Day 4330

Today started normally and ended weird. We took Dawn on her sunrise walk and then I had a bowl of green Jello for breakfast. The Jello was delicious compared to the Colonoscopy prep medication I'm drinking now. This stuff is vile and I have to drink a gallon of the disgusting liquid before I can call it a day. I couldn't eat solid food at all today, but that wasn't as bad as I thought. Coffee and Jello for breakfast really isn't that bad. Hot chicken broth for dinner wasn't terrible either. I used the same chicken broth we put on Dawn's food.

In between all the weird food was a fairly normal day. I took a long walk this morning and Janet and I visited the Dalmatian Rescue kennel this afternoon. Charlie, Oliver and Pepper are still there and are as playful as ever. Since there are three very playful dogs at the kennel now, we are spending more time there than we used to. Charlie is still the best trained of the three. We are trying to teach Oliver and Pepper some new commands but they both have short attention spans. They are all very food motivated, so we use treats to teach them new things. Sometimes this works and sometimes it doesn't. Everyone has fun though. I was surprised that Pepper was still there this week. She is small and very friendly and cute. Typically a dog like this gets adopted almost immediately.

I wish I'd been able to take the newer Colonoscopy prep medication. The new stuff still tastes terrible but you don't have to drink nearly as much. When I asked why I was given the older prep kit, a nurse told me that it was the only thing Medicare covered. It's a shame that I wasn't given a choice. I would have paid retail to be able to drink less of this stuff. As it is, I'll be up till midnight and that doesn't even count all the times I'll have to get up to go to the bathroom later.

Actually the upper endoscopy test I will be having tomorrow is more serious than the colonoscopy, but all I can think of is the colonoscopy because of the prep liquid I have to drink tonight. I hope I didn't make a mistake agreeing to have the EGD and the colonoscopy done at the same time. I've had both of these procedures done before and the recovery period is very quick. Usually you are back to normal the next day. Janet wants to go vote tomorrow after she picks me up from the hospital. I have a feeling that I might be a little groggy for that. There are just some obscure propositions on the ballot, but we always like to vote.

One thing I hate about all the medical appointments I'm having lately is that I have to answer my phone more often. You never know if the call is important and doctor's offices seldom seem to enable their caller ID. To avoid missing medical calls, I end up answering a lot more spam and telemarketing calls by mistake. I feel under siege by telemarketers lately. We must get twenty unwanted calls every day. I don't know what these guys have to gain by calling me. I never want what they have to offer.

Janet drops me off at the hospital early tomorrow morning. I hope everything goes well. I'm really looking forward to eating a decent meal again tomorrow evening. I'm certainly not hungry now though. I haven't drank this much liquid at one time since my last Colonoscopy over ten years ago.

Jada is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4304

Not a lot happened today. I slowly and methodically went through my daily routine, but I was still left with a lot of time on my hands. I should use days like these to do something significant, but I seldom do. Sometimes I think of things to do around the house while eating breakfast. If I don't immediately talk myself out of the task because it is too messy or too hard, the desire is usually gone by the time I finish my long walk. Even on a nice day, walking six miles can be a little tiring.

I paid some bills and answered a few e-mails this morning, but that didn't take up as much time as I'd hoped. The weather was nice and I really had no excuse not to finish the weeding I'd started in the backyard. I'm still not finished, but the white gravel pathways are looking much nicer now. Since I'm having trouble with my knees, I did most of the weeding bending over at the waist. I'm sure this wasn't good for my back. From time to time I'd sit down and rest, wondering why I had even started doing something like this. I guess it's better than being up on the roof. The yard does look better now, although you wouldn't notice anything special unless you'd seen how bad it was before.

The November issue of SpaceFlight Magazine must have gone to press because I got a message this morning asking if I wanted author copies. Sure. I always want author copies. Without a physical copy of the magazine to hold in my hands, it's easy to forget that I've written anything. I hope this issue doesn't take eight months to get here like the February issue. It might though. Covid might be waning in the UK, but now nobody seems to be able to get gas for their cars.

I wonder if there is a limit to how many callers I can block on my phone. I seem to add a few more to the blocked list every single day. Don't spammers and telemarketers know that almost nobody answers their phone anymore unless they recognize the number. Somebody is putting a whole lot of energy into this. Why don't they just get a real job? I don't understand people at all. Way too many will put more time and energy into cheating someone than they ever would into doing something decent. People are terrible. I almost feel sorry for Mark Zuckerberg. It's easy to criticize Facebook when the real problem is the people who use it.

If the weather stays nice I really need to get up on the roof and clean away the leaves and debris so I can look for torn spots in the elastomer. I need to do my best to get the roof sealed again before Winter arrives. In the Summer water will evaporate after a rain. In the Winter it just stays there forever. One thing I've learned about water is that if it sits long enough, it will eventually find a way in the house. I wish there was a way to even out the low spots where water collects. In my mind there ought to be a product that you could pour into the low spots where it would harden to level the roof out so it would drain properly. I ask every roofer I talk to about this imaginary product, but it apparently doesn't exist. 

The storage warehouse raised my rent again. They do this every year. I could probably save money by going back to the old storage warehouse as a new customer. It's so much trouble to move everything though. A better solution would be to just get rid of all the stuff I'm storing. What am I storing it for? At some point "too nice to throw away" doesn't make sense anymore. 80% of the stuff  I'm storing will never be used again. Oh, well. One more thing to worry about in the future. 

I hope that tomorrow is more interesting than today. I guess that's up to me though.

