Day 3150

Dash is so slow now that the weather forecast can change during our walks. That's what happened this morning. When we left the house the weather radar looked OK and I wasn't expecting rain until this afternoon. Things can change quickly in Texas though. The dark skies on the Western horizon began growing closer and closer. I started hearing thunder. It wasn't long before I began feeling raindrops. The surprise storm didn't seem to faze Dash. He kept inching along at a snail's pace, stopping to smell every bush along the way. Dash used to be frightened by thunder, but he doesn't hear well anymore. He didn't even appear to notice that we were starting to get wet. Amazingly, we made it home before the storm arrived. Usually we aren't so lucky.

Dash seemed unusually tired today. He slept for most of the day and wasn't interested in eating at all. He didn't finish his breakfast until 4 PM and we're still working on dinner. Dash's good days and bad days are totally unpredictable. As recently as yesterday I was feeling that he was getting stronger. Whenever Dash is lethargic like this, I start to worry. There's not much I can do, but this type of fatigue is usually a sign that his heart condition is getting worse.

I'm still trying to downsize, but it appears that the low hanging fruit is gone. When I began this quest, I purposely looked for items that would appeal to other collectors. Now that the good stuff stuff has all been consigned, I'm having a lot more difficulty unloading the second-tier collections. I apparently has a discerning eye for art back in the 1970's. I had good taste in model trains too. Not so much with the watches I began collecting a few decades later. My taste in vintage watches turned out to be terrible. The only things I was interested in were early tuning fork watches, LED watches, and calculator watches. Very few people work on these things anymore. I had a guy in California who used to fix my Accutrons, but he died. A lot of early electronic watches used mercury batteries and never worked reliably using modern replacement batteries. Parts for LED watches are almost impossible to come by. All these problems could be overcome if people actually desired these geeky timepieces. They don't. Everybody wants an old Rolex instead.

We ended up getting a lot of rain today. There is no point in removing the water from the roof though. It's supposed to continue raining for the next several days. Let's hope that the roofers did a good job. I really don't want to deal with a leak again. I'll go up and inspect things when rain is out of the forecast, but there's no point in doing anything now. I'm going to just keep my fingers crossed and hope for the best.

I hope the forecast is wrong. Dash does much better when he gets his morning walk. I can't go out for breakfast if it's raining either. Dash is just too unpredictable. We'll see what happens. The forecast wasn't very accurate today. It probably won't be tomorrow either.

Nautica is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3058

I went to visit my watchmaker friend today. I don't bother to fix my own watches anymore, but I took four of Janet's with me that needed new batteries. I enjoy talking with the watchmaker. Like almost everyone I know, he used to be a client. We have similar interests and always end up talking about how much the world has changed. My friend is still very busy. There aren't a lot of good watch repairmen left anymore. Most of them have retired or died. I'm glad the watchmaker hasn't retired yet. He's the only guy left that I know who does this sort of thing. He tells me that if someone told him how much the watch industry was going to change thirty years ago, he would have chosen a different line of work. I can relate. I might have chosen a different line of work too if I knew how radically the world was going to change.

One of Janet's watches needed a new movement and crown, but I took the other three back with me. It's ironic that Janet is more interested in watches now than I am. She still likes to wear a nice watch to work. I lost interest quite a few years ago. I have so many watches that I just became overwhelmed with the upkeep. It's impossible to keep hundreds of watches running. I should have bought three really good watches that would hold their value instead of a ton of weird, eclectic watches with pretty dials. When I started collecting, I think I just liked getting things in the mail. I bought a ton of stuff on e-Bay from all over the world. I learned a lot, including how to bring old Bulova Accutrons and 1970's LED watches back to life. I actually managed to get quite a few of these dinosaurs running again before I lost interest. If you're just getting interested in watches, don't ever go buy a dozen old Accutrons, hoping they will take you back to the 1960's. Yesterday's state-of-the-art technology is today's albatross around your neck. Just go buy a Rolex. They may too conventional for some, but they are well made, hold their value and you can eventually give the watch to your grandchildren.

