptile. My entire metabolism slows down. It takes forever to make the bed and to fix breakfast. Morning walks take forever too, but that is Dash's problem, not mine. At least the weather is cooperating. The ground is almost dry again and today my boots weren't even muddy when we returned.

The guy who is fixing my Sequential Circuits synthesizers called me today with another progress report. It is amazing how much can go wrong when you leave something in a storage warehouse for fifteen years. The repair guy is still convinced that he can bring all three synthesizers back to life, but it sounds like he is completely rebuilding them from scratch. He needed me to authorize a new parts list today. I've already reached the point where I'll probably never make a profit if I sell the synthesizers later. I wish I wasn't compelled to always fix and repair things. This has turned into a major and probably very expensive project. The sad thing is that I can't even play the piano very well anymore.

The week has gone quickly. It's already time to take the trash out to the curb again. It's amazing how much trash that two people can generate in a week. Of course a lot of ours is just bagged up dog poop. We're pretty frugal compared to some of our neighbors. The curb is piled with Amazon Prime boxes every Friday morning.

Dash had a good day. We haven't had a medical emergency in quite a while. He is eating well now and seems happy. It's sad that his rear legs have become so weak, but adversity doesn't seem to slow Dash down. He stumbles around, seemingly oblivious to his many problems. I hope that I have the same determination when I start to fall apart.

I'm going to return to last week's new discovery for breakfast tomorrow. There's a huge new menu to try.

Holly is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3302

What a busy day. The roofing crew arrived early. It took a while to explain what was going on, but once we were all on the same page, the guys found two additional leaks. Since these leaks corresponded to areas inside the house where water was getting in, I felt like we were making progress. When I asked whether they felt confident that the had discovered all the potential leaks, they just shrugged. "We'd have to tear up the entire roof to do that," one guy said. At least the guys made an honest effort to patch the leak. We'll have to see what happens when it rains again.

I got a quote on fixing my office chair. It's going to cost more than it cost to fix the dryer. How can that be? It's only a chair. Reluctantly, I told the guys to go ahead and order the parts. The repairs will still cost considerably less than buying a new chair. Janet suggested just going out and buy a cheap chair at Office Depot, but I like my Aeron Chair. It has served me well and even though I don't spend a lot of time designing websites or editing videos these days, I still like to be comfortable when I'm writing the blog.

Since I was making progress on the roof and the chair, I decided to tackle the driveway as well. I went out and bought a hundred pounds of river rocks at Home Depot and dumped them in the pothole. It wasn't an elegant solution, but it just might work. At this point I just want to stop getting mud all over my car every time I back out of the driveway. Before filling the hole with rocks, I checked to make sure there wasn't a water pipe underneath. Nope. The ground is just saturated with all the rain we've had lately.

The last thing on my list today was an attempt to fix the weird French toilet in one of the bathrooms. This seldom works, but since I can't get parts for the toilet anyway what do I have to lose? Basically I just shut the water off, clean off the parts as best I can and them put the flushing mechanism back together again. This is the most complicated toilet I've ever seen. It was probably designed by the same person who designed Citroën automobiles. Rube Goldberg would be proud.

Dash is still slipping on the bricks, so I went to the storage warehouse and brought back a few more rugs. I've already brought quite a few of these rugs home, but I was surprised at how many still remained. We must have covered our entire house with cheap rugs when Dot was sick. The rugs do make a difference. They help Dash get up when he's been sleeping on the floor and they help him stay upright when he's awake.

Towards the end of the day I got a call from the guy who is restoring my Sequential Circuits synthesizers. He said that one of the synthesizers was as good as new now and that he was making progress on the other two. These synthesizers have been in the shop for over three months now. I didn't even want to ask what this was going to cost me. I still don't feel bad about restoring this stuff. Vintage Sequential Circuits gear is very desirable. When everything is finished, I'll either start playing the keyboards again, or someone will want to buy them.