Cassie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4277

I got a letter from the new editor at SpaceFlight Magazine today hoping that I would continue to be a contributor to the magazine and asking if I had any ideas for new articles. This was definitely encouraging news. It kind of keeps the dream of being a space reporter alive. I still have no plans to return to Kennedy Space Center any time soon, but eventually the pandemic will be over. I am confident that there will be future articles.

The weather has been really nice this week. When we took our sunrise walk with Dawn this morning it was only 69 degrees. The weather was still cool enough for me to take a nice long walk after breakfast. It's pretty evident that I enjoy walking outdoors more than going to the gym. Extreme heat isn't fun though and it's nice to have the gym as a backup, even though I might not need it again for another year. I may be wrong, but I think Summer is finally over.

I'm still not doing much during the day. It's nice to have a doctor's excuse to be lazy. I've still got a week or so to go before I can lift anything, but my recovery is proceeding nicely. Eventually I'll have to get the lawn mower out and cut all the tall grass. The only useful thing I did today was spray for spiders under the eaves. Hopefully, now that the windows are clean and the spiders are gone I won't have to do this again for quite a while.

Dawn is weird. She gets excited when I get her leash for our sunrise walk. She gets even more excited when I begin preparing her dinner. When I want to take a nap with her during the day however, she immediately moves to the far corner of the bed. She'll stay on the bed with me as long as I don't look at her. If I stare at her, she'll get up and go to her bed in the kitchen. Doesn't she know by now that I actually like dogs, especially Dalmatians? I'm still waiting to win this dog over, but I think she's made up her mind.

I wonder who sold my number to the telemarketers. There has been a huge increase in telemarketing calls this year. AT&T is supposed to block these calls, but they don't do a very good job. I get spam text messages and cell phone calls as well. I wonder who actually answers these calls? I don't. If I don't know you already, I don't pick up the phone. Somebody must be picking up the phone though. I can't believe that so many people would be spamming me if it wasn't profitable.

When I was ready to take the trash to the curb this evening I discovered that Janet had already done it. She's making the bed in the morning too. I like this, but don't want to appear lazy. That was always one of the best things about making my living as a writer. I could stare at the ceiling for hours at a time and everyone would always think I was working. Pretty soon I'll be able to lift things again and I'll resume my household chores. Personally, I enjoy doing nothing. It's an acquired taste though. Most people I know like to stay busy.

Dawn took a new route on her sunrise walk this morning. She ended up walking an extra half mile. This was the first time she's done this in over a month. I wonder what she'll do tomorrow morning?

Chief is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4184

I got this letter from O'Reilly Auto Parts in Springfield, Missouri today addressed to Johnny Sealander. That's odd, I thought. Nobody calls me Johnny except my sister. Inside this letter was another letter from, you guessed it, my sister. Along with the letter was a note from the auto parts company saying that the post office delivered the letter to them by mistake. Hmm. I wonder how much other mail of mine the post office has lost and scattered around the country? It's hard to figure out how a letter clearly and legibly addressed to me could wind up at an auto parts store in Missouri. It's no wonder I have so little faith in the post office or any government entity these days. I feel bad now about complaining to SpaceFlight Magazine about not sending me author copies. They probably sent the magazines months ago and the post office just lost them.

For the first time in weeks there is no rain in the long range forecast. It did rain for a while early this morning, but that might be the last we see for a while. I should be happy that our yard looks so green this year. Rain depresses me though. I'm always waiting for the roof to start leaking again. I'll give the yard a couple of days to dry out and then I'll mow the grass again.

We're getting way more spam and telemarketing calls than we used to. They've always been a problem on the land line, but now I'm getting them on my cell phone as well. The phone company needs to do a better job of screening these calls. If the caller ID says "suspected spam" why do they even let the call go through? It's become an almost daily ritual to block callers on my iPhone. I wonder if there is a limit to how many numbers you can block? If there is, I'm probably pretty close to reaching it. I think the phone company needs a new billing plan. If a spam call gets through, they should credit your account instead of billing you. Right now I'm just paying the phone company to be irritated.

I'm wondering how much longer I can continue my long walks as temperatures continue to rise. It wasn't even that hot today by Dallas standards, but I was drenched in sweat by the time I completed my walk. It's only going to get worse too. I think Winter walks are much more enjoyable. I don't think Dawn likes the heat either, but she's smart enough to keep her walks short. Janet just goes to the gym where it is air conditioned. I keep walking because the walks add a little structure to my day. I can't say it's any fun though. I'd much rather be on top of Mount Locke out at the observatory.

We live near the remnants of the Blackland Prairie. I can remember fields covered with native grasses like Big and Little Bluestem, Indian grass, and Canada Wildrye. Lately, these prairie areas are completely overrun with Johnson Grass and Queen Ann's Lace. Sometimes I see small groups of people trying to weed these huge prairie areas, removing Queen Ann's Lace plants one by one. What are these people thinking? They are out in the hot sun for hours and maybe are able to remove a hundred plants. There are millions of Queen Ann's Lace plants in the park. If you look out over a field all you see is a sea of Queen Ann's Lace. This futile gardening effort seems like a metaphor for something but I can't figure out what. 

It's hard to tell if Dawn is becoming normal or I'm just becoming weird. I stay out of the kitchen now while Dawn is eating or hanging out with Janet. Dawn stays out of the bedroom while I'm making the bed. We cross paths during the day going back and forth between the front and back of the house. I've gotten to where I think I'm just being polite by staying out of Dawn's way. She's super friendly when I have a leash in my hand and she likes me to take her on walks. She just doesn't like to hang out with me. I don't think she's ever been in my office. For some reason she thinks the room is off limits.