I finally contacted the landscaper today. He apologized for not returning my calls and said he could probably come out and get my yard looking decent again late next week. I feel like Sisyphus pushing the rock up the hill with this yard. Whatever I do, I know I'm going to have to do it all over again next year. It's still better to replace the grass than do nothing though. At least our yard will look nice through the Summer.

One of Dash's rubber booties fell off on our walk this morning and I couldn't get it back on again. Dash wanted to keep walking and definitely didn't want me near his rear paw. He even growled at me when I tried to put the boot back on again. This was troubling, because he really needs to wear the booties. His legs are weak and his rear paws turn under when he walks. Without the booties to protect him, it doesn't take long for the top of his paw to start to bleed. I'm not looking forward to getting Dash ready to walk when Janet goes on vacation. It takes two of us to get him suited up now.

There was a new episode of The Expanse tonight, but I didn't bother to watch it. It's more enjoyable to record the thing on the DVR and watch it during the day while Dash is taking a nap. This will give me something to do after breakfast tomorrow. I should just use the DVR for everything. You can fast forward through all the commercials. If I have the patience to wait for a series to come to Netflix or iTunes, that's even better. You have to pay, but the commercials are gone. I wouldn't even want to watch my own commercials anymore. Life should be commercial free.

The next thing on my to-do list is getting my oil changed. I just noticed that the sticker on my windshield said I should have changed it in January. I drive so seldom now that I never change the oil based on mileage. It would take me another year to meet the mileage requirements for my next oil change. Unfortunately, motor oil doesn't last forever. You have to change it eventually whether you drive or not. I end up fixing a lot of things whether I use them or not.

Spot is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2445

Two vet visits down. One to go. Remind me to never schedule three vet visits in a single week again. Dot takes so long to get ready and no matter what I do, she usually poops in the car anyway. I spend a lot more time waiting in lobbies than I did several years ago. Traffic is much worse as well. If these excursions are my window into a larger world, the world isn't working as well as it should. All the people I deal with are very nice, but most of them seem just as tired as I am. How can so many people seem so burned out? It just shouldn't be this way.

I wasn't expecting Dot to do as well as she did today, because she seemed stressed out in the car. Her acupuncture session relaxed her and she did much better in the water than she did last week. The technician who helps with Dot's water therapy collects watches like I do and we talked about collecting today while Dot walked. Oddly, this seemed to help her walk more naturally. Maybe she doesn't like people staring at her the entire time and making comments about her performance. At any rate, she seemed sure footed and walked very well today, even though we weren't paying quite as much attention to her.

I think the reason I like to go out for breakfast on Friday's is that it gives me a chance to eat in peace. Breakfast is seldom peaceful the rest of the week. I keep Dot in a small pen near the breakfast table so I can keep an eye on her while I eat. Dash is hovering nearby, waiting for me to feed him the banana I've sliced up for him. Dot gets some banana too, but she is much better behaved about her treat. If I don't feed Dash a small slice of banana about every twenty seconds, he starts to bark. When Dash starts barking, it often gets Dot excited, which can cause her to poop. Today part of her pen was siting over an air conditioner floor vent and of course that's exactly where she pooped. I had to put my breakfast in the refrigerator and clean the vent out immediately before the AC system spread the smell all over the house. Never a dull moment.

I need to figure out how to get rid of some of the stuff in my storage warehouse. The storage space is huge and is getting more expensive every year. The space used to be extremely well organized, but now I'm not even sure what I'm storing. It's a mess. I usually don't even think about the place anymore until the rent comes due for another year, which coincidentally happens next week. Whenever I renew, I think "this is the year I"m going to get this thing under control," but it never happens. If I just sold one thing on eBay every week, I could probably make a good little supplemental income. The problem with selling things though is that you've got to deal with buyers. I can't stand dealing with buyers. I bet I'll be having this same discussion next year as the dust grows thicker in the storage space.

