Day 4730

Today was busy. We got up early and gave Dawn her morning walk before I took Janet to the dentist for dental surgery. I took my own long walk right after breakfast so I would be home in time to pick Janet up again after she was finished with her procedure. I was pretty fast this morning. This was the first time I finished a mile in less than 20 minutes in quite a while. While I was out walking I passed an older gentleman who I frequently see on the trails. I told him that he was doing a better job of staying in shape than I was. The guy smiled and said "I'm 85 years old. I'm just trying to stay alive." I found this strangely encouraging. The guy was ten years older than me and still going strong.

I went to pick Janet up around noon. The traffic was much lighter than it was at 8:30 AM. I don't experience morning rush hour very often anymore. I don't know how people can stand to do this day after day. It would drive me nuts. I started my own company in 1990 and have worked out of my house ever since. It's definitely a different world than when I used to drive to work everyday. Life was a lot less hectic in the 1980's.

Janet and I have been inundated with e-mail spam lately. She changed all her passwords recently and I decided to do the same today. When I logged into my web hosting account it didn't look familiar. Now that I don't build websites for a living anymore, I don't have a need to visit this place very often. I wondered if the company had been sold. I eventually found the spam filter section of the site and much to my chagrin, all my filters were turned off by default. This would explain the surge in spam I've been receiving lately. The spam filter tool used by the hosting company was different than the one they used before. It would have been nice if my web host had told me about this. In fairness, maybe they did tell me and the message went to my own e-mail spam filter. At any rate, I configured the site-wide spam filter and turned it on. We'll see if it makes any difference.

Next, I changed a bunch of old passwords to modern more secure versions. I should have done this long ago, but spam and hacking attempts haven't been a problem for me until recently. In the process of changing passwords, I inadvertently locked myself out of my e-mail account. I called tech support and was connected to a call center in India. Does everybody outsource their tech support these days? It certainly appears that way. The guy I was talking to had trouble understanding my problem and I had trouble understanding his English. Calling tech support is an exercise in frustration these days. Eventually, I figured out what I was doing wrong on my own and reconnected to my e-mail account. I thanked the guy for his help, even though he hadn't helped me at all.

I took a shower and was grateful that I didn't have to used the wet-dry vac to suck the water out from under the shower tiles today. The vacuum is noisy and I didn't want to wake Janet up. If it's not one kind of water problem in this house it's another. There is rain in the forecast for the rest of the week and I'm worried that the roof leaks will start again. There aren't any leaks currently, but I know that the roof hasn't had enough time to completely dry out after our last heavy rains. I guess we'll see what happens. The rain is supposed to start later tonight.

I'm not sure what is on the schedule for tomorrow. The next thing on my calendar is an appointment with the eye doctor on Friday. I hope the weather allows us to give Dawn her walks. Dogs definitely need a daily walk. So do people.

Ellis is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4581

This has got to be one of the hottest summers on record. I remember one summer like this, but I was a lot younger then. If this continues, I may just start saying that this summer is the worst ever and chalk the past up to memory loss. If I were smart, I would have just stayed inside today, but I'm hooked on getting my steps. Getting at least 10,000 steps every day and writing a blog post every evening are about the only goals I have left.

I got an early start on my long walk this morning, but it didn't help much. It was already too hot when we took Dawn on her sunrise walk. In this weather I soak my hat in cold water before I leave the house and it is already dry before I reach the halfway point. The wildflowers are almost all gone now and the grass in the meadows is turning yellow. I still see a few ducks, but most of the other animals are in hiding. I don't see as many joggers anymore, but there are still plenty of cyclists. Maybe it feels cooler when you are moving faster. Surprisingly, I was able to complete my entire route today. My pace was really slow, but that had more to do with foot pain than with the heat. 

Dawn did get her Sunday outing, but we were careful to make sure she didn't get overheated. We only spent a few minutes in our Sunday park and then went straight to the ice cream store. It wasn't surprising that the place was pretty busy today. Ice cream and hot weather were made for each other. Sometimes we bring home a pint of our favorite flavor. They said they were out of that today, so we picked something else. We had some of the ice cream for dessert tonight and were surprised to find the flavor that the store said they were out of. It was a small surprise, but a nice one.

