Day 2553

Everything was crowded today. Traffic was slow. Parking lots were full. And stores were extremely busy. Apparently, a lot of people haven't discovered online shopping yet. I wasn't even Christmas shopping. All I had to do was get gas, stop by the storage warehouse, go to the post office, and do my grocery shopping. From now through Christmas, these simple errands are going to take a lot longer.

I picked up Janet's puffy coat while I was at the storage warehouse and brought it home. There were some winter coats of mine there as well, but they were too heavy and bulky. I wonder why I ever wore those coats. The lightweight down jackets I wear now are so much better. I've finally learned to dress in layers on cold days. Instead of one humongous, heavy winter coat, I wear several much lighter ones. I wonder why it took me thirty years to learn this?

We got to sleep in a little later today. It was only an extra hour, but it seemed to make a difference. It always helps when Dot doesn't poop during the night. Today, she waited until I was getting her up for breakfast to do her business, which was actually very convenient. Everything landed right on a nearby puppy training pad, which I quickly rolled up, bagged, and threw away. Small saves like this are all it takes to make me think I'm going to have a good day.

A lot of yesterday's unfinished business got taken care of this morning. I wrote a letter to my sister and finished all the website updates that I had started yesterday. I had no trouble uploading the new files to the server today, so apparently the  problem that practically took down the entire hosting company has been resolved. This must have been a really major service outage. I checked around midnight, just before I went to bed last night and all the sites were still down. Somebody stayed up late and fixed things though. Everything is fine now.

I don't know how you Northerner's do it. The temperature hasn't even dropped below freezing yet and I'm already in full Winter mode. I've got a little ceramic heater under my desk to keep my feet warm. I wear sweaters around the house. I'm always checking the furnace to make sure it is running smoothly. The dogs seem to enjoy the cold weather, so I have to make sure there's a warm coat near the back door when I take Dot out to pee. Winter has barely begun and I'm already looking forward to Spring.

I wonder if I can avoid vacuuming tomorrow? I'd rather go to the gym. Actually, I'd really rather download Arrival and watch it while the dogs are sleeping. The movie isn't available on iTunes yet, so I'll probably just stay on schedule and do my Sunday chores. Heaven forbid that I would ever drive to a theater and watch the movie on a big screen. I'll just wait.

Princess is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2295

I took my tax information over to the accountant this morning. I used to bring a heavy pile of three-ring binders, file folders, and envelopes full of receipts. Now, I basically just bring a single CD with my Quickbooks Pro files. You'd think this would make it easier for the accountant and he'd give me a discount, but he actually charges me more. Times have changed. Oh, well. I've become very fatalistic about taxes. I just pay what I'm told to pay and try not to think about it.

On the way home I stopped at the REI store and got a pair of hiking pants for walking the dogs. It's only a matter of time before I have an entire wardrobe full of REI clothes. They aren't particularly stylish, but they seem extremely durable and well made. The pants I bought today reminded me of my old Defender 90. I don't know why I like indestructible things so much. Maybe it's because I feel we are living in an increasingly apocalyptic world.

With my taxes out of the way, I thought I'd catch up on a few other things as well. I called an audio repair shop to ask about a tape recorder I'd left with them ages ago. They said they were still waiting on a part that was on back order. Jeez, are they getting this part from Pluto? I brought the recorder in for service last October. I'm a very patient person, but this is getting ridiculous.

I had better luck when I called the landscapers. They said they'd be out to take a look at the yard tomorrow. These guys are good, but they always want to charge me too much. I have to explain that I'm not asking them to do nearly as much as they did three years ago. They seem to like the price they got three years ago. Eventually, we come to a mutual agreement, but it shouldn't have to be this hard. I also called the roofer, but he didn't even return my call. That's pretty typical for a roofer. I'll probably have to bug this guy for a month to get him to come over and patch the current crop of bare spots.

I was so efficient about taking care of unfinished business today that I don't what I'm going to do tomorrow. If the weather stays nice, maybe I'll mow the grass. The first step is to see if the big 24 volt battery will hold a charge. The second step is to take the battery to be re-celled when it dies unexpectedly after five minutes of use. The third step it to actually mow the grass and then complain about how the weeds have taken over again. That ought to take most of the day.

Hopefully, I'll get a good night's sleep tonight. That's a lot more important than what I'm going to do tomorrow. I take a a short nap before I start writing the blog in the evenings now. I know I'm going to be up several times during the night with Dot. Naps are good and interrupted sleep is a lot better than no sleep at all.

Doc is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1898

I'll never get used to Texas weather. There was rain mixed with sleet when I woke up. By the time I finished breakfast, the rain had turned to snow. By lunchtime the snow had already melted. By the time I took Dash on his evening walk there were clear blue skies and sixty five degree temperatures. This happens frequently. Actually, I think we are supposed to repeat the whole schizophrenic weather pattern this weekend.

I spent a big chunk of today retouching a photo for a client in Photoshop. It amazes me how much Photoshop has changed the way we look at things during the past twenty years. Photoshop isn't just for Sports Illustrated swimsuit models these days. Everybody uses it. We have gotten so used to looking at idealized perfection that people can't seem to tolerate images that show anything less.

Against my better judgement, I climbed up on the roof and cleared the accumulated water off the roof as soon as the skies cleared. There was an enormous amount of standing water on the roof and I didn't want it to freeze. Yes, within 48 hours another cold wave will arrive and we will have sub-freezing temperatures again. I wish I could just ignore the water, but it is so heavy that the longer I leave it, the sooner it will cause the roof to settle and buckle even more. I think the low spots are already sinking lower, because less water seems to drain off the edge of the roof than it did a few years ago. At least the roof doesn't leak anymore, but my fear is that the roof leaks will start again if I leave four inches of water on top of it continually. In July this water would just evaporate after a rain. Not in February.