I had another vegetarian dinner tonight. I think I could do this. The meal was delicious. The weak link in this chain is that I'm not making these meals myself. Some very good cooks at the vegan store are making the meals for me. All I have to do is heat them up in the microwave. The trouble with vegetables is that they spoil quickly and when you're cooking for one, it's hard to keep enough variety on hand to keep things interesting. This store has the right idea. They can buy lots of fresh vegetables, use them to create delicious meals, and then then change the entire menu every week, so people like me don't get bored. The only problem is that it could get pretty expensive to eat this way permanently. I don't see how a place like this could stay in business if they charged less though. Vegan take out is not a high volume business in Dallas. I hope this idea makes it. Places I like usually go out of business quickly.

There is absolutely nothing on the agenda for tomorrow. I hope it stays that way. Today was kind of hectic.

Hero is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2229

If you're old enough, you probably remember car trips where your parents told you to count the cows you saw out the window. This used to keep me occupied for hours. Attention spans are shorter now, so I imagine a new kind of game is needed. Maybe you could have the kids count the number of times the people at the next table in a restaurant use the word "like" in a conversation. You know what I'm talking about. When I was having breakfast this morning, two girls at the next table must have used the word 100 times within five minutes. "I was like you've got to be kidding, and then she was like no way, and then like you wouldn't believe what happened next..." This went on and on and on. Every single sentence used the word "like" on one way or another. When did this start? I even hear people talking this way on TV now. We don't read. We can't write. We've forgotten how to speak coherently. I don't hold out a lot of hope for the future.

I did like my breakfast in the old fashioned sense of the word. It was delicious. On my way home, I stopped by the grocery store and picked up the ingredients to make burgers for dinner. I thought I'd try some heirloom tomatoes, since I've always wondered what they tasted like. I thought they'd be better than ordinary hothouse tomatoes, since they're more expensive. Nope. They weren't very tasty at all.  I'm still wondering what's so special about heirloom tomatoes.

Today was mostly spent wrapping up a bunch of loose ends, so I wouldn't have anything hanging over my head this weekend. I finished my remaining website projects, wrote a letter to my sister, paid a few bills, picked up another prescription at the pharmacy, and went to the Dollar Store to look for rubber snakes. It was a fairly productive day. The dogs got walked. I'm caught up on work. Dot pooped outside. And I finally received a reply from the watch winder company. I still haven't found the rubber snakes though.

I was disappointed to hear that the watch winder company won't repair the two defective units I inquired about. They said they are too old to fix and that parts are no longer available. This may be true, but I was still hoping that they would replace the winders like they did with the first one I sent them. I guess one replacement watch winder is all you get. It's hard for me to get very upset about this however, because I'm not all that interested in watches anymore. Like most things in my life, it appears like collecting watches was just a phase I went through.

It's supposed to be clear tomorrow, so maybe I'll get up early and look for Mercury in the Eastern sky. I don't know why it's a big deal for me to see Mercury because it's just a faint little speck of light.  I like following the planets though. If I didn't live in a city and the skies were darker, I'd probably be out with a telescope looking for Uranus and Neptune.

I forgot to order printer ink today, so the large printer is sure to be clogged on Monday. I'm sure there's still water on the roof as well. If it warms up this weekend, I'll take care of that. I need to think of something fun to do as well. I think The Martian is out on DVD now. Maybe I'll go look for a copy when I'm running errands tomorrow.

Raider is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1913

Dot got her stitches out today. The neurologist was very pleased with her progress but said that Dot was a little too active for this stage of her recovery. Evidently, during her exam she got up and started walking around the exam room on her own. We were told again that it is very important to keep Dot quiet for the next month while her body recovers from the surgery. We are never to let her wander around the house on her own. She should be confined whenever we have to leave the house, and if she gets too excited or agitated, we are to give her a sedative.

