Day 3319

I thought a place that could make delicious Shrimp Grits would be even better at making Eggs Benedict. Wrong. I was disappointed this morning. Damn. I should have had the Shrimp Grits again. This is the problem with being adventurous. Often things don't turn out as planned.

I'm not that interested in being adventurous, but I do realize that you can't spend your entire life doing the same thing over and over again. I'll admit that I come closer to monotony than most people, but everyone needs a little variety. I once found a restaurant that served absolutely perfect Migas. I ordered this dish for breakfast every Friday for three years. One day my breakfast tasted terrible and two months later the restaurant went out of business. I never really discovered what happened, but I've been looking for perfection ever since.

I do think I've found the perfect French Toast, but I don't always feel like something sweet. Oh, well. I guess the search for perfection continues. This odd quest does make Friday a little different than the other days of the week, so I guess all is good. I have a feeling that I'll go back to having French Toast at the hotel next week.

I need to remember that morning walks are for Dash and not for me. It takes a lot of patience to walk Dash these days. It's difficult to take photographs along the way like I used to because I'm spending all my time making sure that Dash stays upright. A small twig can make him stumble and fall. He can't seem to walk in a straight line anymore. We meander all over the place. Dash will often backtrack and return to smell something he forgot. Sometimes he refuses to leave a smell and starts sneezing when the odor becomes too strong. It's almost like he is getting high on the things he smells. I wonder how well he can see, because it seems like he is just traveling from one smell to the next without really looking where he is going. I have to be real careful when we come to gullies and ravines. Dash seems to have no depth perception anymore. If I wasn't holding tightly to his harness today, he would have fallen into a gully. All he cared about was a smell right on the edge.

The buyer for one of the items I auctioned in New York has missed their payment deadline. The payment is not just a few days late, it's almost a full month late. Unfortunately, I don't get paid until the auction house get paid so I'm starting to get frustrated. Auction houses never provide personal information about buyers. I'm starting to have fears that the buyer is a Russian oligarch who just had all his funds frozen. My contact at the auction house says not to worry. Easy for her to say.

The weather is still very cold, but the skies are clear and the humidity is low. Everything is starting to dry out again. I was going to get up early and look for Jupiter and Venus in the predawn sky. When the time arrived, I chose to sleep for another twenty minutes instead. Dash was restless last night and I didn't get much sleep. Janet thinks the new waterproof dropcloth I got recently is making the bed too slippery for him. Who knows. Maybe it is. I guess I'll be looking for another bed protection alternative this weekend.

We had pizza for dinner tonight. A good New York style thin crust pizza is hard to beat. I'm almost certain that this meal will give me heartburn, but somehow a little heartburn seems a fitting way to end a less than perfect day.

Bones is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1731 - 9/11

Every year at this time, NBC re-broadcasts the September 11, 2001 Today Show in its entirety. Every year I continue to watch this broadcast while I'm eating breakfast and I'm just as horrified as I was on the day I saw the events unfold on live TV. Thirteen years and several wars later, terrorism is still just as much of a problem as it was then. It's sad. As long as we continue thinking that the terrorists are just a few bad apples in a generally good basket the problem will never go away. The real problem is that a big chunk of the world is still living in the Middle Ages. Do we have the resolve to address the problem the way a Winston Churchill or a Harry Truman would have? I doubt it.

I managed to get one of yesterday's missing websites reinstated on a new server and back online toward the end of the day. Now I need to do the same thing with five more domains and we'll be back where we started. I'd like to think we'll be back where we started anyway. The reality is that there are probably dozens of little inconsistencies that I'll need to resolve in the days ahead. I know I'm going to have to re-write some online forms. Just about every hosting company seems to handle these things differently.

Dot had another good day at her physical therapy session. She can consistently do a twenty minute workout now and each week we increase the speed of the treadmill slightly during her interval training. I know that Dot would rather just take a long nap, but this is very good for her. Her muscle tone is improving and I honestly don't think any of our dogs were this strong at Dot's age. Her vet is pleased at how quickly the Incurin is starting to work as well. Dot has gone three days without an accident now. After two weeks we can start gradually reducing the amount of Incurin she receives until all she requires is a very low maintenance dose.

I go down to Baylor for another blood test tomorrow morning. I'm hoping that this new lab work will give me the ammunition I need to discontinue my Statin drugs. I don't like the side effects of statins, but if my liver panel comes back normal, I'm sure all my doctors will want to continue them. Statins and Niacin are much more effective at controlling Lipids and bad cholesterol than anything else on the market.