All in all, it was a good day. I like making progress even if the progress is small. The weather should be nice tomorrow as well, so today's roof repairs should have plenty of time to dry before rain puts them to the test again. Fingers crossed. For some reason I'm slightly optimistic today.

Jordan is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3204

My memory is shot. I was slowly plodding through my regular morning routine when I got a reminder notice on my phone saying that I had a dental appointment in one hour. Damn. I completely forgot, even though the appointment had been on my calendar for weeks. I hadn't finished breakfast, hadn't taken a shower, and still had to take Dash outside to pee, but I knew I'd better leave immediately. I've had doctors and veterinarians for clients and I know how much they hate for someone to cancel an appointment at the last minute.

I almost never make an appointment before 11 AM, but apparently that is still too early. It's amazing how long it takes to do nothing when you've got a sick dog. I made it to the dentist's office with a few minutes to spare. Luckily, traffic was light today. My teeth looked good, and after a routine cleaning, I made another appointment for six months from now. I bet I'll forget that one too.

I didn't think Facebook could get worse, but it has. Now, it you like something or use one of those other emojis, you can't see who else liked the same thing. I wonder what this is all about. You can still see who liked a paid business post by hovering your mouse over the little blue hand, but friends likes are hidden. You can't even see who liked your own posts. This probably has something to do with privacy. Facebook is paranoid about privacy after all the problems they've had. It's too bad they keep making their platform worse.

Dash gave us a scare last night. He had another vestibular seizure and appeared brain dead for a while. He just wandered around aimlessly for almost an hour. He would go out the back door and just stand on the porch, staring vacantly at the sky. Then he would come in and go to the kitchen, where he would stand by his food bowl. He wouldn't eat anything though. I tried everything. He wouldn't pee when he went outside and he wouldn't eat when he went to the kitchen. He refused to go back to the bedroom and for the most part, just appeared dazed and confused. When he was standing in place, he would shake and drool a lot. Usually vertigo causes this. If Dash stood in one place too long, his rear legs would start to sink. Eventually eventually we convinced him to come back to the bedroom, where he immediately went to sleep.

This morning, Dash was fine. That's the way vestibular disease operates. Something periodically triggers these episodes and after hours of worrying that your dog might die, the symptoms subside and everything is fine. Vestibular seizures aren't nearly as violent as epileptic seizures, but they last a lot longer. So far, we've been lucky that episodes like last night don't happen all that often.

I got a call from the audio repair shop with an estimate for fixing my synthesizers. The estimate seemed high, but there were three synthesizers, so I told them to go ahead. I wanted the guy to assure me that the synthesizers would be good as new once the repairs were made. Nope. This was stage one. When the power supplies and certain capacitors had been repaired, they would move on to stage two. By the time these things are fixed, I won't make a dime by selling them. It's pretty much the same story with the large lithograph I had restored. I'll have to add "don't ever keep your stuff in a storage warehouse" to my long-time admonition to never buy a house with a flat roof.

Oh, well. Tomorrow's a new day. It will probably be full of surprises. Most days are.

Bailey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3158

Buying things is easy. Selling things is much harder. This may not be true for everyone, but it certainly has been my experience. Selling almost always involves negotiation and compromise. Deals are made and broken. People change their minds. I can't say that I enjoy this process. I've never been a haggler. I pay the asking price or I walk away. Maybe this is why the storage warehouse is so full of stuff that is way past its expiration date. I buy things but I never sell.

I don't want a bunch of strangers fighting over my stuff in an episode of Storage Wars, so I guess selling is almost inevitable. Today I agreed on a lower price for some of my model trains. I reviewed a rather disappointing proposal from an auction house. What ate up most of my time was moving vintage synthesizers around. I picked up a restored synthesizer from the audio shop. I took this instrument to the vintage guitar store to consign and retrieved two more broken synthesizers and a vintage drum machine to take back to the keyboard technician. These repairs are expensive, so I'm not sure I'll make much money when the equipment finally sells. I don't have much of a choice though. I either fix the stuff or throw in in a dumpster.