The doctor agreed that it wasn't a good idea to crate her if Dot doesn't have room to do change positions easily. She could hurt her spine if she got stuck in a twisted  position. Dot is supposed to rest in the crate, not struggle. So far, the gated hallway seems like the best solution. Dot is very peaceful here as long as I am in the house. If I leave, she becomes frantic and starts barking though. This is why the doctor thinks we might need to sedate Dot occasionally when we have to leave, so there are no separation anxiety panic attacks. This is going to be a very long couple of months.

Since Janet had to be gone for much of the day and I didn't have any deadlines to meet, I thought I'd try to get a couple of vintage watches running again. I think I've lost my touch. I didn't break anything, but I didn't have a lot of success either. Watches, like most mechanical things, need to be used. I've let my collection gather dust for far too long and many watches have stopped running. I could never afford to get them all professionally serviced, so this is is another ashes-to-ashes, dust-to-dust situation. Three old watches are ticking again however, so the afternoon wasn't a total loss.

I called the appliance repair company and convinced them to come out tomorrow and fix the dryer. I had to do this when the washing machine broke too. The repairmen will make no promises whatsoever. They just say they'll return with the part as soon as they can. If you don't call the main office and demand a speedy, expedited repair, you could end up waiting for weeks. I hate this "squeaky wheel" principle, but sometimes it's the only option you have.

Based on what I've observed this week, I'm dreading when Janet returns to work on Monday. There are hundreds of ways that Dot could hurt herself in our house, and she's not going to be content to sit in a small pen all day. She still has to go outside to pee a lot because of the prednisolone she's taking, and after about two hours of bed rest, she gets agitated and wants to move around. If Dash starts barking, she immediately starts barking too. Dalmatians aren't calm dogs by nature. I don't think bed rest is in their vocabulary.

I'm looking forward to getting out of the house for breakfast tomorrow morning. Janet will look after Dot while I'm away and then we'll trade places. This works pretty well. We'll see how it works when I'm on my own.

Lance is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1714

I went up to visit my watchmaker today. I guess the guy is still a client, although I haven't really done anything for him in years. When I was still an active collector, I was a frequent visitor, bringing the watchmaker a steady stream of new acquisitions to repair, evaluate, or just take a look at. I used to tell people I collected watches because they were smaller and easier to store than cars. That was only partially true. The real reason guys collect things is so they have something to talk about with other guys who collect the same things. I used to love visiting with the watchmaker. We both were interested in European cars and mechanical things. I had other friends with similar interests, but few of these people collect things anymore. Life eventually gets in the way. Unless you are very rich, the pressures of putting your kids through college, paying medical expenses, and dealing with a somewhat unforgiving economy gradually make any collection almost irrelevant. The watch I brought in for repair today was only a token gesture. I could have easily brought in twenty more in a similar state of disrepair, but what would be the point? I don't really need these things. There's nobody to impress anymore.

Somebody asked me today if I still did personal portraits. They way they asked led me to believe this was to be more of a favor than an actual job. I decided to be honest for a change and tell them I wasn't interested. I've grown weary of lugging hundreds of pounds of lighting gear and equipment around for nothing. Now that everyone has become an Instagram expert, people tend to think that photographers like me just take pictures for fun. Nope. It used to be a great business. Maybe it still is for a few.

I was going to brag about how well Dot had done today but I just noticed that she has peed on the carpet again while I've been writing the blog. It was her first accident of the day, but she could have definitely picked a better place. I had waterproof pads all over the place. I don't know how she managed to find the one place that wasn't protected. This is my day these days. No wonder I've lost interest in collecting things and taking portraits.

The weird thing was that it really wasn't a bad day at all. We had a great walk early this morning before the weather got hot. I actually did enjoy talking with the watchmaker, even though my interest in watches has waned a bit. I think I've become quite good at taking care of sick dogs, but I'm really tired. I'm ready to go to bed, but there's one more thing to do. I need to waterproof the bed first.

