Day 3095

I spent most of the afternoon thinking it was Saturday. How could this happen? The day started out like Friday. I retrieved the garbage can from the curb after the trash truck arrived and then went out for breakfast. I guess that wasn't enough. All these days seem the same now.

I had a request for a small website update today and when I uploaded the changes to the server, the site still remained unchanged. This was a new one on me. I was able to access the FTP server. I could see that the revised files were actually in the client's folder. Nevertheless, I couldn't see any changes on the web. This turned an easy little fix into a head scratching mystery. I'll have to call the hosting company tomorrow. How can the new files be on the server and the old files still show up on the web? Yes, I emptied my browser cache, like I'm always telling clients to do. I wonder if this has anything to do with thinking it was Saturday.

I was finally able to contact the landscaper today and he told me that he could probably come out this afternoon. I left the gate open, but he never showed up. In the guy's defense, he did say that if he wasn't able to come today, he'd come tomorrow or Sunday. The probably means that he'll come sometime this Summer. I want him to come quickly, because if he comes in July, he'll just claim that the grass was dead because I didn't water it properly.

I saw some Gladiolas today and I couldn't remember what they were called. I asked Janet and she couldn't remember either. We spent the rest of our walk with Dash trying to recall what this silly plant was. This should have been easy, because I used to buy these flowers every week and put them in a vase on the coffee table. Eventually, we remembered. Jeez. What did old people do before there was Google to jog their memory?

It's taking me longer and longer to decide what I want for breakfast on Friday. I ended up with a waffle, even though I didn't want something that sweet. I guess I really wanted a breakfast taco, but I don't like the ones that are available in the neighborhood anymore. They are either too dry or taste like they were made last week. The place that made the breakfast tacos I've been craving went out of business two years ago. Increasingly, I'm finding that everything I like is gone. My favorite stores have gone out of business. There are no more Citroëns and Land Rover Defenders on the streets. The comedians on TV aren't funny anymore. What's a guy to do?

Dash has been doing really well this week. For the past several days he's slept all the way through the night. His appetite has been good and he has more energy on his daily walks. It's so surprising that the blood clot in his heart has returned. By all appearances, he is getting better and yet the echocardiogram says he is getting worse. I'm glad Dash isn't as worried as we are. He seems to be enjoying himself this Summer.

Shadow is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2531

Why does it always rain on Friday? I had to cancel my breakfast outing again because of inclement weather. It wasn't raining hard, but I saw some lightning off in the distance while we were walking the dogs around the block this morning and I didn't want to risk a storm phobia incident. Actually, my breakfast at home was pretty good. I cooked up some bacon to go with my toaster waffles and the dogs didn't even bark very much. Dash only seems to bark when there is a banana involved.

Dot seemed exhausted this morning. She was very slow on her morning walk and immediately went to sleep as soon as we got home. I was a little worried because she didn't even want to come out to the kitchen while I was cooking the bacon. I've learned to just let her rest when she's tired. She slept through lunch and didn't try to get up again until after 2 PM. Luckily, she seemed to bounce back a bit during the afternoon, and was back to her wobbly wandering ways by dinner time.

Dash had an upset stomach again last night. This morning I think I found out why. I discovered the remains of a partially eaten bird in the back yard. I don't know how much of this bird was eaten by Dash, but he has been known to eat things the neighborhood cats drag in the yard before. Between the two dogs, it's amazing we get any sleep at all.

I finished my second article this morning while the dogs were sleeping. Sometimes I think they sleep more soundly during the day than they do at night. When I went to the grocery store later in the morning to pick up something for dinner, neither dog even moved. They were both in exactly the same place when I returned.

The replacement battery for my phone arrived today, so I went to the battery store to get it installed after lunch. The battery store charges less than half of what the Apple store charges to replace an iPhone battery. I'm a good customer of this place. They've replaced batteries in electric shavers, lawn mowers, power tools, uninterruptible power sources, laptops, watches, and phones for me.  It's amazing how many things in our house seem to require a battery.

