Day 4908

These days just seem to race by even with virtually nothing happening. You'd think that time would slow down, or that I'd get bored on slow uneventful days, but it's not like that at all. I wake up and then all the sudden it's dinner time. I have a routine that seems well suited to wasting time. We always start out by giving Dawn a morning walk. We start at the same time Winter and Summer, but now the sun is already up when we walk. The temperature is usually pleasant early in the morning. This short one mile walk is usually the nicest part of the day.

I make the bed while Janet and Dawn are having their breakfast and then I eat mine. I take my time because why hurry. There is almost never anything important on my schedule. Breakfast is the only time I watch television. I channel surf back and forth between all the cable news channels. I don't have a favorite but usually end up on one of the business channels.

I like being informed but usually get my news by reading Google News on my computer. This also seems to be where the cable news shows get their news. Nobody makes much of an effort anymore. I hate the paywalls that traditional news sources have placed on their websites and refuse to pay for them. Call me old fashioned but I still think the Internet should be free. I've had an Internet presence for over twenty years and have never tried to sell anything. I still think I liked the old days of Usenet news groups best. Who needs pictures and video. I still like to read.

Now that Summer has arrived I'm trying to take my long walk earlier. If I was smart I'd just go to the gym, but that would involve driving. As long as the temperature is bearable, it's much more enjoyable to take a walk in the woods. Walking is relaxing because you don't have to think. Daydreaming on a walk is completely different than fighting traffic on busy Dallas streets. Truthfully, even the park has gotten too busy for me, but it's my backyard so I'll continue to walk there. I really miss the isolation of Mt. Locke out at McDonald Observatory. The place is a science installation, not a recreation destination so there are never a lot of people there. Sadly, I have to drive a full day to get to the place, so those trips will be few and far between in the future. 

Today's walk was just like yesterday's walk, but it was cooler outside since I started earlier. I really hope we're not going to have a hot summer. I don't know if I can handle 100 degree days anymore. Last year I would soak my shirt and hat in water before I started walking. This year I think I'll just go to the gym if it gets much hotter. There isn't much to see in the park in the summer anyway. The animals are hiding from the sun and the migratory birds have already left the area and moved north.

It's time to make a grocery list again. I wonder what will be more expensive this week? Tomorrow afternoon Dawn's training class is having a summer party. Dogs are invited, so hopefully Dawn will enjoy this. If not, we can just walk home since the party is being held in the park. The glasses with the progressive lenses were supposed to be ready tomorrow, but I haven't heard anything from Lenscrafters. We'll see. It's a safe bet that I'll get the glasses before I get my new driver's license.

Abby is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1634

A friend shamed me into going to a Hallmark Card store today. I'm not really a greeting card person. I don't send them and rarely receive them. I felt guilty though. A former co-worker had gotten very sick and since I could barely remember who this person was, I felt even worse. I looked through the cards and couldn't find anything that seemed right. I never can. The cards either seem too emotional, too disrespectful, or all too often, something only a fan of Duck Dynasty would appreciate. I usually just end up getting a blank card with a picture of a dog on the front. A blank card wouldn't really work in this case, since I didn't know the person that well and wasn't really sure what to say. I was looking for a card that said what I would have said if I hadn't already erased this entire work experience from my memory. It took me forever to find a nice simple get well card that I wouldn't be embarrassed to send. Maybe this is why I hate going into Hallmark stores.

I do still enjoy going out to breakfast on Friday mornings and this is probably what put me near a Hallmark store in the first place. I'm still amazed at how nice the baristas and waiters treat me at the restaurant, since I rarely speak a word. I just eat my meal quietly, staring out the window and wondering about the things I'm seeing. I wonder why so many people wear nylon running shoes everywhere they go. People seem to love these ugly shoes whether they run or not. I still prefer heavy leather Red Wing work boots. These boots are virtually indestructible and I almost always wear them while I'm walking the dogs. Heavy boots kill two birds with one stone for me. They're kind of like wearing leg weights and can can turn an ordinary walk into a decent workout. They also keep my socks dry on wet days and provide a certain amount of protection against snakes. I was the only person in the restaurant wearing work boots though. Everyone else was wearing running shoes.

Even sillier than running shoes are the tight spandex outfits that male cyclists wear. There are always lots of bicycles at the restaurant and every one of them seems to be owned by a middle aged male with a shaved head, wearing a ludicrous spandex suit plastered with cycling logos. I don't get it. You guys aren't riding in the Tour de France, you're just having a burrito for breakfast.

Really, very little makes sense to me these days. I just do the best I can. My utility bills keep going up. Today, AT&T U-Verse joined the electric and gas companies in raising their rates. The rent for my storage warehouse is going up too. Gas is almost $4.00 a gallon and every time I go to the grocery store I seem to pay a little more for exactly the same things I got last week. These people who continue to say that we have no inflation are idiots.

The dogs get to go to a party tomorrow. Our training class is having their annual summer party. Dash enjoys playing a game called "bobbing for biscuits" where the dogs try to grab as many dog biscuits as they can out of a kiddie pool filled with water. Dot is much too dignified for this sort of game. She'd prefer that we just feed her some of the tasty barbecued brisket we always have at the party.

Wendy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 1272

We woke to the sound of a torrential downpour pounding the roof, and nothing leaked. Maybe a new era of carefree living has begun. After striking out twice, we finally found a dog park that was still open in spite of the recent rain. Not surprisingly the park was very muddy. The dogs had a good time though. They would have had an even better time if we'd remembered that the annual dog training class Summer party was this afternoon as well. While we were at a muddy dog park, the obedience class dogs were right behind our house having a party in the park. It's a shame we missed the whole thing, because Dash really likes the bobbing for biscuits game and there's always some really tasty barbecue for the people as well.