Pinky is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1465

The incompetence of government agencies continues to amaze me. I got a letter today saying that it was time for me to renew the vehicle registration on my Defender 90. What was all that paperwork I signed when I sold the car? Surely these guys must know by now that I no longer own the Defender. I get dozens of letters from Medicare and I have yet to understand any of them. I bet you could reduce the cost of healthcare significantly if you just fired all these useless letter writers. Even the dogs have their problems with government bureaucracies. Every year, Dash gets a letter from the city saying that his city registration has expired. This always takes place about one month after my vet issues Dash brand new registration tags. It's no real surprise that the ObamaCare website doesn't work. Nothing in government at any level works. I have no faith in government anymore.

Does anyone want to buy a Citroën SM that has sat untouched in an aircraft hanger for ten years? The car ran great a decade ago, but I suspect that it will take quite an effort to get it running again. I'm sure the fuel lines and gas tank are gummed up and will need to be removed and cleaned. I've done this once before and it's not an easy job. All five suspension spheres will need to be replaced. The car will certainly need a new heavy duty battery and probably new tires as well. Hopefully, no corrosion has taken place in the engine itself. I loved this car when I bought it in 1972, but in recent years it has become an albatross around my neck. The mechanics who used to keep the car running smoothly have all retired or moved on. My favorite mechanic is now a DJ on a local jazz radio station. Parts are next to impossible to find these days. Even ten years ago I was scared to drive the SM around town because I knew that there were no more new body parts available worldwide. If I had unlimited resources, I would ship the car off to SM World in California and have it completely restored. Unfortunately, I haven't had unlimited resources in a long, long time. Even though the car is highly collectible and Jay Leno has one, it's time to sell the thing.

I've had a lot of cars over the years and the complexities of keeping old cars running are one of the main reasons I switched to collecting watches instead. Watches are little and you can keep them in a drawer. I enjoyed watches for a while until they began to fall apart just like my cars. A good watch needs a watchmaker just as much as a car needs a mechanic. Watch repair is expensive and time consuming. In the long run, I don't think I will be any better off with watches than I was with cars. They all break eventually. I think Janet will have the last laugh at my obsession with collecting stuff. She has no interest in collecting things and prefers travel instead. Travel is all about collecting memories and in my experience, memories tend to get better over time. Eventually, the memory is better than the actual experience was. She'll have great memories, while I preside over a kingdom of rust.

To keep my body from turning to rust, I went back to the gym again today. Another week of regular workouts and I'll be back to where I was before the ice storm. I don't enjoy exercising that much, but I do enjoy seeing progress. Hey, I finally got the large printer working again. That's progress. The city hauled away most of my downed tree limbs this morning. That's progress too. Surprisingly, something seems to happen almost each and every day. There's always some sort of progress. Who knows, maybe one of these days I'll sell the Citroën SM too.

Ranger is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1169

The Winter winds subsided as the day progressed and by mid-afternoon it was warm again. As the weather improved, so did my mood. I continued to make good progress on my new writing assignment. The roof is drying out again. I've even lost a couple of pounds as a result of my new diet.

The challenge will be to stay engaged in the months ahead. I get bored easily. Watches hold little interest anymore. My carefully collected watch repair tools are all gathering dust on the workbench. I know I should be practicing the guitar more. I do enjoy playing, but this always used to be a group activity with the band. Playing rock and roll in an empty house to an audience of dogs is kind of weird. Yes, I could always read a book. I used to read a new book each and every week. I love books. I wonder why I don't have the urge to read anymore.

Photography is still fun, but I need to expand my horizons. I've started to notice that I've already photographed almost every single interesting object along the path where I walk the dogs every day. My small world has been very well documented. This month, the White Pelicans are getting ready to head north for the Summer. In previous years, I would be setting up a tripod with a long lens to capture these magnificent birds before they left for the season. I already have so many pictures of Pelicans though that I don't really feel like photographing them anymore. That's the problem really. Been there, done that. Totally.