Life is strange. I've given up trying to figure dogs or other people out. You could drive yourself crazy looking for answers where there aren't any. I've got a little routine that gets me through the day and so does Dawn. It's all good.

Lacey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3912

I've been wondering why our local gaggle of geese always hangs out on the East side of the lake now. They used to be all over the place. Today I found my answer. There's a guy who's been feeding them. The two Muscovy ducks were waiting for him as he unloaded a large 40 pound bag of Duck Feed Pellets from the back of his truck. The geese saw him too and were rapidly walking single file down a hill to greet him. Maybe this is why we saw the chicken in this section of the park as well. These birds are eating well.

While we were walking this morning we encountered a very large moth that appeared to be injured. It looked normal, but it clearly couldn't fly. We moved the moth off the road where we had found it to a nearby patch of grass. Maybe the moth will recover, but I kind of doubt it. One thing you notice when you are observing nature is that it can be very cruel. Not all the animals make it. Some get killed by pesticides. Some are eaten by other animals. Some are just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Butterflies and moths don't live a long time anyway. Their average lifespan is about a month.

We knew it was going to rain today, but we timed our morning walk well and didn't get wet. The heavy rains didn't arrive until later in the afternoon. Needless to say, I didn't take an afternoon walk. There really isn't much to do on a rainy day. I usually just fret about the roof leaking. So far everything seems fine. Both pumps are working correctly and there are no signs of a leak. There is no point in even thinking about removing the water from the roof. It's supposed to continue raining until tomorrow afternoon.

Texas is definitely a big state. I'm still wondering whether we are going to be dealing with any more 100 degree days here in Dallas, while it got down to 35 degrees at McDonald Observatory last night. I think today's rain is going to cool things down considerably, but we're still a long ways from 35 degrees. Occasionally when I am fantasizing about other places to live, it's always hard to think of a better place than Dallas. They are already having blizzards in Wyoming. The entire West Coast seems to be on fire. And it's going to take a long time for the people in Southern Louisiana to recover from Hurricane Laura. We have the occasional tornado warning, but the place seems pretty peaceful compared to other parts of the country.

I wonder if the telemarketing calls will decrease after the election? We're getting a huge number of junk calls now. I don't answer any of them but they are still irritating. How do you eliminate these things? I use Nomorobo and another AT&T service designed to eliminate spam and the calls still get through. Most of our mail is junk too. It just seems like someone is spending an enormous amount of effort to reach people who aren't interested anyway.

It's still raining. I need to remember to turn off the pumps before I go to bed tonight. If I forget, it usually quits raining while I'm asleep and the pumps overheat. I've already burned out quite a few pumps and I'm getting more forgetful by the day. The only advice I'd ever offer young people is to never buy a house with a flat roof. A flat roof is nothing by trouble.

Maybe it will be a nice day tomorrow. One can always hope.

Chief is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3892

Every once in a while I get so frustrated with telemarketers that I'm tempted to discontinue my landline service entirely. Very few legitimate callers use the landline anymore, but telemarketers and scammers seem to love it. I must get twenty telemarketing calls a day. I never answer these calls, but they are still very irritating. I signed up for Nomorobo a long time ago and thought it would take care of the problem. You can always tell when a telemarketer has been detected by Nomorobo because the phone only rings once.

Telemarketers seem to be getting smarter though because more and more of them have discovered ways to bypass this blocking service. They spoof your local exchange, so calls appear to be coming from a neighbor. Some telemarketers just use their real names because they know you won't pick up the phone when it says "Invalid Number" on the Caller ID. The older you get, the more you feel like you are under siege by these people. There must still be people who answer their phone or there wouldn't be so many telemarketers. My Dad was a sitting duck for these people. He knew nothing about technology and always picked up his phone.

I have the option of designating up to twenty numbers as "safe" on my landline and blocking everything else. What numbers do you choose though. About the only people who still use the landline are doctors and suppliers who never bothered to update their old office database. Doctors and vets never call you using their main office number though. Sometimes they use their cell phone. Other times they use an extension in a lab or exam room. I still might give this a try though. Anyone who really needs to reach me just sends me a text anyway.

We got another early start this morning. When we walk in the dark, I realize how bad light pollution is in Dallas. You can see bright stars like Sirius and Procyon, but the only constellation that is clearly visible in the morning sky is Orion. Orion is easily the brightest constellation in the sky, which is why it is the only one most people can identify. The sky looks so different in Fort Davis. There's nothing like a velvet black sky dotted with thousands of stars that have been bisected by the Milky Way. Dark skies are peaceful and incredibly beautiful. I can't say the same about city lights.

It was another slow day. I looked up the number of a company that can repair my large printer, but I didn't bother to call. Is the printer even worth fixing? I've already fixed a lot of electronic gear that I've never used when it came back from the repair shop. Maybe I'll get the urge to make large Giclée prints again, but I doubt it.

I'm discovering that it's easy to pay bills online, but much harder to keep track of things in Quickbooks Pro now. I have to manually recreate all the transactions I have already done online. That's what I did this afternoon. My accountant says Quickbooks is obsolete and that I should switch to a modern cloud-based accounting program. Maybe he's right.

The week's trash has been taken to the curb and I'm ready to start a new week. Maybe your week doesn't start on Friday, but it works for me.