This whole process of unwinding is much more difficult than I imagined. It's making me question the whole concept of ownership. I'm beginning to think that none of us really owns anything. We just rent it for a period of time. Everything passes through our hands eventually. Thirty years ago, the model train guy told me "Someday, I'll have all these trains back in my store." I didn't believe him at the time, but he was right.

While I was at the guitar store, the owner and I talked about the difficulty of calculating the future value of anything. He told me how he had spent an entire Summer's earnings while he was in college on one of the very first flat screen televisions. Then he pointed to a huge TV on the wall at the store. "I got this thing for less than $200," he told me. I could relate. I spent a small fortune once on an early model Osborne 1 computer that looked like a Singer sewing machine and had a screen smaller than my phone.

Dash let us sleep all night last night. It was wonderful. He didn't leave the bed or do anything weird at all. Around 7 AM, Dash woke up, went to the back door and peed and pooped outside, just like a normal dog. He ate well today too. When you've got a dog as old and sick as Dash, you really learn to appreciate the good days.

I wasn't very hungry this morning. A single small waffle filled me up. Janet doesn't think I'm eating enough, but I'm gaining weight. Go figure. I think I never realized how much exercise I was getting when Dot and Dash were young and healthy. Those two dogs could walk forever.

I'm hoping for another restful night. Sleeping well can make all the difference. Maybe sleep deprivation has already affected my memory. I saw something on Facebook today in memory of the lead guitar player in one of my old bands. "Did you know Woody had died," I asked Janet? "Yes", she said. "You told me two years ago."  So it begins.

Toby is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3157

Today was disappointing. Yesterday I thought I'd already sold one of my guitars. Today I learned that the guy who put it on layaway changed his mind. That wasn't the only surprise. I also learned that the guitar store wants me to take care of repairing the broken synthesizers. Originally, they were going to handle this themselves, but I guess they got cold feet. I can understand. It's difficult to estimate the cost of repairing old things. It wouldn't be hard to invest more money in repairs than the synthesizers were worth. I'll go ahead and get the instruments repaired on my dime, but it sure would have made life easier to let the store handle this.

Maybe life just isn't meant to be easy. When I went up on the roof today, I discovered a small defective area that the roofers inexplicably failed to fix. The roofers may have missed this bad spot, but the rain found it easy enough. Now I've got to convince the roofers to come out again. That won't be a a pleasant task.

A client that I'd thought I'd lost about six months ago now wants me to do more work for him. Strangely, I have mixed feelings about this. I'm getting used to the idea of being fully retired. It's also good to have an income, so I'll definitely do the work. I just wasn't as happy to get this new job as I should have been. I guess I don't know what I want anymore. When I'm idle, I think that work and deadlines would add structure and a sense of purpose to my life. When I actually get a job, it just seems like a giant nuisance.

Dash has added a new wrinkle to his bag of tricks. He wakes me up at night, acting like he really needs to go outside and pee. As soon as he gets outside he just stands there looking confused. He'll wander around aimlessly for a long time and then come back inside without doing anything. We repeated this process three times last night before he actually peed. When I finally thought I might be able to get back to sleep, he got me out of bed again. This time he needed to poop. I was outside at least 45 minutes with Dash between 2 and 3 AM. Needless to say, by the time he had finally done his business I was wide awake. I don't know what makes Dash seem dazed and confused at night, but it seems to be getting worse.

This morning he was fine, even though I was exhausted. If Dash does his business quickly, I can usually get back to sleep very easily. When he keeps me up for hours at a time, it's hardly worth the trouble to go back to bed. Once I'm fully awake I might as well just stay up.

Hopefully things will be better tonight. I don't know how much more sleep deprivation I can take. I don't think Dash is really worried about losing sleep. He sleeps all day.