Enough complaining though. It really was a beautiful day. There are tell-tale signs of Spring everywhere you look. The dogs are much happier with the warmer weather and are enjoying spending time outside again. Maybe I ought to let them decide what we are going to do tomorrow.

Bingo is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1130

I paid a visit to my watchmaker today. Although I rarely even bother to fix my own watches any more, Janet still likes hers to run. I like visiting with the watch repairman. I'd drop by more often if he wasn't so busy. Guys like him usually have enough work to last a lifetime. The mechanic who works on my old Maserati is the same way. These solitary craftsmen work alone, slowly and methodically restoring odd little treasures from a bygone era. I used to know lots of people who could fix things. I knew several guys who could rebuild a Leica camera from scratch and one peculiar guy who did nothing but restore old electric fans. Most of these guys are gone now, but fortunately the watchmaker remains. He and I both collect things and enjoy sharing our discoveries. Guys like me rarely talk about feelings because we don't really have many. We do like to talk about stuff though. I had a very enjoyable afternoon and Janet's watch got fixed too.

I got quite a bit done today. I have a feeling that I was more productive because the skies were clear and the weather was warm. I think everything goes better on a nice day. The dogs enjoy sunning themselves in the back yard. The car starts effortlessly, and best of all, I don't have to muck about up on the roof. With the help of the suns rays, I managed to finish several articles and completely update an animal rescue website.

I think I'm going to contact the foam roofing company next week and have them come out and give me an estimate. I need to come up with a five year plan to get the house shipshape again if I ever want to sell it. I guess the roof would be a good place to start. It certainly wouldn't make sense to fix anything inside if the roof was still leaking.

I wonder how long it will be before I become bored with eating out every Friday morning. I found a really nice restaurant this morning, but nothing on the menu really appealed to me. Maybe I just wasn't hungry. I finally ordered an omelet with chorizo, shallots and cream cheese. When I got home I was so full that I almost went up on the roof just to push the broom around for exercise.

Dovey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1054

For the second time in two years, I received a letter from the Missouri Department of Revenue telling me that I was behind on paying my Missouri state taxes. WTF? I have never lived or worked in Missouri in my life. I thought I had this whole thing resolved last year when I finally managed to talk to someone in the Missouri tax department who told me the whole thing was a bureaucratic mistake. The person I talked to must not have told anyone else though, because I got exactly the same letter again this year. And you still wonder why I don't have a lot of faith in government agencies? I only know what I see, and I see a lot of incompetence in government agencies at all levels. Of course, I see a lot of incompetence in the private sector as well. There is more than enough incompetence to spread around these days.

The time changes tonight. I used to be so obsessive that I'd reset all my watches whenever there was a time change. Now, I don't even bother. There's always something lying around that shows more or less the right time, whatever the season happens to be. For someone who likes watches, I have very little interest in what time it is anyway. A couple of hours one way or the other isn't going to change my life very much.

Janet finally got her car back from the body shop today. There were so many cars damaged in the big hailstorm last June, that it has taken until now for many cars to get repaired. Janet's car was literally in the shop for three months. This was only a hailstorm too. I can only imagine how long it is going to take before people in New York and New Jersey get their lives back to normal after the hurricane. Sadly, some of them never will. After Katrina, a lot of people in New Orleans just gave up and moved to Dallas and Houston. They're still here.

Janet volunteered me to take a mother/daughter portrait of one of her friends tomorrow. The lady wants to have her picture taken at our lake, paddling in a kayak with her daughter. I asked her if she'd ever been in a kayak before and she said no. Hey, what could possible go wrong? Oh, did I mention that her dogs were supposed to be in this picture as well.