Blackjack is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3429

I always think I am slow when I walk because from time to time other people pass me on the trails going much faster than I am. This morning I realized that this is probably just an illusion. I'm sure there are people walking slower than I am as well but I never see these people because they gradually fall further and further behind. Maybe I'm really faster than I think. Life is like this. When we only look straight ahead we only see a small slice of what is going on.

I'm surprised at how many people take long walks during the day. I've started to recognize some of the people and many of them appear to walk longer distances than I do. I wonder what motivates these walkers? Maybe they're walking for their health. Maybe it's more complicated. I couldn't give you a simple reason why I do this. It's similar to walking dogs, but it's definitely not the same. The dogs really needed their walks. I'm just killing time.

I read that there's a security flaw in Intel processors and that all Apple users should apply the patch that fixes this problem immediately. I dutifully upgraded my computers without really understanding what the problem was. This happens so frequently now. Apple seldom warns you about these things but there's almost always a security update waiting for you when you go to the App Store. I used to go for years without even thinking about malware or computer viruses. It just wasn't a problem. When I first opened my business it was rare for a computer to even have a password.

We didn't have problems with telemarketers back in the day either. At least the FCC is finally starting to look at the problem. I've heard that they are now going to allow telephone carriers to block telemarketing calls by default so they won't even reach your phone. It would be nice if this were true. Telemarketers have become a major irritation. I suspect that phone companies secretly like telemarketers. If all the telemarketers suddenly disappeared the phone companies wouldn't have nearly as many customers.

I spend a lot of time walking these days, but apparently not enough. There are still huge swaths of time with nothing to do. I vacuumed the house today because I couldn't think of anything else to occupy my time. There's no point in taking naps now because I'm finally getting plenty of sleep. I still turn on the computer every morning out of habit, but there are no deadlines anymore. I don't really need a computer. I do need a purpose though. One of these days I'll find one.

Sadie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3414

I voted today. As usual, I didn't really know that much about the candidates. It was a local election. I know more about what is happening in Venezuela than at city hall. Sure, we got the usual barrage of campaign flyers in the mail, but they all said the same thing: vote for me and build a better Dallas. They can't all be right. I think the most reliable way of choosing a candidate is just to look at the yard signs in the neighborhood. I see tons of these signs on my walks. If you like your neighbor, vote for their candidate. If your neighbor irritates you, well you know who not to vote for.

I was almost certain that I was going to get wet on my walk this morning, but as usual the weather forecast was wrong. They say a stable layer of warm air about 2,000 feet above ground can keep thunderstorms from forming. Evidently, one of these 'caps' is currently in place over North Texas. This is fine by me. I hope the cap stays in place. Light rain is fine. Thunderstorms, not so much.

My mind wanders on these morning walks. I keep seeing a lone White Pelican at the lake. Why didn't this bird migrate with all the other pelicans last month? Is the bird injured, or does it just like Dallas? It's hard to tell because it is always sitting on a log out in the middle of the lake. I keep seeing a lot of fishermen too. Especially on rainy days. Why would anyone fish in this lake? It is polluted. Every month or two you hear about a sewage spill into one of the tributaries that feed the lake. Most of these spills have been contained before they reach the lake, but that doesn't mean the water is clean. People aren't even allowed to swim in this lake. Veterinarians in the area warn you to always vaccinate your dog for for leptospirosis. It's unreal how much trash flows into the lake after a big storm. The park is probably the best thing about this city, but the water quality reminds you that you are still living in a big city. It's definitely not like the mountain lakes I remember as a child in Colorado. Clear lakes you could drink out of are just distant memories now.

I made a pathetic attempt to clean the office today. This really just amounted to sorting through a huge stack of unopened mail and throwing away most of it. I really ought to go paperless. I like the idea of paper, but it stacks up so quickly on my desk. Eventually it winds up in ring binders in the storage warehouse. After a few years, I have no idea what I'm looking at. Maybe I'll go paperless one of these days, but I'm pretty old school about these things. I'm still hanging on to a world that is gone.

I wish I could figure out what gives me heartburn. Some days I'm fine. Other days I'm not. It makes sense that pizza would give me heartburn, but crab cakes? Come on. Seafood should be fine. I had some delicious crab cakes tonight and almost immediately had to take a Pepcid AC. These over the counter antacids are pretty mild and have the approval of my doctor. At least I've been able to wean myself away from proton pump inhibitors like Protonix. PPI's dramatically reduce calcium absorption and can lead to bone loss in older people. I don't need that.

We're trying to decide whether to have the landscapers come back this year. It's time. Every Spring they clear away all the leaves and put in new St. Augustine sod in the back yard. Unfortunately, every year this becomes more expensive. The grass looks nice for a few months. Our water bill goes way up as we diligently water and fertilize as we're supposed to. Then the grass dies and we repeat the process the next year. I've been told that the reason the sod has a hard time getting established is that there are too many large Oak trees in the back yard. The extensive root system sucks up all the water. This is probably all true, but it would still be nice to have grass.

Tomorrow's forecast is just like today's. It's supposed to start raining before sunrise and continue raining for the rest of the day. Oddly, it wasn't thunderstorms that woke us up last night. It was a telemarketing call at 3 AM.

Bea is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3345

Dash wouldn't walk this morning. I thought he'd be eager to get outside since the weather was nicer than yesterday. I even saw the sun and a few patches of blue sky for a while. Evidently Dash wasn't impressed by the weather. Before we'd even made it to the end of our street, he turned around and came home. He must have been feeling bad this morning, because he immediately went to sleep as soon as we returned to the house.