I hope I can get my car worked on tomorrow. I don't drive much, but it is still a real inconvenience being without a car. I can't get to the gym for starters. If the car ends up being in the shop for a while, I'm going to have to continue these very hot walks in the park. I stay hydrated and don't think there is any danger in walking in the heat but it isn't very pleasant. It definitely helps to get an early start. I don't think it would be wise to walk in the afternoon. I'm still hoping that the problem with my car is minor. The check engine light came on in my old Defender whenever the gas cap went bad. The same thing happened back when Janet had a LR-2. There is even a sign inside of my gas filler door that says to turn gas cap until you hear a clicking sound or the engine light will come on. Replacing the gas cap is easy. Replacing a major engine component is something else entirely.

Janet tells me that there is a new Dalmatian up at the kennel now. We'll get to meet this new boy tomorrow. I think we are supposed to take him to the vet as well. I need to remember to take my camera. The new guy will need to go on the website soon. It been a while since we've visited the rescue Dalmatians. Last week was the July 4th holiday and the week before that Janet was on vacation. I always enjoy visiting the dogs. Playing with a dog is so much more enjoyable than dealing with people.

The in-door water supply in our refrigerator doesn't work anymore. When did that happen? It might have happened months ago, since I usually just drink bottled water. You can still get ice through the door, but no water. Oh, well. One more thing to fix. So many problems around our house involve water. The washing machine has been repaired several times. We just got a new dishwasher. I need to get a new toilet as well. These are all basically water problems. Our worst water problem was having a water line break under the concrete slab of our house. What a mess. Hopefully that will never happen again. 

Keller is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4544

Do people still work on Friday? The park was so full of people when we took Dawn on her sunrise walk that I thought it was Saturday for a moment. Maybe everyone was just trying to get their jogging and cycling in before the rain started again. It's been pretty wet lately.

This was definitely a slow day. I didn't do much of anything. After breakfast I tried to find out where the leak in the kitchen was coming from without much success. It's not a bad leak. I removed some drawers from cabinets next to the dishwasher so I could see underneath and the area looked pretty dry. My best guess now is that the seal on the dishwasher door is starting to go bad. The rubber feels pretty dry and a leak on the right side of the door would correspond to where water is appearing on the floor. I'm no expert though. The water might actually be coming from the ice maker in the refrigerator. Who knows? I'm such a procrastinator that I actually thought about washing the dishes by hand to avoid using the dishwasher. That wouldn't work very long though.

When I took my long walk today the road over the little creek feeding the lake was open again. It apparently only took one day to install the new bridge. The bridge is for the fancy bike trail the city is building and is right next to a larger bridge for cars. The construction company building the trail must have a penalty clause in their contract because there is a ton of activity these days. It looks like the trail will actually be finished in early July as they promised.

I was able to complete my full six mile route today, but I probably should have just gone to the gym. I thought it would be a nice walk because it was quite cool outside on our early walk with Dawn. I guess I miscalculated because I was hot and sweaty by the time I returned home. It was overcast all day, but the temperature still climbed quickly. I'm probably going to be walking in the park a lot less during the summer. I just can't handle the heat anymore.

I'm trying to find out if I'm credentialed to attend the Artemis-1 launch this Fall. I applied so long ago that I've completely lost track of my status. The last time I was down at the space center I got the name and e-mail address of the person who handles all NASA credentialing issues. I sent a message this morning but it came back return to sender. I guess the person who wrote down the address for me misspelled something. Back to square one. There is still a lot of time and it's likely that the launch will get delayed again, but I'd sure like to find out something. I've already promised the magazine an article about this launch. It would be a shame if I don't get press credentials.

It's raining again and I've got the pumps on the roof working. I hate all these water problems. There's the toilet that runs in the bathroom, the mysterious leak in the kitchen, and the perpetual threat of roof leaks every time it rains. Plumbers won't work on the strange French toilet, the appliance repairmen is good at fixing things but bad at diagnosing problems, and the roof is just very expensive to add a slight pitch so it will drain properly. I'd rather deal with little problems like the star tracker. Old houses have so many problems that it can be overwhelming at times.

Time to make a grocery list again. This week has gone very quickly. Janet says the price of gas has gone up. I think it goes up every day now. We'll see how bad things are when I fill my tank along with a few grocery bags tomorrow. Life seem normal when I'm just sitting here at home. It's kind of a rude awakening when I have to venture out into the world these days.