A cold front must have blown through town last night. I had to wear a warmer coat when we walked the dogs this morning and it never got warm enough for shorts at all. Usually, Dot responds well to cooler weather, but not today. I haven't seen her this tired for quite a while. Hopefully, she'd rebound again when she gets some rest. It's a long, slow journey. She still has her good days and her bad days, but I can see where this is headed. Every extra day we get to spend with her is a blessing.

Puppies are today's Dalmatians of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2489

I wasn't expecting rain this morning, but that's what we got. Dash refused to go outside and pee. Dot, on the other hand, seemed oblivious to the rain and drug me outside in the rain as she slowly wandered around the yard looking for the perfect place to pee. By the time I changed my wet clothes and dried Dot off, it became obvious that the dogs weren't going to get a morning walk. I wasn't going to get to go out to breakfast either, because I kept hearing thunder off in the distance. Dot and Dash are fine in a gentle rain, but thunder and lightning throw them into a panic. I found a package of frozen toaster waffles in the freezer and resigned myself to spending the rest of the day with my two storm phobic dogs.

When I went out to retrieve my trash can after breakfast, I discovered that the truck didn't pick up my trash for the third week in a row. I'm trying to figure out why this keeps happening and the only thing I can think of is that there's a new driver on our route. I remember I used to see the robotic arm stop at the top of it's arc and shake the cans before lowering them to the ground again. This was to make sure that everything gets dumped into the truck. The mechanical arm swings the cans in an arc very quickly to position them upside down on top of the truck. As the arm is moving, I have a feeling that centrifugal force keeps the trash bags pressed against the bottom of the can. If the arm doesn't stop long enough at the top of its arc and allow gravity to empty the cans, then that might explain why my trash bags are still inside the can even after the truck has picked up my can. This driver is in a hurry and isn't stopping to shake the cans.

Since I'll never be able to explain my perfectly reasonably theory to the driver, I went on the City of Dallas website and requested as new garbage can. Maybe a new can will help. My neighbors all have newer trash cans than me and they don't seem to be having the same problems I'm having. I have my doubts that the city will even respond to my request. I've requested services on the city website before and never got a response. Who knows. Maybe the online forms don't even work.

Dash can be incredibly stubborn. He kept refusing to go outside and pee until the rain eventually stopped. He didn't get his walk in the park until almost noon, but that was apparently what he wanted. Poor Dot didn't get a walk at all. After the dogs had been taken care of, I loaded the trash bags in the car and went looking for a dumpster. I'm getting sick of this. After decades of reliable trash service, I don't understand why this is happening now.

I didn't sleep well last night. I remember having very lucid dreams that had people I know in them. I remember my dreams about fifteen or twenty seconds after I wake up and then they're gone. It's too bad that the dreams are so fleeting, because I'm sure they're more interesting than my day-to-day life. My fitness tracker tells me that I get lots of REM sleep but very little deep sleep. If REM sleep and dreaming help to consolidate memories, maybe I don't have to worry about Alzheimer's after all.

I wonder if that hurricane on the East Coast had everything to do with all the rain we got today. Probably not. I'm glad we don't have to worry about hurricanes here in Dallas. Tornadoes are bad enough.

Hershey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2405

Things didn't go exactly as planned today. My blood test took forever. The clinic wanted me to fill out new paperwork. Why? "I've been coming to see you guys for over fifteen years," I said. "And nothing has changed. "Oh, we're just updating our records," a nurse told me. I guess she didn't understand. As I said, nothing has changed.

I asked the guy drawing my blood what my blood type was. I've had hundreds of blood tests, and I still don't know what my blood type is.  "Oh, we don't normally do this test," he told me, "because insurance won't pay for it." You've got to be kidding me. I find it hard to believe that insurance will routinely pay for dozens of weird esoteric tests that might not have any real value, but they won't even tell you what your blood type is.

The weather looked fine when I arrived at the clinic early this morning. By the time I left, there were dark, ominous looking storm clouds to the North of me. I checked the weather radar on my phone and they were definitely headed my way. Since my storm phobic dogs were home alone, I decided not to go out for breakfast this morning and headed straight home. Five minutes after I pulled into the driveway, the wind picked up and a major downpour started. It's been a long time since we've had this much rain in July.