There was a post card in the mail this morning saying that there was an attempt to deliver a package and that I was to call the number on the card immediately. This was an obvious scam. The card didn't come from UPS, Fedex, the Post Office, or Amazon. I hadn't ordered anything either. Who were these people trying to fool? I put the card in the shredder, but there will probably be more dubious mail tomorrow. I feel like I'm under siege lately. Most of the mail that arrives at the house is junk. The phone is even worse. They say that 50% of all phone calls are telemarketers now. At my house the figure would be more like 90%. I really feel like the phone company should be paying me to put up with this nonsense. The telemarketing calls start earlier and last longer now too. We occasionally get them after we've gone to bed. I have Nomorobo installed on my phone and still way too many of these junk calls get through.

If we're going to build a wall, we ought to build some sort of electronic wall to stop these irritating intrusions once and for all. Stopping telemarketers might be the one thing that Democrats and Republicans could actually agree on. I wonder why telemarketers even bother. Few people even answer their phone these days. If you don't send them a text, you'll never get an answer.

Don't even get me started about Spam. Luckily my hosting company has a very good Spam filter, so I don't see most of it. Occasionally, I empty the Spam folder on the mail server and I'm always shocked at how many messages there are. Usually there are thousands of them.

Early this afternoon Dash seemed to have recovered and we took a nice walk. It doesn't really matter when Dash feels like walking. I've always got the time. I think it's great that he still has the desire to do things. Sometimes he has more desire than I do. Dash tires very easily and sleeps a lot, but when he's ready to go, we go.

I'd like to think the sunshine I saw today was a hopeful sign. Unfortunately, there are thunderstorms in the forecast for Friday. At least our weather isn't quite as bad as last February. If I remember correctly, it rained all month. The rainy season will be over eventually. The wildflowers will return. They won't last long though. When Summer arrives I'll be thinking that all this February rain was just an illusion.

Odie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3232

I think I made a mistake. I tried moving some really heavy things today and strained my back. I also scratched the paint on my car when I was loading something I shouldn't have been lifting. I'm not sure I can complete this move myself. I called a moving company that had good Yelp reviews but just got a phone message that referred me to their website. I filled out the form, but when I received their automated response, it was clear that the company didn't understand that this was just a storage warehouse that was being moved. The estimate seemed way too high. There is no furniture and no packing involved. I'll see if I can talk with someone in person tomorrow.

After making two trips to the new warehouse, I made a third trip to a charity shop with some stuff that wasn't worth saving. When I realized that my back was starting to hurt, I decided to call it a day. The old warehouse is still pretty full and nothing I'm saving is all that special. This is not going to be pleasant. At least I didn't have to pay for an entire month at the old warehouse. They let me rent for fifteen days in November. That should give me enough time to complete the move. Of course rain could easily screw thing up. It's supposed to rain all day tomorrow, so I doubt that I'll be able to do very much. I should probably rest anyway. There's no sense in making my back any worse than it already is.

Dash didn't need to go outside last night so I got more sleep than usual. He did get me up at 5 AM to go poop, but it was almost daylight anyway. Making it until 5 AM is a win for me. There are so many nights when I hardly get any sleep at all. At least Dash is eating well. He hasn't thrown up in quite a while and seems to enjoy the food we cook for him. He eats better than we do now, but at least he's eating.

I think I'm going to have to buy Dash another pair of protective boots. All three pairs that we currently have in rotation need repairs. Dash is really hard on his shoes. He doesn't lift his rear legs as he walks and ends up dragging his feet. The boots keep him from injuring himself, but they wear out quickly. Maybe I'll go buy him another pair of boots tomorrow. This would certainly be easier than lifting more heavy boxes.

It's hard to believe that it's almost November. Where has this year gone? In a few days we'll have to deal with another time chance. I think we should just forget about Daylight Saving Time. It's such a nuisance to arbitrarily switch the clocks back and forth. Dogs never understand the time chance and wonder why their feeding schedule has changed. Usually we give Dash his evening walk after he's had his dinner. Now, I'll need to walk him before dinner to avoid walking in total darkness. This should be fun. Dash hates making changes even more than I do.

I'll be glad when the election is over. I'm sick of Beto and Ted Cruz making robocalls to my house  and sending text messages every single day. Do these guys really think this helps. It's irritating. Whoever thought robocalls were a good way to influence people has got to be a moron. Probably the only thing that Democrats and Republicans agree on is that they both hate telemarketers.

Puppies are today's Dalmatians of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3198

Another day dominated by weather. We had to postpone our morning walk because of rain. I hate to do this because Dash becomes confused when his routine changes. I really didn't have a choice though. I put the bucket back in the living room because some of the showers were pretty intense. So far, I don't see any signs of a water leak. That could change at any time. I still don't know what triggers this leak. Nobody else does either because the roofers still haven't returned my calls.

I started to see some blue sky right after lunch, so I thought it might be a good time to take Dash on a walk. Since the weather seemed to be improving, it never occurred to me that there was another storm right over the horizon. When we were almost a mile away from the house, the sky quickly became very dark and it began to pour. Dash and I both got soaked. There was little point in turning around since we were already at the halfway point of our walk. Dash continued his slow, steady pace all the way home. He didn't even seem to be aware it was raining.

I was very aware that we were getting wet. It was raining so hard that I thought my Apple Watch might be ruined. I don't think the early model that I wear is very waterproof. Eventually we made it home and I spent the next twenty minutes drying Dash off. I think there's more rain in the forecast. Needless to say, I'm really getting tired of this.