I wish I could report that Dot had miraculously started walking again, but she still spends her day laying in various soft dog beds scattered around the house, waiting for me to move her around, or take her out to pee. She is in remarkably good spirits, considering her lack of mobility, but this is no way to live. I really hope that the surgery provides some relief and allows the healing process to begin. If I could ask Dot if she wanted to go through major surgery again, I'm sure she would say no. If I could ask her if she wanted to walk again, I'm equally sure she would say yes. I hope we made the right choice.

I called the hospital again today to confirm our check-in time and continue to hope that Dot will stay strong and be able to cope with the difficult days she has ahead. The surgeon told me that some dogs begin walking on their own within two weeks after her type of surgery. Others of course, require months of physical therapy. I hope that Dot is one of the lucky ones. She has been my friend and constant companion for over a decade now and I don't want to lose her. Please keep Dot in your thoughts and prayers tomorrow as she goes through this difficult but necessary surgery. The surgery itself will take about three hours, which seems like a very, very long time to me.

It feels like there is still a lot of unfinished business today, but it is getting late and we all need some sleep. Tomorrow is going to be a very long day.

Cookie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1456

Today was chaotic. As the city came back to life after the ice storm, I found myself bombarded with rush assignments and impossible deadlines. It wasn't just the Dallas clients either. Some of the out of town folks seemed in a big hurry as well. It was almost enough for me to wish for the cold to return again, so everyone would just hunker down and do nothing like they did yesterday.

The house was warm today, but it was a total mess. I kept the washing machine going all day long with load after load of dirty clothes and dog blankets. We have enough dog blankets to keep us warm under the covers on even the coldest night, but that means a lot of laundry when the crisis is over. I don't know how the dogs manage to get the blankets dirty as quickly as they do, but they're experts at making things filthy.

Since the temperature briefly got up to 40 degrees around 3 PM this afternoon, I wanted to use the opportunity to clean things up on the roof. Bad idea. The ice was so thick that the small amount of melt today only made things more dangerous. The surface was so slippery that I quickly abandoned my efforts and planted both feet on firm ground before I injured myself. I guess this task can wait.  The ice load on the roof is pretty heavy now and I'd like to get the ice removed, but it's definitely not worth falling off the roof.

There's still a lot of unfinished business. I need to talk to the neighbor about removing his tree that fell on my roof. Neighbors are funny about this sort of thing. He probably thinks that I should remove it, since it's on my roof now. I think the repair crews that threw the branches they trimmed in the alley over my back yard fence should come back and remove them. I don't know why the tree trimmers couldn't have tossed these branches into the big shredder I saw sitting out in the street, but they told me they didn't have time. Maybe they were right. I did noticed that the power came back about two seconds after the last guy with a chain saw got out of the trees in the alley. I doubt that any of them wanted to be next to a live wire with a chain saw when the power was turned on. Who knows, maybe these guys will come back later this week and clean up their mess.

All I know is that I've got a big mess of my own to clean up. The new car has finally been baptized with a thick coat of road dirt. The roof needs attention. Worst of all, I think a lot of the expensive landscaping we had done last Spring has died. I'm trying to avoid a trip to the grocery store until the feeding frenzy has subsided. I think everyone in town was restocking their pantries this afternoon. Traffic was terrible and every parking lot in town was completely full.

I'm hoping that a semblance of normalcy returns tomorrow. I'm certainly going to do my part. I like normal things. Dot has her regular acupuncture appointment tomorrow. I'll be going to my Wednesday networking breakfast. I doubt that we'll have dog training class though. It's still way too cold.

Princess is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 867

My inability to multitask is getting frustrating. I have so many unfinished projects right now, and what I'd really like to do is methodically finish each of them one at a time. I can't do that though. Most of my clients wouldn't react very favorably if I left a message on my answering machine that said, "I'm landscaping the back yard. Please call me back in a week and a half." That's what I'd like to do though. I'd finish the yard first, because with one patch of grass that needs to be watered everyday and an adjacent patch of tilled dirt that turns to mud every time I turn the sprinklers on, it's getting harder and harder to keep the dogs clean. Dot races through the mud every time I let her outside, and then I've got to clean her paws before I let her in again. This sequence of events happens many times each day and it's already getting a little old.

I'd finish moving the storage warehouse stuff next. This is important because I can't put anything new in the storage space until I get things organized and on shelves again. The whole point of the new storage space was to have enough room so that I could start clearing necessary, but infrequently used stuff out of the office. So far, things are still piling up in the office.

Only after these two important tasks were complete would I start working on client projects. Unfortunately, the way things work in the real world, I find myself doing exactly the opposite. I spend most of my day writing and coding websites, just like I always do. The moving and landscaping tasks get relegated to leftover time. I'm sure the back yard makeover will eventually be finished. I'm equally sure that the rental property will eventually be sold as well. These things won't happen fast enough for me however. I just want to get tiring these tasks behind me.

My real estate agent called today and said he'd like to photograph the rent house on Wednesday for the MLS listing. I wasn't expecting things to move so quickly, since the place is still empty and hasn't even been staged yet. Tomorrow will probably be a very busy day. I can only hope that the actual sale goes quickly as well. I still hear tales of people who had their properties on the market for two or three years with little to no interest. I don't want this to happen to me. One good thing about investing in stocks and bonds as long as I have is that I no longer have unrealistic expectations. Prices for everything go up and down. At any given time, there is always a market price for whatever you have to sell. If you want to find a buyer, you have to learn to accept this price.

Bea is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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