I got two new writing assignments today. I haven't done a lot of writing this summer, so it will be nice to have a change of pace from all the website work. I've got a big photo shoot scheduled for Saturday as well. I'm glad the dogs are getting better now. A month ago I wouldn't have had the time to do these things.

Shadow is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1688

Janet took Dash to dog training class tonight, while I stayed home with Dot. Our instructor initially thought Dot had made an amazing recovery as he watched Dash sail over some high hurdles. "That's pretty good for an old, sick dog," he told Janet. Hey, it's an honest mistake. They both have spots. Maybe he got the dogs mixed up because Dash behaves better with Janet. She told me that he made it through the entire class without any of his typical annoying barking.

For her part, Dot had a very good day as well. We made it through the night without any accidents. She didn't even leak on the waterproof baby crib liners strewn around the house for her to sleep on during the day. We're all learning our new routines. I take her out every three hours to pee, and once again during the middle of the night. Dot is off pain medication now and her vet says that we can begin transitioning her back to her regular diet. You can tell that Dot is happy to slowly be returning to normal. She is holding her head up high for the first time in weeks, and her tail is starting to wag again. Dot doesn't understand the concept of baby steps. My big concern now is to keep her from overdoing things while her body continues to heal.

As Dot gets off the critical list and continues her recovery, my own life is returning to normal as well. I spent a busy day revising and adding pictures to one website while finalizing the design of another. I still can't leave the house, but that really isn't a serious problem, since I seldom leave the house anyway. It is usually boredom, not necessity that causes me to get in the car and go somewhere. I certainly haven't been bored this year, but I think I would prefer boredom to dealing with a constant barrage of major medical emergencies. This has been a rough year. It would be nice if life would stay in balance, but it seldom does. I'm still hoping for healthy dogs and a little variety in my workload.

Can you believe that tomorrow is the last day of July? This year has literally flown by. I'm grateful that so far this has been one of the coolest Summers on record. To be approaching August with only one or two days of triple digit temperatures is almost unheard of in Texas. There have been quite a few mornings where the temperature was in the low 70's while I walked Dash around sunrise. Most of the wildflowers are gone by now, but I did happen to see a few Lanceleaf Coreopsis flowers still blooming this morning. It will be nice when I can walk both dogs again. This is usually my most relaxing time of the day.

We'll waterproof the bed again tonight, but hopefully Dot's incontinence is nearing an end as well. She certainly had a good day today. Tomorrow, I'll continue taking things one day at a time. It's been working so far.

Penny is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1567

Dot may have slowed down quite a bit, but she hasn't lost her ability to bark at repairmen. She barked nonstop while the HVAC guys were here this morning. It's kind of embarrassing that I don't really have the ability to keep her quiet, but that's just the way it is. Dot is the matriarch of the family and she's protecting the house. That's the way she sees it anyway.

Luckily most of the work was outside today. They guys are used to her now anyway. I'm more worried that she'll work herself into a frenzy and have a stroke or something. I put a blanket over her dog gate, so she couldn't actually see the workmen. That helped a little, but she still knew they were there. 

Dash is one-third of the way through his radiation treatment now. His oncologist is very pleased with his progress. The Palladia chemo pills will continue quite a while after the radiation is finished, but so far Dash has had no problems with this part of the treatment either. Dot is the problem girl now. We've got to figure out if there is blood in her stools, and if so, why. I took a sample to the vet this morning, but the results were inconclusive. We'll do another test tomorrow when I take her for her acupuncture appointment.

I wish my Monday work load was more consistent. Some Monday's I'm swamped, and other days like today, there isn't much going on at all. There were no writing assignments today, but I did have one extensive website update to complete. With no competing deadlines, I completed this update with time to spare.

I walked Dot and Dash separately this evening and both Dogs seemed happier. Dot walks extremely slowly now, but she still enjoys being outside. Without the irritation of Dash continually tugging to go in the opposite direction, she actually took a longer walk this evening. Dash took a much longer walk, without the necessity of turning back as soon as Dot gets tired. I'd do this back-to-back walk everyday, except that it takes a lot more time.

We'll see what April brings our way. I like the warmer weather and I'm getting used to all the dog transportation issues. A little variety might be nice. Only the good kind of variety though. I don't need any more health issues or home repair problems. Small things will suffice. A different flavor of ice cream for dessert, or the occasional new magazine in the mail is all the variety I need.

Smiley is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day