Since the new roof appears to be finished, I went to Home Depot this morning and bought some spackling compound and a trowel to repair the damaged Sheetrock in the living room.  I thought I'd try to do this myself first, since I dread having workmen in the house with the dogs. Having some tape and bed guys in the living room would be an open invitation for non-stop barking from Dot and Dash. Anyway, what could be so hard about repairing a little damaged Sheetrock?

Several clients have warned me to expect a busy week. I hope this is not the case, but I ought to be grateful for the work. There are certainly a lot of bills to pay this month. Dot is back on schedule to resume her acupuncture treatments and it's time to get my June invoices out as well. From the looks of things, it probably will be a busy week.

It's hard to believe that the year is almost half over. It still seems like I was putting up Christmas decoration just a few weeks ago. I've been a busy bee this year, but it doesn't really feel like I've accomplished much. I'm still dealing with exactly the same issues I was last year and the year before. Maybe that's just the way life is.  I do try to live in the moment, but somehow it always seems to be the same moment.

Tomorrow ought to be exciting. I bought some flax seed to mix in with my morning oatmeal. Oh, there's a new type of tea in the cupboard too.

Liberty is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 908

Dot and Dash had a big day today. In the morning, they got to romp around in the city's new 22 acre dog park and in the afternoon they had a party to attend. Our weekly training class has two parties every year. The Winter Christmas party is mostly for people, but the Summer party is all about the dogs. There are lots of games for the dogs and their owners. The games are the kind of things little kids do at summer camp, but they are still fun, since dogs are involved. We entered Dot and Dash in the egg carry contest where you have to balance an egg in a wooden spoon while you heel your dog around a figure eight course. Dash knocked my egg off the spoon five times by tugging on his leash, while Dot just tried to eat the egg. Dash did a little better in the bobbing for biscuits contest, where all he had to do was see how many dog biscuits he could retrieve in 60 seconds from a kiddie swimming pool filled with water. I think the dogs favorite activity of the day was getting to eat some of our fried chicken at the lunch we all enjoyed before the games.

With all this activity, I thought that Dot and Dash would just want to go to sleep after we returned home for the day. Not on your life. They still wanted their regular evening walk. At the end of the day, I think I was the only one who was actually tired. I'm always tired on Sunday though. It's usually the busiest day of the week. Truthfully, this Sunday was quite relaxing compared to a normal weekend filled with vacuuming, grocery shopping and mowing the grass.

If all goes well, the rent house sale will close next week. It will be weird not to own this house any more. I've owned the place since I moved to Dallas from Seattle in the Fall of 1977.  It wasn't always a rent house, since I used to live there myself. The Internet as we know it today didn't even exist when I bought the house. I didn't have a computer and I didn't even have any Dalmatians. I did all my writing on an IBM Selectric typewriter. I did keep a daily journal though. Although the journal was hand written in a little leather bound book, it wasn't all that different than the blog you are reading today. Even back then, I mostly wrote about nothing. If you want to know what I had for dinner on April 30, 1981, I'm sure I wrote it down somewhere.

Escher is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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Day 907

I can always tell when I'm in a rut. I start looking at catalogs a lot. My favorite catalogs are Sweetwater Sound and B&H Photo. I flip through the pages and think about gear that I'd like to have. Never-mind that I have way too much gear already. I can always convince myself that a new lens, some clever new software, or a new microphone is just what I need to get the creative juices flowing again. I don't have enough money to feed my gear lust these days, but that doesn't keep me from flipping through the catalogs. I've been thinking about an anamorphic lens to extend the life of my old Beta-SP cameras. I've even considered upgrading Media Composer to Avid Symphony. A Zeiss Compact Prime cinema lens would be pretty cool too. There is no sound business reason to get any of these things. I just love the tools of my trade. Sometimes I think I like having the tools more than I like actually using them.

The dogs seem to share my tendencies to want what they don't have. When they're inside, they always want to go outside. When I take them outside, they quickly realize it is too hot and they want to go back inside again. We can go back and forth like this all day. Dot and Dash are perpetually looking for the best spot on the bed. Where is the best spot? Well, it's usually where the other dog is sleeping. I wonder why it is so commonplace to want what you don't have?  The dogs should be happy just to have a good home. I should be happy with what I've got for any number of reasons. I still keep looking through those catalogs though.

Janet and I haven't visited the rescue Dalmatians for a while, so we went up to The Velvet Snout this morning to get reacquainted. There are only four Dalmatians in the kennel right now and we spent some time with each of them. Dalmatian Rescue is doing a really good job of finding homes for the dogs this year and nobody seems to stay at the kennel for very long. This a far cry from the days when we used to have over twenty dogs at a time. I think it helps that Dalmatians aren't quite as popular anymore. The people who get a Dalmatian today know what to expect about the breed. They aren't just getting a cute puppy on a whim like they did when the 101 Dalmatian Disney movies were popular. Dalmatians have a better life now and aren't dumped nearly as often.

The weather is getting warmer, but it still looks like it's going to be a nice day for the dog park tomorrow. Tomorrow is also the big Summer party for our training class. There are all sorts of races and games for the dogs and barbecue for the people. Dash particularly likes the bobbing for dog biscuits game.

Liberty is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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