I watched part of a live Phillips auction on my computer this morning. I wanted to get an idea of what to expect. The auction process was mesmerizing. Everything happens so fast. If you blink you miss something. It was impossible to guess what people were interested in. Some items sold for a lot more than I expected and others received no bids at all. A lot of money changed hands very, very quickly.

We found a tick on Dash this morning. This shouldn't be happening because he's taking Bravectco. We were a little nervous about removing the tick, but it had to be done. As expected, Dash started to bleed, although it wasn't as bad as I expected. I sure wish he didn't have to take blood thinners. Even the smallest problem can end up being dangerous.

The roofers never replied to my enquiries yesterday, but the vintage guitar folks did. I guess all this proves is that guitar players are nicer than roofers. The guitars still haven't sold, but the store seems optimistic. I'll sure be glad when all these sales have been completed. All this uncertainty makes me nervous.

We seem to be getting an enormous number of telemarketing calls. It's irritating. I don't know whether my number has been hacked or if this is just what happen prior to an election. I'm sure that a lot of these robocalls are political. I guess I could pick up the phone and find out what is going on, but that's the last thing I want to do. If you answer a telemarketer's call, you'll immediately wind up on ten more lists.

Suki is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3176

I got this check from the Federal Trade Commission today, along with a note saying that it was my share of a class action settlement involving light bulbs. What? I wasn't aware of being involved in any sort of class action suit. My first thought was that this was a scam. Have you ever received a check in the mail that has a small disclaimer saying that by cashing said check you agree to a lifetime of magazine subscriptions, a debit card from a foreign bank, or a ridiculously expensive term life policy? I am very suspicious of checks that mysteriously arrive in the mail. There are so many scammers out there. I did some research online and it appears the check is legit. The government recently mailed out fourteen million dollars worth of these checks to people like me. But how did they know I bought the light bulbs? I didn't tell them. I feel sorry for the light bulb company. The suit claims that the company made false statements about the light bulbs brightness and reliability. Jeez. I've had these LED bulbs in my bathroom for over five years and they work great. They haven't burned out and they're pretty bright. This pretty well sums up my feelings about class action suits. For the most part, they're just a way to make lawyers rich. They probably put that company out of business. That being said, I'll go ahead and cash the check. It might pay for gas next week. No, it wasn't a large check. I just don't drive very much.

I've got to figure out how to cure Dash's digestive problems. The loose stools and diarrhea are driving me crazy. I had to clean up another big mess last night and then had a hard time getting back to sleep. The first thing you're supposed to do if your dog has loose stools is take a sample to your vet to test for parasites. Done that. There were no parasites. We're read that a diet of chicken and rice can help cure the problem. That's what he's been eating for over a month and it hasn't helped. Dash is also taking a probiotic the vet prescribed and that isn't doing much either. It's frustrating. We've read that diarrhea is a known side effect of heart disease. If that's the case, there probably isn't much we can do. Diarrhea and incontinence is a really bad combination. At least when Dot became incontinent, her poop remained firm.

I got a letter from the phone company saying that my account had been compromised. So what else is new? This is almost a routine occurrence these days. By now, probably everyone in the world has had an account compromised in one way or another. The letter apologized for the inconvenience, but said that no sensitive information was revealed. Easy for them to say. They apparently did get my phone number though. Maybe that explains the increase in robocalls I've been getting lately. My landline is almost 100% telemarketers and robocalls now. I feel like the phone company should be paying me.

I walked Dash and paid a few bills today. That was about it. Someone got killed last night riding one of those rental scooters I've started seeing all over town. It was only a matter of time. I've seen people riding these things on busy city streets. Nobody wears helmets and the flimsy scooters go pretty fast. Why did the city approve these ridiculous things? I really need to move to a small town. City life is becoming increasingly strange.

Domino is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3003

I wish refrigerators were as easy to repair as computers. Every time I've taken a computer in for repair, I've gotten it back the same day. So far, all the repairs have been reasonably priced and more importantly, they've been successful. Today, I took my desktop computer in to replace a faulty CD/DVD drive and less than three hours later I got a call saying that I could come pick it up. The whole experience was pretty painless.

Plumbers and HVAC repairmen can be expensive, but so far I've had good results. My beef is with appliance repairmen. Washers, dryers, ovens, and refrigerators shouldn't be so hard to fix. I've had terrible luck with appliances. If Google reviews are any indication, lots of other people have had the same experience. I don't think major appliances are made as well anymore. There are fewer brands to choose from and almost everyone sources their component parts from China. Until I started looking for refrigerators, I didn't realize that Whirlpool, Maytag, KitchenAid, Jenn-Air, and Amana are all the same thing. No wonder some of the Whirlpool and Maytag models I was considering looked identical. It's relatively easy to track down the source of a computer problem, since just about every process is logged. By comparison, refrigerator repair seems more like a black art.

When I was out running errands this afternoon, I answered a telemarketing call by mistake. I hate when that happens. I thought the number might be the computer repair shop, but it turned out to be a salesperson from Who's Who in America. Why does this company still exist? When I was a kid, some people thought it was a big deal to be included in Who's Who. Now, if you feel inclined to brag about your resume, you do it on LinkedIn. I made the mistake of buying a Who's Who book decades ago when they first included me. They've been pestering me to buy another book ever since. SiriusXM is the same way. If you ever make the mistake of turning on SiriusXM in your car, they will never forget you. I told the lady from Who's Who that I was too busy to talk even though I was just picking up a prescription at the pharmacy. I'm sure they'll call back.

