Day 4989

I wonder why this seems like the hottest summer ever? I think there have been several years when it has been worse, but I can't remember exactly when. I know there was a time when the water level in the lake was even lower. When I would walk along the shoreline I would see vast expanses of dried mud extending out at least 100 yards. This isn't the first year that the grass in the front yard has died either. There have been many years when the park department has mowed down the native prairie grasslands to prevent fires. There have been other years where there have been giant cracks in the soil as well. This still seems like the hottest summer ever though. I guess my memory is selective. We just tend to remember the good years and forget the bad.

There are very few people walking in the park these days. It's too hot. On our sunrise walk this morning we hardly saw anyone. It seems weird to have the temperature approaching 90 degrees at sunrise, but that's the way it is. We still had an enjoyable walk this morning. Everything is relative I guess. 85 degrees is still a lot nicer than 105 degrees.

After breakfast this morning I took a letter to the post office and went to pick up a prescription. The message on the pharmacy line said the prescription would be ready at 11 AM, but when I went to pick it up they told me that the pills were out of stock and it would be several days before they had them again. "But your phone message said," I began. The pharmacist just shrugged and told me to come back later.

The same people seems to be doing the same things at the gym every day. Of course I'm no different. I do the same things every day as well. When I begin my three mile walk around the indoor track I'm always bored and think that I'll go straight home as soon as I'm finished. After I've walked two miles my opinion seems to change and I think I might as well shoot a few baskets. After I complete my ten free throws I think I might as well lift a few weights now that I'm already here. It's always the same. I wonder if I'll ever feel like doing anything different?

I've been trying to go to the gym later because I can't think of anything I feel like doing in the afternoon. I've been an avid reader for most of my life but I don't even feel like reading anymore. I'm not sure what I did this afternoon, but the time went quickly. Pretty soon it was time to fix Dawn's dinner and then eat my own. I'm watering the lawn now, but it's probably a hopeless endeavor. Nature usually wins these battles.

I keep toying with the idea of going offline entirely when I finish the blog. I'm not working now and it gets harder and harder to find any benefit in social media. Maybe my Luddite sister is right. I spent many, many years without the Internet and I did just fine. It's weird that we have all grown so dependent on having instant access to everything. I used to correspond with lots of people and was always getting letters in the mail. I used to go read magazines in the public library when I was bored. Of course most of those magazines are out of business now. I drove a manual transmission car and found my way around town without GPS. Oh, well. I guess you can't turn back time although I'd certainly like to.

Lance is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3289

The rain is here. It's been pouring for hours now. There is thunder and lightning. The phones are beeping with flood alerts. Dash is scared and confused. He can't crawl under desks and tables anymore and I think he feels vulnerable. I feel a bit vulnerable as well, because I don't know if the roof is going to start leaking again.

I've done all I can. Before the rain started I went up and walked the roof to makes sure all the rips and tears in the elastomer material had been sealed. The new silicon patches have had time to fully cure and they look pretty good. I've got both pumps running now. So far, so good. We'll see if the roof can weather the storm.

At least Dash got one walk today. He certainly didn't get an evening walk. I knew the rain was coming, so I tried to get all my errands finished before the storm arrived. I paid my property tax today, so there are no more bills for 2018. I contacted the manufacturer of my Aeron chair and found out that there are two authorized Herman Miller repair centers in the Dallas area. Both were closed today, but it looks like I'll be able to get the chair repaired whether it is under warranty or not.

I have no idea why the stock market went up 1000 points today. Of course I have no idea why it went down 600 points yesterday either. They say this extreme volatility is caused by algorithmic trading. These automated, computerized high frequency trades make up almost 70% of the overall trading volume these days. This is what happens when we let artificial intelligence take over our lives. It's only going to get worse. AI is here to stay. I hate to think what is going to happen when our highways are filled with driverless cars. There are unintended consequences to everything.

I wish I could go back to 1955. Cars were cool then. Most machines could be fixed by someone of average intelligence. A 30 point move in the Dow was considered a huge day on Wall Street. We certainly weren't backward in the 50's. We already had atomic energy and Wernher von Braun was planning to take us to the moon. The pace was slower though and that was a good thing. I think we've gotten ahead of ourselves by allowing technology to advance faster than we have.

Since I can't turn back time, I live in a crumbling mid-century modern house plagued by roof leaks. I guess I've benefited from modern advancements, but sometimes I wonder. My blog is really no different than the hand written diaries I used to keep long before the Internet was invented. I could actually type much better using a manual typewriter when I didn't depend on spell-check and had to start over whenever I made a mistake. I suspect that my life with dogs would be exactly the same no matter what era I was living in.

They say the skies will be clear tomorrow. I'll be a happy camper if the house is still dry. Dash is almost certain to poop in the bed tonight because he won't go outside in the rain. We'll see what happens. Hey, I made it through 2018. I'm not going to let a little poop and water bother me.

Dash is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day