Pogo is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3155

I checked on things today. It was basically a status update day. I signed off on an estimate to repair one of the broken synthesizers. I found out that a long awaited watch repair was finished. I hesitated to call the electrician again because the light in the back yard has mysteriously started working this week. During my meeting this afternoon with my financial advisor, I got a ton of information that went in one ear and out the other. It gives me a headache to make financial decisions. Whatever you do, you can't predict the future.

One thing I learned today was that I've got to start withdrawing money from my IRA soon. It's the law. Apparently I'd forgotten over the years that money coming out of an IRA or SEP account is taxed as ordinary income. Bummer. Why had I been thinking that future withdrawals would be taxed as capital gains or losses just like any other investment? At any rate, this kind of sucks.

Dash is really rough on his special boots. The new boots I bought recently are already in need of repairs. These protective boots would probably last forever on a young healthy dog, but Dash's legs are weak and he drags his rear feet. This is why he wears the boots in the first place. Every time he drags his rear legs the top side of the boot rubs against the ground or pavement. It doesn't take long for the fabric to rip and the rubber to tear. I've been repairing these things using Shoe Goo and thin rubber inner tube patches. I've got three different brands of dog boots in rotation now, but they still wear out pretty quickly. I didn't think I'd need to repair the new boots so soon, but that's what I did this afternoon. I guess I'll go buy another pair just like them later this week. This brand fits very well. They're pretty expensive to be a disposable item, but Dash couldn't keep walking without them.

I thought the rain was going to stop today, but it kept on raining. The showers are becoming more sporadic, so maybe the rain will end for good by tomorrow. I still don't see any signs of a roof leak. That's good news. I haven't actually been up on the roof though. It may be a disaster when I finally get around to taking a look. I wish I could rig a series of automatic pumps to remove all the water for me, but it just doesn't work. I've tried pumps before and they always end up getting clogged with debris that falls from the trees. Once the pumps become clogged, they burn up fairly quickly. Jeez. I never dreamed I'd be seventy years old and still climbing up on my roof every week, but here I am.

I may go pick up the watch from my watchmaker tomorrow. Watches are small, so there's always room for them. I don't know what I'm going to do when the synthesizer repair is finished. I can't take it back to the storage warehouse, because that's how it became damaged in the first place. There's really no room for the thing in the house either. I'm hoping I can convince the vintage guitar store to take it. Unfortunately, it's not as desirable as my other synthesizers. At any rate, I hope the repair technician is really slow. Maybe I'll think of something by the time he gets finished.

Dash ate well today and seemed happy enough. He stumbled badly on his walks though. It's almost time to fit him for a Help 'Em Up Harness like Dot used to wear.

Elliott is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3137

I didn't go out for breakfast this morning. There was too much to do at home. Getting Dash ready in the morning is quite a challenge. He is very reluctant to get up, but as soon as he does start moving, he immediately needs to poop. There is a clear path to the door but he hasn't been able to make it outside yet. I have to try to give him his meds before I clean up the poop, because if I wait too long he'll go back to bed and we'll have to start all over again. So far, the only pill pocket that works is a little cube of rare steak. There are lots of pills, so he gets a fair amount of steak. This usually spoils his appetite and he won't eat his breakfast.

I clean up the poop as quickly as I can and get him ready for his morning walk. I wish we could get started earlier, but we're doing the best we can. We've only been walking about half as far as we usually do, because it's already starting to get hot when we leave the house. I'm glad that Dash has the good sense to head for home early when the weather is hot. Usually he will finish his breakfast when we return to the house, but sometimes I end up saving it for lunch. When Dash has cooled down and goes back to sleep, I fix my own breakfast.

Dash has been very slow and lethargic this week. I don't know whether it's the heat, or if something had gotten worse with his heart. Whatever is going on, it's troubling. I don't want to overwork him, but I don't want him sleeping 24 hours a day either. We've got to strike a balance. We go back for another big recheck at the cancer center next week. I really hope his condition hasn't deteriorated.