Wolfgang is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1052

I went and visited with my watchmaker today. Although Kevin is technically a client, he seldom has much for me to do. Good watch repairmen don't need to advertise. With so few young people going into this line of work, the handful of remaining watchmakers have more work than they know what to do with. I wanted to learn how to repair watches once and quickly discovered that I was much too clumsy to become a good watch repairman. I would continually drop tiny little screws on the floor and never see them again. This is why I was visiting Kevin today. Janet doesn't even want me to change the batteries on her watches anymore, so I take them to a professional instead. My own watches are a different story. I've got so many basically worthless timepieces that I can afford to lose a few screws with my clumsy ways.

One of my New York clients called me today. He said he'd been sitting in his car waiting to get gas for over an hour and a half. We talked for a while about upcoming assignments and then he abruptly told me he had to go. Evidently someone was trying to cut in line right ahead of him and he wasn't going to let that happen. I'm glad I don't live on the East Coast right now.

I got the large format printer running for long enough this afternoon to print out some posters I needed for an upcoming animal rescue event. After printing only four posters, the red warning light came on that said I needed more Light Cyan ink. Didn't I just buy a lot of expensive ink the last time I used this printer? This is getting ridiculous. I'm beginning to think it would be a lot more economical if I just scrapped the printer and took a CD with the file to Kinkos whenever I needed to print something big.

Years ago, when I was fascinated with automobiles, a friend told me that practically anyone could afford to buy an old worn out Ferrari, but that you had to be rich to keep it running. I'm discovering that this is true with practically everything in life. I've got a fabulous printer, but I can't afford to keep it filled with ink. I've got a ton of old watches, but I can't afford to keep them all running. It's too bad that simplicity never really appealed to me. I'm surrounded by musical instruments I can no longer play and perfectly good shoes that haven't kept pace with my expanding feet. A day will come when I'll probably even have more blog posts than I know what to do with.

Jeda is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1000

1000 days ago, I became a blogger. I didn’t really have much to say, but I was determined to say it anyway. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I was convinced that if you looked at the ordinary closely enough, it would become extraordinary.

Day after day, I recorded the trivial and the absurd in my life. Even in the beginning I knew that a blog needed pictures. Each evening I showed you a different Dalmatian. They all had spots and looked very similar, but I understood they were completely unique. I knew these dogs. I had photographed each of them and had helped to find them homes.

The watches were different. I didn’t find homes for the watches. They found a home with me. I collected them all. The reason you see a new Dalmatian and a new watch every day is quite simple. I have lots and lots of pictures of both. Since I’m a visual person, I instinctively knew that every watch and dog I showed you told a story. I wasn’t so sure about my days.

On the surface, my life is extremely boring. If you were a fly on the wall, watching my daily routine would be like watching paint dry. At least that’s what I thought at first. I wondered why anyone would even bother to read this blog. Lets face it. Not much happens.

People did begin to read however, and I began to discover that even the most uneventful existence is full of mystery and nuance. The simple act of writing things down has allowed me to see things I normally never noticed. Maybe it wasn’t such a boring life after all. I had built a little business that had survived for almost 25 years without going bankrupt. I had learned to understand what goes on inside the heads of dogs. Perhaps most surprisingly of all, I was still alive.

Without the trail of breadcrumbs the blog now provides me, I probably would have already forgotten that I’ve been interviewed twice by the local news during the past 1000 days. I’ve been featured in ads for Paypal and was even flown out to San Francisco for a big photo shoot featuring two Dalmatians and me. Honeybees built a huge hive in our roof one Summer and threatened to invade the house. Another Summer I shot a video about a goat that became friends with a Great Dane for the National Geographic Channel. You may have seen it. There have been cancer scares, tornado alerts, sick dogs and much more. Through all this, I never missed a day. I posted on the same day I had surgery. I kept posting through power outages and computer failures. Hell, I had a story to tell. It was a good story too. You could even make a good case that I’d been leading a pretty interesting life after all.