Freckles is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4534

It's a little late, but the rain has finally arrived. I spent most of the day trying to avoid getting wet but I guess you can't avoid it forever. I did manage to get my long walk finished before the storms started and Dawn got her walk as well. Now we wait for the roof to start leaking. We've got quite a downpour right now and the pumps on the roof aren't working. It's not a good combination.

Other than waiting for the rain to start, it was a pretty slow day. I discovered that the shower drain was clogged when I was taking a shower today. I wish I'd discovered this before I was actually in the shower and already wet. I had to get dressed so I could go outside and get my tools to snake out the drain before I could continue. Water is not my friend. Between running toilets, slow drains, and leaking roofs, I've had just about all the water problems I can handle.

Dawn must have know that the weather was about to change because she refused to take a sunrise walk. It wasn't raining, but the ground was wet. That's all it takes with her. Luckily, Janet was able to give her a walk in the afternoon before the next round of storms hit. I think Dawn is much better at forecasting the weather than the apps on my phone. Yesterday they said the rain would start last night and continue all day today. The forecast was only off by 12 hours.

I wasn't feeling lucky today, so I postponed updating the star tracker app on my phone. It was tempting because there wasn't much else to do today, but I kept remembering that the last time I updated this app was when all my camera connection problems started. One of these days I'm going to have to deal with this. My phone keeps wanting to update apps automatically when they become available. I've had to disable this function and update apps manually, being careful to avoid the Benro app.

I wish I could get the pumps to work without going up on the roof. Sometimes when the extension cords to the pumps are under water for too long they short out and throw a circuit breaker. Other times, leaves and dirt clog the pumps and need to be cleaned out. Unfortunately, you never know that something is wrong until after it starts raining. Oh, well. It is what is is. I'd better go get the buckets ready. It will be a miracle if we don't get a leak tonight.

My problems always seem so minor whenever I turn on the news. I guess that's why I don't like listening to the news anymore. I often feel like I am witnessing the total collapse of society. If you are even a casual student of history you realize that all civilizations come to an end at some point. We've had a good run, but we may be nearing the end of ours. I wonder what the next Middle Ages will be like? Probably a bit like BladeRunner. I may be wrong but I keep thinking that globalization is behind many of the problems we are seeing today. Just because something is too big to fail doesn't prevent failure. It almost guarantees it. The world would be a better place if there were lots of tiny little powerless civilizations, all completely independent of each other. If one fails or goes haywire, the rest just continue on. Of course this wouldn't work in a world filled with jet planes and satellite phones. It wouldn't work if two tiny civilizations decided to join forces and take over a third tiny civilization either. Hey, I've got no answers. Maybe we just need a lot fewer people.

I hope this rain stops soon. I know that rain is a lot better than drought and wildfires, but water still makes me nervous.

Ziggy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3351

I noticed this morning that there was a large muddy puddle in the middle of the back yard. WTF? This wasn't here yesterday. It didn't rain last night. For a moment I thought that I might have left a garden hose on, but all the faucets were off. What new kind of hell was this? When the puddle refused to dry up as the day progressed, I began to suspect the worst. Our sewer line passes under the muddy area. A pipe probably rusted or broke. Several other houses in the neighborhood that are about the same age as ours have had to replace their sewer lines. Maybe it's my turn this time.

It's weird that virtually every single problem I've had with the house involves water. Roofs leak. toilets run. Pipes break under the concrete slab. Washing machines break. Refrigerator coils freeze. Somehow the problem always involves water. I guess that's why there are hundreds of plumbers in town. I see a plumbing truck in front of someone's house just about every time I walk Dash. Maybe the wet ground will start to dry out tonight. If not, I'll have to call the plumber. I don't look forward to plumbers digging a big hole in the back yard, but what are you going to do? Things like this are one more reason why I'm never going to have any extra money.

Janet has started putting Dash's boots on before he wakes up in the morning. It's much easier to get the socks and boots on while Dash is lying down, but this doesn't always make him eager to walk. He was very reluctant to leave the house this morning. It took us forever just to get down to the park. Dash would walk a few feet and then he'd stop for a while. I don't know what was going through his head. Eventually we reached the area where the good smells begin and Dash began walking normally again. We took a much shorter walk than we normally do this morning and then Dash went back to sleep again. He didn't eat his breakfast until several hours later. I hope he's feeling OK.