I took my last remaining synthesizer to the repair shop today. I'll probably try to sell this one too. It isn't as rare as the two I've already consigned, but there isn't as much wrong with it either. I think all this one needs is a new backup battery. Why this battery is soldered to the main logic board in a hard to access place, I'll never understand. Probably I just wasn't supposed to keep the thing this long.

The keyboard technician told me that the damage to all my synthesizers was probably caused by heat.  The storage warehouse just wasn't cool enough. The fact that you should never keep musical instruments in a storage warehouse has been an expensive lesson to learn. I should have sold all these things immediately when they were no longer being used. Most of the guitars weren't as damaged as the synthesizers, but heat took their toll on them as well. All three of the good guitars will need some major setup work.

It's discouraging to realize that my desire to keep things has always been at odds with the realities of living in a small house. There never was room for this stuff. I always thought that the storage warehouse was like a giant pause button. Maybe I could keep things in suspended animation until a mythical much larger house materialized. Life doesn't work that way though. Time marches on whatever you do.

I just finished giving Dash his evening meds, but he hasn't touched his dinner yet. Usually he will get hungry before we go to bed, but you never know. I guess I should look on the bright side. He hasn't thrown up yet.

Deuce is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1755

Yay! We've got power again. The repair crew arrived in the neighborhood while Janet and I were returning from our Sunday morning walk with Dot and Dash. The five large trucks and twelve man repair crew were greeted like a liberating army. Some neighbors offered the men coffee and others brought donuts. Everybody said a sincere thank you to the crew for not forgetting about us. After we saw the big trucks, we all knew we would have power by the end of the day.

I had no idea how long it would actually take to get power restored, so I drove up the street to pick up a take-out breakfast and some coffee. By the time I returned with the food, the lights were on again and our ordeal was over. You realize very quickly in situations like these that modern society is completely dependent on electricity. Things go downhill very quickly without power. People get grumpy. Store shelves quickly empty of essential items like batteries and food that does not require refrigeration. Knowledge workers are dead in the water without the computers, servers and phone systems they depend on. I'm still wondering what happened on Saturday's new Dr. Who episode. I can't tell you how many people I saw using their cars to recharge their cell phones during the outage. Most people would readily burn several gallons of gas while their car was idling in the driveway than risk their phone going dead. Without our phones, we are lost.

I remember reading once that during the cold war, Russia hardened most of its power grid by burying the electric cables underground. For some reason the United States didn't bother to do the same and now we are paying the price. Our entire power grid is an aging, very insecure, mess. If electric cars like the Tesla ever become popular, there will probably be brownouts every night as the population recharges their cars for the next day. I hope someone in Washington realizes the importance of improving the power grid. ISIS doesn't need to go around chopping off people's heads. All they need to bring the country to its knees is turn off the electricity for a month.

Having power again inspired Janet and I to try to get a grip on the mess that was engulfing the house. We cleaned the refrigerator and started over with fresh food. I bought some new bath towels to replace the old dingy ones that were an embarrassment to take to the laundromat yesterday. I got out the big step ladder and finally summoned the energy to get the big heavy flight case for my synthesizer off a high shelf so I could pack it up and take it to the storage warehouse. The Beta-SP video equipment went to the storage warehouse as well. As important as this stuff was to my business at one time, I know it will never be used again.

I've still got a ton of work to catch up on, but it looks like Monday will just be another normal work day. If you were expecting something from me last Friday, I'm still working on it. I work pretty fast, so with any luck, the backlog will be gone by Wednesday. It's definitely back to oatmeal tomorrow. I think I've gained five pounds by eating out every single day since last Thursday. I really hope that we don't have a repeat of this mess later this Winter. I don't think the nice, dog friendly hotel where we sought refuge during a power outage last Winter will be an option any longer. Dog friendly hotels are usually very clear that if your dog destroys anything, you pay for it. I don't think they would welcome an old dog who has a tendency to pee on the bed.

Lightning is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day