The blog has taught me that almost everything you do has implications. The Dalmatian pictures have made people more aware of Dalmatian Rescue and the importance of saving these wonderful dogs. Dot and Dash now have dozens of new friends from all around the world.

Amazingly, the pictures of watches on the blog have actually made me a little money. As a result of my daily watch pictures, I am now considered a watch expert in certain circles and have written more than 300 articles and press releases for major brands like Fortis, Eterna and Versace. Who would have thought?

Tomorrow is the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. On September 10, 2001 I had no idea of what was going to happen the next day. If the blog has taught me one thing, it is this. Even after 1000 consecutive days of posting, I still can’t tell you what is going to happen tomorrow. You’re going to have to just keep reading.

Cleo is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 906

I'm thinking of pairing down my collections. A wiser decision would probably be to stop collecting things entirely. I've collected stuff since I was a kid. When I was young, I collected Dinky Toys. When I was in architecture school, I started collecting chairs. When I became an adult and had a real job, I started collecting art. Over the years, I've collected things as esoteric as the first editions of all John Fowles books, and as ridiculous as brass scale model trains. There are even people who say the only reason I have friends is so I can collect memories. I don't know why guys collect things. Just about every guy I know collects something. Probably guys collect stuff for the same reason women buy shoes. It's just in their DNA.

The only thing I managed to collect today was another cell phone bill, an electric bill, and a new batch of website revisions. I'll deal with all of these things on Monday. Today, I wrote the articles on my to-do list and got my June invoices in the mail. Oh, I also had a delicious stack of pancakes for breakfast. After a month of experimentation, I've reverted to my original breakfast restaurant and I'll probably stay there for a while.

Janet doesn't want me to mow the new grass in the backyard, because she thinks I'll kill it. It needs to be mowed eventually though. With all the rain we've been having lately, the grass is doing fabulously. I haven't measured it or anything, but it's getting pretty tall. How tall are you supposed to let St. Augustine Grass get anyway? I don't know.

I've noticed that every time Thomas Hawk mentions my name that I get hundreds of new followers on Google. I hope that I don't run out of pretty things to photograph. Early in the year there was an abundance of beautiful sunsets. Then there were some spectacular foggy mornings. Lately, I've been photographing Texas wildflowers. This year, wildflowers are abundant, since the weather conditions are ideal. The Summer heat is on its way though. A month from now, all the flowers will be dried and withered. I'll need to find something new to photograph. Air conditioners would probably be a good subject.

Lacey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 515

What a beautiful day. You can't beat clear blue skies and 65 to 70 degree temperatures. No pollen either. My allergies didn't bother me all day. This was a good day to do yard work, so that's what I did. I mowed the grass, trimmed bushes and watered. After I put the lawn mower away, the dogs supervised the rest. They liked the nice day too. I hope this weather lasts a while, but it can't last long. It's often 100 degrees outside by early June.

I can't stop writing watch articles. I even wrote one this morning. Writing about watches is making me want to start buying them again. I really shouldn't. It's kind of an addiction. Watch collecting will suck money out of your wallet faster than having a problem with alcohol or drugs. I couldn't afford some of the watches I've been writing about anyway. The ones I like the best cost between $15,000 and $20,000 each.

Oh, well. I'll just stick with what I've got. I've got so many watches already that a battery seems to goes dead on one just about every day. I put a battery in one of Janet's after breakfast this morning. I'll probably put another battery in something else tomorrow.

I've got enough done today that I might even be able to catch one of the new episodes of Dr. Who this evening. I haven't seen any of the new 2011 episodes yet and I'm curious whether the show holds together now that it's being shot here in the United States. I'll let you know. So far, I still think that the first series with Billie Piper playing the doctor's companion Rose Tyler is the best.

Dot and Dash get to go on an outing tomorrow. A local winery has invited Dalmatian Rescue to an animal friendly event at their vineyard. Maybe if we give Dash a little wine at the event, he'll be quiet in the car on the way home.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day