Dash had a lot of energy today, so I thought he'd enjoy his afternoon walk. We got off to a good start, but after only 50 yards, his knee brace fell off. We stopped so I could reattach the brace and that gave Dash time to reconsider his decision to leave the yard. When I was ready to go again, Dash wouldn't budge. He turned around and started tugging to go home. He still had lots of energy, so when Janet came home Dash started barking and pestering her. She ended up walking him and he walked normally. Dash is a smart dog. I think he was just trying to make me look bad.

I still can't believe that United Airlines put a dog in an overhead bin and killed it. Who would even think of putting a dog in an overhead bin. Two days later the same airline sent a dog to Japan by mistake when it's real destination was Kansas City. These are the same people who dragged that old man off the plane too. I'm not the type of person who boycotts things, but I don't think I'll be flying United Airlines again. Personally, I would never take a dog on a plane. I've heard too many horror stories.

It's almost Friday again. I wonder if I'll ever find a breakfast I like? Maybe I should try a hotel. I usually like hotel food when I'm traveling.

Carmine is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2940

I thought the weatherman made a mistake this morning when he was predicting snow. The temperature was in the mid-50's and the skies were clearing. It looked like it was going to be a nice day. Just a few hours later, I realized the weatherman was right. Between Dash's morning walk and his evening walk, the temperature dropped thirty degrees and the skies became dark and ominous. This was Texas weather at it's finest. It still amazes me how quickly things can change.

It was a quiet day, but I got a lot done. I finished my second article and shipped it off to the client. The client acknowledged the article and even thanked me, so I'm taking this as a sign that things will go smoothly again. With my writing chores out of the way, I did some minor maintenance on the few websites I still manage. I wish there was more to do, but at least I was busy for a while.

I spent way too much time deciding what to get for dinner, but ended up just going to the neighborhood Pei Wei and ordering a rice bowl. I like Pei Wei, but am convinced that they just cook one thing and give it different names. I've ordered just about everything on the menu by now and it all tastes exactly the same. I'm not being critical. There is a dependable consistency to these meals. Maybe it's just me. I don't claim to have a very sophisticated palate. All Chili's hamburgers taste the same to me too.

Dash was in good spirits today. Sometimes it's easy to forget his many medical problems. On a good day he just seems like a normal dog. He's been eating well for quite a while now, but somehow his feeding schedule has changed. We eat dinner so early these days. I usually eat my own dinner right after I feed Dash and found myself warming up my rice bowl in the microwave at 4 PM. This is quite a change, considering that we used to eat at 7 PM.

I wonder why I get so many telemarketing calls? It seemed like the phone rang every ten minutes today. Everyone in the universe must have our number by now. I have Nomorobo installed, so the phone only rings once but it still gets irritating. I think every time you list your phone number on an application it ends up getting sold to a telemarketer. This intrusive new world would have driven my Dad crazy. He always answered the phone. I never do. The only reason I keep the landline is that I'm convinced the telemarketers would follow me to my cell phone if the land line wasn't there to absorb the continuous barrage of callers. They say Nomorobo is available for iPhones now too. I'll have to check into it.

It was so cold when I took the trash out this evening that I'm considering just fixing breakfast at home tomorrow. If the forecast is right, Dash might not even get a morning walk. It is supposed to be well below freezing at sunrise. All this is making pancakes at home sound pretty good.

Suzie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2822

I'm getting so tired of telemarketers, Caller ID spoofing, Phishing attempts, and data breaches that it seems like it would be easier to be off the grid entirely. I just don't understand why some people go to such extraordinary lengths to make life difficult for others. It's only going to get worse. After the whole Equifax debacle, I think it's just a matter of time before 100% of the population has their personal information compromised.

The older I get, the more scammers I seems to attract. It's irritating. My Dad was the victim of a telephone scam. That was back in the day when people were trusting and just picked up the phone whenever it rang. Now, even with Nomorobo and assorted call blocking apps provided by the phone companies, the telemarketers still manage to break through. I'm beginning to understand why people prefer to send text messages. Answering your phone has become a liability. I don't even trust my Caller ID anymore. You never know who is on the other end of the line.

Today I had to block my own phone number. Apparently it is pretty easy for spoofers to makes calls seem like they are originating from your own phone. They can also make them appear to be coming from someone in your own neighborhood. I don't understand why the phone companies can't get a handle on these scams. Probably for the same reason that Facebook can't seem to get a handle on fake news. Perhaps humans are just too inherently evil to be trusted with technology. When I was a kid, people even trusted door-to-door salesmen. The Fuller Brush Man was a well respected member of the community. What have we become? My mailbox is filled with junk mail. I'm inundated with telemarketing calls, and I never open my front door to a stranger.

Almost lost in today's batch of junk mail was a letter from my sister telling me that she has stage three cancer. She seemed upbeat and pretty matter of fact about her prognosis, but I was stunned by the news. Way too many people I know are dealing with cancer. It hits pets pretty hard too. Dot and Dash were both diagnosed with cancer and so was Spot, our very first Dalmatian. I'm kind of nervous about going in for my own annual physical. I feel healthy, but lord knows what the doctors might discover this time.

I really shouldn't postpone my physical, but I've been postponing everything lately. My excuse for postponing my physical is that I'm thinking of switching doctors soon. Maybe that's a good excuse. I have no real excuse for postponing jury duty. I just don't want to serve on a jury. A lot of small home repairs have been postponed because I don't have the money to pay for them now. I'd postpone tomorrow if I could, but time just keeps marching on.