The refrigerator is always pretty empty at the end of the week, but I did manage to find a package of toaster waffles in the freezer. I would have preferred Eggs Benedict, but frozen waffles will have to do this week. Breakfast wasn't all that great, but the dogs were glad to have me around. Dot and Dash both stayed calm and by noon the unexpected rain was over.

It's seems like there's a new catastrophe every day. Today there was a military coup in Turkey. This is so confusing. The Turkish army wants to preserve the country's secular heritage, destroy ISIS, and restore democracy, which is something you'd think we'd approve of. The current elected president is well on his way to becoming a dictator and is doing his best to turn Turkey into an Islamic state. So, who does our president support? Well it isn't the army. It wouldn't be the first time we picked the wrong side. It's almost impossible to tell who the good guys are in the Middle East anyway. Maybe there aren't any good guys.

I'm starting to see Jimson Weed flowers in the park. This plant always makes me nervous because it is so toxic. All parts of the plant are highly poisonous and you definitely don't want your dogs to be eating them. People have died from mistakenly using Jimson Weed leaves to brew tea, or from eating the roots. It's odd that the flowers are so pretty. Nature can be deadly, but I'm still more worried about people.

Lots of poop to clean up today. I guess with everything I've been seeing on TV lately, this is a very minor problem.

Lizzy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2286

I'm a light sleeper. When I wake up, I try to remain as quiet as I can. If I remain still, I know I can usually stay in bed an extra thirty minutes to an hour. I've learned that as soon as Dash senses activity in the house, he will get up and start barking for his breakfast. The barking wakes Dot up and she gets excited, which often causes her to poop in her bed. After that happens, sleeping in is a lost cause.

I woke up tired this morning and remained tired for most of the day. I'm not sure how to get the sleep I need. It's taking me longer and longer to write the blog in the evening, so I get to bed late. Janet gets up very early on weekdays. That means we all get up early so the dogs can have their walk before she goes to work. On days like today, where we actually can sleep in, Dash usually has other ideas. I'm sure that mothers with young children face very similar problems. They're younger than me though. Grumpy old men need their sleep.

We've started having frozen toaster waffles on Saturdays because they're so easy to fix. On weekdays I have my thirty second banana and strawberry smoothie and often pick up Chinese take-out for dinner. There's a trend here that I don't really like. Simplification of meals usually comes to an inevitable conclusion when you're drinking Ensure everyday and have one of those "I've fallen and I can't get up" moments. That's what happened to my Dad. I need to avoid oversimplification. Complexity keeps your mind and body going. I probably should start making fancy omelets for breakfast like I used to.

Today was beautiful. The sky was clear and the humidity was low. There was a chill in the air when we walked the dogs this morning, but that was good because Dot does much better in cold weather. Everything in the yard is starting to grow again, which means that I really need to get the landscapers out next week to give me a bid on repairing the lawn and ground cover. I am reminded of this because Facebook has started posting those "memory" pages on my wall every morning. This morning I saw a blog post from two years ago that clearly indicated that I'm behind this year. I should already have the St. Augustine turf installed by now.

There was so much I needed to do today and so little desire to do any of it. I could have gotten started on my taxes. I could have pruned the Photinia Bushes in the back yard. I could have washed the car or vacuumed the house. All I did was change the sheets on the bed, wash Dot's dog blankets, and go to the grocery store. Maybe I took a nap too. If I was smart, I'd be asleep right now. That's still at least an hour away though. I've got to reconfigure Dot's bed so she's next to me. I've got to run a test print in the large Epson printer. I've got to clean my teeth with a variety of sonic toothbrushes and empty the dehumidifier. Then I turn the lights out and hope that everybody stays asleep for the rest of the night.

Pringles is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2257

My stomach vetoed going out for breakfast this morning. After we walked the dogs, I just ate a leftover frozen waffle I found in the refrigerator and went back to bed. I don't know what kind of bug I caught, but it's a lot more persistent than I anticipated. The first day was a runny nose and a sore throat. The second day was aching joints, night sweats, vomiting, and a mild fever. Today things seem to have settled in my chest. I'm coughing more and still feel tired. I think I'm getting better, but it's hard to tell. The aches and pains keep moving around.