Nothing exciting happened today. I balanced my checkbook after breakfast. Sometimes this process is easy. Other times it is infuriatingly difficult. It took me a long time to realize that I'd failed to record several January bills. I paid the bills. I just didn't subtract them from my balance. Eventually I found the problem and everything balanced but it sure took me a while.

I still haven't accepted the NASA invitation to visit the Johnson Space Center. I probably will, but there are still a few days left until the deadline. I keep finding excuses to postpone making a decision. I worry about Dash having a setback. Today I was fretting about my potential plumbing problem. I need to realize that I'm never, ever going to wake up without a care in the world. There's always going to be something to worry about. It's not a perfect world, but I shouldn't use this as an excuse to do nothing.

I did remember that it was Tuesday today. That means that if I don't procrastinate, I might be able to get a plumber out to the house before the end of the week. I might as well go for it. I despise expensive repairs, but sitting around and watching the mud hole in the yard grow deeper for a few additional days isn't going to make the repair any cheaper. I'll call tomorrow. The sad thing is that the plumbing repair will probably cost exactly the same as a trip to Houston.

Bingo is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3276

"And now we wait," I thought as some severe weather rolled into town early this afternoon. I didn't have to wait long. In less than an hour after the thunderstorm arrived, I started hearing a familiar drip in the hallway. My roof leak had returned. Evidently, yesterday's repair efforts were a total failure. I wasn't really surprised. The actual source of a water leak on a flat roof can be almost anywhere. I haven't been up on the roof yet, but it doesn't really matter. Either my temporary patch failed, or my ability to locate leaks is worthless.

The roof leak wasn't my only water problem today. It was time to use the wet/dry vacuum to suck water out from under the tile floor of the shower. I have to do this at least once a week now. Just like the roof, I don't know where this water is coming from. The tile grout still looks pretty good. I think the shower pan is keeping the water under the tiles from getting into the rest of the house, but the leak is still irritating. The only way to fix this problem is to get a tile guy to completely replace the bathroom tile. Since gravity causes water to flow to the lowest point, water could be getting in through a crack in the tile walls or it could even be caused by a slow plumbing leak. Water is not my friend this week.

I must have been really tired last night because I didn't even wake up when Dash pooped in the bed. Janet told me about the mishap in the morning. I'm glad that one of us woke up. The poop is relatively easy to clean up if you deal with the mess while Dash is still asleep. If he wakes up, twirls around to reposition himself, and then sits down in the poop, you've got a real mess on your hands.

We were able to give Dash a morning walk before the thunderstorm arrived, but today was basically a cabin fever day. The weather was nasty and the thunder and lightning only made things worse. Dash is still a storm phobic dog, but he doesn't hear as well as he used to. He didn't even notice the thunder until is got really loud. Actually, Dash was calmer about today's storm than I was. With leaks in four different places, I was worried that I'd run out of buckets.

The rain has stopped for now, but it's supposed to start again around midnight. There's no point in removing water from the roof until the rain stops. These leaks are really unfortunate because Winter is the worst time to replace a roof. I'd much rather deal with this in the Summer when the weather is clear and dry for months at a time. I can't really ignore the problem though. This looks like a pretty serious leak.

There are so many things to fix around the house that I don't even know where to start. The roof leaks. The dryer makes an awful squealing sound when it is running. The sliding glass door to the atrium is jammed. The sheetrock near the roof leaks needs to be replaced. There's even a big pothole in the driveway. It's so hard to find good repair people too. You always hope to get someone like those guys you see on This Old House, but the reality is quite different.

I'm glad this day is almost over. The trash has been taken out to the curb. Dash is calm. I've taken a heartburn pill which should help me sleep tonight. I'll empty the buckets in the hallway before I go to sleep. I'm not even thinking about breakfast tomorrow. I've kind of lost my appetite.

Cookie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 3192

Another day that was dominated by water. I spent quite a bit of time on the roof this morning cleaning away leaves and debris. It seems a little early for the trees to be dropping leaves, but there were a ton of leaves on the roof. I guess Fall has arrived. There was still some standing water from last week's rain too. I was pleased that I got the roof looking nice again and then late this afternoon it started raining again. I feel like a modern day version of Sisyphus. The roof is hopeless. I wish the roofers had told me in the very beginning that a high tech coating was an inappropriate solution for my type of roof.

