Day 3416

I was wrong about the weather yesterday. We were in the path of a big storm after all. It just arrived a little later than I expected. I can't relax during storms anymore. I keep expecting a leak to appear in the living room, the power to go out, the greenhouse roof to blow away, or a large tree to fall on the house. All these things have happened in the past. I went outside and started the two sump pumps. I moved some of the furniture in the living room. And I tried to go to sleep. It was really all I could do.

The pumps ran all night and they were still pumping water off the roof early this morning. We got a lot of rain but we didn't lose power and the roof didn't leak. I wish I could say that the rain was over but I think we're going to get a repeat performance tonight. By the time I finished breakfast, the last of today's bad weather had moved to the East and I was able to take my morning walk. I saw the pelican flying low over the lake this morning. It was looking for a fish to eat. I'm glad the bird isn't injured, but I'm still puzzled why it didn't join the other pelicans on their annual Spring migration.

I got my phone bill today and was surprised to see that it had gone up. At first I though I had been charged extra for using the phone while I was in Houston, but there are no roaming charges anymore. My bill has been exactly the same for several years now. When I looked for an explanation for the increase I saw a small item in fine print that just said "service changes." I certainly haven't made any changes, so I called customer service to see what was going on. "Oh, AT&T raised your rates," the lady told me. "We grandfathered your plan for as long as we could, but we needed to bring you into line with current rates." I was irritated, but I wasn't really surprised. This was exactly what the storage warehouse people did to me. Why should the phone company be any different.

I'm not a big fan of the subscription economy. I think the whole idea is to get you hooked on something and then continuously raise your rates. Netflix does this. Microsoft does this. It looks like the phone company does it too. The world was much simpler when you could watch TV over the air for free and actually owned the software and entertainment you bought. I'm still using a fifteen year old version of Microsoft Word because I just don't feel like paying over and over again for Office 365.

You'd think I'd be getting a lot more done without a dog to take care of, but actually I'm doing less. I've lost my focus. I'm sure this will change. I'm just not clear what comes next. Walking is good. I've started fixing myself more interesting things for dinner. I'm going to continue photographing plants and animals in the park even though I've already documented everything ten times over. Janet wants to travel. Somehow I don't think going to the post office counts as travel.

Bogart is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3361

It's hard to get used to Texas weather. It was eighty degrees this afternoon and I had the air conditioner running in both the house and the car. It was such a warm day that we were even able to give Dash a much needed bath. We used to regularly take the dogs to neighborhood dog washing facilities, but Dash has difficulty standing up in the tubs now. There's not enough room to bathe him at home in the shower, so we have to wait for a warm day and go outside. It takes two of us to clean him and everybody gets wet, but the effort is worth it when he starts to smell like pee.

Dash didn't enjoy his bath, but he sure smelled good afterwards. He did enjoy two leisurely walks on a beautiful, warm day. Maybe Spring isn't quite here yet, but it's definitely on the way. It felt like Spring today.

I went back to the hotel for breakfast, because I felt like relaxing. The dining room is always quiet and sedate and the waiters know me by name. Even the chef looked up and smiled when I arrived this morning. I'd eat at this place all the time if the menu wasn't so small. Everything is delicious, but you'd think they could come up with more than four items. The trendy restaurant seems to have hundreds of items on their breakfast menu.

I knew when we gave Dash a bath that there would be other cleaning as well. A clean dog doesn't last long in a dirty house. Both of us spent most of the afternoon vacuuming, dusting, and doing laundry. All this activity didn't stop Dash from peeing on the living room floor, but the house is reasonably clean now. I expect that this will last about two days.

I finally got the telephone bill. In an effort to pressure me to go paperless, they keep sending me my bill later and later. If I don't pay it on the same day it arrives, I'll get hit with a late fee. A week before this bill arrives, I get an e-mail saying that my paper bill will arrive in seven to ten days and asking me if I wouldn't prefer to just pay it electronically. So far, I have resisted. What's so bad about writing checks and taking bills to the post office? I like the leisurely pace of paper. The electronic world seems hectic and rude.

Even the airlines have done away with paper. I was wondering when I was going to get my boarding pass for my trip to Houston and then I got a message saying that I should download the airline's app and an electronic boarding pass would show up on my phone. It's a brave new world we live in. I find it ironic that everybody is worried about hacking, but still feel compelled to live their lives online. People didn't tend to steal your information when you put it in a letter.

I was hoping for a good night's sleep last night, but Dash had other ideas. He pooped in the bed three times. Everything landed squarely on the puppy pads and it only took me a minute or two to roll the pad up, seal it in a plastic bag, and take it outside. I've even gotten better at quickly getting back to sleep after these episodes, but it's not the same as an uninterrupted night of sleep. Eight hours of continuous sleep is still the holy grail. Oh, well. Three blocks of two hour sleep, followed by a one hour nap are still better than nothing.

Bacardi is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day