Did I mention I'm a hypochondriac? I rarely get sick, but when I do, I always think I've come down with something much worse than I really have. Now, I'm wondering if the tick that bit me a few weeks ago caused this. It's highly unlikely that I have some strange tick-borne disease, since my symptoms seem exactly like the flu, but that's how my mind works. A mild case of the flu usually lasts about three days and a more serious case can last up to a week. My flu shot obviously didn't work, but maybe it is helping to keep things from becoming worse. There's got to be some reason why I keep getting these flu shots year after year.

I got off to an extremely slow start this morning, but I eventually finished my writing assignment and turned it in. The only other thing I did today was go to the grocery store and pick up something for dinner. I didn't feel like eating anything hot, so I got some chicken salad, potato salad, and broccoli slaw. I probably shouldn't have gotten anything, because I wasn't really hungry.

So far so good with Dot. She's only taken one round of chemo pills so far, but there doesn't seem to be any obvious adverse reactions. She still has a good appetite and enjoys her walks in the morning. Since Dot is tired and weak anyway, it might be hard to detect a subtle further decline. She gets her second set of pills tomorrow, so we'll see how that goes. I'm hoping that the new lower dose and extra day of recovery will help prevent the weakness that was obvious the first time we tried chemo. If this works, the Palladia pills could add significantly to the amount of time we still get to share with her.

I think I'm going to skip some of my usual Saturday errands tomorrow. What's the point. There's nothing I do that can't wait a few days. I think the priority now is to shake off this cold and get better. I hate to take decongestants or cold pills, so the only thing that makes sense to me are some extended naps with the dogs. The house may get a little dirtier, but I think the dogs will understand.

Spot is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2025

Today is Dot's day. It takes quite a while to take her downtown for her weekly physical therapy and acupuncture sessions, but I enjoy having a break from my routine. The vets and nurses have become my friends and it's nice to occasionally talk to somebody face-to-face, instead of just answering texts and e-mails. It's easy to feel isolated when you live the way I do, so it's reassuring to discover that other people have a lot of the same problems and concerns that I do.

Dot did great on the treadmill today. Since she seemed a bit tired last Thursday, we let her rest this morning and skip her early morning exercise walk. Dash has been good at walking slow with Dot in the morning, but you can tell he wants to go further and faster. Today, he got his wish. I took him on a long walk while Dot was resting at home. Dash reacquainted himself with pungent shoreline smells while I watched a full moon sink lower and lower toward the horizon. There was a nice breeze and we both knew that we wouldn't have to worry about the July heat until later in the day. After several miles, Dash was ready to go home again and I was ready for a hearty breakfast. I love my banana and strawberry smoothies, but today I was ready for some solid food. I heated up a leftover Polish sausage and fixed some waffles. All-in-all, It was a very pleasant way to start the day.

I'm still not getting enough sleep. It's taking me longer and longer to finish the blog each evening. Sometimes I feel like taking a nap between paragraphs. It shouldn't take this long to write about nothing, but I'm particular in my choice of words. At the same time I'm going to bed later, I'm also getting up earlier. Walking the dogs before sunrise has proven to be the best way to keep Dot moving. Even though I'm not a morning person, I've grown fond of these slow pre-dawn walks. The air is crisp and cool and the neighborhood is quiet. At this time of day, it's easy to forget it's already July.

Tomorrow is a holiday for many. Janet gets the day off, but I imagine that my day will be exactly the same as it always is on Friday. Well, it will be a little different. Janet may join me at my breakfast restaurant tomorrow. After breakfast, we're planning to go photograph several new Dalmatians that have arrived at the rescue group's kennel in Lewisville. I'd better remember to charge the camera batteries tonight. I've still got a slide show to complete for a client and several more websites to update, but I've done enough for one day. The garbage has been taken to the curb for tomorrow's pick up. The dogs are already settled in their beds for the night. All that's left to do is brush my teeth, take my evening meds, and watch another episode of Perry Mason as I drift off for my well deserved five hours of sleep.

Bud is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day