I also wish that the contractor who remodeled our bathrooms years ago had installed a real heavy duty metal shower pan rather than the vinyl liner that everybody seems to use these days. I think this liner is one of the reason I'm having so many problems with shower leaks. I had to suck out excess water with the wet/dry vac again today. I do this way too often. About a quart of water seems to accumulate under the tiles about every three days.

I really need to give up and put on an entirely new roof and get a good tile guy to re-do the shower. I probably need a tile guy and a good plumber, since I think it's the floor drain that is leaking and letting water accumulate under the tiles. A completely new roof in a house like ours is prohibitively expensive and I really don't want to deal with having contractors in the house. I guess I'm screwed.

A guy came to the door today and wanted money for public radio. The guy was very persistent and seemed a lot like a Jehovah's Witnesses. I wonder if he was really from KERA like his t-shirt said. You'd think the never ending pledge drives on public radio would be enough. I told him I thought the station should just run commercials like everyone else. Commercials would be less irritating than the pledge drives. When the guy couldn't sign me up as a subscriber, he asked me for some water. I gave him some bottled water and off he went. I still don't know if this was a real subscriber drive or a scam.

Quite a bit of thunder and lightning accompanied this evening's rain. Not surprisingly, the thunder scared Dash. It's kind of sad. Dash is not mobile enough to crawl under my desk anymore during storms.  He kept looking for a safe place, but just couldn't maneuver very well. Finally, Janet and I convinced him to lie down on the bedroom floor with us and we covered him with a blanket. Luckily, the heavy rain didn't last very long.

If it continues raining tomorrow, I won't be able to go out for breakfast. Dash can get himself in some real trouble if he panics during a storm. I guess I could make pancakes at home if the weather is bad. I haven't had pancakes in a while. It's weird. I never ever drink my regular smoothie on Friday. Don't ask me why. My life is all about meaningless rituals.

Rosie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2978

I need to find a better time to go to the gym. For the past two weeks there has been a full court game underway when I arrived, so I haven't been able to shoot baskets. This is disappointing, since my time on the basketball court is the only real fun I have at the gym. The rest of the time is just burning calories and trying to raise my heart rate.

Dash was listless today. He did take a walk, but wasn't very interested in eating. I had to try several different varieties of dog food before I could get him to eat anything. Usually, Dash's appetite returns after a walk, but not today. I don't know what was wrong. He didn't seem nauseous or  show the usual signs of a vestibular event. Dash just wasn't hungry. A Dalmatian who won't eat is always alarming. Typically, they are always hungry.

The rain continued today. There was only a light mist when we took our morning walk, but there were several downpours later in the day. Now that the rain has returned, the dehumidifier is struggling to keep the house dry. I have to empty the water reservoir twice as often as on a dry day. Rain seems to amplify all the other problems in the house. When I think about it, every single house issue is related to water.

There is standing water on the roof. There is a leak that allows water to accumulate under the shower tiles. One of the toilets runs and I can't find parts to fix it. Even the ailing refrigerator is basically a water problem. If the evaporator coil didn't freeze, everything would be fine. I wish the rain would quit so at least the air would feel dry. I'm losing my patience with water.

I could really tell that I had shoulder and knee problems while I was at the gym today. Maybe rain makes my arthritis worse. My shoulder still aches. I wonder how bad things need to get before I consider surgery? Lots of people I know have had knee replacements. Some recover completely and others don't. I've always been fearful of surgery. Most of the surgery the dogs have had was unavoidable, but they never made a full recovery. Surgery is very invasive. I had knee surgery back when I was in college and my knee continues to feel weird to this day. I had something called Slocum's Procedure, which has since fallen out of favor among orthopedic surgeons. It is amazing how many types of surgery have fallen out of favor over the years when doctors discovered that the proceedure basically didn't work.

Tomorrow is one of those holidays that doesn't really feel like a holiday. Janet gets a day off and we won't get any mail, but other than that, it's just a normal day. There aren't even any President's Day savings on the refrigerator I still need to buy. Washington's birthday is really on February 22, but in 1971 we decided that it was easier to give people the day off on a Monday, so a lot of minor holidays began being celebrated on Monday. It was also easier to just take away Lincoln's holiday and call combined birthday celebration President's Day. Not that is matters, but I remember when Washington and Lincoln each had their own holiday.

I have a ton of bills to pay tomorrow, but they will all have to wait until Tuesday. There is no mail delivery tomorrow. It would be nice if there was no rain as well.

Bailey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day