Spot is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2648

I finally started working on my taxes today. You'd think that Quickbooks would make this process super easy, especially since I've got all my expenses categorized already. Nope. I quickly learned that if you want to save time, you have to put things in the right categories in the first place. I hate all those Quickbooks drop down menus. I frequently click on the wrong thing. When I couldn't find something today, it was almost always because I'd inadvertently clicked on the wrong menu item. I found car insurance payments filed under utility bills. I found office supplies filed under lawn care. All the information was there, but some of it was definitely misplaced. I think I fixed most of the errors, but it would have been a lot better if I never made them in the first place. My accountant thinks I've defined way too many categories in my Quickbooks files. I think the categories are fine. I just need to pay more attention when I'm doing my bookkeeping.

I didn't get a lot accomplished today. I paid a few bills and went to the pharmacy to pick up a prescription, but I've still got more work to do on my tax files before I can drop them off at the accountant. The most discouraging thing about doing my taxes is realizing that each year I'm making a little less that I did the previous year. If your lifetime earnings are like a Bell Curve, I'm definitely on the downhill slope. They say your expenses go down and you can live on less as you grow older. I haven't seen that yet.

I'm starting to wonder why all the calls on my caller ID say "unknown caller." Isn't the whole point of having caller ID to identify who is calling you? Telemarketers must be able to hide their identity by paying a special fee. Just about all the calls I get on my land line these days just say "Unknown" or "Unknown Caller." I'm sure AT&T doesn't care. They probably love telemarketers because they make a lot of calls. The post office is the same way. I remember telling my mail carrier that he could just throw away the junk mail if he wanted. I certainly didn't want it. "I can't do that," he told me, "because somebody has already paid for me to deliver it to you."

Dot was panting a lot early this evening. Janet thought she was in pain. I thought she needed to poop. About five minutes later, Dot did poop and the panting stopped. Was I right? I have no idea. She's not pooping quite as often now, so maybe this is becoming difficult for her. I guess the point is that it is often difficult to tell if a dog is in pain. Dogs hide their discomfort well and they don't talk. I try my best to keep Dot comfortable, but I'm not sure if I'm succeeding. I'm still convinced that Dot likes her walks, but she walks so slowly now that maybe the walks are painful. Often Dot is frustrated by her lack of mobility, but frustration and pain are two different things. The problem is that it's hard to tell the difference. The oncologist will give us another evaluation this Friday. I'm not even sure if these monthly cancer rechecks mean much at this point.

The sky is clear tonight and I'm thinking of going out stargazing. Too bad there is so much light pollution. You can't see anything but the brightest stars from our backyard. There are places in the park where the sky is darker, but I'm not so sure about hiking through the park after dark. The coyotes are out. The Bobcats are out. The drug dealers are out. There are lots of places to trip in the dark and sprain my ankle. Maybe I'll just go out in the back yard.

Carmine is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2560

The weather couldn't have been weirder today. The temperature was warm and humid this morning. I even turned on the air conditioner for a while, because it was almost 80 degrees. Everything changed around 1 PM. After that point the temperature started to drop swiftly. I think it's been dropping at last five degrees an hour all afternoon. Add the wind chill effect from a really stiff wind and you've got some nasty conditions. It is supposed to get colder for the rest of the night, with single digit temperatures around sunrise.

Not surprisingly, the dogs don't like this weather at all. They enjoy cooler temperatures, but dealing with a polar vortex is another matter entirely. Dot dutifully walked to the end of our street, seemingly perplexed by the sudden change that had taken place. Dash wouldn't go outside at all. I don't blame the dogs for their reluctance, but it sure would have been nice if they'd both pooped. Now we've got to deal with taking them out in the back yard over and over again as the temperature drops even further.

I washed the car this morning while it was still warm. I don't know why a clean car is such a big deal to me. Maybe it's because it's one of the few things that is still under my control. A clean house is hopeless these days, but a clean car is still possible. I did change the sheets today and washed three rugs that Dot peed on this morning, but the house is far from clean. We're in the process of changing our rug configuration. In the future, all rugs will be small enough to fit in the washing machine. The really large area rugs are simply too hard to clean. In the Summer you could take these large rugs outside and hose them off. They would be dry again the same day. It's a different story now. If I tried to clean a rug outside now, it would remain damp for the rest of the Winter.

I wish I knew who was selling my cell phone number to telemarketers. My land line has been inundated with telemarketers for years, but until recently my cell phone has remained relatively immune from this nuisance. The older I get, the more telemarketing calls I get. I'm sure people think that once you reach a certain age, you will become senile enough to fall for their ridiculous sales pitch. I'm still sharp enough to realize that these people aren't my friends. I rarely answer my phone at all.

My cold is getting worse.Today I had a sore throat, chest congestion, coughing, and a runny nose. As colds go, this is pretty much the whole nine yards. Janet thinks I should start taking antihistamines like she is, but I don't think they help much. At best, antihistamines mask some of the symptoms, but they don't make the cold go away any quicker. Time is the only thing that cures a cold. I'm trying to be patient, but time seems to be moving pretty slowly. I'm ready to start feeling normal again.

Every time the weather gets bad, I start to worry that something is going to break. It would be a disaster if the washing machine broke and I needed to go to to the laundromat to clean Dot's bedding and a house full of rugs. I'm hoping that I did my furnace repair properly. I'd hate to wake up to a cold house tomorrow morning. I don't want the pipes to freeze either. I can't believe that I used to live up North. I don't think I could do it anymore.

Duke is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day